Is Hotty Toddy dead?

[truedawg]

Is Hotty Toddy dead?

Will Ole Miss abandon their cherished "Hotty Toddy" cheer, because of a Mississippi State football recruiting writer? Or will they change it up a bit? Perhaps edit out "Flim Flam." Because every time they shout the Flim Flam portion of Hotty Toddy it will remind them of Steve "Rosebowl" Robertson and his new book Flim Flam. Or will it cause them to recall the flimflammery effected on their university by deposed football coach Hugh Freeze, which lead to crippling NCAA sanctions?

Surely, they won't abort the cheer altogether, like they have so many of their traditions?the confederate flag, the mascot Colonel Reb, their rallying song "Dixie," and their rallying chant "the South will rise again."

With permission, here?s an excerpt from Steve's incredible book "Flim Flam: The Truth Behind the Blind-Faith Culture that Led to the Explosive NCAA Investigation of Ole Miss Football"


"Are you Ready?

Hell Yeah! Damn Right!
Hotty Toddy, Gosh Almighty,
Who The Hell Are We? Hey!
Flim Flam, Bim Bam
Ole Miss By Damn!


Hotty Toddy, in effect, refers to the full cheer that Rebel fans use to identify one of their own.

"Are you ready?

While legend is often more fun than fact, the first official record of the cheer appeared in the Ole Miss student newspaper, The Daily Mississippian, in November 1926.

That rough draft of sorts began "Heighty, Tighty" in the same vein as Virginia Tech?s Regimented Cadet Band who began operating with the nickname "Highty Tighties" in the early 1900s. The Hokies also had a football cheer encouraging their ball carriers to hold the ball "high and tight."

Any witnesses to the genesis of the Ole Miss cheer have long since passed on, so we're all left to conjecture rather than fact. The roots of Hotty Toddy may lie in Blacksburg, Virginia, but all we have to base that on are our assumptions and some deductive reasoning.

In both the original and current version of the cheer the phrase "Flim Flam" appears. A rather strange inclusion in a college cheer to say the least.

Merriam-Webster defines Flim Flam as "deceptive nonsense or deception, fraud."
The phrase dates back to Scandinavian origins as early as the 1500s. Throughout history, the one word or two-word forms both signify deceptive practices.

So why is it in the cheer?

While there is no official explanation, the common school of thought is that Flim Flam simply fit the rhyming pattern for the cheer that already had the final line written, "Ole Miss by Damn."

Flim Flam once followed the phrase "Rim Ram" in the original cheer and now precedes "Bim Bam" in the modern version.

While Rim Ram alone has little in the way of an actual definition, Rim Ram Ruf is defined in the Oxford dictionary, of all places, as "clumsy or unsophisticated poetry."

Alternatively, "Bim Bam" can be traced back to the German word bimbam as the sound that Hell's bells make similar to the English phrase "Ding Dong."

There may've been no intended double entendre or secret meaning to any of it. In the end, the author may've simply thrown it all together, because in his or her mind it just sounded right.

Over the years, Heighty Tighty gave way to Hotty Toddy and Bim Bam replaced Rim Ram, but Flim Flam has stood the test of time. Rebel fans have shouted "Flim Flam" for generations. Given the current state of affairs, it seems ironic that fans of a college football team would cheer for deceptive practices." ~ Steve Robertson

Perhaps the Rebs go back to "Rim Ram." But, that may only serve to ring a bell and stir their memory about a Mississippi State guy's takedown of the untouchable Ole Miss "Network."

Flim Flam is available at www.flimflamthebook.com Please share!

[Reason2succeed]

I don't know but what I do know is that "the South won't rise again".

[SailingDawg]

puhLEASE end that horrid collection of words!

[JoseBrown]

I've always thought that was the gayest(not that there's anything wrong with that) cheer there could be. Even since I first heard it. The earliest I can remember was late 70's, early 80's, time. That cheer alone was one of the factors leading to the hate I've had for them since I was very young. I can't freaking stand it.