MOBILE, AL - Florida's Andre Caldwell scored on a two-yard touchdown run as time expired to give the South a dramatic 17-16 victory over the North in the Senior Bowl on Saturday. And even though it was an exhibition game, it still served as vindication for millions of fans of the South still hurting from the last meaningful clash between these two bitter rivals - the Civil War.
"Boy, we said that The South Would Rise Again, and we meant it," said Grady Alexander, a gas station attendant from Mobile who bought tickets to the game - a match-up showcasing graduating seniors to NFL scouts - after hearing of the North vs. South team match-ups. "Those Yankees never knew what hit 'em."
Celebrations spread quickly through the South after the game. Thousands of fans in cities throughout the region took to the streets to celebrate, waving giant Rebel flags as a way to to their Southern pride, but not at all in a racist way. The most serious incident was in South Carolina, where a group of Civil War reenactors calling themselves "The Sons of the Sons of the Confederacy" attempted to capture of the gift shop at the Fort Sumner Museum and "liberate" the T-shirts, pins, and fridge magnets "as war loot."
Caldwell (pictured, right) was apprehensive when asked after the game how it felt to give so much pride back to white Southerners.
"Umm...I'm not sure I scored, actually," he said. "I might have stepped out of bounds, or have been lined up off the line of scrimmage. Or maybe we had 12 men on the field. I think I should, in the spirit of fair play, report these things to the ref so that the final score can be overturned."
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