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Blog

Van Chancellor knows UConn is the best of the best

Posted on: March 23,2016

Basketball Hall of Fame coach Van Chancellor drawls on and on in superlatives when asked about Geno Auriemma and his Connecticut women’s basketball juggernaut. Hey, Van, is UConn the most dominant team in sports today? “Ain’t no question about it,” Chancellor says, by telephone from his Houston home. “There’s nobody else today to compare ’em […]

Remembering the famous handshake 53 years ago

Posted on: March 15,2016

  (Writer’s note: On this day, 53 years ago, Hall of Famer Babe McCarthy’s Mississippi State basketball team flew out of Mississippi, secretively, to go play an NCAA Tournament game against Loyola of Chicago at East Lansing, Mich. It is known as the Game of Change. In April, of 2011, Joe Dan Gold, the Mississippi […]

Proctor's legacy: MHSAA expansion and opportunity

Posted on: March 09,2016

Ennis Proctor this July will become only the eighth Mississippian inducted into the National High School Sports Hall of Fame. Trust me: No administrator, here or anywhere, could be more deserving. The 2016 High School Hall of Fame induction class will include such sports luminaries as Steve Spurrier and Marlin Briscoe.Proctor couldn’t throw like Spurrier […]

Repeat C Spire Howell-Gillom winners are most deserving

Posted on: March 07,2016

No surprises today at the C Spire Howell and Gillom awards luncheon: Victoria Vivians of Mississippi State won the trophy named for Peggie Gillom and Stefan Moody of Ole Miss won the trophy named for Bailey Howell. Both were repeat winners and both were deserving — and then some. Both players have brought much joy […]

Moody casts a C Spire Howell vote, 43 of them, in fact…

Posted on: March 03,2016

Stefan Moody doesn’t have a vote for the C Spire Howell Trophy, but he cast a ballot the best way he knew how Wednesday night in Oxford. Moody, a senior playing on Senior Night, poured in 43 points to lead the Ole Miss Rebels to an 86-78 victory over arch-rival Mississippi State. Fellow Howell Trophy […]

Baseball fame never changed Jim Davenport

Posted on: February 24,2016

Last week’s death of Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer Jim Davenport brought a barrage of memories, all good ones. His nickname was Peanuts. Don’t know how he got it, and, for some reason, I never asked. My daddy just called him “Nuts” and it seemed as natural as Sam or Joe to me. Davenport was […]

Hey Mel Kiper: LaQuon Treadwell is plenty fast

Posted on: February 23,2016

So, I read where draft nerd Mel Kiper has questions about Laquon Treadwell’s speed. Says he needs to run a fast 40-yard dash at the NFL combine to solidify his position as the top wide receiver in the draft. Here’s my beef with that: That’s placing far too much emphasis on how fast a football […]

RIP: Hall of Famer Jim "Peanuts" Davenport`

Posted on: February 20,2016

We lost another Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer this week and I wish my father were here to write this obit. Jim Davenport was a close friend of my late father, Ace Cleveland. Davenport, nicknamed Peanuts, was a baseball and football star at Southern Miss in the early 1950s and later a Gold Glove third […]