Crooked Letter Sports

Greenville Chrisitan coach Jon Reed McLendon talks about his team's amazing story and the Cleveland boys discuss the prospects of the state's college football teams.

The New Orleans Saints have played two preseason games, and it is becoming clear that Jameis Winston is the heir apparent to Drew Brees. Meanwhile, nothing seems really clear about Mississippi high school football, which would be having its first full Friday night slate of games this week if it weren't for Covid.

Clinton football coach and friend of the show Judd Boswell stops by to share his insights into the 2021 high school season and what it's like to head into another uncertain season.

After a 2020 Mississippi football season of mostly empty stadiums, schedule changes, postponements, cancellations and more, it looked as if we might have a more normal 2021. The delta variant has changed that and we may be in for a wild ride.

Fourteen athletes with Mississippi ties are competing in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, and a couple of them have garnered headlines for very different reasons. Rick and Tyler share their thoughts, favorite memories from past Olympics and discuss the role Mississippians have played in the games over the years.

Oklahoma and Texas are headed to the SEC and college football, as we know it, faces a huge landscape change over the next few years. How does this affect Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Southern Miss? What happens to the old Big 12, which was actually numbered 10 and is not only eight? What other changes are in store.

Because of Covid, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame will be inducting two classes – the Class of 2020 and the Class of 2021 – the weekend of July 31 and August 1. Eleven new inductees, including some of the greatest athletes and coaches in Mississippi history will be inducted. Bill Blackwell, the Hall of Fame's executive director, joins to discuss the plans.

Will Hall, at 41, is the new head football coach at Southern Miss and will lean heavily on the school's storied tradition, which he loves to talk about. Hall, who addresses the Mississippi Association of Coaches this week in Jackson, talks about his recruiting successes, his love of Mississippi football tradition and his belief that better things are ahead for Golden Eagle football.

Local golf magnate and Cleveland family friend Randy Watkins talks about how the Mississippi golf business exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic and the state of golf in the Magnolia State.

It took 129 years of playing college baseball and 12 trips to the College World Series, but Mississippi State's Bulldogs are national champions. Tyler Cleveland interviews his pops, Rick Cleveland, on State's incredible run to a national title and what it means to the most passionate fan base in America.

Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer Randy Watkins remembers winning the national junior golf championship as a 15-year-old and how that launched him to Ole Miss, an SEC Championship, the PGA Tour and a Hall of Fame career in golf.

Jackson native Janet Marie Smith, a Mississippi State-educated architect, designed Camden Yards in Baltimore, renovated Fenway Park in Boston, and most recently has renovated Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Her hardhat is in the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, and she may be, too, some day.

We'll catch up with former MSU Bulldog, reigning SEC hits king and the pride of the Binghampton Rumble Ponies, Jake Mangum, about his transition to AA ball and get his take on what makes Mississippi baseball so much fun.

Listen to this teaser episode of the Crooked Letter Sports podcast. Join Mississippi-centric sports talk and stories with Hall of Fame columnist Rick Cleveland and Scorebook Live senior reporter Tyler Cleveland as they discuss sports in the state of Mississippi.