Crooked Letter Sports

The Clevelands recap the NFL conference championship games and look ahead to the Super Bowl, plus some college basketball thoughts. Father and son agree on two things: Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the game, and all the fuss about Taylor Swift is comical.  

Just-turned-20-year-old amateur Nick Dunlap shot 29 under par this past weekend to win the PGA Tour's American Express Classic in the desert this past weekend and Jacksonian Wilson Furr had an up close and painful look at history being made. Randy Watkins joins us to discuss the achievement and also Furr's medical issues in his first event as a PGA Tour pro.  

The arctic temps in mid-Mississippi bring back some memories, plus a college basketball update, a look at the NFL playoffs, an homage to Nick "The GOAT" Saban, the college coaching merry-go-round, and Wilson Furr's PGA Tour debut.

Most college football teams play an offensive style that pundits have started calling basketball on grass. They spread the field, go fast, and throw it constantly. But Michigan showed Monday that old school smash mouth football, on both sides of the ball, still can win games and championships. The Michigan offensive and defensive lines mauled Washington. The Clevelands also discuss the Saints winn...

Like most of America, we watched college football all day and all night on the first day of 2024. The takeaway: Washington quarterback Michael Penix stole the New Year's Day show. Meanwhile, Ole Miss will be in the hunt in 2024.  

For sports writers, sometimes the trips to cover the games are more interesting than the games themselves, especially for two sports writers named Cleveland with classic cases of attention deficit disorder.

The high school football season is in the history books, which means it's time for the best, biggest, and fastest to decide where they are going to play college ball. The Cleveland boys discuss National Signing Day, as well as Saturday's Ole Miss-Southern Miss basketball game at Biloxi, the New Orleans Saints' playoff hopes (yes, they still have some), and a whole lot more.

We're nearing Christmas and Ole Miss basketball is undefeated. Nevertheless, Mississippi State, with freshman sensation Josh Hubbard, is ranked higher despite two losses and Southern Miss is playing better with two straight victories. Meanwhile, Mississippi will be a decided underdog in the Mississippi-Alabama high school all-star game Saturday in Hattiesburg.  

The Oak Grove Warrior defeated Starkville in an exciting Class 7A State Championship game to cap a huge weekend of high school football. Warrior coach Drew Causey, who hasn't slept much since, joins to discuss the big game and his second state title. The Clevelands also discuss the college football playoffs, the Ole Miss-Penn State Peach Bowl matchup and a whole lot more.  

This might be the most newsy week of the football season, so the Cleveland boys have plenty to cuss and discuss.  

The Egg Bowl Thanksgiving night headlines a huge week of football that also includes Delta State going for its second win in the DII championship playoffs, Southern Miss hosting Troy, and the semifinal games of the State High School playoffs. And then comes the C Spire Conerly Trophy, which the Clevelands see as a two-person race.  

 Last Saturday night, Texas A & M slaughtered Mississippi State 51-10. On Sunday, Texas A & M announced it was firing head coach Jimbo Fisher, who the Aggies will have to pay $76 million not to coach. On Monday, Mississippi State fired Zach Arnett. The Clevelands discuss college football's crazy season, the upcoming weekend games, and the high school playoffs.  

Tenth-ranked Ole Miss plays at top-ranked Georgia on Saturday in the biggest game involving a Mississippi football team in years. The Cleveland boys take a look at the game from a historical standpoint and at the various matchups. When it comes right down to it, how do you pick against 42 and 1? Other topics include Southern Miss and Mississippi State football, as well as the Saints and the high s...

The Mississippi high school football playoffs, which will wind up in Oxford later this month, are underway. The Clevelands talk about all the possibilities in play this year and who some of the favorites are. We also talk college football and the local Fox affiliates' decision to not show the New Orleans Saints. Hint: We did not like it.  

Volleyball is on the rise in Mississippi, as witnessed by the state high school championships this past weekend. Ole Miss and State get big football victories and look for more. And both the World Series and the basketball season are upon us. And maybe, just maybe, Covid is behind us in the Cleveland family.  

Jackson, Mississippi's own Wilson Furr recently became one of the 30 newest members of the PGA Tour with his play over the last two months on the Korn Ferry Tour. Furr joins the podcast to discuss what it feels like when a life-long dream comes true. The Cleveland boys also discuss the college football season and pivotal matchups this Saturday for Ole Miss and Mississippi State.

The Ole Miss Rebels are 5-1 at the midway point in the season, climbing as high as No. 13 in the national polls. With Rick on vacation, Tyler is joined by WJTV sports anchor Blake Levine to discuss the Rebels' rise, the Saints' latest win and the Atlanta Braves' post-season prospects.  

With the fall in full roar, it's hard to touch on everything going on in the Mississippi sports world, but the Cleveland boys will try. Ole Miss picks up a huge win over LSU, the Sanderson Farms Championship returns to Jackson and Rick reflects on his late friend Willie Morris and his induction into the Southern Miss Alumni Hall of Fame.  

It was a dark Saturday for Mississippi's Big School football teams. Ole Miss, State, and Southern Miss all lost, but Todd Cooley's Delta State Statesmen won again to move to 4-0, headed into the meat of their Gulf South Conference schedule. Patrick Shegog leads the way for the high-scoring Statesmen.  

From a big night of high school football on Friday night, through the Saints victory over the Carolina Panthers on Monday night, there was plenty to cuss and discuss on a huge football weekend. And guess what? The Saints are 2-0 for the first time in 10 years and the Ole Miss Rebels are 3-0 headed to Alabama.

David Eckert, the Clarion Ledger's excellent Ole Miss beat reporter, and Rick Cleveland both attended the Ole Miss-Tulane game in New Orleans Saturday. Tyler C. watched on TV. The three discuss the Rebels' closer-than-it-sounds 37-20 victory and what the future might hold for Lane Kiffin's Rebels.

The Oak Grove Warriors last weel became the first Mississippi football team to ever knock off perennial Alabama powerhouse Hoover. Oak Grove coach Drew Causey joins the podcast to talk about the victory and his talented Warriors. Also, the Cleveland boys remember Jimmy Buffett, the Mississippian who parleyed his passion and his talent into billionaire status and made people smile all along the way...

The Cleveland boys watched their first high school football games of the season last week and head full throttle into college football this coming weekend. At first glance, Oak Grove and Picayune look like powerhouse teams, which is nothing new for either.

Best-selling author and Nautilus publisher Neil White joins the podcast to talk about the book he co-authored with Rick Cleveland. The book celebrates the most memorable players, teams, games in the rich football history of the best football state in the country.

Mike Justice coached in north Mississippi, central Mississippi and south Mississippi. He coached tiny schools and big schools. One constant: Wherever he went, wherever he coached, he won and won big. With the 2023 season fast approaching, the football coach-turned-champion golfer and bass fisherman joins the Clevelands to talk football.