Crooked Letter Sports

A sure sign that the college football season is upon us: The USA Today Coaches poll is out. The question for today: How accurate will it be? Well, last year it wasn't accurate at all. Seventeen teams that were in the 2022 preseason poll were not in the post-season poll. And many of the preseason picks went on to have losing seasons.

Las Vegas oddsmakers have set the odds on how many football games college and NFL teams will win this season. The Cleveland boys discuss whether the Mississippi teams and the New Orleans Saints will beat the odds.

This will be Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Weekend here in the Jackson area, and Class of 2023 inductee Paul Maholm joins us to help celebrate. Maholm, one of the most decorated pitchers in Mississippi State Diamond Dog history, was a three-year ace of the State staff and then won 77 games as a Major League pitcher for five different teams, including a memorable stint in 2012-13 with the Atlanta...

If no news is good news, then all the news is good at SEC Football Media Days, where hundreds of media types gather to hear much ado about very little. The Clevelands discuss what's going on this week in Nashville where SEC football coaches aren't about to give away any top secrets. They could use a little Steve Spurrier to pump things up this week. Also, The Open (formerly known as the British Op...

Mississippi Sports Hall of Famer and former Mississippi State and NFL football great Tyrone Keys was part of the same signing class as the late Johnie Cooks and they played together on some of State's greatest defenses. Keys remembers his late friend and some of the greatest games in Bulldog history.

Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame executive director Bill Blackwell joins us to talk about a huge month of July at the shrine, the Watermelon Classic, a big induction weekend, and since Bill his a baseball guy, the College World Series that was.

For the first time in recent memory, the Crooked Letter state doesn't have a team in the College World Series. Rick, displaced to New Orleans by the recent power outages, and Tyler, in studio, discuss the Mississippi-less CWS, Mississippi State's recent hire of a pitching coach in hopes of getting back to Omaha, the U.S. Open, and Scorebook Live Mississippi's all-sports awards.

Mother Nature and Tennessee rained on the Southern Miss baseball parade that had seemed headed for Omaha and the College World Series. But anyone who was in Hattiesburg Monday night will not soon forget the sendoff 6,000 fans and Tennessee's players and coaches gave retiring Golden Eagle coach Scott Berry.

When Hill Denson became the Southern Miss baseball coach, the USM program had never been to the post-season, had never charged for a ticket, didn't have stadium lights and amenities such as luxury suites were a pipe dream. This weekend, Southern Miss will host Tennessee for a Super Regional at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.

Is there anything better than post-season baseball? The Clevelands have plenty to discuss with Southern Miss a No. 2 seed in the Auburn Regional, William Carey University threatening to win an NAIA national championship and the Mississippi High School  State championship series taking place at Trustmark Park. There are so many story lines in Pearl, at Auburn and in Idaho where Carey coach Bobby Ha...

The golf season is in full bloom, and Randy Watkins, Mississippi's Mr. Golf, joins us to talk PGA Championship, Brooks Koepka, who won, and Michael Block, who stole the show (and has a Mississippi connection). We also discuss Wilson Furr, the Jackson native, who has played his way into the spotlight on the Korn Ferry Tour.

With Tyler softballing down in Hattiesburg this week, long-time Mississippi sports writer Billy Watkins joins Rick to discuss about 100 years combined of writing Magnolia State sports. Favorite players, favorite games, favorite interviews are just a few parts of a wide-ranging discussion.  

Southern Miss currently holds the nation's longest winning streak at 10 games and has moved into position to possibly host an NCAA Regional. Berry's USM program has been a model of consistency since he took over for the legendary Corky Palmer.

The Cleveland boys review the NFL Draft, Mississippi State's pitching coach change, Southern Miss' chances to host, the red-hot Atlanta Braves and what Mississippi lost with the death of the great Ralph Boston.

What Mississippi and the world don't need is another NFL mock draft. There have been hundreds upon hundreds in recent weeks. Instead, the Cleveland boys examine past New Orleans Saints drafts: the good, the bad and the downright ugly. They also look at what Mississippi guys are likely to go early, looking at you Emanuel Forbes and Jonathan Mingo.

Only in Mississippi would you find the last two college baseball national champions playing a regular season game that draws more than 16,000 in attendance for one game and more than 43,000 for a weekend series. The Clevelands discuss the weekend's Egg Bowl baseball series at Starkville, USM's weekend sweep of James Madison and more in college baseball. As a bonus, Tyler tells Rick about the footb...

It was John Rahm's wet and windy world at The Masters and nobody could keep up with him. In college baseball, Ole Miss and Mississippi State get ready for their annual three-game series that the Rebels haven't won since 2015.

The college basketball season is in the books after another exciting Final Four, but the focus this week is on Augusta National and the 2023 Masters. The Cleveland boys break down the favorites, and Rick gives his perspective from years of playing the course and covering the tournament.

On an otherwise pleasant Mississippi Monday, Rick visited Amory and Tyler headed to Rolling Fork. Those two tornado ravaged towns, 159 miles apart, face a long recovery and rebuilding will include new baseball fields. In Amory, Rick visited Joe Burrow's grandparents, who rode out the EF4 tornado in the storm cellar they built beneath their home of 60 years.

Rick's gone golfing in the great Southwest and the Ole Miss women are dancing their way to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Tyler's joined by guest co-host and WJTV's own Blake Levine, as they break down the Rebels' stunning win over top-seeded Stanford, their Elite 8 matchup with Louisville and try to shake the early-season baseball blues. Plus, Blake explains how a Los Angeles native and Syr...

The USGA and the Royal and Ancient, the two governing bodies of golf, want to change the golf ball and thus the game of golf. The modern ball goes too far – at least it does for elite golfers and the powers that be want to scale that back. If that happens, it will reduce the distance that pros and top amateurs can hit the ball. Randy Watkins, a former touring pro and a golf course owner, joins us...

The guys welcome to the studio Yazoo City coach Anthony Carlyle - the son of legendary coach Archie Carlyle - who last week led his alma mater to their first state title since 1996. He reflects on his sixth championship, a wild week at the "Big House" and what it means to build on a legacy.

Thirty-six basketball games in six days. That's the task facing Scorebook Live's Tyler Cleveland this week at the MHSAA State Basketball championships at Mississippi Coliseum. The Clevelands discuss the basketball bonanza that reaches a crescendo with four championship games each on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. There's also plenty of college basketball and baseball to discuss.

The 2023 college baseball season is officially underway, college basketball's hunt for the postseason is heating up and Rick and Tyler are here for it. Fresh off a three-hour Springsteen show, the Cleveland boys break down opening day weekend and the latest in Mississippi hoops.

Starkville natives A.J. Brown and Willie Gay both went off on football's biggest stage, but it was Gay's Chiefs that pulled out the 38-35 thriller. The Cleveland boys discuss the game, including the "controversial" call that helped decide the game.