Crooked Letter Sports

The Clevelands discuss the upcoming college football season, specifically the over-and under on victories for each of the Mississippi schools. Oddsmakers have set the over-under on victories for Ole Miss (7.5), Missi:sippi State (6.5) and Southern Miss (5). Also, Ole Miss ranks No. 21 in the first AP poll. That's the good news. The bad is that the Rebels are sixth among SEC teams. Also, we celebra...

With high school football season about two weeks away, Tyler takes questions from Rick about the upcoming season. Who's hot? Who's not? And which players could contend for Player of the Year in Mississippi?

The MHSAA, the governing body of Mississippi public schools athletics, begins its 100th year of operations with the coming school year. Rickey Neaves, the executive director, joins the podcast to talk about where the MHSAA has been and where it is headed.

Tyler's ready to move West after visiting the Pacific Northwest over the weekend, while Rick's actually working. This week, he breaks down the 2022 Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame Class, which includes household names like Eric Moulds and David Dellucci. Plus, can the Braves pull off the same trade-deadline magic the Cleveland boys spoke into existence last season.

Continuing the conversation from last week, the Clevelands welcome old friend Tim Floyd to the pod to talk about all the issues facing college sports. Turns out, there are so many issues the one podcast turned into two. Floyd is outspoken on where college sports is headed with NIL and transfer issues. To be succinct, he doesn't like where it's headed and is glad he is retired.

The Clevelands welcome old friend Tim Floyd to the pod to talk about all the issues facing college sports. Turns out, there are so many issues the one podcast turned into two. Floyd is outspoken on where college sports is headed with NIL and transfer issues. To be succinct, he doesn't like where it's headed and is glad he is retired.

Finally back from Omaha and still recovering from a big 4th of July weekend, Rick and Tyler discuss what makes the Atlanta Braves Mississippi's pro baseball team and talk about what makes this year's team so good. Plus, Arch Manning signs with Texas and big money pushes USC and UCLA to the Big 10.

From Omaha, the Clevelands recount the Rebels' amazing run to the national baseball championship. As Mississippi State did in maroon last year, Ole Miss fans painted Omaha red and blue as the Rebels finished an amazing run to the national championship. Tyler watched from the stands. Rick was in the press box working. They recount the scene and the Ole Miss heroics.

Coral Gables, Hattiesburg, Omaha. The site seems to make no difference to the red-hot Ole Miss Rebels, who have now won seven NCAA Tournament games, mostly by lopsided scores. The Clevelands caught up with Mike Bianco, Tim Elko and Hunter Elliot to talk about the Rebels' latest and most important conquest, the Monday night victory over Arkansas, which kept Ole Miss in the winners' bracket and sent...

The only thing hotter than the temperature in Hades-burg was the Ole Miss bats and arms. Now the Rebels are headed to Nebraska for the College World Series. On this week's pod, Rick and Tyler break down last week's Super Regional and take a look ahead at what awaits the eight teams that have punched their ticket to Omaha.

The Cleveland boys discuss the Ole Miss-Southern Miss Super Regional in Hattiesburg this coming weekend. Ole Miss is fresh off a three-game dash through the Coral Gables Regional, winning impressively. Southern Miss had a fight to finish to win the Hattiesburg Regional over LSU. Who has the edge? People with tickets, that's who. It might be the toughest ticket in Mississippi sports history.

The MHSAA baseball championships are in the books, now the attention turns to the NCAA Baseball Tournament, where Ole Miss and Southern Miss are both vying for that elusive trip to Omaha. Plus, the Cleveland boys discuss the proposed new SEC football schedule formats under discussion at this week's summer meetings in Destin.

You didn't think the Cleveland boys were going to let the Nick Saban-Jimbo Fisher Wrestling Live on Channel Five-type war of words pass without comment, did you? Plus, a huge week of baseball tournaments will be challenged by seasonable Mississippi weather this week.

Northwest Rankin baseball coach KK Aldridge joins the Cleveland boys to talk about the MHSAA State Tournament in which his Cougars will face off with Desoto Central in a Class 6A showdown next week at Trustmark Park. The Clevelands also discuss college baseball and Ole Miss's late-season surge.

Tyler tells the story of falling in love with baseball all over again at Pisgah High and breaks down the MHSAA playoffs ahead of this weekend's North and South State Championships. Rick updates us all on the state of Mississippi college baseball headed into a crucial week for all of Mississippi's big three schools.

Bobby Cleveland – Rick's brother and Tyler's uncle – leaves an amazing journalistic  legacy, plus legions of fans and friends. Rick and Tyler discuss what made Bobby such an unforgettable character, using clips from a Christmas podcast in 2021.

As the college baseball regular season enters its final month, it's time to play buy and sell. As in, do you buy or sell No. 4 Southern Miss as a national seed in the NCAA Tournament? Does defending national champ Mississippi State make the NCAA field? Does Ole Miss, once No. 1,  make the SEC Tournament. Does Mike Bianco return to coach next year? The Clevelands answer – or guess.

As Mississippi fights a shortage of officials across all sports, incidents involving confrontations between fans, coaches and referees and umpires are becoming more and more common. The Cleveland boys chat with MHSAA and SWAC head of officials, Robert Holloway about how Mississippians can fix both problems.

Southern Miss, ranked as high as No. 11 in the nation in college baseball polls, is led by a pitching staff that ranks in the top three  in virtually every major statistical category, including third in earned run average and second in strikeouts/walks ratio, Associate head coach and pitching coach Christopher (Oz) Ostrander, the wizard behind the numbers, joins the podcast.

This is it: The absolute best time of the sports year. The Final Four, The Masters, Major League Baseball season, college baseball conference races heating up. And spring is blooming everywhere in Mississippi. We talk about it all and are joined by Prime Shrimp's Davis McCool to talk about what all is going on in New Orleans these days, which is a lot.

So much going on in the sports world, including on the golf course, where Chad Ramey of Fulton became the first native born Mississippian to win on the PGA Tour in 52 years. This week, we've got both the men's and women's Final Fours and so much high level college baseball. The CLeveland boys talk about it all in this episode.

From Deshaun Watson to Freddie Freeman and from Chris Jans to Mo Williams, there are new faces in new places in this crazy month of free agency and coaching carousels. The Cleveland boys talk about how Mississippi State and Jackson State made out in the hiring process, what to expect from the new coaches and what this upcoming season could look like for Braves and Saints fans.

This past weekend, the Mississippi Golf Association celebrated its sport with the annual Mississippi Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremonies at Country Club of Jackson. Jim Gallagher, Jr. and Randy Watkins, two of the inductee join the Crooked Letter sports podcast to talk about Mississippi's golf boom, their careers and fellow inductees Ben Nelson and Lou Weddington-Hart.

The MHSAA Basketball Tournament wrapped up Saturday in the most dramatic sense possible, with the Clinton boys overcoming a huge deficit late to beat Olive Branch in the 6A Championship. Clinton coach Leonard Taylor joins the Cleveland boys to talk about the win. Plus, Rick and Tyler discuss the college baseball landscape in the Magnolia State.

Basketballs are bouncing in Tyler Cleveland's dreams this week with the State MHSAA Tournament going on at Mississippi Coliseum. There are eight semi-final games a day going on Monday through Wednesday in the six classifications before the championship round begins on Thursday in the Mississippi brand of Hoosiers. Also defending national champion Mississippi State comes toTrustmark Park Wednesday...