The Doghouse

Send us Fan Mail You see the strike call. You hear the crowd. What you do not see is everything it takes to earn the right to be there in the first place. We’re joined by Joseph Baldwin, a Division I softball umpire who has worked his way up through years of reps, mentorship, and camps where the right evaluators can change your trajectory with a few handwritten notes.  Joseph walks us through the...

Send us Fan Mail When people hear “school resource officer,” they usually think security first. We wanted to go deeper, so we brought in Officers Nason Lane and Tyler Rowe from the Sikeston Department of Public Safety to explain what the SRO role actually looks like day to day: building relationships, mentoring kids who are having a rough season, supporting staff, and stepping in when a real crimi...

Send us Fan Mail A pitcher can go undefeated and still learn the hardest lessons after the wins. We’re joined by Jamie Johnson, principal at East Prairie High School and a longtime coach who’s lived nearly every side of the game: Senath-Hornersville All-State dominance, Division I baseball at Murray State, American Legion championships, scouting connections, and now summer nights with the Fighting...

Send us Fan Mail A town doesn’t keep its identity by accident. It keeps it because people choose to serve, teach, lead, and stay, year after year, even when they could go somewhere “bigger.” That’s why we’re honored to welcome Roger Sherman, one of Sikeston, Missouri’s most respected educators and community leaders, to The Dog House. Roger takes us back to his roots near Lilbourn, then into his Na...

Send us Fan Mail A perfect football field does not happen by accident, and it definitely does not happen on a tight deadline after a tornado. We sit down with De Bizzell of Green Grass Guys to get the real behind-the-scenes story of how Sikeston’s athletic fields are built, repaired, and kept game-ready when the weather, the calendar, and traffic all work against you. De takes us through his third...

Send us Fan Mail A triple-overtime buzzer beater can make you a local legend, but what happens when the guy who hit it comes back decades later to coach the next wave? We welcome Chris Lambert, Sikeston Class of ’89, civil engineer, and the newest Bulldog assistant football coach, and we get into the real work behind “Bulldog grit”: relationships, daily effort, and building a culture players can b...

Send us Fan Mail A small-town country club can be a private place, or it can be a public force for momentum. We sit down with Kevin Collins, the general manager of Sikeston Country Club, to get a clear look at what’s changing, why it matters, and how a multi-phase rebuild can reshape the way a community gathers, plays, and grows. Kevin has spent more than three decades at the club, and he walks us...

Send us Fan Mail He went from a driveway hoop decision to a passport stamp and a pro contract. Owen Long joins us to tell the real story behind chasing basketball dreams, from growing up around Alabama’s football-first culture to stepping into the intensity of Sikeston Bulldogs basketball and learning what “standard” actually means when the gym is packed and expectations are high.  We get into the...

Send us Fan Mail 5 a.m. sounds like a terrible idea until you hear what it’s producing in Sikeston. We sit down with Jimmy (Slip n Slide), Blair (Khakis), and Jesse (Gummy) from F3 The Forge to talk about why men are choosing early morning outdoor workouts, and why they keep coming back even when they are sore, tired, and busy. This isn’t a gym pitch or a hype speech. It’s a real conversation abou...

Send us Fan Mail They watched their house burn, walked inside to grab what mattered, and still showed up that night to officiate a championship game. That one decision tells you almost everything about Jayvon and Javion Biles, the Charleston High School twins who’ve been lighting up the region with faith, leadership, and a work ethic that feels rare at any age.  We sit down with the Biles twins to...

Send us Fan Mail A quiet auditorium can tell you a lot about a town, and a packed one can tell you even more. We sit down with Perry Harper, worship pastor at Miner Baptist Church and a performer whose road runs through the University of Alabama, professional theater, and Sight & Sound Theatre in Branson, to talk about why he and his wife Amy are pouring their time into bringing Charleston Hig...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of basketball stories sound clean when you tell them later. Parker Long doesn’t tell it that way. He’s a former Sikeston Bulldog standout who’s now coaching at Three Rivers College, and he walks with us through the real stuff: the pressure of arriving from Alabama, the shock of Sikeston’s standards, the joy of a town that shows up for you, and the moments when you realize yo...

Send us Fan Mail A Final Four run is already rare. Add a newborn arriving in the middle of it, and you get a story our town will tell for a long time. We’re joined by Sikeston Bulldogs basketball assistant coach Will Holifield, a key voice behind the toughness, discipline, and pace that define this program, and he takes us inside the season that ends on the state’s biggest stage in Missouri high s...

Send us Fan Mail You’ve heard a loud gym before, but you haven’t heard Sikeston until you’ve heard The Barker. Ken Holloway is one of the most familiar faces in Bulldog Nation, and his bark has become a rallying point that players and fans recognize instantly as support. We sit down with Ken to learn how a pastor from St Louis ends up in southeast Missouri, finds his place in the community, and tu...

Send us Fan Mail Bootheel basketball has a reputation across Missouri for a reason, and we wanted to get the story behind that reputation from someone who’s been determined to preserve it. We’re joined by Erwin Porter, local author and basketball historian, to talk about his book Bootheel Basketball: A Half Century of Hoops Supremacy and what it takes to document the programs, coaches, players, an...

Send us Fan Mail 29 wins doesn’t happen by accident, and neither does a Final Four run. We sit down for a full postseason wrap-up of Sikeston Bulldogs basketball, from the late-night ride home and that first wave of “it’s over” melancholy to the pride that hits when you realize how rare a season like 29-3 really is in Missouri high school basketball. The record matters, but what stays with us is t...

Send us Fan Mail Four teams left. One town still standing. We are still buzzing from the Vianney game and the way our Bulldogs found a way when everything tightened up late. We break down the biggest moments, the stat lines that tell the real story, and the seniors who keep making winning plays even when the spotlight is blazing. If you’re following Missouri high school basketball, MSHSAA Class 5,...

Send us Fan Mail Four-peat secured. Now the real test begins. We open with the Bulldogs’ path through districts—how Sikeston handled a bruising Festus team, survived a cold stretch, and turned fourth-quarter pressure into a double-digit win. From missed “dagger” threes to a surge of late turnovers, we unpack what actually swung the game and why our pace matters more in March than it did in Decembe...

Send us Fan Mail March turns a good team into a focused one. We break down Sikeston’s Class 5 District 1 bracket, from seeding to the on-court habits that will actually decide tight games: rebounding discipline, rotation depth, shot quality, and how our defense has leveled up at the right time. The opener against DeSoto demands urgency, and we call out the trap doors—why even five-win teams are da...

Send us Fan Mail A buzzer-beating kind of night sets the tone for something bigger. We open with a SEMO Conference three-peat—full of late-game grit, smart ball movement, and a clutch defensive stand—and then pivot into the deeper win: how our town turns pride into progress for every classroom. Meet Jeannie Lingle, the new executive director of the Sikeston Public Schools Foundation, who brings a...

Send us Fan Mail Seventeen threes on Friday, an 83–80 nail-biter on Saturday, and a straight-shooting conversation about how we keep Sikeston kids safe—this one brings the noise and the nuance. We break down the Bulldogs’ hot streak, then hand the mic to School Safety Coordinator and criminal justice teacher Andy Caton, a former detective and Air Force vet who lives this work on campus every day....

Send us Fan Mail The morning starts light—melting snow, sponsor love, and a social media peek behind the curtain—then surges with a high-tempo hoops breakdown that feels like courtside seats. Dexter’s size and pacing, Sikeston’s pressure defense, a flurry of steals, and shooters finding rhythm set the tone for a team built on secondary break, spacing, and shared scoring. It’s the kind of system ki...

Send us Fan Mail The Bulldogs brought home a statement win, but the biggest victory here aims higher: making it easier for a kid to ask for help and get it fast. We sit down with Scott Ezell and Charlie Mueller from Bootheel Behavioral Health to unpack a local, no-nonsense approach to youth suicide prevention that anyone can use—parents, coaches, teachers, pastors, and employers. Scott breaks down...

Send us Fan Mail Snow on the ground, heaters humming, and Sikeston hoops catching fire—this one blends small‑town heartbeat with big‑time basketball. We open with a community roll call and a blistering recap of a statement win: 16 threes, 60 percent from the field, and a 21‑year run of winning seasons still intact. Then we welcome freshman head coach and junior high track coach Traveon Dennis to p...

Send us Fan Mail Six wins in a week set the tone, but the real story is what happens behind the scenes. We sit down with Dexter head football coach Chad Jamerson for a candid, energizing look at how faith, family, and clear standards transform a team into a program that endures. From small-school grind—painting fields, turning off sprinklers at dawn—to big-picture leadership learned under Hall of...