The Mississippi State Bulldogs have delivered.  They beat the Oregon ducks convincingly and will advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament.  It was truly a game of two halves with Charles Rhodes, a Jackson native, as the difference maker.  

I can't quite put my finger on it. What is it about the man, the legend, the #4, the quarterback, the country boy with a good heart?

Is it the weird last name that you want to pronounce how its spelled, F-a-v-r-e or is it the fist pump after a touchdown completion? Maybe it's the Wrangler Jean commercial that makes him so loveable, so touchable.
I guess it could be the numbers: 442 Touchdowns, 61,655 Passing Yards and 253 Consecutive Starts as a QB, but there is just something more to Brett Favre.

Everyone has a favorite Favre moment - and that's just it. Brett Favre is a favorite of every fan. You can be a Cowboy fan, Patriot fan, or Saints fan, and you can still love watching the Favre play. He's just a likable guy from Kiln, Mississippi who knows how to throw the ball. With Favre, what you see is what you get.
And now since we won't see him on the field anymore, we won't get the same NFL experience.

There is only one Brett Favre.

Christi

Labels: NFL

5A Girls - Murrah... TOP 10 team in America - of course they win. And LaSondra Barrett... a local McDonald's All-American won't be denied the top honor.

4A Girls - Gentry... they're 36-0 who's going to stop them now?!

3A Girls - Raymond... local team = local love... and they have to play at 9AM tuesday morning! Get your beauty sleep ladies!

2A Girls - Philadelphia... this is their 5th straight trip to the Hight School State Championship Dance... tied for the longest active streak with SE Lauderdale.

1A Girls - East Oktibbeha... two words: April Sykes, also a McDonald's All-American who will lead the Lady Titans to a repeat championship.

Let’s face it, girls rule! Murrah forward LaSondra Barrett and East Okitbbeha guard April Sykes were given happy meals in the form of the McDonald’s High School All-American girls basketball team selection. How many boys were selected from Mississippi? I really don’t think there were any – nope not one.

LaSondran and her Lady Mustangs are continuing to dominate girls basketball in Mississippi. They defeated their rivals, Provine 75-54 in the first round of the North Mississippi Class 5A playoffs, but it doesn’t stop there. They have to beat Tupelo on Friday or beat the loser of the South Panola-Greenville loser on Saturday to come back to home sweet home and play for their eighth state title. With an McDonald’s All-American player, the Murrah girls basketball team is sure to have a happy ending.

One more reason girls rule: Mississippi State’s softball team is ranked Number 15 in the USA Today/NFCA and ESPN/USA Softball Top 25 polls - the highest ranking in team history! You go girls!

Labels: Girls Basketball

High school basketball divisional playoffs have started and the sweethearts of the hardwood have to play sweet or else they'll be faced with a bitter loss.  If you lose your first game  you're out - you cannot pass go, the ride is over.  

Wow. Shocked. Stunned. Proud. Amazing. Those are just a few ways sports fans could describe Super Bowl 42. Patriot fans could describe it with one word - Disappointing.

What is that I smell? Pigs in a blanket? Rotel cheese dip? Toasted Ravioli? Tom Brady?

Sorry I just got carried away. I started thinking about what kinds of hot tasty appetizers I might cook for Super Bowl Sunday and my mind somehow wandered off to Tom Brady, funny how that happens.

So what's cookin' in the local sports scene? Well, the STATE Men's basketball team demolished the Ole Miss Rebels, 88-68 and are now ranked in the Top-25 for the first time in three years! Granted they're 24th and Baylor is 25th - that might tell you something about that State of the College Basketball union.
The Lady Bulldogs are 13-7 overall and 1-4 in conference play, but that one win was against Ole Miss, so that should count as like 10 wins.

Ole Miss basketball is also ranked in the Top 25 at #22, but are 2-3 in conference play. They don't play so well on the road, maybe they miss the comfort of their pillows. They're back in the Tad Pad on Wednesday playing Vanderbilt who is ranked #18, but that's kind of a joke.

Ladies and Gents...what are you cooking for Super Bowl Sunday?
Talk amongst yourselves.

- Christi

Labels: college football

Lady basketball teams in the Jackson area are seeing a lot of the Murrah Lady Mustangs basketball team and now the Nation is seeing more. On Thursday, they were ranked 4th on the USA Today Super 25. Yup, you read that right they are #4 in the Nation.

And as they should be, with an average scoring margin of 38 points in 15 games, and allowing opponents only 32.4 points per game, the Lady Mustangs have proved they are worthy.

Head Coach Anna Jackson has a scoring sisterhood that has a secret society of scoring big against every opponent. In girl talk, they bring it. They’ve won 15 straight and the ladies are scoring like the boys. In a recent game against Provine, LaSondra Barrett scored 24 points and Tanecka Carey had 21. The only team that could pose a threat is cross-town rival, Forest Hill.

For now, the Lady Mustangs basketball team is sitting pretty at #4…in the nation!

Christi

Labels: Lady Basketball

What a year that was…many things. The '07-'08 college football season was one to remember or forget depending on what team you were cheering for. Let’s take a look back.

• In Michigan's season opener they were beaten by unranked Appalachian State, shocking fans and prompting a season of upsets.
• Ole Miss goes win-less in the SEC for the first time since 1982 and went 0-8 for the first time in school history.
• Coach Ogeron was fired and Houston Nutt was hired.
• Mississippi State went to the Liberty Bowl and Coach Croom was named the SEC Coach of the Year.
• The USC Trojans were beaten by unranked, Stanford Cardinals…at home.
• The Missouri Tigers beat the Kansas jayhawks to keep them out of the Big 12 Championship game and the Tigers went on to become the No. 1 team in the Nation for the first time since 1977.
• Arkansas beat LSU in overtime, 50-48.
• On Sunday, Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Bobby Petrino watched his NFL team get blown out, Monday he flew to Arkansas, and on Tuesday he became the Arkansas Razorbacks head coach.
• LSU and Ohio State somehow found themselvs playing in the National Championship game. They just sat back and waited for teams to lose - good game plan.
• The LSU Tigers beat the Ohio State Buckeyes, 38-24, but I’m not talking about remembering those Tigers.
• The Tigers to remember are the Trinity Tigers, who made history in Jackson, during a football game against Millsaps that ended with 15 laterals and a victory in the last seconds of the game!
  
  My 2008 Preseason Poll
  1 – Missouri
  2 – USC
  3 – West Virgina
  4 – Florida
  5 – Oregon
  
  If they had only known… AP POLL
  2007 Preseason: End of the season:
  1. USC 1. LSU
  2. LSU 2. Georgia
  3. West Virginia 3. USC
  4. Texas 4. Missouri
  5. Michigan 5. Ohio State
  6. Florida 6. West Virgina
  7. Wisconsin 7. Kansas
  8. Oklahoma 8. Oklahoma
  9. Virginia Tech 9. Virginia Tech
• 10. Louisville 10. Texas

Labels: college football

When all everyone can talk about is Houston Nutt, the BCS scam, or High School football championships – the Lady Bulldogs are giving STATE fans something else to talk about. They have an impressive 8-2 record so far this season, beating teams such as Memphis and Southern.

In the 2007-08 season, they’ve already made a trip to Cancun where they played in the Cancun Caribbean Challenge. It seems as though they enjoyed their time off the court more than on the court. They lost to Iowa and Oklahoma (54-60 and 73-88).

Last season they finished 7-7 in the SEC, 6th overall, and the last time they made an appearance in the NCAA tournament was in 2003. Their first conference game doesn’t come until the New Year (Jan. 3rd) against Alabama, but they're eager to take a bite out of the SEC.

With all the starters returning, Head Coach Sharon Fanning is hoping her 13th season with the Lady Bulldogs will end with similar success that Coach Croom has enjoyed with his football program.

One thing is for sure – they know how to score; 8 out of their 10 games, the Lady Bulldogs have scored over 70 points. In their game against Memphis they scored an impressive 92 points.

After all this football stuff is over, get on dog watch!

Christi