Rick Cleveland - Mississippi Today

By Rick Cleveland - Mississippi Today, READ MORE > 1,507 Reads
On Fri, 10/16/2020 - 05:09 PM

Baseball Hall of Famer Whitey Ford, the stylish, left-handed pitcher who died October 8 at age 91, pitched in a remarkable 498 Major League games, all for his beloved New York Yankees.
The catcher for Ford’s last game in 1967? He would be Jake Gibbs, the Ole Miss football legend from Grenada.

Sports Talk: With eyes shut Sergio Garcia wins Sanderson Farms Championship

By Rick Cleveland - Mississippi Today, READ MORE > 2,987 Reads
On Fri, 10/09/2020 - 12:54 PM

With the sun beginning to set over the clubhouse at Country Club of Jackson Sunday, Sergio Garcia closed his eyes. You should know he did not close his eyes to make a wish. No, he closed his eyes to make a 30-inch putt — a million dollar putt, a winning putt on the 72nd hole of the 53rd Sanderson Farms Championship.

Welcome to the craziest college football season in Mississippi history

By Rick Cleveland - Mississippi Today, READ MORE > 2,711 Reads
On Fri, 09/25/2020 - 11:38 AM

We knew months ago, even before the pandemic, this was going to be the one of the craziest, most anticipated football seasons in Mississippi history.

We just thought we knew. We didn’t know the half of it…

Sports Talk: Wrong way turned out right way

By Rick Cleveland - Mississippi Today, READ MORE > 2,046 Reads
On Wed, 09/23/2020 - 03:37 PM

You may have seen the story recently about Vardaman High football coach Brennan Pugh, quarantined because of COVID-19, who coached from a rented lift from his backyard near the field. The story went viral, which perhaps really isn’t the best way to describe anything during this pandemic. Nonetheless…

Sports Talk: Coach-turned-author John Barry still loves football but urges caution during pandemic

By Rick Cleveland - Mississippi Today, READ MORE > 2,092 Reads
On Thu, 09/17/2020 - 11:53 AM

Three facts you should know about author John M. Barry, the former football coach whose masterful historical literary works include both “The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Greatest Plague in History” and “Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America:”

Sports Talk: 'You gotta live smart'

By Rick Cleveland - Mississippi Today, READ MORE > 2,159 Reads
On Thu, 09/03/2020 - 01:04 PM

It’s 92 degrees in the shade and at least 110 on the sun-baked artificial turf at Madison-Ridgeland Academy where the defending private schools football state champion Patriots sweat through a spirited afternoon workout.

Golf phenom Cohen Trolio forced to withdraw from national championship

By Rick Cleveland - Mississippi Today, READ MORE > 2,917 Reads
On Thu, 08/20/2020 - 05:54 PM

Teen-aged golf sensation Cohen Trolio of West Point was supposed to tee off last Monday in the U.S. Amateur Golf Championship at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Ore.
Instead, Trolio and his father/caddy, renowned golf instructor V.J. Trolio, were making the 2,550-mile, cross-continent trip back to Mississippi in a rental car.

His life would make a good song

By Rick Cleveland - Mississippi Today, READ MORE > 3,731 Reads
On Fri, 08/14/2020 - 11:08 AM

You couldn’t make up Grammy-winning song writer Bob Morrison’s life story, but then there’s no need for that. Morrison has lived it – all of it – and can tell it. He could write a song about it and sing it, too, and we’ll get to that.
Such a story…

SEC’s announced 10-game, league-only schedule is simply a best case scenario

By Rick Cleveland - Mississippi Today, READ MORE > 3,486 Reads
On Thu, 08/06/2020 - 01:09 PM

So the news of the day is that the Southeastern Conference has decided to play a 10-game, conference games-only football schedule this fall. Opening day is scheduled for Sept. 26. The SEC Championship game is moved back two weeks to Dec. 19.
We’ll see…

A play for the ages

By Rick Cleveland - Mississippi Today, READ MORE > 2,159 Reads
On Thu, 07/30/2020 - 11:53 AM

This was Nov. 3, 1963, a Saturday. Ole Miss was playing a rare afternoon football game against LSU in Baton Rouge. CBS was broadcasting. I was 11 years old, watching on a black and white TV in Hattiesburg.

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