Jackson Free Press

American Pharoah finally broke the 37-year streak of no Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. It was the longest drought in Triple Crown history, breaking the previous one of 25 years between Citation winning in 1948 and Secretariat winning in 1973.

While the horse captured the attention of the public from early May to June, American Pharoah is now retired after winning horse racings' first Grand Slam when he captured the Breeder’s Cup in late October. He now lives the life of a stud horse on a stud farm in Kentucky.

A new horse will get a chance to accomplish the feat of winning the Triple Crown this year. Horses have won back-to-back Triple Crowns just once, When Seattle Slew accomplished the feat in 1977 and Affirmed did it in 1978.

The Kentucky Derby, also known as “The Run for the Roses,” is a 1 1/4-mile race for 3-year-old horses. This year marks the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby, and the race this year will have a full field of 20.

Undefeated in seven races, Nyquist is the early favorite at 3-1, as he drew the No. 13 post on Wednesday, the same one he won at the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile last year. Four horses since 1900 have won from that post, with Smarty Jones being the latest in 2004.

Mario Gutierrez rides Nyquist, Doug O’Neill trains him and Paul Redman, who went on to win the 2012 Kentucky Derby on I’ll Have Another, owns him. The horse also won the Preakness Stakes before being scratched from the Belmont Stakes due to a tendon injury.

The second favorite is Exaggerator at 8-1 odds and racing out of the No.11 post. A trio of horses are tied for third favorite: Creator from the No. 3 post, Gun Runner from No. 5 and Mohaymen from No. 14 are all 10-1 odds.

Bob Baffert, who trained American Pharoah, will have Mor Spirit, who drew the No. 17 post, a spot no horse has ever won the derby from. Mor Spirit is 12-1 odds, along with No. 19 post Brody’s Cause.

Destin from the No. 9 post and Danzing Candy from the No. 20 post are drawing 15-1 odds.

New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson has two horses in the field with Mo Tom at No. 4 and Tom’s Ready at No. 12. Mo Tom is at 20-1, and Tom’s Ready is at 30-1 odds.

American Pharoah jockey Victor Espinoza drew the No. 10 post on Witmore, who, like No. 2 post Suddenbreakingnews, My Man Sam at No. 6 and Saghaf at No. 16, are all at 20-1 odds.

Racing from Japan is Lani from the No. 8 post. The horse is known to be unpredictable from the starting gate. Lani and No. 18 Majesto are at 30-1 odds.

Trojan Nation drew the dreaded No. 1 post. That's the horse that normally gets pinned against the inside rail and is pushed back by …

It is a tale of two vastly different brackets in the UEFA Euro 2016 knockout stage. One side is stacked with historic European soccer powers, and the other side has a mix of powers who haven’t broken through and upstart teams.

The bottom half of the bracket features teams that have won 21 major titles. It features nations with 11 World Cups and 10 European Championships. The other half of the bracket features teams with zero major titles.

That would be like the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots being on one side of the playoffs and the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans being on the other side.

If you are a neutral fan, there are plenty of underdogs to root for left in the tournament.

The biggest underdog will be Iceland against England. The smallest nation to ever qualify for this tournament is the feel-good story.

Iceland’s last-second goal against Austria has thus far been one of memorable moments of the tournament. About 8 percent of the 330,000 population of Iceland has bought tickets for this event.

Just making the second round is a major accomplishment, but beating England would be even bigger. While England will be rooting for the Three Lions, the rest of them will be backing the Ice Men.

Host nation France also plays an underdog as it takes on Ireland in the next round. The Irish beat Italy on a late goal, sending them into the second round.

Italy also sat several important players, having advanced to the next stage. Ireland’s win over Italy reminded fans of their upset win over the Azzurri in the 1994 World Cup.

Last time these two teams played in a non-friendly saw France advance to the World Cup after a handball goal in Dublin from Thierry Henry gave Les Bleus a 2-1 in a playoff. Ireland would love revenge on French soil.

Slovakia was the top third-place team to advance, and for their accomplishment, they get Germany. It would be a great win for Slovakia to beat World Champion Germany. Both teams have struggled at times, but the Germans are the stronger side.

The last matchup in the bottom of the bracket is between two soccer heavyweights. Italy against Spain will be like getting a championship game-caliber match in the second round. These two teams have met 34 previous times with both sides earning 10 wins and 14 draws. One team will get the upper hand after this match.

One underdog is going to advance. That is because Northern Ireland plays Wales in the second round.

Gareth Bale provides Wales with the star power, but Northern Ireland has defended well and advanced as a third-place team with 1-0 losses to Poland and Germany. Wales won a group that also included England, Russia and Slovakia.

Croatia against Portugal is an interesting match in the second round. Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo has …

Professional wrestling hit one of its high points with the Monday Night Wars between WWE, then known as WWF, and WCW. The battle between the two wrestling federations began in the mid-1990s and ended in 2001, when WWE bought WCW.

This was one of the golden eras in pro wrestling and featured some of the biggest names in the sport, such as Hulk Hogan, the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. After WCW folded, the product hasn’t had the same must-see-each-week feel.

During the ratings war between the two companies, WWE started the popular television series “WWE SmackDown.” While one of the wrestling corporation’s other popular offerings, “Monday Night Raw,” premiers live, “SmackDown” has been mostly pre-recorded.

In order to add some new fuel to the WWE’s ratings, “SmackDown” is now shifting to a live format and moving from its traditional Thursday night slot to Tuesday nights on the USA Network. In previous years, “SmackDown” was taped on Tuesday before being shown on Thursday.

This isn’t the first time “SmackDown” has shown live, but it is the program’s first long-term move to the format. While pre-recording shows has been a staple of the wrestling industry for a long time, the Internet has just about put an end to the process.

WWE is going to split their talent between “Raw” and “SmackDown” with a draft. This also isn’t the first time that the company has used a draft to move talent around.

The main problem with the draft is that few big names moved off the flagship show, “Raw.” One to four main-event talents were on “SmackDown,” but they normally showed up on “Raw” anyway.

If the WWE wants to make the now-live “SmackDown” a more successful show, the company will have to do a few things.

First, WWE will need to split the talent as level as possible. “Raw” can’t have all the big names with “SmackDown” getting the crumbs and having to build main-event stars.

Brock Lesnar is a good fit on “Raw” because it is the flagship show, and he has a limited number of appearance dates. John Cena, Randy Orton, AJ Styles or other recognizable names have to move to “SmackDown” to provide star power.

The WWE can and should break up the former members of The Shield. Current champion Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins can bring main-event status on either show. Once Roman Reign’s suspension is over, it might be best to leave him on “Raw.”

Another idea to help “SmackDown” out is to have that show, or as the WWE likes to say, “brand,” draft several NXT wrestlers. NXT is like the WWE minor-league system if you didn’t already know.

NXT performers such as Finn Balor, Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura would give “SmackDown” a must-see feel for fans who don’t have the WWE Network, which is currently the only way to watch “WWE NXT.”

Those are three of the biggest names …

Tony Romo takes back the role of starting quarterback job the Dallas Cowboys tonight, Aug. 19, at 7 p.m. against the Miami Dolphins. This will be the first game action in the preseason for Romo, who is recovering from an injury-plagued 2015 campaign.

It seems like a good bet that Romo will only play two to three series in this game. It would be shocking to see him play past the first quarter. However, when Romo’s night is done, there is still plenty of reasons to stay around and watch this game on the NFL Network.

Former Mississippi State University star Dak Prescott is one reason to watch until his night is done. Last week against the Los Angeles Rams, Prescott had perhaps one of the best NFL debuts in Cowboys history.

Sure, it was a preseason game, and the Rams didn’t play every starter or even have a game plan. But Prescott started the game in front of nearly 90,000 fans, and Los Angeles wasn’t playing the game with a defense full of guys who are going to be out on the street next week.

In that preseason game, the Rams played both starters and backups who will play a big part of the team’s success or failure this season. Prescott had a great night even for the preseason, and he could lock up the backup job in the next three games.

Prescott was as sharp as any quarterback in the league. Even in the preseason, quarterbacks still have to read the defense and make throws. It wasn’t like Prescott was throwing against air.

He completed 10 out of 12 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns, and his only two incompletions were drops. He threw some nice passes that included a couple of back-shoulder throws and some pinpoint passes into tight windows.

Now it will be interesting to see how Prescott follows his big game from last week. He will have even more pressure on him to show the same level of play, but he will have to work with mostly backups this time.

Can he get in good plays for the Cowboys working with the second- and third-string offense? Can he overcome the inevitable false starts or holding penalties that tend to happen with backup linemen in a game?

These are things to watch, along with how he controls the huddle and how he manages the offense in down and distance situations. He will be throwing to receivers who might be the Cowboys’ third or fourth wide receivers if they make the team instead of Dez Bryant and the starters.

How does he handle it when players make mistakes and run the wrong routes? There is a difference between starting a preseason game and coming in after the starters have left the game.

Prescott has a chance to show that last week wasn’t some fluke or great luck. He has a chance to …

The 2016 World Series is set to begin with game one on Tuesday, Oct. 25. When the first pitch is thrown, one thing might already be set in stone: No matter the outcome of this World Series,

three men have earned their place in Cooperstown. With the tough requirements for entering the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, that might sound strange.

These three men are Chicago Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein, Cleveland Indians Manager Terry Francona and Cubs Manager Joe Maddon. People might argue against Maddon, but it is hard to argue against Epstein and Francona.

The Boston Red Sox hired Epstein in 2002 as general manager, which made the 28-year-old the youngest general manager in MLB history. Two years later, the team he put together finally broke the “Curse of the Bambino” that plagued the Red Sox.

That 2004 Boston team came back from a 0-3 deficit to the New York Yankees and won the American League Championship Series. The Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals and won their first World Series since 1918.

Epstein signed and brokered the trades that brought some of the biggest pieces to the Red Sox, setting up the 2004 World Series teams. He brought a second World Series to Boston in 2007 when the Red Sox beat the Colorado Rockies 4-0.

The Chicago Cubs hired Epstein to be the president in 2011. That set in motion the Cubs’ trip to the World Series this season. If the Cubs win this series, he has a chance to be a part of two organizations that broke long title droughts.

But even if the Cubs lose, Epstein should still get into the baseball Hall of Fame as quickly as the rules allow. The work he has done with Boston and Chicago are unprecedented.

One of Epstein’s biggest hires with the Red Sox was manager Terry Francona. He hired him after Boston had lost to the Yankees in the 2003 ALCS.

With the hopes of a whole city weighing on each player and coach every single season, it is hard to get everyone on the same page in such a short of amount of time. Francona worked magic in the 2004 and 2007 World Series wins for the Red Sox.

In 2011, the Red Sox decided not to pick up his option for the 2012 season. Francona resurfaced in 2013 as the manager of the Cleveland Indians.

He led the Indians to the AL Wild Card in his first season before Cleveland took a step back in the 2014 and 2015 seasons. He righted the ship this season, and the Indians reached the World Series.

Like Epstein, Francona has the chance to reverse the fortunes of two long-suffering franchises. If the Indians win, he should be added to the Hall of Fame as quickly as possible, but he should get in win or lose.

Maddon is best known for his …

NFL teams try to balance between winning right now and winning in the future. It is hard to maintain, and the few teams are able to do it year in and year out.

One of those teams is the New England Patriots. The Super Bowl champions have been able to win titles and stockpile draft picks for nearly two decades in the Belichick-Brady era.

While New England is waiting to see if quarterback Tom Brady will ever slow down, the Patriots already have a quarterback that could help build the program’s future.

New England made Jimmy Garoppolo its first pick of the 2014 NFL Draft. Garoppolo was the 62nd overall pick out of Eastern Illinois University.

As Brady continues to bathe in the fountain of youth, the Patriots have to decide what to do about Garoppolo. It seems the answer will be to trade him to a team that makes the best deal.

One of the teams that should at least pick up the phone is the New Orleans Saints. It’s likely that the 2017-2018 season will be the final season that quarterback Drew Brees plays for New Orleans.

It would be a great idea for New Orleans to inquire about Garoppolo. If the Saints can swing the trade, he will have the chance to study under two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

The asking price is the question, as is what Garoppolo’s actually value is.

There isn’t a lot of NFL tape on the quarterback since he has spent most of his time in the league sitting behind Brady. In three NFL seasons, Garoppolo has played in 17 games with just two starts. He has thrown 94 passes with 63 completions with five touchdowns and zero interceptions.

He started two of the four games during which Brady was suspended at the beginning of this season. He played well in both games before an injury forced rookie Jacoby Brissett to take over at quarterback.

The small sample size of Garoppolo’s NFL experience makes it hard to judge what he is worth. New England has traded away quarterbacks who didn’t go on to have success elsewhere.

The Patriots traded Drew Bledsoe to the Buffalo Bills after the emergence of Brady. Bledsoe was at the end of his career and never did lead Buffalo to a Super Bowl.

Then, there was Matt Cassel, who took over for New England after a knee injury took Brady out for a season. The Patriots traded Cassell to the Kansas City Chiefs. He never turned into a star after leaving New England, and the Chiefs moved on from him.

Finally, there is Ryan Mallett, who the Patriots traded to the Houston Texans. Houston eventually released him, but he is currently playing for the Baltimore Ravens in a backup role.

Ultimately, it’s up to New Orleans to decide if Garoppolo is worth the sacrifice. Would the Saints best be served …

As the NFL Draft inches closer, the league gave fans a treat on Monday, April 10, releasing the preseason scheduled for every team and the dates of the eight nationally televised games. Times and dates of the other games are not set at this point.

Only one of the national games could end up being a big deal in our state: the Hall of Fame Game, which has the Dallas Cowboys and the Arizona Cardinals kicking off the preseason on Thursday, Aug. 3, at 7 p.m. on NBC. The first full week of preseason games will be held from Aug. 10 to Aug. 14, with all 32 teams in action.

There will be plenty of fans who will want to see if Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott avoids a second-year slump. If he plays in the Hall of Fame Game, it won’t be for long, but fans will still want to see the young star.

This newly released schedule gives us a chance to look ahead at the matchups for both the Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints.

Dallas will be in Los Angeles against the Rams for the first full week of the preseason. This game will feature two young quarterbacks—Prescott, who was drafted in the fourth round in 2016, and Jared Goff, who was the first overall pick of the same draft.

New Orleans will travel to Cleveland in week one to face the Browns. If both teams use their current draft power, this game could feature four first-round picks, with both teams having two in the upcoming draft. It could also feature the number-one overall pick if the Browns don’t trade that spot before or during the draft.

Week two of the preseason, which takes place from Aug. 17 to Aug. 21, will see the Saints heading out to Los Angeles to play the Chargers, who are no longer in San Diego. New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees will face his former team but not in the same city where he played.

Dallas will head home in week two to host the Indianapolis Colts. For the second week in a row, the Cowboys will face a quarterback who was the first overall pick in the draft. This time, it is Andrew Luck, who was the top pick in 2012.

The third week of the NFL preseason is normally the week that the starters see the most playing time. These games will be held from Aug. 24 to Aug. 27 as teams try to get in a dress rehearsal before the season starts.

New Orleans will get its first home game of the preseason as the team hosts the Houston Texans. The Saints will try to keep a returning J.J. Watt and Jadeveon Clowney away from Brees when the starters are on the field.

Dallas will at home for the second week in a row, as the team hosts the Oakland Raiders. Prescott against the Raiders’ Derek Carr is …