Jackson Free Press

As human beings, we love nostalgia. We love TV series from our youth and get excited about “Twin Peaks” and “Gilmore Girls,” among other shows now getting a breath of new life.

We love listening to music that is considered classic, like those 1990s hits from my high school and college years. We get excited about new sequels such as “Independence Day: Resurgence” that come 20 years after the original.

Our love of the past is why, to wrestling fans, the signing of Sting to the WWE was such a big deal. Then you see his match with Triple H at WrestleMania 31. The match was full of nostalgia, with members of DX and the NWO making appearances.

But the match also showed that the Sting of 2015 wasn’t the Sting of our youth. The WrestleMania match needed all the outside interference because neither him nor Triple H were same men they used to be during Monday Night Wars.

If the WrestleMania match wasn’t enough to convince anyone that Sting was done in the ring, watching his match with Seth Rollins confirmed it. The match between Rollins and Sting wasn’t very good and that was before Sting’s neck was injured by Rollins’ botched powerbomb into the turnbuckle.

Sting was forced to retire after the match, once the injury revealed he suffers from cervical spinal stenosis, a neck condition that could leave him paralyzed or dead if he keeps performing in the ring.

Professional wrestlers normally have long careers, with some working in the ring until they reach their 70s. That doesn’t mean wrestlers should still be in the ring.

Sting was 55 years old when he joined the WWE. That was the last major draw from WCW to join the company. His best years were behind him and not in front of him.

Father time catches up to us all. The Undertaker really shouldn’t be in the ring anymore, and he is nowhere near the wrestler we grew up watching. His last couple of WrestleMania matches were only watchable because that is the only time of year he shows up.

His match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XXX is mainly remembered for Lesnar winning and breaking Undertaker’s streak of 20-0 at the event. The match was just alright at best and is only notable because Taker lost.

Undertaker is 51 years old and looks to be done after this past year’s WrestleMania 32. It would be shocking if he showed up for WrestleMania 33.

Now comes the return of Bill Goldberg. It has been more than 12 years since Goldberg was in a WWE ring. His last match was against Lesnar at WrestleMania XX.

Goldberg, for those who don’t know, was a professional football player before injuries cut his career short. He was once one of the biggest stars of the Monday Night Wars, as WCW inflated his win streak to 173-0.

Last night (Oct. 17), the …

One of the biggest sporting events of the year returns next week. Central Mississippi will host the PGA Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson.

Tournament week begins on Monday, Oct. 24, but the general public won’t be allowed on the grounds until Wednesday, Oct. 26, which is the Allen Exploration Pro-AM.

This year’s Pro-Am features two former professional athletes. Former football player Herschel Walker and baseball player Paul Maholm will play when the Pro-Am tees off at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning.

Walker played college football at the University of Georgia, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1982 and was a three-time All-American. The Dallas Cowboys drafted him in the fifth round of the 1985 NFL Draft, shortly before the USFL folded that same year.

He played for Dallas until 1989, when the Cowboys traded him to the Minnesota Vikings. The trade was the start of the Cowboys’ 1990s Super Bowl runs as the Vikings struggled.

Walker played in the NFL until he retired at the end of the 1997 season. While still active in the NFL, the star running back competed in the 1992 Winter Olympics.

Since retiring, he took on two Mixed Martial Arts fights and won both. At age 54, Walker is still in fantastic shape.

Maholm, a Holly Springs native who won an amateur golf tournament when he was 14, was a three-time letterman at Mississippi State University and an All-American in 2003. The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted him that year with the eighth overall pick.

The star pitcher spent time with the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers before his career ended in 2015.

On Thursday, Oct. 27, the Sanderson Farms Championship begins when gates open at 7 a.m., and first tee at 7:40 a.m. The full field of 132 players won’t be announced until Friday, Oct. 21, but several players have already committed to the tournament.

Five former tournament winners will be in the field including 2015 winner Peter Malnati. The other four champions are Nick Taylor (2014 champion), Chris Kirk (2011 champion), D.J. Trahan (2006 champion) and Cameron Beckman (2001 champion).

Several notable names will be in the field, including two-time major winners Angel Cabrera and Retief Goosen. Cabrera won the 2007 U.S. Open and the 2009 Masters, and Goosen won the 2001 and 2004 U.S. Open. Other major winners in the field are Stewart Clink, the winner of the 2009 British Open, Lucas Glover, winner of the 2009 U.S. Open, and David Toms, winner of the 2001 PGA Championship.

Several notable names committed to playing are Boo Weekley, Ricky Barnes, Stuart Appleby and Ben Crane. Former University of Mississippi standout and Brandon, Miss. native Jonathan Randolph is also committed to playing.

Friday the tournament opens at 7 a.m. with morning tee times beginning at 7:40. The field will be cut down on Friday with the tournament resuming …

Next week the University of Southern Mississippi will host Marshall University for homecoming. But before the team can start to enjoy the festivities, it must first get past a showdown against Louisiana State University.

LSU is spending a good deal of time in the news this football season, and most of it is for what is not happening on the field. The Tigers have fired their head coach Les Miles, former Heisman candidate Leonard Fournette has spent most of the season injured, and LSU and the University of Florida have been fighting about a makeup date over a cancelled game.

Miles shouldn’t have been fired after a 2-2 start in the first four games. Where are the Tigers going to find a coach that will average 10 wins a year now? Former University of Mississippi coach Ed Orgeron is now the head Tiger and gets to make his case to keep the job after the season.

At this point, Fournette should shut himself down and get ready for the NFL draft. The running back has been injured for most of the last two seasons. He needs to heal up and show out at the combine. If he does play again this season, it will be just to show the folks at the next level his commitment and ability to get back on the field after injury.

Florida gave up a home game, and both schools have to buyout their Nov. 19 foes, but they will play. In the end, the Gators will need this game more than the Tigers if Tennessee loses to Alabama on Saturday and if UF can beat Georgia later.

Now, to LSU against USM.

This is an interesting match up.

Southern Miss is coming off a game where the University of Texas, San Antonio burned USM’s defense for 532 yards. The Golden Eagle defense wasn’t much of a “Nasty Bunch” as just plain nasty against the Roadrunners.

Much like the other loss this season against Troy University, USM started slow on offense, was sloppy on both sides of the ball and couldn’t cover or tackle on defense. When they go against LSU, the Golden Eagles can’t play the way they didn’t against Troy and UTSA and still have a chance to win.

USM scores 40.2 points per game, and LSU scores 25.2 points. On the flipside, the Golden Eagles’ defense is allowing 27 points per game, and the Tigers only allow 14.8 points.

The question is which team can reach its average. LSU struggles on offense and won’t have Fournette against USM.

Southern Miss can put up points, but can the Golden Eagles’ offense put up enough points on a very stout LSU defense? The Tigers struggle to score on offense and make it a struggle for foes to score on defense.

While LSU won’t have Fournette, it will have Derrius Guice at running back. This season, Guice has run for 402 …

Gov. Phil Bryant says Constitutional rights are at risk this presidential election, in an email sent from the Mississippi GOP. "The next President will fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s vacancy and will likely appoint three or four additional Justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. Putting liberals on the court could set back the conservative movement by decades," the email says.

"We know what kind of Supreme Court Justices Hillary Clinton would appoint if she were elected President," the email continues. "And she has not been bashful about it either when she’s said."

The email then lists the following three quotes from Clinton:

1) “The Supreme Court is wrong on the Second Amendment [referring to the Supreme Court’s decision in Heller, which affirmed individual gun rights]. And I am going to make that case every chance I get.”

2) “The unborn person does not have constitutional rights.”

3) “Deep-seated religious beliefs have to be changed.”

For some fact-checks and context around those quotes, see below:

• 2nd Amendment, Thoughts on Heller Clinton does think Heller was decided wrongly, for specific reasons. One of her aides told Bloomberg that "Clinton believes Heller was wrongly decided in that cities and states should have the power to craft common sense laws to keep their residents safe, like safe storage laws to prevent toddlers from accessing guns." Clinton does not support abolishing the 2nd Amendment, however, and while she advocates for gun control like expanding background checks and banning the sale or use of military-style weapons, she is not advocating to repeal the 2nd Amendment.

• 'Unborn Person' Comments In an April interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" Clinton said that "the unborn person does not have constitutional rights," infuriating both anti-abortion and pro-abortion rights activists alike. Anti-abortion rights activists praised her rhetorical error as a recognition of a 'person' not yet born, while pro-abortion rights activists were equally upset because she neglected to use the word 'fetus.' In her policy plans, Clinton has vowed to repeal the Hyde amendment and support Planned Parenthood

• On Changing 'Deep-Seated Religious Beliefs' This quote needs some ellipses in it for starters, but for better context here's what Clinton actually said at the 2015 Women in the World Summit:

"Far too many women are still denied critical access to reproductive healthcare and safe childbirth. All the laws we've passed don't count for much if they're not enforced. Rights have to exist in practice, not just on paper. Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will, and deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed. As I have said and as I believe, the advancement of the full participation of women and girls in every aspect of their societies is the great unfinished business of the 21st century."

The deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases Clinton referenced in this speech had everything to do with …