Jackson Free Press

The BCS Presidential Oversight Committee approved a four team playoff for college football. The deal will start in 2014 and will last for 12-years starting in 2014 and ending in 2025.

Teams will be seed and the games will be rotated over six sites hosting. Those sites are the Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, and Rose Bowl with two other bowls joining "the big four" most likely the Cotton Bowl will be one of the six.

The coveted sixth spot will be contested between some of the higher tiered bowls. In the mix should the the Chick-Fil-A-Bowl, Outback Bowl, or Capital One Bowl. One long-shot bowl game for the sixth spot could be the Liberty Bowl.

Even though the 11 conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick presented their plan and it was agreed too, no details were released today on how teams will be selected for the playoffs or how the revenue will be shared by all of college football.

The proposed playoffs formats talked about publicly have been the top four teams or top four conference champions. Teams will be seed one through four with one playing four and two playing three and winners meeting for the national championship.

If the top four team format was used last year the seeding would have been:

(1) LSU vs. (4) Stanford

(2) Alabama vs. (3) Oklahoma State

If the top four conference champions format was used last year:

(1) LSU vs. (4) Wisconsin

(2) Oklahoma State (3) Oregon

New playoff deal could be worth as much as $50 billion according to early reports.

Rukia Lumumba, daughter of late Mayor Chokwe Lumumba and sister of mayoral candidate Chokwe A. Lumumba, wrote the following letter about the removal of a mural honoring her father. It is published here verbatim:

Open Letter to Jackson, Mississippi on the Painting Over of the Mural in Tribute to My Father, Mayor Chokwe Lumumba

I am both saddened and disappointed to hear of the decision to paint over the mural that was created in tribute to my father, Mayor Chokwe Lumumba. The mural was created by Derrick Perkins & several young artists to honor my father by displaying his mantra " One City, One Aim, One Destiny" on a city park's wall. The mural was painted prior to my brother’s decision to run for Mayor and absent my family’s request or knowledge. That is why it was especially hurtful and came as a shock to learn that the mural was painted over due to complaints, by a few, that the message of the mural was too close to my brother, Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s platform. When my father passed away on February 25th, the number of people who said publicly that he had done more for the city of Jackson in eight months than many had done in years, was innumerable. My father’s mission and vision was to ensure a city that was made ever stronger, economically, spiritually and ethically. That my brother, Chokwe Antar, has, after deep consultation, chosen to carry forward that mission, should not be disparaged.

For me and many residents of Jackson, MS that mural served as memorial and a reminder of the love my father had for the City of Jackson. It served as a constant call to Jacksonians, near and far, that we must work together to help Jackson RISE! The mural embodied my father's vision - a vision rooted in growth, unity, democracy and cultural diversity. I am sincerely grateful to Derrick Perkins & the many young artists who took the initiative to put their creative genius to work, and created such a beautiful and fitting tribute to the man I knew as Daddy and whom many others knew as friend and Mayor Lumumba. Although this is disappointing, my family and I remain encouraged and steadfast in our commitment to walk in his memory. As my father often said, "God, plus love, plus people's power equals progress."

Thank you all for your prayers and continued support.

One City, One Aim, One Destiny!

Rukia Lumumba

This has been one of the best MLB postseasons in a long time. That should mean things are setting up for one of the best World Series in a long time.

Game one of the World Series will be on Tuesday, Oct. 25, and fans have something special to do instead of just sitting on the couch and watching: The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is holding a game one viewing party. But at the event, you can do more than just watch the Fall Classic on the big screen and mingle with other fans.

Former and current MLB players will be on hand before the game starts. Fans will be able to ask questions and get autographs with a great lineup.

Players scheduled to appear are 2017 Hall of Fame inductee pitcher Jay Powell, who won game seven of the 1997 World Series; 2010 Hall of Fame inductee Jeff Brantley, who pitched in the 1989 World Series that saw an earthquake hit before the start of game three; current St. Louis Cardinals third base coach Chris Maloney, who played at Mississippi State University; former University of Mississippi and New York Yankees player Jake Gibbs, who is in the College football Hall of Fame; former UM great Joe Gibbon, who won the 1960 World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates; former University of Southern Mississippi great, who currently is managing in the minor leagues; former USM pitcher Chad Bradford, who was a major focus of the book and later film “Moneyball”; and former Delta State University star Barry Lyons, who played for the New York Mets.

Other players will be added as their schedule makes them available.

The doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with a barbecue dinner, and players will come out at 6:30 before the game starts. Players will discuss their playing days in the majors, answer questions and discuss game one of the World Series.

All proceeds from this event will benefit the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. Tickets for the viewing party begin at $50 and must be purchased in advance.

To buy them, go by the museum office or at this link. For more information about this event, call 601-982-8264.

One-sided games are not unusual in college football. Nearly every season has a few games where the score gets lopsided in favor of one team.

In 1916, one of the biggest blowouts in college football took place, and today is the 100th anniversary of that mauling. The game involved the Georgia Institute of Technology and Cumberland College.

Georgia Tech rolled to an amazing 222-0 win over Cumberland. The Yellow Jackets scored 63 points in the first quarter alone.

But why did Georgia Tech pour it on Cumberland? And why was the game so one-sided?

The second question is easier to answer than the first. Cumberland dissolved its football team in 1915 but failed to properly notify Georgia Tech that it was cancelling the game.

Then-head coach of the Yellow Jackets John Heisman threatened to sue Cumberland for $3,000, roughly $65,000 in today’s dollars, if the tiny college from Lebanon, Tenn., cancelled the game.

Instead, a student manager put together a team of 13 players that consisted mostly of fraternity brothers to head to Atlanta and fulfill the contract obligations.

The myth of why Heisman wanted to play the game so badly was that Cumberland beat the Yellow Jacket’s baseball team, which Heisman also coached, 22-0 in the spring of 1915. He even threw in $500 (worth about $11,000 in today’s dollars) and paid the travel expenses for the Cumberland team he was about to slaughter.

Georgia Tech scored on its first play of the game, and Cumberland fumbled on its first play, which the Yellow Jackets recovered for a score. That was how the matchup went—Georgia Tech would need only one to three plays to score and forced Cumberland into 15 turnovers.

The Yellow Jackets led 126-0 at halftime. Heisman showed some mercy, allowing the teams to play the third and fourth quarters at 12 minutes instead of the normal 15 minutes.

Georgia Tech scored on every single one of its possessions, tallying 32 touchdowns. Cumberland had six interceptions, nine fumbles and zero first downs.

The Yellow Jackets racked up 501 yards of total offense on just 29 offensive plays with 20 first downs. Cumberland finished with negative-28 yards, and the team’s main offensive highlight was a 10-yard pass completion on a fourth-and-22 play.

Cumberland has shuttered its football program five times at various points, despite being a college-football powerhouse at one point. In 1903, the team finished with a 6-1-1 record after a spectacular run of beating the University of Alabama, Tulane University and Louisiana State University by a combined 113-0 score in the span of six days. Cumberland’s only loss was a 6-0 defeat at the hands of Sewanee, and its lone tie came in an 11-11 game against Clemson.

That season, Cumberland met Clemson University in the championship game of the former Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, which contained teams that later formed the Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference. Cumberland now …

None of the universities from our state got into the Division I NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The University of Mississippi was the only close-but-no-cigar team, as they went to the National Invitational Tournament.

That should not be the case with the Division I NCAA Men’s Baseball Tournament. Our state could see as many as four teams get in.

Note: these rankings and standings were as of May 12, 2017.

A lot can change over the last two weeks of the season and in conference tournaments, but Mississippi State University and the University of Southern Mississippi seem to be solidly in the field. Jackson State University is in only if it wins the SWAC Tournament, and UM seems to be having some trouble.

One of the biggest things for MSU is it being one of the top eight seeds. In four recent projections (Baseball America, College Sports Madness, Perfect Game USA and D1Baseball), the Bulldogs are a national seed. Baseball America has the team as the No. 7 seed, and every projection has it as a host for a regional.

Over the next two weeks, the Bulldogs can work their way up the projections and earn one of the top eight seeds. MSU can help itself by winning the SEC West title, along with the SEC title, and get help if other teams falter over the next couple of weeks.

Not all of the projections consider Southern Miss as a possible host for a regional. USM is a host in Baseball America, Perfect Game USA and D1Baseball, but College Sports Madness does not see the Golden Eagles possibly hosting. If USM were to win the C-USA regular season title, it should help the team get locked in for hosting a regional.

The Rebels are in the game in every projection but Baseball America, which has the team as one of the first four teams out. Perfect Game has the Rebels as one of the last three teams into the field, and D1Baseball has them as a third seed in a regional.

The good news for UM is the team closes the season hosting Texas A&M University and at Auburn University. Both the Aggies and Tigers are nationally ranked, and taking two-of-three in a three-game series would put the Rebels on solid ground.

The SWAC is only going to get one team in the tournament, and that is the team that wins the conference tournament this week in New Orleans. Jackson State has won the East Division and could be considered the top team in the conference.

If JSU does get into the tournament, there is no consensus on where the Tigers might be headed. Three of the four projections actually place the field in four-team regionals, and Jackson State doesn’t land in the same spot in any of them.

D1Baseball has JSU as the No. 4 seed in the Starkville Regional that Mississippi State is hosting. Baseball America puts the Tigers …

During this 10th anniversary of the Bush invasion of Iraq, I remember well the week that the war started. The JFP was only a few months old and still making a name for ourselves. When we realized that Bush was actualy pushing ahead with the threatened Iraq campaign, we postponed our planned cover story (an interview with then JPD Chief Robert Moore) and published this "myths" of the Iraq War instead. (The other story ran the next week.) At the time, the war was popular, and supporters were lying through their teeth as we now know, even trying to convince Americans that attacking Iraq was, somehow, a way to go after Saddam Hussein (presumably because they had Islam in common).

This was one of those decisions we didn't have to make. We knew it wouldn't be a popular move to publish a cover story and a cover that was clearly against Bush's war, but we started this newspaper to tell the truth, no matter who it perturbs. So in one of our early "do the right thing and wait" moves (which publisher Todd Stauffer now calls stories like these), we put the issue out and waited for the other shoe to fall.

It didn't. The issue after this one had our biggest ad sales as of that time, and we only lost three distribution spots (one of which returned, and the other two are out of business).

The truth isn't always popular, but it is the Fourth Estate's responsibility to tell it. I'm fond of saying that my editorial decisions over the year have kept my conscience clear. This one was no exception.

May all of the soldiers, and civilians, who lost their lives in the Iraq War rest in peace. That includes my cousin, Josh Ladd, who died in Iraq believing he was fighting for a just cause.

Despite somewhat of a rough start, the "Do the Knowledge" panel, one of the first major events for the inaugural Jackson Indie Music Week, delivered some useful advice for music-industry hopefuls.

Anytime there is a new ESPN “30 for 30” documentary, it is normally worth taking time to watch. But the latest entry, a five-part, almost-eight-hour-long series called “O.J.: Made In America” from director Ezra Edelman, might be the best documentary the network has done. If you haven’t watched “O.J.: Made In America,” don’t read any further, as this post contains spoilers.

Even 22 years after the murders of Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ron Goldman, this case still lives in infamy. The O.J. Simpson murder trial also brought up issues that we continue to struggle with as a society today, such as race and domestic violence.

Race and racism are where Edelman begins in parts one and two. He does a great job of showing the treatment of black people in Los Angeles as Simpson began his journey to fame on the gridiron and the Rodney King beating and trial spurred riots on the streets.

This look back at the rise and fall of Simpson provides some interesting tidbits in all five parts.

Simpson’s friend Joe Bell says the now infamous football player’s father was gay and tells how Simpson stole best friend Al Cowlings’ girlfriend, Marguerite Whitley. Simpson later married Whitley at age 19, and as the two stayed friends, Cowlings later drove the white bronco in the famous slow-speed chase.

Most of us at a certain age remember Simpson as the bumbling Nordberg from “The Naked Gun” film series, but in parts one and two of the documentary, you see the moves on the football field that made Simpson a Heisman Trophy winner and NFL Hall of Fame player.

One of the most interesting things in part one is that Simpson wanted nothing to do with the Civil Rights Movement. At one point, he told activist Harry Edwards, when approached about boycotting the 1968 Olympics, “I’m not black; I’m O.J.”

The documentary’s first episode touches on Simpson’s early struggles in Buffalo, as well as his first meeting with an 18-year-old Nicole, who was working at private L.A. nightclub The Daisy, and telling a friend that he would marry her.

The former NFL running back began dating Nicole while still married to Whitley.

Part two devotes some time to Simpson’s cheating on the golf course and his daughter drowning, but mainly, the focus is on his treatment of women. The documentary shows him as a womanizer and delves into how he mentally abused a pregnant Nicole by telling her his affairs were a result of her getting “fat.”

Domestic violence plays a major part in the second episode, as Simpson gets away with abuse because of his charm and celebrity. Even ESPN had a hand in the way the public viewed him.

In an ESPN show called “Sports Look,”host Roy Firestone makes excuses for Simpson’s 1988 attack on Nicole, who needed medical treatment as a result. Firestone was just one of the many people who made excuses for Simpson’s domestic violence. After one …

The oldest and largest youth football organization Pop Warner has decided to limit contact during practices. In an effort to make youth football safer the organization will only allow contact drills to one-third of practice time.

Nearly everyone this preseason has gone gaga over Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott’s performance this NFL preseason by. Well, unless you’re Fox Sports radio personality Colin Cowherd.

Unless you’re Cowherd or thinks like he does, it is hard not to be impressed with the way Prescott has played in two games. It is the preseason, after all, but with each throw and each play, the budding legend of Dak grows.

In his first start in his first game, Prescott went 10 of 12 passing for 139 yards with two touchdown passes. The two incompletions were drops from a backup tight end against the Los Angeles Rams.

The Internet went wild, and rightly so. Prescott’s performance was great for a guy who was picked in the fourth round and expected to sit behind Kellen Moore as the third-string guy. Instead, Moore broke his leg, and Prescott was thrust into the backup spot.

It seemed right to slow down the hype train with just one game under his belt. But Prescott went on to put on a show in his second preseason game.

When Dallas played the Miami Dolphins this past weekend, Prescott got to work with both the starters and No. 2 players on the depth chart. It might have been a new week, but it was the same performance, if not better, than week one.

Prescott went 12 for 15 passing for 199 yards and two touchdown passes and ran two more in for touchdowns. In his second game, Prescott had a four-touchdown game, has yet to throw an interception and has taken just one sack.

Cowherd wasn’t impressed, but the rest of the Internet was going bonkers for Prescott. In the preseason, Prescott has gone 22 of 27 passing for 338 yards with four touchdowns passing and two touchdowns rushing.

He has an 81.5 completion percentage and a 158.3 passer rating. The former Mississippi State University star leads all rookie quarterbacks in nearly every passing stat.

Cowherd might not be impressed yet, but maybe he can be convinced if he sees the stats.

So far in the preseason, 22 quarterbacks, including Prescott, have seen some sort of playing time. Those 22 quarterbacks include the 15 that were drafted and the rest who were signed as undrafted free agents.

During the draft, seven quarterbacks were drafted ahead of Prescott, and one was drafted just four spots behind him. One of the quarterbacks, Christian Hackenberg, who the New York Jets drafted out of Pennsylvania State University, has yet to even take one snap in the preseason.

For our purposes, only quarterbacks who have attempted 20 or more attempted passes will get a full rundown. That means Cleveland Browns quarterback Cody Kessler, drafted out of the University of Southern California in the third round, doesn’t make the list with his five pass attempts.

The first overall pick …

The regular season for college softball is over and now conference tournaments for Division I teams kickoff this week around the country. On Wednesday, the SEC, SWAC and Conference USA tournaments all get started with opening-round action.

SWAC

All the teams that made their respective conference tournaments will be in action on Wednesday. One notable exception is Jackson State University. The Tigers failed to make the SWAC tournament this season.

In the SWAC, the top four teams in the East and the top four teams in West make the tournament. Jackson State finished dead last in the East and failed to qualify. The Tigers finished with just six conference wins, which is tied for second fewest wins with the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

JSU missing the tournament means conference Player of the Year and Hitter of the Year Canessa Swanson’s career as a Tiger is over. It also means the best player in the conference misses the tournament.

The SWAC tournament will be played at Ironside, Ala., at the Shea Brothers Softball Complex. The complex has two fields, so two games will happen at once.

Alcorn State University finished second in the East and will begin play in the tournament against Prairie View A&M University, which finished third in the West. That game begins at 3 p.m.

SWAC Coach of the Year Josef Rankin and SWAC Newcomer of the Year Paige Breal leads the Braves. If ASU wins, the team will play at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday but if the team loses, the Braves will play at 5 p.m. that day.

While Alcorn State is facing Prairie View A&M on field one, Mississippi Valley State University, which finished No. 3 in the East, will take on Southern University, which finished No. 2 in the West, on field two at 3 p.m. The Delta Devils will play on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. if they win and 5 p.m. if they lose.

The championship game for the SWAC will be played on Saturday at 2 p.m., and fans can watch it on ESPN3. A tape-delayed replay will show on ESPNU at 9 a.m. on Sunday.

Conference USA

Day one of the C-USA Tournament is single elimination. The University of Southern Mississippi is the No. 3 seed in the tournament but will be in action on day one.

The Golden Eagles will face the winner between No. 6 seed University of Texas-El Paso and No. 7 seed Florida International University. USM will not play until the final game of day one at 7:30 p.m.

If USM wins, the team will play No. 2 seed University of Alabama-Birmingham at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The top seed in the C-USA tournament is Florida Atlantic University.

Interesting note: The University of North Texas is hosting the tournament but didn’t make it. The championship game for C-USA will be played on Saturday at noon, and CBS Sports Network will televise it. …

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 …

Dak Prescott is 0-2 against the New York Giants but 11-01 against the rest of the NFL teams that he has faced. The Dallas Cowboys score an average of 28.5 points per game but have scored just 26 points against New York in two games.

Prescott might have played his worst game as a professional against the Giants on Dec. 11. He went 17 for 35 on passing, gaining 165 yards with one touchdown, but had the first two-interception game of his career.

The former Mississippi State University star also fumbled once, but the Cowboys were able to maintain possession. Prescott has gone three straight games without passing for 200 yards.

As a whole, the Dallas offense converted just one third down for the second game in a row. The Cowboys went one for nine on third down against the Minnesota Vikings and one for 15 on third down against the Giants.

Dallas has lost two games against the Giants by a total of four points. If the Cowboys go on a winning streak like they did after their last loss to New York, it would end in a Lombardi Trophy.

Prescott and the rest of the team must put this lost behind them quickly. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Detroit Lions lie ahead, and both teams are on five-game winning streaks.

With Prescott at quarterback, Dallas is going to have to live with rookie moments or games like those against the Giants. The returns have been too good to panic since Prescott has 20 touchdowns and only four interceptions in 13 NFL games.

The 11-game winning streak has given the Cowboys a cushion if Prescott continues to struggle. In the loss to the Giants, Prescott wasn’t the only one at fault, either.

Receivers dropped passes, and the offensive line struggled at times in pass protection. The Giants sacked Prescott three times and pressured him eight times during the game.

One bright spot has been the play of the Dallas defense. That unit harassed New York quarterback Eli Manning all game long and forced him into mistakes. The Cowboys’ defense finished strong against the Giants’ running game.

Dallas was undone by a 61-yard touchdown catch and run late in the third quarter from Odell Beckham Jr., which ended up giving the Giants the win. Take away that one big play, and the Cowboys win the game.

The Cowboys have another luxury other teams don’t possess in quarterback Tony Romo. If, say, Prescott hit a rookie wall, Dallas could make a change to a Pro Bowl quarterback and hope Prescott regains his magic if Romo gets hurt.

There is a real possibility that other teams are starting to get a better handle on Prescott. At this point, there are 13 game tapes on the rookie, and it is becoming easier to know what …

Labor Day just got a little more interesting.

It was already going to be an interesting evening with the University of Mississippi facing Florida State University as the last college-football game of new season’s first week.

Both teams meet for a neutral-site game in Orlando, Fla., in the 2016 Camping World Kickoff. This game is one of the most anticipated during the opening weekend of the 2016 college-football season.

There are questions surrounding both of these teams, but then again, there are questions surrounding every team this time of year. One question for the Seminoles has been answered.

FSU knows who will be starting the season opener at quarterback. The decision was made for the Seminoles when quarterback Sean Maguire broke a bone in his foot, which will require surgery and force him to miss at least four weeks.

The fifth-year senior went 4-2 last season after taking over for Everett Golson when the University of Notre Dame transfer struggled. Maguire appeared in eight games last season and threw for 1,520 yards with 11 touchdowns and six interceptions.

One of the two losses from games in which Maguire started was against Clemson University, who went on to play the University of Alabama for the national championship. The other loss was to the University of Houston in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, which he played with a broken ankle.

The Seminoles must now turn to redshirt freshman Deondre Francois at quarterback. For Francois, this game is a homecoming after he left Olympia High School in Orlando to spend his senior season in Bradenton, Fla., at IMG Academy, a renowned boarding school and sports-training facility.

While Maguire was a known commodity, the Rebels will now face an unknown, at least at the college level, at quarterback. FSU is hoping to capture lightning in a bottle twice and hoping that Francois will be the second coming of Jameis Winston, the last redshirt freshman to start at quarterback for the Seminoles.

Francois will have one of the best friends a new starting quarterback can ask for, and that is a strong running game. FSU boasts running back Dalvin Cook, a Heisman Trophy contender and a threat to take any handoff he receives to the house.

Stopping Cook is the best way for the Rebels to win this game. If FSU can’t run, then it would force Francois to beat them, and UM can unleash its pass rush.

As always, it is easier said than done, and few teams have been able to stop Cook when he is fully healthy. The running back was a one-man wrecking crew even when he was banged up last season.

The Seminoles hope to have one of the best defenses in the country, and that unit will have to be good to keep Rebels quarterback Chad Kelly under wraps. Kelly will try not to get outshined by the guy making his first college-football start.

One of college basketball's great appeals has been the rise of mid-major programs. College basketball teams from non-power conferences have gained a foothold in the NCAA Tournament by building senior led programs and years upon years of upsets in the big dance. College football has its own version of the mid-major in Boise State and until this year TCU. BYU has been a national power on and off. The Cougars are now an independent and Boise State will join the Big East next year.

One could assume that given the GOP's fervor in pursuing voter ID laws across the nation, the party would trumpet "substantiated" cases from the rooftops. But, alas, no one can seem to find them.

One day only special, $9.11.

The American Family Association's president, Tim Wildmon, sent out an "AFA ActionAlert" this morning to let us know that our worst fears are, indeed, coming true. Thanks to an "activist" Federal judge in Utah, "...polygamy is now essentially legal in the United States."

Whoa! I tell you, those activist judges are out. of. control.

Of course, Wildmon had tried to tell us...

We warned from the beginning that once the biblical standard of man-woman marriage was breached, there would be no logical place to stop.

The AFA ActionAlert somewhat surprisingly links to this USA Today story about the ruling—I say surprisingly because, presumably, we're not actually supposed to read the USA Today story, since it only barely says anything like what Wildmon's ActionAlert says.

There is a judge, and a lawsuit—one brought by the reality TV stars of "Sister Wives," a show which focuses on a polygamist family formerly of Utah—now in Vegas.

From USA Today:

U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups said in the ruling that the phrase in Utah law that forbids cohabitation with another person was a violation of the First Amendment.

Utah, it seems, has the most limiting polygamy law on the books—while 49 other states have laws against polygamy (being legally married to more than one person at a time), Utah's law "makes it illegal to even purport to be married to multiple partners or live together."

In other words, it's illegal in Utah to pretend to be married to more than one person at a time; in every other state it's only illegal to actually be married to more than one person at a time.

Back to Wildmon:

Though we have been accused of exaggerating and scare-mongering, this ruling shows that we were right all along to sound the alarm. Bans against incest are now at risk of being overturned.

Ahhh. Well, I guess we could see that one coming. Feels like a bit of a stretch… unless those rumors I've been hearing about a new show being cast in Appalachia called "Cousin Wives," prove to be true…

Story by Alex Thiel

During the festivities of Museum After Hours each month at the Mississippi Museum of Art, Executive Chef and Culinary Curator Nick Wallace gets in on the action with his monthly ‘sipp Sourced pop-up menu.

As the name implies, the pop-ups are based around the idea of finding the best and freshest locally sourced ingredients and crafting a menu in the same creative spirit that the museum embodies.

“(Nick) has southern roots, French technique and an insatiable curiosity,” the museum’s director of marketing, Julian Rankin, told the Jackson Free Press. “That’s why he feels so at home at the museum—because he’s inspired by the bold, creative energy of the artists on the walls.”

April’s pop-up menu, which begins tonight, April 20, at 5:30 p.m., is called “Art of the Taco.” The menu includes dishes such as the El Camino, which is a taco and sandwich hybrid that has Gulf shrimp, tomatoes, Swiss cheese, spinach, cilantro, a citrus aioli, a crust made of cheese and flatbread crunch. Other dishes on the menu include all-American cheeseburger tacos with Swiss chard, spring onions, beef, mustard aioli, tomatoes and cheddar cheese in flour tortillas; and art tacos, which is a taco trio that has one with Brussels sprouts, almonds, queso, salsa and cilantro; one with thick-cut bacon, lettuce, green tomatoes and green salsa; and one with brisket, pickled cabbage and mustard-seed salsa.

‘sipp Sourced is just one aspect of Museum After Hours. As the main exhibit this month, the museum will have a collaborative body-painting and photography exhibit from artist Eli Childers and photographer Imani Khayyam, who is the staff photographer at the Jackson Free Press. For the exhibit, which is called “Myth Made Real,” Childers transformed models into mythical creatures using body paint, and Khayyam photographed them.

The High Note Jam concert series is outside from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and features local band Empty Atlas. Starting at 6:30 p.m., the Mississippi Improv Alliance will perform in the Trustmark Grand Hall at the museum. Finally, at dusk, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” will screen in the museum’s Art Garden for Screen on the Green. “Myth Made Real” will also have a cash bar.

Museum After Hours is tonight at the Mississippi Museum of Art (380 S. Lamar St., 601-960-1515) from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. The pop-up menu will also be available on April 21 and 22 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, find the Museum After Hours event on Facebook.

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2017/apr/20/28432/

Day one of the NFL Combine is in the books. The opening day saw the offensive linemen and running backs take center stage in Indianapolis.

Many sports analysts considered offensive-line class weak going into the Combine, and the athletes didn’t do much to change that perception. There are some good players, but overall, it is not very deep. However, a bulk of players will still hear their names on day three of the draft.

Three players who will go early in the draft are Cam Robinson out of the University of Alabama, Garett Bolles out of the University of Utah and Forest Lamp out of Western Kentucky University. On the field, they did nothing to hurt their chances of getting drafted quickly.

Teams are also going to take a long look at Texas Christian University’s Aviante Collins, who ran a 4.81-second 40-yard dash. It was the best time for the offensive linemen, with Bolles in second place at 4.95 seconds. Lamp was fourth with a 5-second 40-yard dash, and Robinson tied with several players for eighth place.

Collins’ time will likely attract a few teams take a look at his tape and could move him up the draft. He’ll really move up if he can repeat that time at his Pro Day.

Jessamen Dunker out of Tennessee State University finished third in the 40-yard dash with a time of 4.98 seconds. He had a tendency to pick his feet up too high, but there is plenty of potential for a team who likes his speed.

Ethan Cooper from Indiana University of Pennsylvania ended up being a small-school participant that caught my eye. He might not go early, but like Dunker, he looked like he had plenty to work with on the field.

Justin Senior out of Mississippi State University ran a 5.55-second 40-yard dash, which wasn’t blazing but was nowhere near the slowest time of the offensive linemen. He had a solid day but tended to not bend his knees or bend at his hips as he got tired. Senior should hear his name called on day three of the draft.

While the offensive-line class in this draft is somewhat shallow this year, the opposite could be said of the running backs. This is one of the deepest positions in this draft, with some potential superstars.

One surprise happened to be that this group only had eight players run a sub-4.50-second 40-yard dash. Most of the running backs didn’t showcase blazing speeding.

Early in the day, a lot the talk focused on Louisiana State University running back Leonard Fournette, who weighs 240 pounds, had a poor vertical jump and didn’t do the broad jump. Those questions started to go away after Fournette ran a 4.51-second 40-yard dash. That is an outstanding time for a running back as big as he is.

Fournette did struggle in the passing drills, as he double-caught balls or dropped them. He struggled catching the …