Jackson Free Press

Mississippi's Attorney General and Insurance Commissioner want to make sure you don't get scammed with the newest rollout of the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces.

Records, news, trades, playoffs and retirements have fueled the sports world for nearly the last 24 hours. It seems that if you look away for a single second, or go to bed before midnight like I did last night, you missed something happening in sports.

Things got started in the NHL as the playoffs got underway last night with three games. Tampa Bay outlasted Detroit 3-2 to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Pittsburgh used a hat trick from Patric Hornqvist to beat the New York Rangers 5-2. Finally, the St. Louis Blues needed overtime to get past the Chicago Blackhawks in their 1-0 win.

The NHL Playoffs were nice, but the final night of the NBA regular season had a legend in his final game and a chase for a record. In Los Angeles, Kobe Bryant played in his final game at home as a Laker. In Oakland, the Golden State Warriors went for win 73 to break the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls record of 72 wins in the regular season.

In his final game, Kobe didn’t disappoint as he put on a show for the home fans. The Laker great went for 60 points in his final game.

Bryant became the oldest player to score 50 or more points in an NBA game. There is one catch to Kobe’s big night, though: It took him 50 shots to get 60 points.

He had 22 made shots out of 50 attempts, six made three-point shots off of 21 attempts and 10 of 12 free throws made on the night. Just two other Lakers attempted double-digit shots.

Sure, Kobe got 50, but he got there pretty ugly. But the only thing people will remember is that Bryant got 60 in his final game—not the way he got the points.

On a side note, the Staples Center, where the Lakers play their home games, along with the Clippers, sold $1.2 million worth of merchandise in one day. That breaks the record for most merchandise sold in a single day in any arena in the world. The previous record belonged to O2 Arena in London when Led Zeppelin sold $1 million worth of merchandise in their first full-length concert in 30 years.

While Kobe remembered that there wasn’t a shot he didn’t like in his NBA career, the Warriors were trying get their 73 wins. Golden State cruised to a 20-point lead at halftime over the Memphis Grizzlies, and Stephen Curry had hit 399 three-point shots at that point in the season.

Curry wasted no time getting his 400th three-point shot of the season shortly after halftime. He finished the regular season with an NBA record 402 three-point shots.

The Warriors' star also became the third player in NBA history to shoot more than 90 percent from the free throw line, 50 percent from the field and 45 percent from the three-point range. The only other …

The Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum announced the 2017 Hall of Fame class today. As usual, the class features some of the best athletes, coaches and people involved with sports in the state of Mississippi.

The 2017 class features arguably the greatest sports writer in Mississippi history, Rick Cleveland. The son of Ace Cleveland, who was a great sports writer in his own right, Rick Cleveland began writing in grade school and went on to become a seven-time Mississippi Sports Writer of the Year.

Cleveland covered sports in high school and college for the Hattiesburg American. After graduating from the University of Southern Mississippi, he went to work for The Clarion-Ledger until retiring in 2012.

Most recently, Cleveland was executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. He has recently returned to writing sports for Mississippi Today, and he has authored four books.

Joining Cleveland is one of the greatest football players in Mississippi history who never became one of the greatest football players ever. Marcus Dupree was a man among boys during his days at Philadelphia High School.

Dupree finished his high-school career with 5,284 yards and 87 touchdowns, which broke Herschel Walker’s national high-school record for touchdowns. He ended up choosing the University of Oklahoma over every other college in the nation.

While at Oklahoma, Dupree was Fiesta Bowl MVP and first-team All-Big Eight as a freshman. After butting heads with then-Sooners coach Barry Switzer, he decided to transfer to USM but left after being told he would have to sit out due to a NCAA transfer rule.

Dupree decided to leave college for the United States Football League and signed with the New Orleans Breakers.

The running back eventually found his way to the NFL, but injuries have robbed him of his physical gifts, and he never was the player he could have been. Dupree was the subject of ESPN’s “30 for 30” Series: “The Best That Never Was” and Willie Morris’ book “The Courting of Marcus Dupree.”

Jay Powell has been a winner at every level of baseball. He won a state championship at West Lauderdale High School, a starter and relief pitcher at Mississippi State University and won game seven of the 1997 World Series with the Florida Marlins.

When he left MSU, Powell was second on the school's all-time list with 17. The Baltimore Orioles drafted him in the first round of the 1993 MLB Draft, and he ended up playing for five different clubs during his 11-year career.

Since retiring from MLB, he returned home to become head coach at Jackson Academy. He has added a state championship as a coach to his collection.

The tiny town of Florence, Miss. produced the winningest baseball coach in SWAC history. Bob Braddy ended his career with an 824-546-3 record, as he guided Jackson State University from NAIA to Division I baseball.

Braddy won 12 SWAC championships, and …

Normally at 1-3 heading into their bye week, you would think the New Orleans Saints’ season would be over. Since the playoff format changed in 1990, only 14 percent of 1-3 teams have made the playoffs. That number works out to 183 teams. Last season, the Houston Texans and the Kansas City Chiefs made the playoffs after a 1-3 start.

Remember, I said normally. This season, 13 teams in the league currently have a 1-3 record. That is nearly half the league, and if you add teams that are 2-2, that number balloons to 18 teams.

Currently only 14 have a winning record, and only three are still undefeated. Except for the 3-1 Atlanta Falcons, every team in the NFC South has a 1-3 record like the Saints.

New Orleans still has seven 1-3 teams left on the schedule, including the both, Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers twice. The Saints also play the .500 Kansas City Chiefs for eight games against teams .500 or under at this point in the season.

That leaves four teams with a winning record on the schedule. Those teams are the undefeated Denver Broncos and three teams at 3-1 in the Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams and Atlanta Falcons.

If the Saints beat all the teams at .500 or below left on their schedule, they would finish 9-7 on the season. Right now in the NFC, nine teams that have a .500 record are worse.

Unless the 3-1 Falcons run away with the NFC South, chances are, the Saints are still alive in their division. The Carolina Panthers, last year’s Super Bowl loser who are also at 1-3, could come back, as well, to take the NFC South.

I know what you're thinking: How can the Saints still have any playoff chance with their defense? It’s true that New Orleans has the 32nd ranked defense with 32.5 points per game.

But the rest of the NFC South isn’t much better. Tampa Bay is 31st with 32 points per game, Atlanta is 29th with 31 points per game, and Carolina is 28th with 29.5 points per game.

The Saints have the fourth-ranked offense with 28.5 points per game. Atlanta has the best offense in the league at 38 points per game, Carolina is sixth with 27.3 points per game, and Tampa Bay is 25th with 19.3 points per game.

Let’s look at this as a glass-half-full situation. New Orleans has been this bad on defense with an extreme number of injuries. The Saints, in theory, should get better on defense as the season goes along, and they begin to see defensive player return.

There is hope for the defense if it can get players back and play like it did in the second half against the Chargers. New Orleans outscored San Diego 21-10 in the second half and forced timely turnovers.

Right now, New Orleans …

This college-football season has been underwhelming for most of the teams in our state, with close losses, injuries, mistakes and countless other struggles.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t players who are worthy of recognition, and we now know the 10 finalists for the 2016 C Spire Conerly Trophy.

Every four-year college and university nominates one player for this award. This year, the Conerly Trophy will be awarded to its 21st recipient. The ceremony will take place at the Clarksdale Country Club instead of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum as it has in the past.

Here are the finalists in the order that I think they will finish.

Hunter McEachern is the freshman quarterback for Belhaven University and nominee for the Conerly. Despite being in his first season, he served as the team captain for the 2-8 Blazers, and he set a school record for passing attempts with 76, completions with 48 and touchdowns with six. He threw for 3,722 yards on 337 completions with 31 touchdowns and 22 interceptions.

Mississippi Valley State University quarterback Austin Bray is the 1-10 Delta Devils’ pick for the award. He passed for 1,462 yards after completing 129 passes out of 239 attempts and finished the season with eight touchdowns and 11 interceptions, as MVSU struggled nearly every week on offense. He also rushed for 163 yards with four touchdowns.

Millsaps College went with defense for its Conerly nominee. Defensive lineman Alex Foust finished his senior season with 42 total tackles. He was a three-year starter for the Majors and finished second the Southern Athletic Association in tackles for a loss with 15.5 this season. He also finished second in the conference in sacks with 9.5 for the Majors, who ended the season with a 3-7 record.

Jackson State University named highly touted defensive lineman Javancy Jones for the Conerly. The senior missed time this season due to an injury and his mother’s illness, but he was still a force on the field when he was healthy.

Jones led the 3-8 Tigers with 17.5 tackles for a loss and four sacks, and he saw action at tight end, as he caught two passes with one ending in a touchdown. He was also JSU’s finalist for the Conerly last season.

Mississippi College also nominated a familiar name for the Conerly, as well, with wide receiver and kick returner Marcel Newsom tapped as the Choctaws' finalist for a second consecutive year.

He finished this season with 57 catches for 853 yards and five touchdowns for the 3-7 Choctaws, leading the Gulf South Conference in all-purpose yards with 180.6 per game and receiving yards with 94.8 yards per game.

Alcorn State went with linebacker Darian Anderson, who led the 5-5 Braves in tackles with 80 total.

He tops the Southwestern Athletic Conference in sacks with 10 and is one of the finalists for the Buck Buchanan Award, which the best defensive player at the …

The national championship football game between Clemson University and the University of Alabama rematch on Monday, Jan. 9, lived up to the original from the year before. It had all the makings of a heavyweight fight—and without a doubt, it was a fight.

Alabama began the game on defense, pounding away at Clemson’s offense. The Crimson Tide landed shot after shot on Tigers quarterback Deshaun Watson, including what looked like a blow to the head on the third play of the game.

The early knockdowns certainly had an effect on Watson, as he looked sluggish and timid early on while Alabama built a 14-0 lead that felt much larger. Clemson added to its own misery with a fumble that the Tide recovered.

Still, the Tigers found a way to keep standing round after round and drive after drive against the Tide. Clemson kept the game close with a touchdown in the second quarter to cut the Alabama lead in half at 14-7.

Alabama went for the early knockout but couldn’t finish the job on Clemson. The Tide forced another fumble in third but only got a field goal to make it 17-7 on a drive that started at the Clemson 16-yard line.

Three points were all the Tide could muster from two Clemson turnovers. Alabama couldn’t figure out a way to score points with its defense or special teams the way it had all season.

Clemson came alive in the second half with a touchdown to make it 17-14. Alabama answered right back with a quick strike to make it 24-14 late in the third quarter, but the Tigers responded with yet another touchdown to cut the Tide lead to only three points, making it 24-21 early in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers took their first lead in the game with 4:38 left to play, but they didn’t see their 28-24 lead last long as Alabama’s offense kicked back into gear after being nearly nonexistent for most of the second half.

Alabama scored with 2:07 left to lead 31-28, meaning the Tide had to put the pressure on its historically great defense to win the title. Clemson was more than happy to put its superb offense back to work, as it had found ways to tear through the Tide for most of the second half.

Watson and his teammates on offense made play after play against the Tide to keep driving down the field. Clemson scored the game-winning touchdown with one second left to finish off Alabama 35-31.

In the end, the Alabama defense had punched all it could but couldn’t land the knockout blow, and the Tide ended up staggering down the stretch. Clemson weathered the early storm to rack up 511 total yards after 34:44 in possession of the ball, 99 plays and going 7 for 18 on third down.

Even with a freshman quarterback, Jalen Hurts, Alabama …

The Mississippi Attorney General's Office released this statement:

AG HOOD SECURES $26 MILLION FOR MISSISSIPPI IN SETTLEMENT WITH MOODY’S Rating service to pay nearly $864 million to states, federal government over claims of deceptive conduct

JACKSON— Attorney General Jim Hood announced today that Moody’s will pay Mississippi more than $26 million to settle allegations that the credit rating agency engaged in deceptive conduct during the height of the financial crisis.

Moody’s Corporation, Moody’s Investors Service, Inc., and Moody’s Analytics, Inc. agreed to pay a total of $863,791,823 to 21 states, the District of Columbia and the federal government to resolve claims that Moody’s misrepresented its independence and objectivity when rating structured finance securities. Attorney General Hood’s lawsuit alleged that Moody’s ratings of structured finance securities were tainted by the company’s drive to win business and its concerns for market share. Structured finance securities, particularly those comprised of sub-prime mortgages, were at the center of the financial crisis.

In addition to the monetary settlement, Moody’s has agreed to take specific compliance measures intended to prevent the same problems from ever reoccurring.

Attorney General Hood and Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen led the investigation in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice. The two AGs also led the multistate litigation against Standard & Poor’s, which culminated in a $1.375 billion settlement for 20 states and the federal government in 2015. Standard & Poor’s is a competitor of Moody’s. Mississippi received $33 million in the settlement with S&P.

“Moody’s reckless conduct went unchecked for years, feeding a subprime mortgage bubble,” Attorney General Hood said. “While Moody’s profited handsomely, the economy crumbled as people lost their homes. Pension funds, retirement funds, and other investment vehicles in Mississippi and across the country lost billions of dollars as the value of securities with inflated ratings plummeted. This settlement is another important step toward holding accountable those responsible for our mortgage crisis.”

The settlement is the successful culmination of five years of hard-fought litigation for Mississippi, Attorney General Hood said. In 2011, the Attorney General sued both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s for violations of the Mississippi Consumer Protection Act. The lawsuit alleged that the companies misrepresented their independence and objectivity when rating structured finance securities, including residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), which derive their value from the monthly payments consumers make on their mortgages.

Mississippi’s lawsuit alleged that Moody’s assigned inflated credit ratings to toxic assets packaged and sold by the Wall Street investment banks in an effort to curry favor, continue and grow business with these banks. This alleged misconduct mainly occurred between 2004 and 2007, though it began as early as 2001.

Moody’s represented to consumers that its Aaa rating, its highest rating, carried a lower level of risk than other ratings. The Attorney General alleged that Moody’s manipulated its process so that, in reality, the Aaa rating represented a greater risk than Moody’s disclosed to investors. The lawsuit asserts that Moody’s gave in to pressure from big banks, …

Super Bowl LI features a wide disparity between the two head coaches and starting quarterbacks in terms of experience. New England head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady are about to coach and play in their seventh Super Bowl together.

Atlanta head coach Dan Quinn and quarterback Matt Ryan are in their first Super Bowl together. If experience counts at all in the Super Bowl, Belichick and Brady are overflowing with it.

No coach and quarterback combo in the history of the NFL has reached seven Super Bowls together. Belichick and Brady are tied with Chuck Noll and Terry Bradshaw with the most Super Bowl wins with four.

Belichick is reaching his seventh Super Bowl and is 4-2 in his previous trips. He surpasses the great Don Shula, who made six trips to the big game but went 2-4.

Shula is still the NFL’s all-time winningest coach with 328 wins in 33 seasons as a head coach, but Belichick is currently fourth with 237 wins in 22 seasons as the top man. Belichick is still 91 wins behind Shula and will need at least nine more years of an equal number of wins just to have a chance to break Shula’s record.

Quinn on the other hand is in his second season as a head coach with a 19-13 overall record. If you do the math, that means Belichick has 218 more wins than the man he is coaching against in the Super Bowl.

There isn’t even another active coach with 200 wins in the NFL right now. The next closest active head coach is Andy Reid with the Kansas City Chiefs (173).

Other active head coaches who have won a Super Bowl are Mike McCarthy (Green Bay), Pete Carroll (Seattle), Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh), Sean Payton (New Orleans) and John Harbaugh (Baltimore), and none have even 125 wins.

Brady is tied with Joe Montana and Bradshaw for the most Super Bowl wins with four. Unlike Brady, Montana and Bradshaw were undefeated in Super Bowl starts.

Brett Favre and Peyton Manning have the most regular season wins by a quarterback with 186. Brady sits third with 183, but when you add playoff wins, the New England quarterback has the most with 207 wins.

Ryan has just 85 wins in the regular season and 88 in the postseason. It is amazing that Brady nearly has 100 more regular season wins than the quarterback who will oppose him.

Brady’s name is all over the NFL record book for passing. He is fourth in passing yards (61,582), fourth in passes completed (5,244), fourth in touchdown passes (456) and fifth in pass attempts (8,224).

Another amazing Brady stat: He has just 152 career interceptions. That is fewer interceptions than Peyton and Eli Manning, Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger.

Ryan has 114 career interceptions and came in the league eight years …

National Signing Day in college football is close to the draft in the NFL. Most every coach will say that his team got some of the players that it needed to win in the next season or in the near future through that event.

Just like the NFL Draft, football fans won’t know the true winners and losers from Signing Day for a couple of seasons. The high-school and junior-college players that signed with teams yesterday, Feb. 1, still have to live up to the potential that made them worth taking a chance on.

Most recruiting rankings, including Scout, Rivals and ESPN, only look at the Division 1 FBS teams. There are few sites that rank FCS teams, but 24/7 Sports ranks 250 teams across the nation. The website has Alcorn State University with the 186th-ranked recruiting class and Jackson State University with the 206th-ranked class.

Mississippi Valley State University wasn’t ranked in the top 250 schools in the 24/7 Sports rankings, but interestingly, Mississippi College ended up at 218th on the site.

While the recruiting rankings are somewhat lacking for FCS schools, there are plenty of options for FBS-school rankings. Some look at every FBS schools, and some have a cut-off point at the top 75 or 100 schools.

The top-10 national recruiting classes, no matter which ranking service you are looking at, feature mostly blue-bloods of the sport. The University of Alabama, the University of Southern California, Florida State University, the University of Michigan, Louisiana State University, Ohio State University, the University of Georgia, and the University of Oklahoma all finished in the top 10 in the four ranking lists used for this article.

Alabama finished as the top class in every ranking, and the SEC finished with three teams in the top three. The Big Ten placed two teams, and the ACC, PAC-12 and Big 12 placed one team each.

Mississippi State University ended up with the best ranking out of the three FBS schools in our state. The Bulldogs had the 24th-ranked class for 24/7 Sports and ESPN, 25th class for Scout and 27th for Rivals.

The University of Mississippi finished with the 29th-ranked team on Scout’s list, 30th for 24/7 Sports, 36th for ESPN and 39th for Rivals.

In the SEC recruit rankings, MSU finished ninth according to 24/7 Sports, Scout and ESPN, but finished 11th for Rivals. The Rebels ended up 12th in the SEC for ESPN, 24/7 Sports and Rivals, and11th for Scout.

The University of Southern Mississippi finished with the 71st-ranked class according to Rivals, 79th for 24/7 Sports and 81st for Scout. ESPN didn’t have the Golden Eagles ranked among its 75-team rankings.

USM finished with the second-best ranking in Conference USA according to Rivals and the third best in the conference for 24/7 Sports and Scout.

These …

Let's say a meteorite crashed to Earth and landed on the Jackson Free Press' offices, resulting in a broken pinky toe on my left foot. According to a new state law, it would be up to me to prove to my bosses that I wasn't high as a kite when said celestial projectile descended on Fondren.

This morning the NCAA came down hard on Penn State in an unprecedented action not involving infractions of NCAA rules. Penn State was hit with a four year bowl ban, $60 million fine and a reduction of 10 initial scholarships and 20 scholarships for the next four years. Also 111 wins vacated from 1998 to 2011, basically symbolically ending Joe Paterno's legacy.

While the NCAA didn't give Penn State the death penalty, it did cripple the program for the next 10 to 20 year if not more. Players still eligible can transfer to other schools and play immediately.

The feeding frenzy of coaches trying to lure Penn State players away might show football programs are not even thinking twice about happened to the Nittany Lions today. I doubt that the punishment of Penn State will curb the spending and power of college football.

Even though NCAA president Mark Emmert says the Penn State punishment doesn't open Pandora's Box in college sports. It does raise a serious question of why not.

The NCAA did nothing in 2003 when Baylor basketball player Carlton Dotson murdered teammate Patrick Dennehy. Former Baylor head coach Dave Bliss even conspired to cover up the true facts of Dennehy’s murder. Baylor was punished for NCAA violations but in there was no punishment that was included for the murder of Dennehy. Baylor basketball has bounced back to play in the post season in basketball four times since the NCAA levied penalties on the Bears in 2005.

Should the NCAA go back and punish Baylor (retroactively punishing school is something the NCAA does all the time)?

What about the death of Virginia women’s lacrosse Yeardley Love? In 2010, Love was murdered by her former boyfriend and men’s lacrosse player George Huguely.

Love’s mother, Sharon Love, is suing the state and coaches ignored Huguely's erratic behavior, including two alcohol-related arrests, frequent intoxication and attacks on another female student, a teammate and a Virginia tennis player.

Sharon Love claims the university, head coach Dom Starsia, assistant coach Marc Van Arsdale, and athletic director Craig Littlepage didn’t discipline Huguely for his behavior or get him treatment for anger management and alcohol abuse.

If the claims are true, should Virginia be punished for not protecting Love from Huguely and because of their lack of concern she ended up dead?

In an ongoing investigation, several Montana football players along with another man are accused of gang raping a fellow student. In the Montana case, head coach Robin Pflugrad disciplined several players but didn’t report the incidents to his superiors.

Montana university president Royce Engstrom said in a statement "The University of Montana has determined not to renew the contracts of Athletics Director Jim O'Day and head football coach Robin Pflugrad." Then Engstron thanked both O’Day and Pflugrad for their service as he let them go.

The Department of Justice is investigating the university and campus police, along with the …

College football last week saw USC go down for a fourth straight year to Stanford, the Big Ten get behind the eight ball in the national championship race after Michigan State ran into a Notre Dame defensive wall. Virginia Tech might have the worse loss of the year against Pittsburgh (more on that later).

Who hasn't bothered to file campaign-finance reports for the primaries?

The Jackson Free Press is bringing home some Green Eyeshades again.

If [the state flag][1] is going to change, lawmakers from either the Senate or House Rules committee will have to pass a bill through in the next 24 hours.

The Manning Center was the place to be this morning. Breaking a University of Mississippi Pro Day record, 63 NFL representatives from all 32 NFL teams descended on Oxford, Miss., to look at the three stars entering the draft after their junior seasons at UM.

Overall, there were 15 current and three former players who took part in the Rebels' Pro Day. Most of the focus was on offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, wide receiver Laquon Treadwell and defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche.

One of the things everyone came to see was Treadwell run the 40-yard dash. He didn’t run at the NFL Combine, and this was the first chance all the scouts had to put him on a stopwatch.

Treadwell did run, but his times didn’t alleviate fears that he won’t have the ability to separate from defenders at the next level. His unofficial times were 4.65 or 4.69, depending on the scout, on his first attempt, and he had a minor improvement at 4.63 on his second attempt.

While his top-end speed might not get scouts' heartbeats racing, Treadwell does have other abilities that had to impress NFL teams.

He has a big body that he can use to position himself between the ball and defenders. He also has strong hands and makes each catch look easy. He is a solid run blocker in rush attack, and in fact, he might be above average in receiver blocking.

One thing to remember about Treadwell and his not-so-fast speed is the fact that he is returning from a serious broken leg that he suffered during his sophomore season. Treadwell still came out this season and put up great numbers as he worked himself back into the shape and got his football instincts back.

It is projected that an NFL team may draft him as early as the ninth pick or as low as the 20th pick. Some mock drafts have him going to the New Orleans Saints with the 12th pick. If you want an NFL comparison, think Anquan Boldin. Several teams could move up in the draft to get their hands on Treadwell since he is the near-consensus top wide receiver in the draft.

One player who didn’t run the 40-yard dash at either the NFL Combine or the UM Pro Day was Tunsil. The fact that he didn’t run at either event might not matter, as the offensive tackle is projected to go as high as the first pick but nearly guaranteed to go within the top five picks. He said in an interview that he didn’t run at the Pro Day due to a pulled hamstring.

Tunsil did an impressive 34 reps at 225 pounds in the bench press and added 10 pounds of muscle so far this offseason. There are very few knocks against the potential No. 1 pick, though his run blocking needs more work, and there are questions about his power.

However, there are no questions about …

Organizers today cancelled the 37th Annual Mississippi Picnic in Central Park, saying it would not happen this year due to passage of House Bill 1523. The picnic was planned for Saturday, June 11, Noon to 5:00 pm in Central Park at 5th Avenue and 72nd Street. The theme of the 2016 picnic was to be “Nothing but the Blues,” as a tribute to B. B. King.

The New York Mississippi Society organizes the picnic, which has been a huge promotional and networking opportunity that draws together Mississippi natives living in New York City and tourism and other business officials who travel there for the picnic.

A woman who answered the phone at the number posted on the website promoting the picnic earlier today said that an update would be posted on the website soon.

Mississippi Development Authority spokesman Jeff Rent said today, via email, that the State and MDA were not consulted in advance of the decision, which came from the organizers based in New York. "The New York Mississippi Society has made the decision to cancel the Mississippi Picnic in Central Park. We are disappointed in not only their decision, but also their lack of discussion with Mississippi partners before cancelling the event," Rent wrote.

Two years ago, famed Oxford chef and restaurateur John Currence and Ole Miss students brought a pro-LGBT message to Central Park after Gov. Bryant signed the earlier, but less odious religious-freedom act.

A petition had urged New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and others to stop the picnic in Central park after the passage of House Bill 1523.

The website states:

Faster than a New York minute, we can tell you one thing, Mississippi should not be proud, nor does it deserve to celebrate their State in this park if they don't share New York’s values of diversity, inclusion and mutual respect.

The official website for the picnic lists their mission as "To preserve the culture and heritage of the state of Mississippi." The "heritage" of Mississippi has no business being on full display in the cathedral of parks in New York City. Mississippi has routinely been on the wrong side of history and once again in 2016, the state passes legislation that puts members of the LGBTQ community at risk. At an event of this nature, Mississippi wants to claim the literary great in native son Tennessee Williams, a gay man, who if alive today could now be legally denied a meal in an Oxford restaurant because the owner didn't approve of his sexual orientation.

The front page of the website promoting the picnic changed dramatically in the last half hour, from the top image here to the bottom one:

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2016/apr/12/25355/

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2016/apr/12/25356/

UPDATE: The Copiah County Courier has a copy of a press statement from the picnic organizers posted. Here is is verbatim:

Annual New York - Mississippi Picnic Cancelled Event was scheduled for June 11 in Central Park

We, the founders …

In just three weeks, the dreams of 253 college football stars will come true. They'll will be lucky enough to hear their name called during the 2016 NFL Draft.

The NFL released the names of the 25 prospects that will be in attendance at Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Theatre in Chicago for the draft April 28-30. Ohio State University ties the 2012 University of Alabama record for the college with the most invites, but plenty of prospects from our state will be there, as well.

Highlighting the list is University of Mississippi offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, who is projected to go in the top few picks. Tunsil could be the No. 1 overall pick if the Tennessee Titans don’t choose cornerback Jalen Ramsey out of Florida State University.

Tunsil has all the skill you want in a left tackle to protect your quarterback for the next decade in the league. He won’t last long, and,I believe he will be gone in the first five picks of the draft.

Rebels fans might not have to wait long to hear the next UM player off the board. Wide receiver Laquon Treadwell is expected to be off the board quickly. He might be picked as high as sixth by the Baltimore Ravens, but he shouldn’t last any longer than the 15th pick of the Los Angeles Rams.

Treadwell is considered to be one of the two top receiver picks. If he isn’t the first receiver off the board, it will more than likely be Will Fuller out of the University of Notre Dame.

While much has been made about his lack of speed, the fact that he doesn’t have sprinter speed didn’t stop Treadwell from coming back from a broken leg, which he suffered last year, to be one of the most productive receivers in the nation. He has a big body; he knows how to use it to shield defenders, and he has strong hands. He competes for the ball, and when it is in the air, he goes and gets it.

The final Rebel to get an invite is defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche. A ton of speculation surrounds Nkemdiche as he heads into the draft.

There are questions about off the field issues, disappearing at times during games, his conditioning and so forth. What is not in question, though, is when he plays at his peak, he is a top five pick.

Will a team take him on his potential over his production or will his red flags force him to slide down the draft board? It seems highly unlikely that Nkemdiche will slide out of the first round, but stranger things have happened in the draft.

One lone Bulldog out of Mississippi State University will be in attendance for the draft. Defensive tackle Chris Jones will represent MSU, and where he could land is a mystery.

Seven other defensive line prospects were invited to the draft besides Jones such as …

The NFL preseason will officially kickoff tonight with six games on the schedule. That is good news for the league after the Hall of Fame game was cancelled on Sunday.

Tonight is the first preseason game for the New Orleans Saints after a season last year that ended with a 7-9 record and the team missing the playoffs. New Orleans had to watch division rival, Carolina Panthers, reach the Super Bowl.

New Orleans will start the preseason on the road against the New England Patriots. Both teams have spent some time this week holding joint practices before tonight’s game.

While waiting for the game to kickoff tonight, here are five things to watch when both teams take the field.

The Saints backup quarterback job:

New Orleans starting quarterback Drew Brees more than likely won’t play more than four series. It wouldn’t be surprising if he is done after just one series, with this being the first preseason game.

That means the bulk of the work will go to backups Luke McCown and Garrett Grayson. McCown was the man behind Brees’ last season and wasn’t terrible in the spot work he got when the quarterback was out with an injury.

While McCown wasn’t horrible last season, he wasn’t nearly the player Brees is when he is healthy. He looks to have the backup job locked down, but it would be nice if he had a good showing this preseason.

Grayson, on the other hand, is entering his second year after the Saints drafted him in the third round of the 2015 draft with the 75th overall pick. He showed some nice things last preseason, but was nowhere near ready to be backup or looked to be the heir apparent to Brees.

Grayson’s growth will be one of the major things to watch this preseason. He should start to push McCown for the backup job before this season ends.

If he doesn’t show growth as a quarterback as the preseason progresses, then the Saints might have to use another draft pick this spring. It would work out best for New Orleans if Grayson developed to be the next quarterback after Brees’ time with the Saints is done.

The Patriots look to start Jimmy Garoppolo over Tom Brady:

Since Brady is suspended for the first four games of the season, it makes a ton of sense for the Patriots to start the third-year quarterback. Garoppolo was drafted to be the next quarterback after Brady retires.

As he enters his third season in the NFL, it is time for Garoppolo to show he can play. He also might be auditioning for a new job elsewhere.

This game loses some luster, as only one of the two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks will see the field tonight, and limited action as well.

Will the defense improve over 2015?

The New Orleans defense was terrible last season. If this year’s team …

There is just one college-football game left to play this season. Clemson University and the University of Alabama will play on Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. on ESPN in the national championship game.

As the 2016-2017 season comes to an end, it seems a good time to look back at how the conferences performed during the bowl season. Just to compare conferences on an equal footing, let’s first a look at the “Power Five” conferences and then the “Group of Five” conferences.

The clear winner of the Power Five is the Atlantic Coast Conference. Currently, the ACC has 8-3 bowl record, with Clemson still to play in this year’s title game.

Speaking of Clemson, the Tigers made a statement by shutting out Ohio State University 31-0 in a semifinal game. Florida State University beating the University of Michigan 33-32 in the Orange Bowl in the ACC’s other “New Year’s Six” game.

The ACC crushed nearly every other Power Five conference, going 3-1 against the Big Ten, 3-1 against the Southeastern Conference, and 1-0 against the Big 12. Only the Pac 12 will finish with a winning record against the ACC, as Stanford University won 25-23 over the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Finishing with a 4-2 bowl record means the Big 12 is the only other Power Five conference to finish with a winning record. The Big 12 finished 2-1 against the SEC, 1-0 against the Mountain West Conference and Pac 12, but 0-1 against the ACC. The University of Oklahoma did bring the conference a win in its New Year’s Six game. Strangely, the Big 12 didn’t play the Big Ten this bowl season.

It was an up-and-down season for the SEC, and it showed in the bowl games as the conference went 6-6. The SEC got 12 out of 14 teams into bowl games, with Mississippi State University reaching the postseason with a 5-7 record.

Both the East and West in the SEC went 3-3 in bowl games. The conference finished 2-0 against the Big Ten, and 1-0 against the Mid-American Conference and the Pac 12. The flipside is that SEC also went 1-3 against the ACC, 0-1 against the American Athletic Conference and 1-2 against the Big 12. The University of Alabama, MSU, Louisiana State University, the University of Florida, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Georgia brought home wins for the conference.

If Alabama loses to Clemson, the SEC will finish with a losing record in bowl games.

Just like the SEC, the Pac 12 has a .500 record in bowls at 3-3. This wasn’t a stellar postseason for the conference, but the University of Southern California did win the Rose Bowl to give the Pac-12 a victory in a New Year’s Six game.

The Pac-12 will finish with a 1-0 record against the ACC, 2-1 against the Big Ten, and 0-1 against the Big-12 and the SEC. It can still …