Jackson Free Press

Another month is left until the finalists for the 2017 C Spire Ferriss Trophy is announced, but the race might as well be called right now. If this was a heavyweight fight, the official would need to call it for a technical knockout.

Mississippi State University outfielder Brent Rooker is putting up unreal numbers. He is having the type of season that will be remembered for years in the rich MSU baseball lore.

Make no mistake: Four-year universities and colleges in our state have plenty of great baseball players.

One example is Jackson State University Tigers third baseman Lamar Briggs, who leads the SWAC in hits (53), doubles (11), and total bases (70). He is fifth in batting average, third in runs batted in and fourth in runs scored.

In a normal year, Briggs would be a great candidate for the Ferriss Trophy. His play is one of the reasons that JSU is 26-11 overall and 12-3 in SWAC play, just behind Alabama State University in the conference standings.

The University of Southern Mississippi is leading C-USA with a 10-2 mark in conference and 26-7 record overall. But the Golden Eagles lead just four statistical categories in the conference in hitting.

USM outfielder Matt Wallner leads C-USA in slugging percentage (.699) and home runs (11). He is fourth in on-base percentage and eighth in RBI in the conference. Teammate Dylan Burdeaux is having a strong season for the Golden Eagles as well.

But Rooker’s numbers blow everyone away. He is leading the SEC in batting average (.448), hits (56), RBI (56), doubles (19), home runs (15), total bases (126), stolen bases (14), stolen base attempts (18), slugging percentage (1.008) and on-base percentage (.548).

Last week the baseball must have looked like a beach ball to Rooker. He went 10 for 16 at the plate with a .625 batting average and drove in 13 RBI, scored nine runs, and hit six home runs, earned five walks, one double, and a pitch hit him three times in five games.

Rooker’s efforts landed him SEC Player of the Week honors for the second time in a row. This is the first time a player has won the award in back-to-back weeks since University of Georgia player Gordon Beckham in 2008, and Rooker is the first MSU player to accomplish the feat since Rex Buckner in 1992.

This is the third time this season Rooker has been named SEC Player of the Week. With the season he is having, it almost seems like he is a shoe-in for SEC Player of the Year.

In the preseason, MSU was picked to finish fourth in the Western Division and seventh in the conference. Right now the Bulldogs are tied for first in the division and the conference with an 8-4 mark.

The University of Kentucky, Auburn University and the University of Arkansas are tied for …

The American Family Association won’t accept mail using the new Harvey Milk postage stamp—not even donations. AFA released a statement late May urging their supporters not only to refuse to buy postage donning the face of the late gay California politician, but also to reject mail received with that postage.

Experiments conducted by other bloggers show that the AFA will hold true to their incessant boycotts: each sender got his money back.

Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, promoted gay rights legislation and was assassinated in 1978. He is still an icon for gay activism and “gave hope and confidence to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community in the United States and elsewhere at a time when the community was encountering widespread hostility and discrimination,” according to a USPS statement released after the reveal of the new Milk stamp.

The AFA, however, believes the commemoration of Milk is “disturbing to say the least,” touching on the fact that the stamp was introduced after seven years of lobbying by the drag queen (they leave out prominent LGBT-rights activist and San Diego Human Rights Commissioner) Nicole Murray-Ramirez.

The AFA cites Milk’s biography The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk to claim he was a pedophile. Milk, according to the source, had a relationship with a 16-year-old while in his thirties. “This is not diversity; this is perversity,” Tim Wildmon, AFA president, said in a press release.

Either way, AFA is missing out on a few $5 to $10 checks (and one $100 one) from some hilarious Internet trolls.

Jackson City Councilman De'Keither Stamps, of Ward 4, says he voted against the Trilogy Engineering Inc. contract to do a corrosion study for the city last week because it is an "unfunded mandate" by the State of Mississippi—and one the taxpayers cannot afford. In two videos on his YouTube channel, Stamps said his main priority wasn't who was getting the contract, but that the State was demanding that the City suddenly pay $400,000 for a corrosion study, instead of helping the capital city.

"I know several of the subcontractors personally," he says in the most recent video (see below). The issue is I don’t want to spend $400,000 when we don’t have it. This is an unfunded mandate from the State of Mississippi. If they can help us, I’m all for it. … It’s not something we’ve budgeted for."

Stamps, who has unsuccessfully asked for an emergency declaration over the lead issue several times, says the City needs stand and/or federal assistance in order to make sure Jackson residents are safe, especially in areas where 90 percent of the water tested positive for at least trace elements of lead.

"I want to test every child in the whole city that’s in these affected areas," he said in the second video below.

As of this moment, the only team in the NFL playoffs is the Dallas Cowboys. Since its opening-week loss, Dallas has reeled off 11 straight wins.

The Cowboys get a chance to avenge their only loss of the season to the New York Giants this Sunday. More than just revenge at stake for the Cowboys.

A victory over their hated rival isn’t the only thing on the line in this game. A Cowboys win would lock up the NFC East title for the club and put a strangle-hold on home-field advantage.

New York, on the other hand, can keep Dallas from winning the division and help its playoff hopes. The Pittsburgh Steelers overwhelmed the Giants last week and have both the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles hot on their tails.

Dallas can wrap up home-field advantage with a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the next week on Sunday Night Football. The Cowboys can then use the last two weeks of the season to let banged up players rest.

It would take a massive fall from the Cowboys to lose the division and home field, but massive falls have happened before in the NFL. Dallas ends the season with games against the Detroit Lions and the Eagles.

Every team the Cowboys play in the final four weeks of the season are still in the hunt for the playoffs. That means locking up division and home field will become more important each week.

On the other hand, the New Orleans Saints burned all their margin for error in a loss to the Lions. Detroit helped its playoff hopes and put the Saints in must-win mode for the last four weeks of the season.

New Orleans gets another chance to help its playoff hopes, as the team plays Tampa Bay in two of the next three weeks. A road game against the Arizona Cardinals is mixed between the two meetings against the Buccaneers.

Few teams have been as hot as Tampa Bay the last four weeks. Since losing to the Atlanta Falcons on Nov. 3, the Buccaneers have won four straight games and tied for the NFC South lead.

If the Saints are going to make the playoffs, they are going to have to earn it. The team must beat Tampa Bay twice and then Arizona and Atlanta just to have a chance to get in the postseason.

Every team in the NFC is still alive for the playoff except for the San Francisco 49ers. Pretty much every game in the NFC will matter as far as playoff hopes go over the next four weeks.

The next three weeks, however, are huge for the Cowboys and Saints but for different reasons. Dallas becomes the top team in the NFC, and the Saints can end up playing for something in the final week of the season if both just win.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is, without a doubt, one of the best in the NFL at his position. It wasn’t super surprising that he led his team down the field for a game-winning field goal in the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs.

Rodgers has made spectacular throws throughout his career and some amazing throws against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, Jan. 15. He showed why he is an All-Pro and Pro Bowl quarterback with his play.

The immediate story will be how Rodgers was able to pull out the 34-31 victory over the Cowboys. The long-term story could be the Dallas that walked off the field in defeat.

While the Cowboys are now home for the playoffs, their future in Dallas looks extremely bright. They remind me of another Dallas team back in 1991, when Jimmy Johnson finally had his triplets in quarterback Troy Aikman, running back Emmitt Smith and wide receiver Michael Irvin. Those Cowboys reached the playoffs with an 11-5 record and had to play on Wild Card weekend.

Dallas defeated the Chicago Bears in the Wild Card round. In the Divisional Round, things didn’t go well, as the Detroit Lions beat the Cowboys.

This year’s Cowboys might have found its triplets in quarterback Dak Prescott, running back Ezekiel Elliott and wide receiver Dez Bryant. Dallas finished first in the NFC with a 13-3 record and did it with rookies at quarterback and running back.

Even in 1991, there was a quarterback controversy with Steve Beuerlein replacing an injured Aikman during the season. This season saw the Tony Romo or Prescott debate that even continued during the playoff game.

Just to show how closely these two teams resemble each other, here are the ages of both triplets: Aikman was 25, Smith was 22, and Irvin was 25; Prescott is 23, Elliott is 21, and Bryant is 28.

Both teams lost in the Divisional Round, but it wasn’t about the loss for either team. It was about what comes next. Dallas seems to be in position to repeat what the 1991 Cowboys did after their playoff loss.

The very next season, the Cowboys ended up winning the Super Bowl. Those triplets ended up winning a total of three Super Bowls before they were done playing.

The Cowboys could have had more Super Bowl wins, but the egos of Johnson and owner Jerry Jones got in the way. Injuries eventually ended the careers of Aikman and Irvin, but Smith ended up becoming the NFL’s all-time rushing leader.

But he couldn’t carry the team at his advanced age without Aikman and Irvin or a new quarterback and wide receiver duo.

Prescott and company might not win the Super Bowl at the end of the 2017 season, but a lot of the pieces are in place. With a few smart additions, this team could repeat what Dallas did in …

College football lasts almost a year long, with the season starting in September, bowl games in December and January, national signing day in early February, spring practice in March and spring games in April.

National signing day in college football has been a major deal to fans for a while now, and even the players have gotten in on the spectacle. The fans’ obsession with college football means knowing the recruits a school wants to sign, following them on social media and hoping that recruit does sign with their school.

But college football fans have a new obsession: The spring game is becoming a major way to tell which team has major expectations for the upcoming season.

Ohio State University ended up with more than 100,000 fans at a glorified practice during its spring game last year, and the University of Georgia packed more than 90,000 fans into the stands for its spring game.

As more fans are making the trip to see the games, it comes as no surprise that ESPN would get in on the deal. Just this month, the network is showing 21 games across its various platforms such as the SEC Network and ESPN3.

Several universities have built a whole weekend or week around their spring games. Those universities use concerts, other sports, reunions and more to lure fans to watch a game that really means nothing.

For years, Mississippi State University has used Super Bulldog Weekend to highlight its spring game. This year is no different, with Super Bulldog Weekend taking place from Friday, April 7, to Sunday, April 9.

On the baseball diamond, the Bulldogs host the University of Kentucky, and the softball team hosts the University of South Carolina. Both teams will play a three-game series in their respective sports starting on Friday.

MSU tennis will host Texas A&M University on Friday and Louisiana State University on Sunday. The volleyball team will hold an alumni game on Friday and host Southeastern Louisiana University and Samford University on Saturday.

The spring game starts at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 8, with free admission. The SEC Network will broadcast the game for the fans who can’t make the trip.

MSU isn’t the only school hosting its spring game this weekend. The University of Mississippi is putting on Grove Bowl Week for this year’s spring game.

The Rebels will host the University of Alabama in baseball with a three-game series beginning on Friday. The 28th annual Chucky Mullins Award Ceremony breakfast will be held just before the spring game.

UM will play its spring game at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 8, with the SEC Network broadcasting the game. The Rebels are breaking in new offensive and defensive coordinators this season, and this is the first peak at what both units look like for the 2017 season.

The Campaign for Southern Equality and Mississippi-native Rev. Susan Hrostowski filed a lawsuit against several state officials, saying that House Bill 1523 is unconstitutional, late last week.

The lawsuit states that House Bill 1523 violates the first and fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution and asks the U.S. District Court to enjoin the bill from becoming law on July 1. New York-based attorney Roberta Kaplan, who won same-sex couples the right to marry and adopt in this state, will represent the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit names the governor, attorney general, the executive director of MDHS, and the state registrar for vital records as defendants. Several floor debate comments from the 2016 legislative session about the bill are used in the initial complaint. The complaint draws the distinction between Mississippi's Religious Freedom Restoration Act and The Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act.

"Critically, the Mississippi RFRA does not single out any particular religious belief or creed and privilege it above all others..." the complaint says. "HB 1523, however, starkly departs from this tradition and practice by providing additional rights and benefits and by extending well beyond those available under RFRA, but only to individuals or entities that espouse one of three specific beliefs: (a) that '[m]arriage is or should be recognized as union of one man and one woman,' (b) that '[s]exual relations are properly reserved to' a marriage between one man and one woman, or (c) male and female 'refer to an individual's immutable biological sex as objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at the time of birth.'"

The ACLU and the Mississippi Center for Justice have both filed lawsuits, asking the courts to rule House Bill 1523 unconstitutional, and Kaplan filed a motion to re-open the case that legalized same-sex marriage in Mississippi, due to HB1523's passage. The Campaign for Southern Equality's lawsuit is the third lawsuit filed against House Bill 1523 and the fourth legal challenge.

Updated: Three persons of interest have been taken into custody, WAPT reports, after a 6-year-old who was kidnapped early this morning was found dead in the back of a stolen vehicle in Madison County.

The Jackson Police Department has now confirmed that they found a deceased child in the backseat of the stolen Toyota. He was six years old. A multi-jurisdictional investigation is still underway, according to JPD tweets. JPD, Hinds County Sheriff's Department, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the Madison County Sheriff's Office are working collectively on this case.

WJTV and WAPT reported that the child, Kingston Frazier, was in the back of the Toyota, when the car was stolen from the I-55 Kroger parking lot.

A Hinds County Sheriff told WAPT that the deceased boy was found in Gluckstadt in Madison County at 9:30 a.m. WJTV is reporting "it is believed the child died from a gunshot wound."

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and JPD issued an Amber Alert for a missing boy, Kingston Frazier, early this morning.

JPD is posting on its Twitter account with updates. This post will be updated.

Swamp Babies, Twin Peaks, new releases and more...

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in the historic Obergefell v. Hodges case, several media outlets reverted and retreated to their ideological lines.

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, has garnered national attention in an article by Robbie Ward, former DJ reporter, on the Huffington Post about their now-public stance on same-sex marriage. The third-largest newspaper in the state will not be publishing same-sex wedding or engagement announcements. In a Bible-based op-ed piece, publisher and CEO of Journal, Inc., Clay Foster wrote that "while this decision will require states to issue 'marriage' licenses to same-sex couples, this does not make it acceptable to God." It does not make it acceptable to Foster, either, who advised employees not to post their opinions on same-sex marriage on social media. Employees were also told that if they disagreed with or "didn't like" Foster's op-ed, they could leave.

The Huffington Post printed parts of an internal email sent to leaders at weekly publications from associate publisher, Charlotte Wolfe, that said, "Our job is to report the news objectively and we can't do this if we're also on social media sharing our opinions. We have a right to our opinions, but because we are so tightly connected to our newspaper products, we don't need to vocalize this on social media."

It appears that the Daily Journal is the only news outlet, thus far, in Mississippi that has taken such a hard political (or biblical) line against the Supreme Court's ruling, asking employees to stay silent on the issue even in their personal, public personas.

Other Mississippi newspapers are not following the Daily Journal's lead. The Huffington Post article reported the Clarion-Ledger, The Commercial Dispatch and Starkville Daily News will all (continue to) accept same-sex marriage and engagement announcements.

A new poll paints Mississippi purple, calculating Trump's lead over Hillary Clinton in the state to be only three points, in a four-candidate race. The online-only survey had over 800 respondents from Mississippi, who are registered voters, and over 74,000 voters in the country. The results put Mississippi in the "tossup" category—not a red state.

Malik Newman tested the NBA Draft waters and has decided that he didn’t like his current chances. The current Mississippi State University player and former Callaway High School star has decided to withdraw from the draft.

Newman still decided to drop out after working out for the New York Knicks yesterday. He also worked out for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Brooklyn Nets.

Today is the final day that players who haven’t signed with an agent can withdraw from the draft and return to school. Anyone who doesn’t withdraw forfeits their college eligibility and will remain in the draft.

Newman was one of the top players in the country coming out of high school. The popular thought was that he would showcase his skills for one college season before jumping to the NBA.

But things didn’t go as planned. He was hit with injuries and was inconsistent on the court. During his first season at MSU, Newman averaged 11.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. He also had 1.9 turnovers per game and shot just 39.1 percent from the field and 37.9 percent from the three-point line.

Still, even after an up-and-down freshman season, Newman was right to take advantage of the new rule that allows players to go to the NBA Combine.

Several blogs reported that Newman shot the ball well during shooting drills on day one of the event, but he didn’t stand out during the team drills. Mock drafts had Newman anywhere from being a late second-round pick to being undrafted.

Coming back to school isn’t the worst thing for Newman. He can use his time at college to better his game and still test the NBA waters after next season. Under the current rules, he can declare for the draft for three seasons (freshman, sophomore, junior) and go back to school if he doesn’t sign with an agent.

Where he will play next season might be the next question. ESPN, citing multiple sources, says Newman may transfer to another Division I school after being unhappy in his role under first-year coach Ben Howland.

If Newman does transfer to another Division I, he will have to sit out a year due to NCAA rules. That would likely mean he would have to wait two years before giving the NBA Draft another try.

MSU has another highly talented class—in most cases considered a top 10 class—coming in next season. Newman could also decide to stay with the Bulldogs and be part of a major turn around.

No matter where Newman ends up, he will have to put his NBA dreams on hold for at least one more year.

Early today, word came down from the top of the JFP tower all the way down to the basement where I am located, that we could set up a pick'em game. I have gone out and set up an account for a few fantasy games.

Mississippi might not top every list in educational achievement, but at least it’s straightforward about it.

It pays to be honest. Achieve.org recognized the state for closing the “honesty gap”—the difference between how much students have actually improved on National Assessment of Educational Performance examinations and how much students are reported to have improved on NAEP examinations for the 2014-2015 school year.

A Mississippi Department of Education press release explains that the Achieve.org report released last May revealed many states mislead the public on whether or not their students are actually proficient in basic math and reading skills. Mississippi's NAEP results have improved, with figures in the double digits showing that improvement. In 2014, in fact, Bailey APAC Middle School and Northwest Middle School, both in the Jackson Public School District, outscored all other JPS middle and high schools on math assessments.

For narrowing the gap between actual test scores and reported test scores, HonestyGap.org recognizes Mississippi as a “Top Truth Teller” for the 2014-2015 school year.

Check out the full MDE press release here.

Sierra Mannie is an education reporting fellow for the Jackson Free Press and the Hechinger Report. Email her at [email protected].

State superintendent Dr. Carey Wright released her annual report today, which includes how and where school districts spend their state, federal and local dollars. Data included in that report show that school districts use state funds to operate at least half of their budgets on average, while local and federal funding make up the rest of a district's budget.

In total, 67 percent of all funds (federal, state and local) go toward instructional costs, while a little over 10 percent of that funding goes toward general and school administrative costs. School districts also spend a large chunk of their money on support costs for maintenance and building costs, tech support and transportation, the report shows.

The average expenditure per pupil in the 2015-2016 school year was $9,704, Wright's report shows. The average teacher salary was $44,416.

“The report provides evidence that the education reforms and legislative initiatives that have been implemented throughout our state are working,” said Wright said in a press release. “Mississippi students are benefiting from the state’s investment in public education.”

The report also highlights several grants Mississippi received, including a $6.6 million grant for MDE to improve their data system with a focus on evaluation and early learning.

Read the full JFP interview with Carey Wright and see http://www.mdek12.org/MBE/R2017.

The Rachel Maddow show did a long segment last night tying the inaction in Congress (yet another meaningless vote on "Obamacare") to action in Mississippi -- a court case to determine whether Mississippi legislators overstepped in trying to close down the state's only remaining clinic where abortions are performed.

The court case, which was Tweeted, live-blogged and throughly photographed by JFP team coverage on Wednesday, got the attention the Maddow show, which quoted extensively from our piece. Enjoy!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Props to the whole team!

Finding ways to develop talent is one of the most important aspects of running a winning team. The teams that are better at discovering and building up young players are normally the best in their leagues.

Major league baseball uses the minor league to do that through the farm system, which gives players a place to get game experience as they hone their craft.

In basketball, the NBA began the D-League, or Developmental League, in the 2001-2002 season. It will be called the NBA Gatorade League, or NBA G-League, starting next season.

The D-League currently has 22 teams, all of which are affiliated with a single NBA team. That pro team either fully owns and operates its D-League outfit, or the developing team has a hybrid ownership in which the an NBA team funds and manages it, but local ownership controls business and manages community relations.

The Memphis Grizzlies purchased an expansion franchise in January that is set to begin play next season in Southaven, Miss. Memphis is one of five teams that has launched an expansion team or bought an existing D-League team.

On Friday, March 31, the New Orleans Pelicans announced their intentions to start an expansion team, as well. Pelicans owner Tom Benson, who also owns the New Orleans Saints, will own and operate the D-League team, which will begin play in the 2018-2019 season.

New Orleans sent a Request for Proposal, or RFP, to 11 Gulf Coast-region cities, which the Pelicans and the NBA selected based on market research.

Of those 11 cities, seven are based in Louisiana (Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, Shreveport and St. Tammany Parish), two are in Mississippi (Biloxi and Jackson), one is in Alabama (Mobile), and one is in Florida (Pensacola).

New Orleans starting a D-League team means it can call up players from that team and get them players on the same day. Players will learn the same plays that the Pelicans use, as well, meaning that they won’t have to learn a new playbook when they are called up.

The Pelicans can use its D-League affiliate to develop draft picks that need more playing time before joining the NBA team. It also allows the team to expand its fan base outside of New Orleans.

Jackson makes perfect sense for a team looking to widen its reach. New Orleans Saints fans are numerous around the capital city, but there doesn’t seem to be one NBA team that a majority of Jacksonians root for each season.

New Orleans can build a fan base in Jackson that will be as loyal to the Pelicans as it is to the Saints. Fans in Central Mississippi never stopped loving the Saints no matter how terrible the team happened to be during the season. These same fans could be just as loyal to the Pelicans.

University of Alabama coach Nick Saban doesn’t lose a lot of games. Since finishing with a perfect season in 2009, Saban has lost just 10 games.

He has lost just three games over the past two seasons, and two of those have come against the University of Mississippi. With the Rebels’ recent wins, they have been a thorn in the side of arguably the best coach in college football.

In 2014, UM won a dramatic affair when the team scored the game-winning touchdown with under three minutes to go and a late interception, sealing the victory. Last season, the Crimson Tide committed five turnovers and couldn’t overcome a 30-10 Rebels lead as the Alabama rally ran out of time.

Plenty of eyes will be on the Rebels and Tide this weekend. The game could have a major say in the postseason hopes for both teams.

This game means more to the Rebels than the Tide. In the past two years, UM has beaten Alabama, but the Tide righted the ship, making the College Football Playoff at the end of the seasons.

Last season, Alabama lost to the Rebels and still ended up winning the championship. The Crimson Tide has shown they can overcome a loss, but UM hasn’t been able to turn either win over Alabama into a SEC West title or a spot in the four-team playoff.

For the past two years, both teams entered this game undefeated. That is not the case this year, after the Rebels blew a 28-13 lead to Florida State University in their season opener.

Alabama will want to beat the team that has provided its only blemish in the regular season the last two years, but theTide could still make the playoffs even with a loss. For the Rebels, this is a must-win game in the middle of September.

UM quarterback Chad Kelly could see his Heisman Trophy hopes end and the Rebels’ playoff aspirations dashed before the first month of the season ends. If the Rebels lose the game, there is no tomorrow for them.

Kelly put up solid numbers against the Seminoles, going 21 for 39 passing with four touchdowns, but three interceptions and a fumble lost were really ugly for a Heisman hopeful. In fact, Kelly’s poor play late in the second quarter through the second half is part of the reason the Rebels lost.

A second loss in another marquee game would pretty much spell doom. No one really cares what numbers Kelly put up against Wofford College last week when it comes to winning the Heisman. He was supposed to put up big numbers, and did as he went 20 for 27 with three touchdowns.

If the team loses to the Tide, he would need to be out of this world the rest of the season to have any hopes to make a trip to New York. It wouldn’t be impossible for …

Jackson State University got off to a rough start at the beginning of the Tony Hughes era with three losses out of the gate.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas pounded the Tigers 63-13 in the season opener. UNLV had the game well in hand at the half with a 42-7 lead, and JSU got outscored 21-3 in the second half.

The team looked to have righted the ship in the first half against Tennessee State University with a 23-19 lead at the break. The second half was another matter, as TSU outscored the Tigers 21-0 and won 40-23.

Entering SWAC play, Grambling State University jumped out to a huge 28-0 lead in the third quarter. JSU added a touchdown in the third and another in the fourth, but GSU’s lead was too large to overcome in the end.

The first win of the season came in the fourth game against the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. JSU jumped out to a 25-10 lead at halftime with a 71-yard interception helping the Tigers build it.

UAPB began a comeback in the second half, as the team scored 10 points in the third quarter and cut the JSU lead down to 25-20. The Tigers added a late third-quarter touchdown, sealing the 32-20 victory.

JSU looked to begin a winning streak against Mississippi Valley State University. The Tigers fell behind 7-0 early in the first quarter against an inspired Delta Devils team. JSU added a field goal late in the quarter, cutting the deficit to 7-3.

MVSU made another touchdown in the middle of the second quarter, building the lead to 14-3. JSU scored 13 points in a furious rally before halftime, taking a 16-14 lead.

Neither team could score in the second, so the Tigers notched the second season win. JSU, which is currently at 2-1 in the conference, owns first place in the SWAC East, with Alcorn State University in second at 2-2.

The team comes off a bye week and looks to win its third straight game for first time since 2013, when the Tigers won six straight. During the winning streak, the Grambling State game ended up being cancelled after the GSU players began boycotting athletic department conditions.

In the SWAC East, it looks like a two-horse race between JSU and ASU. Alabama A&M University and Alabama State University are both 1-4 in SWAC play, and MVSU is 0-4 in conference play.

If you throw out the UNLV game, JSU has been outscored 45-24 in the second half. In SWAC play, the Tigers have been outscored 69-62.

The second-half struggles cost JSU wins against Tennessee State and nearly allowed UAPB’s comeback. Finishing games in the second half might be the difference from reaching the SWAC Championship game or watching Alcorn State play in it again.

JSU hosts Southern University this weekend as it looks for win number three. The Jaguars …

This falls in the can't-make-it-up column.

Most of you know that Mitchell Moore of Campbell's Bakery, who is straight, and Eddie Outlaw of William Wallace Salon, who is gay, and others started the amazing "If You're Buying, We're Selling" campaign. They want Mississippi business owners to put stickers in their windows to indicate that they don't discriminate, in response to SB 2681, Mississippi's version of the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act." (See lots of business owners with the icon in their ads in this week's JFP, too.)

So, the religious right is apparently not happy with the international media coverage the campaign is getting -- and from Mississippi, which is supposed to be their wheelhouse, you know. They really didn't like it when Emily Pettus of the AP (the JFP's next-door neighbors) did a story about this that was picked up by many outlets.

In response, they went on a PR tear to take back the messaging. Greg Scott, who tweets at @adfmedia, led the way, tweeting this week in response to the AP story: "Sticker folks protest imaginary law .@AP bows false narrative, RFRA not "vaguely written," no threat to "=treatment" http://bit.ly/QEU2El

Curious, I did some research. Turns out, Scott is the VP for media communications for Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly Alliance Defense Fund), a nonprofit group founded in 1994 by extreme-right and vocally anti-gay leaders including James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association. (Interestingly, Mississippi's Judge Charles Pickering is also on the board.)

Not to be outdone, the American Family Association, an alliance co-founder, also blasted the sticker campaign on a Christian "news" site, which is part of the American Family News Network, which is part of the ... American Family Association. "It's not really a buying campaign, but it's a bully campaign," said Buddy Smith, executive vice president of Tupelo-based American Family Association, "and it's being carried out by radical homosexual activists who intend to trample the freedom of Christians to live according to the dictates of scripture."

The Southern Poverty Law Center includes the alliance (and AFA) on its list of a dozen groups that drive the "religious right's anti-gay crusade." On its website, it brags that its "attorneys have successfully defended marriage as the union between one man and one woman in over 40 cases nationwide."

SPLC indicates that the alliance was established in the early 1990s in response to gay-rights battles in the courts—which it clearly believes is the "principal" threat to religious freedom. ADF President Alan Sears and Vice President Craig Osten wrote " The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom," which ties homosexuality to pedophilia and other "disordered sexual behavior."

SPLC states: "The ADF has also mounted legal challenges to gay military service, marriage, adoption and foster-parenting, as well as to domestic partner benefits around the nation. It trains other attorneys 'to battle the radical homosexual …