Jackson Free Press

Associate Publisher Kimberly Griffin has been featured on Richard Prince's 'Journal-isms' website.

This is one of my favorite weeks in sports with the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Final Four and WrestleMania held on the same weekend. Looking at the card for WrestleMania 33, it could be a dud, but the in-ring action may surpass expectations, depending on the angles that the company wants to go with post-show.

If you checked out The Slate in the Jackson Free Press this week, there is a tease about a future president taking part in a past WrestleMania. No, not The Rock, although he might one day run for the office, and he has the charisma and charm to win.

WrestleMania 23 took place at Ford Field in Detroit on April 1, 2007, and while it wasn’t the greatest “showcase of the immortals,” it wasn’t horrible and does have an interesting place the event’s history.

In the run-up to the event, WWE owner Vince McMahon entered into a feud with longtime friend Donald Trump. This feud started when Trump interrupted McMahon on “Monday Night Raw,” stealing the WWE chairman’s spotlight and laying the groundwork for their future match.

This wasn’t the first time Trump ended up as part of McMahon’s traveling show. Trump signed a deal to have Trump Plaza sponsor WrestleMania IV and WrestleMania V, even though the events took place at Atlantic City Convention Hall, now known as Boardwalk Hall.

In WrestleMania history, this is still the only time that the event took place in the same location in back-to-back years. Trump was in the crowd as a fan at WrestleMania VII and WrestleMania XX, making him a fixture at the event four times before the 23rd “show of shows.”

At WrestleMania 23, the Trump-McMahon match was billed as the “Battle of the Billionaires.” So what would these so-called billionaires battle over but hair-vs.-hair, with the loser having his head shaved? What else would the two battle over if not their locks?

Instead of fighting each other, the two men chose proxies to fight in their place, with Trump picking ECW champion Bobby Lashley and McMahon going with Intercontinental champion Umaga. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin came in as a special guest referee for the match to add more sizzle.

Interesting fact: McMahon wanted Hulk Hogan to be Trump’s pick for the match as a callback to WrestleMania III, but money issues between the two kept the Hulkster from taking part in the event.

As for the match, it isn’t a classic for its in-ring work, but Stone Cold handed out his signature move, the “stunner,” to McMahon’s son, Shane, after he entered the match when Umaga had “knocked out” Austin. That set the IC champ up for the finish with a stunner from Austin and a pin by Lashley.

After the match, Trump, Lashley and Austin helped shaved McMahon, and as it turned out, Vince, with no hair, has the tiniest head in the history of wrestling. Stone Cold did his normal post-match …

Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves wrote the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions a letter this week, to put his support for Trump's Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos in writing. In his Jan. 10 letter, Reeves wrote to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) that DeVos represents a change that "our students so desperately need."

"As Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi, I know the importance of ensuring that every student has access to a truly revolutionary education, regardless of the zipcode in which they live or the income level of their parents," Reeves writes. "Mrs. DeVos's continued commitment to ensuring that every student has access to a school that best serves their needs -regardless of the delivery model or the school governance structure-gives me utmost confidence in her nomination and subsequent position."

DeVos's confirmation hearing was pushed back and is now scheduled for next Tuesday, largely due to the fact that the Office of Government Ethics had not completed a review of "DeVos's financial holdings and potential conflicts of interest," the Washington Post reported.

DeVos, known for her work as the Republican Party Chairwoman in Michigan and for using her political and monetary influence to support the school-choice movement there, is a big advocate of voucher programs, charter schools and lobbying for those efforts, reporting from the Detroit Free Press over the years show.

One editor in Detroit writes in an op-ed that DeVos is not qualified for her role because she has very little practical education experience. Indeed, DeVos hold a bachelor's degree in business administration and political science from Calvin College and has worked as a businesswoman at the Windquest Group and a principle actor in how the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation spends its money. Her political experience is evident, and her involvement in Michigan's Republican Party and lobbying for school-choice reforms are well-documented.

"She is, in essence, a lobbyist — someone who has used her extraordinary wealth to influence the conversation about education reform, and to bend that conversation to her ideological convictions despite the dearth of evidence supporting them," Detroit Free Press editor Stephen Henderson writes. "For 20 years, the lobby her family bankrolls has propped up the billion-dollar charter school industry and insulated it from commonsense oversight, even as charter schools repeatedly failed to deliver on their promises to parents and children."

DeVos and her husband, a billionaire businessman, were influential in how Michigan's charter school law was written back in 1993, Chalkbeat reports, and continues to be involved with ed policy decisions there.

"When Michigan lawmakers this year were considering a measure that would have added oversight for charter schools in Detroit, members of the DeVos family poured $1.45 million into legislators’ campaign coffers — an average of $25,000 a day for seven weeks. Oversight was not included in the final legislation," a 2016 Chalkbeat report says.

Consequently, the majority of Michigan's charter schools are run by private companies, …

There might still be a nip in the air, but this weekend will feel like spring to some in the state. Starting Friday, Feb. 17, college baseball makes its return, even if the weather is still a bit cold.

Last season three teams from our state reached the 2016 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. Hopefully, that success will carry over to this season, and more teams will reach the postseason.

Division I conferences have begun to release their preseason projected order of finish and preseason all-conference teams. All three Division I conferences with teams from out of state have made their preseason picks.

In the SEC last year, Mississippi State shocked the conference, as it won the SEC West, the SEC regular season championship and earned one of the eight national seeds. MSU won its Regional but runner-up University of Arizona ended up defeating the team in the Super Regional.

The University of Mississippi reached the postseason out of the SEC but lost its first two games in its regional, which got the team bounced from the tournament.

League coaches don’t believe the Bulldogs will repeat their performance from last season. MSU was picked to finish fourth in the SEC and picked as the seventh best team in the SEC.

The Rebels are picked ahead of MSU to finish third in the SEC West and sixth in the conference. Last season UM finished fourth in the SEC West behind MSU, Texas A&M University and Louisiana State University.

MSU placed two players on the preseason All-SEC teams with outfielders Jake Mangum on the first team and Brent Rooker on the second team. The Rebels placed two players on the second-team All-SEC, second baseman Tate Blackman and third baseman Colby Bortles.

The Bulldogs begin the season Friday, Feb. 17, at home against Texas Tech University. UM starts its 2017 season at home against East Carolina University on Friday, Feb. 17.

The University of Southern Mississippi finished in third place in the regular-season standings in Conference USA last season. USM won the C-USA Tournament, which got the conference automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, but the Golden Eagles lost in the Regional.

Coaches gave Southern Miss three first-place votes. But overall, the team was predicted to finish third in the conference. The Golden Eagles place three players on the preseason All-Conference team with pitcher Kirk McCarty and infielders Dylan Burdeaux and Taylor Braley earning the honors.

USM will start the 2017 season at home on Friday, Feb. 17, against Northeastern University.

Jackson State University finished second in the SWAC East with Alcorn State University in third place, and Mississippi Valley State University finished last in 2016. All three teams failed to reach the postseason when they didn’t win the SWAC Tournament and were in a one-bid league.

The Tigers are picked to finish second in the SWAC East and tied for second overall …

A list of the full 330 participants for the underwear olympics, also known as the 2017 NFL Combine, is official. The Southeastern Conference is sending the most players of any FBS conference with 66 players receiving an invite.

The ACC is second with 60 players receiving an invite. Third is the Big Ten with 51, and the Pac 12 is fourth with 46. Power Five conference the Big 12 will send just 19 players, and Group of Five conference the American Athletic Conference will send 18.

Right now, the Big 12, which didn’t want to expand, is the weakest Power Five conference and in danger of becoming the next Big East in the power group. Conference USA, Mountain West and Mid-American Conference will send 11 players each. The Sun Belt and FBS independent schools are sending five players each.

The University of Michigan leads all schools with 14 players heading to the combine. Louisiana State University and the University of Alabama are tied for second with 10 players each. LSU and Alabama are sending more players than the Big 12 conference as a whole

Texas A&M University, Clemson University and the University of Miami, Florida are third, with nine players heading to the event. The University of Mississippi is sending four players, and Mississippi State University is sending two.

The Rebels who are heading to the combine are wide receiver Quincy Adeboyejo, defensive end Fadol Brown, tight end Evan Engram and defensive tackle D.J. Jones. MSU players are wide receiver Fred Ross and offensive tackle Justin Senior.

Receiving an invite to the combine is extremely helpful for players who hope to be drafted. Still, it doesn’t mean a player will be drafted. One hundred and seventeen players who participated in last year’s combine went undrafted.

While six players from two Mississippi universities are heading to the combine, several players didn’t get an invite. Some big names got left off the list.

Two quarterbacks ended up getting snubbed for the combine: Rebels quarterback Chad Kelly and the University of Southern Mississippi quarterback Nick Mullens.

Kelly injured his ACL and wouldn’t be able to workout, but teams could have interviewed him. He has some legal baggage from his past that might have been a factor him not going to the event.

Mullens didn’t have the same success his senior season that he did as a junior. A new coach and injuries kept him from being his best this season, but he didn’t have a terrible year.

Wide receiver Damore’ea Stringfellow won’t be joining his UM teammates at the Combine. He plead guilty to an assault charge in 2014 while he was a member of the University of Washington, which will keep him from going this year.

USM offensive lineman Cameron Tom ended his career as one of the best lineman in Conference USA but got snubbed. In fact, no draft-eligible players from the Golden …

So you know that conventional wisdom that says the people are safer with a lot of guns around?

Turns out maybe not so much.

"The totality of the evidence based on educated judgments about the best statistical models suggests that right-to-carry laws are associated with substantially higher rates" of aggravated assault, rape, robbery and murder, said Donohue.

Earlier studies (including the frequently debated and arguably debunked work of John Lott) suggested that carry laws were correlating with lower incidents of violent crime; by extending the amount of time studied, however, the National Research Council poured cold water on the Lott theory, and now Stanford's new study sees things trending even further in the direction that kinda makes more sense -- more guns equals more violent crime, particularly assaults with a deadly weapon.

Of course, how much is open to interpretation, but the notion that more guns equals less violent crime seems to be put to bed by its own number crunching.

The 2016 edition of the Egg Bowl may end up feeling like a Big-12 or Pac-12 game, in that defense might be optional when the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University meet on Saturday, Nov. 26.

Heading into this game, the Rebels are ranked 101st in total defense, and the Bulldogs are slightly worse, at 105th in the nation. MSU gives up 455.2 yards per game, and UM allows 451.7 to opposing offenses.

Those aren’t defensive numbers normally associated with SEC defenses. Poor defense is one reason that the Bulldogs aren’t going to a bowl game and a reason that the Rebels need to win this game to go to a bowl game.

Each team will try to attack the other’s weakness on defense.

MSU will try to use its 33rd-ranked rushing attack against the Rebels 112th-ranked rush defense. The Bulldogs gain 212.8 yards per game on the ground, and UM is giving up 227.2 rushing yards.

UM will brings its passing attack, ranked 12th in the nation, against the 119th-ranked pass defense of the Bulldogs. The Rebels average 314.5 yards in the air, and MSU gives up 279.7 yards to completed passes.

Both defenses will try to take away what the opposing offense does best. That means the Bulldogs want the Rebels to run on offense, and UM wants MSU to pass on offense.

The Rebels allow 224.5 yards per game passing for 60th in the nation. MSU is 74th in the nation in passing, averaging 225.5 yards per game.

UM enters the game with the 104th-ranked rushing attack, which amasses 144.1 yards per game. The Bulldogs bring the 72nd-ranked rush defense, which allows 175.5 yards per game.

Again, neither defense is very good, but they will try to force the opposing offense into what they stink the least at on defense. Either way, both offenses should have big days against these porous defenses.

Stopping each team begins and ends with the quarterback.

The Rebels must force MSU quarterback Nick Fitzgerald to be a passer and not let him break off the long runs that he produces nearly every game. UM must not let the Bulldogs turn their quarterback Shea Patterson into a runner.

Fitzgerald is prone to miss targets in the passing game, but he is great at reading the defense during the rushing attack. Patterson brings Johnny Manziel to mind, as he scrambles to keep plays alive when the rush bears down on him. He also has a strong arm and can read defenses pretty well in limited action.

Barring injuries, this will be the quarterback matchup for the Egg Bowl for two more years since Fitzgerald is a sophomore, and Patterson is a freshman. If Patterson turns out as good as recruiting sites believe he will, he will be gone for the NFL after his junior season.

While the Rebels want …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.