Jackson Free Press

The Mississippi Department of Mental Health released its first state plan for suicide prevention today; a workgroup composed of state agency workers and other advocates formed in April to help finalize the two-year prevention plan. In Mississippi, suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people ages 10-24 years old.

The plan's release coincides with Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, which is in September.

“Whether we realize it or not, many of our friends and neighbors have been affected by suicide or mental illness,” DMH Executive Director Diana Mikula said in a press release. “Suicide affects people across all ages, races, and backgrounds, but through collaboration, sharing resources, and working towards common goals, we can prevent the tragedy of suicide.”

Suicide is the 12th leading cause of death overall in Mississippi, and the state's suicide rates also increase with age, the report shows. Men in Mississippi commit suicide at much higher rates than females their age.

The suicide prevention hotline is: 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The number will connect you to a counselor in a local crisis center.

Grenada-based attorney Carlos Moore, who sued Gov. Phil Bryant alleging that the Mississippi state flag is not constitutional, has appealed his case to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Last week U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves dismissed Moore's lawsuit but left the door open to potential legal action in the future.

Moore alleged that the Confederate battle emblem in the canton of the Mississippi state flag violates the 13th and 14th Amendments. He brought his federal lawsuit against Gov. Phil Bryant, who has the authority to ensure that state laws are followed.

Reeves did not find Moore to have standing in his case. Moore had to prove that the injury he had suffered (seeing the state flag over courthouses where he practices law) had a causal connection to Gov. Bryant and the state of Mississippi displaying the Confederate emblem.

To read all of Judge Reeves' opinion in the dismissal of Moore's case, click here.

The New Orleans Saints ended the preseason doing something they haven’t done since 2006 and achieved something the team had never done in franchise history: It played quarterback Drew Brees in the final preseason game for a series.

Brees hadn’t played in the final preseason game since 2006, which was his first season with the team. That year, he was coming off a shoulder injury and was trying to find his groove again.

As shocking as Brees playing might be, even more shocking might be the fact the Saints would go winless in back-to-back preseasons for the first time in franchise history. Before the 2015 preseason, the last time New Orleans went winless in the preseason was 1971.

When the Saints went winless during the 2015 preseason, they finished the year with a 7-9 record in the regular season. The 1971 team went 0-6 in the preseason and finished the regular season with a 4-8-2 record.

Every preseason you hear, “Don’t put too much stock in preseason games,” but you can glean certain things during these games, such as the fact that most teams that look bad and have issues in the preseason will have issues in the regular season.

When starters are facing starters, it’s another good indication of how well a team could be in the regular season. Plenty of teams win games in the third and fourth quarter of the preseason with players who won’t be on the roster when the regular season starts.

The scores don’t matter. Unless it is first- and second-string players, it is the look of a team that is worth the watch. This season, the Saints have given glimpses to several questions going into the season.

Can the starting and backups on the offensive line protect the quarterback and make holes in the running game?

Can the defense make tackles, stop the run and cover receivers in the passing game?

Can the team force and avoid turnovers?

New Orleans has struggled on the offensive line in pass and run-blocking. Overall, the offense has struggled to keep drives going and score points.

If this team is going to reach the playoffs, the offensive line must play better. Brees needs the running game to help take pressure off him having to make every play.

The New Orleans defense wasn’t terrible in the first two preseason games. Then came the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first-string offense, which took the Saints defense behind the woodshed.

Pittsburgh did whatever it wanted, for the most part, against New Orleans. The Steelers’ passing game torched the Saints’ pass defense.

New Orleans has forced three turnovers but has committed 10 turnovers for a minus-seven turnover margin. It is hard to win games in the preseason when you can’t keep the ball.

Still, winning at least one game in the preseason is a good idea.

Since 1990, 49 teams …

Dallas Cowboys rookie quarterback Dak Prescott was truly impressive in the preseason, as he racked up 454 passing yards on 39 of 50 passes. He threw for five touchdowns and didn’t throw an interception while rushing for two more scores.

When Tony Romo went down, Prescott was named the starter, and Dallas didn’t panic into getting another single caller. The Cowboys are prepared to hand the reins over to the rookie in week one against the New York Giants.

While Prescott was nearly flawless in the preseason, that is rarely the case once the regular season starts. Defensive starters play the entire game, and defensive schemes get more complex.

The Giants will do everything they can to try to confuse Prescott and disguise coverage. The rookie quarterback will be well-prepared, but nothing is the same as game experience.

There are a few things the Cowboys can do help Prescott.

Scott Linehan's play-calling:

Cowboys offensive coordinator Scott Linehan will be a big part of the success Prescott has early in the season. It will be his play-calling that will help ease the rookie into the game.

Linehan will know what plays Prescott is most comfortable with and which plays he doesn’t like to run. The offensive coordinator will need to get Prescott in a rhythm throwing the ball early.

Play-calling is one of the most important parts of the offense. When it works, no one notices it, and when it doesn’t work, it is the story the next day.

Linehan has to make sure that Prescott’s play at quarterback is the story, not the play-calling. He has to put Prescott into situations and plays where the quarterback can succeed.

Letting Prescott run on designed plays will be a big part of Linehan’s job. Prescott can be effective in the read-option and on quarterback runs.

Offensive line and running backs:

Last season when Romo was injured, the rushing offense slipped from second the previous season to ninth. Defenses were able to stack the box to stuff the Cowboys’ running game and force the quarterback to beat them.

The offensive line and running backs will have to be able to get yards in the run game. Getting rookie running back Ezekiel Elliott going will be a major factor.

Elliott can take pressure off Prescott if he keeps the offense ahead of the chains. That means being in second and short and third and short. Being in second and long and third in long typically favors the defense.

The whole offense is open on second and short and third and short. That means the defense can’t just key in the passing game in later downs.

The offensive line has to protect Prescott and give him time to make reads. Depending on which Cowboy makes protection calls, the center will have to help the rookie get protection right on passing plays.

Prescott will have a …

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.

The Mississippi Department of Insurance announced today that Ambetter from Magnolia Health has been cleared to offer individual health insurance plans through the federal health marketplace. Magnolia serves 50 counties in the state currently, but will extend its coverage to all 82 counties beginning in January 1, 2017.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney announced the news today in a press release.

"Commissioner Chaney says there will be more consumer options and price competition for counties in the Delta, as well as in Coastal counties. The decision by Chaney concerning the adequacy of AmBetter's provider network will also give consumers more choices for health care providers," the press release states. "Providers are the doctors, clinics and hospitals consumers choose to use when seeking care under a health plan."

Read about the current Obamacare coverage in Mississippi here.

On Aug. 2, The Palette Cafe at the Mississippi Museum of Art closed for a revamping of sorts. But it wasn't the decor.

For the last couple of weeks, the museum's culinary curator and executive chef, Nick Wallace, has been working with restaurant staff members to create a menu "inspired by Mississippi foodways traditions, local ingredients, and the art on the Museum walls," a blog post on the website says. "His artistic appreciation and culinary prowess will now be fused in forthcoming menus that draw explicit connections between the narratives depicted by Mississippi visual artists and the storytelling that informs his own culinary creations."

Today, Aug. 25, the museum has announced the unveiling of the new menu. Here are some highlights:

Tomato pie: It's a classic Southern dish, but Wallace and his culinary team have added their own elements to it. The Palette Cafe's has baby sage, kale, sage, basil-whipped cheese and peppery olive oil.

Juke joint burger: For many people, nothing is better than a really good burger. Like the blues, this burger has soul. It's got Swiss cheese, a Hereford beef patty, lettuce, tomato, pickled onions and a homemade steak sauce, and it's all piled on an egg bun. And like any good burger, fries come on the side.

Vegan skillet: Vegans need love, too, right? Wallace had that in mind when he created the vegan skillet. It has caviar couscous, baby kale, confit tomatoes, pickled onions, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, wheat germ, oats, cauliflower, red quinoa, flaxseeds and tomatoes.

See more here.

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2016/aug/25/26626/

The Republican nominee for president chose Mississippi's solidly Democratic and majority-black capital city tonight to call the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, a "bigot."

At a rally in the Mississippi Coliseum (with many empty seats) Donald Trump said Clinton is a "bigot who sees people of color only as votes, not as human beings. She's going to do nothing for African Americans and Hispanics."

Clinton has strong support among the nation's African American voters and, to date, Trump has very little. Polls routinely show black support for Trump in the single digits. And Trump has long offended many black voters, such as by pushing falsehoods and stereotypes against black Americans.

Trump is also struggling with Latino voters after calling for a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, and rhetoric about Mexicans being rapists and murderers.

Trump also told the audience—which appeared to be at least 95 percent white— that "the Democratic Party has taken votes of African Americans for granted, and they've done nothing to deserve it."

Pastor Mark Burns, who is African American, spoke early in the rally both pushing the rumor that Clinton is in bad health—which her doctor adamantly denies—and saying that "all lives matter" when it comes to race, as the crowd chanted, "USA! USA!."

At the rally, Trump also continued his fiery rhetoric against undocumented immigrants.

At the end of the rally, Trump walked out with Gov. Phil Bryant to the song, "You Can't Always Get What You Want." Bryant, who has endorsed Trump, is a staunch supporter of House Bill 1523, which many people consider anti-LGBT.

— Reporting at the Mississippi Coliseum by Arielle Dreher

It's convenient to presume that Mississippi will bleed red on Election Day, but if that's true, then a fair question follows. Why would Donald Trump waste time and resources stopping in Jackson, Miss., this evening for a $1,000 per ticket fundraiser and rally?

Polling done in Mississippi this presidential year might help explain why. An April Mason-Dixon poll only favored Trump to Hillary Clinton by three percentage points, a slim margin for a candidate who won the primary election in Mississippi with an 11-point advantage over Ted Cruz, Politico reports. A second poll, conducted by Magellan Strategies and commissioned by Y'all Politics, revealed a larger gap between the two candidates, with Trump leading by 13 percentage points.

One question in the Magellan poll gave Mississippians three options: Trump, Clinton or Undecided. Fifty-four percent chose Trump; 39 percent chose Clinton; and 7 percent were undecided.

FiveThirtyEight gives Clinton only a 14-percent chance of winning Mississippi's six electoral votes, but that number is a result of the weighted analysis of only two polls: the Mason-Dixon and Magellan polls.

November has the potential to be a competitive election, depending on which poll you believe, and as NewsMax pointed out: "The last time a Democrat presidential candidate won the state was Jimmy Carter in 1976," but it's likely too early to confidently project a solid winner.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The first overall pick …

The 2016 Olympic games are done, and the USA nearly lapped the field in the medal count. It wasn’t even close for first place in medals, but second and third place was a race.

When the Olympics ended with the closing ceremony, the U.S. had won 121 total medals. That out-did the previous best of 110 from Beijing in 2008.

The U.S. finished 51 medals ahead of China, which had 70 total medals and finished in second place. Great Britain finished in third with 67 total medals.

Team USA was comprised of 554 athletes, and 213 of those took home a medal. In the 27 sports that the U.S. had athletes competing, they brought home a medal in 20 of those sports.

Swimming and track and field are where the U.S. pulled away from the rest of the world. In those two sports, the U.S. won 65 medals, which would have been good for fourth place in total medals if the sports were their own country.

The reason the U.S. was able to dominate the Olympics was because of its women. Of the 121 medals the U.S. won, women received 61, the men received 55, and five medals were in mixed events such as equestrian and mixed-doubles tennis.

The U.S. women won 27 of the team’s 46 gold medals, and if the women were their own country, that would tie them with Great Britain second most gold medals. The 61 medals the women won would have landed them fourth on the medal count if they were their own nation.

This is the second Olympics where the women have brought home more medals than the men. In London, the women won 58 medals to 45 medals for the men, and those Olympics games were the first where the women had ever won more medals than the men.

The U.S. women won three more medals in Rio than they did in London, but the U.S. men tried to catch up by winning 10 more medals in Rio.

This has been a climb for the U.S. women since the 1970s. In 1972, congress passed Title IX, which barred sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding. At the 1972 Olympic games in Munich, the U.S. women won 23 medals, and the men won 71 medals.

Title IX led to high-school and college sports for women growing at a faster rate and eventually led to the U.S. women becoming a powerhouse on the global sports stage.

The Olympics has added more women’s sports to the games over the years such as women’s boxing. That has led to more medal opportunities for women at the games than in the past.

Like in London, the U.S. women outnumbered the men on team USA in Rio. The women made up 291 members of the 554-member team, with the U.S. men making up the other 263 members.

Tony Romo takes back the role of starting quarterback job the Dallas Cowboys tonight, Aug. 19, at 7 p.m. against the Miami Dolphins. This will be the first game action in the preseason for Romo, who is recovering from an injury-plagued 2015 campaign.

It seems like a good bet that Romo will only play two to three series in this game. It would be shocking to see him play past the first quarter. However, when Romo’s night is done, there is still plenty of reasons to stay around and watch this game on the NFL Network.

Former Mississippi State University star Dak Prescott is one reason to watch until his night is done. Last week against the Los Angeles Rams, Prescott had perhaps one of the best NFL debuts in Cowboys history.

Sure, it was a preseason game, and the Rams didn’t play every starter or even have a game plan. But Prescott started the game in front of nearly 90,000 fans, and Los Angeles wasn’t playing the game with a defense full of guys who are going to be out on the street next week.

In that preseason game, the Rams played both starters and backups who will play a big part of the team’s success or failure this season. Prescott had a great night even for the preseason, and he could lock up the backup job in the next three games.

Prescott was as sharp as any quarterback in the league. Even in the preseason, quarterbacks still have to read the defense and make throws. It wasn’t like Prescott was throwing against air.

He completed 10 out of 12 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns, and his only two incompletions were drops. He threw some nice passes that included a couple of back-shoulder throws and some pinpoint passes into tight windows.

Now it will be interesting to see how Prescott follows his big game from last week. He will have even more pressure on him to show the same level of play, but he will have to work with mostly backups this time.

Can he get in good plays for the Cowboys working with the second- and third-string offense? Can he overcome the inevitable false starts or holding penalties that tend to happen with backup linemen in a game?

These are things to watch, along with how he controls the huddle and how he manages the offense in down and distance situations. He will be throwing to receivers who might be the Cowboys’ third or fourth wide receivers if they make the team instead of Dez Bryant and the starters.

How does he handle it when players make mistakes and run the wrong routes? There is a difference between starting a preseason game and coming in after the starters have left the game.

Prescott has a chance to show that last week wasn’t some fluke or great luck. He has a chance to …

New Orleans-based hip-hop artist Boyfriend released a new single Wednesday, Aug. 17, that features fellow New Orleanian Big Freedia, known to her fans as the "Queen of Bounce."

The track, titled "Marie Antoinette," is an ode to lavish lifestyles and over-the-top indulgence, all built on a bass-heavy, harpsichord-laden track from New Orleans deejay DXXXY. And of course, the song includes a few references to its famously extravagant - and very deceased - namesake, such as the oft-attributed quote, "Let them eat cake," and the lyric, "I go so hard I might just lose my head."

Besides their shared hometown, the two artists have another common distinction: Both have run into censorship troubles over Mississippi performances this year.

In February, the Dollar Box Showroom in Hattiesburg cancelled Big Freedia's performance due to pressure from the state Alcoholic Beverage Control's laws regarding "gyrating." In April, Oxford restaurant and music venue Proud Larry's cancelled Boyfriend's show, which would have featured burlesque elements, to avoid similar problems with the ABC.

The Mississippi Association of Educators has endorsed Synarus Green in the District 72 House of Representatives special election.

"For generations, the Mississippi Association of Educators has worked to build opportunities for the people and communities they serve," Green said in a press statement. "I'm honored to have the support of MAE's members and leaders, and proud to stand with them as a champion for all our students."

Green is one of four candidates running for the District 72 seat that was vacated when former-Rep. Kimberly Campbell announced she would be leaving the House after the 2016 legislative session to take a position as the state director of AARP.

Read interviews with all the candidates in the District 72 special election race here.

Southern Living magazine has named Saltine in Fondren one of the South's best new restaurants. The write-up begins:

"You might not think Jackson, Mississippi, when you imagine robust oyster culture. And you might not expect to find a sleek eatery in a repurposed schoolhouse. But Jesse Houston has created such a spot, where he is wholeheartedly supporting a resurgence of American oystermen, such as Murder Point Oysters off Dauphin Island, Alabama. Inside a former elementary school that was built in 1927 in the city’s Fondren District, Houston has turned a series of classrooms into a nautical wonderland worthy of Jules Verne—complete with a massive octopus mural."

Congrats to Jesse and the crew! Hard work and creativity pay off.

The Secretary of State reached a $4.7 million settlement with Morgan Stanley, after a years-long investigation into the Ridgeland branch office following complaints from customers who had investment accounts with financial representatives there.

Morgan Stanley did not admit or deny the Secretary of State's allegations but has agreed to pay the over $4.2 million back to investors, the majority of whom hold accounts in Mississippi. Additionally, Morgan Stanley will pay $100,000 in penalty fees to the state as well as $400,000 for the costs of the investigation.

“This is a significant settlement which is a culmination of hard work by the Division on behalf of investors,” Secretary Delbert Hosemann said in a press release. “It exemplifies the important investor protection role the Agency serves to safeguard our citizens through fair regulation and enforcement and hopefully deterrence.”

The fund Morgan Stanley must set up by next month to settle their dues with investors impacts 259 accounts--194 of those accounts are in Mississippi. Hosemann's office is sending letters to those Mississippians affected by the settlement so that they can participate in the fund and get their money back.

The August-September edition of renowned blues-music magazine "Living Blues" showcases a variety of significant figures from Jackson's thriving blues community, including King Edward, Dorothy Moore, Jesse Robinson, Louis "Gearshifter" Youngblood, Jarekus Singleton, Eddie Cotton Jr., jj Thames and Grady Champion, among others.

The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has denied Gov. Phil Bryant and MDHS Executive Director John Davis' motions to stay the injunction that blocked House Bill 1523 from becoming law. Bryant and Davis asked the court to expedite their appeal, and that application was also denied.

The 5th Circuit did allow the two HB 1523 cases to be consolidated, but the court will not issue a stay on U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves' injunction or expedite the a hearing for the governor's appeal of the bill.

The conservative legal organization, Alliance Defending Freedom, is providing co-counsel for the governor's appeal in the 5th Circuit. HB 1523 was based, at least in part, on language from a model policy that ADF sent to the governor's office before same-sex marriage was legalized nationally in 2015.

Rob McDuff, one of the lawyers for plaintiffs, called the order a great victory.

"Two and a half months after we filed this challenge to HB 1523, the federal courts once again have held that the bill should not take effect. This is a great victory for the thousands of Mississippians who have opposed this bill in the name of tolerance and fairness and dignity for all," he said in a statement to the Jackson Free Press. "Although the Governor apparently will continue with his appeal, this is an important milestone in the battle against this completely misguided piece of legislation."

“We are pleased with the Fifth Circuit’s summary denial of the governor’s motion and look forward to final resolution of this matter in our favor,” said Beth Orlansky, advocacy director of the Mississippi Center for Justice said in a statement.

Read the motion here. Read more about HB 1523 here.

This post has been updated with statement from the MS Center for Justice and Rob McDuff.

Charles Barkley once made headlines for declaring in a Nike ad in 1993 that he wasn’t a role model. Good thing for Sir Charles that he didn’t have to play for the Dutch gymnastics association and the Dutch Olympic Committee.

The Netherlands tossed Dutch gymnast Yuri van Gelder out from Rio after he spent a night out drinking. Van Gelder left the athletes’ village on Saturday, Aug. 6, after reaching the finals of the men’s rings. He didn’t return to the village until Sunday morning.

When he did return, the gymnast admitted to drinking, which goes against the Netherlands’ team rules, and his Olympic dream was over. In a joint statement, KNGU, the Dutch gymnast association, and Dutch Olympic Committee pointed out that Van Gelder violated team rules, and they had no choice but to put him on the first plane home.

“It's terrible for Yuri, but this behavior is unacceptable,” chef de mission Maurits Hendriks said in the statement.

This isn’t the first brush with trouble for Van Gelder, known as the bad boy of gymnastics. He failed a drug test in 2009 when he tested positive for cocaine.

That failed drug test cost the gymnast a spot on the Netherlands team for the 2012 London Olympics, ended his career in the Dutch army and led to a one-year suspension. Van Gelder spent 11 weeks in a rehab clinic in Edinburgh, Scotland, but relapsed just four days before the 2010 world championships.

Van Gelder is extremely talented on the rings and has won multiple European championships and one world championship in the event. His skill at the rings earned him the nickname “Lord of the Rings.”

The 33-year-old gymnast was named Dutch Sportsman of the Year in 2005 after winning his world championship in the rings. He qualified for the final in the rings in eighth place.

Dutch media outlets are reporting that Van Gelder went out to meet his Brazilian girlfriend on his final night in Rio. Now, the gymnast won’t be able to get a chance at a medal in what was his first, and at his age, likely last, Olympic competition.

There was a good deal of support for the gymnast on social media and a belief that the Dutch Olympic Committee was being too harsh on him. Van Gelder’s wild night out earned him a new nickname as “Lord of the Drinks.”

Van Gelder isn’t the only athlete to be replaced in the event, either. France’s Samir Ait Said had to be replaced after a gruesome leg injury forced him to withdraw from the games. No Americans qualified for the finals in the rings.

The most recognizable Brazilian athletic star, Pelé, won’t be on hand during the opening ceremony tonight at the Rio Olympics. It would be an understatement to say that he is Brazil's biggest and best-known athlete.

Even though he hasn’t competed in nearly 40 years, he is the standard all soccer players are judged against.

The 75-year-old soccer star’s health has been in decline over the last few years. Pelé recently had hip surgery and walks with the help of a cane. Due to his poor health, he said he wouldn’t be at tonight’s ceremony.

The soccer star was rumored to be the person organizers had asked to light the cauldron, but that hasn’t been confirmed.

Now, the honor falls to someone else. Who will light the cauldron is a mystery. That will add a bit drama tonight as the opening ceremony is broadcast around the world.

The broadcast in the U.S. begins on NBC at 6:30 p.m. central time. The opening ceremony will be at Maracana Stadium, and coverage goes until 11 p.m., so you can pace yourself as you watch.

It might be best to stay off Twitter and other social media because NBC is tape-delaying the opening ceremony by an hour. People could give things away, as the company wants to have time to “curate” coverage to provide proper context to what viewers are seeing.

Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira and Hoda Kotb will serve as the hosts during the broadcast. NBC’s primetime Olympics host, Bob Costas, will open the telecast.

Michele Tafoya and Ros Gold-Onwude will also provide reports from the stadium. NBC correspondent David Feherty will discuss the return of golf to the Olympic games after a 112-year absence.

Part of Feherty’s interview with Pres. Barack Obama will be broadcasted during the opening ceremony. Viewers can see the rest of the interview on the Golf Channel's “Morning Drive” on Saturday or stream it on NBCOlympics.com or GolfChannel.com.

During the open ceremony, nearly all the athletes from every nation will enter the stadium carrying their nation’s flag; however, some athletes such as soccer players might not be in attendance. The most decorated Olympic athlete in history, Michael Phelps, who has 22 medals, will enter the stadium as flag bearer for the U.S.

Phelps’ teammates voted for him to carry the flag. Fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad was reportedly second in the vote to be the flag bearer. Muhammad is the first American to wear a hijab in Olympic competition.

If you are not near your TV, you can stream the opening ceremony on the NBC Sports app or on NBCOlympics.com.

The biggest complaint against NBC will be when everyone finds out the opening ceremony was taped-delayed. At some point, things will get ruined on social media for those who don’t know about the delay.