Renardo Needs to Grow Up. If Only He Knew How...

If you are a Mississippi State fan you have certainly loathed this past week.

Here you were; basking in the glow of consecutive Egg Bowl victories, an eight win football season, a new-years-day bowl game and the hottest young coaching prospect in the country.

MSU’s athletic department went as far as to begin putting up interstate billboard that feature a picture of said coaching prospect alongside an MSU logo altered to say, “Welcome to OUR State.” Genius! Scott Stricklin.

But, somewhere in the middle of your maroon high, Renardo Sidney decided that you weren’t paying him enough attention…and he did something…somethings about it.

Renardo got himself suspended. Not once, but twice… in a week – NO – in three days. All this, less than two weeks after coming off a NCAA levied suspension that lasted a year and 9 games.

First, upon MSU’s arrival to Hawaii, where they played their games last week, Sidney had an undisclosed blowup at a teammate in practice. The blowup cost Sidney MSU’s game versus Washington State. With him watching on the bench, MSU lost by 26.

Off suspension again and back on the floor, Sidney and the Dogs next faced the University of San Diego.

In the USD game, Renardo was magnificent: scoring when given the opportunity; hustling up and down the floor; rebounding; defending the post. Everything you heard that Sidney couldn’t do – everything he wasn’t supposed to be. The MPB sports commentator was gushing on twitter at the about-face we’d witnessed.

Then everyone in Mississippi went to sleep.

Before morning central time, one of the ugliest shiners in MSU sports history would be worn over and over and over and over again, on national television.

At 7:30pm Hawaiian time, 11:30pm here in Mississippi, Renardo Sidney and senior captain Elgin Bailey brawled through the stands and into the arena concourse. Fistfights usually last a matter of seconds. This one seemed to drag on for minutes.
The locals watched in shock. Teammates and coaches looked on stunned at what was happening right in front of them.

Luckily for Rick Stansbury, ESPN televised the tournament. Manned, live cameras - preparing for the next game which was to tip off in about 10 minutes - captured the entire event. And on the slowest sports news day of the entire year, when 99 percent of our country’s population was at home parked in front of a television, the footage played over and over and over again, all day and night long.

Reportedly, it all started because Sidney wanted past Bailey and Bailey refused to move his legs out of the way so Sidney could pass.

The Rebel Black Bear cackles.

Sidney and Bailey were sent back to Jackson early, and on separate flights. Bailey is rumored to be on borrowed time with the team. Sidney, meanwhile, is suspended again…indefinitely this time. Heard that before.

I feel sorry for Renardo Sidney. He doesn’t realize that his actions, ultimately, only hurt himself.

Let’s face it; he’s not at MSU to get an engineering degree. He’s there to enhance his professional basketball prospects. NBA teams and scouts are certainly taking notes on Renardo right now and it’s not an easy read.

The larger failure here is that, at some point, people stopped raising Sidney to be a viable part of society and started raising him to be a pro basketball player. A reverse-trust fund, if you will. That is a true shame.

I wonder what percentage of his time each day, and each week, is spent with people who have absolutely zero to potentially gain from his basketball ability? I’d be willing to bet that it’s very little…if any at all.

From the time he got into high school, his world has not been normal. He’s been yanked from school to school; traveling thousands of miles around the country playing AAU basketball. After graduating from Peoples Middle in South Jackson; Renardo was yanked away from Forest Hill High, in the same part of town, before he could get in the door; was recruited to Piney Woods School, and when he was declared ineligible there by the MHSAA, moved out to Los Angeles where his father ultimately wound up with a job from...a basketball shoe company.

Sidney only wound up at Mississippi State after almost everyone else including the two big LA schools – USC and UCLA – backed off, considering his eligibility case too toxic to attempt battling the NCAA on.

In the end, what kind of a human being will Renardo Sidney be when he is a grown-up; accountable to and responsible for himself; having completely severed himself from a potentially lavish career in the only industry he’s been prepared to compete in, for his entire short life.

STANSBURY ALERT: 2010 UPDATED EDITION

This is the newly updated list of schools that have reached the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 since the last time Mississippi State did, back in 1996.

#. School (Last S16 appearance)

BIG EAST (13 of 16)
1. Louisville (2009)
2. Syracuse (2010)
3. Villanova (2009)
4. Connecticut (2009)
5. Notre Dame (2003)
6. Marquette (2003)
7. Saint John's (1999)
8. Georgetown (2007)
9. Cincinnati (2001)
10. West Virginia (2010)
11. Pittsburgh (2009)
12. Providence (1997)
13. Seton Hall (2000)

BIG XII (10 of 12)
14. Kansas (2009)
15. Texas (2008)
16. Oklahoma (2009)
17. Oklahoma State (2005)
18. Missouri (2009)
19. Texas Tech (2005)
20. Iowa State (2000)
21. Texas A&M (2007)
22. Kansas State (2010)
23. Baylor (2010)

BIG 10 (9 of 11)
24. Indiana (2002)
25. Illinois (2005)
26. Ohio State (2010)
27. Michigan State (2010)
28. Purdue (2010)
29. Iowa (1999)
30. Wisconsin (2008)
31. Minnesota (1997)
32. Penn State (2001)

ATLANTIC COAST (9 of 12)
33. North Carolina (2009)
34. Duke (2010)
35. Maryland (2003)
36. North Carolina State (2005)
37. Wake Forest (2004)
38. Boston College (2006)
39. Georgia Tech (2004)
40. Clemson (1997)
41. Miami, FL. (2000)

PACIFIC TEN (8 of 10)
42. UCLA (2008)
43. Arizona (2009)
44. Stanford (2008)
45. California (1997)
46. Southern California (2007)
47. Washington (2010)
48. Oregon (2007)
49. Washington State (2008)

SOUTHEASTERN (8 of 11)
50. Kentucky (2010)
51. Louisiana State (2006)
52. Alabama (2004)
53. Tennessee (2010)
54. Florida (2007)
55. Vanderbilt (2007)
56. Auburn (2003)
57. Mississippi (2001)

MISSOURI VALLEY (5 of 10)
58. Southern Illinois (2007)
59. Bradley (2006)
60. Wichita State (2006)
61. Missouri State (1999)
62. Northern Iowa (2010)

ATLANTIC TEN (4)
63. Temple (2001)
64. Xavier (2010)
65. Saint Joseph's (2004)
66. Rhode Island (1998)

CONFERENCE USA (3)
67. Memphis (2009)
68. Tulsa (2000)
69. UAB (2004)

HORIZON LEAGUE (3)
70. Butler (2010)
71. Valparaiso (1998)
72. Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2005)

MOUNTAIN WEST (2)
73. Utah (2005)
74. UNLV (2007)

WEST COAST (2)
75. Gonzaga (2009)
76. Saint Mary's (2010)

MID-AMERICAN (2)
77. Miami, OH. (1999)
78. Kent State (2002)

WESTERN ATHLETIC (1)
79. Nevada (2004)

SUN BELT (1)
80. Western Kentucky (2008)

SOUTHERN (1)
81. Davidson (2008)

COLONIAL ATHLETIC (1)
82. George Mason (2006)

IVY LEAGUE (1)
83. Cornell (2010)

Power Conference (BCS League)schools that have not made the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 since 1996.

#. School (Last S16 appearance) [coaching changes since 2000]

1. Florida State (1993) [1]
2. Virginia (1995) [2]
3. Virginia Tech (1967) [2]
4. Colorado (1969) [2]
5. Nebraska (NEVER) [2]
6. DePaul (1987) [3]
7. South Florida (NEVER) [3]
8. Rutgers (1979) [4]
9. Oregon State (1982) [5]
10. Arizona State (1995) [1]
11. Michigan (1994) [2]
12. Northwestern (NEVER) [1]
13. Arkansas (1996) [2]
14. South Carolina (1973) [2]
15. Goergia (1996) [3]
16. Mississippi State (1996) [0]

That is all.

I wish we'd all just turn our backs...

It’s a good thing that the NCAA has a monopoly on major collegiate athletics. If they didn’t, surely fans would understand the way they are being treated and go running for an alternative.

Last Thursday, the NCAA held a big press conference in Indianapolis where it announced that the likelihood of expansion of the NCAA Tournament is well…very likely. They announced that there are 3 options that they are considering: staying at the current field of 65, expanding to 68, or expanding to 96. Then they talked for 20 minutes about the positives of expanding to 96.

This makes a growingly useless regular season even more so, and makes conference tournaments completely pointless even for small, one-bid leagues.

The NCAA wants to do this in conjunction with its anticipated opting out of its current 11-year, $6 billion contract with CBS. It will then open new negotiations which are expected to be dominated by Disney with its ABC and ESPN family of networks airing the games.

The NCAA receives just over $500 million annually from the current television contract. They distribute $332 million of that revenue to its member institutions, leaving the tax-exempt, non-for-profit association to find a way to get by on just $168 million a year. And evidently, that’s not enough.

Did I mention that not one single player receives one single cent of this $500 million? Well, at least not above the table.

Maybe the single most insulting thing about this impending change is that the NCAA seems completely content with breaking a postseason that worked just fine. Meanwhile, it steadfastly remains silent on changing its completely broken postseason in football.

To recap: Your football postseason is broken. Wanna fix it? No. Your basketball postseason is one of America’s great sporting events. Let’s pull it apart and reinvent the wheel? Yes!

Now, the only time of the season that will have any drama worth watching will be the NCAA Tournament itself.

Joe Lunardi is a NCAA Tournament selection specialist for ESPN. Joe contends that if the 96 team field would have been in play this year, the Big East conference would have sent 13 of its 16 schools to the NCAA Tournament. What’s the point?

Soon the NCAA Tournament will be like college football’s bowl season. Once making a bowl was a reward for being one of the best teams in the country. A seven win season would only get you to the fringe of bowl discussion. Now, there are so many bowls that a handful of 6-6 teams make it every year. Congratulations on not being bad!

The NCAA Tournament will now be much the same. Ole Miss and Mississippi State, who anguished on the bubble for the latter half of this season, would have easily been in. No question about it. The new system will essentially reward teams for finishing at least at .500. Awesome.

No longer will any of college basketball’s giants collide early in the season. No longer will mid-major stalwarts lock heads in hopes of boosting each other’s tournament resume. It won’t be necessary.

It just another example where the ungoverned crooks at the NCAA has chosen to stuff their pockets in lieu of giving you the best college sports possible.

By the way, they mentioned nothing of expanding the Women's NCAA Tournament to 96. Guess that one actually costs them money to run.

JAY’S FEARLESS 2010 MLB PREVIEW









AMERICAN LEAGUE

EASTERN DIVISION
1. New York Yankees
2. Tampa Bay Rays
3. Boston Red Sox
4. Baltimore Orioles
5. Toronto Blue Jays

CENTRAL DIVISION
1. Detroit Tigers
2. Chicago White Sox*
3. Minnesota Twins
4. Kansas City Royals
5. Cleveland Indians

WESTERN DIVISION
1. Seattle Mariners
2. Los Angeles Angels
3. Texas Rangers
4. Oakland Athletics

* Wildcard

PLAYOFFS
ALDS:
Tigers over Mariners - Yankees over White Sox
ALCS:
Tigers over Yankees

MVP: Mark Tiexiera, Yankees


Cy Young: Jake Peavy, White Sox



















Rookie of the Year: Brian Matusz, Orioles
Manager of the Year: Dan Wakamatsu, Mariners

NATIONAL LEAGUE

EASTERN DIVISION
1. Philadelphia Phillies
2. Atlanta Braves*
3. Washington Nationals
4. Florida Marlins
5. New York Mets

CENTRAL DIVISION
1. Chicago Cubs
2. St. Louis Cardinals
3. Cincinnati Reds
4. Milwaukee Brewers
5. Houston Astros
6. Pittsburgh Pirates

WESTERN DIVISION
1. Colorado Rockies
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Arizona Diamondbacks
4. San Francisco Giants
5. San Diego Padres

* Wildcard

PLAYOFFS
ALDS:
Phillies over Rockies – Braves over Cubs
ALCS:
Phillies over Braves

MVP: Ryan Howard, Phillies
Cy Young: Roy Halladay, Phillies


Rookie of the Year: Jason Heyward, Braves







Manager of the Year: Jim Riggleman, Nationals

2010 WORLD SERIES: PHILLIES OVER TIGERS

2010 WORLD CHAMPIONS: PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

Colts clinch AFC Bush division title...

Audio version
A despicable act was performed over the weekend that will most likely fly completely under the national sports radar.

The Indianapolis Colts stopped trying half-way through the third quarter in their game versus the New York Jets…just stopped trying.

At the time of engage for “operation don’t care anymore”, The Colts were leading the Jets 15-10. Then without any sort of notice through the course of the week or day, where they possibly could have advised fans of even the slightest possibility of the upcoming plug-pulling, Indianapolis yanked all of the stars that make them one of the most watched and most talked about teams in the NFL, replacing them with the guys who are good, sure. But there’s a reason back-ups carry clip boards and act as real live coat and hat racks on the sideline.

The Colts defense for this act is simple. They have already clinched a spot in the NFL playoffs, a first round bye, and home field advantage throughout those playoffs, up to the Super Bowl. They want the stars out so they won’t get hurt and possibly miss the most important games of the season. The playoffs.

That’s a decent enough reason, typically I suppose, but there were too many other variables riding on the outcome of this Jets-Colts game to allow them to all but lay down.

Did I mention that the Colts were fourteen and oh? Yeah. Oh by the way, Indy was chasing the third undefeated regular season in the Super Bowl era. That is since 1967.

That’s an important reason to keep trying. But nowhere close to the most important reason.

Okay. So if you’re keeping track, reasons for the Colts to keep trying: #1 it’s your job. #2 You’re Undefeated.

Here is the second best reason for the Colts to keep acting like a football team through the end of the game: The playoff race. No, not the Colts, the Jets…and seven other AFC teams. The postseason fate of the Jets, Dolphins, Steelers, Ravens, Texans, Jaguars, Titans, and Broncos all twist and turn in different directions depending on the outcome of this Colts game. When they stop trying they essentially spit on every drop of sweat, every hour of practice, and every sleepless night of film study that those other seven teams have accomplished this season. That is a scary precedent being set.

Finally and most importantly, there are the fans. These are the people that the NFL has long since forgotten in its billion-dollar, anti-trust exemption state. The National Football League should force the Indianapolis Colts Football Club to refund every single person who purchased a ticket to that game, in full!

How many fathers decided that this weekend was the perfect time to take his sons to see the Colts game? After buying tickets, paying to get onto the stadium property, paying to park, food, drinks, a program, and t-shirts, pop and his boy (wearing a blue #18 jersey) sit down to watch the game in the mezzanine deck, three area codes away, now out 500 or so dollars. However, for pop, it’s worth it to see his boy get to watch his favorite player, Peyton Manning, play live. A son’s happiness has no price!

When Peyton and his famous wide receivers come out of the game unexplained, son looks up to pop and asks, “Why isn’t he playing anymore? They’re winning!” All the dad can say is, “Son when you think you’re far enough ahead in life…I guess you can just stop trying.”

The son and the pop then proceed to watch Curtis Painter quarterback the Colts to a 29-15 loss.

Nice lesson NFL. Way to care about the people who made you what you are.

Corky's Revenge!

After our state spotted the world a 4 game start, Corky Palmer's USM Golden Eagles destroyed Tulane last night to the tune of 15-2. The game was called due to the 10-run rule after 8 innings.

My mind wants to wonder in two directions after this outcome...Scenario A: It's meant to be and Corky and the Eagles are going to be one of our state's great sports stories of 2009 by winning the tournament and making a regional run. Scenario B: They used up all of their runs against Tulane and they'll fall flat on their face today.

Of course, I'm rooting for A. Hoping B won't happen, and thinking that realistically they'll probably fall somewhere in the middle. But after all the hell Tulane has given them over the years in championship situations (pre Rice in C-USA) it was good to see Corky's bunch exercise some of those Green Wave demons and get the last laugh...unless the meet up again later this week.

So the state went a collective 1-4 but, thanks to the theory of double elimination, will all play again today. Hey! We're guaranteed at least one win today as two will play each other...

Today's schedule:
OLE MISS vs. Florida
SOUTHERN MISS vs. East Carolina
ALCORN STATE vs. MISS. VALLEY STATE
JACKSON STATE vs. Alabama A&M

The only club of the 5 that can afford to lose today is USM. So we know at least 2 schools will still be alive headed to Friday.

Ole Miss vs. Florida is big! This, in all likelihood, is an elimination game for one of the national seeds. Both needed wins yesterday. Both played like a bag of doorknobs. The loser is 2 and BBQ and that won't reflect well toward getting a seed with the fact that Florida State beat a decent BC team badly yesterday, East Carolina beat an average Central Florida team, and Rice destroyed Marshall in 7 innings.

Today Rice plays UAB who beat them in a series last weekend to open up one of those national seeds that was previously on ice.

Let's win some games!!!

Mississippi Burning...uh...Losing!

College baseball tournaments start all over the country today.

5 of Mississippi's 6 Division 1 teams are in action...everyone save Mississippi State that is.

Alcorn blows a 5 run lead to Arkansas-Pine Bluff, loses 6-5. MS falls to 0-1.
JSU falls behind Grambling 8-0, rallies furiously but falls short, 9-7. 0-2.
Ole Miss jumps up 1-0, gives up a grand slam, game. set. match. UGA 6-3. We're 0-3.
Currently listening to Valley's punchless effort versus Texas Southern. Down 4-0 in the 7th.

On the flip side, in Hattiesburg, we could really see something special at Pete Taylor Park this week. Corky Palmer is retiring and this weekend could be his last stand.

USM is on the College Baseball tournament bubble, but realistically is on the outside looking in. However, the Conference USA tournament this year happens to be at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg.

Could Coach Palmer, who has done so much good at USM, give the Eagles one last run to remember him by? It starts tonight versus longtime C-USA baseball rival Tulane. A team Palmer has never had good fortune against.

The Green Wave also have motivation. They, like the Eagles, are squarely on the bubble and MUST play well this week at the Pete to continue on with their season.

On a side note, Ole Miss is playing for a national seed in Birmingham this week, important only because it guarentees home field should they make the super regional round. The Rebs are in the running for the last two national seeds (there are 8) with a group of 5 other schools, two of which happen to be playing in Hattiesburg this week.

TODAY'S RESULTS:
Georgia 6, OLE MISS 3
Arkansas 8, FLORIDA 5
RICE 13, Marshall 0 (7 innings - 10-run rule)
Miami 8, GEORGIA TECH 6
FLORIDA STATE 7, Boston College 1 Top 8
Central Florida 3, EAST CAROLINA 2 Bot 7

So, as you can see, the Rebs are not alone in choking on it here in the clutch.

Maybe we can get better tommorow!?