Mike Justice, who won state championships at Calhoun City, Louisville and Madison Central, joins the Clevelands to talk about his Hall of Fame career, Ole Miss-Georgia, the Saints, the high school playoffs and Jeff Lebby’s Mississippi State program.Von Crooked Letter Sports

Yazoo City native and former Jackson sports writer Rod Walker, who writes his columns in New Orleans now, wrote last week that if the Saints did not beat Carolina, Dennis Allen would not keep his job. The Saints lost and Allen was fired. Walker talks Saints and also discusses Ole Miss’s chances against Georgia and the state of football at his alma …

Highly respected and highly successful Hattiesburg High football coach Tony Vance, whose Tigers are 8-0, joins the podcast. Vance’s Tigers head to the metro area this Friday to face Terry. Hattiesburg is ranked No. 1 in Class 6A and led by quarterback Deuce Vance, Tony’s son. Tony will also coach Mississippi in the annual Misssissippi-Alabama All-S…

So much to discuss with the great Mo Williams: His JSU basketball team, his marvelously talented sons, growing up in Jackson, his NBA basketball career, playing with Lebron, playing against Allen Iverson, NIL, the transfer portal … and so much more.Von Rick Cleveland & Tyler Cleveland

It was a lost weekend for Mississipp’s college football teams and the New Orleans Saints. Ole Miss lost in overtime to LSU. Mississippi State again showed improvement in a loss to Georgia. Southern Miss lost again at Louisiana-Monroe. And the Saints dropped a division game to the Tampa Bay Bucs. Tyler Cleveland: “Every team I pull for loses.” So, i…

So much to discuss and dissect this week: Vandy toppling Bama, Ole Miss righting the ship and preparing for LSU, a banner Sanderson Farms Championship that now has new life, and how injuries killed the Atlanta Braves and are ruining a promising Saints season. All that and more…

The Sanderson Farms Championship returns to Country Club of Jackson, and Randy Watkins, who played in the tournament and later was the executive director, returns to the Crooked Letter Podcast. We also discuss Ole Miss’s first loss and perhaps Mississippi State’s best showing of the football season.Von Crooked Letter Sports

Undefeated and fifth-ranked Ole Miss prepares for its SEC opener, as Mississippi State and Southern Miss suffer increasingly frustrating losses. Plus, the Saints crash back to earth and the Braves head into the biggest series of the season against those who loathe some Mets.Von Crooked Letter Sports

Jeff Duncan went from the Mississippi Book Festival in Jackson on Saturday to Jerry World in Dallas on Sunday where he watched and wrote about the Saints’ total dismantling of the Dallas Cowboys. We talk about both events and also about what happened in high school and college football last weekend and what’s coming up this weekend.…

James Earl Jones, from Arkabutla, Mississippi, leaves behind a body of work in film and theater that will be remembered for decades, if not forever. He has been part of the sound track our lives, whether he was Darth Vader, Hamlet, Mussafa or Terence Mann in Field of Dreams. Of course, football is always part of the September discussion in Mississi…

The Clevelands review the first big weekend of college football and look forward to the second weekend, headlined by the Mississippi State visit to Arizona State. Brandt, one of the AP’s two national Major League Baseball writers, covered the Sun Devils’ impressive opening victory over Wyoming.Von Crooked Letter Sports

Both the high school and college football seasons open this week with a huge slate of games, including the top-ranked Brandon Bulldogs playing at always powerful Picayune. The Clevelands also discuss the Mississippi college football openers.Von Crooked Letter Sports

The Clevelands take their annual crack at forecasting the coming Mississippi college football season. Also, where to the Braves go from here (without Austin Riley). Also, there’s a discussion of the New Orleans Saints and Gardner Minshew.Von Crooked Letter Sports

Mississippi’s private schools kick off this weekend, the public schools are right behind. Scorebook Live’s Tyler Cleveland has been busily preparing for the coming season and gives us some predictions about who will be the best teams and players in the Magnolia State this season.

Kevin Griffin, father of Konnor Griffin, joins the pod to discuss the behind-the-scenes story of how his 18-year-old son signed the the largest Major League Baseball signing bonus in Mississippi history.Von Crooked Letter Sports

This weekend, Eli Manning joins his daddy in the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Manning joins the podcast to talk about his latest honor, fatherhood and a whole lot more.Von Crooked Letter Sports

Today’s discussion involves The Open Championship, the Atlanta Braves hospital ward, next week’s big Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame celebration and the Paris Olympics.Von Crooked Letter Sports

Rick and Tyler are brimming with pride after two Jackson Metro Area prospects went in the Top 12 picks of the Major League Baseball Draft, and the Cleveland boys make picks for this week’s Open Championship at Royal Troon.Von Crooked Letter Sports

Jay Powell was teammates with such Major League stars as Alex Rodriguez, Chipper Jones and Todd Helton, but he says Konnor Griffin of Jackson Prep is the best athlete he has ever been around. Griffin, the Gatorade National Player of the Year, will likely be one of the first names called in Sunday’s MLB Draft Draft. Griffin and his dad, who has also…

Rick ducks into an abandoned Boston Logan Airport terminal to tell us about the National Federation of High Schools Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Fulton’s own “Dot” Ford Burrow, and the boys recount a fun weekend on the coast at the annual Mississippi Press Association, where Rick picked up some hardware of his own. Plus, Tyler rants about st…

A veteran of 15 years in the business of minor league baseball, Tennessee native Chris Harris is experiencing perhaps the most unusual year of his career. We talk Mississippi Braves baseball, Atlanta Braves baseball and the College World Series.Von Crooked Letter Sports

For three rounds and 15 holes of the fourth round, Rory McIlroy made every single short putt he stood over. Then, he didn’t. And when McIlroy faltered, Bryson DeChambeau came through with one of the greatest sand saves in U.S. Open history. The Clevelands also discuss the SEC-dominated College World Series, the trials and tribulations of the Atlant…

The U.S. Open will be played at Pinehurst No. 2 this week. It’s a golf course with which Randy Watkins is extremely familiar. Watkins says it will be a test, even for Scottie Scheffler. Today’s discussion also covers the College World Series, the bidding war the L.A. Lakers lost to UConn, and Hurston Waldrep’s debut with the Atlanta Braves.…

NCAA Super Regionals are this weekend but Mississippi will not be represented for the first time in a while. Both Mississippi State and Southern Miss lost out in the finals of their prospective regionals. The Clevelands discuss all that, plus venerable Coastal Carolina coach Gary Gilmore’s parting words to college baseball.…

After one of the busiest baseball weekends of the year, Southern Miss first baseman Matthew Russo – one of the hottest players on one of the hottest teams in college baseball – joins the podcast to discuss the Golden Eagles’ Sun Belt Conference championship and upcoming NCAA Regional at Knoxville. There’s plenty more to discus, including Davis Rile…

The SEC Tournament is underway in Birmingham. The Sun Belt Tournament has begun in Montgomery. And, closer to home, the MHSAA State Tournament has begun at Trustmark in Pearl. The Cleveland boys have thoughts on all of it, but not before Tyler tells his dad, “See, I told you so.”Von Crooked Letter Sports

College baseball’s regular season is in its last week, which means baseball bracketology is a popular activity. State needs to finish strong to become a Regional host. Southern Miss probably has already punched its ticket as a 2- or 3-seed. Ole Miss, playing its best baseball presently, needs victories, period. Meanwhile, the State High School soft…

We are into the second week of May, which means the college and high school baseball seasons have reached the point where every pitch matters. At present, Mississippi State is a likely 2-seed, Southern Miss is a 3-seed and Ole Miss is on the outside looking in. The Rebels, however, can change that this weekend in when No. 1 ranked Texas A&M comes t…

It’s been a wild ride for Sarah Thomas since she first walked into a high school football officials’ meeting. The first woman to officiate a college football game, a college bowl game, an NFL game and a Super Bowl joins the show to talk about her career, the grind of working in pro football and the pressure of being a trailblazer.…

Mississippi State baseball great Jay Powell won Game 7 of the World Series, among many other career highlights and then had his career ended by one of the most gruesome arm injuries in baseball history. Who better to talk about the alarming rate of pitching injuries in MLB and college baseball than Powell?…

His Masters performance reinforces Scheffler’s role as golf's No. 1 guy, but watch out for Ludvig Aberg. Plus, Ole Miss baseball team shows that reports of its early demise were greatly exaggerated. And Kiffin shows what many of us have suspected all along: Spring football games are a waste of energy.…

Former PGA Tour player and national junior champion Randy Watkins talks Masters favorites and joins in a discussion about the recent NCAA naitonal championship basketball games.Von Crooked Letter Sports

We’ve got two compelling Final Fours coming up this weekend and the women’s version might be the more interesting of the two. It certainly has more star power. There’s also plenty to talk about with college baseball, college baseball recruiting and a good week for Mississippians on the PGA Tour.Von Crooked Letter Sports

With both the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments in full swing, it feels like the women are stealing the show. Caitlin Clark, Juju Watson and Mississippi’s own Madison Booker are quickly becoming household names nationwide. The Cleveland boys weigh in from Breckenridge, where it won’t stop snowing.…

The Desoto County town of Lewisburg can lay claim to being the baseball capital of Mississippi. The defending state champion Lewisburg High Patriots, with a roster that includes 13 Division I baseball signees, currently rank No. 10 nationally and play a regional schedule of national powerhouses. Coach Rusty Cagle joins the podcast to discuss his te…

We’re at that time of the sports year when all sports seem to converge. In Mississippi, there are big doings in all three major sports.Von Crooked Letter Sports

Rick and Tyler recount the week that was at the MHSAA and MAIS state basketball championships and take a look ahead to the upcoming college baseball and basketball weekendVon Crooked Letter Sports

The MHSAA and MAIS State Tournaments are in the Jackson metro area this week and the Crooked Letter Cleveland boys are all over it. Every game is an emotion-packed passion play in which dreams are both realized and dashed. And that’s not all. This week’s discussion includes college basketball, college baseball, and the amazing story of Jackson Prep…

With their sneakers planted firmly on the NCAA Basketball Tournament bubble, the Ole Miss Rebels and Mississippi State Bulldogs meet Wednesday night for Round 2 of Egg Bowl basketball. The game is always important, but this one really matters to each team’s post-season hopes. Also, the high school basketball championship tournament heats up and col…

Patrick Mahomes was the MVP and the cameras were often on Taylor Swift, but there was plenty of Magnolia State on display at the Super Bowl. Mississippi State alum Chris Jones dominated for the victorious Chiefs on the defensive line. Jackson State’s Sonic Boom made a surprise halftime appearance with Usher, and there was more. Also, all hail Patri…

It was a bad weekend to be a Mississippi college basketball fan, and it’s a bad week to be an NFL fan, if you hate Taylor Swift, as apparently many do.Von Crooked Letter Sports

The Clevelands recap the NFL conference championship games and look ahead to the Super Bowl, plus some college basketball thoughts. Father and son agree on two things: Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the game, and all the fuss about Taylor Swift is comical.Von Crooked Letter Sports

Just-turned-20-year-old amateur Nick Dunlap shot 29 under par this past weekend to win the PGA Tour’s American Express Classic in the desert this past weekend and Jacksonian Wilson Furr had an up close and painful look at history being made. Randy Watkins joins us to discuss the achievement and also Furr’s medical issues in his first event as a PGA…

The arctic temps in mid-Mississippi bring back some memories, plus a college basketball update, a look at the NFL playoffs, an homage to Nick “The GOAT” Saban, the college coaching merry-go-round, and Wilson Furr’s PGA Tour debut.Von Crooked Letter Sports

Most college football teams play an offensive style that pundits have started calling basketball on grass. They spread the field, go fast, and throw it constantly. But Michigan showed Monday that old school smash mouth football, on both sides of the ball, still can win games and championships. The Michigan offensive and defensive lines mauled Washi…

Like most of America, we watched college football all day and all night on the first day of 2024. The takeaway: Washington quarterback Michael Penix stole the New Year’s Day show. Meanwhile, Ole Miss will be in the hunt in 2024.Von Crooked Letter Sports

For sports writers, sometimes the trips to cover the games are more interesting than the games themselves, especially for two sports writers named Cleveland with classic cases of attention deficit disorder.Von Crooked Letter Sports

The high school football season is in the history books, which means it’s time for the best, biggest, and fastest to decide where they are going to play college ball. The Cleveland boys discuss National Signing Day, as well as Saturday’s Ole Miss-Southern Miss basketball game at Biloxi, the New Orleans Saints’ playoff hopes (yes, they still have so…

We’re nearing Christmas and Ole Miss basketball is undefeated. Nevertheless, Mississippi State, with freshman sensation Josh Hubbard, is ranked higher despite two losses and Southern Miss is playing better with two straight victories. Meanwhile, Mississippi will be a decided underdog in the Mississippi-Alabama high school all-star game Saturday in …

The Oak Grove Warrior defeated Starkville in an exciting Class 7A State Championship game to cap a huge weekend of high school football. Warrior coach Drew Causey, who hasn’t slept much since, joins to discuss the big game and his second state title. The Clevelands also discuss the college football playoffs, the Ole Miss-Penn State Peach Bowl match…