Friday, September 28, 2018   
 
Starkville, Mississippi State prep for big weekend
The SEC Nation bus rolled into Starkville on Wednesday afternoon -- one of several early signs for a big weekend on tap for the city. Mississippi State's Student Association will host Bulldog Bash on Friday, and the Bulldogs' football team will host Florida on Saturday. Either event on its own would be a big draw for visitors to the town. With both together, university and city officials are expecting a massive weekend for Starkville. MSU Chief Communications Officer Sid Salter said the university is well aware of the weekend's potential to draw tens of thousands of people and is making its own preparations. "Other than perhaps the Auburn game in 2014, this is the hardest of hard sellouts because of the Florida game this weekend and the return of Coach Mullen with the Gators," Salter said. "At the same time, we have these student-driven town and gown events like Bulldog Bash. Bulldog Bash has grown to the point that it's even featured in SEC Network promotional advertising because of the flavor of the community it brings and how it points out the town and gown relationship."
 
Beefing Up Security For Bulldog Bash Weekend
The official start of the 2018 Bulldog Bash Weekend in Starkville is less than 24 hours away. "For Bulldog Bash we're expecting thousands of people to flood Main Street," said Corporal Brandon Lovelady, PIO with the Starkville Police Department. With visitors pouring in from all over, police believe there could be an even bigger crowd than last year. "Typically we do have travelers from all over," said Lovelady. "Some just come for the main concert. This is one of the largest, if not the largest in Mississippi outdoor concert that's free." So to help control the large crowd this weekend, Lovelady said majority of Starkville police will be working the event. SPD is also bringing in members of the Mississippi State University Police Department to assist them this weekend.
 
Area students learn about agriculture through FARMtastic
Elementary school students across the Golden Triangle had the opportunity to learn about Mississippi's number one industry this week through the FARMtastic exhibit. The exhibit is put on by the Mississippi State University Extension Service and aims to teach students in second, third and fourth grade about agriculture through hands-on demonstrations. Among the activities students participated in were blowing bubbles through porous wood, digging through soybeans to uncover soybean products and visiting with livestock. Students also learned about horticulture and aquaculture, and received a safety demonstration from the Mississippi Department of Transportation. The exhibit will remain at the Mississippi Horse Park until Sept. 28, and will welcome more than 1,500 students from seven counties. The exhibit will then travel around the state, with a two-week stop planned at the Mississippi State Fair in Jackson.
 
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos coming to Mississippi
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will visit the Holmes County Consolidated School District next week to learn about the district's participation in an initiative aiming to provide more students in the rural state with access to advanced placement courses, school district officials confirmed. The rural school system with an enrollment of more than 3,500 students is one of several districts participating in the program spearheaded by the Global Teaching Project. Advanced placement, or AP, classes aim to provide participants with college-level course work. Students who enroll in such courses can elect to sit for AP exams and are often eligible for college credit if they score high enough. Participating students also attend two camps -- one at the University of Mississippi, the other at Mississippi State University -- to prepare for the courses.
 
Circuit offices notify voters of precinct location changes
Three voting locations across Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties have been moved ahead of November's elections. In Oktibbeha County, two locations have made permanent changes. A precinct at Starkville Fire Station 3 on Garrard Road has been moved to Trinity Presbyterian Church at 607 Hospital Road. The voting location at Humphrey Coliseum on Mississippi State University's campus has moved to St. Joseph's Catholic Church at 607 University Dr. Sheryl Elmore, deputy election clerk with the Oktibbeha County Circuit Clerk's Office, said the move, in both instances, does not impact voting precinct lines. All voters who voted at the old locations will simply go to the new ones, she said. "People think because of that, everything changed, and it didn't," Elmore said. "Everyone is where they're always supposed to be -- it's just where they go vote."
 
New 4-County leader plans to continue trajectory of success
4-County Electric Power Association has a new leader. The cooperative's Assistant General Manager Brian Clark was named new chief executive officer and general manager, the cooperative announced in a press release Wednesday. Clark has been with the company nearly 13 years, starting first as a staff accountant and worked his way to chief financial officer in 2013 and assistant general manager in February. The cooperative's board of trustees finalized the decision Monday. The cooperative provides power for more than 38,000 members in Noxubee County and rural parts of Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Clay, Monroe, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Winston and Webster counties. That focus on members gives 4-County a community focus that Clark is particularly proud of.
 
Nissan's Canton plant begins production of new Altima
The excitement in the air at Nissan's Canton plant was palpable Thursday afternoon as the car manufacturing giant unveiled the 2019 Nissan Altima. Nissan has invested an additional $170 million in plants in Canton and Tennessee to support Altima production, according to Heath Holtz, Nissan North America senior vice president of manufacturing, supply chain management and purchasing. Gov. Phil Bryant said Thursday that the plant has produced over $300 million in annual state and local tax revenues. "This is a great day for Mississippi," Bryant said. "I think this is a great day for consumers. It's a great day for those who will have the opportunity to buy and own and have an emotional attachment to the new 2019 Nissan Altima ... when you see that you know quality, you know it's a great automobile and now you know it's made in Canton, Mississippi."
 
Mississippi senators dismiss Christine Blasey Ford's testimony as partisan tactic
Both of Mississippi's Republican U.S. senators expressed no change of heart after Thursday's historic committee hearing featuring Christine Blasey Ford, one of two women to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. Ford testified before the Senate Judiciary committee on Thursday, recounting the evening 36 years ago in which she said she was sexually assaulted by President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee. Kavanaugh later gave forceful testimony denying the allegations. Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith -- the first woman to ever represent Mississippi in Washington -- dismissed Ford's allegations as a partisan attack and expressed support for Kavanaugh's nomination.
 
In special session, some districts got earmarks -- some didn't
As Rep. Noah Sanford, R-Collins, sat at his desk during the August special session scanning a list of earmarked infrastructure projects that totaled $111 million, he realized none of the 128 projects would benefit his district. Sanford, serving in his first term in the Mississippi House of Representatives, dug a little deeper and realized he wasn't alone: 19 of the state's 82 counties didn't receive a dime of the special legislative money. When floor debate on the bill began, Sanford held a pink slip in the air signaling to Speaker Philip Gunn his intention to introduce an amendment. Shortly after introducing the amendment, to provide the remaining 19 counties some funding from the large pot, Rep. Robert Foster, R-Hernando, rose with a motion to kill it. Sanford was incensed. A Mississippi Today analysis of the 128 earmarked projects approved during the August special session produced no clear pattern of how and why the projects were selected.
 
Commissioner Gipson stops by Meridian on Farm Tour
Mississippi's agriculture commissioner was in Meridian Thursday talking to local farmers about their concerns. Thursday's stop was the latest on Commissioner Andy Gipson's Mississippi Farm Listening Tour. It's a chance to talk to locals in the agriculture community about their concerns and ideas. The commissioner says trade issues are the biggest concern to Mississippi's farmers right now, and he's hopeful the president will make an impact on those issues. "Mexico just came back to the table; we expect Canada and China to do the same," he says. "I'm very optimistic. We have some great trade opportunities with other countries like India."
 
House Speaker Pro Tempore Greg Snowden charged with DUI refusal in Meridian
House Speaker Pro Tempore Greg Snowden (R-Meridian) was charged on Thursday with refusal to take a sobriety test following an accident in Meridian. Police responded to a call about a driver acting "erratically" on 61st Court and 17th Avenue, followed by a call about an accident without injuries on Windmill Drive and Highway 39 North, according to Meridian Police Chief Benny Dubose. Dubose said Snowden had been charged with refusing to take the test after the 3:15 p.m. accident. State law requires that someone convicted of not taking a field sobriety test has their license suspended for 90 days. In contrast, someone convicted of a DUI may have their license suspended for up to a year, Dubose said. Snowden told WLBT that he was headed home from a lunch in Jackson when he rear-ended the other vehicle less than a mile from his home. He said he had one beer at Hal and Mal's during a Spay and Neuter of Mississippi event.
 
Mississippi Enacts No New Gun Laws in 2018
Mississippi has enacted no new state laws this year to either regulate gun ownership or expand where firearms may be carried. The Associated Press reviewed state gun legislation considered across the U.S. in 2018, the first year since a deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas. Some states passed gun control bills, but the year was not the game-changer that gun-control advocates hoped it could be. Mississippi lawmakers killed a bill that would have erased rules limiting where people can carry guns on public property, including college campuses.
 
GOP barrels toward Kavanaugh vote with key Republicans undecided
Senate Republicans are racing to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, betting that the Supreme Court nominee was persuasive enough in his denial that he sexually assaulted a high school acquaintance to counter the powerful testimony of his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford. The Senate Judiciary Committee is planning to vote on Friday morning to advance Kavanaugh's nomination to the full Senate floor. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) then plans a Saturday procedural vote to formally move to the nomination, with a potential confirmation vote as early as Tuesday. Publicly, Republicans do not have the votes yet to confirm Kavanaugh, but GOP leaders seem confident they can push him through with brute force.
 
Trump administration sees a 7-degree rise in global temperatures by 2100
Last month, deep in a 500-page environmental impact statement, the Trump administration made a startling assumption: On its current course, the planet will warm a disastrous 7 degrees by the end of this century. A rise of 7 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 4 degrees Celsius, compared with preindustrial levels would be catastrophic, according to scientists. Many coral reefs would dissolve in increasingly acidic oceans. Parts of Manhattan and Miami would be underwater without costly coastal defenses. Extreme heat waves would routinely smother large parts of the globe. But the administration did not offer this dire forecast as part of an argument to combat climate change. Just the opposite: The analysis assumes the planet's fate is already sealed.
 
MUW Holds Campus Safety Day
Mississippi University for Women Office of Housing and Residence Life joined together with The W's police department to put on "Campus Safety Day." The event took place in the parking lot behind Peyton Hall. Different agencies talked with students and handed out information on how they can stay safe. Some of the agencies involved included the Mississippi Highway Patrol, Columbus Police, Atmos Energy, American Red Cross and several more.
 
Ole Miss students hire 'rush consultants' to advise sorority recruitment
If you've driven down Sorority Row during rush week at Ole Miss, you've likely seen young women lining the streets wearing clean dresses, big hair and high heels. But in recent years, you might have noticed a few extra people waiting outside the chapter houses. Although you're likely to spot some anxious mothers who are hopeful that their daughters become legacies -- these are not them. These outsiders are rush consultants -- hired guns who groom would-be sorority members during the recruitment process. Though every woman registered for rush at Ole Miss is assigned to a small group with a student recruitment counselor, also known as a gamma chi, to answer her questions, some students still have doubts about conversations getting back to the chapters.
 
Ole Miss community reacts to Kavanaugh hearing
Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh delivered emotional testimonies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, regarding Ford's allegations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her more than 30 years ago. Tensions were high between Kavanaugh and senators, both Democrat and Republican, during the hearing. As the hearing came to a close Thursday evening, the Ole Miss history department hosted a Gender History Pop-Up in Bishop Hall featuring a discussion centered around the hearings and other topics like the #MeToo movement. "How didn't (these allegations) come up?" Susan Stearns, an assistant professor of history, asked the room. "People go through extensive FBI background checks to be rugby coaches. How did a potential Supreme Court justice not have this come up?"
 
Millsaps students closely monitor Kavanaugh-Ford hearings
The lessons weren't all in the classroom for these Millsaps students Thursday. "We're all literally at the brink of history right now," said junior Jake Tipton. "So, that's pretty cool." "I looked up at the TV and just kind of got interested in seeing history," noted freshman Trevion Littleohn. "I feel like this is going to be really influential in history." Several students congregated in the student center and just like many Americans, they couldn't break away as they listened to testimony from Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. "We thought this would be a really great thing to have here in a kind of more public space for the students to see what's going on and also to be able to commune around it and have conversations about it," said Sociology and Anthropology Teaching Fellow Tamar Shirinian.
 
As U. of Tennessee grapples with sexual assault, staff learns how to report cases
As the University of Tennessee, Knoxville joins other schools in confronting and combating the prevalence of sexual misconduct and violence across campuses, the institution has rolled out Title IX mandatory reporter training for all full-time faculty and staff. That cluster of the campus community plays a major role in listening to student victims: Ninety-seven percent of the official Title IX reports in the past year began with a student expressing a concern to a faculty or staff member, Ashley Blamey, UT's Title IX coordinator, shared with the university's workforce. The training has proved to be timely as five rapes have been reported on or near campus since March -- three in residence halls in September alone -- in addition to an incident of fondling that was reported in a campus parking garage, according to the UT Police Department's crime log.
 
New U. of Florida Chief Diversity Officer Antonio Farias talks equity
Newly-hired University of Florida Chief Diversity Officer Antonio Farias said he's aware of the poor marks the school received on racial equity earlier this week. But Farias said his concern about the findings goes beyond numbers. "I'm more concerned about the how the students express their lived experience at UF," Farias said. "That's always my paramount concern. The numbers and charts, those are just numbers, they're not human beings." The study, conducted by USC's Race and Equity Center, measured schools based on four equity indicators: representation equity, gender equity, completion equity and black student-to-black faculty ratio. Florida received an F grade in representation equity based on a black student enrollment (6.1 percent) below the state's black population of 18-24 year olds (21.5 percent).
 
The Kavanaugh-Ford Hearing and Campus Sexual Assault: 3 Parallels
The extraordinary Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday involving Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh was an all-day airing of distant memories, teenage parties, trauma, and the long-term effects of sexual assault. The event also grappled with many of the same questions that have been intrinsic to the debate over campus sexual assault and harassment. Ford, who appeared shaken at first but gradually gained confidence over nearly four hours of testimony, painstakingly recounted the details of the day on which she says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her and why she decided to come forward now. "Apart from the assault," she said, "these last couple of weeks have been the hardest of my life." Kavanaugh, who testified after Ford, and admitted that he did not listen to her testimony, was visibly frustrated and defiant in denying the allegations. Administrators and lawyers who handle campus sexual-misconduct cases drew parallels between Thursday's hearing and their jobs.
 
Common App Will Merge With Reach Higher
The Common Application, a nonprofit organization that runs an online admissions platform used by more than 800 institutions, wants to help more students get to college. To that end, the group said on Thursday that it planned to acquire Reach Higher, the college-access initiative started by Michelle Obama, the former first lady. The high-profile merger was announced here at the National Association for College Admission Counseling's annual conference, where expanding opportunities for low-income and first-generation students is a hot topic. In an interview this week, Jenny Rickard, the Common Application's president and chief executive, said that by joining forces the two groups could create a college-going culture and "bring joy to the admissions process."


SPORTS
 
'They Want to See Dan Go Down': Mullen's Return to Starkville Is Charged With History, Hostility
In the spring of 2014, the Bop's frozen custard shop announced a new item with a flyer taped to its front window. The Mullen was a vanilla concrete topped with chocolate syrup, caramel, chocolate chips and M&Ms. Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen frequented Bop's so often and ordered the same off-menu item that employees began advertising the concoction to all customers. Turns out, The Mullen was only seasonal. "It's now called The Lateral Move," says owner Kay Holland, a dig at the coach for his decision in November to join SEC rival Florida after nine years at the helm of the Bulldogs. For so many Mississippi State fans, with that decision Mullen went from friend to foe, hero to hated, legend to traitor. It's not all about Dan. Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin came from Mississippi State, stunning the fan base of his alma mater two years ago by accepting the same job with the Gators and then enraging it by hiring away Mullen. This could be the first time in major college football history that a head coach and an athletic director, both at the same school, return to face their former employer.
 
Mullen's past meets his present
Dan Mullen's past will meet up with his present on Saturday afternoon. The former Mississippi State head coach, who guided the Bulldogs to bowl eligibility in eight of his nine seasons, will return to Davis Wade Stadium for the first time since Thanksgiving. However, this time Mullen will be on the opposing sideline with the Florida Gators. "It'll be a different deal," Mullen said. "I've heard they've flipped the locker rooms so I'll be in the same locker room that I was in for nine years. That'll be a comfortable feeling for me. It'll be fun, I'm looking forward to it." Due to the State players' familiarity with the calls, the Gators have had to mix things up this week. "We've tried to change a lot of terminology, signals and all kinds of different stuff because the players know a lot of the different things that we do," Mullen said.
 
Mullen returns with Florida to face No. 23 Mississippi State
Coach Dan Mullen's return to Starkville will grab most of the headlines when his Florida Gators travel to face No. 23 Mississippi State on Saturday. But much more is at stake than an emotional reunion. Florida (3-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) and Mississippi State (3-1, 0-1) have already stumbled once during league play -- both against Kentucky -- and now face a game that could eliminate one program from being a surprise contender for an SEC title. "I think it comes with playing in the SEC, you go win a big game and the next week it's even harder, you know what I'm saying so it's fun," Franks said. "I think our guys are up for the challenge." Mullen's return will be hard to ignore. Mississippi State's fan base has been looking forward to this game since November, when Mullen left Starkville after nine mostly successful seasons to lead Florida.
 
Simmons: Mississippi State defensive line will get 'swagger back'
The Mississippi State defense saw a lot of No. 26 last week. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, they also saw a lot of the name "Snell Jr." above that number running violently away from them. Kentucky's junior running back Benny Snell Jr. punished State's exalted defensive line to the tune of 165 rushing yards. The Florida Gators don't have a back like Snell on their roster, but they have a collection of home run-hitters who could slip their way past MSU's front seven if they play like they did in Lexington. Junior defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons said that isn't going to happen. "We're going to get our swagger back," Simmons said. "We take a lot of pride in stopping the run, something we didn't do last week. This week, we're going to get our mojo back. We're going to get it rolling."
 
Rayford's versatility makes Mississippi State's defense stronger
The tenor of Chris Rayford's senior season changed in April. The Byhalia native had established himself at cornerback for the Mississippi State football team with 37 tackles in the previous two seasons. He also was part of a roster that had just two proven commodities at safety. Fortunately, MSU's coaches believed the team had two or three players at nickel and at least five at cornerback, so when the Bulldogs needed help at safety, Rayford was a willing participant. It also had a willing participant when MSU (3-1, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) had an emergency need at cornerback. Rayford is second in pass breakups (two), but his true impact comes in how he keeps the Bulldogs' depth chart stable by switching positions when necessary. This week, he is practicing as a full-time cornerback for No. 23 MSU's matchup against Florida (3-1, 1-1) at 5 p.m. Saturday (ESPN), but a move back to safety could be in the making.
 
A Starkville store ordered 500 Dan Who? shirts. It sold out in a week.
Local clothing store Maroon & Co. doesn't normally sell game-specific T-shirts. But Saturday's game isn't a normal game. It's Florida coach Dan Mullen's return to Mississippi State. On his spring speaking tour, he said it will likely be one of the biggest contests in state history. Store manager Lauren Ferguson said it feels bigger than the Egg Bowl. "Ole Miss isn't what they used to be, so everyone's put this hype on the Florida game," said Ferguson, 26. "We knew we had to do something big for it." Her marketer, Amber Kay, found the perfect something last week: A white T-shirt with the two-word message Dan who? It was simple. It fit the white-out theme. It sold out in a week. "We've had phone call after phone call after phone call all day," Ferguson said Thursday afternoon. "I quit answering the phone."
 
Gators unfazed by outside noise, Mullen factor vs. Bulldogs
The storylines surrounding Saturday have run consistently in the 10 months since Dan Mullen left Mississippi State for Florida, and the arrival of the match-up means they're in full gear. But on the practice field, Florida's focus has been just that: staying focused, avoiding the outside noise and any resulting distractions. That's for Mullen to handle -- the players can only control the X's and O's and the 60 minutes of football Saturday. It's a message the Gators have heard repeatedly in practice following the team's 47-21 win at Tennessee: focus on playing Florida football rather than emotions surrounding Mullen's return. "Coming into this game, it's not about (Mullen)," wide receiver Tyrie Cleveland said. "He tells us to just play physical and be consistent, and just come out there and work hard, play hard, play physical and give relentless effort."
 
First jobs led Mississippi State's Vic Schaefer on path to Naismith honor
Boyce Honea recognized very quickly Vic Schaefer had what it took to connect with players. Even though Schaefer was right out of Texas A&M, Honea, a veteran coach at Houston Milby (Texas) High School, saw Schaefer could relate to the members of his freshman boys basketball team and the players on the school's tennis team. "He did a great job with the freshman team," Honea said. "They won the state championship. They were very good at defense. Those kids when they got to be seniors and I had them they won regionals and went to state. It was our defense. He has the ability to coach them up and get the most out of the kids." Schaefer continues to get the most out of his players as he enters his seventh season as head coach of the Mississippi State women's basketball team. On Saturday, Schaefer will be honored during the third timeout in the first quarter of the MSU football team's game against Florida for being named the Naismith National Coach of the Year last season. Senior center Teaira McCowan also will be recognized during the game for being the inaugural recipient of the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year.
 
Defending SEC Champion Bulldogs hold first practice
Mississippi State's quest to return to a third straight national championship game started with its first practice on Thursday afternoon. Vic Schaefer's Bulldogs bring back eight letterwinners but only one starter from last year's team, which claimed the SEC championship and won a school-record 37 games. All-American center Teaira McCowan returns and is joined by fellow senior guards Jazzmun Holmes and Jordan Danberry along with Texas A&M grad transfer forward Anriel Howard. "They're a good-looking group," Schaefer said following the first practice. "They've got a lot of size, a lot of athleticism and a lot of quickness. They're hard-working kids and I really enjoy them."
 
Moment comes for Mississippi State volleyball in come-from-behind win
Mississippi State first-year volleyball head coach Julie Darty didn't have a timetable. However, she felt the breakthrough for her team would come sooner rather than later. That moment came Wednesday night, when MSU stunned Auburn 3-2 (21-25, 12-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-13) in Darty's first Southeastern Conference home match at the Newell-Grissom Building. The ESPN cameras were there. A large student contingent was there. Cheer leaders and the Famous Maroon Band were in attendance. The MSU marketing department even brought in a camel to celebrate Hump Day. Regardless of the electricity in the building, it looked like MSU's nine-game conference home losing streak was destined to continue. "Don't ever give up," MSU freshman outside hitter Paige Shaw said. "That's the main thing the coaches have been stressing. We aren't where we want to be, but don't give up. Continue to fight and look at each set as a new opportunity. In the third set, things started falling right for us and it just kept going and going."
 
Beer: Colleges' New Way to Fill Seats, Not Couches
When No. 5 Louisiana State (4-0) hosts Mississippi (3-1) on Saturday night, The Chute and the Skyline Club are bound to be crowded with fans who would like a beer or three. The Chute is on the ground floor of Tiger Stadium near the southern end zone. The Skyline Club offers a stunning God's-eye view of the field and a vista beyond the stadium of Baton Rouge's tidy downtown and the Mississippi River. "When I'm at home, I drink beer," said Lisa Boswell, a guest at The Chute last week, when L.S.U. hosted Louisiana Tech. "I'm used to going to Saints games, where you can have beer." Broad alcohol sales are still relatively new to college football, though. And nowhere are they more limited than in the Tigers' league, the Southeastern Conference, which bans their sale at home games to general-admission guests. Selling alcohol at college games is not about adding a few million dollars to annual bottom lines but a longer-term strategy to convert new, fickle fans into more reliable ones, said Emily Golembiewski, a stadium consultant.
 
LSU basketball player Wayde Sims killed in shooting near Southern campus
LSU men's basketball player Wayde Sims was killed in a shooting early Friday morning near the Southern University campus, according to Baton Rouge police. Several former players, including Aaron Epps and Brandon Sampson, confirmed Sims' identity on social media. WAFB-TV reported that Southern's campus was on lockdown for a period after the shooting. The shooting reportedly took place at 12:25 a.m. at a Subway restaurant at 668 Harding Boulevard across from Southern's A.W. Mumford Stadium. Sims was transported to a local hospital where he died from a gunshot wound. "We are all devastated. We need your prayers for Wayde, for his family, for all of us," said LSU coach Will Wade in a statement. "We are heartbroken."
 
Study reveals bias against women's basketball teams from historically black colleges
A new study suggests that long-standing claims of bias aimed at black athletes in college sports could be true, at least in some sports. The study, which appears in the Howard Journal of Communications, finds that teams from historically black colleges and universities are among the most heavily penalized, despite their small representation in athletics overall. Andrew Dix, an assistant professor of communication at Middle Tennessee State University, analyzed data from the National Collegiate Athletic Association on women's basketball teams that played from 2008 to 2017 in Division I. Dix identified 23 teams from HBCUs and 310 from predominantly white institutions. Then he totaled the number of personal fouls from every game and calculated a 10-year average for each team. "This research ... exposes a hidden socio-cultural issue in which female basketball players from historically black colleges and universities are at a competitive disadvantage when they step onto the court," he said in a statement.
 
Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame names impressive Class of 2019
Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: As seems always the case, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame's Class of 2019, announced Wednesday, is a deserving one of impeccable credentials. In alphabetical order, you've got a high school football coach, Ricky Black, who has won 377 games and was selected the national coach of the year in 2017. You've got Mississippi State's Rockey Felker, one of the Bulldogs greatest quarterbacks and football heroes. You've got Cissye Gallagher, the most accomplished amateur golfer, male or female, in the state's history. You've got Wilbert Montgomery, who scored 57 touchdowns in a nine-year NFL career that earned him All-Pro honors twice and then enshrinement into the Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame. You've got Roy Oswalt, elected in his first year of eligibility, one of the most dominant pitchers of his era in Major League baseball. And, finally, you've got Richard "Possum" Price, whom Johnny Vaught once called "the best linebacker I ever coached or saw."



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