3/4/26: Baseball and basketball follow routine scripts

0:00From the Clark Ford Studio in Oxford, Mississippi, MBW Digital proudly presents the Oxford Exxon podcast. I'd say thanks for tuning in, but why am I going to give you a round of applause for something you're supposed to do to be frank? And now, here are your hosts, Chase Pawn. And Broadcast School is really paid off. And be able to create it. I deserve to be on team. Welcome back to this Wednesday morning edition. We've got a lot here with you today. Chase Pawn, Neil McCready. Thanks to RealTree for my setup, RealTree.com, your place for lifestyle, camo, outdoor gear, and needs. Appreciate those guys always building tower in the family. RealTree.com. We're going to talk some basketball, some baseball today. They follow their usual scripts last night, although officiating at a big picture level overtook a lot of the post-game proceedings there in Oxford as Ole Miss falls in overtime to Vanderbilt.

1:03The Rebels led in the final minute, went to overtime, and then lost to the ranked comedors who had a player with a big night last night. We'll talk about that. Ole Miss and Memphis, the Rebels beat up pretty bad Memphis team 7 to 1, and it came via the home run, because that's what Ole Miss does right now. So we'll hit on that topic, some other stuff around. The SEC and Sports Landscapes as well. We'll cover all those bases here with you, including Tony about Blue Sky. Blue Sky, throughout the state of Mississippi, up in I-55, throughout North Mississippi as well, obviously, without the Oxford Exxon. Here in Lafayette County, on the west side of town, lunch special, sweet daddy's locations. 569, a couple sides of bread, any size fountain drink. They take care of you wherever you are in Mississippi, which are Macrady's in the Clark Ford Studio. I am Clark Ford, is in Amory, Mississippi, 662, 257, 1900's the number, call it. Ask for my friend, Corey Clark, tell Corey what Ford product you are looking for.

2:04He'll send you a quote within 15 minutes in business hours. Write to the bottom line, no hassle, no haggle. You get your quote, the rest is up to you. You can shop that quote around. You can do what I've done. I want to recommend that you do, and that's hopin' to a Clark Ford today. You will love the product. You'll love the service. Corey and the people at Clark Ford will tell you, they want to be your car guy. They want to be your truck guy. They'll prove to you what that means. When you make the call, 662-257-1900, guest join on the Campbell Clinic hotline, from fractures and sports injuries to complex spine and limb conditions, the pediatric orthopedic physicians at Campbell Clinic and Oxford are the only specialized pediatric orthopedic team in North Mississippi providing expert care for growing bodies, visit CampbellClinicOxford.com to schedule an appointment of called 901759-3111. Starting off the show, I won't make Neil do this,

3:04just in curious. I like the trivia questions where I don't really know them, but then when I hear them, I go, oh yeah, that makes tons of sense, and I'm kind of mad at myself. There was one of those this morning from Morning Brew for you music people. You probably will get this immediately. And I will say, I got the first part, but I had no idea of the second. The question was, in early 1976, how old were you in 1976 now? Six. In early 1976, two songs dominated the UK Singles chart. The number one songs lyrics don't even contain its title, but they do contain the title of the number two song. That's a really good trivia question this morning. I knew the first part, and when you hear it, you'll go, oh yeah, I'm an idiot. I'll give people a couple minutes. They might in the stream are not in a couple of minutes, a couple of seconds for the most part, but they're probably hearing the question right now. The answer, the number one song, which I did know, was Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, because yes, the words are not in that song. That is true. And now that I say that, you probably will start singing it,

4:05and the second song will come to your head, it is Abba's Mamma Mia. So Mamma Mia was in Bohemian Rhapsody, but Bohemian Rhapsody was not in yet. I thought it was clever this morning, as I was reading. It is through getting everybody off to a little bit of a start, Nill, and I, you know, for a couple of endings last night, I told you, and not complaining, not getting on that thing, I thought I was going to be, it's wavy for quite a while, because it took a little over an hour for a couple of endings, and then they cruised. I think we finished the thing in like 243, 245, something like that, the 7-1 win for the Rebels over Memphis last night. You guys went to overtime. Did you tip it eight? It was a little after eight. What time did you tip last night? I think they tipped at 807. I knew very early on it was going to overtime. I felt it. And I would have bet, and if you'd frozen time when Patton Pinkins took the shot at the end of the first overtime,

5:06if you'd frozen time, and so what do you think? I'd say it's him. We're going to play. We're going to be here forever. Yeah, it was a late game. Let's start there. Set the things. Go ahead. Auburn and LSU started an hour later. It's ridiculous. I mean, I get everything for TV. I get it. I'll be honest, I think 807 is late for a tip. If I'm honest, 9-something is ridiculous for a tip. I know that the league was craming a bunch of games in because they're trying to be politically correct, and nobody's watching the women's tournament on the first day, everybody. I mean, you're not changing. I know you have TV partners and blah, blah, blah. But come on. Well, that's what a lot of this was. That's the bill. You know, I mean, it does. And so it's a greater conversation, though, because a lot of our conversation today is about the sport, the sport going into the tournament,

6:06the watchability. It's not about Ole Miss losing a basketball game. That is irrelevant to the conversation that we are having. We will talk a little particulars. But really, only in the broader landscape. But I think start times are a great place to begin this conversation because BWL says, why can't you do five and sevens? Well, I mean, five makes it difficult for a lot of people, but sure, yeah, do five and seven. But especially in Oxford, because I think I talked about this. I don't remember the research, but population within a drivable distance on a weeknight is very low in Oxford compared to most SEC venues. Whether you're winning or losing, again, students were at baseball last night because it was 79 degrees at first pitch and basketball had a losing season. It had nothing to do with anything else. If basketball was winning, the students would have been hopping like crazy and full and it would have been a freaking zoo if the situation was like last season or even, frankly, two years ago to some aspect. So that is why that happened. There's no other reason. Don't look deeper than that from a student standpoint.

7:08But no matter how good the team is, it's tough to get a full house at eight o'clock on a weeknight. It just, from a population standpoint, it is very, very, very problematic. Not a clock is almost impossible, especially like they did whatever they did there with Auburn, no issue. Auburn did not have a full house and a complete must-win game, if you think they have any prayer of making the NCAA tournament. I guess don't go blow by blow, but in general, give me enough to understand where the post-game went last night from Chris Beard. Well, I asked about the officiating. The game was, I use the word mard, that would be the word that I use. It was mard by reviews, appeals, confusion. I watch a lot of basketball and I don't know that I've ever seen a player who has fouled out, shoot free throws. Malik Diyah. Yeah, I was baffled.

8:11So he fouls out, they go to review for a previous play. So it's late in the first, in regulation. And Diyah is, I thought was fouled. I actually thought he kind of got mald on a drive to the basket. I can't remember the exact score. I think the game was tied. I'm trying to remember how this went. I'm so confused now and I'm operating on very little stuff. Well, see, I was listening when I was driving home during the pinkins go back free throw, but I didn't hear the Diyah one. So the pinkins one was in overtime. Yeah, yeah. The Diyah one was in regulation. And he missed a shot. I don't remember exactly what happened, but Vanderbilt's driving the other way and

9:1220 something seconds expired. And they went back Vanderbilt appealed from their bench, 25 seconds later. And it was determined that Malik Diyah had tripped a Vanderbilt player in transition. Number 10. I can't remember his name. It doesn't matter. I mean, I'm sure it does matter to him and his family. I'm sure there were people, but I don't remember right now. I don't have the box in front of me. I'll keep talking. I'll tell you if you want to know. It doesn't matter. I like Vanderbilt's team there. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Good player. We have a help to get Bしょ Niel Richards putting Yeah. It was determined by the officials that that was a flagrant one. I did not believe that it doesn't matter, but just for the sake of it.

10:13I did not believe it was flagrant. I actually felt Malik was getting up at the same time that that guy was running by There had already been another foul on the other end. So Ole Miss was shooting free throws. So Ole Miss shot free throws and then Vanderbilt shot the two technical free throws that go with the flagrant. Got the ball, took a shot that would have won the game at the end of regulation, missed, and of course we went to overtime because of course we didn't. In overtime, the biggest play of the game in overtime was Ole Miss committed at 17th turnover of the game and Tanner turned it into a three-point play. That was the biggest piece because it set the tone for the overtime. But regardless, Vanderbilt had a two-point lead and took a, if I recall correctly and I'm pretty sure I do, took a shot, missed it, Ole Miss got the rebound. Elias Camardine got the rebound and was fouled.

11:16They called the foul to send Camardine to the line. He missed the first free throw and during that process, someone on the Ole Miss bench told Beard, you should appeal, Patton Pinkins got hit in the head, got elbowed, and Chris is pissed off at the officiating at this point. More, and this is the important part that I do want to make sure we get right. Chris Beard's not an idiot. He's not delusional at all. In fact, he's very smart. And frankly, he's incredibly real. He knows his team, Barring. I'm miracle. Come on. Barring something along the lines of Moses parting the Red Sea is not going to the NCAA tournament. I mean, we're talking about the biggest upset in college sports if Ole Miss wins the SCCC tournament next week. Chris isn't an idiot. He knows the odds of that are you and me

12:18have a better chance of both winning the lottery next week. So, but he's frustrated at the lack of flow, the way the game's gone. So he asked for the review and they review it. Now, this is after Vandy asked for a review on a hook and hold though, right? That was earlier. Oh, okay, that was earlier. Okay, my bad. Got it. Go ahead. Because that also was same situation. They had the switch free throw thing. Sorry, go ahead. Vanderbilt earlier in the game asked for a review on a hook and hold and it was determined that their guy could be the offense and so Ole Miss got free throws. Yeah. None of this is really explained in the building. And that's not an Ole Miss price. It's just the way that they do it. There's no communication. No, because I was listening to Darby and Darby goes, hey, I know what's about to happen. Vanderbilt's going to do this and then Pinkins is going to get free throws. But the crowd doesn't know it. So the crowd is booing as Vanderbilt is shooting and then they finally go and Pinkins gets to and then you hear the cheer after that.

13:19But there's no understanding of exactly how we got to that point and anything. Yeah, in fact, on that play, Ole Miss was shooting free throws and Ole Miss fans were confused and were yelling at the refs. Yeah. And I was like, I don't, I get it. I'd be confused too. You know, and one of the, it was one of the negatives of being in the arena where you don't have the radio or the TV to sort of inform you what the hell's going on. Anyway, Camerdine makes the first Ole Miss appeals. The appeal is unsuccessful and they tell Chris Beard that they viewed that it was just a basketball play. Correct. Camerdine misses the next free throw. Here's the next one. The kid that got the rebound for Vandy was a Vandy had three players foul out. It was a total rough show last night. Three players foul out so they had a backup big in the game.

14:21He gets the rebound. Ole Miss during the review had talked about, hey, if we miss and this guy rebounds foul him immediately. So Corey Tess did, he fouled him. But the referees, even though the referee did this hand signal thing where it goes up with the fist like foul, even though they did that, the officials said, nope, Vanderbilt called time out first. Chris wanted to appeal that and he's like, no, no, you can't appeal that. That's not appealable. And that's where he just kind of was like, I don't even know what the rules are. And so the post game basically was me asking Chris about things specifically. After the game, while Chris was talking essentially to me, and in fairness, I think somebody else asked a question, but it was mostly, it was mostly me. Back and forth. Yeah, and where I was, like at one point I was like, I don't mean this, I think I said,

15:21I don't mean this to sound smart, I like, but did you ask if you could appeal that? And he said, I did. And then that's when he gave me the answer about, I don't even know what's, what's appealable and stuff. Turns out that the league office had already texted Ole Miss officials that the foul on Pinkins absolutely was a punch. I think they used the word punch and that it should have been a flagrant, which obviously would have put Ole Miss, would have put Patton at the line with two shots and the ball, probably changes the outcome of the game. Who knows, right? But Ole Miss wanted to send, I can't think of the kid's name, number 37, I think. He gave us a 57.1% free throw shooter. They wanted to send him to the line. Maybe he makes them, maybe he doesn't. Who knows? But that's who Chess would have filed, had they called it. That's who Chess did foul, but they gave it,

16:21the ball to Vanderbilt, they said all they called Tom out. And so Vanderbilt got the ball to Tanner, he makes two free throws. Ole Miss comes down, Pinkins takes a three, back rims, ball game. So that was the post game. The bigger point that I think will get lost, it will absolutely get lost with the bulk of our audience because they're just following Ole Miss basketball. And that's not a criticism. I know people get mad when I say it's not a criticism, but it's not a criticism, but it's important. It's one of the reasons I actually tweeted the story out as much as I hate Twitter. I tweeted the story out because here's this coach who isn't going to the NCAA tournament. And what he was thinking last night was, Yaga, we're gonna ruin the tournament. Tournament's coming up in two weeks, and we're gonna ruin the tournament. People around the country who only watch college basketball in March and Chase, there's a bunch of them. Just like there's a whole bunch of people

17:22that don't watch the NFL until Super Bowl Sunday. There's a lot of people that don't watch college basketball at all until March. If they watched these games last three and a half hours, dude, they're not gonna keep watching. It's, I told you earlier, a lot of this is an in arena issue because if there's multiple games on and you're on TV, you're just flipping. You're just conflicting something else. You'll come back. You're less, it's one of the TV time outs. Don't bother people watching on TV as much because they simply just flip around and whatever. It's a huge problem inside the stadium, but it's not a problem in where else. And that's where I don't Chris is correct, but I don't know the level because frankly, it depends on what else is on at the moment. Okay, they're gonna have an appeal. Let me go here and we'll come back. I'll go get a beer. You know what I mean? Like it's, it's just not, it's not the same element. This is what's maddening to me about it, honestly.

18:27There's an easy fix. There's a model that they should follow. It works. In the NBA, the coaches have a challenge. If you get it right, you get to keep your challenge one more time. If you miss it, you're out of challenges for the whole game. At the end of games, sure, the, the, the caucus New Jersey where they're, they're officiating thing is they can flag something and go back and look at it, but coaches can't. So those people sitting on the end of the bench with their iPad, at the college level, it feels like it's just unlimited. You just challenge and you challenge and you challenge some more. And then when you're out of challenges, you can appeal. I don't even know what that hell that means. I've covered an entire season. I don't know what it means, but I felt better about that because Chris Beard didn't know the difference, which means most of them don't. Mark Beignton last night, the Vanderbilt coach was literally admitted that he's like, I don't even know.

19:31I don't think he felt comfortable with how it all played out because I think he knows like beard that this is not great for his game. But someone on the bench was like, hey, we ought to appeal this. I think we'll win. His goals is objective. He's getting paid to win games. Well, and he got apparently a per the radio broadcast. He got pissed at his video guy when he was wrong about the hooking hold during regulation. Like it was a, it was a, it was kind of a noticeable physical frustration at his support guy as that was, that was playing out. Now it's like anything else. I mean, game flow in any sport is an issue. I mean, we talk all the negatives about baseball, baseball is probably the one sport that's fixed it to some degree. I mean, they, they move pretty good. You've got, I mean, you have a game flow problem because everybody strikes out and hits home runs. We'll get to that more about Ole Miss in a minute, but it's like anything else. It's not a problem until you're losing.

20:32I mean, but it's a problem for that sport. Yeah. And they're come up on conference tournaments. The NCAA tournament, a time when this is your month to be fully relevant and they need to get this right. And I agree with Chris, by the way, he said, hey, you're going to see changes in the college game because this is going to impact the tournament. And when something impacts the tournament, the NCAA responds. And this is going to impact the tournament. It becomes the talking point of the tournament. A tournament that's supposed to be one shining moment and players and, you know, the ball is tipped and all that stuff. And instead, it's going to be about officiating. And when something becomes all about officiating, it's never good. Yeah, you know where that's going. Ole Miss, let's see. What's the overall record down here? Sweet. They're three and four and 13 in the league. Okay.

21:32Four and 13 in the league. They play South Carolina on the outside of the day. The game cocks are three and 14 in the league. I mean, I don't think Ole Miss can get above. I don't think they can get above the 15 line. Maybe they can get to 14. I don't know about Mississippi State. I'm not sure. They're going to play a game on Thursday, probably against the ninth or 10th seed. I'm a Wednesday. If they win, they'll play Thursday against, I don't know, the fifth or sixth seed. I mean, it's the rest is material. Well, here's the thing is they're not playing bad. This is the, I think this is the point that's probably maddening for them. I know I'm going along in the segment. Is they're not playing bad basketball. They're really not. Vanderbilt's a good team. And they went toe-to-toe with Vanderbilt for the second time this season. They should have beaten LSU last week.

22:32They did beat Auburn on Saturday. They're not playing bad basketball. They just, they just don't win. But it's the baseball team that keeps losing a four to three game. Yeah, yeah. You know, they keep blowing, they blow games in the eighth and ninth inning. It's in some ways that's more maddening than the baseball team that gets beat eight to one every. You know, but you do it because you have a flaw. And you have a very clear flaw. And they have a very clear flaw. They have a very clear flaw. And when they play a team in this league, and most of the teams in this league don't have that flaw. And fact that flaw is a strength. When they play one of those teams, it gets exposed. And Tyler Tannin was going to take care of Vandy last night. Nobody takes care of Ole Miss. Yeah. You know, last night's 17 turnovers. That's what lost the game in and full disclosure. Chris was asked a question about referees

23:34costing the game. And he was like, hey, you said that I didn't for the record. I don't think we lost because of referees. I think we lost because we turned it over 17 times against the NCAA tournament team. And that's a lot to overcome. And he's right. Yeah. No, I agree with you. All right, we'll hit some more in a second. First, he about Chickery Market, ChickeryMarket.com located there in the Midtown Shopping Center on North Lamar, great produce, great meat selections. Cursey, home-placed pastures, non-steal creamries in there, vine bottle shop, dry goods. And that new menu for their sandwiches, their press paninis, their other deli sandwiches available. You can eat in the atrium. You can take it with you. Great options, great sandwiches and great offerings there. At ChickeryMarket, again, that's ChickeryMarket.com. BWL on the stream, I agree with you. By the way, I'm starting to agree with you. I'm back and forth. We'll talk about it at some point. I'd be able to talk about it tonight on hand-raised guys or something. I kind of agree with you. Anyway, I almost had a great portal season in football.

24:37You can too. Do you have an old IRA or 401K with a former employer? I sounded very Southern right there. Is that money stuck with a bad team and not living up to its full potential? Put that account in the transfer portal at a fellow Rebel professionally managing for you. Andrew Sigo, with Sigo Wealth Management, will build a Playoff Calibre portfolio just for you. Book a quick discovery call today at RebelsRetired.com or 901-482-2676. Maybe you need tax savings strategies or retirement income planning. That's what they do every day. So give them a call at 901-482-2676 or book a discovery call online at rebelsretire.com. I've got a mailbag up this morning at Rebels247. It's presented by my friend Art Hayes, Sotheby's International Realty. Are you thinking I'm making a move? Put the power of Sotheby's international realty to work for you. As a licensed agent with Sotheby's and a supporter of all things Ole Miss,

25:39Art can help you buy or sell in your home town or anywhere in the world at no charge to you. Seriously. So call and ask ArtHouse, 612-805-5929 or email ArtAtArter.HaysAtLakesMN.com. And we're brought to you by Comor Heating and Air, Sotheby and Air Conditioning and Heating and they sponsor hand-raised guys, which I will do a solo version of tonight because I'm going to be out of pocket all day tomorrow, so I will knock that out tonight. And we'll take your calls, talk about whatever you guys want to talk about. Thanks to the people at Comor and Sotheby and different names, same great people, products and services, though. If you live in Oxford, Batesville, Tupelo, that's what I'm talking about. This is, though, if you live in Oxford, Batesville, Tupelo, that area, call Comor 662-801-1777. If you live in Memphis, Sotheby and Hernando, those areas, call Southern 662-429-42429. And we're presented by E&T Physicians of North Mississippi as the largest private E&T practice in the state.

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27:39to learn more of register for service in espark.com. Any spark get connected, stay local. All right, around the league real quick, before I transition over to some other things. Florida did cover last night. They win by 34 against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. They scored 61 points in the second half last night. The Gators winning 108-74. Open Mississippi State, Florida now 15-2 in the SEC. What's Mississippi State in the league? They are 5-12. Okay, 5-12. They are 5-12. Mike White probably going to have Georgia dancing 98-88. Huge home win last night against the Alabama Crimson Tide. They pulled that off by 10. Definitely dancing, no problem. They're in. 29-98 with whatever they got left on Saturday. In. They're in. Tennessee, disposing of South Carolina. Ole Miss is remaining opponent 78-59 in Columbia last night.

28:4311-6 in the SEC. Again, as Nils said, South Carolina 3-14. Oklahoma, Hammers, Missouri, and Norman last night. 80-64. Led by 9 at the break. Outscore them also in the second half there to win by 16. Missouri easily in. 10-7 in the SEC. Oklahoma 6-11. And a big win for Bucky Ball last night. 96-85. Texas A&M beats Kentucky. The enemy can tuck you both 10-7 in the SEC. And then as we mentioned last night, our earlier, because it had a 9 o'clock tip. Auburn 88-74. Winners by 14 over LSU. 3-14 for the Tigers. Auburn 7-10 in the SEC. Speaking of roster. For money and rosters, it at least should be a little better. LSU is one of those. I was talking, I was talking, I was listening to him this morning. And he said that LSU's basketball roster was around $9 million. Because they had given McMahon a lot more than last year. Last year was the year they completely had punted.

29:45And they went about 9 on this roster. And he was unsure if they would run it back with him and try to up again or just call it a day. And firemapping man. So I don't know if that's headed. I like Porter Moser's chance to survive at Oklahoma more than a likeman's chance at LSU. And I give Moser about a 50-50 coin to us. So you're not giving that McMahon a positive odds. I mean, he's got a chance. Because 40%'s a chance. Sure. You know, I mean, so you have to... Oh, it's a pretty, I mean, it's a decent chance. Yeah, I mean, you know, we learned in politics that if somebody's a 60-40 favorite, they still lose two fits of the time. Yes. I mean... That's a world where he gets another year. But, you know, it's BWL's point. And he's right. This is where the landscape has changed. And this is where the decision-making changes. And I don't know the answer to this. Like, this would be... This would be a fascinating conversation if you could have a conversation with... Like, if you could sit down with the round table, like four athletic directors.

30:47And go, we're not going to talk about specifics at all. We're going to kind of talk hypotheticals. In today's college athletics. And Chase, feel free to tell me if you think I'm wrong. What? Um... I think that what's happened is because there's so much roster turnover in damn near every sport. But definitely basketball. But pretty much everything. I mean, football, the turnover is incredible. If you win, you're okay. From a crowd, investment, emotionally invested... You're fine. If you don't... There's no sentiment at all, really left. You don't know the players. And you check out faster than ever before. And as a rule, in life, when you check out, it's hard to get people to check back in. That's why restaurants are always offering...

31:48Hey, if a customer complains, right? I've worked in the restaurant business a little bit back in the day. I remember bitches about something. Back in the back office, they go, I hate that bitch. That woman drives me in. Right? But they'll give them some coupon or something. Because they know if you ever leave, leave. It's harder to get your back. If they just kind of keep you there, there's a better chance that they keep you there. So I do wonder with college sports. Like McMahon. LSU's not getting crowds. He's going to win. Next season. Pop it. Yeah. Maybe you should pop it and bring in somebody else and sell new. Yeah. You know, new. Hey, new. Look. Forget that. No, we didn't give him everything you needed. We did give it to him one year and it didn't work out. It was his fault. Let's try this again. And you keep doing that over and over and over. Because... Yeah. You know, new.

32:48Hey, new. Look. Forget that. Forget that over and over and over. Because the fans don't feel like they know the players. I mean, you see that everywhere. South Carolina last night. And they're bad. They're bad. But like... And they had a home baseball game last night too. And I saw pictures of it. Had... They not been playing Tennessee last night. South Carolina would have had less than a thousand people in that building. And say what you want. But I've covered this league for a long time, Chase. And I've never seen the kind of crowds that I saw last night. And I've done this a long time. I've covered some absolutely horrid Auburn basketball teams. I've covered some horrid Ole Miss basketball teams that played in a dump of an arena. And they got bigger crowds than what I'm seeing. I mean, it's BWL in the stream. It's right. He goes, we've lost all sentiment. I don't even know if I'm exposed to be excited about struggling having a combat. Is he a rebel or is he a cowboy? And the point is, as you said, we... I mean, again, I know we're blaboring as we say this a lot.

33:49But we're still correct. Is... Yeah. I mean, this is my 22nd year on the B-23rd. I don't know. Something like that. I've seen a lot of average and below average sports across the spectrum at this university. And the crowds still show up. And they're there because I don't know. Might win tonight. Like the dudes. Our people. A lot of reasons why. You just kind of show up. You do it. Not all the time. I get crowds go down when you lose. But not to this level, as you said. There's no doubt about that. Hey, and I'm with real wicked brew here in the stream. He says, because I know listeners get a little frustrated and we don't tell them what the... Yeah. And that's a fair criticism. It doesn't matter. It's a fair criticism, yes. He says, you think that's bad. Imagine if Pete, I'm sure he's referring to Pete Golding, doesn't win. Oh boy. Ha! Had this conversation with someone just yesterday. Just yesterday where I said, you know, because he was about the field. Like, hey, your field's really changed, hasn't it? I said, in ways that I don't think people in the field fully get.

34:54It's... You and I have been in business together for a long time. And I've always told you, hey, it's a mistake for us to build a business model around. Hey, well, if Ole Miss wins, not that one. When they win. Oh, okay. Good. Because, well, what if they don't? I'm going to be honest. This is like, we're going into a first... And look, I think Ole Miss is going to win this year. So let me be very careful how I do this, because I... Yeah, I know. People are sensitive to this. I think they're going to win this year. And maybe they'll win forever, but that's not the point. They're going to win this year. So we probably get to punt this problem. I mean, CBS, I can't remember who it is. Put out a mock playoff and Ole Miss... I think it was the 10th. Yeah, I think that's right. I think Ole Miss was the 10th. They were. So in a world where Ole Miss is the 10, no matter what happens in that playoff, we're fine. Yeah. We'll be... But in a world where...

35:54We'll play off game in Eugene or somewhere and we'll go from there. The day will come when they don't make the playoffs. Well, I mean, if anybody wants to take that mat today, I'll take it. If they're going to stay at 12, this is where Josh Hyple was right yesterday. He's right. Josh Hyple's right. I saw some people fight back on Hyple and advocating for a 2014 playoff. He is 1 million percent right. About making it... One second. One second. Here's my thing. Day at 12. If we stay at 12, I did this before. Like, look, there's a world where, you know, it's football, man. And Ole Miss team that went to the national semifinals last year, damn near lost at home to Arkansas and September. The Washington State had the ball to go tie. I mean, it was unlikely, but... Arkansas went to... Well, Arkansas was a 2 in 10, 0 in 18 and they had the ball at the Ole Miss 23. Late in the game, and Ole Miss had not stopped them yet. Arkansas scored five touchdowns and missed two field goals. There was a decent chance that they score on that position to win the game.

36:56Maybe they do. Maybe they don't. It doesn't matter. The point stands in a world where that goes wrong for you one year. And you're kind of out of it at the end of September. And you've got 65 new faces on your roster. I don't know how much interest there is in football. Well, there's two parts to that. One is I agree with you. A 2014 playoff keeps more teams invested in the regular season, which helps everybody and keeps all the boats floating a little higher. Is your... Hey, if we get in the tournament and the chip and the chair and the whole thing and eight and four might get in and all that stuff, yeah, I get it. I am... For our jobs, I am completely for that. So, Hypo is not wrong. It just cracks me up a little bit. Because when coaches say they want 24, it's a lot like how many coaches in the March Madness deal wanted to expand the tournament, even though no one else does and they can't explain why the hell they need to. It's because they have job security when they make the damn playoff. It is completely self...

37:58It is self-congratulating and not the reason that everybody else wants it. So we go, oh god, he keeps fanbases engaged. No, it keeps you employed. Shut up. I'm fine with you. You're right, but not for the reason you're acting like. No, but if I'm an AD, I'm for a 2014 playoff. Oh, I mean, 100%. I need... I need as much potential for engagement for as long as possible. South Carolina is a great character study because they are. I mean, as somebody said in the stream, I don't know who it was. Sorry. They are the worst athletics department in the SEC. They suck kind of across the board, outside of them in the basketball. It's just anything. They're bad. I don't know how they have sort of handled that over with our buddies with Chris and them or what, but yeah, it's been a bit of a mess there in Carolina. At the fanbase that typically was... I observation more... I don't know if the loyal is the word, maybe hardcore is the word, more hardcore than most. Yeah, committed at least.

38:58They showed up in losing seasons. Yeah. Well, it's been a ton of time on baseball. I'm going to write a good bit of this tomorrow. I saw somebody referencing one of the quotes. Again, it's a midweek game on March the 3rd. Let's not go crazy in a new direction here. But, almost win 7-1. They moved to 11-2 on the season. They've got North Alabama tonight. Marco Cipola taking the mound for Ole Miss. The San Diego State Transfer who had the flu lost a lot of weight. And then it's affected the amount of time he has pitched. So far this season, they had a lot of high hopes for him coming into the year. Last night, though, same script. Ole Miss wins 7-1. Judd Yuddermark hits two home runs for the 3rd time this season. Judd is up to 8 for the year. He is up to 37 on his career at this point. And he is starting to inch towards some records here as we do this. He is now, I think, tied for 7th if I have that right. And career home runs.

39:59He is tied with Bernie Hutchinson. And maybe Steven Head, something like that. He passed David Dulucci and Michael Roseman last night. Kevin Graham is ahead of him. Brad Henderson is ahead of him. Matt Smith, Matt Snyder, Tim Elko. Nicole Gordon has the magic number of 48. So just a little update there. But that's the problem. If there is a problem to offer, Jones had a home run last night. Five of the seven runs Ole Miss scored. We're courtesy of home runs in some capacity. They also had a bases loaded hit by pitch. And a bases loaded walk last night. They went 0-9 with runners in scoring position last night. Okay, this is an unfair statistic. Because they had some hits with runners in score position against Southeast Missouri. I just do not have that box going in front of me right now. But on that Tuesday, they hit it and moved runners and did all that stuff. So flawed stat. Okay, however, Missouri stayed on Sunday. The weekend against those three teams in Texas. And then last night, two for 47 with runners in scoring position.

41:02During that stretch, taking out the CMO game. Which again, that's like saying, hey, they felt all the tests. But that when they made a 98 on, I get it. But that is where you're sitting. Again, I'm going to ride on. I'm going to ride about it tomorrow. I've got around the horn coming out tomorrow. I'll ride on it then. But what I found interesting last night. And it's subtle. I don't think you would pick up on it unless you've been around him for a long time. Because Mike Miyako is nowhere near as demonstrative with the media as he used to be. He is very calm. He frankly is impersonal for the most part. It's done on purpose. I've talked to him about it and why. And we've had that conversation. I am 100% certain he could not name another reporter that was there last night, other than me from a first name standpoint. Partly, well, no, sorry. Chuck was there. He even knew Chuck, obviously. But part of that is because everybody was a basketball. But even so, all right. So Mike was frustrated last night. And he was a little snappy and a little not really.

42:05Usually he's really good with questions. He'll play along and he'll sit there. And he'll give you everything you want to give you. And I think what was frustrating from a media standpoint is I think he was frustrated about the things we're asking about yet he wouldn't just say that. Because he's trying to protect his players a little bit. And he's trying to not freak out on March 3rd where they see a quote. Because we asked Judd, you're Mark. Hey, you're like two for your last whatever renters score position. What do you do here? And he's like, yeah, look, we talk about it. We had had a lot of practice days. We need to kind of hone in some stuff. And the answer was completely fine. He was good. Judd's good quote. So then we talk. We asked Mike about it. Chuck did. He was crazy. He asked the question. And was basically like, hey, renters score position, blah, blah, blah, blah. And Mike goes, yeah, it's not a problem. You hit three home runs. And it's like, actually, that is the problem. You know what I mean? It's like, come on, Mike. And Mike went into, he went into this deal about how he thinks you only have a problem with your first, he defended that they did have a walk and a hit by pitch.

43:08So they had RBI's with renters score position. It just wasn't a base hit, which again, fair. Yeah, fair. He goes, we did work those at bats. And he's right. No, no, no doubt there. But he said as long as, and I'll use the quote again and written form, as long as your average with renters and scoring position is higher than your overall average, he does not believe you have the level of problem that everybody's talking about. And I get what he's saying, and it is a valid argument. Number one, it's easier to hit with renters on base period because you're, they're worried about runners and just, there's a lot of situational things that, where you should always have a higher batting average, renters and scoring position and renters on base that would base as empty. That's just kind of how that works. He is correct, but they are very close in percentages because of the way this has gone the last, the last week. I just contend that they have a bit of a lineup problem because Mike is a little caught right now,

44:09and I sympathize with him. There's no good answer. This is not a criticism of how he's doing it. It is an observation of where you go from here and how you make this work, because he has two sort of problems playing out at the same time, and he has to figure out how to sort the at bats. He has guys like Daniel Pasella who you've paid a lot of money to as we said yesterday that you, you can't give up on. It's March 4th, so you have to give them opportunities. But then you got a lot of freshmen that maybe you're talented and you got to figure out what they are. So you, frankly, they need five games this week. You've got a lot of stuff moving around here and how you kind of sort that. It's the boulder I'm seeing in real life as we play both sides against the middle, but what he's doing currently, let me get this one sentence and I'll let you talk, is a question with anything. He's stuck between an analytical lineup and an old-fashioned lineup. And there's no good, he's not playing either one. He's not just putting everybody at the front that hits, and he's not doing a traditional, hey, our cleanup guy is the big burly, whatever, and we're doing that. Judd in the two hole, I get why you do it,

45:11but he is so damn swing and miss our home run that you're just not moving the baseball. Everybody has to use that, but there's just no movement or station to station going. And if you're going to do that, you've got to pound everybody up there and just put all the best guys and see where it goes. Otherwise, you've got to find some way to sort of sort this thing. And I think he is having a hard time figuring out where that middle is. You know, it's interesting you say that because I was listening to an interview with Chipper Jones the other day and he was asked a question about who is the best clutch picture out of the big three Greg Maddox, Tom Glavin, John Smoltz, and somewhat surprisingly, he said it was Smoltz. And they said, why? And he said, well, because Smoltz was a got more swing and miss that you could play differently on the infield at third base, which is what he played. You could play differently on the infield at third base with the man on third, less than two outs with Smoltz pitching than you could with Maddox or Glavin. Because with Maddox or Glavin, there was a really good chance that there was going to be contact.

46:11And not only would there be contact, but that there would be soft contact. So you had to be in a position to cut down that runner at home. As opposed to with Smoltz, there was a much better chance of swing and miss. And so at the college game, my observation, feel free to tell me you disagree. I think the defense is considerably worse than it is at the major league level. So therefore, when you don't ever put the ball, when you, every time you strike out, it's even more magnified because you're wasting an opportunity to force the defense to make a mistake that they're fairly apt to make. That's my observation. The part I was going to ask you about Pasella is, I wonder whether this is bleeding into this, this is bleeding into the college game, which is, hey, the front office, I did that in quotes for those who were listening, spent a large sum of money on this player.

47:11Therefore, this player must be in the lineup to justify that investment. As opposed to an previous era, maybe he gets a larger percentage of the 11.7 than he deserves, but it's much easier to go, hey, this isn't working. Let's give John Smith here an opportunity. I don't know. I'm not covering them. I'm not in it. I do wonder if that part's bleeding into decision making. No, it's very possible. I mean, but it's, and it's, here's why it's hard to decipher. Number one, no one's ever going to admit it. And number two, he theoretically is one of your more talented players. So you're also just simply giving more opportunities to a guy in crazy, small sample sizes in a world. And it's, it's, it's where it's sort of baffling because, again, we'll say it here, Turkey in the stream. He says, Pasella's super light on pitches. I'm talking 86 mile in our fastballs blow by him. And it's not because he's worried about all speed. He can't catch up. But he is feasted off that type of pitching his entire career.

48:13That's what makes no sense is that he hasn't faced LSU in Mississippi state in Texas and whomever yet. It's been against mid-level armors for the most part in these non-conference series, which tells me he is pressing like hell. He is trying to freak out, or he's not trying, but he is freaking out. And thus it's bleeding into every at bat because he's supposed to be this one guy. And instead he's hitting like 143 and not playing every day and has one home run. And it is what it is. He's getting paid to be that guy. He is. I can room know that it's a different pressure than just at Illinois state when you're just one of the dudes. What's a different pressure when you're in the major leagues and you go from a rookie scale deal to suddenly you get a big, a big deal. And everybody in the clubhouse knows you're making X million and you're supposed to produce like that. And then when you don't, you start to really press yourself at that. Listen. I mean, I can't remember what major league he was saying. But he said the higher up you go in the game, the more the games, I think it was Greg Maddox.

49:16The game is played between the years. It might talk about it a lot. And I don't think it's over played. But we probably don't reference it when you are at the smaller schools. You just don't have any inherent pressure in those ways. And it's hard. I mean, look, and this goes for several SEC schools. It's hard to play here. There's an added pressure. There's people. There's they give a shit. It's a football type fan base when it comes to baseball. And you've got to take on everything that goes with that. Well, people hanging on every pitch on the for the entire season. Look, if you play at Southern Illinois or Louisiana Tech or UL Monroe or Middle Tennessee, they don't have that. And that's not I'm not saying that it's bad. It's what part of what makes this cultural thing here and that LSU and that, you know, Mississippi State and other programs is that and when you're winning

50:17and everything's going good, man, it's awesome. Like the fans are there and they're spraying beer everywhere and everybody loves you and everything's awesome. But when you don't, there are people asking, hey, what the hell's wrong with that dude? And it becomes a thing. And yeah, it's different. It's different playing in Kansas City than it is in New York. It's different playing for the Lakers than it is playing for the Kings. It's absolutely different playing in the SEC than it is at the schools I just named. It's just different. And there's a pressure that comes with it and some people are wired in a way where that pressure doesn't impact them. Some people are wired in a way where they actually thrive in those conditions and some people are wired in a way where that's a lot. Yeah. And some people just takes a while. So we'll see where it plays out.

51:18Yeah, but I mean, yeah, you've got dudes like him and look, it's not abnormal. It's actually the norm. It's odd when they come in immediately and you're just awesome the whole time. Not everybody's doing delusia. We just hand him the ball and get out of the way and he figures it out and loves it. I mean, that's not normal. Most everybody's not dealing delusia. Yeah. Most people aren't wired that way. It's hard to find those people and in, I mean, like going full circle a little bit, I think it's part of the basketball problem and Ole Miss is that it took, I mean, I think you're just now seeing a couple of guys get comfortable. Yeah, I agree with that. You know, and some of that is, I mean, look, in a week, Chris Beard is going to be asked about this and it, you know, last year, I don't know, I mean, maybe baseball is a little different, but you don't have a ton of time to get to know the people. I mean, you get a couple of Zoom calls, maybe you get a quick visit, but you don't get. It's not like the recruiting of Yesteryear where you really recruited a kid.

52:20And in baseball, like you would recruit a kid starting when he was like a ninth grader and he would commit to you sometime in his sophomore year and he'd come up multiple weekends the next two years and assuming you didn't lose him to the draft, well, by the time he got into your program, you knew him. You knew his parents, his sisters, his brothers, his grandmother, or whatever. You had a pretty good feel for what makes this kid tick. And so you kind of could develop that. And now you're, you're speed dating. Well, I'm picking on Pasella here, but he's like, it's a good example. As you looked at his stats, then you went through the analytical side of, hey, let's go deeper. Can he actually hit SEC pitching? So you've got access to tons more data than the normal person does. So you go through all that data, all that stuff. And then they talked to Luke Chang. And when, hey, you played with him for two years, you're our shortstop. What do you think? Kind of clubhouse guy, is he? What's he like? Oh, he's good. All right. Cool. Sweet. Here's whatever.

53:21Several hundred thousand dollars. Let's get at it. Let's go play. That's what they are. So look around. We'll look around the league in a minute, then we'll move online. Do what? The process is going to have flaws, man. Yeah. I mean, that process is going to lead them. You got about four days, frankly. Figure it out. Here's 96 hours. Yeah. No, Taylor says that 22 team under performed regular season. The strictly them getting hot in the post season. No, they underperformed. They had a bad month. They were ranked number one in the country in March. It's, again, I mean, I'm, that will forever be a legacy thing that is not right. You know, it's what I tried to show in the book. That was a very talented team that just couldn't find starting pitching for four weeks. I mean, come on. Three bad loaded bad weeks. There was a sign. I think they played in Fayetteville. It was favorable. They went set. They lost two of three played well and failed a seven and 14 in the league after that. Yeah, but there were some signs that weekend that they were snapping out of it. Because they played that. That was a really good Arkansas team that finished what third in the country.

54:22I mean, that was, you know, it was an Arkansas team that went. They had an Ole Miss, not won the national title. They probably would have. They would. And so, you know, you, you, there were, there were signs that weekend. That was a really talented team. That wasn't. I just had a bad, they had a slump, man. I mean, there's a lot of good, I mean, you see that in the major leagues all the time. Really good teams still have a, there's a 10 day stretch in the season where they suck. The most prophetic person in that whole thing twice was Dave Van Horn. Because I, and I used both quotes in the book. I did a lot of research, talked to a lot of people and I had his direct quotes. He had the, the championship game press conference. Sorry, after he was eliminated going into that off day, is the one everybody talks about where he sort of kind of is resigned. Because that, that was a tough press conference for Arkansas. Because they knew if they win that game, they're going to win it. And Connor Nolan was awesome for the razor backs that day. And it just didn't happen. And somebody said, hey, you know, Oklahoma's been through this thing. They've got all their pitching lineup. And he goes, yeah, yeah, yeah.

55:22And then he kind of put his head down and he's about. He went with the way Ole Miss is playing. I just don't think it matters. And that was kind of what he said. And he ended the press conference sort of there. But I had his direct quotes from Fayetteville. He was talking to his staff after that Sunday game. And he told his, it's Matt Hobbs, the assistant coach. Sorry, I was slipping my mind for a second. He told him, hey, if they get in, there are a problem. And he was talking about dilution. They were sort of to kind of figure out early at that point. And he just had sort of a, had a passing comment in that time. So yeah, that's the story of the 2022 team. I mean, everybody completely forgets that don't like March 10th. They were number one in the country. I mean, later in the season, then right now. So all right, back in a minute. First is your home and auto insurance. Keep going up with the folks at the farm. A proud Liberty Mutual and Safe Co Insurance agency partner. Take a look. Find them on Muslim Brian Hayden. They service the entire South Eastern Conference. Let their team of licensed professionals review your insurance needs. Put together coverages to protect you and your family without breaking the bank.

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59:26All right. Let's see. Looking around the league real quick. State and Southern had that big top 10 match up in Hattiesburg last on Hattiesburg. Sorry last night. That also was where Ole Miss is headed in the midweek next week there on Tuesday down at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg. What? There they won. Sorry. Yes, they beat Mississippi State last night. Wow. Seven to six. The Golden Eagles now have won 111 in a row since losing their opener to UC Santa Barbara. Mississippi State has lost two in a row, but it's two number one UCLA and number 11 Southern Miss, one neutral site, one on the road. Otherwise, yep. What did you say is UC Santa Barbara is going to Omaha? The Gouchos are good. They are decent, I think. Yeah. I don't think the Gouchos are bad at all. Yes, Princeton. I'm, again, reading from the stream. I apologize. I know we do a shit job of it. Princeton was the last series of the 2020 season for us canceled.

1:00:27Till Mocha hit a ball over the batter's eye in the last game. They run real Princeton. Well, the last series. They played UL Monroe on Tuesday and then kind of found out everything going to hell following that game there on that Tuesday. Vanderbilt lost to Central Arkansas five to four. There's seven and six overall. I'm wondering if they're really down. I don't know a ton, but it's been some concerning offensive and pitching depth issues for Tim Foreman's group here. Which again, they weren't going to fall off the table. I wasn't going to have their demise. However, I did think they were the team most impacted by this denial era in the SEC because of the way their advantages had worked in the and the previous era. That's not surprising in some ways. Texas is still undefeated. South Carolina is not good, but they did win last night. Georgia, Florida. Do you mind the league lose? I think Vanderbilt might be it because I'm scanning. Yeah, Vanderbilt was the only team in the league. Blue's last night.

1:01:27Everybody else won there. Winner midweek games. All right. Let's move on a little bit. Okay. I had promised yesterday we were going to get trail of more house representatives district eight who was the chairman of the ways and means committee. In the NFL bill, I'm going to work on getting you that podcast today. He was driving back from the Capitol. He was going to see his son play plays baseball from Magnolia Heights. They had a game last night. So he was trying to get back to take county to watch watch his kid and we had some cell phone issues. We starting stopped a couple times. I am fairly optimistic that I'm going to be able to pull something off there. I will be using some of the quotes and some things I write the next two days as well. But I'll give you the one teaser and the one. I guess arguments not really the right word, but the one thing he said that. I think it's. The big kind of. Clear my words. I think it is a very accurate thing and I don't know how it would play in any other sector, which was because it wasn't the justification a lot of people in the board have used to pay.

1:02:32They're going to get rid of the state income eventually. So this is fine. It was that. Because they were phasing it out, he is not a fan of any new avenue. Having state income tax, meaning if there is a new classification of income, he does not want it to be tax fully at this at this juncture again. Convenient probably. However, I can squint and at least understand the reasoning behind that argument. In some ways, I mean, he's, again, I like triatown. He's a very talented attorney and politician. I kind of went, that was good. Because like, I can't argue that. He kind of fits in exactly as we're talking about it. You know, again, it's not talking about a ton of money. I don't think it's setting a precedent. I'll be honest. I started the conversation was just talking about state income tax and how Mississippi is going to get to zero and things. And I told him, I keep having more and more questions.

1:03:33I think I'm going to do this. I want to have him back on in a couple of weeks and just spend 45 minutes to an hour on actual political issues related to the state income tax for the entire populace and things. Because like I said, it's the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. He's very aware of how this is kind of playing out over the next 10, 11 years. It was another thing. You know that Alonzo Morning Giff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like Alonzo. Yeah, you were doing that in real time. It was like, yeah. I mean, he only Larry David where he goes, sure. Okay. But I mean, I'm just kind of. No, I was almost impressed. I mean, I said, I'm not making fun. I went, oh, yeah. I mean, I'm not making fun either. I mean, that's a valid. It okay. I'm not sure that changes my stance on it. I do wonder if anyone tries to use it as a precedent for some other type of applications.

1:04:37Whether it is for the public good, if you will, or in some different sector as we move forward. Yesterday, I had this conversation with people that like, you're really hung up on the optics of this. And I finally said, it took me a long time to get to where I was like, nope. It's not optics. I'm hung up on the principle up. Not the optics. Not really sure I give a damn about the optics. Like I had a mailman question like, do you think the optics of this impact? I said, no, not positively or negatively. It's just money. It's just the principle of somebody who hypothetically makes $500,000, not getting taxed on that money. But the person who makes $45,000 does. I think if you took sports out of that and you said, lawyers making $500,000, we're not going to tax them.

1:05:37People will go, wait, wait, what? And so I think it's kind of that. And I mean, I get, well, this is different because they bring a lot of money and I get all that. But when you, when you start reducing the propositional phrases and you get right down just to the, the, the noun and the verb. Well, it's tough sell. It's, it's where you can, again, it's back to making an argument, but you got to squint a little bit. Is people relay it to a business getting tax credits? Well, the business getting tax credits would actually be Ole Miss or NIL payersh getting tax credits to pay the players more or do different things. Not the individual employees getting income tax exemptions. That would be the one for one apples to apples if you wanted to, to, to make that argument. And you know, here's from a political stance. Here's where I find it fairly interesting is that I mean, it passed 70 something to 30 something. It had some bipartisan support. I think across the board, two things happen. Number one, if you were in districts where it was going to benefit the universities, you voted yes because you're not taking on that.

1:06:41And, and this when something is going to pass anyway by God, I mean, that would be dumped from a political standpoint. And then two, I think people looked at it and it went, it's just such a small amount of money that who gives a crap. Like it just doesn't matter. It's not actually moving any dial and any degree. And you can, you can, I mean, not you, but just the understood you. You can hate that answer or you can get it. But that's a lot of times how people vote to go. I mean, are we really fighting over this? Sure. Okay. Whatever. Yeah. Well, it's where you, I mean, look, those bills, those, especially in funding. So in appropriations and, and ways and means and things like that of the finance committee and the Senate. You have these bills that are full of God knows what. And you don't, you just look past like 85% of it because you're like, I'm trying to get this one or two things prepared. That's one or two things passed. I don't really care if the guy in Columbia gets a walking track for whatever. Like, all right, fine. Have at it. I mean, it's not, not worth my, not worth my skate. Some of us of my political bent would argue that that's part of the problem.

1:07:43Boy, it is part of the problem. But fixing the problem and operating inside the problem are also not the same thing. So you're going, okay. I agree. Yeah. Well, I don't read through it. I mean, I gave some anecdotes to you about that yesterday. You did. So anyway, anyway, I'll have some of those quotes. Have hopefully the, this show trying to, trying to figure it out as we, as we before. But I do appreciate it's time and we hung in there together trying to make it work despite a little bit of difficulty as we were, as we were doing that. We thought about yesterday, Mitch Barnhart, sticking down in Kentucky, although he's accepting a $900,000 job with university that apparently has, quote, nothing to do with athletics moving forward. So the law, I think the longest tenured AD in the S.E. Where do I find these gigs, man? I mean, how does this work? Where I get to quit working and get basically a million bucks to kind of do sort of nothing just because I worked there for a while. Kentucky, speaking of bad PR, their entire fan base was lit on fire because they, the press release essentially said he was going to be some advisor for the athletics department.

1:08:52And then they come out like three hours later and go, no, no, no, no. He's, he's just working on like some interns getting jobs in the sports space or something. And they're like, hold on a minute, for $970,000 a year. What do I mean? What are we doing? What are we doing? I mean, hey, good for him. I mean, I, I, I, good for him. I have good for Mitch Barnard. I'd love one of those. How do we get that job? I, I, I lived in a million. I'm asking, like drive around, meet with some donors, go cats. Yeah. Bigger head. Put on a blue polo here and there. Sign me up. Kind of athletic. Well, last thing on the topic again, reading from our stream. Criticist, keeper, having the stream sponsored. Taylor Johnson, recruiting advantage outweighs the, the principal. Okay. But optics is the recruiting advantage. All the, like the recruiting advantage is simply optics to go, hey, you don't have to do this. It's not the math. 3.5 or now what, what essentially is going to even go down every single year.

1:09:55Because this didn't come out to 27, by the way. So at that point, it's like 3.7. Like nobody's going, oh, God, they're going to take 3.7 for, no, like that's, that's, that's, that's the math. No, like that's, that's not changing the calculus for anybody. It is, it is an optics question, even on the recruiting advantage of what this is or isn't. That's the, that's the part that I keep sticking. It's the part that, from a principal standpoint, it's absolutely wrong. That, I mean, that's, that people struggle with. From a principal standpoint, it's just wrong. I mean, if you're asking someone to win the debate on this, it's a real easy argument. You don't provide tax cuts for teachers, law enforcement officers, health care providers, people who are struggling, but you're going to give tax cuts to athletes. I mean, there's the argument. I win. I mean, I mean, it's not hard. And so it's, they're going to, they'll probably do it because we've gotten to this place with college sports right now.

1:10:58It means a lot. Maybe it means too much. It's not my opinion. It's just kind of an observation. I'm not alone in this. But from a principal standpoint, there's no doubt that it's, it's wrong. And that's, that's why people look at it and make fun of it and say it. Whatever it's because if you're great, you want to give tax cuts, give them across the board. I'm for it. I mean, hey, you want, you want to get me on board with you? I mean, and look, it's the one place in a couple of ways. And, and I'll say this again, I mean, we have a really good relationship. But it's where I disagree with Trey is that he pointed out yesterday that, you know, this is also some sort of protection tool because what if they get in trouble with the IRS and I just completely don't care? I mean, number one, because Ole Miss does a fabulous job of pre-taking taxes out to make sure you're not in this mess from a federal level.

1:11:59Like I will give Ole Miss tons of credit because it is the right way to go about it. Just go ahead and from the beginning make this a non-issue for everyone. But two, it's legal adults. You're 18 and up. If you get into a bind, you just freaking get into a bind. I don't, I don't believe in saving someone from themselves. It's a lot of the reason why I hate the argument that, oh, this player should stay in college. Because he can't handle that amount of money. Now, there's some reasons why I am for players staying in college. But it is in no capacity because a player can't handle his finances if you let him out early. Everybody is their own decision maker in that regard. I don't care. Yeah, completely. I mean, come on. Yeah. We're not going to tax them because we're not sure they pay the tax. I mean, do you hear yourself? Yeah. Again, one of like five reasons, but yes, that was inside the conversations we did yesterday.

1:13:01I mean, look, two things. One, you can't call them professional athletes, which is what they call themselves. And then go, but you don't have to pay taxes because you're not mature enough to handle taxes. I mean, that's, that's ludicrous. Well, the similar argument, we listen, we're not going to pay you because we just don't think you could handle them. Ramifications. Minimum wage until whatever and then, yeah. So all right, come back in a minute. Let's see. Sorry. All right, Jackson Graber Group GMFS mortgage John Graber in Oxford local trust mortgage lender right here in town. About home buyers with first home new construction refinances, Oxford high school, Ole Miss alum, local house processing, underwriting, servicing and more. Wide range of options, including those condo financing a little tougher. They take care of you with that. He's an expert. So if you're buying a home refinancing, you're just have questions. I remember the other thing I was going to say, I'll talk to John Edwards in court, dental and then I'll come back to it.

1:14:10The other thing I was going to say is, I mean, as long as we're still doing the college song and dance, college is supposed to prepare young people for the real world. Not teaching them about taxes on hundreds of thousands of dollars is probably not preparing them for the real world. Our bunch of John Edwards Regency Travel Incorporated in Memphis. John's part of Virtuoso worldwide network of travel partners that allows him to supply his clients with added values, unique benefits that are simply not available to other travelers. Trying to plan a trip that creates a lifetime of unique memories. Get in touch with John. Give him some parameters. Give him a budget. Let him give you options. You probably won't find on your own. 9014943387 or send him an email. At jedwardsetregencytravel.net. First time clients can say $50. They're first booked trips by telling John you heard about Regency Travel on MPW Digital.

1:15:11Get the beautiful, healthy smile you deserve. Dr. Bubba McQueen. Dr. Jenny Mathindra could have voted to restoring and enhancing the natural beauty of your smile using conservative state-of-the-art procedures that will result in a beautiful, long lasting smile from routine checkups to advance treatment. Including implants and in visit line. Current thintils here to help you achieve your smile goals. Schedule your appointment today. Take the first step toward a better version of yourself at CorinthDental.com. Ole Miss yesterday. First reported by Chris Hummer of 24-7 Sports. Picked up Jackson Moore, a kicker from Appalachian State. He started his career at Kentucky. And then switched over to the mountaineers. He kicked for half the season at App State in 2024. He was four for six overall on fill goals. Two for four from 30 to 39. And then two for two from 40. Plus he has two years of eligibility remaining. And he is, I'm assuming a kick off guy potentially and then a safety valve.

1:16:12Ole Miss really good in the kicking department with Lucas Canaro, a place kicker and Oscar Bird at punner. But you always in a backup. I mean things do happen. You might have an injury. You don't have somebody suspended for a year for substances. I mean, you never know. Things happen around the, you know, the situation sometimes. So extra kicker. That didn't feel random at all. I'm just throwing out scenarios. Okay. I don't know. Whatever. Injuries. Suspense for a year for substance abuse. Speaking of jerks and pro far getting suspended twice now for PDs. I mean, I'm with, I wasn't random. I'm with David O'Brien here. I mean, how stupid can you be? This is mind numbing. He loses all this time. And then now it's facing 162. Full season for a second PD. Bust. Good. God. Come on, people. Yeah.

1:17:12Come on, jerks and my guy. What do we do? Yeah. What do we do? Yeah. You don't just know the response in the Braves front office, which you've got to be after kidding. I mean, wow. And Thoppel is just going back in his chair and going, oh, okay. Yeah. Someone said Alex, did you plan for this? No. Wow. Yeah. Do you care about the World Baseball Classic? Is anyone going to watch this? I'm trying to care. The country seems to care in the sports realm, but I didn't even know it was starting tonight until I read the internet this morning. Oh, it starts tonight. I read a story about their managing Paul Schien's. He won't be able to pitch the final because of the way pitch. Bro, he's going to he's eligible to pitch in the semi credit to baseball for letting

1:18:12everybody play. I said the same thing for hockey in the Olympics. I do appreciate it. Good. Yeah. Thank you. I love the cap. The USA cap. Really cool. But I'm trying to care. But there's only a bandwidth of how much you can care. Does it help that we're coming right after the Olympics? So we're still somewhat in the brain of country V country? Maybe not. I mean, a little bit, but I mean, the media got so mad at the soccer at the hockey team because they went to the White House that that kind of I kind of checked out on that one for a minute. I do love when the media tells you there's a national perspective on something. And then all the players go into all the stadiums and get standing ovation. And everybody's like chaining words and stuff. You're gonna hold on a minute. Well, hold on. Hold on. Like, give me a favor. Media from LA in New York.

1:19:13Can you just go spin like five days in Iowa for me? Just one time. Can we go to Iowa for like five days? Yeah. That's not caucus related. Thank you. Can we do that? In Minnesota, guys are getting these long standing ovation. I mean, read the Minnesota media. You would think that, you know, these people are just evil because they went, I mean. So I don't do it. So yes, it's going to answer your question. I would love for the US to win and win big. And then be patriotic about it. That's one of the things I loved. I mean, you can't watch the end of that U.S. Canada Hot Springs, which was a fantastic game. You can't watch the end of that where they go get Johnny Gojo's children and bring them down for the to be there with them. And they skate around with his jersey and and Jack Hughes has his teeth knocked out and you get bloody mouth. And he's smiling ear to ear. You it's hard to watch that and not kind of feel something.

1:20:15So yeah, it's kind of nice to feel for sports to make you feel something. So if the baseball guys can can provide that and they get into it and they get as excited to play for their country as the hockey guys did. Yes, sign me the F up. Sure. I'll get into it. But it's probably going to take that because the hockey guys. It's one of the things I really liked about it is that it really mattered to them that that game and it mattered to the Canadian guys too. They played really hard. We had the real rivalry too. Like it was like, okay, like let's get to US. Let's get to Canada. It's still going to be cool against Sweden or somebody. But it was a different level because of who it was. Yeah, but it was. It was awesome, right? And I mean, you know, I mean, we've had our president trolling Canada for a while now about becoming the 51st state and stuff. And they don't like us. And yet they really depend on us because we protect them militarily. And there's a lot of stuff going on there, right? That it was just kind of it was kind of fun. It was like, you felt something. I wrote about this when I was about when I was 10 years old and the US beat the Soviets.

1:21:20And I mean, we were scared of the Soviet Union because you sort of understood whether we were right or wrong. I was in the fourth grade, I think. I mean, you kind of understood that hey, they've got all these weapons pointed at us and they want to kill us. That's what we thought. I mean, until Rocky Balboa saved the day on Christmas. I mean, and ended the Cold War. There was a fear that at any time, the evil Russians would just hit the big red button. And mutually just assured destruction was on the way. It's literally the environment that you felt. And so when we beat the Soviets that day, got it meant something. That's the point of the hockey thing made you feel something, which is why so many in our field don't get it. They didn't, they didn't understand you to your point. They did not spend that enough time in Iowa. They didn't understand that people who don't really understand hockey still felt something because the uniforms that the USA are. Yes. We love countries playing each other and we love brackets.

1:22:21We get first game tonight, Chinese Taipei and Australia kick it off nine o'clock central FS1. There is two more games tomorrow and then eight games on Friday. Japan is the defending champion. The athletics sports riders all picked favorites. The Dominican Republic got seven votes. The United States got five votes. And Japan got four votes. And then from a dark horse standpoint, Canada and Italy. Each got four votes for being maybe the teams that could crash the party. Yeah. Should that should be the jobs yesterday. And then one of the teams made Germany beat up on the brewers. Oh, really? I mean, yes. Who knows, man. Maybe maybe it's going to be one hell of a heated competition. Team Canada does not have Freddie Freeman. Oh, yeah. Reading that right now. So my system Italy, the lineup's actually pretty good in the coaching stuff.

1:23:21The coaching staff is full of, oh, yeah. I vaguely remember that dude, dudes. Oh, yeah. Yeah. The Andrew Jones is managing Curacao. Oh, is he really? I'm pretty sure. Okay. I doubt Chechnya is going to be a contender in this. I'm assuming they're not. They're in the tournament. But I'm not liking their chances to be the breakout team. Somebody just take a look at the roster and the closest thing you'll find to a familiar name is Martin Servinka. And that's because one second ago, you read the name Martin Servinka. Martin Servinka, I would have guessed was an ice skater. Bigger skater. I triple straight. Real wicked says Chinese Taipei. You mean Taiwan? It says Chinese Taipei. On the only schedule it says Chinese Taipei versus Austria. I am reading. I am reading the schedule.

1:24:21That is, that is where it is. But junior, getting the most votes for breakout star for the US, for people that are just flipping it on and learning about learning about dudes. He's so good. He is so good. I was listening to an interview with Pete Crowe. I'm strong the other day and they asked him, who's the best player you've ever seen or played with or against? And he said Bobby with junior. I thought I was like, wow, really? Interesting. That's what he said. And I was like, yeah, yeah. He talked about how good Bobby with junior was as a teenager. Ole Miss, you and A630 tonight. Again, Marco Sipola on the mound for that one. Women's basketball Thursday in the SEC tournament. The winner of, I think Texas is saying him an Auburn, most likely the Aggies. And then, Ole Miss basketball Saturday, South Carolina. So, Neil going with, hand raised guys, layered his day. Is Josh today too? Is that correct? Do I have that correct? Yeah, so Josh Hendrickson around 330. I will try to wrap that before five and then get that processed and then I'm going to start hand raised guys

1:25:25as soon thereafter as possible. My plan is no later than 530. If you have a call that you want to make, you should make it early because I've got some stuff going on and might have to bow out quicker than normal. So, we'll get to it. We'll have some fun. Take some calls. But don't, don't, don't dally if you will. We will be back with more of the week goes on, so take care. Have a good day and we will talk to you then.