Sports

At Least They Didn't Make Him Eat Yellow Snow

In case you ever wonder what happened to former Ole Miss running back John Avery, here's your answer: He's hazing public relations interns in Canada. Avery, who now plays for the CFL's Toronto Argonauts (he probably wasn't doing much until Ricky Williams got hurt), was seen in a photo in the Toronto Star pouring sugar on Intern Mark, who had been taped to a post. (Maybe Avery is just a big Def Leppard fan.)

O, What A Maniac

This story about Ed Orgeron's first meeting with the Ole Miss football team has been around for awhile now, and shame on Doctor S for not bringing it up sooner. Orgeron has also reportedly tossed some furniture (and f-bombs) around in team meetings since. But he doesn't seem to talk to the alums that way. Maybe this is why everybody in the UM athletic department hates him. Not that it matters, since Orgeron was Chancellor Robert Khayat's personal choice for the job.

Update: Coach O In Town

The college football season unofficially kicks off on Tuesday, July 18, when the Central Mississippi Ole Miss CLub and the Rebel Club of Jackson host the Rebel Reunion at the Mississippi Trademart (that's the building next to the Mississippi Coliseum). The guests will include football coach Ed Orgeron and his staff. The social hour and children's activities start at 5:30 p.m. The program starts at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 each, free for students. For info, call Craig Miller at (601) 573-7126 or Luke Abney at (601) 969-7000.

Managerial Mayhem

If you haven't seen the video of minor league baseball manager Joe Mikulik's tirade at the umpires, proceed immediately to any newscast. It will be there. Mikulik might be in the minors, but he threw a major league tantrum. He's definitely up there in Billy Martin-Lou Pinella-Earl Weaver territory. What did Mikulik do? (Follow the link to the video here.)

Football In The Frozen North

Do you remember Brad Banks? He was the Hinds CC quarterback who went on to have a super senior season at Iowa, finishing second in the Heisman Trophy voting. The NFL has little use for 5--foot-11 quarterbacks, so Banks went up to the CFL, where he's playing for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Banks is one of 14 players with Mississippi ties playing in the CFL this season. The rest (and let Doctor S know if he missed somebody):

A Swift Kick To U.S. Soccer

Doctor S has finally dragged himself out of the funk that the U.S. soccer team's World Cup performance put him in. The team actually played well for most of the last two games, but the refs screwed the Americans in the Italy game. Come to think of it, they screwed us in the Ghana game, too. The much-hyped U.S. squad now joins the roster of recent BIG DISAPPOINTMENTS that includes knucklehead Bode Miller, the 2004 U.S. men's Olympic basketball team, the 2006 U.S. World Baseball Classic squad and this year's Mississippi State baseball team. U.S. coach Bruce Arena sounds like he's ready to quit, although he's done a great job of making the U.S. one of the world's up-and-coming teams. Now the hot rumor is that the German team coach, Jurgen Klinsmann, who's a U.S. citizen and California resident, might replace Arena.

Live Fast, Chase Young

Vicksburg native Dmitri Young is on the run from the law. Well, actually the Detroit Tigers slugger is apparently in drug rehab. But he didn't show up for a court date on charges of choking a woman, so it's the same thing. Meanwhile, Deadspin points to the Dugout's unique "coverage" of Young's hijinks. So wrong. So un-PC. So funny. Even funnier than this.

Cotton State League Update

Doctor S asks and the Cotton State League delivers (10 games or so into the season). The wood bat league's Web site has finally been updated, complete with a schedule. The league, which is comprised of college players, has six teams this season: the Capital City Rangers (who play home games at Millsaps), the Clinton Corndogs (Mississippi College), the Raymond Warriors (Copiah-Lincoln CC in Wesson), the Poplarville Riverfish (Pearl River CC), the Biloxi Breeze (Biloxi Sports Complex) and Meridian Marauders (Meridian CC).

World Cup: Czechs Cool U.S. Soccer Fever

The United States has never won a World Cup game on European soil. This year's U.S. team has been hyped as the best American team ever. The Czech Republic team showed what that's worth by hammering the Americans 3-0 in the Cup opener for both teams.

Out-Of-Town Papers: Ole Miss Flames Out

Here's how some out-of-town papers saw it:

It's all over for the Ole Miss baseball team, which lost to Miami 14-9 Monday night in Game 3 of the Oxford Super Regional. The Rebels gave up one grand slam too many. But the Rebels will still be in the news for awhile. Mike Bianco, a former LSU player and assistant, is considered the leading candidate to become the next Tigers head coach. He says he's happy in Oxford. But LSU might it make it worth his while to move to Baton Rouge. Either way, it's going to be a merry Christmas for the Bianco family bank account.

Out-Of-Town Papers: Oxford Super Regional

Ole Miss meets Miami in Game 1 of the Oxford Super Regional on Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN2/97.3 FM). The winner of the best-of-3 series goes to the College World Series. Do mint juleps and baseball really go together?

Redbird On ‘Roids?

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols has been treated like the Anti-Barry Bonds by many baseball writers and fans, the poster boy for what many believed was MLB's post-steroids era. He's been doing it the right way, they said. Don't be so sure, Jeff Pearlman warned on slate.com on June 2. Now Sports Illustrated is reporting that trainer Chris Mihlfeld has ties to Pujols and former Arizona Diamondbacks reliever Jason Grimsley, who quit baseball earlier this week after being caught up in a drug scandal.

Don'T Look Now, It's The Stanley Cup

Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final is on Saturday night. In case you haven't been watching (and millions of Americans haven't), the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the first two games of the best-of-7 series. Those game were on OLN. Now the series shifts to Canada and to NBC (Ch. 3 in Jackson). Pundits are predicting Game 3 could make history as the lowest-rated prime-time program in U.S. television history. How bad is it for the NHL? ABC's coverage of World Cup soccer is expected to get better ratings.

No Separation Of Church And College Football

Ole Miss announced that its football season opener with Memphis has been moved to Sunday (Oxford, 3:30 p.m., ESPN) to get it on national television. This will be the last time most of the Rebels play football on Sunday. ESPN is also planning a regular Sunday night package of college games this season. The C-USA is down.

Cups Crazy

Soccer's World Cup and the NHL's Stanley Cup are going on this week. Both have lots of fans, but neither attracts hordes of casual sports fans the way the Super Bowl, the World Series and even the NBA Finals do.

Here's how some out-of-town papers saw it:

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