The HD Experience
Hunter Dawkins, owner and publisher of The Gazebo Gazette, covers Mississippi high school and college sports like no one else. Join Hunter and his special guests as they bring the best in what's happening in sports on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The HD Experience
The HD Experience Episode 30: Twitter Crazies
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The HD Experience Episode 30: Twitter Crazies
HOST: Hunter Dawkins - Owner/Publisher of the award-winning newspaper - The Gazebo Gazette, Sports Correspondent SuperTalk Mississippi News, Gulfport High Radio Host G96.7, Member of the Football Writer Association of America (FWAA, Heisman Voter), Member of the Associated Press Sports & Editors (APSE)
PRODUCER: Jeff Clark - Award-Winning Journalist, Multimedia/Podcast Host, South Alabama Beat Writer, Director for the Harrison County Senior Services
GUESTS:
- Matt "Stats" Toth - Mississippi Gulf Coast High School Sports Analyst, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Broadcast
- D.J. Elkins - Pass Christian High School Softball Head Coach, 2025 MHSAA 4A State Quarterfinals
- J.T. Mitchell - SuperTalk News Director
- Nicholas Douglas - QR Sports, Amazon Best Selling Author
- Heath Hinton - Editor, Big Gold Nation, Southern Miss Beat Reporter
Welcome to the HD Experience, your store for sports on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Here's your host, Hunter Dawkins.
SPEAKER_08Good afternoon. My name is Hunter Dawkins, and I am the host of the HD Experience. This is the 30th episode of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Sports Podcast sponsored by the Gazebo Gazette, the Harrison County Independent Newspaper, O'Dwyer Realty Agent, Stephanie Mankowitz, the Miller Whitmer Chiropractic, Joseph Kelly, Attorney at Law, and we are always in the U.S. Marine Inc. Studio. I'm here with my wonderful producer of the show and my good friend, Jeff Clark. Jeff is a well-accomplished award-winning journalist, South Alabama beat writer, and director of the Harrison County Senior Services. Jeff, the 30th episode. This is good, my friend.
SPEAKER_11You know, man, I was listening to you. Hello, Hunter. Let me start there. I was listening to you do the introduction, and I hadn't looked at the manuscript for tonight yet. And when you said 30th episode, that made me, you know, just made me very happy. Like what a what an honor to have been doing this 30 weeks in a row. We haven't missed it, missed a day. We don't, we won't miss a day. I mean, miss a week. It's just like it's a great thing, man. I'm very proud of you, and I'm proud to be a part of this.
SPEAKER_08Thank you, man. And I will tell you, even though I know I sent it to you, I'm not sure if you got it, but South Alabama Pro Day is tomorrow.
SPEAKER_11Yeah, I saw that. Are you gonna go?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I'm gonna head down there just for uh Kinterell. Uh, you know, of course, you saw more of Kentrell than I did, but Kentrell has got he's gonna be one of the guys on the pro day. He's gonna have some good talent, and you know, there's a lot of teams that need running backs. Running back that was a position way back a long time ago that uh wasn't really perceived to be quality. Well, now running back is uh definitely a position much most of the teams in the NFL need.
SPEAKER_11And you know, and what what a quality running back you're gonna get uh in Kentral Bullock also. And I mean, you know, you could obviously he's not gonna go first round, or probably even second round, but you're gonna you can if you're an NFL team and you have a need for a fill-in running back, you know, uh a number two, number three, or even four, and you know, you can get him for a bargain. I I think Kentral Bullock uh could have a really good career in the NFL.
SPEAKER_08South Obama's had a couple of really good picks the last few years, not only selections, but then they've had guys that have signed contracts which have you know maintained. But of course, Jeff, as we will talk about today, our big theme of the week is the Twitter crazies. That's where I'm thinking I can ask you questions because I know I'm not not any more, or maybe still some. How much do you deal or have you seen these social media crazies?
SPEAKER_11You know, I I I I I think Hunter is a rule. If you want to to see how bad humanity is, just read the comment thread on anything, right? Like on a Facebook post, an Instagram post. It could be a very you know innocuous, you know, just innocent post. I you know, like I like cheese, and then you know, and but other people hate cheese, and they're gonna let you know that. But uh yeah, it's a lot. Like, you know, I I I was on Twitter, I joined Twitter like when it was a when it was in beta. Like my Twitter handle was literally the Jeff Clark, which is also my Instagram handle, but uh just after a while, you know, after the change and just the I don't know, I I I deleted my Twitter, my X account. I don't really, you know, look at that much anymore. I I I like looking at Instagram because I like seeing photos and videos and stuff, and then I use, you know, Facebook for work, uh to monitor county stuff and just to kind of keep up with my friends. But yeah, there's uh there's there's there's a lot of uh lot of stuff on the social media.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, the biggest problem, and this is and we'll cut it pretty soon because I know we probably have our first guest coming on pretty soon here, but what I'll say is this though, recruiting, um you know, not only this with transfer portal, with uh tampering, all of these issues are going into this now, and especially at the local level, the local colleges, Southern Mits, South Alabama are getting to be a part of this. And this is uh this is gonna be pretty interesting, at least how it happens, as you know, with Lane Kiffin really taking the the high seat on that with uh Ole Miss and LSU and you know kind of mixing the uh the fish the best way he can. Uh that's something that you know our our guests will all talk about.
SPEAKER_11Yeah, and you know, let's let's just say this Lane Kiffin, great at Twitter, but had a fake dog when he lived in Oxford. I think that, you know, that that that sums up everything that great coach, you know, great offensive mind, but you know, I'm not gonna give my usual Nick Saban bemoaning the state of college football speech, but they just they've gotta make make some changes, you know. They they they're going to to have to. I don't know that it's something that Congress needs to get involved with, which there's already been some meetings or you know, there's talk of the SEC breaking away. I I don't know, but it's it it's a hot mess. Hey man, the kids deserve to get paid. I'm I'm for that 100%, but uh just needs to be like anything else. You sign a contract, you probably need to be there and fulfill your obligations until your contract's done. Whether that's signing, whether that's committing, whatever, whatever that is, you know, if there's a probably needs to be a contract and sign on the dotted line and do what you need to do until you can't do it anymore.
SPEAKER_08Well, and we've also have uh at a high school level, and of course, we'll talk to one of your good friends and the guy that's that's leading the the charge, the head softball coach at Pasper Shan, DJ Elkins agreed to come and talk with us today. So uh we'll uh we'll definitely hear.
SPEAKER_11Hey man, I love anybody with a 662 area code. I'm just gonna say that. I'm very biased in that. So that's great.
SPEAKER_08Well, hey, if you guys you have a question for them, you let me know too.
SPEAKER_11I'm just gonna I'm just wanting to know when the when they're playing again, when they're at home again, so I can go watch them because I I really love watching uh Pass High Girl Softball. It's great. So I'm gonna dip out. I'll be back on at the end of the show. Unfortunately, no, just kidding. Unfortunately, for those who don't want to listen to my nonsense, um, got a lot of great guests lined up, so let's go ahead and jump into it.
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SPEAKER_08Would love to introduce my friend and one of the experts in high school football across the Mississippi Gulf Coast, who fans, students, coaches, and scouts follow through on Twitter and Facebook. Mad Stats, how are you, my friend?
SPEAKER_10Oh, Hunter, the madness. Let the madness begin. It has already started, of course, with March Madness with the college basketball brackets going on. And uh, I'm doing pretty decent. So, but it's great to be on HD Experience. I believe you said it was what, the 30th one? I mean, that's that's pretty uh pretty good going.
SPEAKER_08That's right, that's right. We're gonna treat keep trying to keep pushing forward, my friend. But since you are at the local level, you are more common with these uh these social media posts, the the message boards, the threads, the the uh nonsense talk, a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Tell me what you've seen under your history of being involved with high school athletics. Is there more of a uh a perceived notion, or is there more of fans trying to find out accurate information? Is there more of because I know I've noticed in your past this past year, there have been a lot of, you know, I'm not we're we won't refer to any specific schools or any coaches or anything as such, but there have been instances where you've had to post some things and then there have been some administrations or some parents or some fans. Just talk to me about that.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, I mean, as far as the social media, I I was on X or you know, Twitter now X uh 2012 is when I had started my first account. I have four uh current accounts on X uh from Coast Football, Mississippi JUCO and the JUCO sports. Uh, you've seen the gamut of it, uh, the good and the bad. There's a lot of good. There is uh certainly a lot of good that goes on with social media, and you gotta, you know, watch out for the bad. Uh as far as some examples for like my JUCO account, that I have a lot of players that message me and you know ask me to share their huddle highlights. I mean, I watch them and I share them. And the one player, you know, had said, well, you've done more for me than I paid this one guy that to do my huddle highlights or to try to get me on the team. I don't charge. I don't charge. That's people do charge. So as far as um, again, there's good and bad. If you want to pay somebody to try to get you on a team, I, you know, that's up to you as far as the players, they have to watch uh who these people are. Most definitely, the parents have to get involved in that case, uh especially high school uh players and their parents. But uh, you know, you it is a lot of good. There's a lot of good for social media. You hear Coach Bramlett when he did the coaches show this past year, Ocean Springs Coach Bramlett, where you know, a social media post went out about one of his football players, one of the highlights. I don't know exactly which one. It made it its way all the way up to the northeast, to some college up there. And they actually came down to watch one of the players from Ocean Springs. So when you put it out there, that's that's out there forever, good and bad. And there's a lot of good, but then there's a lot of, again, people that want to take advantage of the the players that are trying to get recruited, and there's some false uh accounts saying, hey, I'm coach from this school, and it's it's not, you know, I wouldn't suggest paying money for uh to get your name out there. I'll do it for free, but there are places that do charge on that. Um, and there's been some in investigations, you know, Blake Levine on Facebook on uh Facebook, uh Sports Reporter is his name, follow him. He does a lot of short uh videos, which are great to shine the light on all the players. He just recently had one about the I don't name necessarily the place that they were gonna do an all-star game. And they did do an all-star game, but there was a lot of speedback that the players didn't get what they were expected to get from, you know, they paid all this money, and it wasn't supported by MHSAA. It's it's one of these that just went out there. And so go follow Blake Levine. I'd say that's one of the cases you got to watch out for when you know you're especially high school and you're paying this money to these people, you got to check them out to make sure they are legit.
SPEAKER_08Talk to me about some of the episodes that you have been through. Like I said, we won't name any specific ones, but like for instance, uh, I know you had spoken with me in the past about an athletic department that that you had posted something for an opening position, even on not only a uh something for highlighting kids, but for an opening of positions. Just talk to me about that and some of the confusing portions that you know that even though those athletic departments are posting things on the website, you know, it's almost like if you're out there feeding it, there's there's some confusion in that.
SPEAKER_10Yes, yes, it is. I go, you know, MHSAA has uh anybody can go to it, it doesn't cost money. You go to it every day, and that's where coaches uh from all the sports post from opening dates. Hey, we need this team. You know, we have an opening date. I just posted one for St. Patrick. Uh, but they also have coach openings, uh, head coach, assistant coaches, again for all the sports. I go there and I check that and I posted a head coaching position for a school, and uh, and I got a call or a message from this school saying, hey, can you call us? So I made the call, spoke to the coach, and he was kind of not happy with me putting out the information that either he or somebody in the school posted on MHSSA, you know, the website asking for people to contact them via phone number or via email for this head coaching position. And he didn't want, he didn't like the fact that I posted it because it had his phone number on there. I don't it had his personal phone number. I did not know that it's his personal phone number. I'm copying and pasting from the website to try to get the name out there to everyone. And then I share it to the main, uh, to a bigger page than mine on Facebook. And he said he was, and I'm getting calls from Alabama, I'm getting calls from here and there. I said, Well, that's good. I was very excited that he was getting all these calls, meaning somebody's reading what I'm posting out there. He just didn't like the fact that it was his personal phone number and he's getting calls at 10 o'clock at night. Well, coach, I don't know that's your personal phone number. So, you know, he kind of didn't like that, the fact. So that was just one incidence there that, you know, I don't, I copy and paste uh, you know, what is posted publicly on the MHSA, the, you know, the website there looking for coaching positions. So that was one, you know, he wasn't yelling or or upset. He just was expressing his disappointment or, you know, every word you want to put in there that, hey, that's my personal phone number. Well, again, coach, I didn't know that was your personal phone number, but it seemed to work because you're getting a lot of people wanting, you know, for this head coaching position. So that that worked there. So, you know, that was one incident there. Uh, a while back, I had a quarterback from a from the coast DM me because I said so-and-so threw an interception in this game. And he he messaged me, and that didn't have been several years ago, and he said, Don't don't put out there that I threw that interception. It's like, what? What do you mean? I just, you know, player A, player A threw an interception in this game, and he didn't like that. True, it's not great to throw an interception, but that was part of the tweet that was posted out there. So, you know, there's there's plenty of stories that um that I could go over in these years that I've dealt with with social media. And there's also the good side. I mean, I have parents message me, you know, all the time about, you know, thanking me and shining the light on the player, on their player. And I certainly, that's what it's there for. It's not to bring any ill intent. If somebody gets in trouble, be it a coach, a player, I don't, I don't post it. You know, I don't post to say, hey, this this player is suspended. You know, I don't I don't post it. So it's all for the good, all for the uh the positive uh on that part of it.
SPEAKER_08Well, we thank you, Matt. And of course, we want to have you again, but we want you to leave your contact for everybody here so they can follow you, at least not only uh through social media, but they can just follow you with whatever you posting.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, yeah. Again, you just type in Coast Football or I think I have the Facebook page Golf Coast High School Sports, that covers all the sports. And and also, Hunter, just to end it up there, I just seen recently where Huddle Highlights was done by AI. Somebody had done uh their own huddle highlights to make them look better by AI, but you could kind of tell it was done by AI. So, you know, that's just kind of crazy that this day and age says some players are gonna try to post. Uh, you know, I'm hoping not. I'm hoping that certainly is not the case. And watch out for fake uh posts of especially MHSAA. They have, you know, people have the same logo, and you just got to watch that because they want you to click on it and a link for a live stream and get your money. So certainly watch out for fake accounts out there for the fans. And again, you could just uh type in Coast Football, Golf Coast High School Football on TikTok, Instagram, and social media is for the great, but like anything, just be cautious uh when, especially if you're paying money, if you're trying to pay money to somebody very plea cautious. So I enjoy being on the show, Hunter, and look forward to next time. So uh congratulations on the 30th episode and glad to be a part of it and look for many more uh as as it is to come. So I certainly appreciate it. Thank you, sir. All right, that's out.
SPEAKER_08The Gazebo Gazette is Harrison County's only independent newspaper publishing news from Gulfport to Bay St. Louis every Friday. Hi, this is Hunter Dawkins, owner of the Gazebo Gazette. If you're looking for local news without the hassle of sorting through story after digital story, log on to thegazeboGazette.com. Add your name to the digital audience of 250,000 plus coastal residents who already know where to find the stories that matter to them. Love to introduce the head softball coach and the 2025 MHSA State Quarterfinals head coach of the Pass Christian Lady Pirates, DJ Elkins. Coach, how are you doing, my friend? I'm doing great, Hunter. Thank you for having me on here, man.
SPEAKER_02I didn't realize it was your 30th episode, man. That's awesome. Congrats. Happy to be here again.
SPEAKER_08I appreciate you, coach. I appreciate you. And, you know, as we'll start off with, you won 15 games so far right now. It's been a long time since the Lady Pirates have won 20 20 games and also a region title. Talk to me about what you got on the field.
SPEAKER_02Um we we have got a group of girls that have been playing. Um most of the majority of them have been starting for us uh for three years now. This is our year three of this group. Um and they're still really we're still young. Um we only have one senior uh on the field. Um we have uh freshman and then uh um the rest are sophomores and juniors, and and we just got a kid like a type of player that just shows up and works their butts off every day. Uh they're they're a great one.
SPEAKER_08Coach, talk to me about where you you know where these girls come from. I mean, is it is it's are they all playing together for years and years, or are they coming from the theater program in the past or from the bay? I mean, is it something that I I can understand you're probably heavily involved with this notion of mine?
SPEAKER_02Um the majority of these girls have been playing together for a long time. Um uh they grew up playing uh travel ball, uh growing up together. Um we got a a group that has you know a sophomore group that's been starting for the past three years. They they're all on the same team in the summer times. And I'm in you know, in terms of a in terms of coaching them in the summers, I'm not involved with them. They have a great system that they have uh with their travel program. I'm just a huge fan uh of these girls year-round uh and show and I try to show my support and and ensure they're getting some sort of development. Now if they need extra help, um I have opportunities for them to come to come to the field in the summer to you know during our during our summer workouts, they can hit the cages, they can I can feed to them, we can work on uh this. Uh uh, you know, do some field work, make sure they're long tossing, get bullpins if they need it. Um I'm I'm just there to to help them in any way I can. Uh whether that be on the field, in the weight room, or even classroom stuff. You know, I'm just here to help these girls because they they grew up playing ball, they know how to play ball. It's uh it it's my job as their their head school coach to to get everybody going in one direction. And and what we got here is that personality that we have and that I love is that all the girls really want to win and they want to go in that same direction. So growing up, they were very competitive. Uh they their parents, uh, you know, you know, I got great parents. Uh, you know, I'll be the first one to tell you, I got great parents on this team. Um they are nothing but supportive for these girls, and that's that's the main thing. We just we're here to ensure that they have everything that they need and to give them the best opportunity to showcase what they can do. Um the majority of what I've done is more of a you know a mental aspect of it because the physical tools are always uh or they're there. These girls are physically capable of playing and they're really, really talented. Um that's where I that's where I get involved with with that.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, coach, you know, of course, you know, that's another question I was gonna ask. That's a little bit of a segue. It doesn't sound like you have to do a lot of teaching as far as from a coaching perspective, maybe from a strategy against a comparison versus the team. Maybe you're kind of telling them what to be looking for against the other teams. Talk to me about that. I mean, because there doesn't really seem like you need to teach them how to hit the ball or how to run the bases or anything as such.
SPEAKER_02Now the base running aspect we do have to fine-tune. That's something that we do spend a lot of time on. Uh and mainly that's just because they you know, not every single one of them get the same amount of reps that the other ones get in the off-season with their travel ball program. Um, they need to see it in in action, so it's more of a hey, this is what you're looking for, you know, this is what you need to be looking for. Um, this is what we need to do in this situation. Type, you know, that that type of practice, uh, you know, uh a lot of mental reps with that, you know, teaches them how to hit a ball. You know, each of the players they have a different swing. I'm never gonna try to cookie-cutter anybody. I'm not gonna try to make them stand a certain way or all the same way. I'm not gonna do that. I want them to be comfortable. I'm there just to help them fine-tune their their swing. Uh fine-tune you know, if they if they get into a little little issue with like where they're you know, you're letting the bat head, you know, drop or they're pulling off of the ball, or they're you know, they're getting out out and around it, you know, whatever it may be. I'm just there to kind of just tighten that thing up. Uh, but strategy-wise, I go out, I talk to you know, at least five to ten coaches that uh previous team has played. Uh uh or the team that we're playing is played, and I'm trying to make sure I know who we're needing to attack, who we're needing to be careful with, what we need to be looking for, we're in the plate, what we need to be looking for, where on the bases. Um, I'm giving them that information there so that they can play their best. You know, I try to, you know, get them as pre uh mentally ready as all they can, and then I just let them play. It's a game, you know, and I want and I preach it all the time, I just need you to compete. I just need you to play the game.
SPEAKER_08Coach, last question for you. Do you really do you believe this team now you had a lot of seniors last year? I think this team is not only is compared to that, but do you think this team is as good if not better as that?
SPEAKER_02I think this team, because of the experience and learning how to win over the past three seasons, has a chance to be a special group. I really do. Um they have a chance to do that because we are very talented. You know, we lost uh four seniors this p af uh coming into this year, and there's a lot of question marks on who was gonna, you know, step into those spots. Uh we've had multiple, multiple people have to step up in big uh uh big spots. Um I was a matter of fact, I was just looking at it. I've had, you know, whether it be through injuries or sicknesses or whatever it may be, I've had multiple people have to start varsity games for us this year, and only I've only got two people that have started every single game. So it's been a next person up mentality of this group. Um and we've won a lot of games. You know, we've we've played a lot of good teams, um and and we've found ways to win in multiple different ways. Um, but yeah, I I really think this team kid uh is special. I think the girls are special. I think they're great kids. Um I love every one of them. They're you know it makes me love going to work with it. I really enjoy it. I really appreciate how they're diving into the hard work, the nitty-gritty, the stuff that they have to do to be good because in order for them to be special. So yeah, I think they could they could potentially be uh one of the best teams to come out of Asi if we continue working and all that stuff. But the talent is there, the mindset's there, we just have to put Coach.
SPEAKER_08We wish you the best of luck and we look forward to having you back.
SPEAKER_02Alright? Yes, sir. Thank you, Hunter. I appreciate it. Uh like I said earlier, congrats on the 30th episode. Uh, and I really appreciate what you do for the you know the local sports and covering them and getting these athletes out there so that they can that people can see what they're doing. Uh I really appreciate that. Thank you, Coach. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER_08All right, I'm doing and we're going to welcome my next guest who really needs no introduction, my good friend, Super Talk News Director JT Mitchell. Supertalk Mississippi is the largest media syndicate throughout the state of Mississippi with numerous radio stations, numerous news coverage, supertalk.fm, which covers virtually the whole state and everything else. My good friend JT Mitchell, how are you?
SPEAKER_05HD, what's up, man? Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_08Thank you, sir. Okay. As we are going by the theme of the day with the social media and the Twitter crazies, there is a worldwide use of social media into the athletics atmosphere, both true and false, with their the message boards and things as such. How does a news organization like Super Talk vet and process the right information before shooting these messages out to the public?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's a good question. And, you know, recently, and I think you've been talking about this all day throughout the episode, there's been an onset of, and I'm not going to go full Donald Trump here saying fake news, but there's been an onset of incorrect news, and that is coming from sometimes message boards. But more so what we're seeing lately, Hunter, is these fake publications. And I think one that really started to rear its ugly head over the weekend was called Hale State Diamond. I noticed another one during the whole Wayne Giffins saga that was talking about a Giffins staying in all this. Well, obviously that was fake. And to your question of how do we vet different sources, I mean, we always try to have a source for our source. We always try to have extremely close relationships in this case with the universities at hand, especially when we're covering athletics. I mean, we have great relationships with every university and college in the state. Um, but for the broader audience out there, you know, I always tell people, because people ask me all the time, how do I find trustworthy news sources? Well, first off, uh, I have helped build a newsroom that I completely trust, and I recommend people who need statewide news to seek out Super Talk News. Obviously, we are the objective nucleus of a multi-nucleate company that has everything from talk stations to music stations, but the news team is very objective. Now, when it comes to the national stuff, I really stress the people to find sources, legitimate sources, or journalists themselves that you trust, you seek out. For example, maybe someone is trying to keep up with what's going on on Capitol Hill. You know, find somebody that you trust. For example, I really like Will Weisert, Lindsay Whitehurst, and company with the Associated Press. I tend to get most of my Capitol Hill news from them because I trust them. Find people you trust, and that's who you should read, and you'll never get fake news.
SPEAKER_08Okay, well, I guess that leads a little bit into the segue of this question for you. How are the big three universities going through recruiting with these outside influencers, message boards, or other shots taken at the university?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's a good question because you do have all of these quote unquote news sources, which aren't real, but they're getting a lot of engagement on social media. I mean, essentially, that's what they're doing, they're engagement forming. And I don't know what's on the other side of those links because I don't click them. You know, I'm not sure if it's a phishing scam or not. I have no idea. And so when it comes to recruits, because you got to think about when when I was 17 years old and I was choosing a college, of course, I wasn't good enough to play at Old Miss State or Southern. Um, but but when I was choosing a college, a lot of the updates I got on the colleges that I were was looking at came from social media. And at the time there wasn't a bunch of fake message boards, a bunch of fake Hell State Diamond or whatever it is. So I didn't have to deal with that. And so from my perspective, I really just would hope that you know every recruit has a specific staffer assigned to him or her. At least that's how it was when I was going through the recruiting process. And so I hope that staffer is communicating with clarity, communicating with efficiency, and telling these kids, hey, yeah, that's not real. You know, stay with us. That's not real. That's kind of what I would hope.
SPEAKER_08Let's talk about women's basketball in Mississippi, which has been a lot better this year than men's. Where does they stand? I know there was a uh a close game that old Miss had with Minnesota today. Well, tell me what happened.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that was a real heartbreaker. And I and I'll tell you, you hit the nail on the head. Women's basketball in Mississippi has been a thousand times better this year than men's basketball. I think it's the first time since 2022 that we do not have a school on the men's side in the big dance. Now, the women's side, to no surprise, we did get all missed. Uh, the Let McTe McKeown has done a tremendous job of building them into a national threat. Um, they won the first round with the East. That was against Gonzaga. Uh today's game actually just ended. Uh, Minnesota had a late jumper to win 65 to 63, and just a heartbreaker. I mean, it would have been the second year in a row that Ole Miss has gone to the sweet 16, but Minnesota's a good program, a really good program. Uh yesterday we had Alcorn State in the women's NIT, and that was a big chance for the city of Lorman, uh, a big chance for the campus of Alcorn State. They got to host a WNIT game. Um, and unfortunately, they lost 73 to 65 to South Alabama. And you and I have had conversations in the past because you're covering games all the time, and you've told me after X game many a times that free throws is what killed whoever you were covering. And that was the case with Alcorn State. I mean, they went 12 of 23 from the charity strike, yet lost by eight. You know, if you just make eight more free throws, you're tied. You make nine more, you win it, and you're in the next round of the NIT. Either way, uh, that's the update on women's basketball this year.
SPEAKER_08Jeez. Well, anyway, finally, my last question for you. The NIL legislation that has been floating around in the chamber of the Mississippi legislature, what's going on now, and is this a potential future legislation if it's not successful this time?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, one of the uh hottest topics of this year's session, and I'm not sure if it's been such a hot topic because lawmakers seemingly haven't done as much as usual, or because NIL is just the talk of the town. Um as of now, that bill that you're talking about, which would allow student athletes in Mississippi to get NIL payments and essentially they'd be tax-free, at least on the on the state level. They would not be taxed on the state level, they would not be subject to income tax. Well, that bill actually died this past week. It died in the Senate's Finance Committee. Uh and that came after passing the House, and it had bipartisan support in the House. Now, and you know, interestingly enough, Hunter, you opened this conversation talking about trustworthy news sources. There were national news sources who generally could be considered trustworthy, but they reported that this bill was going into lull in Mississippi. They didn't do their due diligence. That is not true. 1,000% not true. Uh this NIL bill is not going into lull, given it could be revived, but the odds are very, very small. Uh you talk about the future of this, yeah. And uh this is probably gonna happen eventually. And a lot of people, they probably hear a bill that is going to allow rich student athletes to stay richer. They're gonna they're gonna consider that short-sighted. Um, well, Caleb Saylor is one of our journalists, he made a really good point to me. Um, and he was just kind of plain devil's advocate. He was talking about the financial side, you know, you'd really only lose about four million dollars in estimated taxes each year. And then on the flip side, these colleges and universities are creating hundreds of hundreds of hundreds of millions in revenue every year. And so is it worth it? A lot of people would argue so. Now, my only fear, Hunter, is that other SEC states are already beginning to do this. Of course, Tennessee and Texas don't have income tax, nor does Florida. Um, so they're fine. Arkansas went ahead, I think, and passed a bill that would uh make it where athletes do not have to pay income tax on NIL uh payments. And I think you're gonna see other schools, other states, you're gonna see Alabama do it, you're you're gonna see Georgia do it. Uh I don't know much about Missouri, but you're gonna see SEC states do this. And my only hope as a sports fan, this is not me talking as a journalist, my only hope as a sports fan is that Mississippi is not last and our college athletics suffer.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, that's definitely true. And there's more that we got to talk about this later on, JT. I mean, now you're getting into the salary cap, you know, things that that every every single SEC state's looking at, you know, from a different perspective. But of course, that's a long discussion. We can have that later. But we thank you very much. Appreciate it. Tell all the audience all how to reach you.
SPEAKER_05Well, I appreciate you, Hunter. This is a great show. I'm glad you're doing it. I'm glad you include us. Uh, you can find the latest news statewide across Mississippi at supertalk.fm. You can also tune in to our hourly news blips, which is those one-minute segments at play between commercials, giving you the objective news on 50 plus talk and music stations statewide.
SPEAKER_08Thank you, my friend. Take care.
SPEAKER_05Thanks, Hunter. See you next time.
SPEAKER_08Next guest is someone that has done quite a bit in the college athletics atmosphere. Nicholas Douglas of QR Sports and the Elite Media Network. Nick and Dean have authored, Dean Douglas have authored a book titled Where Did the Game Go, speaking mainly about the transformation of college athletics. Nick, how much do did social media count for some of the changes in college athletics? And it's great to see you too, by the way.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, great to be here. Um, can you guys see me okay? Yeah, everything's great. Okay, cool. Cool. Well, um, yeah, I mean, it's great to be here. And Hunter, thank you for pulling this together on short notice. You know, it's fascinating to be at the forefront of so much change because diving into our book, the story we tell is very introspective when it pertains to what was going on for the last several decades. And what I mean by that is this change, the changes you see now are predicated off of decades of mistakes, decades of mismanagement, and obvious flaws in the game, which we see being exploited now. So only recently have they started to be exploited, but for a long time, there were gaps and there were flaws and there were holes in this whole equation. And that led to us being, you know, where we are today, where people are swerving rules and you know, there's tampering and is it illegal, and you know, coaches, players, agents, whatever, salary cap or no cap. There's just a lot that goes into the game now that wasn't previously defined before. So whether social media played a big role or not, I think it was more so social media playing its role on human psychology and how we viewed sports that ultimately led to, you know, hey, wait a second, maybe these athletes should be compensated. And then we opened up the floodgates, and now ultimately we're paying the price.
SPEAKER_08Are victories nowadays decided mainly, Nick, on the money that you have in the collective and transfer portals rather than the amount of five-star athletes you have?
SPEAKER_03I definitely think so. I think it's pretty obvious if you look across March Madness and the trends of the sport. You know, it wasn't that long ago where you had a 10-seed Syracuse in the final four and you had teams like St. Peter's making runs to the Elite Eight. I think you're starting to see some of that die. I mean, last year you had, just using basketball as an example, you had all one seeds in the final four. And now, you know, you've got a couple teams that are sneaking into the Sweet 16, but I mean, one of them is Texas, who just hit a cold spell during the middle part of the regular season, but you know they're one of the highest spenders. And then as if you look at football, okay, so you have an anomaly with Indiana. And sure, you there's hope for anybody to win a national title, but your biggest spenders will get your best coaches and your best players. And over time, yes, wins and losses will be decided by the checkbook. And if you know a team can break the trend and sneak in there and build a consistent winner, then great. Guess what? They're gonna get more money and they're gonna get better players. Players are gonna take pay cuts to go play there. So absolutely, the game is decided off the field now it is.
SPEAKER_08And would did this really start after COVID? Was this really the highlight of the pandemic, especially with the transfer portal? Was this one of the big changes, I guess, not only in college athletics, but in the court system and how it felt about college athletics?
SPEAKER_03Yes, COVID played a really big role in expediting this whole process. I think a lot of these changes were inevitable. But, you know, coming out of COVID, if if you recall, the Big Ten just canceled their season. Um, the SEC took the opposite stance and said, we're gonna play. So a player in 2018 that had finalists of Washington and Florida and ultimately chose to go to Washington because they could get more playing time, was now not allowed to play because the Pac-12 also canceled their season. If he had chosen to go to Florida and kids in his situation that went to Florida were then set to play 10 conference games and compete for a national championship. So you had this issue of player movement that. Came about during COVID. And why are Ohio State players punished while Georgia players are going to play a full season? And so, you know, obviously they all pull from the same pool. You know, the top players go to the top schools, irrespective of conference. But now there seemed to be an in the Southeast because you were actually going to play. And so that kind of opened up the door for player movement. We dive into all of this in the early part of our book. But as the time went on, it was, well, wait a second, you know, how can a prominent team in one conference sort of pick off players that are prominent in another conference? And that kind of opened the conversation after in that record. But coming out of COVID, I think there was sort of a realization across the board that athletes deserve to be compensated. And that brought us to the verdict on July 1st, 2021.
SPEAKER_08How much does realignment really, you know, is it just change the game because you have these four different, you know, time zones. You have UCLA playing rutgers. I mean, this is just this is sometimes it's ridiculous, doesn't it seem that way?
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. And I think the first people that'll complain about that are going to be the athletes and the coaches, because you're starting to see teams struggle when they have to fly five and a half hours and wake up at you know 4 a.m. for their home time to go play a noon game on the East Coast. Like you said, USC in Maryland or USC in Rutgers. That takes a toll on your athletes because in the Southeast, you're taking you know an hour-long flight on Tuesday or on Thursday, excuse me, or a Friday, or whatever. But for these teams, they're they're flying way earlier in the week because they have to acclimate. Living out of a hotel for four and five days, forget about school. That's not even taken into the equation anymore.
SPEAKER_08Um the final question I've got for you is how much do you really believe in or is there should be out there, should there be a professional salary cap on the athletes nowadays because of the amount of money that's being tossed across the board? And then you have these point shavings scenarios and a number of other things which has been affected in the Mississippi schools as well.
SPEAKER_03I think a salary cap, while we would all like to see some form of structure around maybe a collective bargaining agreement or a players' association and a salary cap. I think a lot of that is is too far gone by now. I think if you introduce a salary cap now, let's say the salary cap is $20 million, these schools have been finding ways to pay athletes under the table. And with the house settlement, I don't think that makes it any easier or any better because now the contract. And then on top of that, schools have to make sure that these, you know, clear the true NIL process. I think you're just going to go back to people finding ways under the table to pay these guys. And if you introduce a salary cap, if you introduce limitations and restrictions, you can do all you can. But we don't have this issue in pro sports because they've introduced a salary cap and they've enforced it. I don't think you can enforce a salary cap, at least at this juncture. Because all it takes is one tool to say, hey, we're gonna find a way around this, we're gonna find a way to back channel and funnel guys' money without it counting toward our salary cap, because that's how this all works. And then we'll be ahead of the game. So they can follow their salary cap. That's nice. Everybody should follow the salary cap. And if you look at our report, we are going to follow the salary cap. But there's going to be a back channel where they're they're cheating and working around the salary cap. So I speak.
SPEAKER_08Well, Nick, we appreciate you. Let everybody know how they get in touch with you.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_03Um, I'm available on all my social medias, Douglas underscore dude. And if you'd like to shoot me an email directly, you can reach me at ndouglas at elitemedia network.com.
SPEAKER_08We thank you, my friend, and we look forward to having you on again. Sounds good, Hunter. Thank you so much. Now, I would like to introduce one of my good friends, Heath Hinton, the editor and sports writer of Big Gold Nation. Additionally, Heath is the true insider on all Southern Miss Athletics. Heath, what how did uh the the Golden Eagles of the baseball team finish out today?
SPEAKER_09Oh well, it was a good day. The Golden Eagles scored five unanswered. Uh Bull Pym was nails, lights out, seven innings, no runs. Uh gave up three or four early and then scored five unanswered and defeat Troy five to four to take two or three from the Trojans. And uh really good weekend. Uh now they're even in the Sunbelt after a disappointing opening series. But baseball, yeah, it's it's yeah, a lot of people are upset that they lost to Arkansas State. Arkansas State goes on the road, though, and they lose two or three to Georgia State. Baseball is just one of those games that you never really know what's gonna happen. And in the long run, everything even itself out. But Southern Miss now tied for third in the conference. So uh just give it time and it'll all work out. Then they go to Mississippi State this week before they host Appalachian State this weekend. So uh another week coming up of uh Golden Eagle baseball.
SPEAKER_08Well, tell me this now. Tell me this now, Heath. Now, I don't know if you've spoken to Coach Ostrander or not, but it doesn't really appear like they have a Friday go-to guy. Now, Graydon Harris did come out this week. They kind of switched it up, but in the last two Fridays in the Sundalt, they have not been particularly very strong. What's going on there?
SPEAKER_09Well, I think Graden wasn't bad yesterday. He just uh uh had a couple of pitches that he wished he could have back, and that's probably the difference in the ball game on Friday, to be honest with you. Um and I think he'll be fine on Friday. They got a Sunday guy. Saturday, look, moving Kobe when you're as deep in the bullpen as Southern Miss is, moving Kobe back to the bullpen only strengthens your bullpen and also gives you more options. So now us on Saturday can go matchup. Do I throw cross sibly or though they do they have a uh issue uh hitting lefties? Do they have an issue hitting uh righties with uh medium to high VL and have a problem hitting splitters? Or are they a team that has a problem hitting sliders where you could throw Colby Allen back out there? Sundstrom, another guy, mid-90s, throw sliders. So what he's done by moving Cody back is actually given himself options on that Saturday to uh to pitch two, I would say pitch two uh teams' weaknesses. And I think in the long run it's gonna make the Golden Eagle stronger by doing that.
SPEAKER_08Offensively, they've been kind of up, kind of down throughout the last week or so. And these even with victories, they've been kind of a little bit just barely getting by a few times. Talk to me about what uh if if it's just a cold slump, if they're gonna come out of this, what uh what's the the message for the team?
SPEAKER_09It's been it's been a challenge. They've had some issues hitting the baseball, but baseball is a game, you know it. Built on failure. I mean, 300 will get you in the hall of fame as a hitter.
SPEAKER_08Right now, yeah. So yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_09So I mean it's uh it's tough. Look, they're gonna have ebbs and flows. Start off hot. People are adjusting the way they're pitching them. Now the hitters are gonna have to adjust the way that teams are pitching them, and you're starting to see them come out of this weekend. They scored 11 runs yesterday, as I said, scored five uninsured today. Gillespie's starting to hit the ball. Russo's coming out of it a little bit. Um, you need to see some more guys. Barrett like to see him come out of it a little more. Uh Higdon is injured, so they're looking for uh somebody to play the field in right field, and uh Stelley, who was a 300 hitter at Louisiana with uh almost double-digit home runs, is just he's not made his paycheck this season, so to speak. So uh we'll see if they continue with him in right field, or they might go with uh Tons Meyer in right field, Eubanks, DH, the young guy they moved in, went three for four today. So they've got options, they just got to figure out with the way teams are pitching them now how they're gonna handle things, and and nobody can get that cleared up. This happens every year for Southern Mist. They kind of go through a lull. So it's um it's just baseball as part of the ebbs and flow of baseball.
SPEAKER_08Sticking with the theme for the episode, which is about Twitter crazies. Now, I know you're a you're a gentleman that unfortunately has to deal with a lot of these social media, either the backlash or trying to calm things down. How much has social media been a part of whether good or bad for Southern Miss Athletics?
SPEAKER_09I I think it's a huge part. Of course, with baseball, you probably got the most burners of any team in the country with baseball, and some of them are quite funny. I mean, there's one guy, uh Teddy Cloverleaf Mall on there who does videos that might be some of the funniest videos you'll ever see. And they're just funny. They're not degrading or anything like that, they're just hilarious, so shout out to him. Then there's some people I won't give any uh creed to or I won't say their names. There's some people who just are rude and you know, just say vile things just to uh because they're behind a they're behind a screen and a keyboard, keyboard warriors. And I try to stay away from that stuff. I try not to get involved with it too much. If I see somebody saying something that, you know, maybe they're they have an opinion, but maybe on the whole situation or there's something off about there, I might say something then, but I'm not gonna interact with people who are just rude and obnoxious, and I just try not to interact with them and and let them be and uh keep my social media group to the you know the people that follow me and people that I know and trust.
SPEAKER_08How much is the athletic department? You know, I know they try to stay steer clear most of the time, but how much is this affected, you know, as far as recruiting, as far as you know, portal issues, as far as tampering, retention? Talk to me about that.
SPEAKER_09I don't know if it's it's bothered on recruiting or anything like that. Tampering is always gonna be an issue because of the fact that everybody's on social media and a coach can reach out to somebody else when it's not supposed to be reached out to, everybody's got faults, you know. Uh I mean it that can happen. You're not it's gonna be hard to stop that on social media. But I don't know if the school if it really hurts the recruiting. I think the problem is it's just the overall view of the fan base sometimes. If there are too many people upset and say stuff, and I think that's probably the biggest issue, but I don't think from the school they pay I won't say they don't pay any attention to it, but you know, they try to turn a blind eye to all the negativity and just keep going as uh going as you know, going as good as they can.
SPEAKER_08Well, Heath, it's always good to talk to you. I mean, uh I'm trying to think about uh we have some uh does USM have a spring game coming up this year?
SPEAKER_09It's gonna be in April. Yeah, they start spring next week, but man, let me tell you something. Spring now, with so many players coming in after your spring is implement your offense and getting everybody adjusted to what the coaches want. And I'm gonna be interested to see in the fall how you know how much does not having a true spring for schools, how much does it affect the overall play in the fall? How sloppy is it? How you know how our teams able to adjust and uh coach in that period? I think that's gonna be interesting to watch some football season because of the portal and 50 kids changing every year. You just don't have time to uh develop. It's all about implementing and then going in the fall, getting ready for the season. There's no time to develop anymore, and it's sad to see.
SPEAKER_08I heard Coach Ladner got uh an extension, well, not an extension, but that he uh he's coming back for his final year. Um, and of course, you know, Mitzi is coming back too as well with the the girls' basketball. What is the Reed Green Coliseum going to be done this year? The at the renovation?
SPEAKER_09The old uh well, they got a fence up. That's an improvement. I'll give them that. Um now if there's anything done past the fence, who knows? Uh yeah, Jay coming back for his final year. I'm happy. I think he deserved to. Um, problem is it's just so tough on him. It found out Tavares is hitting the portal. Uh Montgomery with guards is hitting the portal. Hopefully they can do something with weeks to say, but man, when they're coming in offering these guys six and seven figures to go to school to play basketball, what are you gonna do? Uh, you know, Southern Michigan can afford that. And I heard your guy earlier say something about we don't know if uh salary cap would help. Well, maybe if you punish people enough that break it and don't let them get away with it, you know, it it might help if you lay the law down in some schools once they break it. The first two or three times that happens, people will be scared to break the law. Or break the rules. So maybe that's what the NCA needs to do is come back and go, I'm not gonna say we have to do the death penalty, but you might have to shut your program down two or three years if you break the rules. That might make people mad at that point.
SPEAKER_08There you go, my friend. Tell everybody how they can contact me.
SPEAKER_09Uh just go to uh big old nation uh on three. Uh go to Southern Miss uh.onthree.com and look us up. We got a 50% off sale right now, so you come join from 50% off. And uh you get a year's subscription to Athletic and uh hang out with some friends and have a good time and uh laugh it up with us.
SPEAKER_08That sounds like a pretty good plan. I might have to think about that myself.
SPEAKER_09Come on, buddy, I got you.
SPEAKER_08All right, well, you take care, my friend. Appreciate you. Talk to you later, buddy. Have a good one. We really appreciate you listening to this podcast, everyone. Uh, we hope you get some good reviews, some stars. And Jeff, we always thank you again.
SPEAKER_11Yeah, man, absolutely. Uh it's my pleasure. Um, you know, excited that we this is our 30th episode. That uh salat. We've had some great guests on over the past 30 episodes, and you know, you just continue to bring them in week after week, talk about whatever the hot topic is and how it applies to sports and local sports, and uh it's been great. And uh, you know, you can find us on all the podcast spots, uh iTunes, or Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeart, uh, all the podcast listings. So check us out, subscribe.
SPEAKER_08And uh, you know, I'm gonna do my best to keep getting a few 662 area codes in. So, you know.
SPEAKER_11Those are my people, man. I'm always down for hearing from some folks from the from the 662 area.
SPEAKER_08That's right. That's right. Nick actually is from a 662 area code, but he's got the Memphis number. So, you know, that's 901.
SPEAKER_11901.
SPEAKER_08There you go. There you go.
SPEAKER_1136 mafia, huh?
SPEAKER_08There you go. Yeah, I like it. I like it. But yeah, we of course we will want to make sure you follow us on the gazebozzette.com, where the podcast will be posted next week at some point, as well as on facebook.com backslash, the real gazeboazette, or on X, otherwise known as Twitter at GazeboGazette as the handle. And as Jeff said earlier, the HD Experience is available on all podcasts, including Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Amazon Music under the HD Experience tag. And we'd also appreciate anybody who wants to put stars or reviews or anything as such. We'd gratefully appreciate that. If we're signing out, this is Hunter Dawkins, the host of the HD Experience. We'll catch you all in the fifth.