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 37: Expansion, Expansion, Expansion
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The HD Experience Episode 37: Expansion
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:
- Roscoe Forch - Pass Christian Head Track & Field Coach, 2025 MHSAA South State, Regional & District 8-4A Champion
- Dale McKee - Pine Belt sportswriter, Radio Broadcast Host of "The Brouhaha" on WABO 105.5FM with Marshall Wood
- Caleb Salers - SuperTalk Mississippi News Reporter, Ole Miss Beat Writer
- Matt DeGregorio - WLOX-13 Sports Anchor/Multimedia Journalist
Mississippi has three teams in the College Baseball Playoffs!
What happens next?!
Welcome to the HD Experience, your source for sports on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Here's your host, Hunter Dawkins.
SPEAKER_10Good afternoon. My name is Hunter Dawkins. I am the host of the HD Experience, and this is the 37th episode of Mississippi Gulf Coast Sports Podcast, sponsored by the Gazebo Gazette, Harrison County's independent newspaper, the Beau Revive and Casino in Biloxi, Nine Toes Brewing Company in Paschishan, O'Dwyer Realty Agent, Stephanie Mankowitz, Joseph Kelly, Attorney at Law, Golf Coast Casual in Pasker's Chan, the Rotary Club of Pasker Chan's Paddle the Bay Fundraiser, the insurance barn and golf port. Gulf Coast Veterans Association's carry the load honoring Memorial Day. It's on May the 20th. And we are always in the U.S. Marine Inc. Studio. I'm here with my wonderful producer of the show, Jeff Clark. Jeff is a well-accomplished and especially now award-winning journalist, South Alabama beat writer, and the director, Harrison County Senior Services. Jeff, how are you, my friend?
SPEAKER_06I'm well, Hunter. We're taping this on Mother's Day. So people want to hear this on Mother's Day, but happy belated Mother's Day to all the mothers that listen. I'm well, man. You know, we uh we had some of that Noah's Ark rain yesterday, but we're good, man. We hung in there. How about you?
SPEAKER_10It's you know, it's just like you. I'm just hanging in with the crowd, trying to make sure everything's okay. Our theme for the day is expansion. And I know we've talked about this before, but as much as we talk about it, it keeps coming up. We've talked about this issue, but now it's among college brackets. We're getting not only potential college football playoff with 24, but there is an official guarantee that the NCAA March Madness bracket goes from 64 to 76. In my whole lifetime, Jeff, I don't think it's been uh below 64, and automatically it goes to 76. When it comes to the brackets and playoffs, there is one thing that remains in common. It's all about that those ratings is that TV money.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, that there's one thing that that always remains the same and that they have in common, and that's my chagrin and displeasure with all of it.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_06Like that that remains the same. Um, you know, we we we discussed this about the uh college football a few weeks ago, and my opinion hasn't changed, and my opinion certainly hasn't changed with uh with March Madness. With I I felt like that bracket like really worked, right? Like the the amount of teams they had was a perfect amount for what it was. It's been that way, and I'm not one like you know, I'm not resistant to change. It's it's nothing like that. But it's like, is the change for the betterment of the sport and the making it more pleasurable for the fans, or is it just about money? And you know, it's probably probably the latter, but uh, you know, I I I I think a college football, whatever the season was the first game's usually Labor Day weekend, or the first game's usually Labor Day weekend. Okay, that's the playoffs, right? Like we're starting the playoffs then, and I I I I don't know, man. It's uh it it's uh different things with all of the uh money pouring in from ESPN and Disney and blah blah blah. And you like anything else, when you dilute things enough, the the product's going to suffer. So we'll see.
SPEAKER_10Well, the true fact, Jeff, on this is we have to wonder, is this just becoming a participation athletics? You know, it's not so much how good you are from the team level, it's from a participation level. You know, I've always always raised to feel like, okay, participation is nice and dandy, but it's not the same thing as the championship or not being able to get in the bracket. Now, of course, the coaches and the ADs are not going to be against it because you get more an incentive by your team being successful and by getting the opportunity to be in the bracket. But it's at the same level, it's almost like a Notre Dame college football playoff. Well, if you're not in the the top, you know, 12 or so, whatever next segment you are, then that's almost like, well, you can finish eight and four, but if you're Notre Dame and you win some games there, you're pretty much just got a spot wide open. Why, how is that fair to anybody? Do you see what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_06Man, I'm a Catholic, a proud Catholic. You know this. We talk about that often. Notre Dame, join a conference, right? Like, join a conference or get out. You're not that, you're not that important. I know Newt Rockney, I I get all of that. Like, I understand the the history of the program. Join the ACC, join the SEC, pick one, join the Big Ten, get in one, and and and or move on. You know, it's not, it's not fair, right? Like, we're gonna make everybody play lights out. It's lights out football plus Notre Dame. Okay.
SPEAKER_10That's right. That's right. And now, you know, we'll be talking a little bit more too uh on the future with some guests, but also too, one of the things before we get moving on, I wanted to mention we want to congratulate the Pass High Boys and Girls track team. They finished runner up, they won the district, the regional, and south state championships, and then they finished just barely in track events. But, you know, we're gonna talk to the track coach here in just a second.
SPEAKER_06Right on. Well, I will not uh share my old man anger about the expansion any longer and shake my fist at the sky. Uh, let's go to our first commercial break and we'll get right into it when we get back. Thank you.
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SPEAKER_10I would like to introduce my first guest, Ashershans High School track and field coach Roscoe French. Roscoe's team won both girls and boys the district, regional, and south state championship. That's quite a phenomenal feat for you guys this year, coach. Talk to me about finishing runner-up in the state and how this summarized the year for you guys so far.
SPEAKER_04Man, finishing a runner-up in the state, uh it that's an amazing feeling. Um, of course, you know, everybody always wants that number one spot, of course. But finishing number number two, finishing runner-up, that that's a stamp on the season because last year we finished third and third. We swept everything the same way that we did it this year, but we finished third and third. So basically, what that speaks to is the team growing and getting better after graduating a very, very strong senior class last year. I'm sure there were teams that possibly could have counted us out thinking that we wouldn't be as strong as we were this year, but we ended up getting better. And that speaks to the hard work. Um, it speaks to the ingenuity, the the resilience of the athletes. They worked their tails off this year, man. They really did. They worked.
SPEAKER_10Roscoe, you know, or coaches, I should call you, they let's talk about track being it's an individual sport, but it's a team sport. So how do you consummate, you know, the fact that you want to push the individuals to be their best? And you obviously did that, a great job at that, but together it has to come to a team format. Talk to me about what what that accompl those accomplishments as individuals, how that, how you could garnish that and put it all together.
SPEAKER_04So what I the way I look at it, you know, past Trishan being a small school, you know, we may have 500 kids in our entire high school, you know. So you you look for you look for the leaders, you look for the captains, you look for the kids who do have a little bit of talent, but at the same time, you have to develop. Development is everything. Like we for the past four or five years, the main staple of what we do is developing our athletes. So we find those athletes that are dedicated day in and day out to track and feel, and we really push them and grow them. And then once we get deep into the outdoor season, you know, when we get our soccer players back, our football players back, our basketball players back, the other multi-sport athletes that we have and put them along with those kids that have been grinding since indoor season, since the summer. Once we put that all together, that is where we start to have our success. Because again, like you said, that track is definitely an individualized sport. You know, everybody has their individual job that they have to do in their open events. But then you have, like, for instance, our girls four by two. It hasn't really been spoken on, but our girls four by two this year ran the fastest time in the history of class four A. A 142, it was a 142.25, something like that. That's the fastest time that's ever been run in the four by two in class four A. And that's that's four girls coming together and and and just grinding, you know. Uh, two of those girls are multi-sport athletes. Megan Dito plays basketball. Zarya Acker also plays soccer. You know what I'm saying? Madison Jacobs, who was part of uh the four by two early on in the season, she's a cheerleader. You know what I mean? And the girls just grind. Haley LeBeau is probably the only athlete in that group, and Harmony Walker, both of those two, that only run track. That's all they do. So growing those two girls, but then coming back on the other side and getting those two multi-sport athletes to grind as well, that's the part that really grows our program. When we have our multi-sport athletes come back and work really hard to catch up to where our full-time track athletes are.
SPEAKER_10Coach, now this might be in either running or in the field events, but and I know you in being a coach, you don't necessarily want to just limit yourself to one individual athlete on this team, but coach, who's your Corey McGee on this this team? Corey McGee being the former Olympian graduate from honestly.
SPEAKER_04Honestly, if I had to speak to one kid on that team right now that I always knew that at just about every event was gonna come in first, it had it's Samuel King. Samuel King is by far a standout. He's a freshman. He broke two class records, and this is this is it out of the field. Shot put, he 53-5 class record. Disc is 159-5 class record. But that's for him, that 159 was slight because the kid's thrown almost 170 this year. His PR on the season was was like 169-8, I believe. So I'm taking nothing away from any of the other athletes, because we have some phenomenal athletes, but if I had to speak to one kid that we knew every meet was gonna take first place, it was Samuel King.
SPEAKER_10Coach, let me ask you this, and of course, not calling out just one athlete, but but because I believe from the the records that I heard of the entire state that out of 200 of the discus throw was being challenged this year by the Wes Harrison kid. Do you think by the time Samuel graduates, do you think he'll throw the discus over 200?
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. Absolutely. He's a freshman. He still has three more years. As long as he stays healthy and continues to throw the way he's throwing, I feel like he'll throw well over 200 by the time he's a senior, and he'll throw over 60 and break both state records by the he'll own the state records well into his senior season. I think he'll break those before he even gets to his senior season.
SPEAKER_10On your other field events, your long jump, your triple jump, your high jump. Talk to me about you know the girls, the Jacobs girl or Paris. You know, talk to me about Paris. What you have seen them, how you've seen them grow.
SPEAKER_04Madison Jacobs. Now, Madison Jacobs is very special because I introduced her to triple jump at the end of the season last year. I mean, we were going into we were going into region, and I just I needed another triple jumper. And I only had one at the time. So one day at practice, I told her, I said, hey Madison, come down here to the pit. And and and I want to see something, you know. And at first she was skeptical. She was like, Coach, I can I can't triple. I was like, Yes, you can. I said, you're a cheerleader, you can jump, you're explosive, you're strong, you can handle triple jump. And one day at practice, like I said, I took her over there, she did a run through, and I showed her the phases, and she attempted it. And on her very first attempt, it was like 27 plus feet. And I knew immediately. I was like, that's all I needed to see. You can triple jump. And from then on, she just immediately started to explode. By the end of the season last year, she was at 36 feet. And then she competed over the summer. She she did very, very well in US USATF Junior Olympics. And then going through this season, she had a monster jump over in Biloxi. She jumped 37 feet eight, which broke our school record, who used to belong to Camden Skinner. She she had a phenomenal season. She did very, very well this season. And Paris Trevilian is a similar case. Last year, early in the outdoor season, I introduced him to triple jump. He had only been long jumping, and this kid has been long jumping since he was probably seven years old. So I've worked with him a lot coming out of middle school. We had to change some things because when you're young, the younger you are doing something, you get stuck in certain mechanics. So we corrected a lot of things for him in middle school as a long jumper. And then last year in his sophomore season, I said, Hey, Paris, I want to try you in triple jump. And early in the season, he was touching 40, 40-foot triple jumper, but I still already had three other guys. So I was using him last year in some open events: long jump, the 100, the open 200, and the four by two relay. So this year, with him being an all-star quarterback, I mean a sensational quarterback. I knew, hey, look, I have to keep him healthy. I can't do anything to jeopardize his future as far as football goes. So I just focused with him on long jump, triple jump, and running relays. And just just to just to throw this out there, the the four by one relay that he was a part of this year broke our school record. 4350, the fastest time in the history of the school. And then he also broke the triple jump and long jump record this year. His long his best long jump on the season was 22 feet five and a half. And at state, he broke the triple jump record jumping 46 feet two inches. And the kid, the kid has phenomenal work ethic. He pushes himself all the time. He takes care of his body. He's always locked in. I mean, watching those two kids grow as as jumpers is just been it's just been amazing to watch.
SPEAKER_10Coach, final question. What does the track team have coming back next year?
SPEAKER_04Man, the girls' team, nothing but strength. Uh that that entire all those girls that went to state this year will be coming back next year. That entire state champion, that second team runner-up, that entire team is coming back next year. We didn't graduate one senior. And on the boys' side, we have a few seniors that are going to graduate, but we're still very young, and we're going to come back stronger, bigger, and better next year.
SPEAKER_10Coach, we wish you the best of luck. You take care.
SPEAKER_04I appreciate you, honey.
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SPEAKER_10Next, we have my good friend and pine belt sports writer, Dale McKee. Dale hosts the Bruhaha on WABO 105.5 with Marshall Wood. Dale Give me your ex take on the expansion in the NCAA college basketball tournament as well as the potential change in college football playoffs.
SPEAKER_05Well, uh, I just don't like the fact in foot football you might get some eight to four teams. Um I don't know. I like it the way the the way it is now. Um I always thought it was wrong back in uh you know when I was growing up, man, they'd only take like 32 teams and you know you can only be a conference champ and and uh things of that nature. So I I think you know 64 or 68 now I think that's fine for basketball. I mean I guess uh for coaches they won't because of the fact that uh you know they put it on the resume of maybe it's CAA tournaments, you know. I mean I don't know, you know, I think is enough is enough, you know. Uh I think that uh, you know, maybe 16 and and football would be would would be good. There's always gonna be fussing as well because there is now uh, you know, or we're leaving out, you know, we think it's 68 and people still are fussing, you know. And they'll fuss if we go to 76, you know. Somebody was left out. So I guess I'm old school and I guess I'm college to be never followed about that. But uh sometime expansion is is is it's not good. It's it's not good.
SPEAKER_10What uh what do you think if this will have an impact, and let's just say they decide they want to do this in baseball too, Dale, what impact do you think this is gonna have an overall picture of the state of Mississippi?
SPEAKER_05Well, I think uh I I think if they do it in baseball, you're gonna probably see old Miss State Southern making it every year, you know. I've always I've said for the last three or four weeks on uh several uh of my uh uh buddies uh sports shows and uh even when I've been going to interviews with other newspaper writers or things like that, um y you know, Southern Miss always gets hot at high in May. I think they were like I think they're like 18 and 2 in conference play going into to this to this May and to this May they've done well well also, you know. And uh I don't really know how they did today on this Sunday afternoon. I'm traveling a little bit uh for Mother's Day, but uh I just know that they dominated the uh first two games. Well they didn't nominate Friday night, but they dominated yesterday.
SPEAKER_10They actually won today too as well. They won ten to five today.
SPEAKER_05So yeah. So they have uh they are always uh I think those three is really gonna help them. Basketball was I don't know. We could have had a hundred teams this year, and I don't think State or old Mr. Southern would have uh probably should have motivated it. Uh but I'm not sure about the other two this year. Um so you know, yeah, I mean, but you know, it it goes back to the football. You know, if you don't take twenty-four teams, you're you're gonna have eight and four team, isn't it? Okay. And you really want an eight and fourteen. You know, I I you know I'm you know the one thing I didn't like about the playoffs the last couple of years, the top four teams don't get to play at home. You know, I don't like that. I think they should be able to have the same atmosphere that old Mr. Tulane had this year, or AM in Miami, you know, or everywhere else hosted the playoffs game. I I just think that would I I think that would be cool to make sure that every team in the uh playoffs uh the outright teams get to host you know. And you know, sixteen is it's it's pretty simple. One plays sixteen in August and uh, you know, hopefully they can get it finished with before the Super Bowl, you know. That would be my hope too, also.
SPEAKER_10All right, my friend. Go ahead, go ahead. That's right. That's right. Well, uh my friend, you tell everybody how they get in touch with you.
SPEAKER_05Well, we uh we all approve aha show in Waynesboro. We we're uh in negotiation with buying two radio stations in in in Hannesburg and that should be done next month. And so we hope to be uh having to prove a hot down in that area also. It's an A and uh we uh the uh you can listen to us on we call whiteboards at the end of 5.5 FM and it's uh it's on the internet around the world and we also have uh shows uh on YouTube and uh usually about a couple hours after our show because it's six o'clock on Tuesday afternoon. Uh so we are we are uh honored to be on the show again and uh we always appreciate you uh to be on the show uh because you're always a great wish. Okay. A great guest when you're when you're uh in the reverse mode today. So we thank you.
SPEAKER_10We thank you, my friend. You take care of yourself.
SPEAKER_05Yes, sir. Thank you. Bye-bye.
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SPEAKER_10We will move to our next guest who really doesn't need much introduction from me is my good friend and super talk Mississippi news reporter, Caleb Saylors. Caleb covers all of the Mississippi colleges along with all the news for the state's largest media syndicate, Supertalk Mississippi News on Supertalk. And has the statewide Friday night football scoreboard show to report the scores. How are you, my friend? I'm doing great. How about yourself? Doing great, man. Doing great. We sorry we missed you last week. Uh, because you know, we're we're on spot hosted. Maybe if I uh you know uh spend some money and get you guys a room, you know, we'll uh we'll have you guys hang down here in the future. But that being said, uh talk to me, Caleb, about expansion, you know, not only with the college football playoffs potential, but with the official NCAA basketball tournament going up to 76. What impact would this have on not only throughout uh the nation, but in our state alone?
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I'll I'll preface this with saying I'll go to basketball first. Nobody asked for this. Not not one fan, not one member institution, nobody asked for this. So I don't think it's necessarily good for the game. Nobody wanted it now. Caveat is it will be good for Ole Miss, it will be good for Mississippi State, and it will be good for Southern Miss now that there are 76 teams in the NCAA tournament as opposed to 68. That's a a win for the member institutions of the NCAA and Mississippi. That's huge because now that's you know, eight more opportunities for them to get into the tournament. And then when you look at college football possibly branching out to 24 again, I heard your last guest mention teams that are eight and four getting into the the playoff. That's that's kind of ridiculous, honestly. But again, that eight and fourteen could be Ole Miss, that eight and fourteen could be Mississippi State. There could be a crazy Southern miss run where the Golden Eagles go 9-3, 10-2, and get considered for it. So I don't think it's necessarily good for the sport, but I do think it would be ultimately good for the state of Mississippi. And Hunter, look, I was at the very first college football playoff game ever in the state of Mississippi this past December in Oxford, and that atmosphere was second to none. I mean, broke a world record for the most Santa Claus hat ever worn in one venue at one time, and the place was crazy. It was rocking. So if we get more opportunities to do that in Mississippi and for the other schools to get to kind of taste and experience that, I think it'll be good for the state. But I do I am concerned with the motive behind these moves because it's not about the schools, it's not about the student athletes, it's not about the fans, it's about the bottom line, and that's money.
SPEAKER_10Talk to me, yeah, especially segueing on that, Kill, but talk to me about how the coaches and the ADs can't really be against this because this provides incentives for the conferences to have more teams in. And so even though they don't really like the overall complexion uh the composure of it, they are not necessarily publicly against it. Am I right?
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I I you know, Hunter, I remember Kermit Davis before he was no longer coaching at Ole Miss, back when he was still the head basketball coach in Oxford. Yeah, he um he he joking, well, he wasn't even joking. He said that he could envision the tournament expanding to 96 teams and said that might be good for the game. Now, people were like, well, that might be the only way his team could get in the tournament at this point. And so I I don't think any coaches or ADs would be on record opposing this. Like you said, more exposure means more money for the universities. I mean, look at the sweet 16 run Ole Miss made a year ago. That was huge for building the university's brand and image on a national scale in basketball, and much less all the other sports, people got to see Ole Miss, Ole Miss, Ole Miss advertise on one of the largest stages in college sports. So, of course, no AD or coach would go on record opposing this because it could be beneficial to their school, and it probably would be beneficial to their school, especially in Mississippi with two SEC programs. But you're right. I bet you deep down, though, they're probably thinking, like a Keith Carter, who's a basketball guy, played at Ole Miss, is probably thinking, yeah, the field's a little too saturated at that point. But again, they would never ever go on record saying that.
SPEAKER_10Well, and not only talk to me about this, Caleb, the city of Oxford must have made millions of dollars hosting that game in the college football playoff this year. Talk to me about that.
SPEAKER_07$80 million on our one football game. The only football game Ole Miss has ever played in Oxford in the in the month of December. $80 million. December's usually a pretty slow month for the city of Oxford, uh, economic uh impact-wise. You know, a lot of people go out of town, the students are gone, they're they're going back to their homes and wherever they're from. And so City of Oxford usually takes a pretty big hit during the month of December. Not this year, $80 million just in one weekend. Uh, and then that you look at Tupelo, Batesville, South Haven, even Memphis and Winona, Grenada, those areas around Oxford saw economic booms as well because people were booking up hotels, eating in restaurants, spending time with family and friends there. I mean, that was huge for North Mississippi.
SPEAKER_10Well, now let's talk about this. Now, this has not been mentioned, but of course, with the expansion uh from all these playoff brackets, uh, there's only got to be a guesstimation of the fact that this could include baseball too. Since we have three of the top university baseball teams in the nation right now, we could potentially host every year, you know, with an expansion of playoffs uh with the the NCAA brackets. Uh I mean, do you think there is going to be some push from the state of Mississippi institutions based on that?
SPEAKER_07I I don't know. I mean, I don't know if if the ADs will publicly push for it for it. I can see Southern Miz pushing for it because it's huge for the city of Hattiesburg, and baseball has such a profound impact on the University of Southern Mississippi's athletics department. But you know, I will say, Hunter, I do think the NCAA would be salivating to get regionals in all three Mississippi venues. I mean, look, a couple of seasons ago when it was basically a coin toss on who was going to host the super between Southern Miss and Tennessee, Hattiesburg got it. Southern Miss got it partially because of venue and restaurants, commodities around it. I know Knoxville's a huge city with a lot of people, but still that there was a lot of stock put into Pete Taylor Park. And I do think if there is an expansion of college baseball, which I don't envision happening anytime in the near future, though it's possible the NCAA kind of moved quickly with the March Madness expansion. I I would see you know the Mississippi schools if they're playing well, kind of to the way they're playing right now this current season, where all three are very much in the driver's seat at a chance of hosting. Absolutely. The NCAA would love to have you know over 6,000 people at Pete Taylor Park, over 16,000 people at Duty Noble Field, and over 12,000 people at Swayze Field. I mean, that'd be a no-brainer, a win for the NCAA, a win for college baseball, and a huge win for Mississippi. Caleb, tell everybody how they can get in touch with you. You can find me on X, Caleb Saylors STM. Find me on Facebook, Instagram, all the other social media just by looking up my name. I'm easy to find. And most importantly, supertalk.fm.
SPEAKER_10We thank you, my friend. And I want to say this before you get off. You're doing a great job, and we gratefully appreciate all that you guys do for us.
SPEAKER_07Oh man, Hunter, you're the man.
SPEAKER_10I appreciate you, brother. Take care.
SPEAKER_07Thank you, man.
SPEAKER_10The 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 coast residents who already know where to find the stories that matter to them. I would love to introduce my good friend and award-winning WLOX, ABC, CBS News Anchor and Multimedia Director, Matt DGorio. How are you, my friend?
SPEAKER_08How's it going, honey?
SPEAKER_10Let's talk about before you know what uh what you've been up to the last uh you know two weeks. Let's talk about, I know today the Biloxi Shuckers, they had to split the the series out uh after the rain, you know, tsunami that came through here uh the last two days. Uh just talk to me about that and how they look.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, it's a good question because the Shuckers, we haven't seen them for a couple days now. Uh, you know, coming into the season, a lot of people thought the starting pitching was going to carry this team. The starting pitching has been one of the worst starting pitching units, and not just the Southern League, but all double AA baseball. It seems like every single game that they pitch, they're allowing runs in the first inning. I mean, you're starting off bad every time. The bats have been exceptional. The bat led by Jesus Bidet, who will shortly, within the next two weeks, become the number one prospect in all of baseball. He's been fantastic. Blake Burke just became the uh fastest shucker to ever reach 10 home runs uh in a single season. So you have bats that are that are really providing Damon Keith, another one of those guys batting over three thirty so far in the season. There's a lot of guys that you can be extended for in the offensive end. You're just waiting for the pitching to come around. They just fell in another series to the Columbus Clay Stones. You don't wow you with their prospect pool. So I think the truckers, yeah, they need to start getting some charger pitching here if they want to start to have the type of season that many thought would uh would happen down here in Bloxy.
SPEAKER_10What about uh Tyson Harden, who uh Mr. State product? Uh how does he look so far?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, Tyson Harden pitched on Sunday. He pitched in the game too. Uh he was he was roughed up. Luke Widell recently backed down from AAA in the brave system. He killed the shuffers over the years. Um he had a single in the first inning that was an RBI, and then he had a hit a grand slam off of Harden in the third inner the second inning, excuse me. So, I mean, he got roughed up. He left six earned, I believe, maybe seven earned in this one, six earned in this one through just the first two innings of work. Um, Hardy was a guy that the Brewers were really excited about coming into the year, and he just hasn't lived up to expectations. Bishop Lepton, another guy, uh Jaron DeBerry, another guy, all with uh projected arms that should be big league talent. They just have not been uh uh the type of players that the Brewers thought that they were getting so far this year.
SPEAKER_10Now, Matt, let's talk about the big thing, something that I know you've enjoyed for the last week. The Saints rookie OTA camps. Talk to me about that with the minicamps.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, the minicamp was uh fascinating because there's only one rookie quarterback in. I mean, you got Tyler Shuck, Spencer Rowler, and Zach Wilson already in the building. So you don't really need any other quarterbacks. Uh Braylon Braxton from Southern Mets, he was the one rookie in attendance at a really, really good local pro day with the Saints. I asked Helen Moore, the head coach of the Saints, about him, why they elected to bring him in. Like, what was enticing about Braxton's game? And they said they wowed him in that local pro day. Um so they gave him the chance to come in. He was alongside Kyle Trapped, the former second-round pick from the Tampa Mid Buccaneers. Many uh many people know him from his time with the Florida Gators. He was uh he was fine, like didn't wow you at all. Easton stick, a former Chargers quarterback recently with the Falcons last year. He didn't wow you. Braxton uh missing a couple throws, but I mean you can see that the talent's there. Now, maybe not at the NFL level. We'll see. Maybe the fans decide to use him in the Hunter Deckers role, bring him in as a young guy, try to develop him, get him some familiarity with the league, and bring him in as a fourth quarterback in training camp. Like maybe that avenue, but it seemed like Kellen Moore was just kind of doing him a solid, bringing him in, getting him in a room just to let him know uh what the NFL was like and maybe try to look somewhere else for an opportunity. Um the quarterback side of things. On the draft picks side of things, Barry and Brown and Jordan Tyson really wowed. I think uh Jordan Tyson did have a drop, but I mean it's rookie minicamp, so it's gonna happen with who's throwing the ball. Um Jordan Tyson, you can just see the athleticisms there. Barry and Brown, you can see the athleticisms there. Brown is going to be an exceptional return. I actually think they can put him in the slot uh like he was at Kentucky, and he played in some snaps there at LSU like that as well, and and really make an impact for this team.
SPEAKER_10What about uh I'm not sure if he was there or not, but uh from what had been released, Xavien Harris from Old Miss was on the undrafted free agents. What's uh what's his story?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, so so Xavier's currently battling injury. He was officially signed to the Saints on Friday afternoon. He was in the building, I was told, but we did not see him. Um he did not practice with the team because he is still banged up. I think he's a real candidate to make this roster. Um I think like when when Saints fans see just what he can do, like he just runs backfields, but also he gets to the quarterback. Like, there's a lot of defensive tackles now who are just run stoppers. Damien does more than that. Z can get to the outside, get a guy, uh a dual threat type of quarterback like a Michael Penix, or I mean, I know Baker Mantra's not your stereotypical dual threat, but like those types of players and get there and really blow up plays. And I think that that's something that the Saints have been missing. Chase Young is a motor that gets straight to the quarterback on the outside. So I think he complements that really nicely in the Saints goal.
SPEAKER_10Well, when we get to the theme of this show, we're talking about expansion. Obviously, that they've had the talks about the college football play. Playoff expansion to 24 teams. And now, inefficially, the NCAA March Madness college basketball bracket has increased to 76 teams. Talk to me what your thoughts on that are.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I I actually, you know, I'm I was very surprised that it passed. Um I'm just sorry, there's a train in the background right now, but I was very surprised that it passed. Um the number of teams that pretty much broken saying that they did not want that. You know, it makes sense. Like the money's gonna be there for the NCAA. Like that makes a massive difference. Right. When the NCAA is making money, they're gonna be they're gonna be happy, and then the product of this is gonna bring, they're gonna be driving a lot more revenue than to come out with the massive. I mean, how the masculine is the second biggest score in community that public behind football. So when you have them like an ethic and an ethic, you know, when you look at the colours game, all of you through the score, I don't necessarily think so because I don't think you're necessarily gonna make the best thing winning the tournament, or the best team getting into the final course, they have to go through that extra game now. Um and and really if they don't decide to let in more of the uh schools, like like in your XYZ, your starting medicine, teams from the conference US medicine, teams from the Sundal, you're gonna lose a lot of interest from from your um hometown fans because it's gonna be Kentucky, who is a just barely above 500 teams, making their way into the tournament, most likely to lose in around one.
SPEAKER_10Matt, tell everybody how they get in touch with you.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, you can follow me on Twitter, Matt und DiscordGeario. You can watch us every night at 10 o'clock on WOX ABC and TBS on the Mississippi Golf Coast.
SPEAKER_10We thank you very much, my friend.
SPEAKER_13The following is the paid advertisement by O'Doire Realty Agent Stephanie Mankowitz. Call Stephanie today at 228-563-0471 for all your Realty needs.
SPEAKER_10And here we are talking about Realty again with our O'Dwyer Realtor Agent sponsor, Stephanie Mankowitz. Let's talk about the tips this week from Stephanie about what realtors should be doing for you.
SPEAKER_11Thank you, Hunter. As always, it's a pleasure to review realtor topics and uh hopefully it helps people, right? So, what should we do we be doing for you, the buyer or the seller? First thing I would say is, and it's in the actual disclosure everybody signs when they work with an agent, is ensure all parties are represented fairly and honestly. It's called fair and honest dealings. And if I'm helping you or anyone out before I can even show you a house, you know, you sign that disclosure. It's not even a contract, it protects you as a person, and I'm supposed to explain that for him to you and say, hey, before we do anything real estate, I am licensed, I am liable, I am here to help you, give you fair and honest dealings, get the most I can for your house, confidentiality. I'm not gonna, if you're a seller, I'm not gonna tell people your bottom line, that's a secret. So, um, so we'll start with that. The first thing is that we are fair, and sometimes realtors get a bad rap, and sometimes there's realtors that have caused that. But uh, I know I'm one of the realtors that considers myself pretty by the book and just trying to solve the problem. I just want to be part of the solution, right? So if you're selling a puppy or Avon, whatever it is, there's liabilities when you're selling a house times three times ten. Okay. All right, well, I would say uh another thing we do, we we make sure that the people who maybe they were they've never sold a home before, or they've never bought a home before, we make sure that we weed through the shaky buyers or the sellers, buyers that maybe aren't a good idea to deal with, we can see problems coming before they start when a realtor's been doing this 10 years. And if it is a buyer, we're also looking for sellers that might be a problem. You know, if we're putting in a really healthy offer and it's like full price or near full price, and then we hear there's a multiple offer situation, it doesn't mean you panic. You know, sometimes you leave your offer right where it is, even though there's other offers. So we're making we're weeding through the shakiness and the things that come up that seem unpredictable. And one of the other unpredictable things, like for sellers, is you know, they get an offer and it's got 10 contingencies on it, and the price looks great, and they say they're cash, but there's all these contingencies, so um, you know, you're not you're not really aware how much we help you until you actually deal with a good realtor. That's one thing I would say, and and we want to help them determine the value that's correct if they're selling.
SPEAKER_10What are some of the things that determine the value?
SPEAKER_11Oh, okay, that's a good one. Let's start with location. You know the old saying, location, location, location. All right. Uh let's start with what are things selling for around you? If you're in a nice neighborhood and and you think your house is a castle, we all kind of feel like that when we love our home. Doesn't mean it's worth three times what the market says. Uh so people will hear realtors say, well, the market says your house is worth this. And some sellers don't want to accept that. No, no, it's it's got to be worth more. I've got a double granite countertop, I've got a fountain that shoots out gold in the backyard, and I've got three kittens with it. So I think I should get a hundred thousand more. And we have to rein people in and say, I love your kittens, I love your granite. And the last year in your neighborhood, people have paid this amount, and though, and that's where we start thinking like an appraiser. So we're like, okay, wait, we can go out two miles and look at the last sales in the last year within two miles of this property, and we can see what people have been paying. And we also have look at the square footage, and that's really important, Hunter, because if your house is 2,000 square feet and you saw one sell for a million and it had 3,000 square feet, and you're like, Well, mine's worth that too. You're a thousand square feet smaller, so I can't even count that house as a comparable sale, right? When we determine the value is the critical, probably the most critical thing we do as your listing agent, because that price is the first thing they see, just like the pictures. And if we priced you so high that you seem ridiculous, they're not coming. And then guess who you don't like? Me, the realtor. You don't like me anymore. So I'm kind of an upfront realtor. I think a lot of us are after we've been in a while. And we say, look, in all honesty, right now, this is what the market says your house is worth. Other things we're gonna help you with is um determining what is the inside of the house worth. Um, appraisals are gonna change next year across the country, and there will be different data inputs into determining what your house is worth. So we're gonna be on top of that. Um, and so if you're trying to sell on your own, you know, we can be really helpful and deal with all these unexpected things that happen when you try to uh sell on your own. Um you know, we've talked about sellers a lot, so okay, I'm just gonna put this out there. If you're thinking of selling on your own, that some of the things we're doing for you, the seller, to make it easier is photos, professional photos. We pay for those. A lot of our photographers have drones. We're taking the calls because it's our number on the sign. So if it's a looky loo, it's not an ideal buyer. We've got our radar out there, so we're taking that hassle, you know, out of it.
SPEAKER_10If you are thinking about selling on your own, maybe ask Steph. If you would like to talk to Stephanie to help determine your next steps, call today at 228-563-0471 or call her at the office and ask for Steph at 228-452-4242. Steph has the latest information to help you get through the process with reasonable expectations. Again, that's 228-563-0471 to speak directly with Stephanie. We gratefully appreciate you listening to this podcast, and we always thank you again, Jeff. It was a great show, and I think it's only going to get better. We want to thank all of our sponsors, the Beau Revise Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Nine Toes, Brewery and Pascal Shan, McGuire Realty Agent, and Stephanie Megwitz, Joseph Kelly, an attorney law, Coast Casual and Pascal Shan, Pascal Shannon Rotary Club is a Paddle of the Bay fundraiser, the insurance barn in Gulf War, Gulf Coast Veteran Association's carry the load on May the 20th, and the U.S. Marine Inc. Jeff, what uh how did you feel so far about today?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, man, it was a great show. You know what I like, Hunter, is I like that you always, always, always start the show off with a high school coach, someone, even someone local here on the coast usually talk about high school sports, and we talk about you know college sports. We didn't have Mitch on today, but a lot of times we talk about Saints and Pro Sports. It's a really uh well-balanced show. So always good, man.
SPEAKER_10Yeah, we was definitely a uh I tried to make it a little bit more local. And also too, you know, we uh there's Mother Day's Day holiday. There's a lot of people doing a lot of things with their their folks and all that. And I think that that's the most important thing is that uh, you know, we show the the family appreciation, and of course they are guests, uh we don't keep them on very long anyway, Jeff.
SPEAKER_06Right on, man. Yeah, man, and uh as always, you can find us in all the podcast spots. Uh Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon, iHeart. Uh we're listed in all the podcast directories. If you you listen to your podcast somewhere and you're not getting us, uh drop us a line, let us know. Tell them, tell them, you know, Hunter, you're always asking people how they can get in touch with you. Tell people or how we can get in touch with them. Tell people, our listeners, how they can get in touch with you.
SPEAKER_10Absolutely, absolutely. Well, of course, you can follow on the gazeboazette.com. You can post anything on Facebook.com backslash the real gazebo gazette. Or you can reach me at on X at Gazebo Gazette is the handle. Or you can reach me um on my telephone number, which is the main paper number, the area code 228-224-6781. Or you can, you know, any of my three emails, the editor at thegazeboazette.com, hunt67 at gmail.com, uh hdockins at supertalk.fm. Those are the easiest ways, Jeff, to be able to get in touch with me.
SPEAKER_06And I'm always uh at the Jeff Clark on Instagram, uh just Jeff Clark on Facebook, and you can email me at Jeff Clarkmedia at gmail.com.
SPEAKER_10Awesome, awesome. The HD Experience, as Jeff said, is available on all podcasts, including Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Amazon Music all under the HD Experience tag. Signing out, this is Hunter Dawkins, the host of the HD Experience, we'll catch you on the side.