The HD Experience Episode 45: Red Cards Shook Me All Night Long

The HD Experience Episode 45:  Red Cards Shook Me All Night Long

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:

• Chris Handy - Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Men's Soccer Coach
• Matt "Stats" Toth - Mississippi Gulf Coast High School Sports Analyst, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Broadcast
• Heath Hinton - Editor, Big Gold Nation, Southern Miss Beat Reporter 
• Steve Robertson - Mississippi State Beat Writer, host of The Boneyard, 247 sportswriter, 7 time author, Owner of genespage.com
• Cesar Munoz - Jambalaya News of New Orleans

Transcript

SPEAKER_09 0:00

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SPEAKER_00 0:23

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SPEAKER_13 2:17

Good afternoon. My name is Hunter Dawkins. I am the host of the award-winning podcast, The HD Experience. This is the 45th episode of Mississippi Gulf Coast Sports podcast sponsored by the Gazebo Gazette, Harrison County's independent newspaper, the Beau Revage Resort and Casino in Biloxi, which we'll be updating the advertisement stuff here in the future, Nine Toes Brewing Company in Pasch Christian with their live music every weekend. O'Dwyer, Realty Agent, Stephanie Makowitz, Joseph Kelly's attorney at law, coast casual in Pasch Christian, who has having some great summer deals, insurance barn in Gulfport, and we're 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, award-winning journalist, South Alabama beat writer, the Harrison County Senior Services Director, and as well, my good friend Jeff. How are you, my friend?

SPEAKER_11 3:36

I'm well, Hunter. What a big weekend. The big 250 for America. Like my one of my favorite Chicago songs, Saturday in the Park. It was actually the 4th of July, it was on a Saturday this year. Went down to Nine Toes, down to the Bungalows area. There was a big uh the Freedom Fest, Flat Franks and Freedom Fest was going on, sponsored by Nine Toes Coast Casual, you know, Street Vendors, live music, hot dog eating contest. It was great, man. It was a great day. You know, Kirk and Bach were down there, like all the folks. It was a good time.

SPEAKER_13 4:12

You know, Jeff, seeing your pictures that you sent to me and that I posted, I you really couldn't tell the difference between that and Rockaway Beach in New New York. I mean, just talk to me about that.

SPEAKER_11 4:28

I know uh yesterday on uh on the 4th of July, I know Joey Chestnut, I think he ate 66 hot dogs uh for uh to win in his uh in the Nathan's event, but man, the uh the the nine toes, the the Tyler Kidd event was was awesome, man. There were a lot of people who entered it. Um, you know, lots and lots of people were down there watching it. So the winner was Brandon, and I texted Ty down at Nine Toes, was like, uh, hey, what's Brandon's last name? He's like, man, all he put on his uh on his registration form was Brandon, the hot dog eating champion, and he lived up to that. So, you know, it was it was great, man. It was there were so many people down there. Uh I'm sure they're gonna do it again next year. Uh Coast Casuals got a thing coming up July 18th, another like nighttime walk and shop and sip and drink and kind of stuff, man. So there's you know, the Caitlin and Tyler always got stuff going on down in that part of the world. It's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_13 5:28

Jeff, our theme for the day is another song that I know you really appreciate. Red cards shook me all night long, basically based on the ACDC famous Shook Me All Night Long song, with a little discussion about the penalties in soccer games and football games, or as you would say, uh not uh football did North T Americano. So, but uh talk to me about that, and especially since you watched the World Cup match and again, man.

SPEAKER_11 6:03

I can't the these people are paid advertisers, so any opportunity I have to mention them, I'm going to. Me and Charlie and I, we go down to nine toes. We've been there for every uh game team USA has played in. Uh it was wild last Wednesday night, man. There were so many people in there when USA was playing, who are they playing in? Portugal, uh no, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Yeah. And uh, you know, tomorrow, Monday night, um, they'll be playing Belgium. So, you know, man, my my my thing about penalties, I've seen what I consider to be some not so great calls in the World Cup that I've watched, not just against Team USA or in Team USA matches, but just overall. But, you know, I I I I as an SEC fan, I think officiating in the SEC is probably at an all-time low. And I'm not whining because I'm an Alabama fan, you know, don't don't don't start writing me the hate mail. It has nothing to do with that, but I just feel like officiating in the SEC has gotten really bad. And uh hey man, anytime I have a chance to mention this, I will. Officiating literally cost the New Orleans Saints an appearance in the Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_13 7:19

Well, and that's one of the things that this this episode is partially going to discuss is how sometimes, not all the time, almost all the time, officiating is not really something that determines the game's outcome. Well, and it didn't really determine the game's outcome in the U.S. Bosnia, but it could have presented a future, although I heard that the player striker, U.S. striker, the red card ban suspension was uh lifted today. But that being said, we'll talk more with our guests about that. And I look forward to uh to to get on with these guys pretty soon, Jeff.

SPEAKER_11 8:04

Yeah, again, I I think in any in any sporting activity, you want to set yourself up for success so that you're not like, you know, that so that officiating's not gonna cost you a game or or this or that, but it does. And it's gotta be like super frustrating for for the, you know, I mean, it was frustrating for Sean Payton. It was frustrating for us as Saints fans. Um, but yeah, I I I don't know the answer to that. I do like in baseball, you know, I feel like baseball officiating's gotten better, it's come along more in the modern age, but uh we'll see. But you got a lot of great guests today who have a lot more things to say than I do, so let's go to our first commercial break and we'll be right back.

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SPEAKER_01 9:17

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SPEAKER_13 9:55

I would love to introduce my first guest, the 15-year head coach of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Ben's Soccer Team. Chris Handy, coach, how are you?

SPEAKER_10 10:09

I'm doing good. When you say 15 years, it makes it feel old. Longevity is also uh definitely a positive thing for sure.

SPEAKER_13 10:20

Coach, the first question would be you've had a lot, a large group of players recently, especially move on to the next level. Where do you find these players? And is it from high school coaches or teams? And you know, how do you grab the international players?

SPEAKER_10 10:39

Well, I mean, that's an interesting question. I mean, the for those that don't know that much about our conference, our conference is great. You know, it is a great mix of in-state kids and international kids who have kind of mixed in. Um, so for us in the work that we've done over the last 15 years, for the guys that have moved on, it's about half and half those kids, half uh half Mississippi kids and uh half internationals that end up moving on. Um and so, like for this particular group that just got off, they're very, very proud of, you know, the the Coast kids are well represented within that group. Um, and so we're really, really proud of those guys that were kind of homegrown. The internationals, um, you know, to be honest with the internationals are easier to recruit than than the Coast kids are a lot of ways because they're very eager to get over. Um, and so it's a lot of watching videos, uh a lot of people reaching out to us um just to say, hey, look at my kid. Um, they have representatives a lot of time. So it's just a lot of film study, to be honest with you. You know, sometimes it's gut feeling, sometimes it's just contacts and people that we trust.

SPEAKER_13 11:44

What's what about your relationship with the local high schools? I mean, do you have a pretty good solid at least from certain areas, or is it mainly the select team coaches as well?

SPEAKER_10 11:58

Um, I mean, at this point, uh 15 years in, I think when I first got here, you had to spend a lot of time relying on, you know, getting word of mouth who do you know is good, blah, blah, blah. After 15 years, you start to find out who's good already when they're about 14 or 15. You know, and by the time that you come to the recruitable age, you know, they've played for two or three coaches already. You know what I mean? So it is um, in the way that our conference has really grown, the recruiting process starts at like sophomore year a lot of times. And you see a kid that pops, I'm heavily involved in the select clubs. A lot of the other uh conference coaches are as well. And so you just end up kind of word of mouth a lot of times. Um, and then in the culture that we've built at Gulf Coast, it is, you know, a lot of players saying, hey, this guy fits our culture. You need to go after him. Um, and then the players are doing a really, really good job now of reaching out to the programs that they they like. Um, different from years past, when I first got here 15 years ago, uh the players that are growing up now are looking forward to going JUCO, particularly the elite ones, as opposed to where it used to be, where they're like, Coach, I'll come if I don't make a D1, if I don't make it D2, the majority, 95% know they're going JUCO as they enter high school and they're already starting to try to get on your radar.

SPEAKER_13 13:25

Now, I'm not trying to throw you under the radar on here these next few questions, but since you have a little bit of expertise in men's soccer, taking the theme off this episode, discuss with me about the rules and differences, and not only me, the audience as well, between red cards and yellow cards.

SPEAKER_10 13:49

Uh well, it's I mean, yellow, it's pretty simple. Yellow card's a warning, red card is uh, you know, you're done. Um, you know, the like especially the international game, you know, it's a little bit tighter than it is a college game, right? In the international game, if you get like two in a tournament, that's that's kind of a suspension. Um, you know, in junior college, if you get two in a game, it's suspension, but you can get up to five before you're suspended a game uh as far as yellow cards. Red cards, you get a red. Um, you know, you're supposed to sit the next game if it's a violent red, which is something you know outside the the rules of the game. Um so okay, it's a punch, it's an elbow, it's something like that. Um, it could be multiple games, it could be two games, it could even extend from there.

SPEAKER_13 14:37

Coach, talk to me about now. I know this will be a little bit, you know, I'm not necessarily sure how much obviously I know you've got a lot of experience, but with the similarity of rulings that are made at the NJCCA soccer level and somebody like FIFA, well, is there any similarity in the way they make rules on that?

SPEAKER_10 15:01

Or is there, you know, well, I mean, I I assume you're talking about like the recent news of Balan Goon getting unsuspended or whatever. Uh that would never happen. Yeah you know, uh that is not something that would happen. I don't think even like there's been times where I have, you know, I, you know, being the kind of the older guy in the league, I get sent video all the time. Like coaches is not a red card or coaches is a red card. And my usual statement is just like, hey, there's nothing we can do about it, the game's over. So the idea that I've never heard in yes, 15 years at Gulf Coast, 20 years of college coaching. Um, I've never heard of a red card being rescinded. So this is all very new, you know what I mean? But our game is not money driven. Um, there's no politics in it. It's just simply well, at least not at your level.

SPEAKER_13 15:50

At the Division I level, there might be a little bit more money.

SPEAKER_10 15:53

At Division One level is definitely money driven, which is why I love Juco, to be honest with you. So the, I mean, the idea that you can resend, even though I felt the same way a lot of people felt, like it was a bit of a harsh threat to even call a foul on the play. But, you know, once the game's over, the game's over and you kind of live with the consequences of it. Um it's kind of just the sport of it. Um, you know, being a US fan, was I excited that you know he had the potential to play? Absolutely. But do I think the right thing to do is to be going behind the game and changing the yellow card? Are we gonna change goals now? I think that's that's a good of a stretch when it comes to sport. Sure.

SPEAKER_13 16:30

Is playing in the fall, and I know this has probably been a question you've been asked before, but is playing in the fall instead of in the winter difficult in relation for the players down here versus the international players who are used to that?

SPEAKER_10 16:49

I don't think so. Soccer's really become a year-round sport now. Um, you know, the like a lot of our incoming freshmen are a lot of our sophomores that are returning, spend the summer playing on summer league teams and that kind of stuff. These guys never stop. To be honest with you, you know, and we say this to a lot of recruits, we say this to a lot of uh our players, you know, we want them to try to take some breaks, but our off-season a lot of time is harder than our season, you know, because they're like you're in offseason, you're not playing games. You know, before you play a game, you have a rest day before and you have a rest day after. And off season is just full go all the time. So, you know, the interesting thing about coming in the fall, the hardest part is just trying to speed up that learning curve. You know, probably the most interesting year that we've ever had was the COVID year where we played in the spring. And basically you had four months to develop players. And that was a really, really fun year. Um, you know, what I want to do that, you know, year after year, I'm not sure. Um, but I think, you know, with the international players coming in, depending on which country they're coming from, I think the thing that they struggle with most is just acclimating to the weather, how hot it is, how physical it is. Um, you know, particularly our game that's so up and down uh because of the free substitution, they don't really have that overseas. Um, so the hard part for them is to realize how much pressure they're under constantly because everyone's playing in a high press, because everyone can sub off. That is probably the hardest transition as opposed to just kind of the time of year that we play.

SPEAKER_13 18:18

Coach, final question: what kind of relationship do you have with these Division I coaches? Obviously, pretty decent because you had a number of players in the last few years, you know, move up that level. And especially though, his this change with the NIL area, as we spoke about.

SPEAKER_10 18:38

Yeah, I mean, we're still trying to figure out the ramifications of like the changes, not even just the NIL, but also the roster limitations, which is kind of probably the biggest thing that kind of affects us, is you know, if we have a guy that's kind of on uh the bubble of a Division I player, uh, but he has the experience of our league. Sometimes you can sneak him onto a roster and say, hey, just give him a chance and approve himself. That's not really happening anymore. Now we have to send ready, made players to the division one level and say, hey, they're gonna be ready to go day one. But, you know, the division ones aren't recruiting freshmen like that anymore. So our guys are also becoming a little bit more valuable. They're coming out with grades, um, they're coming out with experience. You know, one of the things that I've always preached to the Division Ones when I talk to them is the guys that you're getting out of our program and some of the other programs in the state are guys that have been responsible for winning from day one, you know, as opposed to say a freshman or a transfer that hasn't been able to get on the field as much, which is why they're transferring, they're not responsible for helping their team win. You know, if we don't win a game, it's because our players didn't play well. Usually sometimes we mess it up as coaches, but um, usually they didn't play well. So they have to get better and they know that, and that's where our players are coming out ready-made. As far as our so uh so-called connections, yeah, yeah, we know lots of people at Division I, you know, when you've been in this game as long as we have, you know, we have former players that are coaching at the division one level. Um, you know, that helps a lot. You just have friends that are coaching at the division one level, that helps a lot. But really and truly nowadays, it's just about the amount of work that we're willing to put in to find our kids a place. Um, in addition to that, um, you know, there is four-year so expensive um that the most important thing that our players can do is come in and get their education and post that high GPA. Um, and that does have to work for us. Star Goods have some of the best grades in the state. Um, and so now we can talk to Division I and say, hey, come give our kid, you know, 20%, 50%, let their academics do the rest of the work, and then you got a really, really good player for a cheap cost. But we've also been doing this, like you said, beginning 15 years. You know, so going way back to Jordan Paul, who's now a women's assistant coach, you know, who's a star player for us when he was scoring goals for UConn Rutgers 10 years ago now, our name was already has been built. Um, and so we have a lot of history to look back on for us to say, hey, we do know how to develop the player. We do know a player that can contribute. Um, and so over our last you know 15 years to put double-digit kids at the division one level, that having that high reputation um has been really, really important for us to get our kids across the finish line.

SPEAKER_13 21:25

Coach, we greatly appreciate you being on. And we hope you guys have a really great, successful season, and we hope we'll have you on again.

unknown 21:33

All right.

SPEAKER_13 21:34

Thank you. I appreciate it. Take care. The Gazebo Gazette is Harrison County's only independent newspaper. Publishing news from Gulfport, debate 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 thegazebo Gazette.com. Add your name. A digital audience of 250,000 plus coastal residents who already know where to find the stories that matter to them.

SPEAKER_07 22:07

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SPEAKER_13 22:56

I would love to introduce my friend and one of the experts in high school football across the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Follow through Twitter and Facebook, Mad Stats. How are you, my friend?

SPEAKER_05 23:14

Hey, Hunter, it's great to be on the award-winning HD uh experiment, experiment, HD podcast. And uh congratulations on the award. You and Jeff are doing a great job coming up on a year uh of doing the podcast, and it is certainly getting around, not just on the coast, but statewide. Uh and congratulations on that and happy uh I say happy birthday, happy birthday to the USA. So great time of the year.

SPEAKER_13 23:38

Absolutely. And we thank you, Matt. And you know, as we've been talking about, you know, with these discussions, at least uh, you know, with Coach Handy, at least in the Mississippi Gulf Coast soccer, uh, you know, also too, I want to ask you a little bit of historical, you know, conferences at least that we talked about. Talk to me about the past conferences of teams on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, because you know, we're trying to see where this is going to happen, at least after not so much this year, but after next year, when you have the multipliers that are instituted, at least for the private schools. Is there any real history of conferences uh for teams on the Mississippi Gulf Coast?

SPEAKER_05 24:24

As far as they have different airs, I bring it up every year. I just put up the the state champions from 1981 when this current format is being uh played since 1981. And every time I do and say Golfport, you know, just won their first state championship. I'm certainly corrected by the fans. No, Gulfport has, you know, three to four state championships. Well, not in this era. They had an era, and I have it break it down on the Facebook page, where 1920s and 1949, they did have early playoff experiment uh experiments there between those dates. And in 1950 to 1980, they did have conference eras, which they had Pascal Goula uh conference, which they had uh teams, you know, with with the Iberville, East Central. I mean, they had a lot of uh winning ways there. You know, Buddy Singleton coached at the Iberville, that's where he earned his his uh winning ways there, but they didn't have a uh system to where they decided the a state championship. They didn't have a statewide like they do now, the north versus the south. Here's your state champion. They did have, and I explained it, you know, in what I did post on the Facebook page. So they did have champions then, but were they state champions? They do have trophies because they posted it on my Facebook page, you know, hey, we got a golden ball, but it's not, I don't want to say technically, and we're not we're certainly not just you know saying you didn't win one, but in this era from 1981 to currently, this is a system how it's done. We do recognize as I posted on on the Facebook page, and I have, you know, like I say, Big Eight uh conference they had there, you know, that's when Golfport Pascagoula, that's when you're talking about when they won state champions uh chips. So we have a lot of history on the on the coast. And like I say with the Big Eight, the other uh Pascagoula conference, so a lot of great teams that were were back then, and we don't want to overshadow them, overlook them. It's great to have those players and coaches acknowledged.

SPEAKER_13 26:25

Well, and that's a segue, great segue, you know, Matt. We're talking about you know, the state championships were not determined then. However, there were these regional matchups, was their schedules made based on the conferences, or were there just schools just made up whoever they were gonna play at this time frame? Do you remember?

SPEAKER_05 26:49

No, well, I mean, again, it it's it's posted on on the Facebook where they have the latest one, last one in 1980, George County won uh that conference, Golf Coast Conference, you know, over Ocean Springs, Long Beach, Ayrsha Central Stone. There's five in that that division there. And part of what I posted, which kind of explains uh exactly what how it was breaking down in those certain areas, in that from 1970 to 1980, if I could find it here, as I just had it up here. But so, yes, there is there's definitely a certain the way they did it, the criteria on how they decided. Here it is, right here. From 1950 to 80, teams played large regional conference, Big Eight, DeSoto, Apache Pine Belt. The goal was to win your conference, not a state title. Postseason football through was through the bowl game, shrimp bowl. I remember Adam Bellex, they still kind of have one. They're red carpet bowl, sports writers selected uh mythical state champions, is what how they worded on my Facebook page. Big eight champs were often viewed as the unofficial large school state champions before 1981. And that's how state state titles were media-based, not playoff based. That was between 1950 and 1980. And then, of course, currently it changed in 1981 and based on you know actually started 1A, 2A, and now it's one through seven as we know it now. The brackets, first round, all the way up to state championship, is decided on the field. And so, you know, it's just a more statewide where between 1950 and 1980, you had your bowl games and you didn't have a North versus a South, and say, okay, this is your state champion in 1A, 5A, 6A, and so forth. So uh, and again, it's on my Facebook page, and we certainly, like I say, don't deny that they won championships. Was it state championships? They again, I've seen pictures where it says 19, I think, 75, Gulfport won a state championship. It's not in the same, you know, as it is now, but still great teams, you know, that we have had and still have on the coast.

SPEAKER_13 28:59

Well, the final question, my friend, and I know it's just a little bit short-lived, but this might be a little seem like a little bit of a curveball, but did these conferences, were they run by an officiating organizations that you know of? Was there a sort of a the Big Eight conference had a determination of how the rules, the officials, and things as such were made, or was there just uh a kind of just a group of donors or so brought together? That's what my big question was, because obviously with the discussion about referees and penalties and things like that. That was also a question I had for me on my mind. I'm not sure how well you know that.

SPEAKER_05 29:47

Yeah, I'm not sure, you know, as far as when the the MHSAA, which is Mississippi Athletic, you know, association, what was covered over those, you know, since 1920s when they started the first school started here on the coast. I don't know the exact uh who was governing those those teams, you know, and and how that was decided. But again, I know it was, you know, there was not a state champion uh decided again, how I just mentioned about the bowl games. And you know, people bring up about college football, where before now we have these playoff systems. Well, the teams that won prior to that, you know, we're not gonna uh uh not recognize that this team won a national championship in the 60s or 70s because now the playoff system is different. So they're trying to say it the same way. Now we got 1981 to current. We recognize those state champions to where back before 1980, you know, we'll still recognize them, but I don't when I put out my information, I don't put out golf court has won five state champions, they've won one state champion in this era. I do put in the little corner existed, uh established in 1981. So uh, you know, we'll have that set there. And speaking of state champions, I did post, and which I don't know if you're aware of, I think I believe I shared it with you. We knew the location, Mississippi State. The state championships will be decided as they always are the for the week after Thanksgiving, December 3rd, 4th, and 5th. The times have have changed as they do every year, the time as far as the teams and when they play. Golfport last year finished the state championship weekend, 7 o'clock. You were there. I was watching on live stream, 7 o'clock on Saturday night. Well, this year, Golfport makes it back, or hopefully a coach team, that 7 o'clock Friday, December 4th, will be 7:30. They'll play the state championship for 7A. So I have all the it's all changed. Everything is practically changed. 5A will finish it off. Uh Thursday is 4A and 6A is the state championships at 4 and 730. And then Friday is 2A and 7A, 4 and 730, and then Saturday that triple header 1A is at 12, 3a, 330, which we don't have. Uh yes, and 5A is at 7. So 5A will finish it off this year. And this was you know on the website, MHSAA, where I got the information from. So time change, but it's still at Mississippi State this year. We'll see where it goes next year. But though, again, that's all the information on my Facebook page, you know. So you can make your you know, hotel reservations now, get ready.

SPEAKER_13 32:16

There you go. Well, Matt, we sorry we had to cut it short here. But that being said, we will have you on here soon because it's just as you know, high school football is right around the corner, my friend.

SPEAKER_05 32:29

It is. We had eight weeks, and when people are listening to this, we have about 52, 50 days left uh till kickoff on that August 28th, and we're gonna get you from here to there. We'll have the tough coast, uh, tough, coast toughest schedule, which the last two years it was Ocean Springs and last year West Harrison. I can tell you a little snippet because I've already done it. It's not neither one of those teams will have the Coast Toughest schedule. There'll be you know, they're gonna be in the top 10, we shall see. So a little sneak peek here on the podcast. It won't be West Harrison or Ocean Springs, they got tough schedules, but they are not the toughest schedule, and that's one thing you'll bring me back on, hopefully, to talk about that. A lot of things to come. We can't wait. We can't wait, my friend. You take care.

SPEAKER_13 33:08

Yes, all right, stats out. I would like to introduce one of my good friends, Keith Hinton, the editor and sports writer of Big Gold Nation. How are you, my friend? Hey buddy, how are you doing today? Doing great. I heard you have a story that was released the other day. Talk to me about that and what your thoughts are about where Southern Miss is at right now, basketball.

SPEAKER_03 33:37

Yeah, you know, uh had um some an informant, I can talk to somebody, my source, and telling me about some basketball meetings this past year. And believe it or not, only three of the 14 coaches showed up to the meeting. Now, granted, Texas State was leaving, so you kind of don't expect them to show up, and Louisiana Tech was not a member yet to take their spot, so I wouldn't expect them to show up. But only three of the 14 coaches showed up to the meeting. Supposedly this all stems from coaches being upset because they felt like their voices are not being heard. Uh, they feel like their ideas are not being implemented, and I suppose the overall feeling is, you know, what are we doing this for? They're not fans of the Mac Sunbelt Challenge. Feel like late in the season when you have to go on the road in the middle of conference play, the conference stretch lead to the tournament, especially when you're only a one-bid league. And you're having to play a game that doesn't matter. You get one of your uh top players hurt in a league that's not deep anyway. Uh take that chance, and it's just it's not moving the needle at all. It didn't help. Uh Ohio last season went 33 and 1. What were they like a 16, like a really low seed? I don't think the Sunbelt Mac Challenge had any help in their seating. Um so it's it's just uh there's not a lot of I guess you would say there's not a lot of uh talking between the Sunbelt office and the coaches, and it's just getting kind of things need to change. They're not gonna, you're not gonna get things settled by not showing up to the meeting. And and I think that's you know, that's something that's gotta be handled.

SPEAKER_13 35:29

Keith, unlike the other two main sports, does there appear any likelihood the Sunbelt will be able to produce any real basketball prowess this next year?

SPEAKER_03 35:41

Uh it's gonna be a one-bid league. Let's just be honest, especially with the way that they set up net rankings and different things like that. It's gonna be hard for a group of six uh conference to get multiple teams in. Um, even the NIT, they've changed to where it really caters to the power conferences now. Uh it's you really to get into the dance, you have to win the league. And I just don't see the league being strong enough to get multiple teams in. Now, something there may be an outlier that goes on a run, maybe loses two or three games, and maybe they get an at large bid. But even at that, even if you only lose two or three games this season, you're probably still gonna have to win the conference tournament to get into the big dance. So I I don't see this season or maybe next two seasons that changing very much. And you know, it's hard on it's hard on Sunbelt schools because think about it, you've because of profit sharing, you've got to create money to buy teams. So, how do you do that? Well, you can't go out and get these power teams to come in and play because they're not gonna come to your facilities and play, they're gonna want you to go there. So you have to go there and play the games because you need the money that you get for those buy games, but in a but also in the same sense, you're not having any excitement for your home schedule so fans can go out and buy season tickets. So it's a catch-22. What the uh remedy is, I'm not sure, but I'm not one thing we do know is that it's affecting the players and the fans of the Sun Belt, and I just don't know if it's gonna change anytime soon.

SPEAKER_13 37:22

Keith, final question for you, my friend. Giving you a Vegas projection of the 2026 USM football is three and a half wins. Does this appear to be accurate or is it way under what it should be?

SPEAKER_03 37:41

I think it's fair considering what you got. Uh you're only you lost 98% of your uh any production off the team last year. I mean, you got a new quarterback. You got one running back that's back that played some, one offensive lineman on the defense. You may have one guy, everybody else is new. There's not a spring portal period like they had last year where Coach Huff can bring other people in. And once they went through spring uh to figure out who was good, who wasn't. They didn't have that. They spent the whole spring implementing. I talked to uh Blake Anderson about it. I said, Do you have a too deep? He said, No. He said, Be honest with you. I barely know who the 73 they're gonna travel are. So yeah, three and a half considering what they have, I think that's fair. Um I I don't think that's I don't think Vegas is looking at to throw shade on Southern Munis. I think if you just look at the situation, how are you gonna say anything more than that? Now, could they win more? Sure. But there's a lot of work to do on that football team before we can get to that point.

SPEAKER_13 38:47

Hey my friend, I it's always good to talk to you. Tell everybody how they can reach you and how they can get in touch with what you guys are doing.

SPEAKER_03 38:56

Yeah, go to uh on three big old nation, just Google Big Old Nation, look us up, the stories on there about the uh the basketball coaches, an interesting read. And uh we have a lot of fun on the board banner, a lot of recruiting, uh, a lot of inside information that you get. So uh come be a member and I appreciate you having me on and let me tell people about it.

SPEAKER_13 39:19

Thank you, my friend. Thank you, buddy. I would like to introduce one of the legends of Mississippi football for his three decades of coverage and recruiting in Mississippi State football, Steve Roberts, who is the host of the Boneyard Podcast, owner of Jeanspage.com, and a sports writer for 247 Sports. Steve, I've seen numerous articles and early predictions of the Mississippi State Bulldogs' potential 2026 football record. And the Vegas odds are three and a half games of wins. Is that fair?

SPEAKER_04 40:02

Well, I think it's one of those things, you know, proofs and the pudding, right? But uh, but I'm taking the over on it, even though I know it's a difficult schedule, but it always is when you're Mississippi State in the Southeastern Conference. But um Yeah, I honestly think this team can get the six wins, and I think you need to in order to avoid a coaching change. But um Yeah, I mean, people are gonna be down on this team just because of the fact that um you know you got basically a freshman quarterback and you got a lot of new faces, and um you know three straight portal classes where you felt like you'd take a step forward. I thought they did last year, and the hope is they take another one this year.

SPEAKER_13 40:40

Steve, what games or how many does Coach Jeff Levy have to win to secure his spot for another year?

SPEAKER_04 40:51

Well, that's a great question. I would say probably six. Um I think you've got to get Bo eligible and earn it. I don't think you can rely on the five to seven APR thing. But uh, they've got some winnable games early. October is brutal. You can't come out of September with a losing record. You can be no worse than two and two. You probably need to be three and one coming out of September because they may not win a game in October. Now things kind of even out for you a little bit in November, but man, that stretch in October is gonna be brutal on the fan base.

SPEAKER_13 41:28

Mississippi State has one of the toughest schedules as you talked about in the SEC. Is there any security given to the donors or to the fan base by Zach Selman if they do not become bowl eligible? But let's say they pick up a win, they're not necessarily supposed to. Is there something that you think that that Sellman's gonna try to be able to create some validity for what they've got?

SPEAKER_04 41:57

Well, I think those pleas that probably fall on deaf ears. I mean, you gotta win games. It's as simple as that. This is a program that has not had a winning season since Mike Leach passed away. And enough time has passed, you should be able to overcome that, especially with the NCAA transfer portal, right? You've committed more resources than ever financially uh to uh the procurement of players for this roster. And so, you know, you've got to see some fruits of that labor. And it's difficult to go back to those same donors and say, hey, we need more money, we need more money, when you know they they may look at it and say, hey, three years into this, it's just not working the way we thought. So we're, you know, we'll invest in a new coach, but we're maybe not gonna throw more money after this one.

SPEAKER_13 42:42

Give me your thoughts about the offensive and defensive line for the Bulldogs because that's where the biggest questions are, because you nobody's really quite sure where they're at.

SPEAKER_04 42:54

Well, I think the interior offensive line is gonna be really good. I mean, you get Cannon Boone back, you bring in LJ Prudem, you got a handful of guys kind of competing for that left guard spot. I think they feel really good about where they are there. Miles McVay appears to be probably the anointed left tackle at this point, and he has played upside the line his entire career, played some left tackle with North Carolina as well. So it's not foreign to him, but he's really kind of a right tackle playing left tackle. And so, you know, they're gonna have to coach him up and kind of get him ready defensive line-wise. I think the group is going to be better, and I think not just because of upgrades and personnel, but I think schematically, you know, with Zach Arnett calling the shots, they're gonna be better just because of the fact they're gonna be more unpredictable. One of the things that we talk about when they hired Coleman Hudson, and listen, God bless Coleman Hudson did the best he could. It just wasn't good enough, right? When you go out and get a guy from Texas or Alabama, you can't run Texas or Alabama schemes without the talent available at those schools and expecting to get the same results. Yeah, if I go out there, I can get the top 25 players and you got to play with the leftovers. I'm going to beat you nine times out of ten, right? So you have to be a little bit different in Mississippi State. And I think Zach Arnett brings an edge and brings a scheme that should level the play show the good bit.

SPEAKER_13 44:15

Final question for you, Steve. How are the state players looking in USA baseball right now? And what's the potential for you know the state players this year in the MLB draft coming upcoming?

SPEAKER_04 44:30

Yeah, those are two complicated questions, but of course we got answers to team USA today. You know, state led the country with four players invited to trials, and uh Brian McPherson makes it for the second straight year, and then Tico Balenkas makes it. He went to trials last year, didn't make squad, makes it this year. Jack Bauer and Jacob Barker goes freshman, didn't make it. I suspect they'll make it next year, which is kind of how the thing works if you perform well. But uh, they had eight high school families invited to the MLB combine, which is the most in the country. Uh you'll lose some of those guys. I would say you probably end up getting five of those eight to campus. It's a pretty big class anyway. Last year you had four guys that were projected. Uh you got two of those four to campus. If you can get five or six of those guys to campus, I think you feel really good about your class. LeBron O'Connor is the ultimate competitor. He wants, but uh, I don't think it's gonna happen. But I'm glad he feels that way because that's what he was made to do.

SPEAKER_13 45:36

There you go, my friend. Hey, it's gonna talk to you, kill everybody in the audience where they can reach you.

SPEAKER_04 45:41

Yeah, I'm on all social media at scout C Barcks. Come check us out at gspage.com, the Mississippi State Affiliate for 2474.

SPEAKER_13 45:50

Thank you, my friend. It's always good to talk to you. I would love to introduce my final guest from Jambalaya News in New Orleans, Cesar Munoz. Caesar, talk to me about the matchups between Mexico versus England, USA versus Belgium, and how men's soccer has been developing for North America.

SPEAKER_02 46:16

Well, uh, thank you very much. First of all, uh thank you, uh Hunter. It's a pleasure being your program. And then also a great, great, great hello to each and one of your fans out there in Mississippi and Alabama and wherever they find themselves. As you are well well aware, I am a big, huge soccer aficionado.

SPEAKER_13 46:40

Yes, sir.

unknown 46:42

Where I have traveled throughout the United States.

SPEAKER_02 46:45

In fact, I just arrived a couple of minutes ago from Dallas, Texas, and that I watched the uh all-seas blues against Egypt on Friday 2-0. Well, soccer has taken a huge step here in the United States from 1994, where FIFA, in private, in a private meeting, told the United States, we'll award you the 1994 World Cup if you, in two years' time after that, establish a professional soccer league, the United States said, of course. And so what happened? Two years after the United States established Major League Soccer. I'm happy to say and talk about it that I was part of the development of refereeing in the United States because I was a national referee here for a long time in the state of Louisiana, the first one in the state of Louisiana, the first Hispanic ever in the history of soccer in Louisiana to ever become a national referee, and the first one from the city of New Orleans. So a long history, a long soccer here in the United States with me. And of course, with the World Cup going on now here in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, it is just a tremendous, tremendous pleasure sitting down and watching and analyzing each and every game that I watch, which I have watched practically all of them. Now, with that being said, England and Mexico, England, of course, if anybody out there in your audience and has that has followed soccer, they must realize and must remember that in 1996, in 1986, excuse me, England paid a huge, huge price against Argentina and Diego Maradona. Okay. He called it the hand of God, which, you know, I was there in 1986 and I watched both of those goals. The first one, excuse me, the first one, which was not a pretty goal, it was the hand of God, which it should have been called. Everybody in the universe saw the hand except the referee and the assistant referee. Well, England had to bite its tongue with that. Then came perhaps as known as the greatest, the greatest goal ever scored by an individual player in this time, Diego Maradona, who scored, taking the ball from the halfway line and taking on six or seven different defenders to go to the top of the six and scored a brilliant goal that forever will be in the lures of soccer heaven, soccer world cup. Okay? So now they are in Mexico to play Mexico. In a quarterfinal match, and the winner goes to the uh, excuse me, yes, to the to the quarterfinals. The winner goes to Miami to play Norway, okay, which is defeated Brazil here a couple of uh an hour or two ago, 2-0. Do I think and do I want uh England to get revenge? Yes, I do. Yes, I do, because I think that the gods, the soccer gods, owe them a trip to the next round. But along the way stands a Mexican team who has been playing lights out. Lights out. They have been playing in front of their own fans, and the Aztecs Stadium hosts approximately 88,000 people, down from 105 years ago. It was considered one of the largest stadiums in the world, which in the in the 86 World Cup I visited, and afterwards I visited uh several times for different games. This match between England and Mexico is going to be a very entertaining match, although the games have been postponed an hour. It's been delayed by an hour because there's rain and there's uh lightning strikes over there. But of course, the the laws of the game say if there's rain uh along with lightning, you for each time that it uh there's a lightning strike, you must delay the game 30 minutes or so. Well, they already make the call that they're gonna wait an hour. So instead of waiting at the starting at seven, it's gonna start at eight. Okay? Nine o'clock Mexican time. That's the that's the the keys to this is to this game. The British team must have Harry King at his best game, Jude Bellenham at his best game, with uh Declan Wright also at his best, Sinclair at his best. The entire England national team must be in their A game as it's called.

unknown 52:29

Okay, or it's said.

SPEAKER_02 52:31

So will Mexico. Mexico's gonna want to be in the A game because they want to win during this this last game, at the Aztecs game, they want to win this game to move on to the next round. Who's gonna win? I would love to see England win. But Mexico stands in the way. That's that game. The United States, Belgium, as it's well known that the leading scorer for the United States, Balingon, was uh was red card sent off in the game against um Bosnia and Herzegovina. In a in a in a situation that I was incensed by the red card. Why? Because in the very first game that Argentina played, Mexico, I mean, excuse me, Messi committed the same type of foul, if not worse, if not worse, it was not sent off. As a former national referee in a uh in a FIFA candidate, I said, well, maybe the refereeing program had told the referees for this tournament, you must watch those type of plays, and that set the president for the rest of the tournament. Then we get this big surprise last last Wednesday. I was very stunned. I was very stunned. But on the way, in in Dallas, as I was coming home at Lovefield, I seen the news bulletin that Balangon is going to be able to play today. I don't know what strings the United States Soccer Federation pulled along the way, but the suspension was lifted. Okay. Uh and then there's a also, and and and and I I have to say this because it's it's this is not soccer, what happened today. Okay? This is not soccer. No politics should be involved in soccer.

SPEAKER_13 54:43

Agreed.

SPEAKER_02 54:45

That is against the laws of the game and it's against the applications that administrative-wise that FIFA has. President Donald Trump said that that was the best decision that FIFA could have taken. I I beg to differ. I beg to differ. That's not the best way because now you're setting a bad president that anybody else could appeal and have their suspension lifted. Is it good for soccer? No, it's not, at least in my in my view, it's not.

SPEAKER_13 55:20

Well, my friend, that was the segue to the next question. How big of an impact was the reverse of this decision? You know, is this not only just a a North American soccer impact, is this an entire world through the judgment of FIFA? It's almost like, well, who's making the decisions for FIFA? Have they established rules, or is this just based on what everybody thinks the outcome should be?

SPEAKER_02 55:52

I think that because of what I originally said with the initial play in the Senegal Argentina game that um that Argentina won 3-3-0 with the hat trick by Messi. After his first goal, he should have been sent up because it it's it's not, it's the same type of play where the studs come up to the to the thigh, to the thigh of the lower portion of the leg, okay, of the defender at that time. And not only is it does it go, if that's it is serious, dangerous, serious foul play. And serious foul play is in the application of the laws of the game, law 12, fouls and misconduct, such serious foul play should be a sent-off, a red card. And that I was stunned, and so were so many other people in the soccer world in the high-level referee that were stunned because Mr. Messi was not sent off. Now, here a week or after, or two weeks after, Balagon not intention, by no means was there any intention, intention to hurt that the uh the Bosnian player. There was none because they were both battling. It was a 50-50 ball where unfortunately Balingon stepped on that guy's leg and twisted the ankle. I'm glad that the the the defender from Bosnia was not seriously hurt because then that would have been it would have been a different story because we don't want anybody getting hurt seriously. Now, could it be should have been a red card? Yes, it was a red card. It should have been a sent-off, yes, it should have been sent off. What is not correct, what is not correct was what happened between yesterday and this morning. That the FIFA the referee committee lifted the suspension on the uh on the uh United States striker by lifting the suspension. And that is not, it's it's that that's not the way soccer should be. If it should, if there was an appeal by the United States Soccer Federation to the FIFA referee committee, it should have been last week, right after the match. Sure. Not four or five days later. It's it's it's setting a bad precedent for future infractions such as that.

SPEAKER_13 58:25

Caesar, is there any correlation between this U.S. men's national team right now? Now, we don't know what's going to happen tomorrow or in the future, but is there any correlation between this soccer team and the 1980 hockey team in Lake Placid where they were up against the best of the best, but they they took advantage because obviously with their their uh their motivation and their build and all that?

SPEAKER_02 58:57

Well, there is because you're playing in front of your own crowd. At that time, remember it was the U.S. hockey team versus the Russians, the number one powerhouse and and an amateur, quote unquote, amateur hockey at that time being played? Well, yes, they won, the United States won, ending however many years of frustration of you know winning a gold medal. Okay, so the United States did. But this team that the United States has in soccer, and with Maurice Cosciatini, the the uh the uh the skipper, as we call it in soccer, or the the uh the coach, okay, it's uh as it's called here in the United States, this is a great golden opportunity for the United States. If if the United States can beat Belgium tomorrow night, in which I'm hoping that it does, because although not born here in the United States, but being raised here in the United States, I want the United States to win. Because it will also, it will also propose the United States community, soccer community, to bigger and better things. As it is now, the majority of its team. And I think that out of the 26 that are on the roster, at least 20 play outside of the United States in the big leagues in Serie I in Italy, La Liga in Spain, the Bundesliga in German, the Ligue Gul uh in France, and uh which one the premiership. Those are the big five in Europe. But they're also playing in Turkey, they're also playing in Belgium, they're also playing in the Netherlands. So all of these players have that international experience. That's why you, as you see the game as it's playing, as it develops, the United States has a lot of good players. Now, what is lacking here is that the United States, other than uh uh Polychek, it doesn't have any well-known established names for say uh Slatan and Brabovich, uh uh Ronaldo, uh Messi, those big names. No, they don't have that big name. Pulichek has a name here in the United States, but across the pond, as across the Atlantic, he's well known with inter Milan, one of the bigger clubs in the world, okay, that he plays for. That's it. Other than that, no one else.

SPEAKER_13 1:01:33

Okay, my friend, final question for you. Now, this I know as you with your experience as an official, how big of it is an impact, and this isn't only in soccer, this is in any sport, how big of an impact is it as an official to make to make a call or make the right call in the game?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:57

Well, as we have seen it, we seen it in the Belgium uh game here a couple of days ago. It was made in the Germany, in the uh the other game, uh uh Paraguay, uh here a couple of it's been within the last week where last minute uh decisions were made. Now, they were not made by the referee. They were not made by the referee. If you allow me to extend myself and explain that, the referee had a call, okay, had blown the whistle, which in one in one he thought it was a penalty, but he wasn't real sure. Until the VAR, the video uh assistant referee, called him and said, come review it here. Okay, and I'd say, and I dare say, that they're the ones that made that call. Okay? They're the ones that made that call in the PK where Belgium won in the very last two minutes, and and it escaped me the other game where uh in the last three or four minutes another goal was scored because the VAR told the referee, come look at it, then make a fine a decision. I'd say you know, then that technology is always good. Technology is always good, but it also has made very, very critical decisions where it put the referee on the spot where he had to make a call where when he or she weren't ready to make that call. Okay, so this is gonna have an impact in every sport here in the United States. In every sport. It's gonna be in the NFL, it's gonna be in the NBA, it's gonna be in Major League Soccer, it's gonna be in Major League Baseball, you name it, and it's gonna have an impact. It's gonna have an impact. Let's just go to the disciplinary committee and let's talk about it. Let me let them hear what I have to say. It's gonna have an impact, a huge impact. And this is what they did today, it's a huge impact on the world of refereeing.

SPEAKER_13 1:04:22

Well, my friend, we thank you. And tell everybody how they can get in touch with you.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:28

Well, they can do it by uh I'm give you my telephone number. My cell phone is 504-352-0290. Or you can email me at C E A S A R 762 at Yahoo.com. That's my personal email at Yahoo.com C-E-A-S-A-R 762 at Yahoo.com.

SPEAKER_13 1:04:58

And if they want, can they find you on jambalaya news.com?

SPEAKER_02 1:05:03

Yes, jambalaya multimedia. You can look for Football Ibaz, meaning and translating Football Plus, because I don't only just talk about soccer, but I speak about all the other different sports.

SPEAKER_13 1:05:17

We thank you, Sergeant. We take care of yourself.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:20

Thank you very much, Hunter.

SPEAKER_13 1:05:22

Until next time. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. We gratefully appreciate you listening to this podcast. And Jeff, we thank you again. We want to thank all of our sponsors, including the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Nine Toes Brewery in Paschan, Edwar Realty Agent, Stephanie Makowitz, Joseph Kelly's attorney at law, Coast Casual in Pascushan, the insurance bar in Gulfport, and the U.S. Marine Agent. Make sure you follow us on YouTube under Gazebo Gazette Productions. Am I right about that, Jeff?

SPEAKER_11 1:06:02

That's good. Gazebo Gazette Productions on YouTube. You can find uh HD Experience and the Mudcat Report, all them right there.

SPEAKER_13 1:06:09

And on the award-winning website, the gazebo Gazette.com, where the podcast will be posted sometime this next week, as well as on Facebook.com backslash the real gazebo gazette. Or on X as Gazebo Gazette is the handle. The HD Experience is available on all podcasts, including Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, or anything you can find podcasts on under the HD Experience tag. Signing out, this is Hunter Dawkins, the host of the HD Experience. We'll catch you all on the fifth side.