Coming off the high of getting to cover top-ranked White Station vs. Whitehaven at the Fairgrounds last week, a game that went down to the final play, there’s honestly very little to look forward to in terms of must-see Week 3 match-ups.

I guess the most attractive of the bunch would have to be No. 8 Melrose at No. 5 Whitehaven, but after that, there’s little else to shout about.

Frayser at Houston? No thank you. Overton at Collierville? Uh, no. That should be a one-sided affair as well.

It’s about the same for the rest of The Commercial Appeal’s Dandy Dozen teams.

White Station should hammer East. ECS is taking on a Class 2A Nashville Christ Presbyterian Acadmey team it figures to manhandle. Treadwell at Olive Branch will be over by halftime.

After covering Whitehaven twice in the last two weeks, you’ll likely find me this Friday night at CBHS vs. Wooddale at Halle, where we’ll find out just how good 2-0 Wooddale really is this season.

We’ll also get to find out how good Mitchell really is, as the Tigers take on No. 12 Fairley. At 1-2, Mitchell’s losses have come to Whitehaven and a Class 6A Daphne (Ala.) team last week. And don’t forget, the Tigers held Melrose to six points in a victory over the Golden Wildcats earlier this season.

Ole Miss’ lackluster defensive effort against Missouri on Saturday has generated plenty of concern among fans, coaches and players. First-year defensive coordinator John Thompson spoke with reporters yesterday, a conversation that was the basis for the story about the Rebels’ woes that ran in today’s paper. Here’s some additional thoughts from Thompson… Read the rest of this entry »

Seems trading away Stephen Jackson wasn’t enough to keep the Pacers out of the police reports. Memphis native Shawne Williams was released from jail late this morning after being arrested on marijuana possession and driving-related charges.

Williams, the Indiana Pacers first round draft pick out of the University of Memphis last season, was charged with possession of marijuana, driving without a license, driving with an expired license plate, and failure to signal a lane change after he was pulled over shortly after midnight in Indianapolis. Williams is scheduled to appear for an initial hearing at 8:30 a.m. Friday.

According to the police report, the arresting officer noticed a strong odor of marijuana coming from the open driver’s side window of Williams’ 2007 Cadillac Escalade. A marijuana “blunt” cigarette was found, which one of the passengers, Roosevelt Rollins, 21, of Memphis, said was his. He was arrested for marijuana possession.

Another passenger, Roderick Helton, 32, of Memphis, was arrested for carrying a Smith and Wesson 9-mm handgun, which had been reported stolen from Collierville. He was arrested for having the gun without a license and theft.
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The lesson is learned from the comments that a couple of you made. They were right on the money. I shouldn’t write and not review it before I hit the publish button. I was tired, my hands were infected and still had not recovered from a late night from Jonesboro. I had minor surgery yesterday to correct the infection. I’ve even managed some sleep. I apologize to those at the CA for making the mistakes. There is no excuse that is good enough but I’ll try not to let it happen again. I’m no Calkins or Stukenborg (I’m sure you know that already) but I will try to meet your expectations in the future.

Believe it or not I spell pretty well. When you see the mistakes they’re more typos rather than spelling errors. The mistakes come primarily because my brain is moving faster than my fingers. When I’m tired and angry they get worse. I also write things from a conversational position. Which means I will use words as if I was speaking. So you will see words like gonna and kinda as flair and they are intentional. Enough about that but I felt the need to address it before making another post.

Hunt and peck would describe how I’m typing at the moment. The middle finger on the right hand and the thumb on the left have large post-op bandages on them. So I am forced to take my time today. But with so much on my mind I had to write something.

I still think we should blow off the postponed A-State game. It just isn’t needed to have a successful season. I know West has said that he doesn’t like the idea of playing in December. I say only play it then if either team needs it for a bowl bid. If not then put the game in Jonesboro at the end of the contract. Three games in 11 days could harm the Tigers season and simply isn’t worth the risk.
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From TWRA:

Reservation applications for the waterfowl hunts scheduled on Bogota WMA for the 2007-2008 season will be available at license agents or online beginning Sept. 20.

All applications must be processed at a TWRA license agent, TWRA regional office or on-line at www.tnwildlife.org. No mail-in applications will be accepted.
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THE BIG STORY

LSU senior defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey does not see his coach leaving for Michigan should Michigan coach Lloyd Carr resign this season.

“I’d be surprised,” Dorsey told Glenn Guilbeau of Gannett News Service on Monday. “I get the impression he loves it here. I feel like he feels comfortable here. But who knows?”

LSU coach Les Miles played at Michigan in the mid-1970s and coached there under the late Bo Schembechler from 1980-81 and again from 1987-89. He remained on staff under coach Gary Moeller, who replaced Schembechler after the 1989 season. When Moeller was replaced by Carr for the 1995 season, Miles did not remain on the staff and went to Oklahoma State as an assistant.

“You know what? I’ve got to be real honest with you. I have not given a lot of thought to it because frankly it’s something that’s not imminent,” Miles said of the Micgihan job. “I want to look at this football team, and if anything that I did in talking about or thinking about that took me away from this football it’d be unfair to them. So I really don’t want to talk about it. I don’t like that talk. I want to focus on this team and what we’re doing here, And that’s it. I really don’t want to talk about it. I have nothing to say. I don’t want to say to them anything, and I want our kids to understand that there’s a task at hand, and we’re going to do the things that we need to do to be the best team we can be and I’m not going to worry about anything else. And I’m not going to talk about anything else.”

Asked if he was in an awkward situation being an ardent Michigan alum, he said, “I can only tell you honestly that I’m not going to give any thought to it. I’m not going to worry about it. I’ve received no calls because I’ve put the word out, ‘Leave me alone.’ I’m just saying that I’m about taking care of this football team. This is a very important team to me. And so I want to make sure that I do everything I can to prepare, period.”

Should LSU win the national championship this season and then lose Miles to Michigan, it would mark the second time in a five-year span that LSU won a national title and lost its coach. Former LSU coach Nick Saban won the national championship in 2003 and left for the Miami Dolphins after the 2004 season. LSU’s first national championship team also lost its coach when Paul Dietzel left to coach Army after the 1961 season. He won the national championship in 1958.

A look at the league: Read the rest of this entry »

Hopefully some of you were at John Calipari’s house last night for the Rebounders party, where athletic director R.C. Johnson announced that just a few hundred season tickets were left for the 2007-08 campaign. Looks like Memphis may indeed get to a season sellout.

Though it rained on-and-off, I don’t think anybody was complaining. Good food, good atmosphere, and I think folks had a nice time. As my colleague Geoff Calkins wrote in today’s paper it really is remarkable how the Caliparis open their home to pretty much any and all for events like this one.

All the players were there last night. I thought it was interesting that the last one to leave was Joey Dorsey, who pretty much spent the whole event interacting with fans. It was yet another reminder that for whatever Dorsey’s issues — and he’s clearly been in the middle of the fire recently — he’s great in that environment.