Heck – there are many influential people that have come in and out of my life that I owe a great deal of gratitude towards for helping mold me into who I am today and those people came into my life via sports.

Sports are a huge part of many people’s lives now days as a casual observer, coach or player.  Sports are often the topic of conversation at the local restaurant, at work or the weekend cook outs around the country. It truly has changed our culture in so many ways.

Although the basic premises for sports have stayed the same through time, many things have changed.

When I think of the word “sport” the first thing that comes to mind for me is not winning or losing. It is team building.  I think about the relationships and friendships and the trials and tribulations one can learn from sport. If my team won or not actually comes in second.

Today’s sport culture from a young age has changed drastically over the last twenty to thirty years and while those basic principles remain intact, now days as a society we want everyone to get a trophy, everyone to be recognized and everyone to be “the star” and this not only cheapens what the word “sport” means – it makes youth sport parents almost unbearable at times.

This is not meant to throw all parents under the wheel house because there are some really good ones but it’s that time again to remind a select few parent’s to check yourself; your kid is not an all-star and probably never will be.

Around the country sports has turned into a 24-7 ordeal as kids play soccer, baseball, softball, basketball and football.  Along with those kids come their parents, and there are really two sets of parents.  There are the first set that want’s their kid to interact from an early age with other children, to have fun and build memories that last a lifetime.

Then there is parent number two.  Come on you all know the parents I am talking about.  They are the washed up jock or chick that still to this day (20 years later) feels they were robbed of an opportunity and should be playing pro ball.  They feel because they were all district in their sport their kid will definitely make it to the big leagues. 

These are the parents you hate when you go to youth sports.  The ones yelling at officials, yelling at kids and wanting to coach the very team your kids play for via the sidelines.

Trust me I know.  I coached youth sports for a long time and on a pretty high level. You get dads that want to fight with you, mothers who cuss you and their kids will disobey you.

 And for what reason?  We are seeing this all over the country – severe fights breaking out between coaches, parents and officials at youth sporting events.  Either a parent isn’t pleased with their child’s position they are playing, or their playing time or they feel their child has been cheated in some way.

This is an epidemic that need’s to stop and it needs to stop now.  It’s one thing to have confidence and pride in your kid or children which you should.  That is your children and as parents we should all be proud of our kids.  It is another thing to slap a sticker on your back glass of your car, proudly proclaiming your kid plays short stop, and you truly believe because he can make a play on most balls in the city league he is going pro.

This very topic was the feature in a blog post dated July 12, 2011 by Doctor Chris Stankovich who is the founder of advanced human performance systems, offering sport science and performance enhancement training.

In his blog Dr. Stankovich trys to explain why parents act out.  Be it “in the moment emotions” or the time they spend on their kids to play sports or the types of leagues they play in, there are several reasons parents act out.  You can read his article on this in its entirety right here.

As parents you need to first ask yourself why are you getting your kids into sports.  Is it because they want to or because you want them to?  Is it because you felt you were an all-star that got cheated now you want to relive your youth through your child?

  If it is for anything more than to teach your child about team building, adversity and how to interact with others then you are in it for the wrong reasons.  Sure everyone wants to win and everyone wants a scholarship but honestly what are the odds of your kid turning pro? 

Peachnet.com did an evaluation of kids and the percentages of going from high school, to college and on to the pros and it would shock you at the results.  In baseball only 5.6% of athletes go from high school to college to play the sport.  Of that five percent, only 2.0% go on to the professional ranks of baseball.

By these numbers alone that means if one million kids are playing baseball in this country alone, only twenty thousand (20,000) of those will actually make it to the ranks of a professional.  That doesn’t mean they will even be successful. 

A full summary of these numbers can be seen here.

So why as parents are we fighting with each other, with coaches and officials?  Why are people getting sent to the hospital on a Saturday morning or random night at a league sporting event full of eleven year olds?

Finally – what is this teaching your kids when you act this way?  It is teaching them it is acceptable to show your butt, and act like a fool which is totally against the premise of sport.

When I think back to all the ball I have played and all the ball I have coached, I do not think about the games I won or the games lost.   I reminisce on the relationships I built with fellow players, and coaches, the trials we went through and how those very memories are still held high in my heart today.  I also think about the player’s lives I changed through coaching and teaching and what it means to me when I run into some of those players and they say thank you. 

Sports is about preparing young kids and youth with how to deal with life because as an old coach told me, once you’re out in the real world – the scoreboard only strikes zero when you die; you need to learn to never give up.

When I think about sports I think about coach Gaines halftime speech in the state championship in the movie Friday Nights Under the lights and his quotes, albeit in a movie put this very topic of “sport” into perspective.

As a parent you need to check yourself, and you need to support your children and make sure they are getting the essential building blocks of sports.  If you are out there for any other reason, then you are out there for the wrong reasons.

Nobody cares about your lettermen jacket from 1992 and nobody cares your team almost went to state.  Nobody cares about you flooding social media with your child’s photos proclaiming they are the best.

I feel sure if you weren’t such an ass, and your kid wasn’t scared of you, they would tell you they don’t care either.  They just want to play ball.

It’s that time of year again when people start making their way to early predictions for the upcoming football season. I know by the time mid-August comes around almost all my games will change to some degree. Nonetheless, let’s get right to it as I look at every game on the 2013 Ole Miss football schedule and give what I feel is the Reb’s best chance for victory in every game.

Vanderbilt-50.0000001% – this game is really a toss-up to me. Both teams have advantages; with Ole Miss they will be facing a QB making his first SEC start in the first game of the season. For Vandy who has had Ole Miss’s number as of late-it’s a home game and in the SEC that’s always an advantage.

 South East Missouri St – 99.99% – it’s simple, if people are still talking about this game Sunday morning something went terribly wrong!

 Texas-45% – this was a game I wanted to give Ole Miss the edge in but, right now I just can’t. This isn’t the same Texas your father grew up watching, but in saying that it’s still Texas. They are still more talented and have more depth than Ole Miss and it’s in Austin. I do believe Ole Miss has the coaching edge and will have revenge on the mind after last year’s beating in Oxford. Either way I expect a much better game than last season

 Alabama-20% – I am probably being generous here. Ole Miss just isn’t ready yet to compete with the likes of Alabama. Hugh Freeze will need a few more recruiting class’s like last year to have a chance against the Crimson Tide.

 Auburn-50.0000001% – this game is the most unpredictable one right now on the Reb’s schedule. Auburn is much like Ole Miss last year. Maybe, not quite that bad but you get my point. Ole Miss will be more talented but it’s at Auburn. There are two things that I think give Ole Miss the edge. One -Auburn is going to be very young and inexperienced on defense and two, who is going to be the starting quarterback and how well does he play.

 Texas A&M-55% – most people are going to disagree with me here. One I am picking Texas A&M to be the disappointment in SEC in 2013. They lost a ton on defense and on the O-line. Then, can Johnny Football repeat his success from last year or improve. The Vaught will be electric for this also.

LSU-45% – if Ole Miss is going to beat LSU this is the year. LSU lost a ton on defense to the NFL and will be breaking in several young, new faces. Like Alabama, LSU just seems to reload with talent. The Vaught will be electric again but if Ole Miss beats Texas A&M it may just be like a ZOO in Oxford for LSU.

 Idaho-90% – this game is much like week 2. Something major had to happen for people to be talking about this game on Sunday.

 Arkansas-70% – it will be a transition year for Arkansas switching from the spread to the Pro style. With any team switching offenses that takes times and hard times will come with this change. It’s yet another home game for Ole Miss.

 Troy-70% – Troy is a team Ole Miss should beat. Although, as Mississippi State saw they are also a team Ole Miss can’t overlook.

 Missouri-65% – it will be interesting how Missouri adjusts to the SEC in year two. I just don’t think Missouri is ready to match-up with most SEC teams yet with how they are recruiting right now.

 Miss. State-50% – I guess I am going take a cop out here. It’s too early pick this game yet. I feel Ole Miss will be more talented in more areas but in the history of this series the home team usually wins. TBA

 I see Ole Miss right now winning 7 to 8 games this season, which in my opinion is still showing progress in building the program. There are bunch of toss up games this season so, six wins wouldn’t surprise me and nine is somewhat of stretch but I could see it happening if things fell just right.

The days of purchasing game tape and dvd’s on ebay are over.  No longer will you be forced to watch 1985 Ohio State vs Michigan on ESPN classic to get your football fix in July.  Get ready for 24-7/365, all SEC, all the time! The Big 10 and 12 conferences will have a hard time taking this lying down, but they will have no other choice.

This landmark, record setting 20 year media contract locks the SEC and ESPN together until 2034 and promises to broadcast 3 games a weekend starting in the 2014 season, or 45 football games total, which far outpaces any other conference.

For more FAQ’s check this link to the SECSports page story.

With the addition of large media market teams Missouri and Texas A&M, this deal is a no-brainer and really could have been done years ago, but the SEC has had an opportunity to learn from some the growing pains the Pac12 and Big10 networks have faced and should be uniquely positioned to dominate college football and all of college sports.  In total more than 1000 SEC sporting events will be broadcast on the network.

As with all of the media rights contracts the SEC has negotiated there is equal sharing of revenues from the deal.  Each year seemingly the dividends skyrockets.  According to this USA Today article, this new SEC-ESPN network may be worth over $28 Million dollars to each member institution, on top of the ever increasing bowl payouts, SEC Championship Game, conference tournaments, and other sources of athletic funds.

With revenues and budgets approaching the level of high comedy what ramifications or consequenses will this have in recruiting or player stipends?  Much of this remains to be seen, but one noted SEC head coach has made it known he stands behind the players that make the money.

“Ole ballcoach” Steve Spurrier at South Carolina was quoted as saying:

“As the commissioner and the presidents and the athletic directors all say, we are going to make a whole lot more money,” Spurrier told  GoGamecocks.com, via Sports Illustrated. “My question is, ‘when are we  going to start giving a little bit of it to the performers?’ Football  and basketball players. It won’t do any good probably, but I’m going to  still keep yelling for them. They bring in an awful lot of money for all of us.”

The recent dominiation of college football by the SouthEastern conference is unprecedented, and this most recent ESPN media deal is just the fruit of being the best of the best in a sport that generates billions of dollars nationwide.  Sure, with increased money and attention comes a higher standard that fans will expect from their coaches.  Will coaches seats get a little hotter? Will expectations increase beyond reason? Will fans become even more rabid for their favorite teams on gameday and even during the off season during recruiting?

The answer to all these questions is YES! And as a fan of SEC college football we love it!

(P.S. Note To Auburn: Don’t be the guy to ruin this party for everyone!)

The Gators won a BCS title that year with the help of Percy Harvin, Dallas Baker and Cornelius Ingram, who combined for 1,870 yards and 15 touchdowns receiving. Gonzales was their coach.

Now he’s Mississippi State’s new receivers coach, and he was more than happy to make the DVD for Johnson, a junior receiver.

“It kind of fired me up a little bit, because he called me and asked me, said, ‘Coach, can you get me a DVD, can you burn it, can you get it going?’” Gonzales said. “That was before we went to spring break, and that was kind of a neat deal. He wanted to make sure he had it with him before he took off.

“That’s what you want, you want guys that are hungry to continue to learn.”

Read more:Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal – Johnson hungry to be threat for Bulldogs

Bielema was speaking recently at the Saline County Razorback Club fish fry, and he had a few things to say about the most powerful league and coach in college football and that team that recently won back-to-back national championships – Alabama.

“The reason the SEC is talked about all the time is one team, because of their dominance. But I didn’t come here to play Alabama. I came here to beat Alabama.

“You can take Saban’s record when he was at Michigan State and when he was a coach in the Big Ten and put it against mine, and he can’t compare.”

I’m sure the Razorback faithful came out of their seats for that one. But this league is humbling to even the finest coaches and players who have ever suited up in the SEC.

Saban finished with a 34-24-1 coaching record at Michigan State, while Bielema finished with a 68-24 record at Wisconsin. And he did have more success than Saban in the Big Ten, but why not wait until you spend a few weekends in the SEC or even notch your first league win?

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The junior, who emerged as a potential all-SEC receiver at the end of last season, sat out Monday’s practice under the lights at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. The official reason was a shoulder hurt during Thursday’s scrimmage, but coach Hugh Freeze said holding Moncrief out was just precautionary.

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Jackson State University is no different than any other university in regards to this very dream and has those same ambitions of upgrading their facilities and for a long time the Athletic Department at JSU has talked of leaving historic Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson for a new football facility. Again-nothing wrong with having your own facility but when Jackson State unveiled a recent plan for a new football facility worth 200 million dollars I, like many had to re-read those figures.

Jackson State is an FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) School that has an enrollment of 8,760 students as of September 2012 and has an athletic budget of $2,304,793 per Forbes Magazine.

Jackson State like many FCS football teams look for games early in the season in football against FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) teams to make a pretty penny to help their athletic budgets operate. Recently Jackson State did just this as they traveled to Starkville to take on Mississippi State.

It’s typically is a win-win for both participants as the bigger school gets an easy victory and the smaller school gets a big payday to help their programs out financially as many FCS teams struggle to make ends meet, so keep that in mind.

Back to the new facility – Jackson State Vice President for institutional advancement David Hoard told the Jackson Clarion Ledger “(JSU president Carolyn Meyers) said to think big and we have thought big,” Hoard said. “We’re pleased to move forward with the plans for JSU’s new domed stadium.”

Hoard continued, “The project’s overall cost of $200 million, Hoard said, would be met, in part, by the use of “13 or 14 different options” to fund the stadium.

That’s right, you read that correctly. JSU is planning a domed football field/ multi facility that is worth 200 million dollars and will seat close to 50,000 people.

It is one thing to think big but another thing to think so far out of this world that it cannot be brought to fruition.

Let me say I do not know every avenue of the 13 or 14 possibilities of revenue Hoard is talking about because hey, anything is possible and he may very well have the money.

But, let me tell you what I do know. Jackson State better have a heck of a plan to finance this puppy because as recently as 2011 JSU faced severe budget numbers. You can read more about that here.

JSU did receive 900 thousand in NCAA aid to help with their facilities but that normally goes to cover an overall master plan and or university need for athletics.

Out of 122 FCS schools the average attendance in 2012 was 15,267 per football game. Jackson State averaged 14,462 which is below the national average. So why does a team that barely averages over 14,000 on football Saturdays need a stadium that is bigger than Southern Mississippi who is a FBS team albeit in a smaller conference?

Many have said, including Hoard this venue “will be able to attract major concerts (he mentioned Beyonce by name, for what that’s worth) to town.” And I am sure plans to bring other events would be in the picture as well for the greater Jackson Metro area. But- 50,000 seats in a dome? Keep in mind many Division One or FBS schools with way more money and revenue do not have football facilities like this.

Also know that of all the FCS programs only Tennessee State, Yale and Penn play in bigger venues than this and they are all at bigger venues like LP Field and Franklin Field.

Unless JSU has some serious money from some silent donors I would say this is the old “champaigne taste on a beer budget” syndrome.

In any business decision you have to play within your means and it just does not seem feasible for an FCS team to have a facility like this. Keep in mind not only an FCS team but a team in a conference “the SWAC” that does not even participate in the FCS playoffs.

This is not a case of me “hating” on Jackson State, it is simply me trying to be a voice of reason. I am all for expansion and growth but let’s be reasonable about it.

Another problem with this idea is putting this facility on the JSU campus. This would not be a problem if it were just a football facility but when you are talking about an all-purpose arena this has always been a sore subject in Jackson.

Jackson has a stigma and image problem and until city officials and constituents alike clean up this image you are not going to get decent attendance numbers to an arena in the Jackson area. This is one of the many reasons the Mississippi Braves settled in Rankin County and albeit a baseball facility for the Atlanta Braves it only cost 33.3 million.

Not only would Jackson State have to do some major work to get that thing on campus but then you must ask where are you going to park everyone and what about traffic control?

The Jackson Police Department is known to botch most events in the city when it comes to traffic control and if you do not believe me ask any fan that went to the Saints – Colts preseason game a few years ago or try going to a concert at the Jackson Coliseum. The Coliseum is a very small venue and JPD cannot even make the traffic there efficient, much less fifty thousand off Gallatin Street.

All this is about being responsible and smart and this is just not smart on JSU’s part.

If JSU wants a plan to follow why not look at the two most recent participants in the FCS Championship game?

North Dakota State as recently as 1990 built a 25,000 + (Concerts) facility for 48 million.

Likewise, Sam Houston State opened a new stadium around the same time for a little less of the cost to seat 14,000.

Nobody is trying to hold Jackson State back on being progressive but, when you are talking about a fifty thousand seat domed facility that seventy five million of the financing will come from Mississippi tax payers and the rest of the funds could “possibly” come from thirteen or fourteen other sources and your throwing this in downtown Jackson?

It sure sounds like a pipe dream to me- considering the recent budget struggles and need for funding from the NCAA to help keep operations up and running, or “let’s build this and we will worry about the financing later” because we just want it, type of scenario.

What Jackson State needs to do is go back to the drawing board, realize you are not a football power house nor do you have the fans to support such a venue, nor does the metro area carry this kind of support for a facility of this magnitude, especially in downtown Jackson, MS. You can build a new arena for half the price and half the size.

Just ask North Dakota State, they did it and they actually even participate in the FCS playoffs so there are more pointers you could take from them as well.

The problem, however, is that he won’t graduate until summer. To be slightly more specific, he won’t be graduating eighth grade until this summer.

Despite his age—or specifically, his lack of—Moses is an in-demand commodity. He has now drawn the interest of and offers from two of the country’s most potent football programs. The secret is out; although, this is far from the first time we’ve seen a junior high athlete receive looks from colleges.

It’s not the norm (yet), but it could be soon enough.

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Florida State — which lost a wave of assistants this past offseason — snagged Tennessee running backs coach Jay Graham yesterday.  (FSU also scooped up ex-Kentucky offensive coordinator Randy Sanders this offseason and it’s believed he will shift from running backs to quarterbacks to make way for Graham.)

Brewster served as Dan Mullen’s receivers coach at MSU last year.  He was shifted to tight ends and given the title of “assistant head coach” when Mullen brought in Billy Gonzales to coach receivers 13 days ago.

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If you like numbers, you’ll love the quarterbacks’ career stats. Here are the top 10 returning in 2013 and how they stack up against one another entering spring practice:

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