"It's Done."

Croom says, "It's done."

Felony assault charges against six Mississippi State football players were reduced to misdemeanors today, their lawyer and coach said.

When the agreement was reached, each player pleaded guilty to misdemeanor simple assault, rather than the felony simple assault on a police officer, said Jay Perry, who represents the players.

I wonder why officer Armstead wasn't charged with a misdemeanor assault as well? If the stories we heard were true, which they seem to be since the charges were reduced, should Armstead not face the same penalties under the law as the players?

Also, rather ironic that the Starkville police chief was all to eager to be out in front of the media when this story broke, but according to Ian, "Neither Police Chief David Lindley, nor prosecutor Roy Carpenter, immediately returned messages seeking comment."

Figures.

Now the only issue that remains is whether any of these young men will miss any games.

Head in the Sand

I tried to ignore State baseball during the past week, well not really ignore per se, but not write about it here, because frankly, I was just tired of writing about all of the losing.

But, how in the hell do you get swept by USM?

Terrible.

So, the team travels to South Carolina this weekend. Maybe that is far enough away from Starkville for the team to literally leave their troubles behind.

Fourteen games left, twelve of those against USC, Florida, Kentucky and Mississippi. This is a tough road for a lost team to travel.

State Wins, Fans Not Happy

State beat Memphis last night with a ninth inning 4-run rally, but the natives are still restless. Allowing Cleveland to get roughed up for seven runs is one more example of Polk leaving pitchers on the mound past their point of effectiveness.

I think State fans want to see a Jim Leyland like tirade from their skipper.

The Tigers' loss to the Indians was so bad that Detroit manager Jim Leyland's expletive-filled tirade could be heard outside the clubhouse door.

"We stunk," Leyland said Monday while speaking to reporters after the 10-2 loss, a terse session that ended with him abruptly storming out of his office. "The whole ball of wax was lackluster."

The fanbase has lost confidence in Polk's passion for winning. That's usually the first step towards the end. The only thing that can save Polk's reputation in the eyes of many Bulldog faithful is retirement or a Paterno-like resurgence. Personally, I'm hoping for the resurgence.

Auburn takes Two of Three

So, they lost another series.

And Bulldog nation is in temporary meltdown, divided between Polk bashers and Polk supporters.

It's hard to add much to the subject when you can't see the games, but something seems to be wrong with this club's mentality. The team needs a spark before the season is too far gone to recover.

Last week the team was ranked #10. This week...I'm guessing #20 or worse is in store.

Karma

You do bad things and bad things will happen to you.

Example 1: Logan Young.

Buy a HS football player for $150,000 for the University of Alabama...die a bloody death.

Example 2: stateskills.

Say Francoeur sucks and pull him from your fantasy lineup...bastard hits two homeruns, doubles his season hit total and drives in three runs, in one game.

Baseball is not my friend.

State baseball is in the tank. The Dogs are 7-7, since the 18-0 start, with a road trip to Auburn this weekend. We went from Omaha dreams to sweating out an invite to Hoover in one week.

The Kansas City Royals...well, the AB years (that would be After Brett) have been a total disaster. The offense looks okay this year, but the pitching is beyond hope. And to make matters worse, the Royals haven't won in the Bronx since 2002. F'ng Yankees.

The Braves look like crap this year too. Chipper is already on the DL (and on my fantasy team which makes his injury even worse) and Francoeur (also on my FT) can't hit the broadside of a barn (don't worry folks, his ass is on the bench and may be getting the ax soon).

As you can see from above, my fantasy baseball team...well, it sucks. At least I have Papelbon, my one sentimental pick up has been gold.

On the bright side, my check for winning a NCAA Tournament Pool is coming in the mail this week. And I did win some money playing poker last night. So, I've got that going for me, which is nice.

Collapse.

I may be a day late with this topic, but it is too good to pass up.

I'm still trying to figure out how those contraptions in left field never seem to fail, but a simple deck, built by the Athletic Department, can't make it through half the season.

Is the collapsing deck symbolic of our baseball team or of our Athletic Department as a whole? We always joke about our teams folding under pressure, but the infrastructure too? At least the field looked nice.

I truly believe it's something in the culture in Starkville. For example, why did no one take charge and have the collapsed deck removed before Sunday's game? It wouldn't have taken long to remove with a team of 5-10 men and the right tools. Just get it done.

I'm hoping the General fixes some of these "cultural" issues at the University. But speaking of the General, why was he a no-show at SBW? Where were you, Doc? You should have thrown out the first pitch on Friday night, made a brief speech before the spring game and lead "Take me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch on Sunday. Maybe doing a Harry Caray impersonation would have been taking it a little far, but the General should have been visible this past weekend, that much is certain.

(The photo of the deck is courtesy of poster jsireland, from a post here.)

Weather Not Looking Good

This is the forecast for Starkville this evening.

Looking like a double header on Saturday is likely.

Georgia - Super Bulldog Weekend

Georgia comes to town this weekend to take on the #3 ranked, for now, Mississippi State Bulldogs.

"Georgia owns a 6-2 mark against top 25 ranked teams this season including 2-2 on the road."

Georgia swept State in 2004, the last time they made the trip to 'Vegas. Hopefully State can turn the table this weekend. A sweep is needed to maintain a top five national ranking after the debacle in Louisiana earlier this week.

Berkery is bringing a 25 game hitting streak into the weekend, just two short of the school record. Berkery is hitting for a .439 avg., with 20 walks and an on-base percentage of .515 this season.

It's also Super Bulldog Weekend, so the crowds should be out in force, even though the football spring game lost some luster due to last weekend's activities.

Good job, Ian.

Ian Rapoport's article in today's Clarion Ledger regarding the suspension of six State football players for their role in a fight at a sorority party at Level III early last Sunday morning was balanced. And for that, I say, "Thank you."

It's unfortunate that the AP reporter didn't do any homework for his brief story on the suspensions or pick up some quotes from Ian to round out his account of the events. According to the AP story on the wire today, the officer wasn't even off-duty. Heck, the AP reporter is still reporting that they were freed on a 25K bond. If he was paying attention, he would know that their bond was reduced to 10K on Monday.

Is a little bit of accuracy too much to ask for?

Croom Suspends 6 Players Indefinitely

What does this mean?

Nothing really.

Early bedtime and no partying at Level III.

Any real punishment will be handed out after the trial is finished and at that point it may be completely out of Croom's hands anyway.

Reputation

That's what this is all about now.

The Associated Press put the story on the wire, so it's national news today.

Guilty or not, this story dampens the reputation of the football program, Croom and the University. It's a sad day.

I'm not convicting either side, since there appear to be a lot of holes in the story.

So, when is a journalist in this State going to step up and do some actual investigative reporting? How about interviewing some of the attendees of the party? That would be a good start. Then perhaps the reporter could try to piece together the events of the evening that lead up to the altercation. Maybe learn more about Mr. Armstead and his record as an officer. And learn more about these players' pasts. Have they ever been in trouble with the law before? These are just suggestions, mind you.

Again, for the record, I'm not anti-SPD. Heck, one of my best friends is a SPD Officer.

I just want the whole story, before my University's reputation is run through the mud and before I'm willing to convict the players of having complete responsibility for this incident.

To me, it sounds like a standard case of a group of guys all acting tough for their women (players and Armstead included). If that's the case, then let that be the case, drop the charges, and move on.

Unfortunately, it's probably not that simple. If Armstead carries any blame from this incident it will probably negatively impact his career as an SPD Officer. This fact alone will make the settling of this case that much harder, as Armstead would have to drop the charges for this to go away, because you know SPD will stand up for its own.

This is Not Good

A fight at a sorority/fraternity party? That's news?

Well, it is when it involves five football players and an off-duty cop.

"Five Mississippi State football players each face a felony assault charge in connection with the Saturday night assault of an off-duty Starkville police officer at a downtown party."

The whole story isn't out yet, but the early report from the Starkville Daily News is not good.

Arrests included five of the most talented players from last Fall's freshmen class:

Defensive back Keith Fitzhugh

Defensive back Derek Pegues

Offensive tackle Michael Gates

Defensive lineman Charles Burns

Defensive lineman Quinton Wesley

Alabama Takes 2 of 3

Well, if you believe in the theory that history repeats itself, that series went as expected.

Now the team just has to rally and win the CWS.

Alabama took 2 of 3, but all three games could have gone either way. A sweep this weekend of UGA (who was swept by Mississippi in Athens this past weekend) during Super Bulldog Weekend will get this team back on the right track.