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Morning Linkage, etc.

Well, that was depressing - State's men's basketball team laid another poo on the court last night, this time in its first game of a tournament in Puerto Rico. Granted, the opposition was a decent-to-good ACC team. But still, what a dud. In fact, that's about as bad a first-half whooping I've seen us take in a while. (Note: I didn't spend much time thinking about it, though. I'm guessing more than a few games in the past three years had similar stenches wafting off the court at halftime.) Here's Howland's post-game take:

Most interesting comment may have been that the state of the defense is so dire that if his continued emphasis on improving doesn't get the job done, he and the staff are going to have to change some things schematically. He was upbeat about that prospect given that it's so early in the season. But it's interesting to hear him say that. I'm guessing that he's been a little surprised by just how bad our defense has been.

Another standout baseball signee - One of the top baseball players in the state signed with MSU this week. Hit the link to read his story. He may be one of those guys who gets a shot at the draft before ever showing up on campus. But still, good to have him on board.

Malik Dear returns Saturday - After a two week absence with an injury, one of my favorite young players on the football team, Malik Dear, will be back in action against Arkansas. Hit the link to read some comments by Dear about his first year with the team and about coming off the injury. On a related note, I rarely find clips of receivers coach Billy Gonzales gabbing with the press, but this week there's one floating around:

Relentless, Episode 12 - Here it is, folks:

Remembering an Ass Pocket of Whiskey

Next Monday is the late R.L. Burnside's birthday. He'd have been 89. Every Mississippian owes it to themselves to spend a little time with the man's under-appreciated and under-heard music. My first exposure to him was via his brief collaborations with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion back in the mid-1990s, but the real deal happened when he was flying solo:

If that floated your boat, take a gander here for a full hour of R.L. in the 1980s accompanied by no one, kicking ass and taking names. And if you're really looking to expand your blues horizons and get your Mississippi pride going, bookmark the documentary You See Me Laughin': The Last of the Hill Country Bluesmen for later. It covers a number of little known legends, like Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, and T. Model Ford.

Attractive People Drinking Whisky

Pink Floyd Fridays

Back in aught-two, when I was young hipster doofus, I saw the Flaming Lips cover Pink Floyd's "Lucifer Sam" at a show in Atlanta. It was amazing. Then, a year later, I saw the Lips cover another Floyd song at Bonnaroo, something they would end up doing much more of in the future. I enjoyed some of their versions, and others, well, not so much. It's tough, after all, to do something interesting with such classic songs while not frittering away the things that make the songs good in the first place.

But it's not impossible. Ask the Shins.

Or Les Claypool.

Or the Foo Fighters.