For Whom the Mailbag Tolls: Football is almost here Edition

Football season is inching its way closer. If you like the high school variety, then the jamborees are kicking up this weekend and regular season action starts next week.

But if you’re here, you’re probably wanting to know about Mississippi State football. Then again, maybe not. A lot of the questions I received had nothing to do with football.

On a side note, I had planned to write this earlier, but some things came up at work, so it got put on the back burner. If you have been eagerly waiting my response, I offer my humblest apologies.

Now then, to the mailbag!

So far I have really enjoyed it. I haven’t felt the need to post something on every single little thing that happens to Mississippi State which is why I decided to make the switch, and it has been kinda nice.

Because as much as I love the English language, it’s really pretty dumb. For example, the word “dumb” might be the dumbest. Seriously, what is the point of a silent b. Bench Mobb being the exception, there is no real point in a silent b. The English language is full of dumb things, so that’s the only thing I can come up with.

We ask this every season, and I have even said it myself in the past, but I don’t think it is a matter of being lazy, I think it has more to do with the fact most media members simply don’t care.

Sports writers aren’t getting paid and keeping their jobs based on how accurate their predictions are. They are getting paid on how much content they can produce and how much traffic they can bring to their site or subscribers they can help draw in. Predictions do draw a lot of traffic, so people will make them and publish them.

But what is the real consequence of being wrong? Fans filling up their Twitter mentions saying told ya so? If you’re a writer for a big enough publication, that is pretty easy to ignore.

So instead of taking days to really dig in and research a team and see just how a team might truly fare, its easier to put a certain few teams at the top and a certain few teams at the bottom. They’re likely to be close in the long run. So instead of taking days to do so, now you have extra time to create more content. That’s just the way it works.

You’re really excited because of what has been going on in Italy for the men, and since I know you, there is also a really good chance the Women’s team could be a preseason top 10 or possibly top 5 team. And both teams are likely still a year away from being at their best.

But for now, lets stick with the men’s team. We’re seeing Quinndary Weatherspoon use the opportunity to play in Italy to solidify his role on this team as the dominant player, and to make a statement to the rest of college basketball that he wants to be a star this season.

We’re also seeing Tyson Carter and Lamar Peters take complete advantage of this extra time to make names for themselves and have emerged as possible impact players this season. And we still haven’t seen Mario Kegler, arguably the most talented player on the team. The Bulldogs are still trying to find out what his eligibility will be for the upcoming season.

The reason you’re excited is because there is a lot to be excited about.

I’m going to assume you are talking about Mississippi State athletes, so I’m going to stick to Bulldogs. I’m going to go with Brandon Holloway.

Brandon Holloway would make a great outfielder and base stealer if he played baseball. He’d get on base and wreak havoc on the basepaths, and he could track down anything that was hit to centerfield, so let’s go with him.

Whataburger is a solid choice. My family and I try to head to the beach in Florida once a year, and when we do, Whataburger is usually visited a few times during our trips since we don’t have one here.

But the correct answer here probably won’t ever happen, but it would be awesome if it did is Shake Shack. They were started in New York City, but they have spread out to various parts of the country, but not yet to Mississippi.

Their burgers are phenomenal, the chicken sandwich rivals Chick-Fil-As, and the shakes might be the best milkshakes you ever put in your mouth. I don’t forsee them coming to Mississippi anytime soon. The closest place they have one is in Georgia and in Florida. But I can still hope.

Hey, a football question! And a multi-parter to boot. Let’s take it piece by piece.

First I think Mullen will settle on one quarterback to receive 80% or more of the snaps during the game. He may even let the guy he settles on take all of the snaps, but if this has been a true quarterback competition, I think he’ll find a way to get more than one of them on the field at some point.

The most likely thing I see happening is a situation where Fitzgerald wins the starter job, but Tiano, the one who is the most Dak-like, comes in for short yardage and goal line situations. But Fitzgerald is only slightly lighter and a little bit taller, so Mullen may just have Fitzgerald out there the entire time.

For the second part, I think the earliest we see Mullen settle in on a guy is game 3. The biggest concern is if whoever gets the job plays terrible against LSU, does Mullen go back to square one, or does he simply say LSU has an amazing defense and let them stay the guy. If he goes back to square one, it might not be settled until Game 5.

That rain sounds pretty insane. It also sounds insane because it might have rained two times in my neck of the woods over the last six weeks.

I’m sure she was ecstatic. I’m a teacher for my actual job, and during the summer, I spend every waking moment with my children. And while I wouldn’t trade those moments for anything in the world, I also am glad to have a some time away from them when the school year starts.

Well all of the games are played in the day, and since I’m working, I haven’t gotten to watch his play-by-play skills, so I can’t really give you a good answer. But since he doesn’t have any real experience doing that, I’m guessing there are some great unintentionally funny moments throughout the broadcasts.

If you don’t know what Christy is referring to, then let me catch you up to speed. She was referring to this tweet.

The obvious answer is I don’t know. If you don’t know who Crxxms is, he is Josh Barnhill, a former manager of this site and now the editor at Maroon and White Nation. I wrote for nearly three years there and was a co-editor along with him for about a year and a half.

So why would he do that, I don’t know. But I do know Josh isn’t the type to hold back on how he feels about things, and that was how he felt at the time. And since that was how he felt, he let it be known.

Hey, another football question! I’d have to say unknown. There were a number of things coming out of the few days of practice the media was allowed to see, but nothing involved the tight ends.

I would just say don’t expect much. Tight end has never been a position which has produced a lot under Dan Mullen since he came to Mississippi State, and I am not expecting it to this year. Justin Johnson could be good, but there isn’t anything to get overly excited about.

Thanks for your participation in this edition of For Whom the Mailbag Tolls. Feel free to hit me up on Twitter @JstrawnFWtCT if you ever want your questions included.