Culture

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=818946 Mississippi State tailback Anthony Dixon knew he was in trouble: His mother was in town. Hell hath no fury like an angry mom. It was his freshman year, and Dixon was enjoying too much of the freedom that's afforded to rising stars in the SEC. "Coach (Sylvester) Croom called up his mama (Velma)," Bulldogs offensive coordinator Woody McCorvey says. "And she came and took away his car. That's the thing about Anthony: Whenever he isn't doing what we want him to do, we can call his mother and we know she'll straighten him out." Look at Dixon now. He's a 6-foot-1, 240-pound junior with 1,734 career rushing yards. He has scored 23 TDs and has six 100-yard games. Last season, he became the first Mississippi State sophomore to rush for 1,000 yards (1,066, with 14 TDs), on a school-record 287 carries. He helped the Bulldogs cap an 8-5 season with a victory over UCF in the Liberty Bowl by scoring the game-winning TD. It was Mississippi State's first bowl appearance since 2000. "We want more," says Dixon, who has helped State topple Alabama each of the past two seasons as well as shock Auburn last season. "Our goal? We want to win the national championship." rivals.com 6/20/08

http://bayoubengalsblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/lsu-will-beat-north-carolina-thursday.html OMAHA, Neb. - Wednesday is day seven of LSU's trip to Omaha. The Tigers got here Thursday night. They went to Rosenblatt Stadium Friday afternoon, looked around, practiced, had dinner and went through the opening ceremonies. On Saturday, they watched a few innings of the College World Series opener between Stanford and Florida State and then practiced at their off-Rosenblatt home of Creighton University. They've been to various steak houses. They went to the zoo on Wednesday after an extremely loose practice in which coach Paul Mainieri spent most of his time on the phone or doing interviews. They've lost a game, and they've won a game. The game they won - 6-5 over Rice Tuesday night with four runs in the bottom of the ninth, including a walk-off, three-run double by Blake Dean - was like so many they've won this season. It was particularly similar to the 5-4 win over South Carolina to start the Southeastern Conference Tournament last month. LSU trailed that game 4-0 going into the bottom of the ninth and scored four to tie before winning it in the 10th on a walk-off home run by Dean. So, LSU is now at home in Rosenblatt and its surroundings. The novelty of the trip is over. The steaks are great, but some of the guys are considering lighter fare like chicken. It's time to just play baseball. The seventh-seeded Tigers (49-18-1) play second-seeded North Carolina (52-13) at 6 p.m. Thursday in an elimination game. LSU lost to North Carolina 8-4 on Sunday as Tar Heel ace Alex White handcuffed the Tigers as well as any pitcher since LSU embarked on its 23-0 run in mid-April. White will not be pitching Thursday. Bayou Bengals Blog 6/18/08