Austin Bishop | Special to the Appeal

Austin Bishop

Texas, OU exit could begin conference firestorm
By Austin Bishop | Special to the Appeal, 190 Reads
Tue, 08/03/2021 - 04:25 PM
Get ready for 2010-2014 all over again. That was the time span that saw conference realignment nearly spin out of control.

If the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma apply for and are accepted into the SEC (likely beginning play in the 2025 season), you can look for other conferences to follow suit.
Click Here to Read More
Austin Bishop

‘Uncle Johnny,’ the Braves and 1972 hold huge memories
By Austin Bishop | Special to the Appeal, 267 Reads
Wed, 07/28/2021 - 12:30 PM
I am looking forward to July 7, 2022. It will mark the 50th anniversary of the first time I attended a Major League Baseball game.

My biggest sports-related regret is that I didn’t do what it took to attend at least one game every year since that time.
Click Here to Read More
Austin Bishop

OLD SPORTS DUDE: Some sports memories are worth reliving over and over
By Austin Bishop | Special to the Appeal, 1,690 Reads
Fri, 07/09/2021 - 03:00 PM
Everybody loves do-overs. Or at least they should. I am actually a connoisseur of do-overs, clinging to every Monday and every sunrise like a fleeting opportunity.
Click Here to Read More
Austin Bishop

COLUMN: Retirement can be elusive for old sports journalists
By Austin Bishop | Special to the Appeal, 1,898 Reads
Mon, 07/05/2021 - 11:30 AM
A funny thing happened on the way to retirement. I bought a newspaper.

If you are surprised by this, that makes at least two of us. It looked as though my dream of purchasing the Kemper County Messenger — the weekly newspaper of a community that is dear to my heart — had been buried 18 months ago.
Click Here to Read More
Austin Bishop

12 pairs who would be interesting interviews
By Austin Bishop | Special to the Appeal, 10,430 Reads
Tue, 06/22/2021 - 04:48 PM
Four weeks ago I wrote a column listing 12 interviews I would love to conduct. Not the short five-minute kind, but a legitimate two-hour sit-down where I could have an actual back-and-forth conversation with the subjects.
Click Here to Read More
Austin Bishop

Time to expand college football playoffs is now
By Austin Bishop | Special to the Appeal, 5,678 Reads
Wed, 06/16/2021 - 04:22 PM
The future of college football has been a hot topic the last few days and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon

A proposal to expand the college football playoffs to 12 games is on the table and is about to be heavily debated. I’m not a big fan of change but it is time for the playoffs to be more inclusive.
Click Here to Read More
Austin Bishop

My, my, my how high school sports have changed
By Austin Bishop | Special to the Appeal, 9,010 Reads
Wed, 06/09/2021 - 07:00 AM
To say the high school sports scene has changed in Mississippi since I broke into the journalism business as a High School senior in the fall of 1975 would be an understatement.
Click Here to Read More
The top homers I’ve seen
By Austin Bishop | Special to the Appeal, 3,273 Reads
Tue, 06/08/2021 - 07:00 PM
There are “cheap” home runs and then there are no-doubters, the kind that leave vapor trails etched across the sky as they exit the stadium. Sure they all count the same, but some leave lasting memories because of who hit them, when they were struck, or the circumstance that surrounds them.
Click Here to Read More
Austin Bishop, Old Sports Dude

OLD SPORTS DUDE: First home runs hold special memories
By Austin Bishop | Special to the Appeal, 10,546 Reads
Tue, 04/27/2021 - 05:37 PM
Madeline McCown wasn’t exactly sure what she was seeing Monday afternoon. That’s quite likely because she had never seen anything quite like it before.
Click Here to Read More
Austin Bishop

OLD SPORTS DUDE: Best way to kill big snakes is while they are young
By Austin Bishop | Special to the Appeal, 7,008 Reads
Tue, 04/20/2021 - 02:00 PM
NOTE TO READERS: What follows is a column first published in The Meridian Star in October 1987. In the 33-and-a-half years since that time my opinion of snakes has not improved. While many folks will rush to tell me the benefit of snakes, of which I do not doubt, I quite simply am not very interested.
Click Here to Read More

Subscribe to Austin Bishop | Special to the Appeal

Please select your theme

August 04, 2021