Today, I hand over the keys to the Mississippi State beat to Parrish Alford, who will take care of Ron Polk’s final three games at the helm of MSU.

My 11-year-old son, Zach, and I are off to New York to see our beloved Yankees play the Mets for the final time at Yankee Stadium. I really do hate this trip was planned well before Polk announced his retirements plans, but I guess that’s baseball. It’s weird knowing I won’t be there.

Anyway, feel free to post your experiences from the weekend if you go. I’ll be checking in from time to time to read the comments.

Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you guys on Monday morning.

On his final teleconference, Ron Polk said Cody Freeman and and Ryan Collins will undergo surgery tomorrow morning.

And he again confirmed Ricky Bowen, John Lalor and Justin Pigott will be the starting pitchers.

With Mississippi State’s 4-1 victory against Memphis on Tuesday, Ron Polk’s tenure as the Bulldogs’ skipper was reduced to three games.

In today’s newspaper, I had a column on how different age groups will view Polk’s legacy.

Now I pose the question to you. How do you define Polk’s legacy, and what are some of your favorite Polk memories?

Deanna Favre, that is, wife of Brett.

Sylvester Croom announced on Tuesday she’ll be the guest speaker at the Mississippi State’s 2008 Ladies Football 101 Clinic.

The clinic will be held Friday, June 6, at the Crane Team Theatre in the Holliman Athletic Center and is designed for women interested in learning more about the game of football. The clinic runs from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., and lunch is provided.

For more info call the Bulldog football office at 662-325-2534.

I just got off the phone with MSU basketball assistant coach Robert Kirby, who interviewed a couple of weeks ago to become the head coach at Grambling.

As of today, no hire has been made, and he hasn’t heard back for a second interview.

Here’s some of what he had to say: “It’s a head coaching opportunity, and I don’t know which direction they are heading. They have a brand new arena, which is very nice, and they just built some new dorms. It’s a nice nice college town.”

“With new arena and dorms, it elevates the job. The thing they don’t have is basketball tradition. But no, I have not been offered the job. All I’ve done is interview for the job.”

“Their goal is to raise every sport and to elevate each sport to the level where football is. It takes a lot of commitment from a lot of different areas. I guess I’ll just sit back and see what happens.”

I asked him about the urgency of hiring a new coach due to recruiting, and he said university officials informed him they weren’t as concerned with recruiting this year as they were with hiring the right coach.

Grambling was 17-19 this past season.

Can’t make it to the season-opener against Louisiana Tech in Ruston on Aug. 30? Don’t fret.

It’s ESPN to the rescue. Or is it ESPN?

The network has released its schedule for the fall, and it shows the two Bulldogs squaring off on either ESPN or ESPN2. The time, though, hasn’t been announced.

Ron Polk is throwing a curveball to wrap up his coaching career by changing up the pitching rotation for the Arkansas series that begins on Thursday.

Ricky Bowen will draw the start to open the series, while senior John Lalor will be on the mound Friday. Then on Saturday, the regular-season finale, Justin Pigott will get the call.

As for Chad Crosswhite, he’ll start tonight against Memphis but will only pitch a few minutes.

How about some positive news?

The Football Writers Association of America, which I am a member of, has announced that Mississippi State seniors Jamar Chaney and Derek Pegues have been named to the Watch List for the 2008 Bronko Nagurski Trophy.

Chaney, a linebacker from Fort Pierce, Fla., was the Bulldogs leading tackler in 2007 with 89, while Pegues, a two-time all-SEC selection from Batesville, has returned a school record three interceptions for touchdowns.

What’s so special about that year, you ask?

The last time Mississippi State failed to miss both the SEC tournament and an NCAA regional was in 1986.

I guess you can say after the streak hit “Blackjack” the Bulldogs will now start over.

Mississippi State had a tough weekend in Baton Rouge, getting swept by a combined score of 40-16.

Sunday’s series finale, also the last game at Alex Box Stadium, resulted in a 9-6 LSU win.

MSU, which fell to 20-32, hosts Memphis on Tuesday before closing out the year against Arkansas, starting Thursday.

In today’s paper, I had two stories on Ron Polk. The first took an in-depth look at his lasting legacy, while the second talked about, what now for 64-year-old retiring coach.

I figured most media outlets would do their big stories later in the week, so I made the pitch to run it today and beat the rush.