State vs. UVA tonight - a story that the Rant may not know

John Grisham (the author), who is a huge baseball fan and Mississippi State graduate and huge supporter of the MSU baseball program, wanted his son to play baseball at State. No demands about starting - just to walk on and be a part of the team.

Grisham was working with the athletic department on a huge collaboration at the time, and this was just one of the things he wanted. Not only was he denied, it went so badly that Grisham pulled out of the project and took his money to the University of Virginia, who was discussing dropping baseball before Grisham stepped in and saved it. (Read the story "On the Brink" from UVA Magazine Here: LINK)

Grisham's son went and played at Virginia. He had a few career at bats and Virginia baseball went from being completely cut to winning a national championship within a decade after Grishams $ helped build a new stadium.

This is the second dumbest thing done at Mississippi State in the decade of the 2000s. Croom told Ndamukong Suh he couldnt play linebacker in the SEC. Suh's sister played soccer at MSU and his parents desperately wanted them both at the same school and they loved MSU. He went on to Nebraska and became a Hesiman finalist as a linebacker.