Drawn Into The Vortex

Wednesday we noted the launch of the preseason football previews at BigSouthSports.com. PC's report came online that day--since then, we have seen the additions of VMI's 2008 overview along with the outlook for Charleston Southern. Keep checking the site for more gridiron goods in the coming days.

Now I want to say a word about the Vortex..."the what," you say?

The Big South Vortex.

First notice of this will hit the SHOUT readers, with a big release/announcement from the Conference to follow on Tuesday, so you're getting a "soft launch" preview (see it right here in the column to the right of the posts).

The Big South Conference has partnered with Real Time Matrix to create The Big South Vortex, an active web element that puts "old-fashioned" widgets to shame and will allow you to take the Conference with you wherever you want to be on the web. Your blog or website, social networking pages, start-up page, or other spaces can all be fitted with their own copies of the Vortex--just click "Copy Me" and follow the instructions to tie in to The Big South Vortex (even copy and paste the HTML code directly into where you need it to go)!

The Vortex instantly becomes your personal, pocket-sized version of (and connection to) BigSouthSports.com: get headlines (scrolling RSS feed) and video clips, use single-clicks to reach the Big South Online Store or EDGE Video Streaming Source, plus hit the "Jump To" link menu connecting you to active sports, the SHOUT blog, and Conference features, in addition to other growing and changing elements that will keep the Vortex fresh all the time.

In short, this is cool.

So many things in cyberspace discourage you from copying them or putting them in your personal space--we are encouraging the practice! It's one more way to keep up with everything that's going on in the wide and wild world of the Big South Conference, so join us and get drawn into The Big South Vortex...

Before closing today's SHOUT, a quick note for some of our VMI fans upon the arrival of the team's season preview on the Conference site...we saw a couple comments posted about how SHOUT needed to show more love for Howard Abegesah (pictured at right), junior RB for the Keydets. Yes, guys, he is a great back--and you should check the Big South Football Preseason Video, because he does get his due in that presentation. At the same time, please remember that writing about Rashad Jennings and his preseason honors should not be considered as excluding Abegesah, merely as reporting facts from around the League (we can't write about everybody every day, after all). Besides, by the time he gets to the end of this paragraph, the 2007 All-Conference Second Team star and 1,000-yard rusher will have seen the name Abegesah posted on our blog three times!

Don't forget, the streaming calendar gets going just hours from now, featuring Old Dominion at High Point women's soccer (Friday 7pm), with three more games on the weekend slate: Wofford at HPU (WSOC, Sunday, 2pm), ETSU at UNCA (WSOC, Sunday, 2pm), and Clemson at Winthrop (exhibition MSOC, Sunday, 7pm).