F-F-F-Foolin'

Yes, it's April Fool's Day, but I will steadfastly refuse to dangle false stories in front of you, masquerading as real news--a tired gambit that has seen its day...so among the tales that will not be told here:

-- how all Big South schools will be adding Bowling for next year's official competition

-- how the Quiz Bowl results will henceforth be included in Sasser Cup standings

-- how the Conference will expand to 12 with the arrival of ______ (insert surprising school name here).

Nor will I go on at great length about oddball items like these:

-- VMI adding women's water polo

-- NCAA reviewing sand volleyball as a new sport

-- said NCAA considering expanding the hoops bracket to 96 while not having any sort of playoff in place for its highest level of football

Oh wait, those last three are real. VMI IS adding women's water polo, an eybrow-raising choice, but entirely their call. The NCAA IS reviewing the "emerging" sport of sand volleyball as a legitimate new competition--and it might have happened by now if the economics of ensuring adequate facilities in a rough funding period hadn't given some folks pause. And YES, as I'm sure you're all aware, there is a real possibility that the lauded NCAA basketball bracket will be doctored in a major way (nothing's done yet, but remember that TV money has a lot to do with all this, so...)--and that's even as the FBS continues to wrangle with its BCS and no real playoff structure. Thankfully, we live in the FCS world in the Big South, with a real football playoff--and, new this upcoming year, an automatic berth in that postseason party!

By the way folks, bowling IS a recognized championship sport in the NCAA--it's just not on anyone's agenda in the Big South (that I know of, at least).

But seriously now...

Conference play dominates the storylines for baseball, softball, and tennis...even as we head to a holiday weekend, we've still got big games coming up (just not on Easter Sunday). Coastal Carolina and VMI are both ranked and playing good baseball right now, but they're not alone, and I think we might have the makings of a really good Baseball Championship this year at Winthrop. But championship-wise, that's still a way off, while next on that agenda is women's golf--less than two weeks away now.

Here's the latest Big South Network Guide--I think it's finally cooperating with Blogger (they haven't been getting along in recent weeks, but the video is always available at BigSouthSports.com and our YouTube Channel).

And kudos to everyone who recognized today's title as a Def Leppard reference...SHOUT--out!