All Stars to Me

Today is the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, saluting many of the best active players in the sport. The roster even includes a former Big South player, which makes it all the more special. That said, it should be noted that while fame and talent are relative, everybody capable of playing pro ball is a "star" in his own right. And while that may sound broadly optimistic or simplistic, I feel there's more to it than that.

So before I dig deeper into the subject of the Big South in pro baseball, a few digressions:
--remember when this was really the "All-Star Break"? It was a chance for a collective breath from an unending wheel of games, and the only ones who lamented the gap were sportscasters seeking content. Now it seems like the wheel never stops.
--while not as diluted as the NFL Pro Bowl pool seems to get, the overall collection of players that winds up involved in the game often feels like less than the game's true elite, thanks to a combination of injuries (both real and perceived), the compulsion for including every team, and the desire to get as many players in the game as possible (which, at its worst, produced an extra-inning TIE once the benches were laid bare). Taken separately, these things may appear logical; combined, they can be less than ideal.
--determining the World Series home field advantage via an isolated game played months before and likely resolved by players not involved in the championship makes about as much sense as setting Fall Classic start times based on the number of runs scored on Opening Day...one has nothing to do with the other. Would you do it based on the Home Run Derby results? They're both exhibition contests, so what's the difference?

And as for the "star" question, I fall back on some things from my days working in minor league baseball. Try to remember that everybody you watch on these rosters was all-city/all-state/all-star/all-conference somewhere, that each of them was chosen over countless other players, and that all of them have survived multiple cuts to get to the level they are playing at--from the lowest of the minors to the pinnacle of being MLB All-Stars. Getting paid to play ball shows talent greater than most...and of course, getting recognized as one of the best of the best demonstrates exceptional abilities and true GAME. Anybody who can do this for a living has certainly earned a modicum of respect for his game...not necessarily adulation and mind-boggling riches, although those seem to come with the package anymore.

Therefore, I offer an open SHOUT-out to all the players who made their way up through the Big South to the professional ranks--guys like Liberty's Shawn Teufel, who went from this year's Conference Championship tournament to the Tigers organization--playing first with the Connecticut Tigers and now the West Michigan Whitecaps...guys like VMI's Michael Bowman, who got drafted from the Keydets two years ago and pitched in the AA All-Star Game last night...guys like UNC Asheville RHP Justin Schumer, who will get his shot now that he's signed a free agent deal with the Giants organization....and guys like Ty Wigginton, American League All-Star.

Wigginton, who played his college ball for the UNC Asheville Bulldogs, got the lone Baltimore roster spot on the AL squad. He's been traded and cut multiple times in his career, but keeps plugging away, now with his 5th big-league team. It's not surprising that at 32, he gets labels like "journeyman infielder," but just don't forget to include "All-Star" as well. Here's a great profile--including his college years--from the Baltimore Sun.

So catch the game, watch Wigginton when he gets in at some point, and enjoy a smile for a player who's had a wild ride in a successful career.

And yes, there are a great many more players from all our member teams throughout professional baseball, I was just picking a few examples of individuals at different points in their careers (so please don't hit me with "what about Kevin Slowey, or x, or y, or z...").

Before I go, here's a nod to some extra special All-Stars: our Big South Conference Scholar Athletes of the Year! Just announced today, these selections embody the full nature of what it means to be a "student-athlete"...and both are from Coastal Carolina University--male winner Austin Fleet (baseball) and female winner Jill Nyhof (volleyball). It's worth pointing out that the last time both winners came from the same school was just two years ago--and it was also CCU. Congratulations to both deserving recipients on a tremendous year in competition and in the classroom!

No better way to end it than that, so that's SHOUT--out.

Transitions

Greetings, Big South friends, fans, family, and followers...Happy New Year!

Tonight marks an annual turning point--and I'm not talking about NBA free agency here.

With the end of June and the start of July, it's the functional transition point from one year's calendar to the next. For the Big South, we move from one fiscal year to the next, but it also represents a definable moment where "this year" becomes "last year" and "next year" becomes "this year"...or is that confusing?

By and large, it means we can do a little less looking back and a little more looking forward.
After all, July may be the thick of summer, but before the month is out we will hit Big South Football Media Day. And once you're there, it's a full-tilt countdown to the season itself--for all the fall sports, really--and the whole thing is rolling again.

So there is plenty on the planning tables here...stepping up things for the Big South Network with an effort toward more original programming to support the huge number of live events that we will again have available...improving the interactive content quality through this blog, plus our main Facebook and Twitter pages, and possible additions to that social networking family...and of course an overall commitment to making our events and championships the best they can be, along with enthusiastic support for our branding and mission: Developing Leaders Through Athletics.

Some of you are bound to ask about our membership...no, no changes for this year (Texas wouldn't return our phone calls--we thought they were ready to move...and if you're new to SHOUT, that qualifies as wild sarcasm, so please don't take that kind of remark seriously).

In fact, Presbyterian College still has one more transition year for most sports--the final year of the NCAA's lengthy process. PC will be eligible again in its "fast-tracked" sports (softball and men's tennis), but any potential championships in other sports will have to wait another season. As for Campbell University, the Fighting Camels will play one more year in the Atlantic Sun before a welcome return to the Big South next year.

Put another way, no sports will have more than nine teams competing for titles this year (2010-11)...but next year (2011-12) we'll see plenty with eleven squads fighting for the crown.

Before we go, a nod from Big South SHOUT to the South Carolina Gamecocks for winning the College World Series and the NCAA Baseball Championship...USC has been waiting for that one a long time--and they had to go through the Myrtle Beach Super Regional and Coastal Carolina to get to Omaha. CCU played the Gamecocks tough in two games, but came up just short. In the end, we see how strong USC was, but that also speaks volumes for the kind of team the Chanticleers put on the field this past season. Good work by both teams!

Shameless plug time: Coastal Carolina 2010 Big South Baseball Champions shirts are still available through the Big South Online Store!!! If you haven't visited the new store yet, go give it a look. Expect big things there in the upcoming year as well...

That's my time, folks, you've been great--drive home safely. SHOUT--out...

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!

When Marketing Attacks!

In a perfect world, we would be able to put our schedules out there and our student-athletes would find large crowds greeting them at every event, cheering them on to new heights.

In the real world, we depend on some clever people dedicated to getting the word out, selling positives ("so many wins!"), downplaying negatives ("what losses?"), and working very hard to promote our events, athletes, and ideals.

Yes, it's all about the marketing. Today the Big South Marketing Group gathers in Charlotte for a face-to-face talk about what's going on at the member schools of the Conference, best practices for handling certain scenarios, and how everybody can work together to grow the profiles of the member institutions and the Conference as a whole.

Everything from advertising inventory and television deals to championships, sponsor-promotion tie-ins, and social media developments will be on the list today.

Meetings, you say...boring, you say. Perhaps...to some.

In truth, the ideas that come out of sessions like this can have a big impact on how your favorite school's sports are presented--and how the Big South membership is interconnected for various sports, events, promotions, and more. Just sayin'...

Anyway, today's post is really our chance for a quick SHOUT-out to the "BSMG" folks who keep the ideas churning and the turnstiles turning--have a great session!

Full Speed Ahead

Hello, SHOUT readers...


You know, we all have those hectic windows in our work life--in taxes, it's early in the year; in retail, it's late in the year; for college conferences like the Big South, right now is one of those "peak season" windows.


Everyone in the Conference office is running around these days, but just using me (as the example I know best): last week I was at the swimming facility at UT in Knoxville for CCSA Championships, this weekend I'll be at the Indoor Track & Field Championships held at Clemson, and then right on the heels of that, it's off to a site to be determined for action in the Men's Basketball Championship tournament--and as soon as that's wrapped, we're off to High Point for the Women's Basketball Championship tourney AND the Big South Winter Meetings. And of course, in the middle of all that, our daily responsibilities don't go away, so the regular parts of the job are in there too.


Don't misunderstand--that's not complaining, just sharing--I want everyone to know that the staff at the Big South is hard at work to make the championship swing work at its best for all the student-athletes, teams, and institutions of the Conference...this is an exciting, dramatic time of the year, with so much going on for fans of all kinds--please enjoy the stellar competition and the coverage we offer from these great events.


On to the events themselves...

Last week I didn't get anything posted to SHOUT (and shame on me, sorry about that) while working poolside at Tennessee's Aquatic Center for the CCSA Swimming & Diving Championships. The nutshell recap: favorite Florida Gulf Coast University did swim away with the women's championship, while Davidson College made a splash in taking the men's title. Of those schools fielding both men's and women's teams, Davidson had the best performance, with a M-1/W-2 team result, but Gardner-Webb was just behind with a M-2/W-3 finish.


That was the third year for the CCSA (Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association), a joint venture of the Big South, Southern, Atlantic Sun, and MEAC. The champions for the three years: Men-- College of Charleston (2008, 2009) and Davidson (2010); Women-- Davidson (2008), Florida Gulf Coast (2009, 2010). The event has been held at Huntersville, NC, Athens, GA, and Knoxville, TN...no telling where we'll be in year four...



THIS week, it's on to the Big South's Indoor Track & Field Championships, again to be staged at the indoor facility on the campus at Clemson University. Recent years have been owned by Liberty's men and Coastal's women, but it's a clean slate for 2010 and all we know is that there will be plenty of speed, height, and strength on display (and all streamed live on the Big South Network of course). Outside of those perennial strong teams, keep an eye out for star performers like Felix Kitur of VMI and the Charleston Southern men's relay team.


MEANWHILE, oh yeah--the men's basketball races are on fire!

Here's what we know going into Thursday's games: Coastal Carolina, Winthrop, and Radford will host first round games (with the seeding order still up in the air a bit). That fourth home slot has not been settled, but three teams have a shot at it: Asheville has the inside track, Liberty is right behind if UNCA stumbles, and High Point needs to win out and get help to climb past UNCA and LU, making it the least likely of the trio. The Championship schedule is on the Big South website and will be updated as teams go into their slots.

The men's quarterfinals, along with the track championships and LOTS of other events are filling up the slate for the Big South Network this week--here's the link to the video on YouTube (not going to fight Blogger on the video embed this week). You can also get there by clicking it inside the Vortex box on the right side of SHOUT or using the Big South Network player right on BigSouthSports.com, of course!

Well, I don't want to make this too long, so I'll spare you any lengthy stories about women's basketball (Gardner-Webb still rolling, Liberty right there--could be a finals collision in the making), baseball (Winthrop really opened up on fire, and Coastal is the real deal again), and softball (CSU knocked off a ranked Louisville squad)...just one more thing today...

Believe it or not, SHOUT is approaching an anniversary of sorts...the first live/public post for Big South SHOUT hit the web at the start of the Indoor Track & Field Championships at Clemson two years ago: February 29, 2008, to be precise. Seemed clever at the time to jump off on "Leap Day." Two years and 144 posts later, we're still SHOUT-ing...and we hope you keep reading.

Thank you for your support--we offer a grateful SHOUT-out to you all!

2010: The Future Arrives

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you Big South fans, friends, family, and followers!

It's 2010, people. I betray my age for a moment by saying that the date sounds like we've really landed in the ever-mythical "future" now. For those a generation ahead of me, the millennium always sounded like the horizon--changing to 2000 was unthinkable (heck, all the checks, forms, and even the computers themselves stopped at 19__). The centerpiece of that philosophy was the novel and film "2001: A Space Odyssey." Years later, that date didn't seem quite as far off, and the horizon was stretched to 2010--as the book "2010: Odyssey Two" and its movie counterpart "2010: The Year We Make Contact" took us to this new date...although author Arthur C. Clarke was not able to make that next milestone, having passed in 2008. Turns out we're not booking moon passages, making interplanetary ventures, or establishing the validity of extraterrestrial intelligence...but I digress...

The valid point buried in that tangent is that the calendar has flipped and, like it or not, it's time for rushing headlong into the events of a new year and decade (don't start debating on that one--I know the math says it's 2001-2010, but popular culture says it's 2000-2009, so be it, we're going with the masses).

Painting with a very broad brush here, the last decade of Big South hoops belonged largely to Winthrop's men (7 of 10 Tournaments) and Liberty's women (9 of 10). While both schools will still bring highly competitive teams to the court, it just doesn't feel likely that either one will have another decade of similar dominance in them for the 10's (pronounce it 'teens' and get used to it, especially since no one ever agreed on what to call the last decade). I actually don't expect to see that level of dominance from ANY member institution for that matter, and that's a GOOD thing. Although it's easily argued that a powerhouse squad makes a name for itself and its conference in a way that reverberates nationally, there's not a clear candidate for that role out there right now. So rather than bemoan the lack of a standard-bearer at the moment, let's sit back and enjoy the battle to earn that status going forward...it should be fun.

Okay, so with that said, what teams have been asserting themselves and where are the battle lines being drawn?

For the men, the early race appears to be between Radford and Coastal Carolina. No one can really be surprised by the Highlanders, since they were preseason favorites, but the Chanticleers have announced themselves in an unprecedented way. At 13-2 going into tonight's home game against PC, Coastal has established its best-ever season start, including an active nine-game winning streak--and no team approaches that win-loss record right now (all others with 7 or fewer victories as I write these words). RU hasn't been on quite the same roll, playing along an uneven path overall (including some tough high-caliber opposition), but in Conference play, Radford and CCU have matching 3-0 marks...not too shabby. Lurking right behind, you'll find Liberty and High Point at 2-1 in the Big South.

For the women, we're talking first and foremost about Gardner-Webb. The Lady Bulldogs have run their way to 12-2 overall, including a win in the first shot at a Big South opponent this season (Liberty). Since the women's teams are only one game into Big South play, it's a little early to draw any conclusions (even premature ones), but we'll briefly point out that the next best overall record belongs to Coastal, at 9-4...could they be brewing a double-challenge in Conway? Again, High Point and Liberty will certainly be among those challenging that notion.

Gotta run, sorry about the past-future rambles (just one more--isn't next year supposed to be the year of SkyNet from Terminator?)...more coming this week on other topics (including the Big South Sportsmanship Awards)....I'll be back...SHOUT--out!

Running Out of 2009 (but not done yet)

Only two weeks left in the "aughts" or the "ohs" or whatever...did we ever come to any consensus on what to call this new millennium decade? No? Didn't think so...

Well, it is that time of year when we start reflecting a bit on the calendar pages gone by and roping things in for lists and comparisons. Don't worry, we won't overdo things in this space, but there are a few items to touch upon in that light... (oh, and this week's Big South Network Guide is toward the bottom of the post).

First off, the world of "New Media"...when does the "new" wear off, anyway? It's starting to feel a little like "alternative music"--you know, it actually was an alternative to mainstream once upon a time, and then it joined the mainstream and just became a music genre. Seems to me that new media is just media now, but we need some sort of label, so there you go. After all, tape recorders and fax machines were once new media--but have now gone through regular media and out the other side into old media, yes? But I digress...

Anyway, this blog will turn two years old at the end of February 2010, making it a hoary old veteran (hey, that's nearly a triple redundancy--I'll call it poetic license) of the new media landscape, where most things are measured in months, not years. In 2009, we saw the Big South add its YouTube channel to the mix, soon to be followed in rapid succession by the Conference Twitter feed and Facebook Fan page. Those entities will all reach the anniversary of their respective beginnings in the next three months, and in the meantime they've become just as much a part of the Big South as anything else we do here.

The tale of the tape for our outlets (as of 11am 12/17/09):
YouTube.com/BigSouthSports ... 2,137 channel views, 14,896 total video upload views, 24 subscribers (69 videos available)
Twitter.com/BigSouthSports ... 454 followers (1,190 tweets/updates)
Big South Facebook Fan Page ... 220 fans

And that's all from nothing, folks--one year ago I could've written an entry in this blog, but none of that other stuff existed for us yet (cue the Dylan song*). No, we're not exactly sailing up the "trending topics" list, but we are increasing our level of contact with fans and friends, and that is a very good thing going forward.

Speaking of which, we've been asking questions via those lines of communication befitting the year-end theme of this post...time to share some of the answers with you.

Our social network family was asked to help with intriguing Big South Christmas gifts, as in "what special/creative present would you wish for a Big South player/coach/team, etc.?"

Here's what we've seen so far:
Brandon: a purple suit for Scott Cherry (first-year HPU MBB coach)
Larry: safety and a quick return home for those Keydets who will soon be going off in harm's way... (we second that one for sure)
Kimberly: a new coach for the Winthrop women's basketball team (hmmm...risking the 'naughty' list, Kimberly--considering that's not a vacant job)
Tim: the entire 2009 HS All-American football squad to commit to Coastal Carolina (that's creative, all right--perhaps a little ambitious, but why not aim high)

Douglas B.: let Thomas Sanders and Aaron Linn come back and play for GWU (always tough to see valuable seniors go...but I don't think there are any eligibility-time-machines in the sleigh)

Douglas K.: a Kevin Martin jersey for Nic Bowman (of the Big South staff...I'm sure there's an inside joke there, but I don't know what it is)

Adrian: Tradition for Gardner-Webb (trying to figure the naughty/nice factor there)

Cynthia L.: a "Varsity Blues" gift basket for Chad Cook (of the Big South office--there were additional details, edging toward the 'naughty' in a good-spirited way, so let's move on...)

Brennan: a Big South football sweep and Conference championship for Coastal Carolina football next year (a hopeful soul--and not the only one...)

Norm: a National Championship for Coastal Carolina football (well, the 2010 team is undefeated so far...)

Sue: an undefeated season for Presbyterian College football next year (seems Sue and Brennan/Norm have conflicting wishes--spells trouble for Santa)

On the heels of those Christmas wishes, we asked for your Big South Athlete of the CALENDAR year 2009 -- not just the current academic year, but from January 1-present day. The responses haven't flowed as fast yet, but here's what we've seen:

Larry: linebacker Tyler Santucci, Stony Brook football

Douglas B.: Coach Rick Scruggs and guard Grayson Flittner, Gardner-Webb men's basketball

Norm: Coach Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina baseball

Paul: Sam Chelanga, Liberty cross country

David: Coach Tooey Loy, High Point women's basketball

First, thanks to Douglas and Norm for participating in both questions.

Second, I'm happy to say Tyler made 2nd Team All-America (from the AP for FCS teams).

Third, Paul gets some extra space below for being an informed source out of the LU sports info staff, with his convincing argument for Chelanga:

Paul Carmany
I'll have to think about the coach, but for me the Big South Athlete of the Year is a no-brainer: Sam Chelanga of Liberty. How many other Big South athletes have won a NCAA Division I national championship, set an all-time collegiate record and were ranked No. 1 in the world in their event/sport at some point during this calendar year?!

Good point...Chelanga MUST be on the short list of candidates (oh, and no one can cry bias for Paul's LU connection, as ALL the submissions obviously reflect some favoritism).

Meanwhile, last week's Big South Network Guide never would post--I blame Blogger and the never-ending "Processing" circle. If you really want to hear upcoming info about games already played, you can find the segment on YouTube or via the On-Demand videos on BigSouthSports.com.

Now here's THIS week's streaming guide to the Big South Network:

Let me know if you have any other suggestions for the year-end questions above (via blog comments, tweets, facebook, whatever)...and also if you have any practical ideas for the Big South Conference to consider in 2010!

* Oh, and the footnote from above..."the Dylan song" is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the penchant of retrospectives to use "The Times They Are A-Changin'", even for trivial matters, when the protest song itself is a larger anthem of change...but I digress once more...

Thanks again for reading...I'm expecting at least one more SHOUT before we pull the curtain on 2009, but for now, SHOUT-----out!

What Did We Learn?

Well, you're never going to learn TOO much from just a pair of games, but it sure made for an interesting weekend, having men's basketball dip into Big South Conference play for a taste of things to come...

Highlights from Thursday's opening night included Winthrop's Gideon Gamble hitting his only basket of the game to send the Eagles into a Conference-opening overtime game against preseason favorite Radford. Ultimately, the Highlanders had the free-throw shooting necessary in the extra period to win 61-59, but it was high drama in Rock Hill for a good while there...and High Point's Tehran Cox took the ball end-to-end for the game-winning lay-up at Presbyterian College (63-61)...Coastal Carolina outran VMI's blistering pace for a 111-97 win...and Liberty handled CSU 69-53.

Friday had one game--but it was a doozy. How about UNC Asheville, winless overall coming into the game, finding the way to hang tight and tap in the game-winning basket (by Chris Stephenson) in the final seconds? That's right, Asheville stole one away from Gardner-Webb in the Battle of the Bulldogs, 58-56.

There was less drama for Saturday's line-up, but Radford had to come from behind a second time in as many Big South games to beat PC, while VMI's pace was too much for CSU, Winthrop topped High Point, and Coastal downed Liberty.

With Conference games off the table for nearly another month, that leaves us with these standings to muse over for a while:

2-0: Coastal Carolina & Radford;

1-0: UNC Asheville;

1-1: High Point, VMI, Winthrop, & Liberty;

0-1: Gardner-Webb;

0-2: Charleston Southern & PC.

For more thoughts on the early play in Big South MBB, try Rush the Court: Checking in on the Big South (also by yours truly, so I admit some of it may sound a bit familiar, but there's plenty more there). Enjoy.

By the way, here's a fun idea--since the schedule is a bit light to start the week--wrap your creativity around the question from our Facebook Fan Page:

OPEN QUESTION TIME: If you could get one special Christmas gift for any one Big South Conference recipient (a school, team, coach, player, etc.), what would it be? Be creative, anything goes, but keep it clean...

If you've got any fun answers, enter them there or comment on them here--if we get good ones, we'll share them!

And by the way, I know it's not all about the men's teams--but Conference play was kind of a big deal for early December. For now, I offer this one key women's hoops note: a congratulatory SHOUT-out to the Lady Bulldogs of Gardner-Webb, winners of EIGHT STRAIGHT! Way to go, GWU--keep up the good work!

That's all for this midday Monday.

Take a moment sometime today, December 7th, to think on the sacrifice and meaning of Pearl Harbor Day...we are losing more of our WWII veterans these days, simply with the passage of time, but do not forget their contributions. SHOUT offers a salute, and a heartfelt moment of silence in their honor........................

Fall Weekends

This is a nice moment.

You see, this is the unofficial first fall weekend...follow me on this--Labor Day is the last gasp of summer, right? Therefore this must be the first breath of autumn.

Truth be told, everybody thinks of these things differently when considering the season--measure by specific months (quarterly), measure by specific days (equinox to solstice), measure by the senses (see leaves change, feel temperatures drop), and so on and so on...

So let's just come to terms mainly from sporting and scholastic perspectives on the facts that we are now in football season, college and pro; that pro baseball has embraced its pennant races and magic numbers; that racing is switching into "Chase" mode; that all schools are in session now; that there are basically indicators in all walks of life starting to pop up around us--in short, that this is now the fall (autumnal equinox purists can get back to me in 11 days, I suppose).

And this is a nice moment because the fall sports seasons have begun, but all the promise and potential is still there. Lost a game? No worries, more where that came from... The rust has been shaken off and the teams tested, but the dreams are still alive. That applies to all our teams in all our sports, and that is a beautiful thing. We are only beginning to learn what possible stars and storylines will determine the shape of victory and defeat for when it will matter most, and that, too, is an exciting prospect. Also, in the South especially, that narrow window you get between "too hot" and "too cold" is something to savor.

So yes, this is a nice moment...don't spoil it for me.

Here's the Video Guide for the Big South Network this week....

No more rambling today--get out and enjoy some of the Big South teams in action this weekend--LIVE and in person! Football home openers for PC, Coastal, and Liberty are among the fun stops in the Conference tomorrow, for example. If you can't get out and catch a game (football, soccer, volleyball, or otherwise), check out the streaming games on the Big South Network (14 events Friday-Monday).

Last thought--a SHOUT-out to Big South Conference staffer Chad Cook and his lovely wife Erin, now expecting their second child--very cool, congratulations!

And that's SHOUT....out!

Friday Quick Hits -- DYK Edition

In the mood for a Random Facts post for the Big South today, so it's a bunch of quick hits-- "Did You Know?" style!

--Of the ten current Big South members, three trace their schools' origins to the 1800's: Presbyterian College, VMI, and Winthrop. Of those, only VMI (pictured) harks back to before the Civil War...founding dates: PC-1880, VMI-1839, WU-1886.

--Before departing the subject of age, let it be known that Gardner-Webb (1905) is not far behind that eldest group of schools, and that Radford (1910) is on the verge of its centennial!

--The Sasser Cup, awarded to the institution with the greatest overall athletic success in a given year, has been earned by five different institutions--but only three are active in the Conference right now: Coastal Carolina (9 wins), Liberty (7), and Winthrop (2). Founding member Campbell has won the award three times, and will return to vie for the Cup starting in 2011, when the Fighting Camels rejoin the Big South. Outside of those schools, only former member UNCG has taken the trophy (3 times).

--The Big South awards championships in 18 different sports, but some members have additional competition outside the Conference umbrella: GWU--swimming, wrestling; LU--wrestling; PC--lacrosse; RU--field hockey, swimming; & VMI--lacrosse, swimming, wrestling, rifle. You'll also likely be seeing more lacrosse and swimming among member schools in the coming years.

Moving on to a brief football discussion...

BIG SOUTH FOOTBALL MEDIA DAY 2009 is only three weeks away as I write this--the event will be Friday, July 31st, in Charlotte, NC. Of course, you can watch the online coach/player interview sessions streamed live for FREE via BigSouthSports.com, so put that in your schedule. We're sitting eight weeks out from the opening weekend of the 2009 season. The very first game will feature the Chanticleers on the road for a Thursday game (9/3), but the other six Big South football teams share opening day on that Saturday (9/5). Liberty and CSU will be the ones with the highest-profile opponents, as the Flames face West Virginia and the Bucs go to Florida.

If you want to get a jump on following Big South football before Media Day, you can follow a couple of the programs on Twitter right now: @LibertyFootball for Flames-specific updates, or @gwucoach for Steve Patton's comments and observations.

Finally, a SHOUT-out for all our hard-working folks at High Point and UNC Asheville, the two member schools that somehow didn't get mentioned anywhere else in this post, because I don't want to leave anybody out today! While we're on the Twitter-tip, you can follow them too: @HighPointSports and @ashevilledogs.

Here's hoping everybody within SHOUT-ing distance has a good weekend--enjoy...

Behold the Power of Friday

So it's a Friday in June at the offices of the Big South Conference...what's going on?

Well, to be perfectly honest, not a whole lot. It's funny--there's a fairly narrow window of relative quiet between one year and the next, and we're in that space right now.

We run on a fiscal year and event calendar of July-June, so naturally there's some year-end wrap-up stuff, a little housekeeping and a little bookkeeping going on, as one would expect...plus there are early preps for the year to come already in motion, but they're not yet up to full speed.

The phones don't ring and the e-mails don't flood the inbox quite the way they do with sports in-season. This time-frame is also when the vacations happen, so the office may be reduced in staff on any given day (like say, today).

All that said, the wheel does keep spinning--those slow preparations will start to pick up speed, particularly after the 4th of July, and the countdown to the fall will begin in earnest, especially with late July and the arrival of Football Media Days. It won't be long before the buzz is in the air again and the days overflow with activity once more (even when you know it's coming, it always seems like a switch gets thrown somewhere and you're off and running).

Nonetheless, a narrow window of relative quiet is better than no window at all...one must find peace wherever/whenever one can (careful, approaching zen)...

Enough musings, here are two real news-notes for you:

Track & Field Athletes of the Year were announced today--
The Men's Award is shared by Liberty's Sam Chelanga and VMI's Donnie Cowart.

The Women's Award goes to the Charleston Southern 4x100 relay team (Dionne Gibson, Jessica Thomas, Misha Morris and Gabrielle Houston).

Look for lots of talk about Big South Women's Basketball this year, with the "Fantastic Fan Program" and support in the form of a grant from the NCAA!

Quick rant--where are our comments and feedback? C'mon, let us know you're out there!!! I know we could try to get more attention by throwing in some popular search terms, like "Next on Big South SHOUT: Lindsay Lohan tweets live updates on the Iranian election, Megan Fox visits Conan O'Brien to discuss Transformers, and the cast of Twilight tests the new iPhone before debating PETA's stance on Obama vs. the fly"...but we're not stooping to that level here, no sir!

Okay everybody, remember to follow us on Twitter--and have a great weekend!

Will Blog for Feedback, Please Help

That's perhaps the next roadside sign of the information age.

Last week I attended a two-day conference on the growing role of video in collegiate sports, yet you know what the number one topic of discussion REALLY was at the "College Sports Video Summit"...?

Social media...what it is, where it's going, how to use it, and so on and so on...everybody practically needs a cyber-compass to figure out what direction to turn next...

Turns out it wasn't that long ago that colleges and conferences were actually being warned off of these new avenues of communication altogether, and now they're being told to jump in with both feet. Seems like every conversation, panel discussion, or speech began with the essential place video must play, particularly for web presence these days, but ended with what's happening on Twitter (and Facebook, the blogs, YouTube, and others).

Yeah, and "so what?" you may well ask.

Well, here's the thing: the next word that inevitably crept into these social media discussions was "monetization"--how can money be squeezed from this free-for-all frenzy? What will these sites come to look like and what will they deliver for both the source and the recipient in the future?

That's where we need you, dear reader (as the great Stan Lee would say).

YOUR FEEDBACK will help chart the next course for the online family of the Big South Conference. You need to keep these social media, well, SOCIAL! Give voice and direction to these outlets, or they could just turn out to be undifferentiated sites--and yes, likely with ads dropped on them or incorporated eventually, but without being very helpful to any of us if they don't develop their own momentum or sense of purpose...

So, what am I talking about here?

Our main website went online several years ago, of course, but in the last year and a half, it has gone from being an exclusive home base to being the flagship of a growing (and global) fleet.

Big South SHOUT, this very blog, has over a year under its belt from launching in early 2008, and may well be considered the first mate of this Conference armada...in that role, it's the ideal place to start this discussion...

YouTube.com/BigSouthSports joined the fray primarily to allow another way for the "Best of the Best" 25th Anniversary videos to reach the public, but soon became a home to more...

Twitter.com/BigSouthSports and the Big South Conference Facebook Fan Page arrived in quick order, rounding out the stable of what is now theoretically the "Mount Rushmore" of new media opportunities, particularly as regarded through the vague filter/label of "social media." Primary websites have graduated into traditional media in the eyes of some--you realize that the current generation has grown up entirely in the personal computer and internet age, don't you? At this point, younger readers naturally say, "Yeah, of course," while older generations may think, "Oh my, never really thought of it that way."

Okay, so we pretty much have the new baseline established--now it's all about "what's next"!!!

Main site: a redesign is in the works--is there anything in your opinion that must be added/removed or changed--what do YOU want out of BigSouthSports.com, the Official Site of the Big South Conference?

SHOUT blog: this very forum--more opinions, more perspectives, more frequency (or less of any of those)? Tell us the dynamics you want by offering comments--and help support this venue by subscribing or bookmarking and reading, forwarding links, etc.

Twitter: a big one, just because it's growing so fast on all fronts...the obvious way to help is to follow BigSouthSports and encourage others to do the same--let's get the "following" number way up there so updates spread quickly, and again, let us know what you want more or less of from the Twitter feed.

Facebook: so far, we've been slow to generate "fans" of the Big South's Facebook page, so spread the word and help us get a bigger fanbase in advance of the coming seasons. We wanted to give the page one of the new Facebook custom username addresses, but we're WAY short of the thousand fans needed to make that happen--"Become a Fan" and help us reach one thousand!

YouTube: subscribe to BigSouthSports for updates to uploaded videos, comment on existing videos, post links to your favorites, help us generate some more activity and interest--and let us know what you want to see from our channel there.

Whew. I know...I was away for a few days, now I've come back, and thrown a lot of words out there...but seriously, it's been very quiet on the response side from all these fronts for a while. Without your feedback, we'll never know if we're on target or not. This is an open call for comments, posts, tweets, ratings--any/all of the above. We want you to share!

To borrow an immortal movie line ("The Breakfast Club"): "It's social--demented and sad, but social."

Without the interaction of our fans and friends throughout the Big South community, we'll still be "social," but it will become a lot closer to the "demented and sad" part. Don't let that happen!

Cheers to all--make it a great week!

This is Tuesday's midday SHOUT--out...

The Gretzky Post

What, you say? A hockey reference? Surely it's not to imply that this entry is a "Great One"...

No--it's about the number. This is post #99 since we got SHOUT jump-started on Leap Day 2008. Using that reasoning, I guess I could've called it "The Sapp Post," but that just didn't have the best ring to it.

Speaking of this blog and its brethren, here's a little love from the Conference's main site.

Moving on...

THE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP HAS ARRIVED!!!

Yes, we've begun the 2009 Royal Purple Big South Conference Baseball Championship. Hopefully you'll be able to get out to McCormick Field in Asheville and soak up some of the atmosphere in that classic minor league park (home to the Asheville Tourists), but if not, there's always our wall-to-wall coverage on The Big South EDGE. Kudos to Championship Host UNC Asheville for making the event happen so smoothly--and a special SHOUT-out to Everett Hutto of UNCA for making the production of the live streaming top notch, with SIX cameras out there to capture the action from every angle. Looks great, sounds great: follow your team's path through the double-elimination bracket by ordering the game on The EDGE.

Enough promotion, how about the hardball? Well, Tuesday night got things rolling with the tournament's two lead-off elimination games--the bottom four seeds contesting for two open slots. High Point held off Charleston Southern to advance, while 8-seed VMI pulled off a surprise by routing Gardner-Webb. That victory may not have left much in the tank for the next morning, as the Keydets fell to top-seeded Coastal Carolina...but the good news for VMI fans is they're still in it--they just have to play their way back out of the loser's bracket to do it (a tall order for anybody).

As I write this on Wednesday afternoon, HPU and Winthrop are just starting in the day's second game. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday each feature a trio of games (at 11am, 3pm, and 7pm) before we get to Saturday's Final (one game or two as needed).

So what about the other postseason efforts not concluded at our last post?

Softball--Radford dropped the opener to Georgia, but fought back with a win over Campbell, only to lose to Regional Host North Carolina, eliminating the Highlanders.

Men's Golf--Coastal Carolina finished 11th at the NCAA Northeast Regional, ending the season for the Chanticleers (the top five teams from each Regional advance).

Is it just me or were there a lot of links today?

That's all for now...enjoy the baseball--the Big South crowns its champion on Saturday!

Next post is the century mark for SHOUT (and they said it would never last)--oh, and next week we reveal the "Best of the Best" top ten countdown, so don't miss that!

Anything Can Happen Day

Time to catch up on a few subjects and run some quick hits from across the Conference, hence "Anything Can Happen Day"...if that old pop culture reference eludes you, help awaits at the end of today's post...

NFL DRAFT
Kudos to Liberty RB Rashad Jennings (pictured), selected in the 7th round by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jennings was the Big South's Offensive Player of the Year both coming into and out of the 2008 season on his way to All-American status. He joins fellow Big South alums Tyler Thigpen (CCU QB, Minnesota 2007) and Brian Johnston (GWU DE, Kansas City 2008) as 7th round selections in three consecutive seasons. The highest Big South pick remains Jerome Simpson's 2nd round selection by the Bengals last year. But wait, there's more...because after the conclusion of the Draft, Gardner-Webb WR Dobson Collins signed a free agent deal with the San Francisco 49ers. A big "congrats" SHOUT-out to Rashad & Dobson--good luck with your pro careers!

NCAA TOURNAMENTS
The recent Big South Championships mean representatives at the next level, and we know some of those match-ups now...
Women's Tennis--Winthrop will travel to Clemson again, where the Lady Eagles were ousted (4-0) by the Lady Tigers a year ago. They'll try to return the favor Friday, May 8th.
Men's Tennis--Radford (and FOUR-time Conference Player of the Year Martin Sayer, pictured at right) will play as the third seed in the Knoxville Regional, facing second seed Duke (host Tennessee has the top seed of the regional and will play fourth seed ETSU). The Highlanders will hit also hit the court Friday, May 8th.
Women's Golf--Coastal Carolina is bound for the NCAA East Regional, to be played in Gainesville, FL. There are 21 teams at the Regional, with only eight squads advancing to the next round of competition. They'll play it out May 7th-9th.

FLAME BURNING THE TRACK
Liberty's Sam Chelanga is fast--you may know that part already, considering how many races he's won and records he's set while running for the Flames (see him pictured in lead at right). But do you know what he did a few days ago in New York at the NY Road Runners Distance Carnival? Oh...he won the 10k... with a time that broke the old NCAA best time...by FIVE SECONDS (an eternity for these things)...to set the best mark in the WORLD this year at 27:28:48.
That's all...thought you should know.
Almost forgot, one more thing--he beat FIVE Olympians in that race.
Sam Chelanga, we'd salute you--if we could only catch up with you...good grief, man, that was fast!!!!

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO...
...Championships, that is...Softball will play out its final showdowns with the Big South Conference Championship in Radford, May 7-9 (all games streaming on The EDGE). Radford and Winthrop have a big leg up on the competition going in, but will they be the last two teams standing come the final day? Could be interesting... Baseball has three weeks before we know who clinches a berth in the Regionals, but Liberty and Winthrop will be among the teams giving Coastal Carolina a firm challenge this time around. They'll play out the double-elimination bracket May 19-23 at Asheville's McCormick Field (UNCA will be the host school for the event at the minor league park, but the Bulldogs are not expected to make the eight-team field).

GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN
The Big South Conference family lost a member this week, always a sad thing to note...but this passing seems especially poignant given the Big South's 25th Anniversary celebration: Conference co-founder George Christenberry, President Emeritus of Augusta State University, died last week at age 93. Dr. Christenberry, an inaugural member of the Big South Hall of Fame, was the first Conference President, and the Big South's highest academic honor for student-athletes bears his name. He leaves a remarkable legacy in education and holds a permanent place of honor for all of us in the Big South Conference.

I'll wrap the news and notes for now--and turn things over to this week's "On The EDGE" for the scoop on what's coming next for our week in video streaming...

Okay, okay, you've been patient...
"Anything Can Happen Day" was the Wednesday theme of...

The Mickey Mouse Club:
M-I-C (see you real soon), K-E-Y (why? because we like you), M-O-U-S-EEEEE.
And that's SHOUT...out!

Today's Buzzword: Synergy

No one likes overused business buzzwords, like say, "buzzword," but here's a quick note about "synergy"... Why? Because the new internet landscape nearly demands it!

If you've been paying attention lately, you've seen that the Big South has grown from its main website of several years time, to the addition of this blog just over a year ago (a matter of some debate at the time, actually), to the rapid expansion this year into YouTube, facebook, and Twitter!

We encourage you to keep up with the Big South Conference through any and all of these methods--whatever is convenient, fun, interesting, and valuable for you. You'll see some content overlap, of course, but we feel that each of these "new media" has something special to offer and brings some unique content to the table.

Anyway, back to "synergy": no doubt you've seen each of these elements promoting the others--SHOUT posts like this pointing out all these outlets, Twitter updates sending followers to the main site, facebook status links to the blog, and so on, bringing users from one to another (working together, feeding into and out of each other: synergy).

The latest addition to this circle (or "web" if I may): recent Twitter updates feeding directly to SHOUT, appearing in the right column of the page. At this time, it's set to show the last three "tweets" (not a big fan of that terminology, but what can you do?)...

There you have it: another day in the life of what you might call the Big South Online Network, one big happy synergetic family!

As the Conference Turns...

A variety-pack of things to report and share today...let's jump right into the headlines...



Liberty's Ritchie McKay Makes "Cavalier" Move
Turns out Seth Curry isn't the only one leaving Lynchburg for the ACC these days...just a week after the Conference Freshman of the Year announced his departure from Liberty (and subsequently his impending arrival at Duke), Curry's former coach stepped down from his post at LU today (4/1). Early reports--including ESPN's Andy Katz, among others--had Ritchie McKay (pictured) taking an Assistant Coach position at Virginia under new Head Coach Tony Bennett (must...fight off...singer...jokes). Late in the afternoon, that was confirmed by McKay and Liberty in a joint release. For McKay, it is an opportunity to work with someone he considers a close friend and mentor in Bennett, so the move makes sense for him on a personal level. For Liberty, the questions created for the Flames in a world without Curry grow exponentially with the head man out the door, so stay tuned...


The Cautionary Tale of Dustin Johnson
Previously in this space, we have lauded the successes of former Coastal Carolina golfer Dustin Johnson. One of the Big South's 25th Anniversary "Best of the Best" honorees and now a two-time event winner on the PGA Tour, Johnson got arrested and charged with driving under the influence in Myrtle Beach on Monday. According to his statement, released by the PGA Tour, Johnson says, "I made an error in judgment that I deeply regret...rest assured, I will definitely learn from my mistake." In addition to breaking the law, Johnson has done two things that student-athletes (and all of us, really) should pay close attention to: he has turned his positive publicity (currently 40th in the world and 9th in FedEx Cup standings) into negative notoriety in an instant with one bad decision; and he has prompted news agencies to dredge up his past, so that the AP story and versions of it, running in countless media outlets, cite not only the DUI, but also legal trouble from 2001...nothing is forgotten in the Information Age. We would have been writing about an up-and-coming golfer approaching his first Masters, but instead...


Okay, are we done with those stories?
Good.


Liberty Takes Sasser Cup Lead
After the fall sports, Coastal Carolina led the Big South's overall standings in the Conference all-sports competition (Sasser Cup). Add in the swing through the winter championships, and Liberty has overtaken Coastal for the lead heading into the decisive spring sports. Along the way, Liberty has pulled down titles in men's cross country, volleyball, football, men's indoor track, and women's basketball--and LU currently holds the lead for the Men's All-Sport honor. Coastal Carolina has claimed championships in women's cross country and women's indoor track--and CCU currently holds the lead for the Women's All-Sport honor.


The Big South Conference: We Are EVERYWHERE
Well, at least we're TRYING to be. It all started with BigSouthSports.com a while back, naturally, but things couldn't stop there--so just over a year ago BigSouthSHOUT joined the family as another chance to pick up on Conference stories. But wait, there's more! Last fall, the Big South was one of the first college outlets to make a "Vortex" available so you could take widgets to the next level (grab YOUR Vortex). Already this year, we have seen even more additions to the online spread of the Big South with the Conference's own YouTube channel (YouTube.com/BigSouthSports)--and now you can find us on facebook and Twitter! Be a fan of our facebook page...follow us on Twitter...and keep reading SHOUT.


The EDGE
All right, enough words--let's try some video: time to preview the week ahead in video streaming on The Big South EDGE!

Welcome to April, everybody--six more team champions to be crowned this month: golf/tennis/outdoor track each for men and for women...should be fun!