sc49erfan15

Bally is one of those weird companies that I kind of forget exists (mainly because I'm not into gambling) but just seems to pop up every decade or so involved in completely different businesses. Pinball machines, arcade games (which I guess aren't that disjointed from gambling), theme parks, fitness clubs, and now regional sports networks? It's like Yamaha or Virgin. Should we make keyboards or motorcycles? Yes! Mobile phones or airlines? Sure! I know, conglomerates and such, but it's just so weird to me to use the same branding for everything. Berkshire Hathaway doesn't have Dairy Queen-branded batteries or GEICO-branded underwear. Actually... nevermind, that last one probably does exist.

https://www.midmajormadness.com/2020/11/16/21569697/report-asun-expansion-atlantic-sun-ovc-southland-eku-jacksonville-state-central-arkansas Eastern Kentucky (OVC), Jacksonville State (OVC), and Central Arkansas (Southland) look to be heading to the ASun for 2021-22. Remember ASun's harebrained scheme to expand to 20 members by way of annexing some swimming & diving association and then mitosis itself into two conferences? Looks like this is one of the steps. Word on the street is that Liberty is orche$trating thi$.

This isn't difficult. Say the word "clan" and upwards of 90% of North Americans are going to think you're referring to the Klan. 9.9% are going to think you're talking about Wu-Tang. 0.1% are going to associate it with Scottish families. Clearly the Simon Fraser Clan should be able to use the nickname "Clan," as there's absolutely nothing wrong with the word itself - but it's been ruined by another group. The swastika analogy mentioned earlier is spot-on. Simon Fraser has expressed desire to move away from any sort of remote confusion with the Klan. Can you blame them? And plus, it sucks as a sports team nickname so it's a great excuse to go with a new one.

Good point - especially considering the older public liberal arts-focused universities in the South were almost all founded in smaller towns, some of which have grown significantly (UNC, UVA, UGA come to mind) while others really haven't (Ole Miss). When it comes to the Morrill Act land grant "ag schools" like Clemson, Auburn, and Mississippi State, their agricultural beginnings made sense for them to be founded in rural areas. I realize that doesn't hold true for all (NC State, LSU) and that UGA would fit in both categories. That claim also mostly falls apart outside of the South, but it's how I've always thought of them.

VCU is also bigger than both UVA and VT. (edit: maybe not, different sources show different enrollment numbers. Either way, George Mason and VCU are both bigger than UVA.) Virginia is weird in that its two flagship campuses are absolutely nowhere near the largest urban areas. I guess Mississippi is similar, but Mississippi barely has urban areas.

Needs stripes Nah but really, this is nearly giving me vertigo. I I rather like lower right with the "wavy river," but either one would be terrific.

Quoting myself to bring Robert Morris back up - I forgot to mention that this move also involved Robert Morris becoming an associate member of the Big South in football. https://bigsouthsports.com/news/2020/6/15/big-south-adds-robert-morris-university-as-football-member.aspx For the 2021 season, Big South football will have 9 members: Campbell Charleston Southern Gardner-Webb Hampton North Carolina A&T Kennesaw State Monmouth North Alabama Robert Morris Presbyterian College is currently a full member of the Big South in all sports, but will transition to non-scholarship Pioneer League football in 2021.

Oh hey I think we saw this one coming https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/college-gridiron-365/os-sp-famu-bcu-realignment-20200623-r42q6flmq5cpvcwanuvm3xwwri-story.html Bethune-Cookman to the SWAC.

University of Indianapolis is already taken, Indianapolis State would be too close to Indiana State, and University of Indiana-Indianapolis is too clunky. Purdue University-Indianapolis works, but whatever - and PUI would just be nicknamed "Pooey." Let the world have an Ooey Pooey. It's fun!

NJIT to the America East is official. No word yet from the (likely hung over) ASun commish.

The ASun commissioner either doesn't know how to use Twitter, is drunk, or a combination of the two. This guy might be a fun follow for a little while.

NJIT from the ASun to the America East... maybe? Makes too much sense to be true.

https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/2020/06/03/robert-morris-considering-options-to-leave-northeast-conference/ It popped up a few days ago that this was being "considered," but I have on good word that Robert Morris is leaving the NEC for the Horizon League.

Isn't this worse "now" than "then?" I don't miss oversized jerseys.

Hobo. Bleh.

That's how the Big South has mostly done it since I was a student at Winthrop - except for 2013-15, when they moved the whole tournament to Coastal Carolina's (booooooo!) new gym and tried to make it a "visit Myrtle Beach in early March!" vacation. Under the campus sites format, the first rounds would be at the better-seeded team's home court, both semifinal games at the #1 seed's home gym, and conference finals at the best remaining seed's home court. It could cause some travel issues, but I always liked it because Winthrop frequently earned hosting privileges. 2020 is the last year for the foreseeable future that the Big South will do it this way - next year, the entire tournament moves to Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte.

Cherry Mexico. sc49erfan15 is clunky, but it's been "me" for damn near 17 years here... so I guess I'll stay with it.

North Carolina A&T to the Big South beginning in 2021-22. https://www.midmajormadness.com/2020/2/6/21126423/north-carolina-at-aggies-conference-realignment-meac-big-south-announcement

...which totally wouldn't turn off any potential conference suitors any more than they already are. Liberty has more money than Davy Crockett, a great campus, excellent athletic facilities, and (due to the specific circle it appeals to) isn't going to see declining on-campus enrollment anytime soon. There's a reason they're not in the C-USA, Sun Belt, or even the MAC. Becoming the Antonio Brown of conference realignment isn't going to help them. Even with all that, I don't think this is about Liberty. The ASUN seems to be willing to take anyone who will come.

It's a collegiate wood bat league. This isn't about "staying power" or literally anything else other than selling merchandise, which collegiate summer teams rarely do.

That's an awfully drastic move to move away from one member - you have to think there'd be an easier way. I have no access to the ASUN bylaws, but I'd almost guarantee there's a process for terminating membership.

I'm just going to go step by step here: Ambitious, but ok Why? The ASUN was headquartered in Macon, GA from 1992 until July 2019, when the conference offices moved to Atlanta. The CCSA is headquartered in Macon... in the old ASUN offices. Ted Gumbart, the president of the CCSA, is also the commissioner of the ASUN. Dennis Thomas, the vice president of the CCSA, is the commissioner of the MEAC. Kyle Kallander, secretary of the CCSA, is the commissioner of the Big South. There are other overlaps between CCSA staff positions and other conferences, but this is rather common for administrative overlap in these specialty-sport conferences. The CCSA is a swimming and diving conference that's been around since 2008. It has 24 member schools - which is a lot - but these separate, specialty-sport conferences for non-revenue-generating Olympic sports (swimming & diving, rifle, gymnastics, rowing) aren't unusual when a school's primary conference doesn't sponsor that sport and the sport can usually be performed in a multiple-day event. The CCSA sponsors beach volleyball, and men's/women's swimming & diving. All these connections are interesting, but this still doesn't answer... why? By the "ASUN 7," they only mean the current 7 full members of the ASUN (Stetson, Jacksonville, Lipscomb, Kennesaw State, North Florida, FGCU, and NJIT). So the "New ASUN" is just the "Old ASUN" without the old affiliate members, and with the multiple beach volleyball/swimming & diving CCSA schools? So the schools that aren't the "ASUN 7" but join between now and June 2023 get to be their own conference now? Are we playing NCAA conference mitosis? I'm not really sure what the end game is here. This "Glossary of Terms" mentions that "The United Athletic Conference" will sponsor scholarship FCS football. The ASUN does not currently sponsor FCS football. Essentially this is some kind of backdoor scheme to create a new NCAA D1 conference by expanding and then staging a peaceful coup of a smaller specialty-sport conference... but what does the ASUN gain from this? What do current ASUN members gain from this? I'm sure there's something big I'm missing, but as of right now this doesn't really make any kind of sense.

"ASUN Announces Exploration of Expansion & Building New NCAA Division I Multisport Conference" https://asunsports.org/general/2019-20/releases/20200122lh6utq This here sounds like some stuff from Sports Fan Fiction.

Another conference move for 2020-21 should be made before Thanksgiving.

At large sizes, the logos will be fine. If that logo was on the side or back? Yeah, that would be an issue.