sc49erfan15

Well, since it's now out in the open...

http://www.aseaofred.com/liberty-to-make-major-conference-affiliation-announcement/

Liberty from the Big South to the Atlantic Sun in all sports except football.

Another announcement involving a full-time Big South member will take place tomorrow.

ITT:

"I like dragons."

On 8/29/2017 at 8:39 AM, Lights Out said:

The Suns also put together a similar gallery of proposed uniforms. Most of them are tacky and awful, but there's a couple gems:

 

 

 

 

http://www.nba.com/suns/gallery/1992-93-phoenix-suns-uniform-designs

I really like the one on the far right. Maybe a little too similar to the Sonics and Hawks jerseys with the bold stripe across the front, but those elements in purple and orange look great.

Far left looks like if the 1980s Sonics and "Rainbow Skyline" Nuggets had an illegitimate Phoenician child.

On 11/10/2017 at 10:36 AM, jc... said:

A little different management....it may not have failed. In a way, it is still around today. 

AMC is just a hair before my time, but I'm familiar with the company. I get a kick of seeing one still on the road, which happens occasionally - someone that parks near me drives a mid-80s Eagle, and I also frequently see an early '80s wood-paneled Grand Wagoneer around.

This is also one of my favorite head-scratchers - an AMC dealership that still "exists", Collier Motors in Pikeville, NC.

Hampton leaves the MEAC to join the Big South:

https://www.midmajormadness.com/2017/11/16/16665828/conference-realignment-hampton-pirates-meac-big-south

Hampton will be the second HBCU in D1 that is not in a traditional HBCU conference (MEAC or SWAC) - Tennessee State (OVC) is the other. However, Tennessee State did not leave one of the traditional HBCU conferences (they were independent before joining the OVC in 1986). So, this is still groundbreaking as Hampton is the first HBCU to leave the MEAC or SWAC to join another D1 conference. I'm not sure if this has happened at the D2 level, but it has happened "in reverse" - a non-HBCU joining a traditional HBCU conference (Chowan University joined the CIAA in 2008, Spring Hill College joined the SIAC in 2013).

Personally, I'm a fan of the move. Hampton fits well within the Big South's footprint and I'm certainly a fan of geographically-compact conferences. The Big South should be confined to the Carolinas, southern Virginia, and possibly East Tennessee/North Georgia/GA-SC border.

However, I'm interested to see HBCU sports fans' reactions. I can see fans liking the move - HBCUs are often left out of conference realignment discussions because they tend to be assumed to sticking with the MEAC/SWAC, so this could be seen as an opening up of new opportunities for individual schools. On the other hand, I can easily see HBCU fans viewing this as "abandoning their roots" and potentially having a negative effect on the survival of HBCU conferences - the larger conferences "plundering" smaller ones for members, a pattern we've seen over and over among major coferences/mid and low-majors. However, it is worth noting that Hampton is not a founding member of the MEAC (formed in 1970, Hampton joined in 1995 after moving up from D2/CIAA), so the MEAC is losing a 22-year member, not a 47-year member. If Florida A&M, North Carolina A&T, or Howard were making this move, I think the "abandoning their roots" viewpoint would predominate.

Of course, I'm also intrigued to see if this has an effect on other conferences as well.

5 hours ago, Seadragon76 said:

That's a pretty good move on the part of the Big South to add in USC Upstate. Like you mentioned, they fit in pretty well in a geographic sense.

 

The other move... maybe Liberty is jumping ship or could it be an additional school joining the conference? Who knows.

5 hours ago, Red Wolf said:

Like, Liberty giving up on their FBS dreams and moving back down almost immediately? 

For now, Liberty football is going FBS independent and its non-football sports are staying in the Big South.

The second move should be announced tomorrow.

Well, here's one:

https://www.midmajormadness.com/2017/11/15/16656438/conference-realignment-usc-upstate-spartans-big-south-atlantic-sun

As the article states, this move makes a lot of sense, primarily from a travel standpoint. Upstate fits the geographic footprint of the Big South well. The Big South and Atlantic Sun do, however, have a football partnership - so it's interesting that a non-football school is jumping from one to another.

This... is the "less interesting" of the two moves.

1 hour ago, Seadragon76 said:

I decided to do a little snooping around after seeing this for the first time... @sc49erfan15 mentioned that one of the schools is a for-profit school, which would fit for Salem. The other school MUST be a football playing school since they're going to lose Liberty and the rumor mill rolling about the possible fate of Presbyterian's football team.

I would like to point out that I did not mention (or confirm) that one of the schools is a for-profit.

Liberty, yes - they're leaving in football but remaining an associate member in other sports. Campbell is transitioning to scholarship football and will join the Big South (along with associate/transitioning member North Alabama) in 2018. Presbyterian moving to non-scholarship football is all but confirmed - I honestly don't know how they're surviving in D1 in the first place.

1 hour ago, AstroBull21 said:

Hmmmmm, can international schools be in the NCAA?

Yes.

52 minutes ago, LMU said:

Simon Fraser is a D-III

Simon Fraser (Burnaby, British Columbia) is a D-II member of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. While not "international," the University of Puerto Rico has 3 campuses (Bayamón, Mayagüez, and Río Piedras) listed by the NCAA as D-II independents (and they play a handful of games on the US mainland every year), but I'm not entirely sure how all of it works since the rest of their conference (LAI) are apparently not NCAA members. Presumably this is to allow these teams to play on the U.S. mainland and have the games count for both teams. The University of Vancouver, University of Victoria (British Columbia) and the University of the Virgin Islands are all listed by the NAIA as member institutions.

I can neither confirm nor deny that this is a red herring. Both members are also pending approval by their individual university presidents, but they're expected to announce Wednesday/Thursday.

Big South will add 2 full members this week.

Can't divulge who they are, but one move involves what I'm pretty sure is a first for NCAA D1 athletics.

[edit] Did some research and it'll be the second.

I'm tired of hearing Charlotte as an option.

Their new minor league stadium is not expandable to MLB standards. Charlotte has committed to being a minor league baseball town for at least the next 20 years.

On 6/13/2017 at 10:10 PM, sayahh said:

I never even knew these existed! And I had an almost complete set of those years NBA Hoops trading cards!

FYI, those announcer/TV personality cards weren't available in regular packs, they were included in subsets available for purchase elsewhere. Basically, they share the same design, but you'd still have a complete set of the regular cards without those.

They're still cool, though. I have fond memories of the 1990-91 Hoops set, it was the first set of basketball cards I remember collecting. I would get so excited when I pulled a Hornet!

3 hours ago, Brian in Boston said:

The New Jersey Jackals of the independent Can-Am League have unveiled a new logo package.

Jackals Announce New Logo Designs

On 4/7/2017 at 2:16 PM, MadmanLA said:

 

Earl the Pearl (AKA Black Jesus) in the twilight years...Getty says this picture took place in 1980, but the Knicks' blue and maroon uniforms were in place starting in '79-80.  This certainly had to be in 1978-1979...the Pistons starting wearing their short-lived "lightning bolt" uniforms beginning that season (it was also the first [and only full] season of Dick Vitale as head coach).

I don't think I'd ever seen those "lightning bolt" Pistons shorts. They're also mismatched - the jersey number starts with a 4, the shorts are #35.

These aren't particularly "rare" pictures, but if anyone isn't familiar with the ABA, check out the saga of the Baltimore Claws, as told by Remember the ABA. These are the only two known photographs of a Baltimore Claws game - the Claws (essentially a relocation of the Memphis Sounds) only played three exhibition games in 1976 before folding.

Check out how the sewn-on "Claws" nameplate doesn't quite match the rest of the jersey (sweat?). It's not like the team was made up of scrubs either - #9 on the Claws in both pictures is HOFer Mel Daniels! Someone, somewhere, has more pictures. I think they'd be fun to see.

16 hours ago, MBurmy said:

Kinston's new Carolina League team has a name...say hello to the Down East Wood Ducks!

 

Logo coming November 30.

Wood Ducks gets a thumbs up - but "Down East" as the location is ridiculous. I've lived 28 of my 29 years in a state ending in "th Carolina" and I think of Maine, not North Carolina, when I hear "Down East."

Kinston has an amazing minor league baseball history. Just use Kinston as the location. Ugh.

4 hours ago, BeerGuyJordan said:

While I personally like Tugboats, I doubt anyone would set themselves up for a "Let's go Tugs" chant. It's no Austin Peay, but still.

"Let's go Tugs" chanted by a crowd would sound something like "Less Goat Hugs."

So, I'm 100% all-in for Tugboats!

12 hours ago, mjd77 said:

So I guess Bakersfield and High Desert are ceasing operations after this season.  The Carolina league will expand by 2 teams, with one being back in Kinston, and the other TBA.

Fayetteville, NC will likely be the other expansion city. Fayetteville has not had an affiliated minor league team since the Cape Fear Crocs moved to New Jersey in 2000 and became the Lakewood BlueClaws. Fayetteville is also the fifth largest metropolitan area in North Carolina and will undoubtedly get an attendance boost by having Fort Bragg (the largest military base in the world) nearby. Don't be surprised to see a military-themed name.

Very happy that Kinston has a team again!

1 hour ago, Sykotyk said:

The problem with Texas is they don't realize they're the problem.

11 minutes ago, Geoff said:

Oh, they do. They just don't give a damn.

Applicable on so many levels.

1 hour ago, BringBackTheVet said:

Sweet Bubs avatar.  Surprised I never noticed that before.

Looks like somebody tried to cramma-lam-a Swiss Cake Roll in the disc drive!

I was really hoping for a "banana bunch" alternate with different emotions/faces on each one, similar to this guy:

Also, their hashtag is #GoBananas ...absolutely ing brilliant.

5 minutes ago, GoGamecocks29 said:

On the other hand, I think it's an absolutely terrible name. The team is going to be the butt of many jokes regarding certain body parts…

I think it's hilarious. I'll be buying a hat.

I don't think there will be many jokes to be made about a collegiate summer baseball league. Even if they are made, it's not as if it will affect anything. Plenty of other teams have nicknames that are more easily "the butt of many jokes regarding certain body parts." (see: South Carolina, University of)

Savannah's new Coastal Plain League team is the... Savannah Bananas.

I love absolutely everything about this.

http://savannahnow.com/sports/2016-02-25/savannahs-new-baseball-team-bananas

1 hour ago, Mockba said:

Also, signatures appear to be back, or at least I'm seeing them... including 49er's massive YouTube video.

Heh... whoops! It was a link in my previous sig, not sure why it embedded this time around.