FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[exmajor]

You know you're having a bad day with your deceased grandmother leaves $12,000,000 to her dog and nothing to you (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070829/helmsley_s_pooch.html?.v=1)

But back to football, it looks like a last minute deal was struck and Millsaps football will be on the air again this year (sorry Pat, but it's the same guys that you hated last year).  I believe we have a group of Millsaps parents who stepped in and helped make the broadcasts a reality--thanks to all of you who made that happen.

The plan is to broadcast all of the games, both home and away, with the first game coming tomorrow night at Mississippi College.  The opening kickoff is at 6:59 and I'm sure there will be some sort of pregame show.  I don't know when that starts.  There will be a weekly coach's show and the schedule hasn't been set for that at this time.  Here's the link to the radio station:

http://www.espnradio1240.com/listenlive.php

Thanks Frank,

I was about to send an email to the ESPN station in Jackson to see what the deal was.  I saw on their website that the Millsaps logo was up, but did not see any games on the schedule.  Did the school have a hard time reaching an agreement with those guys for this year?

[Pat Coleman]

Thanks for the heads-up, Frank. Bummer about the broadcast crew, however.

[frank_ezelle]

Thanks for the heads-up, Frank. Bummer about the broadcast crew, however.

You're welcome, Pat.  I like the guys on the broadccast crew but they definitely take a home team approach rather than attempting to be neutral.  MS College has a live video setup for the game for those who want to pay a little money--I can't tell from their website if they have a free audio only webcast.  Here's a link that you can check:  http://www.gochoctaws.com/

Exmajor, I'm not in the loop that gets inside scoops about Millsaps athletics, so my guess is that it was a matter of cost.  I know that in the last week a group of the football parents pledged a significant amount of money to help with the costs and it seems like that made the broadcasts possible.

My hope is that Millsaps will do more this year to get the news out to alumni outside of the Jackson area.  Last year there was little or no information that past from the school to their alumni base regarding the internet broadcasts or much of anything about athletics in general.  I tried to address this by doing a sports email on my own in 2006-07, but that project failed when the Millsaps administration said no to my request to send the sports email to the alumni database just one time with information of how they could sign up for additional emails if interested. 

The SID does a great job in providing information to the media and the sports teams and individual players have done great things over the last few years.  Now we just need to do a better job of getting that information out to the alumni both in the Jackson area and throughout the nation.

[scaccommish]

Barely made it out before Millsaps kicks off on Thursday - here is a link to the 22-page 2007 SCAC Football Prospectus:

http://www.scac-online.org/football/07footballprospectus.pdf

[exmajor]

Agreed Frank!  Maybe the Clarion-Ledger could help out in that area . . . or maybe not!    What a joke when it comes to local sports coverage of the three small school teams in the area.  Of course this is a battle alot of DIII schools fight.  I do appreciate you being the eyes and ears on the ground in Jackson for the rest of us outside state lines!

[Pat Coleman]

Thanks for the heads-up, Frank. Bummer about the broadcast crew, however.

You're welcome, Pat.  I like the guys on the broadccast crew but they definitely take a home team approach rather than attempting to be neutral.  MS College has a live video setup for the game for those who want to pay a little money--I can't tell from their website if they have a free audio only webcast.  Here's a link that you can check:  http://www.gochoctaws.com/

I can live with homers that actually call the game. Making fun of the opposition, filling the broadcast with inside jokes, that's what's unprofessional and shouldn't be aired.

[Pat Coleman]

One thing I want to try to do is listen to more coaches shows this year. If you or Frank can post reminders on the day of the show, that would be cool.

[Pat Coleman]

Agreed. I'm not sure the B-SC discussion was in possession of all the facts, but it was good in theory.

[Ralph Turner]

Welcome aboard, Big C.

You have been helping us D3 fans in changing the sporting news paradigm.  D3football.com became a very valuable, if not your primary, source for news, commentary and links to games and podcasts.  That meant the some SID's press release was seen here by you as opposed to being "cut" by the sports editor.

Hopefully, Pat Coleman received another "front page view" that was read by Google ads from which he received some revenue (for a season's worth of views).

We D3 fans have the future in our hands.  We need to encourage our SID's to give us content and let college administrations know that sports and event content has entertainment value.

We have bypassed media that does not pay attention to us, or it does pay attention to us and gives us space in its medium.

I encourage you to talk up this site to your friends.  The more people viewing the content, the better the site can become.

[golden_dome]

MS College has a live video setup for the game for those who want to pay a little money--I can't tell from their website if they have a free audio only webcast.  Here's a link that you can check:  http://www.gochoctaws.com/

Frank,
   The audio is provided for free through Stretch Internet, you just need quicktime. The live video is also available but it is part of a subscription. The charge is $9.99 for the month and can be cancelled after the game. Our internet provider, Internet Consulting Services, let's us stream at 548 Kbps so it is a high quality video, about twice as large as a standard webcast. We will also have live stats working.
    Our site should be updated with links for everything in the morning, I have been a little slow this week with everything going on.

[wabashcpa]

SCAC Pick 'ems are ready - first game is actually tomorrow nite so get your picks in!!!

[roocru]

As most of the posters on this board know, I was a high school coach and athletic director in Texas for 35 years before retiring last June.  One of the reasons I retired was because of an offer to go to work for an internet based athletic software firm named ACS Athletics (AssistantCoach Systems).  I am in charge of the high school sales and support division of our company.  My primary task this fall is to work closely with the Texas High School Coaches Association to develop a web site sponsored by my company and the THSCA.

That web site is called Pressbox (www.pressboxservices.com) and will be available to the public beginning this Friday night.  It is a site which will have searchable team and individual offensive and defensive statistics, individual and game action photos/video and updated media links to the teams and players you list as a favorite.  All of this information is being inputted by the Texas high school coaches themselves.  This site will also serve as a way to update data to the Fox Sports Friday night live TV show called HS Scoreboard.

Basic information will be free and full access to all data will be available for a subscription of $9.95/month.  The THSCA will receive a large portion of the revenue to further their efforts to support the high school coaches in Texas and each school will receive a rebate for every subscription that lists them as the team of choice. 

This web site will only get better and better as the season goes on and I would urge all who view this to check out this great source of information on all the high school football players and teams in Texas.  It should also be a great source of information for those who are interested in the recruits we hear about for next year. 

Also, lest anyone wonder, I did clear this with Pat Coleman before posting.  If you have any questions please send me a PM and I will be happy to answer. 

[exmajor]

Well, here we go with the season!  Here is the write-up from the Jackson newspaper on tonight's backyard brawl:

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070830/SPORTS030105/708300342/1085/SPORTS

I would say that there is more riding on this than the columnist thinks.  Any non-conference wins surely help at large chances for a team like Millsaps.  With the tight SCAC race anticipated, it is important the Majors secure this win tonight, I am looking for an offensive slugfest, should be interesting!

[Ron Boerger]

I don't think Miss Coll is gonna hang up 50 on Millsaps again but it should be an interesting matchup!

[frank_ezelle]

Last year's game should be totally disregarded when it comes to predicting tonight's results.  During the first several games last year, the Millsaps defensive backfield was a mess as they tried to learn a new defensive scheme.  We kept hearing that Coach DuBose was putting in the whole defensive package all at once instead of a little at a time, and the first few games were going to be full of errors, but it was worse than I could have imagined.  Quite a few quarterbacks could have thrown 5 TD passes in a half against that first game defense.

Tonight there will be no "learning curve" excuses from either team since so many starters are coming back on both sides. I expect a well-played and extremely competitive game that will greatly help both teams prepare for thier conference schedule.  MC goes straight to ASC play in their next 4 games and Millsaps only has 1 more non-conference game until opening SCAC play.  I'll take a completly uneducated stab at the final score with a prediction of a Millsaps victory (naturally) by a score of 31-24.