FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[TigerDad]

Tigerpop ... Ron is correct.  I've already been in touch with Frank and he will be uploading his photos of this weekend's game to the web (as he does for every Millsaps game) as soon as he can free up some time to do it.  We'll be able to get the photos from his gallery and pass them around at TU.  It's a busy end-of-month week for Frank and he's been swamped with requests from SI, ESPN, and many others.  I told him "we" would wait patiently!

UPDATE

Millsaps fans & parents, my ID of the parent was wrong ... it was Burt Pereira, father of young Burt, #19 WR/QB, who gave my son the confetti-popper.  He met us at mid-field and also at the Cabot Lodge.  Burt (majordog) identified himself in Reply #3979 today at 04:07:56 pm.

Burt ... I will never forget what you did.  I'd like to think I would have done the same, but I couldn't say that I would.  That was one of the greatest gestures of sportsmanship in my memory.  When y'all come to San Antonio next year, we'll get together and I'll see that you get the royal treatment.  Maybe a Margarita on the River Walk?  Thanks to you and other fans like you at the Cabot Lodge, I hope I'll get to Jackson again for a Majors game.  Best wishes to you and your son ... hope the disappointment fades quickly.

[HunterT]

Wes and any other Depauw faithful,

Curious to see who's making the trip to Memphis this weekend. It should be a good game with a great atmosphere. Rhodes in early November is actually kinda nice.

If anyone does make the trip, feel free to come introduce yourself to me. I'd love to meet some people off the board.

Wes, if you make the trip, there will be some food with your name on it. I think this week might be chili. Of course that would be in exchange for a name drop in the ATR.  ha ha.... just kidding.

[exmajor]

A decent article in the Jackson paper today on the game and the call made by Jonny Wiener in the Trinity box.  I like what Dubose had to say about it and how the team will further define itself this week.  I have become a huge Centre and Austin College fan this week, don't know about you folks 

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071030/SPORTS030105/710300357

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Since Sports and News is my job, I haven't gotten enough of this lateral story... and saying that I have certainly scanned for whatever stories or columns have been posted.

I haven't gotten far, but think link below was enjoyable for two reasons. First... it was written in a very light-hearted, enjoy-the-moment way. Secondly, for one quote at the end:

"It's Division III football -- a lot of people call it glorified high school football," Curry said. "We're not as good as the players you see on ESPN's "GameDay," and we know that. But it's just a great football play by a bunch of guys who are playing because they love football."

Reason enough to be a Division III fan!

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=3086283&sportCat=ncf

[majordog]

Hi Tigerdad, I am the father who gave your son my fire works for him to enjoy that night. He had played such a great game and it was such a great win for any team, I figured he should enjoy them in celebration. What a game to be at, as a football fan, and father of a player # 19 WR/QB I wish Millsaps had won but we did not and you guys did so enjoy it, because I would have..I hope that your son pays this forward to someone else  without regret. Burt Pereira

[Tex]

Meeting brothers off any message board you frequent is always enjoyable.  I've done that time and again over the last few years.  Having the common ground that your son's are battling it out for nothing more than the love of the game is something I think would bring you closer as well. 

Kudos to all involved in the Mississippi Miracle.  Class all the way around it appears.  You probably taught your kids yet another valuable life lesson. 

At the end of the day, all any of us have in reality is our reputation and the class in which we live our lives on a daily basis. 

[Warren Thompson]

Since Sports and News is my job, I haven't gotten enough of this lateral story... and saying that I have certainly scanned for whatever stories or columns have been posted.

I haven't gotten far, but think link below was enjoyable for two reasons. First... it was written in a very light-hearted, enjoy-the-moment way. Secondly, for one quote at the end:

"It's Division III football -- a lot of people call it glorified high school football," Curry said. "We're not as good as the players you see on ESPN's "GameDay," and we know that. But it's just a great football play by a bunch of guys who are playing because they love football."

Reason enough to be a Division III fan!

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=3086283&sportCat=ncf

The New York Times sports section today had a story about one of the Trinity announcers (he just happens to hail from the Mississippi city where Millsaps is located).

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Hey Warren - I read that too. The sad part... I have been in at work at 1AM for the past two mornings and when I posted this afternoon, I didn't say anything because I swore it was an article from the PREVIOUS day!

Lack of sleep is not something I recommend to anyone. And I certainly not suggest working at 1AM! :-)

[oldmoose]

Sleep is a symptom of caffeine depravation!

[HunterT]

Sleep is a symptom of caffeine depravation!

amen brother. amen.

[frank_ezelle]

"You never know where life is taking you till you arrive." -- Ben Franklin

Actually, I made that up but people will buy anything if you attribute it to Ben Franklin.  I have thought, talked, and written about "the play" until I'm sick of it, so maybe this is one post too many for all of you as well. 

I would have preferred for Millsaps to win last Saturday, but that is water under the bridge and right now the only thing worse than that loss would be a deflated Millsaps team going to Colorado and losing because of a lateral hangover.  As for the future past the 2007 season, I could see where the attention from last Saturday may be one step backwards to take the Millsaps program three steps forward.

Millsaps football has two goals each year:  (1) Win the SCAC title, (2) Win the national title.  The first goal is still a possibility and the second goal was probably unabtainable for this group even prior to the Trinity game.  I'm sorry if that offends anyone, but I don't think this year's team has the talent to knock off Mt. Union for the crown.

What the Millsaps team of the past two seasons has done is to build a solid foundation of trying to achieve goal #2.  With a win Saturday, these players and coaches will have more SCAC wins than any other team over the last 2 years.  That's remarkable considering their 2005 record of 2-7 overall and 1-5 in the SCAC.  They will also be back-to-back SCAC champions (probably co-champions this year), and will have had a turn in the national rankings during both years.

While the idea that Millsaps could compete for a future national championship may seem farfetched to some, is it any more farfetched than saying in 2005 that Millsaps would win the SCAC in 2006 and 2007?  If Millsaps is going to emerge on the national stage, they need to replace the players they lose with even better players, the kind of players that might not have even talked to Millsaps coaches in the past.  Now, with all the name recognition from Saturday, maybe the Millsaps coaches can at least get their foot in the door to talk to certain recruits, and I think that's all they need to sell the program they are creating.

I know that sounds like spin, but don't underestimate the advantage created by someone having heard of your school.  The Millsaps administration has seen a huge boost in admissions since the Saints started training at Millsaps.  They give a lot of credit to the Saints for simply having boosted the name recognition of Millsaps.  Now students, who in the past didn't consider Millsaps because they had never heard of it, are at least willing to hear a sales pitch and some of those students are liking what they hear.  I have no doubt that the same could happen with the football program after the news blitz of last weekend.

[TigerDad]

Frank ... if you notice alot of extra hits on your PhotoBucket page, it's EVERYONE IN THE WORLD looking for your photos from the Millsaps-Trinity game.  I am trying my own patience here.  Here's hoping today EOM goes smoothly for you so you'll have time to upload the gallery!  Good luck to the Majors in Colorado this week.

[Ron Boerger]

TigerDad,

Considering Saturday's ending, your .sig was certainly prescient.   

[frank_ezelle]

TigerDad--I can understand the desire to see the photos and I'm glad there is an interest.  I'm actually taking off work this afternoon to work on the photos and with some luck I might get them up late this evening, but it might be tomorrow afternoon or evening.  Here's an explanation of the photo situation:

While everyone is most interested in the football, I was also taking photos of volleyball (on Friday), the Hall of Fame banquet, the fans, the Homecoming Court, the Cheerleaders halftime performance, the approximate 100 signs done by the cheerleaders, and then I came back and took photos of two soccer games on Sunday.  It came to about 3,000 photos in 48 hours and just getting them on to my PC and sorted by categories was a task.

Add to that, I've been trying to take care of requests like getting the photo to Sports Illustrated, getting multiple photos to the San Antonio Express, the Trinity athletic department, and the Millsaps school newspaper, all of which takes me away from working on the batch of game photos.  I'm naturally working on the football first because of the interest in the game, but it does take a lot of time--virtually every photo gets cropped and/or adjusted in some way to make it as good as I can make it.  (By the way, I'm posting now because I'm waiting on reports to print, but I can't work on photos because they are on my home PC.)

Just for the record, the photos posted on the Millsaps website will make it look like Millsaps won the game running away.  Afterall, it is the Millsaps website and I cannot show photos of your son running for a touchdown against the Majors.  However, in this particular case, I'm keeping the "good for you, bad for us" photos and I will get those to you.  It was a huge day for the Trinity players and they should have a keepsake of the game.

And now, the report has finished printing and I'll get back to my real job for at least a couple of hours before taking off.  I do understand the desire to see the photos and I'll get those up as soon as possible.

[HunterT]

Frank, if you're really taking that many photos for the school, take your time. we all understand. Wish we had somebody like you for Rhodes. That would make things a little nicer over there to see pictures of every sport so they all get equal support.