BCS Politics Reach To NCAA Softball Tourney With Fresno State Snub

By David Coulson

Executive Editor

College Sporting News

PHILADELPHIA, PA. — Several years ago, I remember a conversation with an athletic director from an Football Championship Subdivision school on his role as a member of the NCAA Division I Baseball committee.

This AD, who was a veteran of the NCAA Division I Football committee at an earlier stage of his career, told me of how much pressure that committee from the larger conferences put on the rest of the committee when one of these Bowl Championship Series teams was under consideration.

The committee members were under a full-court press to include as many of the BCS conference teams as possible in the NCAA tournament field.

Read more: BCS Politics Reach To NCAA Softball Tourney With Fresno State Snub

CAA Schools, Guns At The Ready

By Chuck Burton

Publisher/Managing Editor

College Sports Journal

PHILADELPHIA, PA. — The movie "Face/Off", starring John Travolta and Nicholas Cage, is the ultimate John Woo movie, filled with incredibly choreographed Hong Kong-style action but with top actors filling the starring roles.

Woo movies are also known for something that is called "Mexican Standoffs", where "each participant holds power over one opponent, and is at the mercy of the other opponent", as Wikipedia helpfully tells us.  In Woo movies, it takes the form of multiple characters, pointing guns, with the barrel pointed at each other.

In the CAA, when all the rumors, media analysis and back-channel negotiations were done, George Mason, Old Dominion, and Virginia Commonwealth all had the guns pointed at each other - in the form of invites to other conferences.

The only remaining question is: will anybody actually shoot?

Read more: CAA Schools, Guns At The Ready

The College Football Realignment Maelstrom

By Chuck Burton

Publisher/Managing Editor

College Sports Journal

PHILADELPHIA, PA. — The first instinct many people have when a hurricane is headed their way is denial.

Though there were plenty of signs in retrospect that Hurricane Katrina in 2005 would hit landfall again and gain strength over the Gulf of Mexico, many, many state and federal government officials, and Lousiana, Alabama, and Mississippi residents chose to deny the reality that it would make landfall and cause the damage and destruction that it did.

Katrina fits the definition of a maelstrom — made famous by Edgar Allen Poe's early short story dedicated to one — and so does the wave of realignment that has swept across Division I athletics.

And the maelstrom — or "realignment-a-geddon", as I like to call it — is passing through all of Division I athletics, leaving broken and destroyed conferences in its wake.

Read more: The College Football Realignment Maelstrom

Few FCS Surprises in 2012 NFL Draft

By Josh Buchanan

NFL Columnist

College Sports Journal

PHILADELPHIA, PA. — There were not a lot surprises for me among Football Championship Subdivision players as the NFL draft unfolded last week.

Appalachian State wide receiver Brian Quick had long been expected to be the first pick among FCS players and his selection as the first pick of the second round by the St. Louis Rams — after a secret workout at ASU's indoor practice facility last week with coach Jeff Fisher and other Ram staff in attendance — confirmed that several NFL teams had given Quick a first-round draft grade.

Read more: Few FCS Surprises in 2012 NFL Draft

SCSU's Thompson Only HBCU Player Taken In NFL Draft

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By Donal Ware

HBCU Columnist

College Sports Journal

 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. — South Carolina State safety Christian Thompson was the only player from an HBCU taken in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Thompson was taken in the fourth round — 130th overall — by the Baltimore Ravens.

“This can’t be real,” said Thompson when asked about his initial reaction to being drafted. “One of my favorites teams was calling me and there was a possibility they were going to be drafting me."

It was an unforgettable experience for the MEAC star.

Read more: SCSU's Thompson Only HBCU Player Taken In NFL Draft

Crossing The Penn Relays Off My Personal Bucket List

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By David Coulson

Executive Editor

College Sports Journal

 

PHILADELPHIA, PA. — For many sports fans, the only time they pay attention to track and field is every four years, during the Summer Olympics.

 

If you live in the Philly area, like I do, that arc may be reduced to a yearly occurrence as you can't help but be influenced by the Penn Relays at historic Franklin Field.

 

One of the local newscasts, ABC's Channel 6 Action News, even interrupted their Philadelphia Eagles NFL draft coverage on Thursday night to report that a Villanova women's team had won an event at the historic competition.

 

For a city that likes to snub its nose at college sports, it was a truly remarkable event.

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Read more: Crossing The Penn Relays Off My Personal Bucket List