Thursdays With Greg Byrne - 3/26/09
bulldog-club@athletics.msstate.edu
SOME FINAL THOUGHTS ON BASKETBALL
Now that our men’s and women’s basketball teams have concluded their very successful seasons, we wanted to mention a couple of items that should make you feel even more proud to be a Bulldog.
We noted last week the tremendous achievement by the men’s team in winning four games in four days at the SEC Basketball Tournament in Tampa to win the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. That was quite a run. Do you know that since 2002, only Kentucky has won more conference titles ? Divisional, Overall, or Tournament ? than Mississippi State? During the last eight years, Kentucky has won a combined eight championships, Mississippi State has earned seven and Florida has won six. Quite the accomplishment, given the national recognition that Kentucky and Florida have achieved for their basketball programs!
The women’s team was only six minutes away from earning our women’s program’s first-ever trip to the NCAA Sweet 16. But even greater than our team’s play on the court in Columbus, Ohio, was the way they conducted themselves, both on the court and off it.
While staying at the Renaissance Hotel, we had an interesting conversation with Riley Montgomery, a bellman there. As we were departing the hotel, Riley told us how impressed he was with our young ladies. He noted that they were extremely well-mannered around the hotel, and that they even maintained their composure on the court when the officials made some bad calls against our team. Those were his words, not mine. Nonetheless, it was awfully nice to hear how our team was representing the university, the third of our five defining principles.
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DOTY TAKES VOLUNTEER FUND DRIVE TO NEW LEVEL
The Bulldog Club recently notified us that Ruben Doty of Saltillo has taken his role as a fund drive worker seriously. Ruben has recruited 80 new members to the Bulldog Club through our volunteer program. Ruben has raised $19,450 in pledges through his grassroots approach.
“I basically called everyone I know who is a Bulldog fan, but not a Bulldog Club member,” Doty said. “After I got them to join, I asked them to give me names of anybody they knew who might be a potential Bulldog Club member. I didn’t even know many of those folks.
“I just knew if our goal was to reach 10,000 members, we would have to reach some folks who were new prospects,” he said. “I probably have 10 members who are the children of other members. May as well get them started early. Some of them are 10 years old. By the time they get out of college, they will have 12 years of continuous giving to the Bulldog Club and be well on their way toward building a high priority point total.”
We appreciate what Ruben is doing, and we challenge all of us to match his efforts. It’s all for Mississippi State!
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CONGRATS GO OUT TO OUR MEN’S GOLF TEAM
We want to extend our congratulations to coach Clay Homan and the men’s golf team who recently won the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate golf tournament. The team won by nine strokes over host school South Alabama at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail course at Magnolia Grove. It was the team’s second tournament championship this season and the seventh tourney title under Homan.
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SHUTTLE SERVICE, PARKING SET FOR SBW 2009
Preparation for Super Bulldog Weekend 2009 is in full swing and one of the key additions to this year’s spring weekend is a shuttle service to accommodate fans who wish to move about the campus and the city of Starkville.
A varying number of university shuttle buses will operate from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 18. Two shuttles will run a route connecting campus to town from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. Four shuttles will be employed during the most congested hours on that Saturday, from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Finally, two shuttles will operate from 5 p.m. until 9:30 p.m.
Those shuttles will travel a circuit that includes 11 stops: Humphrey Coliseum, the north end of Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field, the Bost Extension Center, the corner of Bost Extension Drive and Stone Boulevard, the Cooley Building (Physical Plant), the corner of Maxwell Street and Lummus Drive, Regions Bank (Lampkin Street side), the First United Methodist Church, Regions Bank (Main Street side), Stromboli’s Pizza, and the corner of University Drive and Nash Street.
Just a reminder, but baseball parking will be enforced throughout the weekend. The following lots will be roped and attended on Saturday: Football Lot 28, the normal “pay” lots on South Stone will be free on Super Bulldog Weekend, parking at the Cooley Building will be available but not attended, Football Lot 2 (North end zone scoreboard) will be restricted access, and all handicap lots will be the usual for baseball, and the Memorial Hall lot just north of the stadium.
For a full release regarding this information, please click here.
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MAKE YOUR PLANS NOW TO SEE MSU BASEBALL ON SBW
As usual, one of the big attractions of Super Bulldog Weekend is the SEC baseball series that has been a staple of the three days ever since we started this spring homecoming 23 years ago. That series has always drawn tremendous crowds to Dudy Noble Field. This season should be no different.
A major difference, however, is that we will not be attempting to break any baseball attendance records during Super Bulldog Weekend. The fact is, we can’t. The stadium has been altered since we set the on-campus attendance mark back in 1989 and, while we have had some great crowds since then, the fact of the matter is that we can’t surpass 14,991 fans in the park now. When we expanded the grandstand seating in 2000, adding two sections of chairback seats, we lost more seating ability in the bleachers and standing room along the outfield lines.
It is our hope that at some point we will have to cut off sales to our Saturday baseball game against Kentucky when we approach the attendance numbers we had for our Super Regional games against Clemson two years ago. A crowd of about 13,000 fans is all we can comfortably accommodate now.
The good news is that we are now selling individual game tickets for baseball in advance of game day at the Bryan Building ticket office, on the mstateathletics.com web site, and at 888-GO-DAWGS.
So, assure yourself of a ticket today!
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REMEMBER THE TITANS, GAME OF CHANGE HIT BIG SCREEN
We are working with the university’s Student Association on a movie night at Scott Field. “Remember The Titans,” the film based upon the true story of a high school in Virginia that faced consolidation and integration and emerged with a championship football team, will be shown Thursday night, April 16, on the new video board at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. Prior to that film, the documentary A Game of Change, will be broadcast. That film depicts how Mississippi State’s basketball team slipped out of Starkville in 1963 to play in an integrated NCAA Basketball Tournament against Loyola (Chicago).
The showing is open to the public, as well as the university’s student body, and is free. Details to come.
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1. Buy Season Tickets
2. Financially Support the Bulldog Club
3. Get Others To Do The Same
Thanks for taking the time to read this update.
Go Dawgs!
Greg Byrne
byrne@athletics.msstate.edu