Thursdays With Greg Byrne - 3/4/10
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bulldog-club@athletics.msstate.edu
REMINDER: BASKETBALL PARKING OBSERVED SATURDAY
There are a lot of activities this weekend on our campus, but please be reminded that we will observe men's basketball reserved parking Saturday.
Coach John Cohen's baseball team will play host to the BankFirst Baseball Challenge Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday afternoon. Southeast Missouri and Michigan State will provide the weekend opposition. Coach Rick Stansbury's hoops team will play its final home game Saturday at 5 p.m. against Tennessee. As is customary whenever we have these kinds of conflicts, our normal men's basketball reserved parking lots will be held all day, despite the fact that baseball will play an 11 a.m. game that day. Please make your plans to park accordingly.
Public parking is available north of the baseball stadium at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre and the MSU Softball Field, as well as south of the Dudy Noble/Humphrey Coliseum area at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore and the parking lot behind the North end zone scoreboard at Davis Wade Stadium.
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WE WELCOME LOCAL BOYS SCOUTS TO CAMPUS
We are excited to welcome as our guests more than 300 area Boy Scouts, Scout leaders and Boy Scout parents to the first baseball game Saturday morning. It is the second annual Boy Scout day we have hosted during the spring, the kind of event we enjoy providing to local youth groups.
The Scouts are from the Pushmataha and Choctaw area councils who met or exceeded pre-determined Scout goals and are being rewarded with a day of MSU athletic clinics and the baseball game.
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SOME NEWS FROM THE TICKET OFFICE...
Our ticket office put in the mail this week renewal notices for football season tickets, so be on the lookout for that material. That mail-out included a "save the date" card for Super Bulldog Weekend, April 16-18.
Additionally, while it is our hope that our men's basketball team will be extended an invitation to play in the 2010 NCAA Tournament in the next couple of weeks, we have taken the steps needed to secure a host site bid for the National Invitation Tournament. With that in mind, the ticket office wants to remind all men's basketball season parking pass holders to retain their pass following Saturday's final regular season home game. Those passes will be valid for any NIT games we play at The Hump.
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HILL, ACADEMICS EARN WELL-DESERVED THANK YOU
We received a copy of this email recently from the father of one of our football players. It was sent to Tyler Hill, who along with Kylie Amato, handles all aspects of our football team's academics on a daily basis, but was copied to athletic academics as well. Receiving something like this reaffirms that we have our priorities in order:
"Tyler,
I just wanted to personally thank you again for your support of Mark (Melichar) since he arrived at MSU (July 2006) as a student-athlete football player. I appreciate very much the leadership and guidance you have consistently provided Mark. Your support with various class schedules, changes in his major, graduation application, GRE testing for Graduate School, Masters Degree options, Graduate School application, etc., has been outstanding.
Tyler, you are always available to answer my many questions, you return phone messages timely, and have been a great academic Mentor to Mark and the many football players you serve at MSU.
Simply said....you are a pleasure to work with and provide tremendous value as a leader to MSU Academic Athletic Administration.
I know you take great pride in the fact that Aaron (Feld) and Mark both earned 2009 SEC Academic Honor Roll recognition for the third consecutive season, leading the football team. When you consider Aaron and Mark earned Freshmen SEC Academic Honor Roll, they have achieved four consecutive seasons of SEC Academic Honor Roll Recognition. As you recall, Aaron and Mark were roommates their Freshman year.
Tyler, thanks again for all you do to provide daily leadership and support to Mark and the football team. You led by example, always making a difference in the student athlete's career at MSU.
Go Dawgs!
Randolph Melichar (Mark's Dad)"
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WE ENJOY MAKING PERSONAL APPEARANCES, BUT...
It will always be our goal as a department to give back to the local community, which for us is the state of Mississippi, and we will continue to do so into the future. Members of our department are often asked to make personal appearances or do speaking engagements to various groups throughout the South. And when schedule permits, we are more than glad to do so. But please be patient. We receive a lot of requests, and while we try to do them all, we can't always meet specific calendar dates. Everyone who asks is sincere and very important to us, and we appreciate your patience and flexibility with us as we arrange our schedules.
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MISSISSIPPI STATE HOME SPORTS SCHEDULE THIS WEEK
Friday...Women's Tennis vs. Kentucky, 2 pm; Softball vs. Troy (Bulldog Classic), 3 pm; Baseball vs. Southeast Missouri (BankFirst Baseball Challenge), 4 pm.
Saturday...Baseball vs. Michigan State (BankFirst Baseball Challenge), 11 am; Softball vs. Mississippi Valley State (Bulldog Classic), 2 pm; Baseball vs. Southeast Missouri (BankFirst Baseball Challenge), 2:30 pm or 20 minutes following first game; Softball vs. Wright State (Bulldog Classic), 4 pm; Men's Basketball vs. Tennessee, 5 pm
Sunday...Women's Tennis vs. Vanderbilt, 1 pm; Softball vs. TBA (Bulldog Classic), 1 pm; Baseball vs. Michigan State (BankFirst Baseball Challenge), 2:30 pm.
Come out, support your Bulldogs, and get your Dog Tag scanned.
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IT'S MAROON FRIDAY
Are you in the maroon?
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We appreciate what you do for Mississippi State Athletics and want to encourage you to get others involved. There are three things you can do to help Mississippi State reach its desired goals -
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
Follow me on Twitter (@Greg_Byrne)