sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to National Chocolate Chip Day!
It all started at a little place you may recognize the name of, the Toll House Inn. Located in Whitman, Massachusetts, it just happens to be the home of that most favorite of cookies, the chocolate chip cookie. Ruth Graves Wakefield had originally planned on making a chocolate cookie, and decided to do so by throwing in chunks of a chocolate bar into it. In a happy accident, it turned out that the chocolate did not melt and mix with the rest of the cookie, but maintained its shape, filling the cookie with delicious little chocolate bits.
Thus was born the chocolate chip cookie, and the Toll House Cookie Company! From that day forward there have been new forms of chocolate chip added, white chocolate chip, mint chocolate, milk chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, even dark chocolate! All of these varieties being added to delicious new recipes to create fantastic new treats for you to enjoy!
SU News
Enhancing Week One football schedule for ACC Network likely topic at league's spring meetings (dailypress.com; Teel)
The ACC on Thursday unveiled the five annual football games Notre Dame will play against the league from 2026-37. Here’s potential news on contests that will be played before Commissioner John Swofford needs 80-plus candles on his birthday cake and I need a drool cup.
Among the matters conference officials will discuss at this week’s annual spring meetings at Amelia Island, Fla., is the 2019 launch of the linear ACC Network, a partnership with ESPN. The cable channel is scheduled to debut in August, just prior to the football season’s opening week.
As mentioned during an interview with Swofford in March at the men’s basketball tournament, the ACC is likely to play multiple league football games in Week One of 2019, much like the Southeastern Conference did in 2014 while launching the SEC Network. South Carolina hosted Texas A&M on a Thursday, with Auburn-Arkansas two days later.
Additional reporting reveals the ACC may stage three league games to open the 2019 season, which it last did in 1996. In theory, this would not only drive ACC Network ratings but also pressure cable providers to carry the channel.
Florida State-Boise State; Miami-Florida; North Carolina-South Carolina; Louisville-Notre Dame; Duke-Alabama; N.C. State-East Carolina and Wake Forest-Utah State.
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Even As ESPN Cuts Costs, An ACC Network Could Be Money Well Spent (forbes.com; Smith)
Some of the biggest news coming out of the sports world has nothing to do with what's happening on the field, but rather with the biggest network covering it. ESPN recently laid off around 100 of its employees, many of whom were long-time and well-regarded staffers. The terminations are purportedly a cost-cutting measure for the sports media empire that has committed billions of dollars to TV rights agreements but is watching as subscribers flee in record numbers.
My colleague Maury Brown has provided a more detailed breakdown of the issues at hand, but that unfortunate situation - huge longterm TV contracts coupled with falling subscribership - has put ESPN in a position where it may need to start curtailing its future TV rights spending. And that brings us to the ACC Network. Last summer it was announced that ESPN and the ACC would partner on a new, conference-specific cable network that will launch in August 2019. But some have begun wondering if ESPN's latest round of layoffs might indicate a possible lack of commitment toward investing in the planned network.
ACC commissioner John Swofford has reassured conference members that ESPN intends to proceed with its ACC Network plans, and an ESPN spokesperson tells Forbes that nothing has changed: "Both sides remain committed to launching a dedicated platform for ACC fans in 2019 as previously announced and as planned." Whether or not that turns out to be true - it seems to be an ongoing debate among those in the know - the ultimate question that remains is whether it's a smart idea for ESPN to provide financial backing to a new TV property. We're in no place to tell the future, but some current indicators suggest that while the ACC Network may be a risky venture - ESPN will own the property and thus be responsible for all expenses and potential losses - it may not be such a bad bet.
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Virginia Football Picks Up Liberty On Future Schedules (sportswar.com; Wright)
The Virginia football team learned the future years it would face ACC scheduling partner Notre Dame earlier this week. That news came in fairly typical fashion: a combination of news releases and social media. On Saturday, the Hoos got some more scheduling news in a much more unique way.
During a commencement speech at Liberty University, President of the United States Donald Trump announced it.
Yes that is the @POTUS announcing @LibertyFootball future FBS opponents! Thank you @realDonaldTrump! #GiveMeL18erty pic.twitter.com/x5g9ob1n9i
— Liberty Flames (@libertyflames) May 13, 2017
Trump named some of the Flames’ future football opponents as that program transitions from the Football Championship Subdivision to the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Cavaliers will host Liberty at Scott Stadium on Nov. 10, 2018 and Nov. 23, 2019. They will travel to Lynchburg on Sept. 11, 2027. Those dates are subject to change. LU will be eligible for bowl games beginning in 2019.
As part of this scheduling addition, the Hoos’ game with Old Dominion scheduled for 2018 now moves to 2019. That game in Charlottesville is planned for Sept. 21. Games with ODU scheduled for Nov. 21, 2020 in Norfolk and Sept. 17, 2022 in Charlottesville remain the same.
The non-conference opponents for 2018 and 2019 are as follows:
2018
- Sept. 1 vs. Richmond
- Sept. 8 at Indiana
- Sept. 15 vs. Ohio University
- Nov. 10 vs. Liberty
- Sept. 7 vs. William & Mary
- Sept. 21 vs. Old Dominion
- Sept. 28 at Notre Dame
- Nov. 23 vs. Liberty
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Ranking the ACC's Mascots (athlonsports.com; Scott)
After ranking the Big Ten , Big 12 and SEC mascots, it’s time to take a good hard look at the oversized cartoon characters of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2017.
First things first, I do not base my rankings off of any other mascot-related contest that may or may not be sponsored by some bank. So if you are thinking that your mascot might be high in these rankings based on its finish in a previous popularity contest, you very likely will end up disappointed.
Additionally, my rankings are based on the overall appearance, creativity, originality, cleanliness and behavior of the mascot.
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Report: Notre Dame in Talks to Join ACC as Full Member (theuconnblog.com; Kidwai)
Tim Brando of Fox Sports has reported that Notre Dame is having conversations about joining the Atlantic Coast Conference for football. Already a member in all other sports, the Fighting Irish would become the 15th full-time member if this were to happen.
Should the ACC be looking for a 16th, surely the University of Connecticut would be a leading candidate.
The conference has already announced plans to launch a television network in 2019, a move which seems to be a necessity to keep up with the NCAA’s other major conferences. Currently, the Big 10, Pac-12, and SEC have their own networks and are slated to rake in massive revenue gains as a result.
In a world where cable network revenues are declining, live sports has emerged as the some of the most commercially viable programming out there because of its DVR-proof nature. ESPN’s highly-publicized financial woes shouldn’t affect the ACC network’s development.
With a rabid, regionally relevant fan base and multiple successful, high-profile athletic programs, UConn would provide a full slate of programming assets across the academic year guaranteed to draw great ratings and keep subscribers from the highly-coveted New York City market through the #30 Hartford-New Haven DMA and into Boston.
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Other
'Ransomware' on work computers could greet employees worldwide Monday morning (PS; AP)
Employees booting up computers at work Monday could see red as they discover they're victims of a global "ransomware" cyberattack that has created chaos in 150 countries and could wreak even greater havoc as more malicious variations appear.
As a loose global network of cybersecurity experts fought the ransomware hackers, officials and experts on Sunday urged organizations and companies to update older Microsoft operating systems immediately to ensure they aren't vulnerable to a more powerful version of the software -- or to future versions that can't be stopped.
The initial attack, known as "WannaCry," paralyzed computers that run Britain's hospital network, Germany's national railway and scores of other companies and government agencies worldwide in what was believed to be the biggest online extortion scheme so far.
Microsoft blamed the U.S. government for "stockpiling" software code that was used by unknown hackers to launch the attacks. The hackers exploited software code from the National Security Agency that leaked online.
The company's top lawyer said the government should report weaknesses they discover to software companies rather than seek to exploit them.
"An equivalent scenario with conventional weapons would be the U.S. military having some of its Tomahawk missiles stolen," attorney Brad Smith wrote on Microsoft's blog.
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