sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to Endangered Species Day!
From climate change to habitat fragmentation, pollution and human conflict, species around the world are facing a slew of threats to their survival.
The National Geographic Photo Ark project aims to capture photos of every species living in the world's zoos and other protected areas before they disappear. Throughout the summer, more than 45,000 digital screens across the country will feature Photo Ark images as part of the National Geographic Society and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) #SaveTogether campaign aimed at saving species at risk in the wild.
Many species in peril on Endangered Species Day
SU News
John Swofford confident ACC Network will close revenue gap with SEC, Big Ten (newsobserver.com; Carter)
During the fiscal year that ended in 2015, the ACC reported more than $403 million in revenue, an increase of 33.3 percent from the previous year and an increase of more than 80 percent over three years.
And yet the conference generated more than $100 million less than the SEC, and nearly $50 million less than the Big Ten during the 2014-15 fiscal year. The gap between those leagues and the ACC is likely to only widen before the launch of the ACC Network in 2019.
Once the channel does launch, though, ACC Commissioner John Swofford expects that it will significantly close the revenue gap between the ACC and its rival conferences. Swofford expressed his confidence on Thursday at the conclusion of the ACC’s annual spring meetings.
For the first time in more than a decade, perhaps, the meetings returned to a “sense of normalcy,” Swofford said. There was no speculation about about realignment or expansion. The ESPN-backed ACC Network, meanwhile, is set for a 2019 launch after years of speculation and uncertainty.
Even so, television talk again dominated discussions at the meetings. Swofford and representatives from ESPN assured ACC coaches and athletic directors that the network is on track for its scheduled 2019 arrival, despite the uncertainty that surrounds the cable television industry.
Swofford said he remains “very confident” that the network would help the ACC compete financially with the SEC and the Big Ten, both of which have separated themselves from other conferences thanks in large part to the success of their own television channels.
“That’s why we’re doing the channel,” Swofford said. “We fully expect a gap with particularly the Big Ten and the SEC here for a couple of years. But that’s the very reason we signed to do what we’re doing.
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Beth Mowins credits her time in Syracuse for ESPN 'Monday Night Football' gig (PS; Axe)
Beth Mowins getting the call to become just the second woman to do play-by-play of a regular season NFL game was technically 30 years in the making.
Mowins will follow in the footsteps of Gayle Sierens, who called a Seattle Seahawks-Kansas City Chiefs game on Dec. 27, 1987 for NBC Sports.
But to hear the Cicero-North Syracuse and Syracuse University grad tell it, maybe the process in landing a gig in the 'MNF' booth goes back further than that.
"I started calling Monday Night Football games when I was a little kid in the living room back in North Syracuse," Mowins said in an interview on ESPN Radio Syracuse. "Anxious to see what the real thing is all about."
Mowins will call the Los Angeles Chargers-Denver Broncos game on Sept. 11 in Denver, the second game of a Monday Night double-header on ESPN with former Buffalo Bills and New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan.
"It's quite an honor and quite a privilege because there is not that many people who have had the opportunity to do that," Mowins. "For most football fans those first few bars of the 'Monday Night Football' theme, you grew up on those. You looked forward to hearing that every Monday Night."
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Thursday reset: Odds and ends as the ACC wraps up its spring meetings (roanoke.com; Bitter)
Have any Hokies mailbag questions? If so, send them my way so I can answer them tomorrow.
Email me at andy.bitter@roanoke.com or shoot me a tweet at @AndyBitterVT. Please put your hometown on there if you're doing it via email and make sure you put "Mailbag" in the subject line.
Now for a few links from reporters at the ACC's spring meetings dutifully braving the elements in Amelia Island, Florida. Alas, I couldn't finagle my way to a free trip to Florida to attend.
1. The ACC coaches aren't thrilled about the new recruiting rules.
College football coaches are creatures of habit. So tinkering with their finely-tuned schedules isn't going to go over very well, even if it was something that many coaches from other conferences wanted.
So it's not necessarily a surprise that the ACC's coaches complained quite a bit about the new early signing period in December for football and earlier official visits. Matt Murschel of the Orlando Tribune has the story here.
The primary concerns are doing it at the height of bowl preparation and earlier visits extending the recruiting calendar to a larger portion of the year. Regardless of those misgivings, it's the rule now, so coaches will just have to adapt.
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ACC hopes to maintain recent college football prominence nationally (orlandosentinel.cmo; Deen)
Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher and North Carolina’s Larry Fedora remember the sentiments before the Atlantic Coast Conference achieved its recent football success.
With the Southeastern Conference riding a streak of seven consecutive national championships from 2006-12, the ACC was continuously fighting for national legitimacy despite being traditionally considered a basketball conference.
In the last few years, however, the perception has drastically changed.
Fisher helped FSU win the 2013 national championship, the league’s first national title since the Seminoles won in 1999, behind Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 overall pick Jameis Winston.
Swinney moved the needle further with two consecutive national title game appearances against Alabama, including his first national title last season. Louisville’s Lamar Jackson added to the positive buzz after becoming the conference’s second Heisman winner in four years last season.
The SEC might lead all conferences with the most NFL draft picks for 11 consecutive years, including a 158-116 edge over the ACC in the last three years, but the ACC has a 19-13 edge over its SEC counterparts on the field in the same three-year span.
“There’s really nothing nobody can say that we haven’t done,” Swinney said during ACC spring meetings this week. “We used to have these conversations five or six or seven years ago, and I used to say, ‘We just have to keep our mouth shut and go to work. We start winning some games, and the questions will change.’
“And that’s what has happened.”
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From Clemson’s encore to a potential Florida State-Miami clash, and more, Olivia Harlan looks at Top 5 storylines for the ACC in ’17.
Other
How to make the most of Syracuse parks department’s 100th birthday (DO; Fogel)
While April showers in Syracuse were often accompanied by snow, May flowers have sprung, and local parks and trails are the places to be all summer long.
The City of Syracuse Department of Parks Recreation and Youth Programs celebrates its centennial this year. The department encourages friends and families to get outside, have fun and participate in the many activities.
From basketball to pickleball to yoga in the park, the parks department created the City Parks Centennial Challenge to get people to log 100 activities in the parks over the year.
The department will host its first free Centennial event on Thursday — Syracuse Parks — 100 Years of Fun and More to Come — in the Onondaga Park Firebarn on 500 Summit Ave. Leaders and members of park associations and staff will speak about the parks’ history and future plans.
With more than 50 parks in Syracuse, here are a few to check out.
Barry Park
Named after William A. Barry, former commissioner of the parks department, the park located on Meadowbrook Drive is within walking distance of Syracuse University. With a baseball diamond, four soccer fields, two tennis courts and a basketball court, community youth sports teams play games throughout the year, and the park’s playground is a perfect place for families to relax on a sunny day.
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