BGSU Athletics Blog

NCAA Tournament Blog

2011-03-19T07:32:00.025-04:00

The BGSU Athletics Department (in particular, Jason Knavel) will be blogging during today's women's NCAA Tournament game against Georgia Tech, which is set for an 11:20 AM tip-off. Follow right here all day for the latest news.
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1:17 PM - It is now over here at St. John Arena. Georgia Tech defeats Bowling Green 69-58. So ends the careers of six Falcon players. Lauren Prochaska and Tracy Pontius got huge ovations after being checked out with 10 seconds left. We'll have much more on BGSUFalcons.com later today!

1:06 PM - Into the final media timeout, BG has begun to find the range from long distance but the Falcons will need a bunch here late. Down 63-52 with 3:53 to go, the Falcons are going to have to play perfectly down the stretch to get back into this.

12:54 PM - BG in a really critical stretch now, down 12 with 8 minutes left. Falcons are going to have to find a way to get a rhythm going offensively.

12:40 PM - Sasha Goodlett picked up a couple of fouls after Georgia Tech's lead ballooned to nine. The Falcons came back with four straight to get back to within five.With Goodlett on the bench, GT's biggest post presence can't hurt the Falcons.

12:32 PM - Lauren Prochaska has been active to start the second half but much of the rest of the team looks a bit tentative. As such, GT went on a 10-4 run to get a little breathing room. Falcons trail 43-36 with 15:40 left. Sooner or later, BG is going to need some three-pointers it appears to open things up.

12:22 PM - BGSU without a three-pointer in the entire first half and still down just one? Georgia Tech with a lot of foul trouble heading into the second half. Lauren Prochaska played the best half of basketball I've seen her play in awhile with 15 points and taking it aggressively to the tin. This second half will be a doozy.

12:08 PM - Danielle Havel provided BG with a huge lift at the end of the half. It felt like Georgia Tech was taking over with an 8-0 run to take a 33-28 lead. Havel knocked down a big jumper with 28 seconds left and the shotclock running down. After GT took a shot with about 10 seconds left, BG pushed the ball. Tracy Pontius' shot was tipped but Havel picked up the rebound and put it up and in as time expired. 33-32 Georgia Tech at the break.

11:58 AM - Crazy to think that BG has attempted just 1 three-pointer and made none but still leads Georgia Tech 28-27 at the final media timeout of the first half. Neither team has hit a long range shot yet and the Yellow Jackets are in a heap of foul trouble with two players have three fouls each and Sasha Goodlett with 2 fouls. We'll see if Georgia Tech's depth is very strong.

11:49 AM - Lauren Prochaska has come to play today. Already 13 points (7/7 FT) and will be at the line to shoot 1-and-1 following the media timeout. Georgia Tech leads 25-24 but this feels like a game that will be close late.

11:36 AM - Both offenses have settled in a bit. Georgia Tech is so much bigger and is killing the Falcons on the boards. BG, on the other hand, is running some solid offense and getting good looks in good spots. 16-14 Georgia Tech leads but Prochaska will be at the line to shoot two shots after the media timeout.

11:28 AM - At the first media timeout, BG is tied 6-6. Prochaska and Steffen have combined to go 4/4 at the free-throw line but Georgia Tech has scored four straight. The Yellow Jackets have been really physical so far but have committed five fouls. That could loom large as we get deeper into this game.

11:09 AM - National Anthem just concluded. I finally looked at the crowd behind me and the BG "unofficial" sections looked totally packed. What a GREAT crowd here today. It's awesome to see.

10:59 AM - BGSU enters the court for the final time with 18 minutes left on the clock (3 more minutes until tip after that). The Falcon fans far outnumber the Georgia Tech fans. Let's hope the sixth man is key today!

10:41 AM - Starting lineups have now been provided. For BGSU -- Guards Tracy Pontius and Lauren Prochaska, forwards Chrissy Steffen and Jen Uhl, and center Maggie Hennegan. For Georgia Tech -- Guards Deja Foster and Metra Wathour, forwards Chelsea Regins and Alex Montgomery, and center Sasha Goodlett.

10:40 AM - Got an update on the BGSU fan busses. Falcon Club brought two busses with about 85 people and they have arrived. Great to have them in the house!

10:36 AM - The BGSU band is now in the arena. Looking forward to a little Ay Ziggy Zooma this morning! The band, by the way, gets the privelege of playing the National Anthem before today's game.

10:21 AM - You can take a look at the ESPN coverage map here to see if you will be able to watch BG/Georgia Tech in your locale: ESPN Coverage Map

10:18 AM - Just received the list of officials for today's game. Mark Zentz, Michael McConnell, and Angela Enlund if that means anything to you or if you care.

10:16 AM - So, the Blade's John Wagner and I were standing on press row talking and a song came on over the PA system. Sadly, John knew that it was Justin Bieber and he started singing along to it, "Baby, Baby, Baby". I've lost all respect for him now.

10:14 AM - I'll try to do the rundown of all the ways to follow today's game. Watch it on ESPN2 or on your computer at ESPN3.com. You can listen to the game in BG on 88.1 FM or else via the live audio link at BGSUFalcons.com.

10:07 AM - Shook hands with MAC Commissioner Dr. Jon Steinbrecher this morning when he arrived at St. John Arena. It's great to see the support from the MAC offices for the Falcons!

9:59 AM - BGSU is the first team to take to the floor this morning. Georgia Tech followed about four minutes later.

9:53 AM - The team arrived at St. John Arena safely. Saw a lot of BG fans walking from the check-in gate to the locker room. Can't wait to see the sea of orange in the arena today.

7:50 AM - There was a nice article on Lauren Prochaska in today's Columbus Dispatch. You can read it at the Dispatch Website (click here for link). As the media relations director, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the work John Wagner at the Blade and Jack Carle at the Sentinel-Tribune have done all year in covering this team. You can read John's story on the pressure BGSU will face today (click here for link). You can view Jack's stories leading up to today's game at the Sentinel-Tribune website (click here for link).

7:31 AM - Welcome to the blog for today's game against Georgia Tech. The team just finished breakfast and is getting ready to leave the hotel for the game in a couple of hours. Everyone seems pretty loose and excited to play.

The Opportunity Of A Lifetime

2011-01-21T14:12:00.000-05:00

I can remember where I was when I heard about it.

The Bowling Green men's basketball team was hosting Manhattan earlier this year and, as always, I was sitting in front of a laptop keeping stats. At one of the media timeouts, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and our Athletics Director Greg Christopher was standing there. Once in awhile, Greg will come over at a timeout to look at a boxscore. I figured that's why he tapped me on the shoulder. As he hunched over to whisper to me, I realized that wasn't his objective.

"Jason, I just want to give you a heads-up on an e-mail you may get tomorrow about a $10 million donation for the men's basketball program."

I'm guessing the sound of my jaw hitting the floor wasn't audible to anyone else, but it was one of those moments that make you speechless. I didn't know what to say or what to ask. Pretty soon the horn sounded for the end of the media timeout, Greg scurried off to watch the rest of the game, and I went back to work statting the rest of the game.

That was the last I heard about the donation until the next day when, surely enough, I received the infamous e-mail. It explained a lot more such as who the donor was, what it would be used for, etc. And from there, we went to work getting ready for this past Wednesday's announcement.

Along the way, I got the opportunity to oversee most of the media relations efforts of the announcement, working hand-in-hand with University spokesman Dave Kielmeyer and getting a lot of help from a small handful of people from around campus. But the thing that will stand out the most to me will be the 45 minutes I got to spend with Bill Frack before last Sunday's game with Miami.

When I heard about the donation, one of the first ideas that popped into my mind was putting together a video of Bill's memories and talk about his reasons for making the donation. You can view that video here: Bill Frack Video.

I had really only talked with Bill one time prior to Sunday's game with Miami. As an introvert, I'm not the type of person to just walk up to strangers and start conversation. It's just not something that's comfortable for me. So, Bill and I had crossed paths in the past but the only time I had casually talked to him was earlier in the year on a road trip when we sat next to each other in one of the hotel lobbies waiting for the team. We exchanged pleasantries then, but nothing really deep or intense. I knew he had given $2 million for the Stroh Center and will have the court named after him, but I knew little else. I wasn't even at BGSU when that donation was announced.

So, as I sat and talked with Bill for 45 minutes for the video, it was apparent how passionate he was about BG basketball and how many great memories he has. He can remember games and events from 50 years ago like they were yesterday. And his appreciation to the players and coaches over the past 60+ years is evident. He didn't make this donation because he wants to be applauded. In my opinion, he made this donation for two reasons -- because he appreciates the friendship and kindness of those who have worked in the program, and because he wants to see BGSU men's basketball reach a level comparable to what Butler and Gonzaga are at now.

I want to thank Bill for those 45 minutes. I think our University Marketing folks, led by Pete Fairbairn, did an amazing job condensing that interview down and still showing the passion Bill has for BGSU basketball. That conversation was mezmerizing to me. Since the 2008-09 season, I've seen in person every single BGSU men's basketball game both home and road. But prior to that, I had no history with the Falcons. Bill was able to convey to me what BG basketball meant to him when he was a kid back in the 1940's and 50's and what it should mean to kids whose fathers bring them to games in the Stroh Center in the future, as his dad did with him.

So, to Bill, I say "Thank you!" for spending time with me and thank you for the gift you've given to future generations of fans who will come to the Stroh Center to watch BGSU basketball!

Going for 2-0

2011-01-10T19:32:00.000-05:00

In two days, I watched two men's basketball games with a grand total of five overtime sessions. After sitting through the Falcons' double overtime win at Buffalo Saturday night, sitting on a bus through the night and getting back to Bowling Green around 4:30 in the morning, I made sure I got up in time to watch Ohio and Miami play three overtimes in a thriller. Looking around the league this year, it sure looks like MAC fans could be in for a special season.

Is the talent level around the MAC what it was back in the "glory days"? Probably not right now. But the difference in the talent level of teams across the MAC is razor thin. Nobody can take a day off and nobody can just walk into an arena and pick up a win. It's going to be a crazy regular season and it will probably be an even crazier three days in Cleveland at the MAC Tournament.

And there is a LOT of young talent in this league right now. Bowling Green has a number of freshmen and sophomores contributing and playing key roles. We just saw a kid at Buffalo who was very impressive in freshman Javon McCrea. Central Michigan's got Trey Zeigler. Akron's got Zeke Marshall. Ohio's got D.J. Cooper.

Right now is a great time to start following BGSU basketball closely if you aren't. There's a lot of young talent on this team, they move into a new arena next year, and the MAC seems to be a conference that is going to have a lot of individual talent in the next few years.

I'm excited to see how the Falcons play tomorrow night. Going into the M.A.C. Center and getting a win is never easy but Bowling Green did it a year ago and actually has four wins in that arena in the last eight years (I would venture a guess that only Kent State has won more games in the M.A.C. Center during that stretch). The win at Buffalo was big. Four straight wins now. Two road wins in a row. And all of that despite making just one three-pointer in the last two games and going 11-of-24 at the free-throw line last game. If this team improves in those two areas the way it has in other areas over the past month, things will get really interesting.

Follow the Falcons Tuesday night at 7 p.m. on BGSUFalcons.com. Live stats and live audio are both available there. It will be great to see if this team can get off to a 2-0 start in MAC play, something nobody would have imagined a few weeks ago.

The Next Game Is The Biggest

2011-01-07T14:59:00.000-05:00

I sit (well, actually I usually stand) in a lot of Coach Orr's press conferences and I often hear him say, "The next game is the biggest game of the year." I can tell everyone for a fact that it's not just lip service. This program always treats the next game like the only game on the schedule. They don't ever get very high or low about games gone past and they certainly don't look ahead to games down the road. It's pretty amazing to me how focused they always are on the next game.

With that being said, I can't help but think about how big the Falcons' game against Buffalo is tomorrow and then how big Tuesday night's game at Kent State will be after that. For this team and where they are right now, these two games are absolutely huge.

Obviously, they are the first two MAC games of the year and that makes these games very important. But this team is playing with such confidence right now after the slow start that you can almost feel the momentum building like no other team I've ever really been around. Over the past five games, every performance has built upon the last.

It's not often that I'm right about something but I wrote in this blog leading into the Saint Louis game, "Aside from shooting the ball better, one of the big things I'm seeing is increased confidence, and especially in crunch time." I think that proved to be true again at Saint Louis as the Falcons outscored the Billikens by seven down the stretch after being behind 44-43 to get another close win and the team's first road victory of the year.

Right now Buffalo is playing about as well as any team in the MAC. They lead the conference in more statistical categories than any other team, including points for and points against, which is a lethal combination. Kent State is probably most people's favorite heading into MAC play. Getting off to a 2-0 start in league play is going to be a really, really tough task against these two teams and my fear is losing the momentum gained over the past few weeks if the performances aren't as good as they've been.

But with all that said, this team is confident. The players know what they have to do to be successful. They've used the 14-game non-conference schedule to figure out how to win games consistently. And now, it all starts Saturday. I'm looking forward to it!

Women's Basketball Housekeeping

2011-01-04T22:52:00.011-05:00

Hello all. The women's basketball Falcons are in Athens, Ohio, preparing to begin the Mid-American Conference portion of the schedule. The team had a lovely trip from Bowling Green to Athens, by way of the Pontius household. Tracy's family treated the players, coaches and staff to a tremendous dinner -- dinner at the players' houses is always spectacular, and tonight was certainly no exception.

After dinner, several brave folks showed off their skills after a copy of Just Dance 2 was discovered. The action was as incredible as it is indescribable, and hopefully some video evidence will be made available, but that's (again, hopefully) another blog entry for another time.

While the team was en route from BGSU to Athens, a few things happened that you will not read in your game notes at BGSUFalcons.com. Among them ...

* The NCAA released the women’s basketball RPI rankings for the first time in 2011 ... the Falcons were ranked 46th in the nation in those rankings, which were through games of Sunday (Jan. 2) ... BGSU has posted five wins against teams currently ranked in the top 100 of the RPI this year to date (Vanderbilt - 52; Creighton - 55; UALR - 64; Detroit - 65; Western Kentucky - 90).

* The latest USA Today ESPN Coaches Poll was released ... BG received 26 points, making the Falcons the third team listed in the ‘others receiving votes’ category ... 25th-ranked Oklahoma State had 41 points.

* ESPN.com’s latest Mid-Major Top 10 was revealed on Tuesday ... Graham Hays, who visited a BG practice last week, had the Falcons ranked third behind Xavier and Marist ... the ESPN.com web site also unveiled a Bracketology projection on Tuesday ... the Falcons were listed as one of the 64 schools projected to make the tournament, as a number-nine seed ... the mock bracket had BG facing Northwestern in a first-round game in Storrs, Conn. ... BGSU also was mentioned in Charlie Creme's related column.

* The latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major rankings were announced on Tuesday ... the Falcons are again second, trailing only Green Bay ... BG received 741 points and two first-place votes ... Green Bay had 770 total points and 27 first-place votes ... Florida Gulf Coast, listed third, garnered the other two first-place votes.

* In another Mid-Major poll (LadySwish's Silent Majority Rankings), the Falcons were ranked third this week, behind only Xavier and Marist.

If you can't make it to Athens for Wednesday's game, you can follow it in many of the usual ways via BGSUFalcons.com. Live video, live stats and live audio will be available, all free of charge (or so I'm told). Roll Along!

Rolling Along Into 2011

2011-01-01T09:56:00.000-05:00

So my goal coming into the 2010-11 men's basketball season was to blog here about the team on a regular basis. That really didn't take place during the first half of the season, but now that we're into the New Year and conference play is about to get started, I'll try to do better. Of course, it's also tough to blog when you are following a team that's 1-8.

But the Falcons have gotten on a roll lately, winning three of four and looking so much better and more exciting. After shooting 35 percent from the field during the slow start, the team is over 50 percent in the last four games and putting the ball in the hoop obviously makes things much easier. It seems like almost every game now we've got a triple-double watch going for Scott Thomas (though he's yet to get one and I'm looking forward to nicknaming him "Trip-Doub" once he does) and the point guard play from Joe Jakubowski and Jordon Crawford has been great. Combined, those two have averaged 20.5 points per game in the last couple of contests, have shot extremely well, and have run a highly efficient offense.

On top of that, Coach Orr picked up his 150th career win in the victory over UTSA and his 50th at BGSU.

Aside from shooting the ball better, one of the big things I'm seeing is increased confidence, and especially in crunch time. The team is still 0-4 in games decided by four points or less but that's only because BGSU absolutely dominated the last seven minutes of a close contest with UTSA and won by more than four. With it tied at 50-50 late, the Falcons outscored the Roadrunners (as an aside, we've had a great string of nicknames for opponents this year with Roadrunners, Jaspers, Great Danes, and today Billikens) 20-9 the rest of the way.

So today will be a good test for the Falcons. Saint Louis plays in a really good conference, the Atlantic 10, and has a great coach in Rick Majerus. I know BG beat Saint Louis a year ago but that was in Anderson Arena. The Falcons are still looking for their first win away from The House That Roars in 2010-11 and I'm interested to see how BG performs if this game is close in the final minutes. It should be a fun one today!

Stroh Center Floor Being Installed!

2010-12-08T10:29:00.002-05:00

I got the opportunity to go over to the Stroh Center yesterday and take a look around. Dave Meyer came with me and shot a quick video of the floor being installed. It's coming along great and the facility is really beginning to round into shape. Here's the video:

Sunday in Seattle

2010-11-29T13:14:00.004-05:00

After winning a pair of games at the Seattle University Thanksgiving Tournament, the women's basketball Falcons took a little time to visit the Space Needle before heading home. On Sunday (Nov. 28), the players, coaches and staff headed up to the observation deck and checked out the view before having brunch at the restaurant ...

After brunch, senior Jen Uhl took a few minutes to share her thoughts on the Space Needle, the Falcons' win over Seattle the night before, and a myriad of other subjects.

Jen was kind enough to film a few videos during the trip, which can be found at Inside the Nest.

Falcons in Seattle

2010-11-27T20:49:00.007-05:00

The women's basketball trip to Seattle continued to go well on Friday night (Nov. 26), as the Falcons picked up a 56-47 win over a tough UALR team. You can read about the game here.

On Saturday (Nov. 27), the Falcons prepared for Seattle, with a film & scout session as well as an early-afternoon shootaround. The team also found time for a little bit of sightseeing, however, venturing to the Pike's Place Market area. Here are a few brief videos of that trip. In the first video, the team takes a moment to pose for photos before heading off to explore the area. See if you can spot head coach Curt Miller in the video!

Assistant coach Kevin Eckert explained to freshmen Jillian Halfhill and Noelle Yoder that rubbing the pig statue would bring good luck, so the trio did just that.

The team returned to the hotel after the pregame meal, and sophomore Allison Papenfuss took a few moments to talk about the trip, the win over UALR and the Seattle game.

If all goes well, there will be video of a postgame interview or two after the Falcons' game vs. Seattle Friday night at BGSUFalcons.com.

Checking in from Seattle ... Jill Stein

2010-11-26T12:51:00.007-05:00

Hello, Mike Cihon here (in case the blog says 'posted by Jason Knavel' or something similar - I'm not the best at remembering my username and password, but enough about that). The women's basketball team is in Seattle to play a pair of games in Seattle University's tournament this weekend. I am going to take a page from Mr. Knavel's book and try to interview some team members periodically.

The first unfortunate victim in my great experiment is freshman Jill Stein. Jill was chosen in part because she was the only team member who had never flown before yesterday. She was kind enough to take a few minutes to chat with me, and the video is below. Enjoy!

The Falcon Statue Makes Its Home

2010-11-22T14:27:00.003-05:00

Dennis Hopson Previews Ohio Dominican

2010-11-14T15:22:00.000-05:00

Bowling Green assistant coach Dennis Hopson previews Monday night's men's basketball game with Ohio Dominican:

Coach Louis Twigg Previews Howard

2010-11-12T16:00:00.000-05:00

Men's basketball assistant coach Louis Twigg previews tonight's game with Howard and talks about the lengths he had to go to in order to find video for scouting the Bison.

To Wyoming The Bird Goes

2010-11-12T15:58:00.000-05:00

The bronze falcon statue is now in Wyoming, heading closer to Bowling Green, Ohio! A few pictures of the trip are posted below.

On The Road To Howard; Remembering Last Night

2010-11-11T12:39:00.000-05:00

Man, it's been a crazy couple of days. The men's basketball season starts tomorrow and, as the guy in athletic communications who handles the sport, I thought I'd do some blogging throughout the year on the team. We're currently on a bus headed to the airport to fly the rest of the way to Washington, D.C. for tomorrow night's game. I think there's a lot of anticipation (at least for me) about what this team is capable of. But before I get to that, I thought I'd quickly comment on last night's football game.

As a statistician, last night's game was a nightmare with the fog. In 12 years in this profession, I've never had a situation like last night in trying to stat a game. It was unbelievable. I've just got to throw some kudos out to the cast we have in the pressbox for the work they did in making sure the stats were accurate. Scott Swegan handles the actual inputting on the computer and he has the final say on all stats -- so he's got to confirm with his own eyes what he's told by others around him. Nate Doolin calls out the action on the field and spent half the game trying to decipher what happened through binoculars and half the game trying to figure it out while watching the ESPN telecast. Brad Meyer is our defensive stats guy, mostly handling tackles. Like Nate, he spent half the game with binoculars plastered to his face and half the game trying to confirm what he saw through the binoculars on the foggy ESPN telecast. Everett Fitzhugh and Kyle Wilbur spent much of the second half braving the weather on each sideline with cell phone in hand in case we needed a closer set of eyes to distinguish whether a #6 caught the ball or a #8. Reid Linder was helping with the ESPN telecast on headphones, but he helped us out to figure out the puzzle that was trying to make heads or tails of what happened. It was truly a team effort to get accurate stats completed last night.

Despite the final score, it's always fun to be involved with a team all dedicated on the same goal -- in this case figuring out what actually happened on the field when we couldn't see what was going on. And those guys did an excellent job. For the better part of two hours, we did nothing more than work as a collective unit to put together the detailed account of what was happening on the field. It may seem trivial, but it's probably the closest we get in our profession to actually being on a team. I've also got to give credit to my assistant and the football SID Dave Meyer. When we left the pressbox and walked back to our cars at 1:30 this morning, we realized we had just finished up an 18-hour day. And for Dave, an ESPN game like this one involves a whole lot of long days leading up to the game. We couldn't get the publicity and national attention we get without his tireless efforts.

Now -- onto men's basketball. For me, this is a pretty exciting time of the year. Two years ago, I started at BGSU three days before the men's basketball season started. I hit the road with the team to Minnesota for three games without knowing any of the players, coaches, or staff who I was on the road with. I had no idea what kind of team we'd have or even who our starting point guard was. Of course, I did my best to cover up those facts but as the season rolled along, I learned more. That season was such a blur that the fact that they won a MAC Championship almost snuck up on me.

As for this year, I'm really interested to see how this season develops. From a talent perspective, I don't see this team missing anything that would be needed to win a MAC title. But as those close to the conference know, the talent level in the MAC is so evenly distributed that there are a lot of intangibles that determine the best teams from the worst. There's very little talent discrepancy in this league. What this team achieves could be determined by how the individual pieces come together, chemistry, experience, and leadership. All the pieces are here but we're yet to see how the six newcomers fit with the eight returners. Will all those pieces fit together for a MAC Championship? Starting tomorrow night at Howard, we'll begin to find out that answer. So stay tuned!

The Bird Hits Nevada!

2010-11-10T08:46:00.000-05:00

The bronze falcon statue has reached Nevada!

The team on the flatbed has been taking care of the bird while it was in storage and also loaded it onto the truck. You can get a good feel for the size of the falcon in this picture.

Bob Ward is the truck driver and he's providing us with many of these pictures. Thanks Bob!

The truck ran into some snow but is doing well.

The largest falcon statue in the world is about to pass into Nevada in this photo!

Follow The Falcon As It Flies Across The Country

2010-11-09T18:44:00.001-05:00

Over the next few days, the bronze falcon statue that will make its home outside the Stroh Center will be making the trek across country from California to Bowling Green. We'll update the map above each day, filling in the states in orange as it moves across the country and we'll provide you with some photo updates and other notes as we receive them.

The photo above shows the actual bronze statue as it is preparing to leave California and make its way to its new home.

The photo above shows the side of the truck that the bronze statue is traveling in. Fittingly, the truck is named "Big Bird"!

LaMonta Stone Previews The Exhibition

2010-11-06T11:17:00.001-04:00

One thing I'm going to attempt this year is to talk with an assistant coach or player right before each men's basketball game this year and post it here on the blog. This morning, I talked with assistant coach LaMonta Stone after the team's shoot-around in preparation for today's exhibition game against Adrian:

The Carlson Center -- Home of the Nanooks and (hopefully) a BG "W"!!

2010-10-30T18:47:00.000-04:00

On our way back to the Carlson Center (Fairbanks, Alaska) this morning, I decided to get a little informative/creative/adventurous/insert-adjective-here with the BG Athletic Department FlipCam. So I took the "Voice of BG Hockey", Everett Fitzhugh out with me to talk about the ins and outs of the Carlson Center and our trip to Alaska as it stands today.

Here we are, outside of the Carlson Center just talking about the weather, the building and the culture that we have dove into head first with some great guides.

We got a little cold after just five minutes outside of the building, so decided to take our tour where there was a little more heat ... inside of the Carlson Center. Here we talk about the building itself, take a look at the press box and take a bit of a virtual tour of the ice and greater arena ... all while a Bantam hockey game is in action prior to the Falcons' morning skate.

Hopefully, we will get some time to do one more video before we leave Alaska, or at the very least take a shot or two from the plane nearly 10,000 feet in the air!

ROLL ALONG!

Mush! Mush! Mush!

2010-10-30T13:08:00.000-04:00

Live from the Dog Mushing capital of the world, this blog is perhaps a bit overdue. You the fans and followers would probably love to hear about the Yukon Nation in its entirety. In fact, I may go on a video shooting spree during practice this morning just so you can bits and pieces of the Wild White Yonder.

Alaska is certainly nothing like I imagined it, then again, according to our bus driver Carla, Alaska is in a late transition from fall to winter at the moment. Traditionally, spring and fall are seasons that last no more than two weeks and then it gets down right cold in the winter and what Ohioans would call "comfortable 80s" in the summer. Right now, we are seeing highs anywhere between 25 and 32 degrees and the snow is beginning to fall more heavily now than when we first arrived. We still have not seen anymore than 3-4 inches of accumulation in a given day, but by the time we leave Fairbanks on Saturday night they will be expecting a fairly large snow storm totalling between 8 and 12 inches of snow by Monday night.

** side note: the Alaskans we talk to here say that the weather SHOULD be about 10 degree highs and maybe upwards to a foot of snow.

The ride over "the other pond" to Alaska was certainly a bit taxing on the body considering that you gain four hours in time difference. Maybe the boys and those who can actually sleep on planes and buses didn't feel so exhausted, but I certainly did. The countryside that you get to see flying over the mid-west and into Seattle is stunning. Talking to our trainer, Dan Fischer, Seattle has the best of both worlds -- beaches to the west that you can surf and then you can take your snow board up to the mountains on the SAME DAY and do some snow boarding or skiing! That and the fact that in a 5-minute span I counted nearly 13 baseball fields that we flew over, and I love my baseball so that excited me. But the scenery on the way over has been tremendous.

I'll leave some of the game analysis from last night's 4-1 loss to the analysts, bloggers, reporters and message boarders but know this ... there is no doubt and 100% certainty that BGSU will come out with a fire lit under its butt tonight and play much better than last night's game. You most like saw/heard the frustration in head coach Chris Bergeron's voice in his post game interview last night and the tone was much the same at the team's post game meal. The Falcons WILL come out more intense tonight. Expect a far better game.

While I have your attention, check out the introduction combination that Alaska comes out onto the ice to. Add this video:

and then this video:

and you have a pretty epic intro.

More videos to come later ... ROLL ALONG!

A View From Alaska

2010-10-29T23:30:00.001-04:00

Perhaps I should have taken the Flip Camera out far more than I have on this trip but this was just too good to pass up. If you haven't already seen the introduction video for UAF on YouTube or maybe floating around on Facebook, check this video out and then watch what the team enters the ice to, on the video below.

The Scene from the Green at Michigan Stadium

2010-09-25T13:40:00.000-04:00

The entire Sports Information staff came to Michigan Stadium to participate in the fun brought on by the BGSU v. Michigan football game, but one daring soul fought through the crowds of Maize and Blue to get field-side and gain this video of the intense atmosphere provided by The Big House and its occupants.

Here is video of BGSU's entrance through the tunnel and leading onto the field ...

... and here is video of the National Anthem being played for nearly 110,000 people in attendance.

Enjoy the rest of the game!

Mike Cihon's Big Day, Part Deux

2010-09-18T14:57:00.013-04:00

The fun continues at Perry Stadium -- when last we spoke, I had just enjoyed lunch and a quick check of some football action from around the nation. So much has happened since then, I don't even know where to start. OK, I have a rough idea of where to start.

I made a quick trip over to the press box with BGSU athletic communications guru Dave Meyer. While over there, I snapped a quick photo of the Falcon Marching Band. The FMB, obviously, is a huge part of Falcon football fun, and they work just as hard as the football team to ensure that everything goes well on game day (or, in today's case, game night)...

From there, it was out to Tailgateville to get a sense of the mood of Falcon Nation. In one word or less, the mood is 'festive.' This photo may not accurately depict all of the awesome festiveness that was taking place, but just trust me -- it's a fun atmosphere, and this photo was taken nearly six hours prior to kickoff...
Back inside the stadium, the FMB was still going at it. They will be joined by a large number of high-school bands from around the region this afternoon/evening as well...
And, some of those H.S. bands started to arrive at The Doyt at around 2:00 p.m. ...

... and joined the MFB on the field ...

At this point, I need to step away from the computer for a while to get ready for tonight's game. Until I'm able to post again, Roll Along!

Mike Cihon's Big Day

2010-09-18T13:17:00.002-04:00

It's Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010. Most of you are well aware that the BGSU football team's home opener is tonight. But, there are a lot (A LOT) of other things going on around the BGSU athletics complex today. There's nothing creepy about an ugly old man wandering around with a camera, so I figured I'd capture some of the action on this day...

The day started with a couple of soccer practices on the Perry Stadium turf. The BGSU men practiced at 9:00 a.m., while the women's team practiced at 10:00. Both teams play Sunday matches on turf fields (women at Indiana State, men at Valparaiso), hence the reason for their using the turf field for Saturday's preparations. Because I didn't have the brilliant idea for this blog post until late in the women's practice, there's no picture from the men's practice. But, here are the BGSU women going through their preparations at the south end of The Doyt...

(Note - soon after this photo was taken, the abbreviation for tonight's football foe was changed from "Marsha" to "Herd" -- I just thought you'd wanna know.

With women's soccer practice winding down, I headed over to Keefe Courts, where the BGSU Invitational is underway. Penny Dean and the tennis Falcons will be in action today and tomorrow, hosting the season-opening tournament, so wander on over and catch the Falcons in action.

The first round of doubles action had concluded, and senior Christine Chiricosta and freshman Emily Reuland were on the court playing singles matches when I arrived. Here's a photo of Christine, under the watchful eyes of Coach Dean ...

... and here is Emily Reuland, firing a serve during her first-ever collegiate singles match ...

From there, I made a quick stop at the computer to get these photos off of the camera before I accidentally deleted them or something (you'd be surprised -- or maybe you wouldn't -- at how often that happens), and then went over to the Ice Arena to see the women's soccer Falcons off. Here's a photo taken through the windshield of a moving vehicle (note: I was not driving)...

When the coaches arrived, an impromptu catalog photo shoot broke out. Andy Richards is such a diva...

... and there are no words to describe assistant coach Scott Gloden. He actually posed for these pictures ...

The team received their lunch (from Panera - perhaps you've heard of it? Their food is pretty darn good) and prepared to head to Indiana State...

What kind of an SID would I be if I didn't get a free lunch out of the deal? (I actually owe assistant coach Tiffany Hansen some money for my lunch, but maybe she'll forget.) After a quick lunch at my desk...

... and a quick check of some college football scores ...

...it was off in search of more BGSU action. Hopefully, I will have time to check in later and update this top-quality (???) blog entry. Until then, Roll Along!

News and Notes Leading Into The Home Opener

2010-09-16T13:20:00.000-04:00

It's really turning into an exciting day around the BGSU Athletics Department today. Even though the football home opener is still two days away, there is so much buzz and activity going on around here. Sure, there's a lot of stress to put our best foot forward for our fans, but it also makes it really fun. At heart, we're all fans around here too and these types of weekends are what attracts us to our jobs. Just thought I'd drop a few notes leading into Saturday:

* If you haven't heard, the game is being picked up by ESPN3.com and ESPN Game Plan. Really, we want to have our fans in the stands but if you can't be here, there should be plenty of opportunity for you to follow the game. If you have an internet subscriber that doesn't allow you to watch ESPN3.com, we will also have the video stream available for purchase through American One at BGSUFalcons.com.

* Attendance seems to be tracking pretty well. It's unlikely to be a sell out but I would expect an announced attendance number much higher than last year's 14,514 for the home opener against Troy.

* If you haven't been there yet, be sure to check out the Gameday Central page. We're posting as much info on there as we can and should be an invaluable tool for both fans who are coming to the game and those who will be following at home. You can access it at: http://bgsufalcons.com/sports/2010/9/14/FB_0914105719.aspx?id=218

* Just a reminder that we'll be having a fireworks show as soon as the game is over Saturday night as well. Hang around for those postgame festivities.