(05-26-2014 07:22 PM)IdahoCajun Wrote: (05-26-2014 06:58 PM)chiefsfan Wrote: (05-26-2014 06:50 PM)IdahoCajun Wrote: (05-26-2014 06:43 PM)chiefsfan Wrote: (05-26-2014 06:39 PM)IdahoCajun Wrote: Jackson State, the Cajuns first opponent in the Lafayette Regional, had to overcome alot of adversity just to be in a Regional.
On May 5th, Jackson State's bus caught on fire on their way to play Savannah St. Most of their baseball equipment along with personal items were lost in the blaze on the side of the interstate where the bus burnt along with explosions which left a shell of a bus.
Thank goodness nobody was injured.
Ole Miss and Mississippi St. were kind enough to give them new baseball equipment such as gloves, bats, etc.. Jackson St. overcame the adversity to win the SWAC tournament and the automatic bid to the Lafayette Regional.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-base...n-bus-fire
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/bd...-Crazy-May
You know...it hit me how nice that was of those other programs, but I must ask honestly if the same thing had happened to an Arkansas D1 school if the University of Arkansas would have lifted a finger.
The optimistic side of my brain tells me they would...but still...one has to wonder.
You know when it comes to something bad like that, I think schools will help each other out.
I think LSU would help UL out and vice versa.
I would assume so, but I know there are some in leadership roles at Arkansas who would discourage it. I think public pressure would sway them, but only grudgingly.
The beef ULL and LSU have is nothing compared to what Arkansas does to other in state programs.
Apparently you don't know the UL -LSU history, but I won't get into it here.
I'm very familar with it and UArk is worse.
1. They WILL play you. We play in no sports. They even pulled out of a baseball tournament (at UTA I think) one year because we would be in it.
2. When UALR was still in the TAAC we signed a 10 year contract with UALR. Year we would play at their basketball tournament, year 2 they would play in our tournament. Years 3-10 we'd play home/home. After year 1 we pissed UArk off and the system president told UALR to pull out of the tournament in Jonesboro. We had two other teams contracted and the contract required that we give each two games. We couldn't find a Division I replacement and end up losing a bundle of cash on the tournament.
3. The only difference in the name battle was we mustered the political clout to win on our own and the swing on that deal was the editor of the UA school newspaper at the time was from Jonesboro and the AState administration caught up with him on Christmas break, toured him around campus, let him take photos and then he wrote an editorial in support of the change that came out the day of the vote and AState supporters grabbed up a couple hundred copies and drove them to Little Rock in time to place on the desk of every legislator that day when the vote came up.
4. They used their clout to place Arkansas under some of the most restrictive limits on athletic spending in the country that resulted in four or five schools dropping athletics. UALR made their fund-raising deadline with a few weeks to spare to avoid ceasing athletics.
5. Until our recent increase in political clout we worked under a funding formula that gave AState the fewest dollars per student of any four year school in the state.
6. When Keith Lee the best basketball player in the state committed to AState they sent him a letter saying recruiting irregularities would cause AState to be put on probation (UArk law professor was president of the NCAA). We got busted and AState was found guilty of an assistant giving his parents a ride to a high school game he was scouting when their car wouldn't start, during a visit to campus he played pick-up basketball with some members of the team that was declared an illegal try-out and it was found to be improper that he had a summer job working for an AState alum even though it was through a program sponsored by his high school and the alum had no influence on him getting the job, and he was only paid minimum wage for hours actually worked. We got two years probation. He signed with Memphis instead and the NCAA came back and said you've been a good boy, probation is lifted early.
7. When we moved back to I-A newspaper and TV people in Little Rock were told if they "Over did it" reporting on AState they would find their access to coaches and the AD limited and a number of businesses were told that if they donated or sponsored AState they would find new seat assignments or lose contracts. One large Little Rock firm (HUGE MONEY) cut us off until UArk started moving games out of Little Rock. Even today, nearly half of the Red Wolf 500 members refuse to allow the school to list their donations for fear of reprisal against their businesses.
8. Just a couple years ago, every kid who was in UArk's student recruiting database (non-athletes) received a letter that opened by stating UArk was the only Division I program in the state.
9. Their recent marketing plan of a year ago was "One State, One Team".