- J. Andrew Lockwood - Senior Editor / Sports Columnist james.andrew.lockwood@student.mercer.edu
JAL Sports Net in conjunction with Mercer Intramurals released their first basketball media poll today, focusing on the men’s competitive division.The polls are reflective of the preseason expectations of each of the teams in the 14 team league.
Todd Thomas, Director of Intramurals at Mercer and the Basketball Commissioner, welcomes you to play in the 2009 Intramural Season. In his first year at Mercer, he hopes to create a fan and player friendly league atmosphere while also emphasizing sportsmanship. View his two part message above that touches on everything from rule changes to the goals of intramurals in 2009.
Well, it is now 2009. A new year, a new president, but most importantly, it is time to tip-off yet another intramural basketball season, and I hope that you are all as excited as I am.
There's something about basketball that sets itself apart from the other major and minor sports our intramural program offers. One of the more universally popular sports in existence, basketball offers an up tempo roller coaster ride, that can sometimes be played, and even won, on raw emotion and adrenaline. It is a sport that allows both competitors and spectators, to join forces to make an arena seem like a war zone (ever heard of the Cameron Crazies?) It is a sport where the deciding factor can be a single free throw. If there is a more exciting sport, someone please tell me (I will not accept the following: football, baseball, volleyball, lacrosse, or golf. mini-golf, maybe.)
Sorry, I got a little carried away.
The theme for this year's basketball season is sportsmanship: towards other players, towards teammates, towards officials, towards spectators, etc. SPORTSMANSHIP, SPORTSMANSHIP, SPORTSMANSHIP! I cannot stress it enough. We do not need a bunch of Ron Artest-like characters on the court creating conflict- despite how awesome his rap album is. We will be cracking down on sportsmanship issues this year, so please, for everyone's sake, keep yourself and your teammates under control.
Notable rule changes/emphases: -One captain MUST BE PRESENT PER TEAM at captain's meetings. If a team is unable to attend, their first week game with be forfeited and they will receive a loss. -All games are broken into two 20-minute halves, instead of four 10-minute quarters. -If your team cannot make a scheduled game, a default must be submitted to Todd Thomas (thomas_ta@mercer.edu) by 2 p.m. on the day of the contest, or 4 p.m. on Friday for Sunday games to avoid penalty.
The official Policies and Procedures has been modified and all participants are required to read it before participating in any Intramural events. A copy of these procedures can be found here.
Also coming up this year, will be the second annual PiKapp/Plunketeers Bloodfest, where there will be lots of giveaways (we are giving away a fancy Kodak copier/scanner/printer/pho
toprinter/microwave/washing machine combo), as well as a few games broadcast online (for all the lazy basketball fans who can't walk 100 yards to the UC). That is assuming I can get my hands on the proper equipment. Pray for me.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, personal insults, or anything worth mentioning at pcooper114(AT)hotmail.com.
I'll leave you with this:
I don't like UNC, but I HATE Duke and Greg Paulus!
