Very cool....(though I would love to be at Jackson State when the band takes the field.)

As I recall the AWC was UCD which was still in D2 and a few teams like Slack, Poly, Southern Utah and maybe Northridge that had all made the move to D-1AA. That might have been the reason that the Ags only stayed in the conference for one year. The conference died when Slack, Southern Utah and Northridge went to the Big Sky. Davis went D2 Independent, which was of course not a conference.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_West_Conference

The Great West was purely a conference of convenience for teams in the midwest and west coast in need of a football league of some sort. Like the American West, it died as teams found homes in more traditional conferences.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_West_Conference

Far West Conference 1925-81
Northern California Athletic Conference 1982-1992
American West Conference 1993
D-II Independent 1994-2003
Great West Conference 2004-2011
Big Sky Conference 2012-Present

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ucda/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2016-17/misc_non_event/2016Guide.pdf (Pp. 40-44)

I noticed that this year the Bee had interns test fireworks and had interns test food at the State Fair. Sounds like a nice gimmick, but it also suggests that they are using interns for assignments that used to go to full time reporters. Finally got an e-mail from the Bee about my subscription issue. It contained a sentence that would make an editor fume. Didn't make sense and if there was a subject and a verb they did not agree with each other. This morning's Sports section has one (1) article by a Bee writer, and that is just one more twist pointing out that the Kings aren't doing much for the roster during the off-season. Articles about the A's (from the New York Times and the San Jose Mercury-News) and one about the Raiders' announcer (from the East Bay Times.) Nothing on the Rivercats.

And if I recall correctly the GNAC made a strong pitch for us to join them. Want to play two games with Simon Fraser and two with Azusa Pacific every year? Then scramble for games with Northwest Nazerine and club teams from Mexico.

OK, this from the HSU athletic website and I'm done for awhile:
http://www.hsujacks.com/news/2018/7/16/general-university-announces-football-decision.aspx

Gender equity is about the numbers of bodies on the field, court, diamond, track or pitch, not the number of sports. That is why football is such a killer in the numbers game. I would assume that HSU might be able, heck, might be required to add some men's sports such as baseball or golf. Maybe equestrian.

https://www.sacbee.com/sports/college/article215103170.html

(See my earlier gripe on the Sacramento Bee...this article is taken from the Modesto Bee. If I were a newspaper journalist I would be updating my resume everyday, and looking at a career in long haul trucking or the exciting world of allied health careers.)

Too bad about the 'Jacks, but as BlueGoldAg noted, D2 football is on its last breath in the west. I recall a few years ago that Humboldt had a game at a small school in Montana* and travelled by bus. As it is now they are in a conference with at least one Canadian team and the conference schedule is made up of home AND away games against all other conference members. Humboldt even played a team from Mexico within the last couple of years. With the Jacks dropping football the GNAC will be down to four teams - Central Washington, Western Oregon, Simon Fraser and Azusa Pacific. Azusa Pacific is an affiliate member for football only and as of 2019 will be the only D2 football team in California.

(*Small school in Montana may be redundant.)

And today Joe Davidson has an article about Big Sky media day. I put a link to it in the "Big Sky Kickoff 2018" thread...(but here it is again, https://www.sacbee.com/sports/college/article215051045.html )

As print media dies its slow, agonizing death, (and as an old timer, I will miss it,) the Bee continues to get smaller and smaller and provide less and less original news. The same sports section that had the Doss article had only one other article by a Bee writer, in fact the same writer who wrote the Doss piece. Everything else in the sports section was a wire service article. I am not up to actually counting the articles or measuring the column inches, but I would hazard a guess that over 75% of the Bee's content is from other papers and wire services. Most of it has already been posted somewhere on the Internet for a day or two. The food section, the garden section, the movie reviews, are all from outside sources. There is no longer a restaurant reviewer. Unless one of the Kings' players has an ankle sprain, most of the articles in the sports section are from elsewhere. There is no longer a golf column on Wednesdays. Rarely a locally authored piece in the business section. Typical weekly paper is about 25 pages and costs $2.00. I have tried on two occasions to contact the Bee through its website to make changes in my subscription and to date have not received a reply.

But I digress, glad Joe Davidson is still there to provide the last faint echoes of reporting on local high school and college sports.

Wow, the Bee actually wrote something on Big Sky media day...
https://www.sacbee.com/sports/college/article215051045.html

All things come to he who waits - Equestrian coach named: http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/genrel/071618aaa.html

https://www.sacbee.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/hometown-report/article214374629.html

I have come to that point in life where I think that 73 is way too young to pass away.

Very confusing plea by the Bee. They really seem to be ready to kiss off the print edition, which may be the future of newspapers in any event. Article talks about the need for 45,000 new digital subscriptions.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article212796919.html

Many of the suggestions seem to have to do with digital delivery. Daily reports, consolidating the McClathcy newspaper reporting in the valley, shrinking the size of the already diminutive print edition....

And a digital subscription is now $130 a year. https://account.sacbee.com/static/subscribe/ Don't ask what a print subscription costs. Looking at the Bee website is like trying to understand a new car contract. Nothing tells the reader the actual price, only the introductory offers and the "from as low as...."

Meanwhile they lay off reporters and as noted, have abandoned local college sports.

Washington scores 2 in the bottom of the 10th to come from behind and defeat CSU Fullerton, 6-5. Huskies advance to the College World Series.

Fullerton ends up hosting Washington. They have split the first two games with the decider tomorrow. Winner advances to the College World Series.

Dated tomorrow! Back to the future.

NBA has to be an uphill battle if he struggled at an Australian pro league tryout, but wish him well.

Seems a lot of people, often coaches, lose their jobs because of "misstatements" in their resumes or applications. Don't need to deal with things that may be judgement calls or invite litigation when you can point out a clear cut factual error in the application.