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News Nuggets, 09.30.03
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Avast ye scurvy dogs! 'Bones' to officially fly in Ficklen

After years of resistance from officialdom, an ancient symbol of bravado and aggression on the high seas and in the rivers and sounds of Eastern North Carolina will make a high-profile debut tonight at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

East Carolina's new Jolly Roger battle flag will be hoisted up a recently recently installed 35-ft. flag pole just prior the the 7:30 p.m. kickoff time for the Pirates' nationally-televised home game against Conference USA foe Houston.

According to sources, the plan is for the ESPN2 cameras and the stadium's jumbo video scoreboard to be trained on the 10x6-ft. flag as it is heaved up the mast, which is located between the Murphy Center and the west end zone and directly adjacent to the path ECU's players follow each game as they exit their pre-game quarters and run onto Bagwell Field.

The flag-raising chores will be handled personally by the two ECU alums who spearheaded the campaign to gain approval for the flag and to raise several thousand dollars to pay for the project.

Mike Yorke of Siler City and Mark Hatcher of Raleigh will hoist the new skull and crossbones standard at 7:26:30 p.m., which happens to be the precise moment when the Pirates are scheduled to take the field.

Yorke, a member of ECU's Board of Visitors, believes the Jolly Roger belongs at the home of the Pirates and will become an important part of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium's game-day rituals and pageantry.

"We'll run it up for the first time and return a Pirate tradition that's been absent for a long time," Yorke said.

The Jolly Roger will be hoisted up the mast as the players exit the portable tunnel that leads from the Murphy Center locker room.

For future games, plans call for the flag-raising honor to rest with PeeDee Pirate, the school's official mascot.

According to Yorke, who praised ECU's administration for relenting on the policy prohibiting official athletic department association with the Jolly Roger, 56 donors contributed to the fund that paid for what he believes will become a permanent Pirate football tradition.

ECU releases 'new formula' hoops schedule

Non-conference games at Seton Hall of the Big East and Ole Miss of the SEC, a neutral site game in Norfolk versus Big East foe Virginia Tech, and a full Conference USA lineup highlight the upcoming East Carolina basketball schedule.

The slate, which was released Monday, has the Pirates facing all of C-USA's other 13 basketball members at least once this season, a new formula that reflects the league's decision to abandon its two-division format and move into a collective conference alignment.

ECU will continue to play a total of 16 league games, including home-and-home series with Charlotte, UAB and South Florida, the team's three designated 'mirror' rivals.

Memphis, Tulane and UAB will be making their first visits to Minges Coliseum's Williams Arena.

The Pirates’ Jan. 15 game at home against Louisville will be televised by ESPN2 for a second consecutive season.

View East Carolina's complete 2003-04 basketball schedule...

ACC, Miami lawyers squabble in court with Big East attorneys

ROCKVILLE, CT — Attorneys for the Atlantic Coast Conference and the University of Miami acknowledged Monday their clients have some business dealings in Connecticut, but say those contacts don't warrant being sued in the state over the ACC's expansion plans.

The attorneys asked Judge Samuel J. Sferrazza to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds the lawsuit filed by Connecticut and three other Big East football schools.

UConn, Rutgers, Pittsburgh and West Virginia contend they spent millions on their football programs based on presumed loyalty from schools they had been aligned with. They are seeking unspecified monetary damages.

The schools accuse Miami and the ACC of participating in a conspiracy to weaken the Big East. Miami and Big East member Virginia Tech will join the ACC in 2004.

"The ACC has no employees, offices, bank accounts, telephones in Connecticut," ACC attorney Larry Sitton said.

Hugh Keefe, another attorney representing the ACC, argued the conference cannot be sued in Connecticut because it is an unincorporated voluntary association and not a partnership or individual. The so-called "long-arm law" which allows certain out-of-state concerns to be sued in Connecticut, has no provision for such an entity, he said.

But Jeffrey Mishkin, the lead counsel for the Big East plaintiffs, told the judge that since 1999 Miami has had more than 300 separate business dealings in Connecticut, including dozens of athletic games.

Mishkin also said Miami was tied to Connecticut because it signed, along with other Big East members, the agreement accepting UConn as a future football member of the Big East. As a condition of that agreement, UConn built a $90 million stadium and upgraded other related facilities, he said.

In all, he said, Miami has done about $4 million in business over the past five years in Connecticut.

Miami attorney Eric Isicoff countered that any business conducted in Connecticut amounted to sporadic contacts.

The conference has two contracts with Bristol-based ESPN, Sitton acknowledged. Both were negotiated in North Carolina, where the ACC is based, and none of the televised games are in Connecticut, Sitton said.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2003 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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