A concern Hunter Yurachek has had since he became the University of Arkansas athletic director is how to improve the in-house game experience for the fans.
Attendance at college football games is waning all over the country.
No doubt big screen TVs with every game being televised has a great deal to do with that, but it isn't likely the SEC is going to break ties with ESPN and its SEC Network.
It is adding the sale of alcohol with hopes that will help attract crowds as well as make money, but there shouldn't be too much concern about fans inside the stadium binge drinking or having too many.
Not at the prices they will charge. A glass of wine, which will be more like a table wine than top shelf, is $9.
Just to be on the safe side, UA officials have made a deal with Lyft, and fans can get a $5 discount to and from the game.
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Eddie Pannell, one of the most consistent handicappers to play Oaklawn Park's Handicapping Contest Series, stamped his ticket to the Horse Player World Series at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Pannell had qualified earlier in the summer as a second-place finisher, but he won Oaklawn's championship round on Saturday.
He and runner-up Edwin Turbyville won cash, and a spot in the $1 million Horse Player World Series. In addition, their entry fees, hotels and meals are covered by Oaklawn, plus $300 for travel expenses.
Pannell, a resident of Bryant, was raised in Little Rock and is a Marine veteran who served in Vietnam.
The World Series is in March.
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Julie Cromer Peoples' goal was to be an athletic director, and she has made it.
Cromer Peoples was in the spotlight for a few days after she fired Bret Bielema, and then held one of the worst press conferences in college football history.
In her defense, it was her first press conference, and it was less than an hour after she had fired the University of Arkansas' head football coach.
Cromer Peoples got a one-year extension as the Razorbacks' senior deputy athletic director shortly after the press conference.
She was the one who recommended the hiring of Chad Morris as the Razorbacks' head football coach.
Thursday, Ohio University announced Cromer Peoples had been hired as their first-ever female athletic director.
Before coming to Arkansas, Cromer Peoples worked at the University of Indiana and the NCAA, as well as Wright State and the Midwestern Conference.
She definitely paid her dues.
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El Dorado has become known as a cultural center that is focused on education.
It also has one of the most beautiful and challenging golf courses in the south, Mystic Creek Golf Club, owned by Murphy USA.
It has been hosting women's professional (the Symetra Tour) tournaments in recent years, and now it will be the host for the Sun Belt Men's Golf Championship in 2020 and 2021.
Trey Schaap, a consistent winner of Arkansas State Golf Association championships for his division, once challenged yours truly to play Mystic Creek which he describes as a golfing paradise.
The bet was that this scribe couldn't break a score of 200 for $100.
Not owning clubs or even golf shoes and having a bad back, the bet wasn't taken.
But it is a sure bet those golfers and officials will have a great time in LA (lower Arkansas) and will be up for the challenge of Mystic Creek.
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Rumor has it that the UA has allotted UALR 1,500 tickets for their Dec. 21 women's basketball game, and that the Trojans will give the tickets -- give, as in free -- to their season ticket holders.
Save the date for that historical game. It might become an interesting rivalry.
Sports on 08/16/2019