😄 Just Another Manic Monday.

🗞 What You Need to Know. NCAA Board of Governors Recap. Where the Protect College Sports Act Sits Now. New Secretary-Rules Editor For Ice Hockey. Why Pickup Basketball Matters,

🗓 What’s Happening This Week. The DIII Championships Committee meets Tuesday at 11 AM EDT via teleconference.

🎶 Your Morning Pick Me Up. American Girl. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

“The NCAA Board of Governors on Thursday approved funding to support a National Collegiate Championship and sport committee in women’s flag football and appointed several new members to the board.

The board approved an Association-wide budget allocation for women’s flag football. The action also moves oversight of the championship budget to Division I, consistent with other National Collegiate Championships, beginning with the 2027-28 season.

The funding approval marks another step in the continued growth of women’s flag football across the NCAA membership. In May, the NCAA Committee on Access, Opportunity and Impact recommended that all three divisions sponsor legislation to add a women’s flag football championship. This spring, the sport met the minimum sponsorship and participation thresholds required to move forward. Member schools are expected to vote on the proposals in January.”

» New Member. “The board also approved Adaobi Nebuwa, former women’s basketball student-athlete at Colby as an appointment to the board.

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“The week began with legitimate hope that the Protect College Sports Act would be on a glide path toward becoming law, with a supermajority of support in the U.S. Senate and momentum to land on President Donald Trump's desk.

It ended in a place college sports has found itself time and time again over the last seven years in its dealings with Congress: mired in the nuts and bolts of American politics.”

» Driving The News. “As Yahoo Sports colleague Ross Dellenger reported deep into Friday night/Saturday morning, the bill is now in legislative purgatory as the Senate heads into its August recess. Instead of being jammed through without a lot of scrutiny, which seems to be what co-authors Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell intended, the PCSA is now riddled with amendments and objections and various outside groups imploring senators not to pass it.”

» What’s Next. “Progress has been halted. There are major questions about whether it can pass in any form. And when legislative work resumes in September, with midterm elections looming, there's no guarantee the Senate will even have the bandwidth to make it a priority.”

“Steve Piotrowski, who has more than four decades of collegiate ice hockey officiating experience, has been named the NCAA secretary-rules editor for men’s and women’s ice hockey, effective Sept. 1.

He will succeed Jeff Fulton, who was named the national coordinator of men’s ice hockey officials last week.

This appointment will be Piotrowski’s second stint as the secretary-rules editor for the sport. Previously, he held the position from 2008-19.”

» Quotable. “College hockey has given me tremendous opportunities throughout my career, and I see this role as a meaningful way to give back,” Piotrowski said. “I pursued this role because I believe the rules are one of the foundations of competitive integrity in college hockey.”

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“Richie Zweigenhaft plays pickup basketball once a week, and when people ask him to describe his game, he usually lands on three names: Muggsy Bogues, John Stockton and Dave Twardzik.

Zweigenhaft stands 5 feet 4 inches tall, so he found inspiration in Bogues, the shortest player in NBA history. He also loves to share the ball, which explains his admiration for Stockton, the NBA’s all-time assists leader. His appreciation for Twardzik, a tough and cerebral floor general for the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1970s, is a deeper cut. But there’s a good explanation for this.

Zweigenhaft is 81.”

» Worth Noting. “The Guilford game is likely one of the longest continuous pickup runs in America. It has survived nine presidents. The players are mostly in their 60s and 70s. A few years ago, as the players slowed down and the pace deadened, the game became halfcourt, and Zweigenhaft came up with a new league name: “Geezer ball.”

» Why It Matters. “There is a reason sociologists have spent decades studying pickup basketball. The sport is naturally physical, aggressive and competitive. The stakes are clear: The winner usually gets to stay on the court and play again. Yet, the activity is orderly, efficient and overwhelmingly positive, the players almost solely concerned with the collective whole.”

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