Ricky, where were you?  I thought you were going.  It was a well-attended event (by my Pinellas standards).  There were almost 300 people in attendance.  One of the deans from the honors program (Dr. silverman) spoke since Pres. Genshaft could not make it.  Coach Mac, JL and the newly appointed AD Woolard spoke.  Woolard was very nice to meet and flew in on his own time (I didn't say $$) to attend this function.  He will go to the hockey game then leave tomorrow.  I thought that was very professional.  He had been Ponte Verde the last couple of weeks attending BE conferences and said they are very excited to starting our relationship. Coach Mac was proud to declare that through the turmoil of last season, his players had the highest GPA the team has seen in 10 years.  He preached academics and looked forward to joining THE toughest basketball conference ever.  He also exclaimed that in his 23 years of coaching he has never had back to back losing season. Coach L did his usual " Go Bulls " and got the crowd going.  He was only up there about 5 mins and joked about how his new facility was not that great.  He has to walk forever through the beautiful halls, past the large conference rooms and up the stairs to his office.  Before he could park in front of his office and walk right inside.  All of it was a good laugh. Mike Griffin gave a nice speech on how he is making the transition from student to alum and how important it is to become involved as an alum to give students like himself the opportunity to have a good time while earning a great education.  They gave away some door prizes and said goodbye.  Athletics is doing a great job of having merchandise on hand to sell and there is plenty of information for season tix, alumni assoc. and other ways of getting involved. This has really grown into a great partnership between the alumni assoc. and athletics as is shown by the Around the Horns events. Don't forget, the Pinellas luncheon will be in the fall during a bye week.  keep your eyes open for details. ÂÂ