NEW GOAL

That's right, we've got a new goal. The Sports Marketing Department at Embry-Riddle has our 50 Tasks book printing right now so that the incoming freshman will have a hard copy of at least 16 of the tasks. The others can all be found at http://embryriddlesports.com/flock.

The goal? Our Assistant Director of Sports Marketing - Mike Farrell - is planning on accomplishing all 50 Tasks in the next two semesters. The kicker? He'll be posting video of himself doing most of the events on this blog. So stay tuned. And get excited. It's going to be a crazy year.

Be sure to show up on August 29th in order to knock off the Orientation Soccer Game (Task 29). We'll have a DJ from the Spandex Superheroes spinning great tunes and a BBQ starting at 5 pm.

50 TASKS

We're getting closer to mailing this out to our incoming freshmen. It's a Flash file, so all you have to do is click on the bottom right corner of the page in order to turn it.

NEW MARKETING PACKET

Embry-Riddle is known for producing quality student-athletes for the past 20 odd years. The Sports Marketing Department is hoping that our quality product on the field, will bring in quality businesses to team with. After an outstanding year - finishing 6th nationally for the coveted Learfield Sports Director's Cup for the best program in the country, and an 11th straight Sun Conference Commissioner's Cup for best program in the conference - we are hoping to connect with the many new businesses that are popping up in Daytona Beach.

If you'd like to see a larger version send an email to michael.farrell@erau.edu, but, for now, here's the new Embry-Riddle Marketing Packet:

MARKETING ANTHEM

Summer time is all about making those dollar dollar bills, ya'll. ERAU Sports Marketing has been at it, trying to get some new sponsors added to our stables, and coming up with some ideas on how to connect our athletes to the community.

Coming in October we're hoping to get Embry-Riddle's Inaugural Women's Basketball Clinic hosted by coach Steve Ridder. We'd like for it to be a nice morning of learning and fun, where our female fans can leave with a great understanding of the nuances to the game (and then head out to an after party with the Embry-Riddle coaching staff), all while raising money and awareness during the American Cancer Society's Breast Cancer month.

More details to come, but for now enjoy the Sports Marketing anthem for the summer from Aloe Blacc and the TV show "How To Make It In America."

EMBRY-RIDDLE 50 TASKS

The Sports Marketing Department will be sending out a Book to all the incoming freshman in the contiguous United States (sorry internationals, our budget just can't handle the shipping fees). For those of you who are not included in that number, fret not, we'll have additional copies on campus when you get to Daytona. All you've got to do is sign up for the Flock and you'll get a FREE copy. If you want a sneak peek, check out our facebook fan page aptly titled EMBRY-RIDDLE 50 TASKS. Some of the challenges are easy (start the wave), but some are for crazies only (skydive into a game), but all have been done at Embry-Riddle at some point in the Athletic Department's 23 year history.

You can use the video below as inspiration for task 47. But you'll have to join the group or get the book to know before anyone else what the task is. The person who can accomplish 10 tasks the quickest will get a prize, as will those who do 20, 30,40 and, obviously, 50. Good luck.

BACK IN THE GAME, AGAIN.

Summertime in Florida is just heating up, but we're heading towards the end of the academic summer here at Embry-Riddle. We just got finished meeting the new Resident Life Directors on campus, Meagan and Monica (great people, by the way). Can't wait to get some new Flockers on campus and excited about the 2010-2011 version of the Embry-Riddle Athletic Department.

We're going to start this blog off right, and give it a little Pete Carrol juice - throw some songs of the day into the mix. Enjoy today's.

ONE IS THE LONELIEST NUMBER

Ask Kansas. Ask Texas. As Kentucky. Ask Michigan State, the team that used to sit alone a top the Big Ten (and considering the injuring to star guard Kalin Lucas, the relationship is even more direct).
You can now ask Embry-Riddle, the #6 basketball team in NAIA Division II. Coming off of a whirwind weekend - 500 wins for 21 year Head Coach Steve Ridder on Friday Night, and a twenty point win over #14 ranked Northwood on Saturday - they were by far the strongest team in the Sun Conference. Then the best 6th man in the country got hurt. David Butler and his four blocks a game (not to mention the 16 points and 10 rebounds) got injured. Hopefully just a twinge of the ankle, but it's a small problem with big consequences.
Edward Waters, just 3-9 in The Sun Conference play, took it to the undersized Eagles. Embry-Riddle came into the game with the 2nd best Field Goal Percentage defense in the COUNTRY, but gave up 79 points. They limited the 14th ranked Northwood Seahawks to 49.
Butler, at age 27 an elder statesmen (even for the NAIA), doesn't just block shots. Like all great shot blockers, he alters dozens of others, and prevents opposing bigs from getting into the fray down low. No doubt he was missed last night.
Let's hope he's rehabbing today. There's still four games left in conference play. Next week brings games at Florida Memorial and St. Thomas(the only othe conference team to beat Embry-Riddle), and one home game against nationally ranked Warner and another home game versus Webber International.

NORTHWOOD BEATDOWN

2 for 2 against our new rivals this year. First we put the hit out on Flagler, and tore them down by 20. Then we went down to Northwood and beat them at their place by 11. Then this past Saturday they came into the ICI Center and got handcuffed. They managed 49 points. It was incredible. We hope it had a little to do with the above video. Coach Ridder now stands at 501 career wins. And counting...

500 WINS

Coach Ridder became the 17th Head Coach in NAIA basketball history to reach the 500 win milestone this past weekend. That's one heck of an accomplishment, first off to win them all at Embry-Riddle, and second to get to that mark in only 21 seasons. Watch his speech after beating Johnson & Wales in OT.

Embry-Riddle vs. Northwood

EMBRY-RIDDLE VS. NORTHWOOD from Mike Farrell on Vimeo.

So here it is: Embry-Riddle vs. Northwood promotional video. Its what you have been waiting so get ready for a high intensity game this Saturday at 7:00pm in the ICI Center.

Spread the word. Let's pack the ICI Center for our new rivals.

NICE.

Our iPhone app definitely looks nice. And it will only get better. Today we got to see what our developers Adrien and Alex have been up to for the last couple of weeks, and it's all good. The Ridderism section is hilarious. The design is clean and incredible easy to use/follow.

I've never been more jacked up in my entire life. All we are waiting on is the pep band to record the Eagles Fight Song, and a couple of other pictures (and some RSS feeds, but that should be ready by now).

We'll let you know when we send it off to Apple.

NACMA AWARDS SEASON

The National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) Convention begins in late June in Anaheim, CA this year, but submissions for the coveted NACMA awards are being accepted now. The sports marketing staff at Embry-Riddle is busy attempting to be equal to or greater than our efforts last year. In June 2009 we were fortunate enough to receive a gold (the Human Cannonball, featuring Adam Hinton for the Student Promotion) and two bronze (Flock > TV for Electronic Promo and Camo Night for Single-Day Attendance Promo).

We already submitted our first entry this year, Epic Wiffle, and plan on submitting into the following categories: Promotional T-Shirt Design, TV Commercial, Radio Commercial, Electronic Promotion, Single-Day Attendance Promotion and Student Promotion.

We're going to be busy, yo. Lots more to do. Next up is filming for a promtional piece for the Northwood game. That goes down manana in the ICI Center here on campus. The script has been written, we just hope we can get enough B-roll in the meantime. Current musical inspiration comes from Requiem For A Dream (2000), Darren Arnofsky's second feature film. Check the music above.