Bucky and Al Back on the Shelf: CoSIDA Wrap-Up

Bucky and Al had some excitement flying back to Montana--they missed the plane. When the Chaperone arrived in Bozeman, the bags were lost. No worries. Delta delivered them to the door at 1 a.m.--after all--who isn't up at 1 a.m. after being on the road all day?

Back and relegated to the shelf over the bedroom wardrobe, the two are thinking back on the highlights of the convention. Bucky said he is ready to become a social media guru. Al is thinking about new titles for SIDs and he has a long list of name change suggestions to email to John Humenik (in several installments, of course). Al is leaning toward Director of Athletic Communications (DAC). Bucky likes Master of Athletic Communications (MAC). Bucky thinks NACMAC (National Association of College Masters of Athletic Communication) is a cooler sounding acronym than NACDAC. Al says calling somebody a master is stupid.

Three days packed full of information was almost too much for the small brains of Bucky and Al. They plan on emailing (or tweeting, in Al's case) all their mascot buddies at other schools to see what kind of stuff they learned and how they plan to implement it. The Chaperone took some pictures so the boys are hoping to relive the memories of Lou Holtz, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Rece Davis, Jason Falls, and all the great award winners and Hall of Fame inductees.

While the Chaperone is busy shaking the sand out of her sandals, Bucky and Al will be reliving the great memories of four wonderful days on the gulf coast of Florida and dreaming about their next great adventure.

Bucky and Al Set Out to Meet Their Social Media Hero

After spending most of Tuesday answering email, Al and Bucky are fired up for the last day of the CoSIDA convention. Social media neophytes, the two are ready to soak up everything they can learn. Al is excited to meet his social media hero, former SID Jason Falls, and learn how to become social media savvy. Bucky reads Jason's blog, Social Media Explorer, and is hoping for an autograph. How can you go wrong with a guy who's writing a book called No Bullshit Social Media?

Stay tuned.

Bucky and Al Learn About Social Media

Bucky and Al woke up Monday ready to soak up everything they could at the first sessions of the CoSIDA convention. They started out with Ben Porritt and found out that in order to get a seat at the table, you have to be an expert at something. Bucky said he was definitely the best at finding grubs. Would that get him to the table? Al said he didn't think it was that kind of table.

Dr. Bill Smith headed a panel on social media strategies and had a lot of cool pictures and stuff. Al learned that being good at tweeting was real important, so he and Bucky headed back to the room, fired up the computer, and started tweeting.

Al didn't quite get the 140 character-rule thing, seeing as he didn't know 140 characters. So, he just started randomly typing stuff. He did remember, however, that @Doctor_BS said to put a hash tag (#cosidaconv) on all his tweets. Bucky had no idea what a hash tag was but told Al he thought it might be something illegal.



Bucky was more interested in following people on Twitter than he was in tweeting, so he badgered Al (no pun intended) into searching for all his favorite sports teams and getting updates on the impending bankruptcy of the LA Dodgers and the possibility that Mark Cuban might become a baseball team owner.

Al wanted to follow @jaybilas, but Bucky insisted it was a waste of time because Bilas never follows anybody back. Bucky remembered @Doctor_BS saying it was all about the relationships.

Stay tuned...

Bucky and Al's Lazy Sunday at CoSIDA

Sunday is in full swing. Bucky and Al hit the beach this morning to cheer for the 5K runners. Bucky was grousing about how he could have won the thing, but Al knew better. Al says he'd never get 1K with that sweater in this sweltering heat.






Al wanted to watch his buddy Jay Stancil (of NAIA fame and famous SID Chat host) finish the race so he stood on the beach near the finish line to cheer Jay on.

After the FAME meeting (which Bucky and Al could not attend--being the wrong gender and all), it was off to the beach. Bucky and Al picked out a nice spot right next to the water.

Bucky wanted to go visit with the website gurus at Sidearm so
Al finished off the early afternoon on the ocean with the Chaperone.

Bucky is hoping for an autograph or two at tonight's reception sponsored by the NFL. Gonzaga doesn't have a football program, so Al just said, "meh." He's going to track down the Young CoSIDA event.

Stay tuned...

Bucky and Al Arrive at CoSIDA

Whew--it's Sunday morning--early. Believe it or not, it took all day Saturday to get here (thanks Delta). We started in Mountain time and ended in Eastern time, and hit the sack after a crab po' boy at Quinn's.

Dorothy--we're not in Montana anymore. Bucky and Al are impressed with the ocean. These land-locked guys have never seen unending water before. Al expressed some doubts about going near the water--he doesn't want to end up like "Wilson" in Castaway.

Today is a very busy day. There's the 5K to run (Bucky's not excited about that) and a Q & A session to go to, so gotta get crackin'. Al's worried that he doesn't have any shorts--it's hot down here. Bucky said he'd trade his fur coat for Al's overalls, but Al turned him down.

Stayed tuned...

Bucky and Al's Excellent CoSIDA Adventure - Part One

Summertime is slow for Bucky and Al. After all, they get a lot of attention from September through April, often occupying a place of prominence on top of the TV. But after college hoops, they are relegated to the top of the bedroom wardrobe until college football season.

On the first day of summer, they were sitting on the window ledge, longingly looking out the window.

Bucky, being the elder statesman of the two, suggested that they have a face-to-face talk about making an escape. Al, being a gnome with a devious side, agreed (he also rounded up a Duke coffee cup so he could look Bucky in the eye--no offense to all you Dukies out there.)

Al thought Bucky's escape skills needed some work, so he gave him some study material.

Next, the two plotted what they would do on their adventure. They tried out a canoe for size, thinking a whitewater adventure might suit them. After all, this is Bozeman, Montana.

They decided since neither could sit down, they had better abandoned that idea. Besides Al doesn't swim. Luckily, they overheard a conversation about taking a trip to Florida to an oceanside resort for a CoSIDA convention--whatever that is. The beach, maybe a beverage or two, and Rece Davis' autograph, sounded pretty good, so they decided to stow away in a suitcase and go along for the ride.

Lift-off: Saturday, June 25. Be sure and stay tuned to see what kind of trouble Bucky and Al get into next. By the way, don't let Al's cane fool you. He comes from a long line of Zagnuts.