Group Propose Radical Changes to Div. 1 Soccer

NCAA SOCCER REALIZES IT CAN'T COMPETE WITH NCAA FOOTBALL

July 28th, 2014 

Today Steven Goff (The Washington Post) reported that a Division 1 Soccer Coaches Committee is proposing changing their schedule.

In my opinion it is about time they did.

Now this may be sparked by the fact the U.S. didn't win the recent World Cup.  

It might even be that College Soccer can't compete with College Basketball and Football for crowds in the fall.

A longer Schedule does the following:

• Less competition from other College Sports at Tournament time.

• More in line with High School and Youth Soccer schedules.

• More in line with Professional Soccer's schedules. 

• Opens up play for The cold weather states of the north.

• More in line with when the World Cup is played.

The point I am making is that, like other College and Pro sports, Soccer should be played at the same time for all levels.  

Even if College leads into to Pro, it still benefits Soccer as a whole.

Hopefully the NCAA will see it the same way.
Here are the current and proposed schedules

CURRENT NCAA DIV. 1 SOCCER SEASON
AUG TO NOV	SEASON
MID NOV	CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS
NOV TO DEC	NCAA TOURNAMENT

PROPOSED NCAA DIV. 1 SOCCER SEASON
AUG	Preseason
Sep to Nov	1st Half of Season (13 games)
Nov to Feb	Winter Break
Feb	Spring Camp (includes 1 Exhibition game)
Mar to Apr	2nd Half of Season (9) games
Apr-May	Conference Tournaments
May to Jun?	NCAA Tournaments

If you would like to read the original article, here is the link 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/soccer-insider/wp/2014/07/27/is-mens-college-soccer-about-to-undergo-big-changes-many-hope-so/

Vet wait times was an issue in 1993

Found Letter Reminds this Vet that VA Hospital Wait Times are Always a problem.

I recently lost my job.  

Ironically it was for going to the VA ER with a serious medical problem.  But that is another story.

I sat down last week and pulled out my old resumes.  

I found something that should have not been in there:  

An old letter from the Late Senator Paul Wellstone dated July 26th, 1993 regarding Veterans Administration Health Care as it related to his National Healthcare Reform.

In 1993 I was The State Legislative Director for AMVETS (a National Veteran's group who covers all veterans). One of the things I was working on was Healthcare reform with Senator Wellstone. The letter in question was regarding concerns that The Minnesota Veterans Service Groups had in relationship to his plan and problems with the VA.

One statement, in particular, really jarred my memory:

"Veterans want to see improvement in the timeliness, effectiveness and quality of the adjudication and appeals process for veterans' claims for service-connected disability compensation and other benefits."

In 1993 that was an understatement.  Many veterans were denied care that would not be denied now.  The VA cares for a great deal more Veterans than it did in 1993.

So wait times that we were arguing about over 20 years later have only become far worse.

The only difference is now that we can actually track the people who die awaiting care.

I don't think I need say more.

Shane.