Press Conference wrap

In a way, Tuesday's press conference was simply an acknowledgement on what everyone knew was coming. There had been little doubt that UC Davis was soaring through its certification, and that there were going to be no hold-ups in it actually becoming Division I. But as one member of the athletic department said to me yesterday, "It does feel different than yesterday."

It seemed as if every member of the UCD athletic department that wasn't on vacation or on the recruiting trail was at the Memorial Union for the press conference. That's actually a pretty rare occurance, but you could really sense the excitment in the room. I can't really blame anyone for that. I mean they did just achieve something massive. The gist of today's story is that UCD's administrators feel pretty good about the way they were able to make Division I fit their model of college athletics. There is a sense that, when it comes to athletics, UCD strives to be the proverbial school on a hill. That's both an admirable goal and a tough thing to actually manage. That's the gist of today's story, anyway.

We'll have two more this week, marking UCD making it this whole D-I thing official. Thursday we'll have a piece about how current Aggies feel about those who went through the transition. And Friday, we'll start looking to future to discuss the short- and long-term challenges facing the UCD athletic department.

It's Division I Day (for real)

UC Davis has announced a 2 p.m. press conference to discuss its move to Division I. The NCAA Division I membership subcommittee has finally signed off on the campus' paperwork, officially ending the transition process.

Check this afternoon's newspaper for a story on the announcement. We'll have full coverage of the press conference in Wednesday's Enterprise.

Anibaba live on ESPN Deportes

Here's an update on the television schedule for the Pan-Am Games, which will include Davis High graduate Jalil Anibaba playing for the U.S. men's soccer team. ESPN Deportes has the exclusive American television rights and currently plans to show just one U.S. game in pool play, July 21's match against Mexico. That game appears to start at 6 a.m. PT. If the Americans qualify for the knockout stages, they'll probably be added to the schedule.

Blame it on Rio

It was a difficult end to Jalil Anibaba's prep soccer career last fall when his Davis High School team was upset by Vintage in the section playoffs, but there have hardly been any more down moments since then. Anibaba has been named to the 17-player roster for the Pan-American Games, which will begin Friday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The United States squad, coached by Bob Jenkins, will open the tournament on Sunday against Venezuela at 2:15 p.m. before taking on Bolivia on July 18 at 11 a.m.

Anibaba made his first appearance for the United States’ Under-20 national team in May, entering as a substitute in a game against Argentina. Anibaba was the Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of California this year.

Anibaba’s half brother, Josh Reese, a football standout at Davis High, will not play in the East-West All-Star Football Classic on Saturday at Napa High. Reese does plan to play in the Optimst All-Star Football Game July 28 at American River College.

Today's headlines

It's a busy Monday in the Enterprise sports section. Here's what to expect:

A humble beginning

There were teams in Race Across America that were hand-picked. There were others with extravagant budgets and even more extravagant bikes. There were teams trained as many as 30 hours per week leading up to the race. That was not Team Donate Life Grace Valley, made up entirely of Davis residents.

Yolo takes over first place

Yolo Post 77 took over sole possession of first place on Sunday after beating Fair Oaks 6-2 at Bella Vista High School. Yolo took two of three in the American Legion District 6 series. Brendan Gill helped Yolo Post (27-5, 12-3), pitching eight innings and allowed one earned run.

Davis American advances in Woodland

The Davis American 11- to 12-year-old all-stars blew out Vacaville National 12-1 Sunday on the third day of the District 64 tournament at Woodland’s Camarena Field.

And up-to-date coverage of the Tour de France, something you can’t find in the morning papers.

A Saturday meditation

A columnist at the North County Times has checked in with the suggestion that San Diego State drop Division I football and join the Great West Football Conference. Despite the pedantic objection to that idea -- the GWFC is Division I football, just not Bowl Subdivision football -- and the fact I-AA is being floated primarily to blast an underachieving football program, the point is interesting as an intellectual exercise.

To join the GWFC, San Diego State also would have to leave the Mountain West Conference. And this is where it gets interesting. The Big West would love to hear from San Diego State.

It would open another market to the league. And given that the Big West is largely ignored in it's home base, it would be important new exposure. Also, it would give the conference a reason not to invite Cal State Bakersfield, which currently is in the process of moving to Division I. The now nine-team Big West would like to get back to an even number of teams. But one would imagine breaking into San Diego or the Bay Area would be a higher priority if there were a partner there. And after taking on UC Riverside and UC Davis in the past decade, the league probably would prefer adding an established program to lessen any perception that it is a haven for reclassifying schools. From the Aztecs' point of view, they would immediately be competitive in most sports and boast some of the best facilities in conference. In addition, putting Tony Gywnn on the baseball side of the conference would be a huge boost to both parties.

Of course, it will never happen. The money in the Football Bowl Subdivision is simply too attractive, even for a constant struggler like SDSU. More likely, if in a decade UC Davis upgrades its football stadium and builds out to 30,000 seats, it's pretty easy to see the Aggies trying to secure a home in the Mountain West as a Bowl Subdivision team.

The Great West probably will announce the addition of North Dakota and South Dakota in the coming months, to replace the departing North Dakota State and South Dakota State. UND should quickly move into the upper quarter of Football Championship Series programs, so the overall quality of the GWFC won't dip too much. But UND and USD won't count as Division I opponents until 2009, leaving the league scrambling in 2008. The Aggies have scheduled the Sioux in 2008, but want to avoid playing two Division II games in order to boost its playoff chances. On the other hand, two D-II games is less damaging in 2008 than in other years because FCS teams can schedule 12 games that year. A number of options are being considered for the 2008 season. We will be keeping an eye on this, obviously.

Photo policy

We receive lots of submitted photos in the e-mail, mostly for youth sports, and often get the question, "Why don’t you run team photos?" After all, in a team photo, every player gets their pic in the paper.

While team photos may look impressive displayed on the mantle, they don't make for strong copy in the newspaper. Sports are built on action and those are the kinds of photos that should leap out from the section everyday.

The city of Davis produces lots of championships throughout the year and if you run one team photo, you’ve got to run them all. It may make me an unpopular sports editor at times, but at least it makes me a consistent sports editor.

Prep football in July

It's not too early to think about high school football, at least when it comes to all-star games. The East-West All-Star Football Classic's final rosters were announced today, and the game will be played July 14 in Napa, where hopefully it's a tad cooler than the Sacramento Valley. All of the players are graduating seniors and it will be the final prep football game of their careers.

There's three Davis High players on the East roster: running back Josh Reese and linemen Dan Coronado and Frank Torres. Hard-hitting Blue Devils linebacker Chris Lundin was originally named to the team as well but looks like will be unable to attend.

The East team also consists of seven players from Pioneer (including Davis Enterprise Player of the Year Shane Rosin) and three each from Woodland, Winters and Dixon. It will be the final time for departing Pioneer and Woodland coaches, Joey Montoya and Adam Reinking, to see their players. Montoya is headed for Placer and Reinking to El Camino.

'Winders slither past Cats

WEST SACRAMENTO - The River Cats spotted Tucson a six-run lead after three innings on Tuesday and their comeback attempt came up just short as they fell 6-5 at Raley Field.

Travis Foley, normally in the bullpen, started in place of Shane Komine, who was called up to the Oakland A's. Foley allowed five runs on six hits and recorded just four outs. After Foley exited, three Sacramento relievers allowed just one run on six hits the rest of the game.

J.D. Closser hit a solo home run in the fifth and Jorge Piedra had three RBIs for the River Cats, who took three out of four from the Sidewinders.

Sacramento will head to Fresno for a crucial five-game series against the second-place Grizzlies before the all-star break. Fresno fell to Las Vegas 9-5 on Tuesday, preserving Sacramento’s two-game division lead.

Both Kevin Melillo and Landon Powell, who exited Monday’s game with injuries, were placed on the disabled list before Tuesday’s contest.

- Conor Tekautz

Make it official

The Big West Conference welcomed UC Davis today as a full-fledged member on its Web site. As a staff it will be a relief to not have to use phrases like "if the Aggies were an official member of the conference" anymore.

The Aggies' first official Division I competition is Aug. 24 when the volleyball team travels to Northern Arizona's Hilton Garden Inn Invitational. Volleyball will play UCD's first Big West match as well when it hosts Pacific at The Pavilion on Sept. 19.

Men's and women's soccer start their first Division I seasons in August as well. The women are at Kent State and the men at Xavier on Aug. 31. The women's first conference game is Sept. 23 when they host Cal State Fullerton and the men host UC Santa Barbara on Sept. 29.