cozmosis

Both of which will be shopping for fill dirt as their lots are both in holes. :-D Actually, the last time I was on Savannah Drive, I noticed the start of some dirt work already on the Arby's site.

Division I-A is now known as the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. Division I-AA is now known as the Division I Football Championship Subdivision. Personally, I think the new titles are sort of corny. I think that everyone will still call refer to teams as I-A and I-AA. And I think that entirely too many people will continue to understand that I-A/I-AA only applies to football.

Yep. They've been Division I-AA and members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference since 1998.

Not to pile on top of you in your hour of shame, but here are some more Arkansas State facts for you. ASU has been playing I-A football for 15 years. Their current stint as a Division I-A school (which applies to football only) began in 1992. However, they were original members of I-A when the classification was created in 1978. They dropped to I-AA (again, a classification that only applies to football) in 1982. The Indians have been in Division I since 1975. The Division I classification applies to all sports except football. This division includes the NCAA Tournament and the NCAA College World Series. There are five Division I schools in Arkansas -- UA, ASU, UCA, UALR & UAPB.

According to the Web site, their grand opening has been delayed by construction. However, the site says they still plan to have a St. Patrick's Day celebration on the 17th. For more information, see www.cregeenspubs.com.

That's one of the problems with major league sports. When a city lands a franchise, the first thing the franchise does is claim that it needs a new arena/stadium/park. It seems that they think wrapping a new gift in last year's wrapping paper won't be as appealing as seeing the new in a new facility. Teams are allowed to move so easily these days. They use this power to bargain between markets for improved facilities.

I think a power washer would go a long way. Perhaps I'm an optimist here... And maybe times have changed... But Barton hosted events loooong after it was too small and out of date. I think Alltel as more than five years left -- even without the TLC that it will soon start to require.

I've never understood the hatred for a directional name. I wish I'd graduated from a directional school. I'm a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Monroe. ULM was known as Northeast Louisiana something-or-the-other for the better part of six decades -- Northeast Center of LSU, Northeast Louisiana State College, Northeast Louisiana University. In 1999, the then-president of the university sold our soul to the devil and we became ULM. The reason given was that double directional schools somehow lacked the credibility that a school named after a city had. Hogwash. The name change accomplished nothing. In fact, enrollment and available classes dropped until that president had to resign in shame in 2002. The name doesn't matter.

Almost all of the undeveloped land south of I-40 is part of incorporated Maumelle. However, if I'm looking at the map correctly and this land is located near the closed rest stop on I-40, most people would probably say the land is located in Marche. For those of us who haven't lived in the area forever, the lines between Morgan, Oak Grove & Marche are blurry at best. But the only way I know to access land near the rest stop is by Short Marche Road.

From the map in the Democrat-Gazette, it looks like the land is near the old I-40 rest stop. Long-term plans include developing the rest stop into an full-access interchange on I-40. Some money has already been pledged for this project, but I understand the city, state & feds are a long way from having this project paid for. I'm not sure how this property would be accessed currently. Plans are to extend either Country Club Parkway or Counts Massie Road out to the interstate. However, neither goes that far now.

Although conversation has been heavy on Argenta here, does anyone have any idea what sort of retail space is being constructed at JFK & D? Obviously, it's another strip center, but there doesn't seem to be that much square footage to be effective. Of course, anything beats a vacant building -- which was what was there before.