News and Notes: Wednesday Edition

Above, a 1938 program page for a Cornell-Canisius tilt. Below, some news and notes for Wednesday...

• Cornell alumnus, John McCord ('97) has announced his retirement from basketball after a brilliant 14-year pro career in Europe. McCord averaged 11.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game during 2010-2011 for SIG Strasbourg (12-18, 12th place) in the French Pro A League, France's top league. During his pro career, McCord, a 1996-1997 First Team All Ivy League selection, has played professionally in Venezuela (club: Marinos de Oriente), the United Kingdom (clubs: Chester Jets, Thames Valley Tigers, Edinburgh Rocks) and in France (clubs: Antibes (French Pro B), Limoges (French Pro B) and Strasbourg (French Pro A)). Over the years, McCord accumulated numerous honors and awards in Europe ncluding the 1998 MVP award in the British Basketball League and the 2004-2005 6th Man of the Year Award in the French ProA. We previously posted links to older articles appearing in the Daily Pennsylvanian, Cornell Chronicle and in New York Newsday about McCord's incredible path to attending Cornell. Below, a page from the 1996-1997 Cornell media guide and a video interview of McCord announcing his retirement from SIG Strasbourg.

• Victory Bell Rings is among the numerous sites reporting that Boston College will host Penn State in the 2011 ACC-Big Ten Challenge. The site writes, "Second year [B.C.] coach Steve Donahue, the same coach of the magical Cornell team from two seasons ago, landed stud power forward Ryan Anderson (Long Beach, CA) who should make an immediate impact [for the Eagles]."
  

• From the Twittersphere, Jake Mastbaum ('10) announced that he and Sam Aleinikoff ('10) are in the midst of filming their final Cornell Basketball-themed video as undergraduates at Cornell. Stay tuned for Slope's release of this very exciting project that has been in planning stages for several months. Meanwhile, also from Twitterspace, former Big Red skipper, Steve Donahue has formally announced that he has rejoined the world of Twitter. Coach Donahue gave Twitter a brief shot during the spring of 2009 when he was at Cornell, but the hobby just did not stick. While current Big Red head coach, Bill Courtney has not made the social media leap, all three of his assistants have done so, with Marlon Sears, Mike Blaine and Ricky Yahn all taking on the tweet game. And in the words of ESPN Radio's Brian Delaney, "Three things that don't quit: @coachmikeblaine 's energy, twitter feed and the exclamation point on his keyboard."

• Speaking of Coach Blaine, he tweeted his joy of using Cornell's luxury Campus-to-Campus Bus Service which connects Cornell's Ithaca and New York City campuses. The bus, which has serviced the men's basketball program on numerous occasions, has amenities which include: expanded seating space for working, an open kitchen (with running hot and cold water), satellite radio and internet service. The Following Cornell colleges and schools have campus locations in Manhattan proper: School of Industrial and Labor Relations, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Human Ecology, College of Architecture Art and Planning, the Medical College, and the Graduate School of Medical Sciences.