If the thermometer and the page on the calendar are beginning their autumnal movements, then surely it is time for another session of “Notes on My Napkin.” Disclaimer: for the grammarians and amateur editors visiting this site, we purposely move fast to treat our loyal readers to all the news that’s fit for print.

We will get to the current and complicated future forecasts for the big two of fall sports a little later. Right now we start with the most active revenuers this side of the hills of West (BG) Virginia—the CSULB ticket office.

Men’s basketball has been making almost daily pitches for their season tickets featuring the hoop-happy Heels of North Carolina. One route to a good seat is to make a donation of a certain amount that grants you a “seat license” to buy in the better sections.

Fortunately for the 49ers and most of their brethren in college athletics, this ticket purchase scheme is favorable to “donors” since nearly all of the money is untaxed, part of a long, controversial history of tax breaks Congress has awarded, primarily as homage to big-time college football. There are critics such as Professor John D. Colombo, a law and tax expert at the University of Illinois. Speaking with the Ft. Worth Star Telegram he says the tax breaks defy the laws of charity and highlight how Congress has carved up the tax code benefiting scores of special interests.

“The easy and direct answer is that it’s not charity,” Colombo said. “If you receive a quid pro quo, that is, something tangible, it’s considered not to be a donation. The IRS has held that position forever. And it has been upheld by the court. But Congress decided to act on its own and call the payments charitable contributions.”

Wrapping up the hardwood Gents of LBSU also have a mini-plan ticket offer that includes the 49ers Nov. 16 game against North Carolina. Fans can purchase a ticket to the LBSU-UNC game and pick four other games for $99. The 49ers home schedule consists of 14 games from homecoming on Nov. 10 (North Alabama) to the BracketBusters game (TBA). In addition to nine Big West Conference games, the 49ers also host Fresno State and BYU-Hawaii.

Closer to home, there was a women’s basketball fund raiser last Saturday in the Pyramid which drew a nice turnout of 42 teams ($50 per team) in a three-on-three competition. Your mommies and daddies at the NCAA preclude involving kids who are semi-college eligible (seventh grade or above), but the turnout was still nice. LBSU event coordinator and Assistant Coach Laura Freimuth paired up entries from former college players in the men’s and women’s division, some pee wees, middle schoolers, special Olympians and even a wheel chair division.

After the show we tried unsuccessfully to get Coach Laura or her boss, head lady Jody Wynn, to discuss the maybes for the new point guard, needed because of the untimely injury to returner Hallie Meneses. Hallie is the 5’5″ pesky point guard who scored 16 (6-9) in the Big West semi final win over top seeded Cal Poly. Now out for the season the brain trust has to open auditions. Nominees, well there is a tall lefthander from Australia, 5’11” Yana Dellavedova but more quickness and some experience in Chantel Dooley. The Dooley dilemma is the large amount of turnovers (60) in her 20 minute a game work last season. Meanwhile good bloodlines in the Yana family, her brother Matthew is a shooting guard and plays D-1 ball for St. Mary’s. The Niners home open November 9th against Sac State.

The napkin now goes hopping, skipping and jumping over to the still-in-need-of-fixing LBSU Track complex. The Beach has added another new assistant coach, LaTanya Sheffield, a former Olympian and American record holder. Sheffield, was an Olympic finalist in the 400m hurdles at the 1988 Games in Seoul, South Korea and represented the United States at the 1987 World Championships. She was also a two-time gold medalist at the Olympic Sports Festival (1987, 1993) and won a bronze medal at the 1987 Pan American Games. She will work with the Beach sprinters, hurdlers and relay teams.

Like her head coach Andy Sythe, Sheffield also excelled at San Diego State. She was a two-time All-American and 1985 NCAA Champion (400H). She was inducted into the SDSU Athletics’ Hall of Fame in 1993. Sheffield is also a professional motivational speaker and is the founder and president of Sports Extravaganza, Inc., a non-profit organization that focuses on fighting childhood obesity. She was named one of the 25 Most Influential People in Tucson in 2012. Sheffield has also been honored with the USATF Youth Division President’s Award (2010), Sam Lacy Sports Pioneer Award (2010) and NAACP Community Service Recognition Award (2008).

In closing, we end with what we usually start with, ladies soccer and volleyball. We start with soccer to get the high arithmetic out of the way early. The nice crowd of 1300-plus did set the record but the 49er faithful went home after one of those dreaded “hand ball in the box” calls. That play came with just a minute left in the second overtime and makes nervous Nellies out of Mauricio Ingrassia and his staff.

To finish in the top four, LBSU must win both of their weekend tests, vs. Hawaii on Friday night and against Cal State Northridge Sunday afternoon (George Allen Field). But, for you Beach budding numerologists, the tie breakers could come into play so LB believers have to win first and then root for UC Irvine to beat CSUN on Friday night in their match behind the Orange Curtain. That would get the defending BWC tourney champs and invite to the conference party at UCI. Whew.

Now to women’s volleyball where the original 16 woman roster got down to nine, but had a well played effort in their Black and Blue showdown led to a 3-0 shutout of Irvine. The comeback kid, Junior setter Tara Roenicke, returned from an ankle injury to lead the 49ers to the 25-23, 25-23, 25-23 victory. Stat oddity, the Niners trailed at 22-20 and 23-22 in all three sets. But won!

Next up is another head-to-head conflict for the home folks, with Karch Kiraly and the Fox Sports Prime Ticket TV folks in the Mid to observe the visit of No. 9 Hawaii Friday at 7PM. After that Cal State Northridge visits Saturday night. Post season still very much in doubt but at least the LBSU young ‘uns are getting a lot of quality playing time.—DR. DAN