Stop me if you've heard this one before: N.C. Central is this close to becoming a member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

Yep, any day now; yes sir, Bud, just you wait -- and wait and wait.

The conference last Friday hosted its annual kickoff football luncheon in Newport News, Va., and once again the Eagles were on the outside looking in.

When asked for the umpteenth time about NCCU's status, Commissioner Dennis Thomas said -- for the umpteenth time -- "Both schools [Savannah State is the other] are still under review. We are in the process of reviewing and a decision is very soon. We're on the tail end."

That tail must be on the end of a donkey.

NCCU is doing everything on its end: the athletics department has combined all the booster clubs into one, a suggestion the NCAA strongly recommends to keep better track of funds; increased scholarships and coaching staffs; an enlarged sports information department to further expand coverage of all its programs, and now the installation of artificial turf at O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium to curtail costs.

"We are land-locked," Athletics Director Ingrid Wicker-McCree said.

"We now have the opportunity to offer more time on the fields by other groups by having lower maintenance time and costs to the department and university."

And let's not forget NCCU's most important asset: its countrywide fan base. With the economy squeezing wallets and advertisers scaling back on sponsorships, the MEAC needs all the leverage it can get.

Somebody needs to remind them of that since NCCU can't. Instead of saying something like "What the heck is taking so dang long? Do we have to turn into Keith Sweat and beg all night long?" Wicker-McCree has to play diplomat.

"We're looking forward to joining the conference, and we expect a decision very soon."

Yep, A-N-Y day now; yessiree.

Golf club supports minority golfers

Last weekend, the Bull City Golf Club hosted its 38th annual Bull City Golf Tournament at Hillendale Golf Course.

The nonprofit golf club has made it a mission to teach the game to inner-city youth while also providing a few life skills lessons along the way. The tourney is its biggest fundraiser, and every year the event gets bigger and bigger.

But that's just part of the puzzle. Once the tourney ends and folks go back to their part of the world, people like George Smith and other devoted golfers in Durham are putting in their sweat and equity to train, teach and motivate.

"We're in the trenches working with the kids so that when they get to a crossroad in life, they'll make the right decision," Smith said.

Like almost every other nonprofit, the BCGC has to fight for money and volunteers. Several years ago, Smith lamented how the average age of club members was 55. "We need new and younger blood," he said at the time.

They're slowly starting to come. Younger black males have either joined the club or participated in the tournament, but more are still needed.

I know I sound like a broken record, but clubs like the Bull City and the Durham Striders can't get any funding love from the city or local businesses because they are not running a prison farm. They are trying to keep kids OUT of jail, not rehabilitate them as ex-felons.

Smith recalled his interaction with a female student in one of his golf classes.

"She was so bright but had a terrible attitude," he said. "She has the potential to do great things but didn't want to listen to anybody. I just had to take her aside one day and talk to her."

When I went to visit on one of their practice days, she was still going to class -- and enjoying the game of golf.