New for the 2011-2012 seasons, the America East Daily Word, a collaboration between AmericaEast.com and AExtra, will recap the previous day's games and on goings on our nine campuses and provide links to previews, recaps, features and exclusive coverage.

The team bonding, the coach bus shenanigans, the team meals. All perks of hitting the road with your team.

And then, you get to play basketball. Or if you’re on the Maine women’s basketball team, you get to meet a celebrity.

On Nov. 12, one day before the Black Bears’ game at Rhode Island, the team encountered a former NFL superstar. He caught 64 touchdown passes in his 10-year career and now serves as an NFL analyst for ESPN. Yes, the Black Bear women got to meet Keyshawn Johnson.

Keyshawn, donning a Mickey Mouse T-shirt, took some time to take a few pictures with the ladies from Maine. He must have brought them good fortune because the team downed URI for its first win of the season the next day.

The football celebrity encounters seem to have a way of finding the Maine women’s program. Recall earlier in the fall when head coach Richard Barron tweeted about saying hello to Ron Jaworski at the airport in Philadelphia.

Two pretty cool meetings with some big names in about two months – who’s next? Chances are whoever it is, they will have played football, probably for the Eagles or Jets.

Maine hosts Maine-Maritime tonight in The Pit to close out a four-game homestand.

For more of the Daily Word, head over to the AExtra Blog.