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BCS or Bust – What it all means

Here is the remainder of the weekend. (Part 1 Here – BCS or Bust)

First off, I do have to say that the enormity of what had happened didn’t really hit me after the game. I think I was so nervous heading in that I felt more relieved than anything. I didn’t jump up and down or scream or anything (not that that is really my style anyway). I think as I watched the blue and orange sea on the field, I just stood there with a bemused look on my face. Taking it in without it sinking in.

Thusly, the rest of the night kinda went the same way. No drunken revelry. We had a good dinner a another local brew pub (the Italian Sausage Ravioli were great) and watched the first half of the Notre Dame v. USC game. This place was a little out of the way, and there were no other Broncos in the joint (at least in the bar). We talked to a few Reno guys in there and they were gracious in defeat. I did have to tell them that its not all bad, since they’re still going to a bowl game and Boise State just cut them a check for $750,000. (Each team in the conference splits some of the BCS booty). Can’t argue with that too much. They were cool, and we just had a low key dinner.

After, we headed back down to the casinos to find a place to watch the Trojans finish off the Irish and the first little bit of the Purdue @ Hawaii game. We actually packed it in early due to the fact we were driving home the next day.

We woke up early to bust out of there. I set the alarm on my cell phone but somehow calculated the time wrong (it was still on Boise local time) and instead of setting the alarm for 6:30, I set it for 4:30. The lesson, as always, is I’m a dumbass. I should have just woken everyone up then since I was pretty much wide awake and ready to go, but instead I laid there for 2 hours before getting up.

On our way out of what really appeared to be a ghost town… there was NO traffic on the roads at all… we stopped at a local Starbucks. Now, we were the only 3 people in the building except for the two girls behind the counter. For some reason, they had to be sure to ask all of us our names so they could write them on the cups. Uh… I don’t think we’ll get them confused girls… But we made it on the road without incident.

Just like the way down, we were in the middle of a Bronco caravan. We drove Jess’ car down since her’s is the newest and it ended up getting us some strange looks. See, she is a Vandal, tried and true, and came along just because I asked. And, being a Vandal, her car has the University of Idaho sticker in the back window and the Vandal license plates. We did, however, have the dual Bronco car flags flying high. It was quite amusing to pass another bronco car and watching in the mirror as the passenger points at us and says something to the driver, or vice versa. This must have happened half a dozen times that I saw, who knows how many more times that I didn’t. To quote Peter Venkman, “Dogs and cats living together… Mass hysteria!”

Honestly, I think it took me until Tuesday for it all to really set in. Life is a funny thing. In what has undoubtedly been the hardest year I have ever lived through (a close second was the year in college when I worked full time, school full time, and had a part time internship, but thats another post), the only team I follow with an absolute passion had its greatest season ever. Especially ironic when you know that every single Boise State memory I have from the past 4 years is intertwined with memories of my ex and ex-laws. Who knows… maybe this was supposed to happen. It might be egotistical for me to think that some higher power set up the Bronco run to make it up to me for being shit on… I don’t know. All I know is that I love the Broncos. What does it tell you that I want to be successful in life, make a bunch of money, but not for me… but because I want to be able to give big chunks to Boise State. That’s just not normal.

I listened to KBOI’s archive of Paul J’s call of the game on Saturday, and I would be lying if I didn’t get chills. When they were talking about where this team has been and where its going, I think my eyes welled a little. Again, stuff like this shouldn’t happen. Paul J’s voice can at once make me feel both like a grown man listening to a BCS team on the verge, and a 7 year old kid following the Broncos the only way one could back in the day, on the radio. He may not be the greatest announcer who ever lived, but he is the very soul of Boise State to me. I can hear his voice and it sounds like home. When he gets excited, my blood pressure jumps 30 points. He is one of the rocks this program has been built on. I think KBOI & Boise State should market a DVD of the greatest BSU moments and the accompanying Paul J. calls. As it is, I watch the Bronco season commemorative DVD’s I have weekly.

Saturday’s game at Reno will be one of those events that improves in my memory with age. Like the Idaho game in ’94 or the Fresno game in ’02. That image of the fans on the field will stick with me for a long long time.

Phoenix, here we come.

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BCS or Bust

BoiseStateThat was the theme for the recent road trip weekend. Boise State was facing one game for all the marbles at University of Nevada Reno. Outright WAC championship (fifth consecutive), undefeated regular season, and BCS bowl birth with the big exposure and big pay day. Here’s the story.

Friday, November 24th. My birthday was spent mainly driving from Boise to Reno. Roughly 7 hours of some of the most boring driving this side of the great plains. I will concede that driving across North Dakota (sorry to my relatives back there) may be, in fact, the most boring place on the planet to drive. Take a peek at a road map for the state, and you will see I-94 slicing a straight line directly across the state. Yawn… At least the road to Reno does change direction, however, you end up with about 350 miles of the exact same landscape. It does look nice enough, but when you stare at it for 14 hours in 3 days, it definitely gets a little old. You find yourself begging for some trees or something to at least break the monotony.

Hotel DoorWe arrived in Reno and check into the hotel. Since we were making this trip on the cheap, I booked us into a Super 8 motel that was about 300 yards from the stadium. Savvy planning on my part, I thought. Unfortunately, this place wasn’t exactly the Ritz. You will notice in the picture that the door is completely closed, yet there is about an 1/4 inch gap around the whole thing. Yes, we left the heat on the entire time.

After a little rest, we hit the downtown area of the “Biggest Little City in the World”. I’ve always liked casinos even though I’m not a huge gambler. Go figure. And the casinos this night were absolutely swarming withReno blue and orange clad fans. It was terrific. Everywhere you turned, you saw another group. I will admit though that the random “BOISE…. STATE…” chants were a little much. I’m as big a fan as you know, but even I have my limits. There was an interesting phenomenon at play here. Usually, when you’re traveling to an away game and you see someone in your colors, you usually make a comment to that person like “Go Broncos!” or something. Well, in Reno, there were SO many Bronco fans that you don’t feel the need to make those comments. It was like we were the ‘home’ team or something. The occasional Nevada fan might say something to you, but since they were outnumbered in the casinos about 200-1, there wasn’t many of them around.

After being incommunicado for the whole day on the road, I really enjoyed sitting in the sports book of the Silver Legacy to catch up on the day’s college football action… Who upset who, who was favored by what, etc. Plus, Fresno State and La. Tech were playing on TV and the announcers spent half the time talking about Saturday’s Boise State v. Reno matchup. Good times! The book had Boise State favored by only 3 points in the game. I thought about putting a bet down on the game, but I figured, I’ve already got way too much wrapped up in the outcome of this game, there is no need to add a financial aspect as well. Although, hindsight being 20/20 and all, I probably should have bet $1000 on the game, so if we won, my trip to Phoenix was paid for, and if we lose we’d stay home and play in the local MPC Computers bowl anyway and I wouldn’t have to travel with the team. Damn…

One observation of the casino scene in Reno. We were heading back to the car that was parked in the Circus Circus parking garage. First of all, I hate Circus Circus. I hate clowns and I hate the circus. But, as we were heading out at after 11pm, the sheer number of kids running around was astounding! That place was absolutely LOUSY with kids. First of all, for the life of me I can’t understand why you would ever bring your kids on a ‘vacation’ to a casino in the first place. Second, why in blue blazes are these kids still running around this ‘midway’ in Circus Circus at almost midnight? At least the actual casino floors are still kid-less sanctuaries. Just one more reason to loathe the Circus Circus.

Game Day

After an exceptionally craptacular breakfast (how in the hell do you fuck up biscuits and gravy anyway?!) it was time to get into game mode. As I had told everyone, I was nervous about this game. Nevada came into this game on an absolute roll. Five wins in a row, including two 42-0 routs in a row. We were favored by a mere 3 points (or one point underdogs in the Sagarin ratings). Even Kirk Herbstriet on ESPN picked Nevada to win. Everything was piling on and I wasn’t feeling great.

Broncos Take the Field Opening Kickoff

It was quite a chilly morning, so we layered up and headed into the stadium. Two weeks ago when I went to purchase tickets, Boise State told me that their allotment of 5000 tickets was long gone. So, I went directly to the Wolfpack athletics website as was able to purchase tickets directly from them. As you can see, I got damn near 50 yard line seats. It is safe to say you wouldn’t be able to get tickets like that at Bronco Stadium.

Sitting in the upper deck in the sun, we QUICKLY warmed up and started stripping off layers. Eventually getting down to our shirtsleeves. Unbelievable. It was so warm, it felt like September. Just a gorgeous day. Continue reading “BCS or Bust”

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Boise State’s Next Big Thing?

Bronco fans have enjoyed a long string of terrific quarterbacks throughout the years. Beginning with Tony Hilde (personal issues aside, he is still BSU’s total offense career leader), to Bart Hendricks who led us into D1. Followed by Ryan Dinwiddie, who owns the NCAA record for career quarterback rating, up to Jared Zabransky who despite a tough year last year, is still 31-5 as a starter and just set the school record for single game completion percentage.

We have a couple of freshmen kids in the program who might be the next thing, including ex-NFL quarterback Neil Lomax’s son Nick Lomax as well as a phenom from California named Michael Coughlin. We just missed out on ex-head coach Dan Hawkins’ son Cody Hawkins when Coach Hawk defected to Colorado.

Those two guys might need to be ready to be future back-ups compared to our most recent quarterback signing.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Kellen Moore. Mr. Moore is a senior this year at Prosser high school in Washington state and has signed a letter of intent with Boise State. He has, what are possibly the sickest numbers I have ever seen. I thought Cody was prolific at the local high school Bishop Kelly. Well, Moore’s numbers make Cody’s look like a turd.

How’s this? In 2005 as a junior, Moore had 317 completions for 4,600 yards and 66 touchdowns. SIXTY-SIX! This season, he has his team 12-0 with possibly two more games to play and his stats are equally bonkers: 269-362 (74.3% completion) 3,969 yards, and 62 touchdowns. Oh yeah, he only has 5 interceptions. Personally, I was disappointed we didn’t keep Cody, but his senior year numbers (146-for-204 for 2,783 yards and 42 touchdowns, 5 picks) while impressive, frankly pale in comparison.

This is the end result of playing all those games on ESPN at strange times. That and a lot of hard work by the coaching staff. I know one thing, even with Boise State losing 22 seniors this year, the cupboard is far from bare!

Who else is excited for the future?

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I can talk about it now

BoiseStateI know some of you have been waiting for my reaction to the closest of close calls last Saturday. Frankly, I haven’t been able to talk about it until now.

We escaped. We needed to buckle down and pull out a miracle 4th quarter. I’ll tell you one thing, I was not enjoying that game at all. And frankly, I’m not very fun to be around when we play a game like that. I actually got in trouble once (2 years ago, from the ex) for brooding and not being happy and chatty when Boise State had a hellish game the LAST time down at San Jose State. Yes, I know I have WAY too much invested in these games that I have no control over. I know this. Can I do anything about it? Absolutely not. I am, however, realistic.

I listen and read to national sports media all the time. With Rutgers being undefeated and a long shot at getting into the national championship game, there is a lot of debate about who deserves the chance to get there. We know the winner of Ohio State/Michigan will be there, so all of the rest of it is debate on who #2 will be. There are a lot of one loss teams out there who are clamoring to be the one. What I don’t understand is this. Before Louisville lost, and Rutgers now, their fan bases are up in arms that they might go undefeated and not make the championship game. Thus, citing their weak strength of schedule, the national media guys are slamming them saying they don’t deserve it. But somehow, Boise State keeps getting wrapped up in those slams as a team whose fans are delusional. Let me say this loud and clear… THERE ARE NO BOISE STATE FANS OR LOCAL MEDIA HERE WHO ARE SAYING WE DESERVE A SHOT AT THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP! Period. End of story. Yet somehow, we keep getting tossed in that discussion and are being killed for it. We know we are not national championship caliber. We are not crazy. We’ve only been D-1 for 10 years for pete’s sake.

However, we do think if we run the table we at least deserve a shot at a BCS game. I think that is only fair. Which brings me back to Saturdays game. There was A LOT riding on it. I want to go to Phoenix in January. I want to see us play a big time school, even if we lose. I just want to be there. I want to have the national media talking about Boise State football in a positive way for a month leading up to the game. I want another game like we played against Louisville in the Liberty Bowl. Everyone was in agreement that that was a terrific game. Obviously, I would love to win, but all things being equal, it is great just to be at the party.

I would also like to point out, that this season will be the first season where I have seen double digit Boise State football games live. Which ever bowl game we make it to will put me at 10 for the year, meaning I still have three more games to watch (tomorrow vs. Utah State, next week @ Reno and the bowl game, wherever that may be). For someone who hasn’t missed a home game in… well this season will make it 15 straight years, that was the next big hill to climb. Of course, the only pinnacle from here would be to hit EVERY game in a season. Maybe someday I can pull that one off. Hopefully, I won’t pick a year where we have to play at Louisiana Tech.

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Boise State @ Reno

Here is something I never thought would happen… Boise State, for a change, refused to bow to ESPN’s wishes to move a game!

Here is the story. Boise State is at Reno Saturday, November 25th, Thanksgiving weekend. ESPN, in their desire to fill time, requested to move the game to Friday night. Well, Boise State usually brings 5,000-7,000 fans to Reno. Being a holiday weekend, and only a few weeks notice, it would be tough for some of those people trying to juggle family events for the holiday and still make it to the game. Hotels and airline nightmares.

Instead, Gene Blaymeier chose to side with the fans, rather than get the additional TV exposure. In order to up the ante, ESPN threatened to not televise this weekend’s game with San Jose State. Which, of course, seems to border on blackmail to me, but what do I know? Instead of buckling, Blaymeier simply said, “fine”.

Bravo, Gene. Well done. I love playing on ESPN as much as the next guy, but at some point you have to draw the line.

Read a good account here.

In other Boise State news, this is interesting. ESPN.com has a couple analysts predicting which teams will be in which bowls. Granted, this is simply all gross speculation, and we really shouldn’t read anything into it, but still. It is fun to read about.

Read it here.

You’ll notice the 2 matchups they have for Boise State (whom both are assuming will be in the BCS in the Fiesta Bowl. First, a matchup with defending national champion Texas Longhorns. Wow, what a game that would be. We would probably be beaten, but on any given day, you never know.

The other matchup is even more intriguing. Boise State vs. Notre Dame. How cool would that be!? Unbelievable! I’ve watched a lot of Notre Dame this year, and I think the matchup would be very very good. They have a great passing game and our pass defense has been challenged this year. Their defense is a little suspect and our offense is very efficient. Boy, I can’t tell you how bad I would like all of the pieces to come together to make that game happen…

Here’s to dreaming.

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Sporting Week Conclusion

Ok, so I dropped the ball blogging about the sports weekend. Here is your conclusion.

Idaho Steelheads vs. Utah Grizzlies – Friday

Opening night for the Steelheads. I absolutely love hockey (yet still can’t get a single NHL game on TV). There is nothing better than a live hockey game, well, except for a live Boise State football game, but I had already had one of those this week.

Being opening night and the ten year anniversary season for the Steelheads, they had a little pre-game on ice celebration. Ol’ JR Simplot was there as he was instrumental in getting the arena built and getting the team there in the first place. Plus, he lives right upstairs, so it was an easy commute for him. Boy, he is OLD. Tough old bastard. Great man, but he certainly looks like a walking skeleton.

Of course, the Governor was there. Risch, in an attempt to appear as ‘one of the people’ was out there in skates and a hockey jersey. Well, isn’t that cute. Until, that is, you realize that he is actually wearing figure skates. Doh. The people in our section got a good laugh when I pointed that out. What a typical politician putz move.

The Steelheads also debuted their new mascot. Aparently, the old mascot Bonk (click ‘what about bonk’) had to go since he looked like the old logo and we can’t have that now, can we? So, they roll out this thing that looks like Yogi Bear. A bear with a stupid looking grin on his face, wearing fishing gear and tackle. Horrible horrible mascot. I’m not an expert, but since our mascot is an ocean going rainbow trout that swims thousands of miles upstream to spawn, do we really want our mascot to be a creature that kills and eats hundreds if not thousands of those animals every year? Really? You guys really thought this through, didn’t you? Why didn’t you just make the new mascot spinning hydroelectric turbine blades and be done with it?

I will say the new logo, uniforms and colors really do look terrific!

All that being said, the game itself was terrific. Tight the whole time. A little extra-curricular activity after the whistle. A fight. Plus, we won on an overtime shootout. One of the most exciting moments in sports. Good time was had by all.

Boise State Basketball vs. Cascade College – Saturday

The final exhibition game of the Broncos was with another powerhouse program from Oregon. Where the previous team at least looked like a college basketball team, these guys looked like my high school team. As a matter of fact, they probably played like my high school team… if not worse.

The final score was 103-51. This team had less than 20 points on the board with 17 minutes to go in the game. I think the score at that point was something like 70-19. Unbelievable. I don’t know if you can learn anything about yourself when you play a high school junior varsity team like that. Hell, we looked like the friggin Harlem Globetrotters. Only without the bucket of confetti.

Well, perhaps we did not look exactly like the Globetrotters… you see, we had a number of breakaways in this game. On at least three separate occasions, dunks were attempted, and failed miserably. It was quite embarrassing. When you’re all alone on a fast break, you try to throw it down and get stuffed by the rim, that is a bad thing. In fact, one guy, the freshman Anthony Thomas got rim-checked TWICE. Coach, do your team a bit of a favor… set aside some practice time for some dunk training. These guys need it.

Steelehads vs Grizzlies – Sunday

Sunday finished off with a 4pm face off with the Steelies. This game didn’t have much in the way of physicality and was played really clean. Idaho had the lead after scoring in the second period and had the shutout until about 4 minutes left in the game. The goalie Silverthorn played really well, and saved our bacon more than once. Idaho won with a final of 4-1 and finished off a clean sweep of the visiting Utah Grizzlies.

They also polished off a perfect 5-0 for the home teams in my sporting weekend. Three total blow outs (one really fun, 2 not so much). An overtime shootout win and a solid domination to wrap it up. You might be thinking that I might be a little burnt out on sports. Of course, you would be wrong. All I can think is why can’t all weeks be like that?

Game on!

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Boise State Basketball vs. Western Oregon – Thursday

Ok… this game wasn’t close. It wasn’t even close to close. Granted, it was only an exhibition, but this was ridiculous. Final score of 103-62 and it was worse than that. Western Oregon looked like a bad high school team. I mean, they turned the ball over on their first 5 possessions. Shot 34% for the game. Ugh. Just ugly basketball.

Broncos did some nice things. Hit some 3’s. Got some solid, back to the basket, legitimate post play. That was nice to see. Been a while since we’ve had anyone inside who could do the work. This Matt Nelson kid is the real deal.

Crowd was pathetic. Again, it was an exhibition on a week night and was the day after a big football game, but seriously… there had to be 1,500 people there. Quiet. No students except for a group of about 20 who were there making noise. Hopefully once the regular season rolls around, we’ll have a few more people showing up. See the pics. (sorry for the quality, cell phone camera)

Boise State v. Western Oregon Boise State v. Western Oregon

However, to paraphrase and misquote Hamlet, the play’s not the thing. This game marked the first time since d-day that I was in the same building with the ex and all of the ex-laws (that sorta sounds like some superheroes). Well, not counting 30,000 seat Bronco Stadium. I really didn’t know what to expect. I mean, its a basketball arena. My new seats are across the court from them all, so I can’t help but see them when the play is in the near end of the court. It was tough seeing her… it was tough seeing everyone. It is easy to feel singled out when you see them all together in the exact same ways you were a part of not long ago. Dredges up a lot of memories. The problem is I don’t have any animosity towards them. Her included. I guess I should, but I don’t. Frankly, I guess you could say that I do miss and still care about them and hope they are all doing well. God, that sounds like a total wuss-out position, but what can I tell you? I really am a sensitive guy. *shrug*

However, this doesn’t mean I really want to interact with any of them. One thing is painfully clear. Unless I take extreme measures, there is absolutely no way I’m going to make it through the season without coming in contact with one or more of them. Impossible. I guess I’ll just jump off that bridge when I get to it.
Oh well… such is life on the outside.

At least tonight is hockey. None of them will be there. Let’s drop the puck, it’s time to go!

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Touchdown Slam Dunk Slap Shot

Now this is my kind of week.

For those of you keeping score at home that is 5 straight days of live sporting events. You have read about my somewhat unhealthy compulsion to watch sports, but this week is like nirvana. Or perhaps, nerd-vana if you will. I will post my accounts/opinions of each event after, so watch this space.

Boise State vs. Fresno State

I always love when Fresno comes to town. For a few reasons. a.) It’s always a big game, ESPN almost always shows up to broadcast the game. Big game atmosphere is always fun. And b.) We always win. And usually win big. Nothing is more fun than a big game, except winning a big game in blowout fashion. Last night was no exception. (one of my all time favorite games was a Fresno game)

Even with Fresno mired with a 1-6 start, they still have a ton of talent. I wasn’t near as nervous for this game as I have been for say Hawaii or Oregon State. I’ve seen them play on ESPN a couple times this year, and they always seem to shoot themselves in the foot… and they did it again last night.

Boise State pretty much dominated the game, and won 45-21. The game wasn’t even that close. Fresno scored on a kickoff return for touchdown and interception return for touchdown. Take away those 2 plays, they had just over 200 yards in total offense and one TD. Domination baby.

Almost more impressive that the game on the blue was the fans in the stands. The sports marketing for Boise State had an ambitious plan for the ESPN television cameras. People sitting in even numbered sections were to wear blue, odd sections, orange. I didn’t think they could pull it off. Especially with the cold weather. If you tried it in September when people could wear t-shirts, then I could see it working, but when its 30 degrees out, not everyone has the proper colored cold weather gear.

How wrong I was. I stopped by the mall to get a new turtleneck before the game, and I saw many many people buying Bronco gear and they were all talking about which section they were in and getting the right color. I thought to myself, maybe it will be better than I think. I got to the stadium early, like I always do, and as people started filling in, I could distinctly tell what color each section was wearing. Hmmm… maybe we’ll pull this off. Once the stadium was full, the effect was amazing! I could not believe how well it worked, and it really looked cool. I just want to say well done to all the Bronco fans out there. This town has come a long ways in the past 5 or 6 years. I love to see the people with the painted faces, or wacky hats, or signs or whatever. The energy in that building is immense. Coach Pete has even said that it feels more like 70,000 than 30,000.

BSU v. Fresno BSU v. Fresno

All in all it was a very fun game, despite the frosty temperatures. A big thank you to whoever it was who developed those chemical hand warmers.

More later.

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Into the lion’s den, for reals this time

I survived.

For the second time this season, I was venturing into enemy territory. But unlike last time, this was much more interesting. Here is the play by play.

Jess and I got on the road 10:30 on Friday morning. Very uneventful drive. We stopped at Tamarack since neither of us had ever been there. It was very beautiful with the trees changing colors and all. Construction was in HIGH gear. You could not look in any direction and not see full on construction. It was amazing. Pretty much all of Valley County was under construction. I saw more dump trucks, semi loads of lumber, earth movers and the like everywhere. Somehow, we were always behind one of these rigs on the highway. Unbelievable.

Tamarack

We finally made our arrival in the particularly fragrant metropolis of Lewiston-Clarkston. We had to stay in Clarkston due to our late entry into the hotel room sweepstakes for the weekend. Not only were there 2000 bronco fans in the area, but Oregon was visiting Washington State and the thousands of fans the O brought. In our hotel, ye olde Motel 6 had a bunch of Ducks staying there. It actually worked out pretty well staying in Clarkston, other than the smell, that is. Room was far cheaper and the restaurants weren’t super crazy like they were in Moscow.

After check-in, we head on up to Moscow. Jess wanted to put her old campus on display, show me the greek houses, stroll the campus a bit, visit the bookstore. There were a lot of people buying up the merch in the bookstore. It really reminded me of the Blue and Orange store in the mall here on a gameday. Being surrounded by Vandals and their gear didn’t bother me except for one item. They are selling a t-shirt with a soft focus Tiger Beat style headshot of Coach Erickson. This thing is disturbing on many levels. It looks like they pulled this bad boy right out of the Scott Baio silk-screen collection circa 1982. I love Coach Pete as much as the next guy, but I have to think this sort of thing wouldn’t happen here. I can’t even rationally discus it, so I will just move on.

But, Jess was able to stock up to her heart’s delight and we left to go find dinner. We found a little italian joint that was a cross between Olive Garden and Macaroni Grill. Good food. We then headed back ‘home’ and relaxed as we had a big day coming up.

Saturday morning brought game day. We hit Albertsons for tailgating supplies and were on the road. We made it to the Kibbie Dome parking lot about 4 hours to game time. We decided to make a quick loop around the dome to absorb a little atmosphere. We got more than a few odd looks and questions about harmony due to the fact that I was in all orange, and she in her black and gold. And apart from the partially eaten sausage that was lobbed our way, no major incidents happened.

Tailgating

Tailgating was fun. There were a few other Broncos in our area of the parking lot, but we were vastly outnumbered. Jess had a number of friends stop by our spot for a few beers and whatnot, of course, all Vandals. There were the usual collections of anti-Boise State t-shirts (“Boise is not a state”… ho ho ho… hi-lairious. You think that one up all on your own?), not to mention the random “Who do we hate? Boise State!” chants from the large collection of students down the row from us. My comment was, “Personally, I hate Fresno State…”.

See, there is a secret to survival in a hostile environment like that. It is very simple. I like to call it the “Don’t be a Dick” principle. Basically, if you’re not a douche, you’ll probably be ok. I can discuss the game rationally. I know what Idaho has done this season and maintain a conversation about the game beyond, “nuh-uh… YOU suck!” I like to think that I left the various Idaho fans I had spoken to with a positive feeling on Bronco fans. A little self deprecation always helps.

So after a few hours of libations, and becoming properly lubricated, we head into the game. This was the first time I have ever been into the potato barn… er… Kibbie Dome. Jess, this may hurt to hear, but I gotta be truthful… It sucks. Horrible. First of all, indoor football is an abomination that needs to be stricken from the earth. That said, this place is gloomy as hell, especially when all the fans were in black. It was an absolutely glorious autumn day outside. (see the Wazzu v. Oregon game 7 miles away), but we were stuck in the dark, stuffy dome. A perfect waste. The only positive was that the 14,000 Idaho fans could really make some noise in that place. You get some good reverb in there. Of course, on the flip side, the 2,000 Boise State fans could really make some loud noises as well.

Temple of Gloom

The strangest thing happened at this game. I was at the game, but I would be hard pressed to describe what actually happened on the field. It is the weirdest sensation. I don’t know how it happened. My guess is that it had something to do with all of the following factors…

  • Fermented barley and hops intake. Yeah, we had more than a few leading up to game time, but nothing strange there. I’ve certainly done that before.
  • The horrific Kibbie Dome itself (see above)
  • Our seats, being general admission, were… shall we say… less than optimal. We were seated about 5 yards deep in the endzone, second row from the field. Now, you might think, “wow! That close to the field! Great!”, and were this any other sport, you might be correct. But in football it sucks. We were also basically sitting under the video replay board and couldn’t even see that very well. When the play was not within 30 yards of us, I couldn’t tell what was happening. A 6 yard gain looks exactly like a 4 yard loss at that angle. Ugh, sucked. I didn’t know who caught Zabransky’s 2nd touchdown pass until Sunday in the newspaper.
  • Game presentation deficiencies. There were no stats provided. No other scores of the day provided. Audio was terrible, and you couldn’t hear the PA announcer with any regularity.

Basically when I walked out of that game I knew a couple things. a.) Boise State won. b.) Final score of 42-26. c.) Zabransky didn’t play particularly well. and d.) I had a piece of pizza in the 2nd quarter. Thats it. That is all I knew. When we got back to the hotel room after dinner (Zany’s in Lewiston) I turned on ESPN College Gameday Final. They mentioned that Ian Johnson had 183 yards and 4 touchdowns. I was absolutely shocked. I had no idea. I was so totally confused. I was pretty sure I was at the game, but apparently not. Maybe I somehow ended up at the wrong game? Maybe I was caught in a space-time vortex through which reality was jumbled?

So, essentially, what I’m telling you is this… I was at the game, yes. I had a good time. What happened? I have no idea. I have the game recorded and will watch it to try to figure it out.

I do have to say this… We were driving most of the day sunday. Got home late afternoon. My plan was to have a little dinner and watch the Sunday night NFL game. Only, there WAS NO SUNDAY NIGHT NFL GAME. Goddamn World Series. Don’t they get it? No one cares about the World Series, except those in Detroit and St. Louis. Even the gimmicky ESPN college game totally sucked.

Anyway, eight straight. Boise State takes the overall lead back in the series (18-17-1). We are in the drivers seat for the 5th straight WAC championship. Fresno brings their 1-6 record to town next for a national TV tilt.

I still need to make plans for a trip to Reno…

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Boise State v. New Mexico State Thoughts

BoiseStateSo, here are my thoughts regarding the Boise State at New Mexico State game that was on ESPN HD last night.

First, I’ve said it before and I will say it again, I absolutely adore HD. As strange as it sounds, but when you see a picture like that, you really do feel like you are there. I always thought that was a total cliche, and I suppose it still is, but dammit, it’s true. It really is remarkable. I would love to have a 65″ HD plasma TV to see if that is even more immersive. Maybe someday…

Of course, there are downsides to HD. For some god awful reason, ESPN kept showing us sideline shots of NMSU’s head coach Hal Mumme. My first thought was, “Nick Nolte has a brother who is a D-1 coach?”. Then I noticed something else. For those of who who didn’t catch the game, this guy wears a towel around his neck. Like a big white ‘Addidas’ bath towel. Now, you might think this is just a little quirk like when Jerry Tarkanian would chew on a towel on the bench. Not exactly. See, coach Mumme spends the games BLOWING HIS NOSE INTO THIS TOWEL. And judging by the number of times that ESPN caught this on camera (at least a dozen times. Thank you Mr. Director), he must do it about 300 times a game. Hal… one word… Claritin… it’s not expensive. I swear to god, that towel must have weighed twice as much when the game was over simply in snot accumulation. Very disgusting. Even worse, is he would playfully swat players on the backside with it when they would come off the field. Gee, thanks coach… can I have a handshake instead?

I have issue with the fans as well. They have a team that is leading the nation in passing. High powered offense. They have a national TV network coming into your house to showcase your team, the only college game at the time in the whole nation. They have a top 20 conference rival coming to town. It was a beautiful night of 68 degrees at game time. How many people show up? 16,782. That is pathetic. If you can’t get people excited for that game and come to the stadium, you might as well pack it in. Give up. I have a hard time believing that there is ANYTHING happening in the sprawling metropolis of Las Cruces NM on a Sunday night more important than that game. I know this because Boise is twice the size and there is nothing going on here Sunday nights. Hell, even the competing NFL game was a dog (Oakland is PAH-THETIC). That place seats over 30,000 and you barely get it half full? Not to mention, that many many left at half time (at least that’s what it appeared on TV). NMSU, your sports marketing department either sucks, or the entire city of Las Cruces has in fact died and been replaced with undead zombie versions who don’t give a damn about football.

Finally, the game itself. Boise State won, which is obviously the goal. But when you stop playing for 2 quarters that’s not good. If it would have been against a different opponent, we could have lost by 20. First quarter, we were up 21-0. That was solid. Then we quit for a quarter and a half. C’mon boys… I know you were playing in a mausoleum in front of zombies, but you need to bring your own energy. I think when we got up big, we kinda relaxed and let them back in the game. Really, the two bad turnovers in that time really should have been 2 more touchdowns for us the way we were moving the ball. So, that could have been 35 to 0 and NMSU might have rolled over again.

But, it was a win. And a win is a win. And I will take a win be it by 1 point or 70 points. So long as I don’t have to touch Coach Mumme’s snot rag.