When I was in "college" (in 1992. I rarely actually attended classes) I got totally addicted to the America's cup Yacht racing. Once I had a real job, I stopped getting into it.
Yesterday I watched a good chunk of the Louis Vuitton final. The odd thing about this sport is that frequently the most exciting part is the 10 minutes before the race where the boats are circling around, jockeying for position.
Once the race starts, it usually gets less exciting.
At several points during yesterdays football game I was very glad that my children where not watching. A good portion of the CBS show promos contained graphic depictions of violence or corpses.
On a side note, it is probably only a matter of time before it will be inappropriate to take my children through the drive through espresso stand:
Independent Online Edition > Americas
Luckily trends take 5-7 years to migrate from Seattle to Spokane.
Welcome to goComics featuring -- Editorial Cartoons, Comics, Political Cartoons
Isn't Dennis Erickson the obvious nominee?
Idaho sports fans are pretty riled up about the loss of Dennis Erickson as their head football coach. Most of us where not surprised, but almost everyone was disappointed. There is a lot of pressure on the Athletic Director to get a coach that will stick around for a few years. Most of the names being tossed around are pretty safe plays, as he doesn't want to get burned again.
I hope that Rob Spear is talking to Doug Nussmeier. Doug was a four year starter at Quarterback for Idaho between 1990 and 1994. He put up some huge numbers, and won the Walter Payton Trophy for being the top 1-AA football player. He went on to play 5 seasons in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts. He also played for one season in the Candian football league. In 2001, Nussmeier began coaching He was the QB coach for the BC lions. In 2002, he was the offensive coordinator for the Ottawa Renegades.
In 2003 he joined the Staff of his college coach John L Smith, as their quarterback coach. While at Michigan State, Nuss's Quarterbacks, Jeff Smoker and Drew Stanton, performed very well, putting up school record numbers.
He left Michigan State this year to join Scott Linehan's staff at the St. Louis Rams. Marc Bulger is also putting up career numbers this year under Nussmeier's coaching.
Michigan State's fan sites seem to indicate that Nussmeier's departure was part of the downfall of John L's offense this year. They missed his calming effect on the other coaches. Nussmeier's recruiting is also highly praised by the Michigan State loyals.
Eventually Doug Nussmeier is going to make a great head coach. Idaho would be an ideal place for him to get his start. At his level of age and experience, he is not a safe bet, but he is somebody we can wholeheartedly rout for. Dennis Erickson was a safe bet to be a good coach, and that didn't pay off for too long. Mike Kramer is a safe bet to stick around, but not really a safe bet to win games.
The truth is, there are no safe bets in football. Your best bet is to take the talent that is yours and develop it to it's full potential. Without a doubt, Doug Nussmeier is a full blooded Vandal who has had significant success. Let's give him a place to fully develop his potential, and fully develop Vandal football!
Well, I can't quite say I told you so, but close:
Fingertoe.com: Parade in Moscow...
John L. Smith indicates that he is interested in the job. He is a great coach. I don't think he it is likely to work out in the wake of Dennis Erickson's departure. It looks like Erickson has done nothing to rebuild his credibility. It is being reported that he outright lied to David Vabora. From everything I have seen, John L Smith is an honest man, probably to a fault.
The local media is hyping up Mike Kramer to be the front runner. He was the coach at Eastern Washingon, and he bolted for Montana State. I don't think this was a real promotion, as both teams are in the Big Sky conference. So, I am not sure he has resume of loyalty.
Jess and I where thinking of dark horse canidates. I proposed St. Louis Rams QB coach Doug Nussmeier. Jess proposed Purdue RB coach Joel Thomas. Both are UI football alumni who have some coaching experience.
I think you have to take a pretty big chance to find a coach that will both win games, and stick around for more than a year or two in a small town like Moscow Idaho.
I have started playing chess over at RedHotPawn.com. It is good practice because there is no shortage of competition, and you have plenty of time (Three days per move) to analyze the game.
So far, I am 1-0... You can view my game here. I started out a bit shaky, but got my act together after a while.
Gloat Mode! Idaho got one of its rare wins... Granted it was a weak win over a 1AA school, but hey, a win is a win...
NCAAF - Idaho State Bengals/Idaho Vandals Recap Saturday September 16, 2006 - Yahoo! Sports
Look out WAC, Idaho is much better than the pundits have given credit for.
Scott Boras Complianed to Ebay that the following item violated his client's marketing rights:
The Ebay merchant, a stay at home mom .successfully defended herself, and Damon's lawyers allowed her to resume selling the item.
The story made the top sports headlines, Damon irked by Internet baby gear-seller - Yahoo! News, So I am guessing she will sell several thousand of them. Now not only will Red Sox fans want to buy them, but also anyone who cares about freedom of speech.
I always liked Jon Kinta when he was playing in Seattle. There was nothing flashy about him, he just did is job, and was an all around good guy. I was sad to see him go. I am glad he is getting another chance!
Kitna discovers faith during reckless college years
HT: Brad Leach
This is something else!
Somebody transposed some digits in my new Viatalk phone number, and got Mike Bellotti's voicemail.
Now I just need to figure out how to tranfer dyslexic football recruits to Dennis Erickson.
So Spokane has been crazy for the last several months about the Gonzaga Bulldog basketball team.
I am still skeptical. While they have some very big winning streaks going on, Almost every game has been won by just a few points. Their opponents have been within 3 points in the final 2 minutes in almost all of their games. They might be able to get away with this against teams like St. Mary's and University of San Francisco, but now they are playing teams like Indiana, UCLA, and Memphis. Now is the time we see what they are really made of.
It is quite impressive to see what a good basketball program can do for a University. Gonzaga seemed to be pretty stagnant in the late nineties. But for the last six years, it seems like the massive construction cranes have been part of the skyline in that neighborhood.
Here is my dose of useless Gonzaga memories....
I used to spend hours in their libraries researching for Debate when I was in high school. They have a decent Law school, and as such, they have a pretty good law library. High school kids do seem a little out of place in the law libraries. Before Basketball, Gonzaga's Debate Team was quite a powerhouse. I went to debate camp there one summer. I considered pursuing a college debate program there, but decided it was fairly silly, as I was a pretty mediocre high school debater. As I remember it, all of the highly talented local debaters turned down the scholarship that they had available, so I might have had a shot had I applied.
I remember Debating in the courtroom of the Law school once. It was definately one of the coolest venues I have debated at. I believe I was doing Lincoln-Douglas at the time, although I was a Cross-Exer at heart
My sister went to college at Gonzaga, When she was not in France.
Andee and I got married on Gonzaga property. They have a retreat center up on the north side of town. The Bozarth Mansion. Here is a page describing the history of the building.
Last time I was on the campus, we went to see a free lecture by Arun Gandhi. I didn't see any publicity about this event at all, but soon after we got there, it became apparent that everyone in town wanted to be there. They had scheduled it for a 150 seat auditorum, but they had to move it to the 1100 seat Cathedral.
Gonzaga has been in the news this week because of a massive fire in some student housing complexes that they had been contructing.
Anyway, come Sunday, I may need to recruit my friend Peter, who is an Indiana Alumnus to do an Hoosier linkfest.
rangelife Tells the tale of a pretty sophisticated psycological scam that Cal students pulled on Gabe Pruitt, a USC guard.
In the days prior to their season finale against USC, the Cal students obtained Mr. Pruitt's Instant messenger handle, and created a fictitous character "Victoria" to flirt with him. In the game when Pruitt stepped to the free throw line, the student section started chanting "VIC-TOR-IA" back to him, and then recited his phone number back to him in unison.
He missed the free throws.
There was a simular situation here is Spokane at Gonzaga. There was a lot of media uproar about the student taunting Daniel Kickert of St. Mary's with a "Brokeback Mountain" chant. The media never seemed to identify the reason for the taunt, but apparently some students had found a photo of Kickert kissing another guy floating around on the internet.
Anyway, I wonder if the NCAA is going to have to institute a technical foul for excessive espionage and covert operations?
Luke Clausen, a kid from my neighborhood won the Bassmaster Classic:
The Spokane media is going crazy, oddly enough, because I don''t think I have ever seen them care about fishing before.
This kid graduated from my high school, in my youngest sister's class. He is the youngest Champion ever, and the first from the West.
I doubt the School counsolor's carreer assement was correct... How many folks get to make a living Sport fishing???
Over the years, I have always noticed that sometimes there are immense pools of untapped talent. Some of the brightest minds I have known have been working on an assembly like somewhere, content with their modest lifestyle and their steady paycheck.
As a result, stories like these always make me happy:
Autistic Teen's Hoop Dreams
It is pretty bad when your agent has to pull out this defense:
"Ricky Williams has been in outstanding behavioral mode for the past six months. No one should jump to any conclusions," said Williams' agent, Leigh Steinberg.
Well, Idaho has a new head football coach.
It has been pretty funny to watch all of the media around here. It is kinda like Dennis Erickson is riding into Moscow on a donkey, and the media is lining the streets with the palm branches and singing Hosanna.
Erickson says he is in it for the long haul. He has said this several times before, and usually these words are pretty meaningless. At Oregon State, he was scolding reporters fore reporting that he should consider leaving one day, and he was at a press conference announcing he was the new 49er's coach the very next day.
There is no doubt tha Erickson is a top notch college coach. If he sticks around for 4 or 5 years, perhaps he will rebuild some of his credibility.
Okay, I am sick of hearing all of the whining about the Superbowl referees. I am a Seattle fan, but the fact of the matter is that the calls that are in question where marginal, not egregious.
If I where a referee, and I saw a receiver push the defender take two steps away from him in the opposite direction and catch a Touchdown pass, I would throw a flag. The rule is no pushing after 5 yards.
If the ball breaks the plane by a millimeter it is a touchdown. It doesn't matter how far back the player is shoved back after breaking the plane. Roethesburger's touchdown was marginal, but the refs gotta call it like he sees it. He was within a few centimeters of the plane, one way or another.
Matt Hasselbeck was penalized 15 yards for a bad block. It was argued that the block was incidental. I don't think it matters. You can't selectively enforce the rules. If Hasselbeck hit the guy below the knees, and hitting folks below the knees is against the rules, it seems a bit much to ask the ref to lift the flag because it was an accident.
If the Seahawks had played just a little bit better all of these calls would be trivia..
I grew up in Washington state, but it seems like every friend or acquaintance I have made over the years has been a huge Steelers fan.
Out of convenience, (the Hawks usually stink) I have been sucked along on the bandwagon more times than not.
This year, I don't really have the luxury of rooting for the Steelers, but still, this is pretty darn cool:
Yahoo! Sports - NCAA Football - Idaho 27, Utah State 13
Idaho 27, Utah St. 13
Only happens once or twice a year. I better gloat while I have the chance!
Lost 44-40 to Louisville...
John L. Smith is Coaching at Michigan State now, But I bet these seniors and juniors for Louisville where recruited by him. I bet John L. never lost to BSU while he was at Idaho.. Might be wrong about that...
Idaho is no longer 0 for.... This weekend they defeated the mighty Eastern Michigan Eagles!
Yahoo! Sports - NCAA Football - Box Score
Time for the confrence scedule now
This does not look good:
Yahoo! Sports - NCAA Football - Box Score
On the bright side, It could be a lot worse...
Okay, So, Boise State clobbered Oregon State. As much as I hate do admit it, they probably have a pretty good team this year. Perhaps thier drubbing of Idaho last week was not such a bad sign.
Yahoo! Sports - NCAA Football - Boise St. 53, Oregon St. 34
Go Idaho!