It's Always Fun During Weber Week...

Well gang, it truly is always fun during Weber State week, and with the women's team in Ogden on Friday night and then the men hosting the Wildcats on Saturday, well...it's just a fun week for everyone involved.

Anyways, lots of little things going on, so here's a little rundown of the little things.

The Little Things...
Dan Angell has a nice story about the trails and tribulations of Rolando Little, who had to really work to get eligible, and then work hard to stay eligible, and then ended up having a major medical setback. Also, Tim Flagstad, who sadly is leaving town shortly for a new gig outside of the sports world in his home state, wrote a great piece on the Jared Allen Strength and Conditioning Center.

But Their Stories on the Official Site are Awesome
Well, the men's and women's tennis teams have not been overly successful in the past few years, much to the chagrin of Katie Zigars, our Asst. SID and tennis contact, who was a former player on the team (and she was pretty good...I watched her play like twice). Anyways, it must be getting old for her to see this come over the wire, but if you read the tennis stories...they are pretty in-depth, because of her knowledge of the sport.

Morgan to Be Honored
Prior to the starters on Saturday night, Amorrow Morgan will be presented with a commemorative ball for his breaking the 1,000-point barrier when he scored in the first half against Montana State. He is the third player in four years to break the 1,000-point mark with Matt Stucki last year and David Schroeder in 2006-07.

Diversity is synonymous with Nicholson....duh...
Idaho State University is celebrating Martin Luther King Day with 10 days worth of activities for ISU's Civil Rights Celebration. While the requisite marches are going on, along with various guest speakers...but apparently nothing says Civil Rights more than the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, where Jack Nicholson plays a statutory rapist who fakes being mentally ill in order to get transferred to an institution so he can have an easier time over the last few months of his sentence. Makes perfect sense to me.

Monday Morning Press Conference Notes
Alyssa Chin of Channel 8 did a nice job of summarizing Idaho State's Monday afternoon press conference with Joe O'Brien and Seton Sobolewski.

Blum Done
Kyle Blum, who was ISU's starting quarterback last year at the beginning of the season, will not be back in the fall for ISU football, as he is 13 credits from graduating, and he does not plan to attend graduate school at ISU. That leaves ISU in the spring with incumbent starter Russel Hill along with three freshmen in Kyle Morris, Jake Lammers, and Justin Level, a grayshirt who is now enrolled.

I Hope this Helps
This can't be bad news, although the number that really matter is full-time students, and we won't know that for a few weeks. Still...it sounds good, no?

Funny...Doesn't Look a Day Over 76...
The Idaho State school newspaper The Bengal turned 100 this week. I remember for a brief time when I got here that the paper changed their name to the eXtra, but by the time the paper snapped a shot of this adorable little kid, it was back to the Bengal.

Thoughts on the Hawk, McGwire, and Moronic Hall of Fame Voters (AKA, Seriously not ISU Related, but Just a Little Topic Near to Me):
I'm going to delve on this for a minute because since I'm actively involved with a very political group1, that being the ISU Sports Hall of Fame, I feel I can interject on a couple of things with the Baseball Hall of Fame, since I'm a pretty big baseball fan.

1If you don't think there is politics and stuff with the ISU Hall of Fame, talk to me whenever I'm officially not getting a paycheck from Idaho State. That being said it shouldn't be a surprise, as I'm sure all college hall of fames have some sort of politics behind them.

Point number one is personal...I'm happy to see Andre Dawson make it in...I remember him playing, and he was a feared hitter and fielder...one of the best of his era. You can't put his numbers into the steroid era and compare. Did I say steroid era? wait...I'll get to that.

Point number two is the voting. Did you know that no one has ever been elected unanimously into the Baseball Hall of Fame? Tom Seaver got left off of five ballots when he got in...Nolan Ryan six, heck..Ty Cobb...TY FREAKIN' COBB wasn't unanimous...getting 222 of226 votes? Babe Ruth? Only 215 out of 226...thank you very much. Now, the reason for this is so moronic, but there are voters who feel that no one should ever get into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. Really? Are sports writers THAT holier than thou? There isn't an argument on the planet that can back this up, but somehow, these writers insist that as the keeper of the keys to the Hall, they have that right to do that. However, this past year, do you know who got votes? Kevin Appier, Pat Hentgen, and David Segui each got one, and Ellis Burks and Eric Karros each got two!!! The full 2010 class vote is here.

But here's a good one for you...no one could have gotten all the votes this year because Jay Marriotti, formerly of the Chicago Sun-Times and a panelist on Around the Horn on ESPN, turned in a blank ballot as he felt there was no one deserving. This is after he voted for Andre Dawson and Bert Blyleven the year before, and Jim Rice on his 15th and final chance. Mariotti said that he voted for now one this year because "I didn’t vote for anybody in the Baseball Hall of Fame this year. You know why? To me, the first ballot is sacred. I think Roberto Alomar is an eventual Hall of Famer, not the first time. Edgar Martinez, designated hitter, eventually, but not the first time. And same goes for maybe Fred McGriff. As far as Blyleven and Dawson, if they haven’t gotten in for years and years I cannot vote them in now." This is pompous arrogance at it's best. He won't be on the ISU Sports Hall of Fame voting list, I can tell you that...of course, he wouldn't care anyways.

Lastly comes the steroid issue. How do you differentiate folks out of this era? Mark McGwire has gotten 128 votes in three of the four years he was eligible. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens will have their moments on the ballot in a few years. Will they get in? Should they get in? Bonds was a sure fire Hall of Famer before he got ... well, it hasn't been proven for him officially, correct? OK...before he got so big his head didn't fit inside his helmet anymore. That works. McGwire might or might not have gotten the home runs needed and he was very injury prone for a while, so he's a maybe. However, the issue I have again is the voters passing judgment for a player using performance enhancing drugs. Honestly, I sort of feel like this...I'm guessing that most sports writers have been inundated when watching sports programming with ads for Cialis2, (Viva) Viagra, and eXtenze ... who hasn't? So, have those reporters wondered about trying them? I mean I'm sure they don't need them...but hey, if it works, and no one has to know, would they try it? If they could get some (Viva) viagra, would they try it? My guess is yes, because I know this topic has come up before when watching games, and I'm saying right now, 90% of my friends and people who I have been around when this comes up have said they would try it ... and yes, I'm in the 90%. So, if a reporter would try a PED for that, can they really pass judgment on a baseball player for a PED to help him out on the field? Sadly, I don't have an answer to it, but I think it's a legitimate question.

I do realize that this has almost nothing to do with ISU athletics, but I thought it was interesting, and the topic has come up in my traveling circles...