Why Baseball Absolutely Rocks

Most folks around here know that I'm a pretty big baseball geek...I subscribe here for goodness sake, and I went highbrow with the HD package (it's a great way to work....a little day baseball love in the office is always fun). Anyways, what I love about baseball is the fact that you can see things that just boggle the mind. I mean this is a sport where the Philadelphia Phillies won the 2009 World Series on October 29, but officially, they won it on October 27 because that's when the game started and was suspended due to rain.

So I present to you the Washington Nationals, who have had some slight problems this year, and that doesn't count how bad they play. They apparently don't have a good seamstress, a good spellchecker or two even, and they can't even tell which way is up, whether it be a letter (upside down N), or a number (upside-down 8, note the beveling). Usually by the way, it's a 9 flipped to a 6 or vice-versa, so credit the Nats with a bonus of goofing up the 8.

Anyways, ,why I love baseball. On May 5, the Houston Astros visited the Washington Nationals, and in the game was tied at 10 after 10 innings. Washington's Joel Hanrahan got Houston out in the top of the 11th, and in the bottom half, Houston's LaTroy Hawkins got an out before Elijah Dukes walked. Then the rains came....and came, and came, and never stopped. So they suspended the game, but since Houston doesn't visit Washington anymore, it was decided they will finish the game in Houston on July 9.

Here is where the fun starts. They resumed the game yesterday in Houston, but Washington traded Joel Hanrahan (and Lastings Milledge) to Pittsburgh for Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett. And what of Elijah Dukes, who was at first base when the game was suspended? Well....Mr. Dukes is currently in Syracuse in Triple-A. So, when play resumed yesterday, Morgan, who was in Pittsburgh and went 1-for-5 against Milwaukee on May 5, pinch ran at first base, thereby getting credited with playing for two different teams in two different cities in the same day, ala Joel Youngblood back in 1982, who actually did play in two games in two different cities for two different teams in the same day.

Anyways, Morgan ended up scoring in the 11th of the resumed game, finishing that in just seven minutes. The winning pitcher was Joel Hanrahan, who at the time he got the win, was taking a nap.....as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates...in a hotel.....in Philadelphia. Hanrahan's Pirates you see didn't play yesterday, and he was tired from the travel to Philly, so he was napping when he got the win, and didn't find out about it until some of his ex-National teammates texted him afterwards.

To sum up: the Nationals defeated Astros in a game started in Washington, ended in Houston, with the winning run scored by someone who started the game for Pittsburgh, and was won by someone sleeping in Philadelphia. Of course, it's justice for the Nationals, who started the week by losing 5-4 to the Colorado Rockies, allowing Rockies pitcher Alan Embree to earn the win without ever throwing a pitch, and no, I didn't make that up.

All of this to say, ladies and gentlemen, your 2009 Washington Nationals! To think, we aren't at the all-star break yet.

Here is the box score for all that wackiness.

Speaking of baseball
My Marlins woke up just in time to take down Arizona.

Almost as good as Ivory Soap.
Ivory soap is boasted as being 99 44/100% pure. That's almost the season ticket retention rate at Oklahoma. At least it will have cooled down by then in that state....geez....115 degrees? Seriously....

Kudos
For those paying attention, Brad Bugger's series on ISU's football opponents are must reads...great stuff.exactly the type of stuff that can't really go on ISU's official website, but is perfect for the blog. Well, well, well done Bradley!

News coming down the pike
I'm going camping next week (and looking forward to no computer doncha know), so I won't be around. However, once I get back, it should be very fun with some good announcements, probably starting the Monday I get back, and of the two, one is a direct boon to a major sport, and one is a direct boon to you the fans. I'm giddy....more around the week of July 20th or so. Sorry I can't say more yet.

Gotta Hand It to Those Wildcats

It's tough to swallow, but you just have to hand it to the Weber State Wildcats, who are coming into Holt Arena Saturday with a chance to clinch the Big Sky's automatic playoff berth. The Wildcats haven't been to the FCS (nee 1-AA) playoffs since 1991, and the administration in Ogden came very close to shutting down the Weber State football program shortly thereafter.

With a last-second "bake-sale" like fundraising effort, Weber football partisans were able to save the program by raising enough money to cover a significant budget deficit. This all occurred shortly before I started broadcasting ISU football games in 1994, and I remember talking to WSU Coach Dave Arslanian immediately thereafter. All the talk about potentially eliminating football at Weber cost the Cats several recruits -- and one existing Wildcat, Brad Otton, who later quarterbacked USC against my alma mater, Northwestern, in the 1996 Rose Bowl.

As far as I know, the Weber football program hasn't been seriously in jeopardy since, although the quality of play and fan support has waxed and waned over the past 15 years. Weber did manage to extract a sizable donation from the Elizabeth Dee Shaw Stewart Foundation in the early 2000s, resulting in a 38,000-square foot addition to their stadium that includes luxury boxes and a Wildcat All-American room, among other amenities. Three years later, Weber hired former Utah Head Coach Ron McBride, who, at age 65, was all set for one last coaching hurrah. There was a great deal of excitement surrounding McBride's hire, and a lot of Wildcat fans expected instant gratification. (Imagine that -- college sports fans expecting results NOW!).

It didn't come. Coach Mac was 15-18 in his first three seasons at Weber, and a lot of Wildcat fans gave the program the old "Bengal shrug," which is the gesture ISU fans have perfected after yet another football coaching savior has been shown the door. The shrug is usually accompanied by mutterings along the lines of, "If Coach XXX couldn't get it done at Idaho State (Weber State), who can?"

Yet here we are, heading for the finish line in the Big Sky Conference race and the Wildcats have just about lapped the field. They've already dispatched perennial kingpin Montana, and manhandled Northern Arizona on the road. With just winless Idaho State and disappointing Eastern Washington left, the Wildcats look like a shoe-in to win the conference title outright.

So how did Coach Mac and his staff arrive at this exalted position, when early returns indicated more Ogden mediocrity? Well, in preparing for my broadcast this week, the one thing that really jumped out at me while I was looking at the Weber two-deeps is the relative cosmopolitan nature of the Wildcats' roster. These guys recruit from all over the West: the offense features two starters from Arizona, three from Hawaii, one from California, and five from Utah. The defense, meanwhile, has four starters from California, three from Utah, two from Idaho (J.D. Folsom, Salmon and Biff [gotta love that name] Swan from Jerome), and one each from Wyoming and Oklahoma.

Coach Mac and his staff obviously have deep recruiting roots. Recruiting is about relationships, and when your head coach has been in the game as long as McBride, you can build a network of high school and JC coaches that entangles much of the West Coast. That's how you convince a future all-American QB like Cameron Higgins, for example, to leave the warmth of Hawaii for northern Utah.

Next comes two bigger tests for McBride and Co.: stepping on to the national stage and winning a playoff game or two; and maintaining consistency as a Big Sky contender. The first will partially be a product of matchups: who will the Wildcats draw in round one, and where will the game be played?

In order to help assure achievement of the second, meanwhile, Weber is in the process of negotiating a contract extension with McBride and his staff, as we speak. At the age of 69, you know those recruiting against Mac and staff are constantly raising the "Joe Pa" question -- how much longer do you expect McBride to be around? The contract extension will purport to at least partially address that issue. It will also, as McBride told the Salt Lake Tribune, "take care of my assistants." Read that any way you like, but I expect it will result in the designation of an heir apparent, to further sooth future recruits.

No, as a Bengal fan it's awful hard to accept the fact that our archrivals are coming to Holt on Saturday for a coronation. If the Bengals are going to provide any salve at all to their beleagured fans this season, raining on the Wildcat pennant parade would seem most appropriate.

--Brad B.

And thanks for being a Bengal fan -- it ain't always easy, but it's always fun.

Game of the Week: Weber at NAU

You certainly couldn't ask for a better matchup than the Weber State at Northern Arizona game this week in Flagstaff. Both teams are 4-0 in the league and, obviously, the winner is going to have a leg up in the race for the conference championship. This game is important for another, less obvious reason, however. Weber State has already beaten Montana, the only one-loss team left in the league. If the Wildcats can dispatch NAU, they will have at least a two-game advantage, by virtue of the head-to-head wins, over both the Axers and the Griz.

If NAU defends homefield, however, then the door opens wide for a potential three-way tie for the conference title, and guess what -- Montana will be right back in the hunt.

In trying to pick a winner in this game, I've gone back and forth in my mind, focusing on these factors: how much is home field worth to NAU, which is a team built for speed and artificial turf? Did Idaho State expose NAU's pass defense last week in putting up 361 yards and 24 points (not counting the blocked punt touchdown for the Bengals)? Is NAU's Lance Kriessen, a great athlete, a big-game quarterback?

And what about the "Griz factor?" Past history shows us that whenever other Big Sky teams have a chance to get the win that will effectively knock out Montana, they choke up like a Chicago Cubs infielder in a playoff game.

I kicked all of that around, but in the end, I'm picking Weber State to win Saturday for this reason: Wildcat QB Cameron Higgins has emerged this year as the best quarterback in the Big Sky, and one of the best in all of the FCS. Look at the numbers he's put up this year -- 25 touchdowns against just 6 interceptions. Look at the way he produced, under pressure in a Bozeman blizzard, in Weber's big win over Montana State earlier this year. When you add in the fact that the Wildcats have an outstanding, physical running back in Trevyn Smith who can at least keep that great Axer run defense somewhat honest, I'm going with the Wildcats. Should be a great game, though and I will have my DVR fired up so I can watch it after my return from Portland.

--Brad B.