Send a Wire to the Main Office, and Tell Them I Said ... OOOWWWWWW!!!!!

As someone who works in statistics all the time, it's only slightly annoying when my own hockey statistics are wrong, and since I have a big game tonight at 9:30 pm (be there or be square), and since there is no ISU event tonight, I'm just saying....8-2-1 record, 4.21 goals against, 82.7 save percentage, and three assists. Just saying.....it's all skillz.

Seriously though, has there ever been an ISU season like this? By the time September 18 gets here, the sports season is over three weeks old, and only soccer and cross county have had home games/meets? Really? Thankfully men's basketball has 23 home games. Well, 16, but it'll seem like more.

Linkage S'il Vous Plaît... (sorry, I've been listening to Air Musique on XM 100....French Top 40...lots of good music coming from France these days ... Les Respectables and Pamela are the currect biggies)

He's Back.......
Matt Gutierrez' time to collect unemployment was awfully short. The serious knee injury to Tom Brady left the Patriots with just Matt Cassel and rookie Kevin O'Connell, so Matt was resigned by Dr. Belichick yesterday, and could be the backup this Sunday against the New York Favres.....er, Jets.

He's Back, Part II
Kellis Robinett's long strange journey to the ends of the earth are over, and as such, his blog is finally updated. And while Kellis might be worried about ISU playing Hawaii in basketball, how many dstractions are there in Honolulu at 11:00 pm? Don't answer that. Either way, it's OK, because the WAC representative Jason Erickson, formerly of ISU, will be there as well. Jason is moving up in the world by the way, and while we are in Hawaii, don't think we aren't looking for this guy, and visiting these places. And yes, I know exactly how long until "Because You Left" begins....

Black (Orange) and Blue
Bailey Williams has seen most of the action in goal for ISU, especially with the other freshman keeper Michelle Harrison a bit under the weather. Now, some folks that peruse this blog know I'm a former collegiate soccer goalkeeper, so I have a soft spot for our keepers on the women's team. Now, the fact that Bailey got kicked in the face doesn't make me a bigger fan of hers, and getting four stitches and playing the next game two days later is great, but that doesn't necessarily make me a bigger fan either. But, thinking that the blood is streaming down her face, is "pretty sweet"? Just call me a Bailey Williams fan for life

Bengals, Aggies, Soccer, Oh My!

Another day, another contest for Idaho State, and this time it counts. The ISU soccer team will take on Utah State at 4:00 pm today at Davis Field in what should be a pretty good game. Last year ISU went 7-5-6, and Utah State was 10-11-0, tying a school record for wins. The Aggies were 5-2 in the WAC last year thought, and interestingly enough, ISU head coach Allison Gibson has not beaten the Aggies, losing 1-0 in the 2006 opener, and 1-0 last year in overtime with Gibson in stands (she was red carded after the Utah game last year).

Anyways, the game kicks off at 4:00 pm, and the radio broadcast is at 3:55 pm or so....I'll try not to stink up the joint like I did last Wednesday...I'll be better...promise. Also, Utah State's take on today's match is here. In a "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon", USU's soccer SID is Kara Irving, who just joined that staff after working at the Western Athletic Conference as an Information Director, meaning that Jason Erickson, formerly the Assistant SID here, was promoted at the WAC to Director of Men's Sports Information. Jason and his wife Marisa are also expecting a boy in early January! Yea Jason!

Over Hill, Over Dale....
Russel Hill had been fairly vanilla in the first two scrimmages, but for the final one, he was near letter perfect, yet everyone, including Dan Thompson, wanted to talk to backup quarterback Kyle Blum, who had the play of the day on a blocked extra point. His extra stuff made it to the blog on the Journal site as well. Tony at Channel 3 filed a scrimmage report, as did Paul Shahen of Channel 6.

Thoughts on the Big Sky state
The folks over at MaxMedia in Montana have been blogging on the state of Montana and Montana State practices....and honestly, and I've said this before, but sometimes practice is just practice...guys are gonna throw interceptions in practice, guys are gonna catch passes...it's the little things that you look for in a practice. How a kid blocks away from the play when the coaches aren't watching...things like that. Still, you can see tons of practice video there, which is a little goofy, but oh well.

Look Who is Here....
Freshmen have arrived! Thankfully, no one has come to the office looking for the Holt Arena elevator just yet. Apparently, one senior isn't thrilled about things though, but hey, I took 21 hours and then 20 my final year to graduate...anything can be done.

A Bronco Perspective on Things
JT Ray, who writes for the very informative BroncoNationNOW blog, will be interviewing me about the game sometime Saturday for the blog. He posted his take on the game (mentioning the 2003 game as ammo of course), including some links, even linking to the Globe of Death that I posted on the site a while back. Even if you aren't a Bronco fan, JT's writing style is pretty good, and he's well informed. I'm curious to what type of access he gets from the BSU media relations folks, and I'll find that out on Saturday, but it should be a fun interview.

Also, have you heard that BSU is opening the season with a freshman quarterback for the first time in school history? Because it's been plastered everywhere, but here are the other freshmen who have started games for BSU.

Looking Ahead
Here is a report on the Vandals fall camp from the Argonaut. Cause, you know, we play them right after BSU...it'll be the first game of the season on a green field, so that should count for something.

I Got Email!
I just got the official release from the Sports Network that Eddie Thompson was named Preseason Second Team All-America at receiver...very cool.

Office Exploits
While I get grief for mentioning my hockey exploits (I neglected to mention the 195 foot goal I gave up last week from behind the other teams net....stupid bouncing pucks...), but this summer, Assistant SID Katie Zigars won a pair of tournaments, defending her title in the Chubbuck Days tournament and winning the Juniper Hills Open, which is a fairly big one as a USTA Sanctioned Adult Tournament (winning the women's singles open and doubles open). Of course, there are no online links to that, because as I've told Katie, my hockey is way more important than her tennis ... lack of online data supports my conclusion!

As always....
Questions, concerns, blog thoughts? Leave a comment, or email me at mercfran@isu.edu.