Traveling Blues

I have to tell you, for those of you that think traveling is fun....this weekend wasn't. I probably need to do some sort of photo essay so folks can see exactly how ISU football travels, but there is only one 5 o'clock that I recognize, and it isn't the one at 5 am, which I saw Friday and Sunday. Yes, the team had to leave Holt Arena at 5:30 am to get to Salt Lake City to fly to Denver, and we had to leave Greeley at the same ungodly hour to get to Denver on Sunday to get home. That officially sucks, but you know what....you do what you gotta do.

I will say this...the team represents very well. I can't tell you how many compliments I get from random airport people and passengers about how courteous the players are, and how they look (all are in a tie and collared shirt). They might be struggling on the field right now, but they are doing the right things...

Also, basketball starts on Friday night at 7:00 pm at Reed Gym, as the men's team has a pair of open practices (they also have one on Saturday at 1:00 pm). Some folks might want to catch their first glimpse of a team that Street & Smith picked to finish second (that would be a first in my 11 years here....)

Also, undoubtedly, you saw the disciplinary action that coach Z took today with regards to Rashaad Richards and Demetrius Amos. What the fans should get out of that is is doesn't matter if you are a senior, freshman, starter, whatever ... there are certain ways you conduct yourself, and if you don't want to do things the right way, well...you see the answer. I can also use this as a cautionary tale about the Bengal Den Message Board. Someone yesterday mentioned this in their post around 3:30 .... "With the recent dismissal of Demi and Rashaad, this will again put pressure on other players to fill in." Obviously, Demitrius was not dismissed from the team. Just remember that is a fan board, and while many, many, many people post on there as if they truly know everything that is going on, they aren't always quite in the loop.

Onto the links....

HOMECOMING FOOTBALL
Idaho State's release is here, Northern Arizona's is here, and the Big Sky's is here. With the late kickoff, fans have TONS of time to tailgate after the parade, so make sure if you plan on tailgating that you sign up for the Terrific Tailgate IV contest (the form is with the link above).

Tim Flagstad came to the press conference, and covered it in his Monday notebook, and the extra stuff that didn't fit went into the blog. Jayson Bird by the way had his MRI this morning, but the results aren't in yet.

Also, Jon Kasper got stuck in Bozeman (talk about traveling nightmares), so he blogged from the Best Western.

GREEN DAY IS NOT OUR OFFICIAL BAND
The inter-office SID joke was that Green Day was going to be the official house band for ISU, and they could only sing "Wake Me Up When September Ends", as it just wasn't a good month. Soccer and football both went winless in the month (soccer went 0-6-2, football 0-3), and volleyball was just 3-8 in the month. However, things are looking up, at least for the cross country team, as the women snagged themselves a title down in Cedar City.

Remember, volleyball tonight against Utah Valley at 7:00 pm, and football Saturday at 6:35 pm (go hunting and then come to the game) ...

New additions

As you can see, we now have some links to other pertinent blogs on the right side over there ----> and they even tell you when they've been updated...how cool is that? Also, I put some links up for some of the various media outlets and such for Bengal Athletics. I'm such a sport on a Friday morning, huh? Three days until practice for football starts...

It is at this point that I feel like a fan for a little bit, anxious for official stuff to happen, and as the calendar turns to August, it's time to think of things like making media passes, and making sure the copier is not on the fritz, and making sure the stat computer will work this year, but I'm gonna be honest...I'm not a big fan of practice. I would much rather deal with games and game week and stuff like that. I can't tell you how many practices I've seen, but I prefer games...the atmosphere, the uniforms, all that stuff that makes college athletics great. So I'm looking forward to practice starting, but I'm really looking forward to August 20 (first official event...soccer hosting Northwest Nazarene).

More Jayson Bird Links
The Idaho Statesman had a small little three graph blurb about Bird's transfer to Idaho State, but Dan Thompson at the Journal gave it a much more thorough working.

New Kicker
One of the things people are going to notice in camp is another kicker. Along with punter Jon Vanderweilen and kicker Mike Ramos, kicker Jarret Huk of Chabot College is in camp. He attended the Kohl's Specialty Camp and earned high marks, and he was Chabot's Male Athlete of the Year, and even played tennis there.

Maybe This Will Help
Idaho State has never beaten the University of Montana in Washington-Grizzly Stadium (a fact I unfortunately have to mention every time we go up there). Well, maybe getting rid of the old field and putting in a new one will help, but I can tell you I am not bidding on this or this or even this. This auction however, makes me smile, because it reminds me of getting the job here at ISU and learning I had about 18 days to do an entire guide from scratch.

The Bird Man of Alcatraz

Well, it's finally official...the long national nightmare is now over....Jayson Bird is officially a Bengal...officially. This is great for him, and honestly, it was a slam dunk, but the NCAA sure did make Jayson and the coaches sweat it out. Care to see the official email we were waiting for? Here is the text of it...

"This message will confirm that the waiver request for Jayson Bird has been granted. Official notice of the approval will arrive at your institution via mail. Please contact me if you have additional questions.

--Kristin"

Honestly, it was almost a letdown LOL. Anyways, I'm finishing the fall camp release which will be posted online in a little bit, but since Jayson is finally here and able to do stuff, I thought I'd link to Alyssa Chin's piece on Jayson for Local News 8.

Tom Scott of KTIK in Boise blogged about Jayson way back on July 16th.

That's all for now....more to come tomorrow and next week as camps start opening up around the league (woo-hoo!!!)