Game Day!!!!!!

Finally....home games. Man, it has been a long, weary road. But I will say this....if the teams play like I did yesterday in my hockey game? Oh, we'll be great...and we'll win, because I gotta admit...I was on. That was fun. Anyways...some important stuff.

Bring $1 bills please....the parking attendants will be able to make change, but not if every single car brings a $5 or a $10 bill....ones would be very, very, helpful.

Now, I'm just gonna recommend getting the Journal for today, because the sports section was USA Today-ish in length...I loved that. If you don't pick it up, here's some of what you missed....If you read my game notes (they are a MUST read by the way....trust me....my humor knows no boundaries), you noticed that I take umbrage at North Dakota hosting the Potato Bowl. Well, Dan Thompson had much more space to get his point across, and he does so swimmingly. Kellis Robinett feels that Idaho State is going to win the game fairly easily by the way, and I for one appreciate his confidence. Kellis and Dan also do an audio preview of the game tonight on the Bengal Minute, and it's pretty interesting. Also, here is the preview from the Grand Forks Herald, and seriously, that's twice now that they have screwed up our winning seasons.....it's three in the 2000s....6-5 in 2000, 8-3 in 2002, and 8-4 in 2003...sheesh.

Butter....Oh, We'll Give You Some Butter
OK, so the mayor of Pocatello, Roger Chase, and Grand Forks mayor Michael Brown, have a wager on the game tonight, with a sack of potatoes on the line....russets for Brown if ISU loses, and red potatoes for Chase if ISU wins. However, the entire state of Idaho should thank Mayor Brown for ripping ISU's top crop. So here's what we are going to do....he wants butter? Send him some. Look up the address and make sure he gets plenty of butter. That would be pretty funny actually.

I've Flipped for Alex Hansen and Jen Munro
Well, not really because that would be creepy, but everyone has to love the flip throw in. Tim Flagstad breaks that down with the two soccer players, and a wicked cool photo from Joe Kline.

And This is Why No One Watches Fox Sports.
Eddie Thompson....please repeat....T-H-O-M-P-S-O-N.....not W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S. And about that picture....um......our uniforms look nicer.

Volleyball at 3:00 pm
Don't forget volleyball opens against Portland State at 3:00 pm, and BengalFest is starting at 4:30 pm....Guitar Hero Tournament....nice.

Home! Sweet Home

EDIT AT 10:48 am ... well, this game on Thursday just got real interesting. There will obviously be coverage on this from the Journal and others, but there is a pretty sizable two-deep change in the secondary. True freshman A.J. Storms out of Meridian High School, who led Meridian to the 2005 and 2007 state titles as a quarterback, will start at free safety against North Dakota ahead of Keith Goins, Jr. This will be in the game notes that come out later today, but just dropping that little nugget to all the BengalBlog fans here first....

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Check out the football notes later today for a note regarding the Home! Sweet Home song from yesteryear....just saying.

I'll hopefully be adding to this post throughout the day, with the links to Idaho State's football game notes, the Big Sky's, as well as the notes from the Fighting Sioux of North Dakota.

By the way, North Dakota is more famous for their hockey than anything else (if you watched Miracle, Dave Christian of the 1980 USA Olympic hockey team states he is from the University of North Dakota), and the history of their hockey arena and main benefactor Ralph Englestad is quite a read. This is his wikipedia entry, and there's plenty of links right off of there to give you a good read at lunch today.

Now, home sweet home isn't just for football. Volleyball has their home opener on Thursday as well, at 3:00 pm at Reed Gym (football at 6:35 pm). Soccer also is back this week with the Idaho State Classic, where the Bengals take on UC Davis on Friday at 1:00 pm (with Utah Valley and Wyoming at 4:00 pm), and then ISU takes on Wyoming on Sunday at 2:00 pm (UVU and UC Davis are at 11:00 am....good morning!!!).

Volleyball is hosting Portland State (the regular season champs) at 3:00 pm on Thursday, and then Eastern Washington on Friday. Only cross country is away from home, but they aren't too far....taking on several others at the Bob Firman Invitational in Boise, so fans could get there and then back for the volleyball match Saturday night. just a funfest of Bengal athletics this weekend.

Oh, don't forget....BENGALFEST!!!! Despite a Thursday game, it goes on per the norm, starting at 4:35 pm....make sure you get involved in the Guitar Hero Tournament...40 competitors each BengalFest for four weeks, with the best advancing to the finals on November 22 against Sacramento State. Sadly, I'd beat you all into oblivion but I'll be working.

Potato Bowl....Without Idaho State?
Now, as most folks know, I have perused the ol' Bengal Den, and the discussion of the Potato Bowl came up, which was news to me. Apparently, North Dakota's game with Idaho State in 1966 was the beginning of the Potato Bowl USA, which as you can clearly see, has grown. Some folks said we should jump on that bandwagon, and I'm here to tell you, it's a great idea, but clearly, something this large needed more than a week's worth of planning. It also would need about a committee of 10 volunteers. Perhaps as we move forward, there is some sort of meshing of this idea with I Love ISU or something. Just thinking out loud. This was mostly to say we heard ya', but sadly, not much in the way of Potato Bowl can be done this year.