The Newest Bengal Legend from the ISU Upset of UCLA is......Jeff Balmer?

There are great names in Idaho State's athletic history ... Mike Machurek...Jared Allen....Steve Hayes....Les Roh....Natalie Doma...well, now the fans can add the name Jeff Balmer to the mix. Did he ever play at Idaho State? That would be no...and that's good, because Jeff's contribution to ISU athletics is greater than being a player.

About six months ago, Jeff got in contact with me, and sent me a DVD of the 1977 Idaho State/UCLA game. Now, it's pretty cool, but it was just the coach's film, so there was no audio or anything like that. Seemingly, the audio is lost. Should I put that as "was" lost? I should, because Sir Balmer (I would knight him if I could), has sent over the ISU audio of the game. I have not listened to it yet, but now the goal is to get everything merged together into one package. Could be a heck of a fundraiser, no?

Anyways, all the thanks on this go to Jeff Balmer. He got it done....big time.

Open Mic Night Tonight...
Tonight we are having an open mic night to find our new public address announcer for women's basketball. It's a paid gig, with tickets and gear (a nice Nike shirt....like $60) and I've had some interested parties contact me already. We are going start as soon as the women's basketball team ends practice at 8 pm, and no, I won't be like Simon Cowell making comments, but what an opportunity for someone to get involved...and get paid to boot. It's also open to the public, so come out and listen in. The official announcement was posted here.

Where Has Frank Been?
I've been finishing up the men's basketball media guide for the last few weeks, so I have not been posting as much here as I tend to normally, but big props to Brad Bugger for all of his posts, which are a highly entertaining read from someone really well versed in Bengal and Big Sky history.

Onto a major amount of links...

Basketball is practicing...yeah!
A lot of eyes are on both the men's basketball program, but the women's one as well. Kelvin Ang had an article in the Journal on the Natalie Doma replacement sweepstakes, and he also touched on some other things in his blog. Also, the men's basketball team was picked third by both the coaches and the media...how 'bout them apples?

Why Walk-Ons Shouldn't Work on the Weekends...
Jaclyn Hone was originally going to redshirt to keep a commitment to her employer as a restaurant, so give Chad Teichert credit for getting her on the court this year. Kelvin Ang, who I think did almost everything in the paper yesterday (including a horrifically easy Jumble), covered that story as well.

Football Saturday
Remember football? Well, It's been well documented that ISU's last win was against Portland State, and look who is on the schedule for this week....Portland State. However, Dan Thompson has his Big Sky Notebook today, and John Smithers (who?) of the Missoulian has his Big Sky Notebook up as well, and suffice to say, John isn't getting any Christmas cards from me. Charles Pulliam of the Montana student paper the Kaimin previews the upcoming week, and he proves that you can live in Missoula and not take potshots at ISU. Thank you Chuck!

Big Soccer Weekend
The online link isn't up, but the Bengals have a big game today against Portland State, the first place team in the Big Sky. The Bengals have not won a game since August, but they've been right there for most of the season, and they still can make the Big Sky Tournament, but it won't be easy. The game is at 4:00 pm at Davis Field, and it will be on the radio on KISU 91.1 FM.

If you need a Chuckle...
I was interviewed by Jason Marsteller for the SIDShow podcast ... my portion is a painfully long 31 minutes, so book some time out. The media relations folks have a message board (like the BengalDen, but we all use our own names), and the SIDShow is a part of that.

Ross Cunningham Will Just Die...
It's true, Idaho State is partnering with the Montana schools for an energy degree. But not those two Montana schools...it's Montana State - Billings, MSU-Great Falls College of Technology and MSU-Northern. And I might as well admit it here now...Ross's picture of him waving that big giant flag on the court after the Montana win in the tournament....yeah, that made the media guide.

If I can get it done, I plan on taking a lot of pictures from this road trip for you folks...while putting together the cover for the basketball guide. Stuff never ends sometimes....

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

Heading out to Boise (load the busses at 8:30, wheels moving at 9 am), and from there, a quick flight back in time to Spokane, since we land earlier than when we leave. Sometime tonight I'll send out another post with some of the details of a road trip...I was thinking you folks might like to know a little about how a trip like this is structured. I would have done it now but this is our first commercial flight with the team, so I'm kind of curious to see how it goes myself.

Also, the team looks pretty sharp.....ties for everyone on this trip....just trying to represent. On quick link....after my guest column on Eye on Sports Media (I've linked permanently to their blog, as it is really pretty insightful, Will Hoenike at IdahoSportsZone had a guest column as well, talking about how we at ISU are way ahead of the curve. What's funny is I credentialed Boise Bengal YEARS ago when he was taking photos and doing stuff for a very, very, very old incarnation of the Bengal Den....back even before it was on rivals for a little bit. Also, Tacoma picked up Dan Thompson's story on the wide-spead coaching tree for the Eastern game, and I believe Dan's piece that will be in GameDay is longer, but here is what was in today's Tacoma paper, which is John Zamberlin's hometown paper. Mitch Worthington's must read blog also has his thoughts on wrestling overtaking Holt and displacing the basketball team, and he makes some pretty solid points. OK...see you in Cheney/Spokane ... behave yourselves...

It's all a numbers game

OK, I love college football. Heck, I came to Idaho State because I wanted to work in college football. However, something in college football reeks....something really stinks, so today my dear Bengal fans, I'm putting on my "Commissioner of All Things Athletics" (heretofore COATA) and fixing a problem with college football....and wouldn't you know it has to do with sneaky coaches getting around the rules. I know, it's true.

Let me take you to Saturday...#6 LSU at #10 Auburn. This was a great game. Lots of lead changes, some big plays, a switch at quarterback. I mean, this is the game of the year if it happened in November, but I digress, because Les Miles ruined it for everyone, because he took the rulebook and played a stupid, dumb dirty trick on Auburn. And it was all perfectly legal. LSU has two punters who can both kickoff as well...they have #30, a right-footed punter named Josh Jasper, and then a lefty named Brady Dalfrey, who wears #38. Well, he wore #38 in the first two games, wore #38 in warmups, and was listed as #38 in the program, the flip-cards, in the stats, and on the depth chart. However, Les decided to allow Dalfrey to also wear #30 for the game. So, everytime LSU punted, no one knew which #30 was punting, the lefty or the righty, which matters to the punt block team and to the returner. And no one knew which one was kicking off either.....and all of this was legal.

And why is it legal? Because the NCAA rulemakers, who can't figure out what to do with the game clock, certainly don't know what to do about numbers. The rules regarding numbers are as follows.

No two players of the same team shall participate in the same down wearing identical numbers (A.R. 1-4-2-II) [S23]. and....

e. Numbers shall not be changed during the game to deceive opponents [S27].

Why to make a decision there guys....that;s it by the way on numbers. less than half a page. There are more than six pages regarding timeouts, but hardly anything on numbers.

So in theory, you can have one guy on offense wearing #10, a guy on defense wearing #10, and a guy on special teams like a kicker wear #10, and it's all legal. At least LSU has names on their jerseys, but there isn't rule about that either. Dalfrey and Jasper could just switch jerseys before the game, so long as they don't switch DURING the game. As the COATA, here's what I do. I know this is unpopular, but I'm gonna force a coach to make a decision. I know football coaches probably would consult their lawyers and legal counsel, but I would have coaches make a decision by stating that there are no double numbers. Seriously, is LSU gonna play more then 99 guys? If they have retired numbers, they still aren't playing more than 90 right?

This all stems from our athletic cultural society where no one wants to hurt anyone's feelings. My daughter's first soccer team didn't keep score, because they didn't want the losing team feeling bad. Well, OK, but then don't try to score, and don't play games. I mean that's just stupid. Hey, at ISU, on the recruit's equipment form that they fill out, the have to list four numbers, a primary that they want, then a secondary, then a third and a fourth choice. Numbers are just that, numbers. In college for three years I was #22. My senior year I originally wasn't going to play to concentrate on becoming a sports information director, but I got asked back to the team late in fall camp, so I returned. However, my coach was all worried because he gave my #22 to a freshman, and he said he would bring that player in to ask for the number back. Like I cared...I told him just give me any number available, so my senior year, I was #26...not a sexy soccer number, but at least I had one.

Anyways, coaches nowadays don't want to anger a recruit, so they just go with the flow....Johnny won't come here if he can't wear #4? OK, we'll have two #4s then. Just an aside, when Audie Attar was here for one year, he wanted to wear #2, which was owned by Caleb Eastman. Larry Lewis was gonna let both wear #2, but I refused to deal with it, and convinced him to make a decision. Eastman eventually went to #4 on the promise he could wear #1 the next season. Sigh.

Anyways, Miles' little stunt wasn't just a stunt, it was a coordinated, planned attack. On LSU's official site, Les makes light of the whole thing...

"I think, frankly, I kind of enjoyed the fact that I had a punter who was going to wear No. 30. I didn't want to get confused, so that I knew that the punter was on the field when he wore 30. That may be the reason. It may not be the reason. I enjoy the fact that one guy kicks right-footed and the other kicks left-footed, and they both wore the same number. It might well have been a cause for an opponent to pause and say, "Hmm, I wonder which one's kicking.' He may wear No. 38 this week."

I didn't want to get confused??? That may be the reason? It may not be the reason??? You know, it's honestly crap like this that hurts my profession. I pride myself on being forthright with stuff, and to think that LSU's media folks just played along with the ruse is sorta troubling. As COATA, I abolish all double numbers, and tell coaches such as Les Miles that you are running a multi-million dollar football program, and you are hired to make executive decisions.....make one on numbers and spare everyone the grief.

Back to ISU....sorry for the rant.

Breakfast with the Bengals
OK, I'm almost amused that for about a month, it was said on the basketball schedule "at Hawai'i, November 18, 2:07 am". I finally got a call two days ago from someone saying the game is listed on Hawai'i's site as being on November 17, and I should fix the website. Well, while I do make mistakes, the website was right, as the Bengals are going to be featured on ESPN as part of ESPN's College Basketball Marathon, with the Bengals having the coveted 4:07 am Eastern slot, meaning a 2:07 am start in Pocatello and an 11:07 pm tip in Honolulu on Monday, November17. Here is the full schedule...

• Midnight: UMass at Memphis (ESPN)
• 2 a.m.: Fresno St. at St. Mary's (ESPN)
• 4 a.m.: Idaho St. at Hawaii (ESPN)
• 6 a.m.: College Hoops Tip-Off Special (ESPN)
• 10 a.m.: Penn at Drexel (ESPN)
• Noon: Liberty at UNC-Asheville (ESPN)
• 2 p.m.: Iowa at Kansas (women) (ESPN)
• 4 p.m.: Centenary at Baylor (ESPN)
• 6 p.m.: Richmond at Syracuse (ESPN)
• 7 p.m.: NIT Regional Final-Purdue (ESPNU)
• 7:30 p.m.: NIT Regional Final-Boston College (ESPN2)
• 8 p.m.: College GameDay-Chapel Hill (ESPN)
• 9 p.m.: Kentucky at North Carolina (ESPN)
• 9 p.m.: Florida Gulf Coast at Kansas (ESPNU)
• 9:30 p.m.: NIT Regional Final-Oklahoma (ESPN2)
• 11:30 p.m.: NIT Regional Final-Arizona (ESPN2)

Welcome back Maren Eves-Williams!!!!
After breaking her hand in practice the week before the opening game, Maren Eves-Williams was cleared, as Tim Flagstad reports. Maren won't make all the difference in the world, but certainly after the yeoman's efforts by Bailey Williams, she and Michelle and Kat for the matter will benefit watching how Maren operates. Jana Davis-Boehler will travel this week, but she probably doesn't play until conference play in two weeks.

We have a puncher's chance...
...since the puncher is out for the first half. The Big Sky suspended Charlie Wulff, the nephew of former coach and current Washington State coach Paul Wulff, so throwing a punch at a Western Washington player after a touchdown.

Interesting Thoughts

Couple of notes for folks....first of all, a women's basketball schedule! Yeah!!!! The Jounral had some thoughts on the road-heavy slate. Also, Jana Davis-Boehler will only be out a few games with a strain of her knee. The MRI came back negatory, which was good to hear ... this is gonna sound funny, but she was in too much pain coming off the field for it to be a torn ACL. I've seen enough of them to know by this point.

Previews, previews....the best part of a movie.
Now, far be it for me to say this, but sometimes...just sometimes, beat writers drink the Kool Aid, whatever, and don't have realistic thoughts of the teams they cover. However, the Missoulian's football writer is Fritz Neighbor, who is one of the best in the business, and one of the fairest reporters out there, and he has his preview of Idaho State running today, and it's a pretty solid, fair assessment. Personally, I think .500 is attainable, but it's a solid piece. Take Idaho. The Vandals have lost 16 of their last 17, and they open at Arizona, so that's a tough one. The only win out of those 17 games was an FCS team by the way, and they've won three FCS games since the end of the 2005 season. It is for those reasons that I decry that whoever put this together for the Times News in Twin Falls must be a Vandal graduate.

Bronco Bits
Neil Lomax's son has decided that the writing is on the wall with a freshman QB, so he will be transferring. Also, a couple of other Broncos have been suspended for the game on Saturday for the all-encompassing violation of team rules. And while some folks might want to know what those violations are, I'm gonna say good for BSU and coach Petersen (a rock-solid, stand up guy by the way) for holding his players accountable. Just another chance to teach .... Also, BSU's Game Notes are online here (the link is at the bottom of the page).

We Agree...Gutz Should Win
SouthCoastToday.com thinks Matt Gutierrez is perfect for New England....we agree.

BigSkyTV Rhymes with Free!!!
In keeping with giving a treat to the blogger-fans out there, the Big Sky blog announced this little doozy ... nice huh? Jon Kasper and his crew hear all ....

I did a Podcast! Other Bengals did Regular Radio
It should be here in the next day or so....I did it while cooking my daughter a hamburger. Seriously. Also, Jeff Caves and Mike Prater are talking with John Zamberlin tomorrow, as well as Russel Hill, Mitch Rudder, and Jayson Bird today, and those will be on KTIK's page, and run on the afternoon drive show, so go here to check that out as well