Scott Slant

Despite pressure, same ol’ Kyle Wilson

Friday, May 24, 2013

He’s playing in the most brutal media market in the world, and before the most unforgiving fans. And he takes a lot of heat. But he remains a good teammate and a good citizen. Of the four first round draft picks in Boise State history, the one facing the most scrutiny as NFL OTAs roll out is New York Jets cornerback Kyle Wilson. Darrelle Revis is gone, but there are no guarantees for Wilson in the starting lineup. The Jets went right after Alabama corner Dee Milliner with the ninth overall pick in the NFL Draft last month.

Does Wilson see Milliner as a threat to his livelihood? In a story by Newsday’s Stephen Braid in New York, it’s obvious Wilson just looks at what Milliner can bring to the Jets. "I'm kind of excited to see what he could do,” said Wilson. “He's kind of limited right now, but I figure he could help out the team so I look forward to getting him acclimated and getting him on the field so we can all make some plays." That’s the Wilson we remember from his Boise State days. Something else hasn’t changed. If you search for “Kyle Wilson” online, you’ll often find him involved in some kind of community outreach. Wilson and New York Giants wide receiver Hakeem Nicks were named 2013 Hometown Heroes by the United Way of New York at its 20^th Annual Gridiron Gala in Manhattan Tuesday night.

Chris Chase of USA Today lists the nine most unique fields in sports this week, and you know I wouldn’t mention this if the blue turf wasn’t part of it. Yes, the blue comes in at No. 7. FYI, the others uniquely honored (in reverse order) are the red turf at Eastern Washington, Florida International’s beach-themed basketball court, Centre Court at Wimbledon, Houston’s Minute Maid Park and its centerfield hill, Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium, TD Garden (a.k.a. Boston Garden), the red clay of Roland Garros at the French Open, and the Brickyard at the Indianapolis 500.

Boise State and Utah State renew their rivalry this year. What is new Aggie coach Matt Wells doing for his summer vacation? He doesn’t have one. Wells is headlining a summer-long barnstorming tour across Northern Utah to fire up USU fans for the 2013 season after an 11-2 campaign and a Famous Idaho Potato Bowl victory last year. One of the key components is fundraising—the Aggies note that their $21.5 million budget in 2012 would have been 10^th in the Mountain West, considerably behind UNLV ($54 million), San Diego State ($38.5 million) and Boise State ($31 million). There are six stops left on the tour, including one across the Idaho border in Preston. Maybe Wells can come back with a Napoleon Dynamite Endowed Scholarship.

In an Idaho SportsTalk interview Wednesday, College of Idaho football coach Mike Moroski threw one interesting name out there. Mountain Home’s Jake Hennessey, he says, will play quarterback for the Coyotes and will have four years of eligibility in 2014 after transferring from the University of Idaho, where he redshirted as a cornerback last year. Hennessey played catcher for the Yote baseball team this season, batting .282. Hennessey’s Vandal bloodlines are strong. His dad, Tom, was a star linebacker in Moscow in the mid-1980s and holds the Vandal record for single-season tackles with a staggering 180. Jake’s brother, also named Tom, is still on the U of I football roster.

Idaho has another representative in Seattle’s OTAs, joining Benson Mayowa and Korey Toomer. The Seahawks have signed former wide receiver Justin Veltung after he participated in the team's rookie mini-camp as a tryout player. Veltung was plagued by turf toe injuries last season as a senior for the Vandals and had only 16 catches. But he tells friends that he passed his physical in Seattle, and off he goes. For his career, Veltung logged 62 catches for 901 yards and eight touchdowns. He also had two kickoff returns and two punt returns for TDs.

It was Graham DeLaet’s best round of the year on the PGA Tour. The former Boise State star shot a six-under 64 yesterday and is tied for third at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at the Colonial in Fort Worth. DeLaet, who posted five birdies on the front nine and six for the day, is just two shots behind first round leader Ryan Palmer. It seems rather certain he’ll make his 12^th cut in 15 tries this season.

Other golf nuggets today: former Bronco Troy Merritt also came out of the gate strong yesterday, shooting a five-under 67 in the first round of the Mexico Championship in the city of Leon, smack in the middle of the country. Merritt is three shots back of leader Michael Putnam. Quail Hollow pro Jim Empey carded a four-over 75 in the first round of the Senior PGA Championship in St. Louis. Empey is in a 23-way tie for 106^th with, among others, Ian Woosnam and Mark O’Meara. At least we can throw those names in there. And the College of Idaho’s Trish Gibbens qualified for today’s final round of the NAIA Women’s Championships in Lincoln, NE, by shooting a third-round 77 yesterday.

Top Boise State performers on day one of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field West Preliminary Championships in Austin: Emma Bates, who qualified for her third straight NCAA Championships in the 10,000-meter run, and Jordin Andrade, winner of his heat in the 110-meter high hurdles. Athletes with the top 12 times or marks and the best 12 relay teams at the prelims will qualify for nationals in two weeks in Eugene. Highlights from the NAIA Championships: the College of Idaho’s Hillary Holt easily qualified for the finals in the 1500 meters, and Sora Klopfenstein made the 3,000-meter steeplechase final. On the men’s side, the Coyotes’ Austin Basterrechea leads after the first day of the decathlon.

Now that the Boise State men’s tennis season is over, collectively and individually, time for some Greg Patton perspective. On Bettles’ loss to USC’s Yannick Hanfmann Wednesday: “When the match was completed, both Andy and I felt like it was a movie in which the final credits started to roll across the screen way too early.” On his sky-high future outlook: “We not only have the meat and potatoes of our team returning, but we have three superb new players joining us next year, Brendan McClain, Abe Hewko, and J.P. Boyd, who were all top-ranked American juniors and had us ranked No. 12 in the national recruiting rankings. Wait to see our home schedule next year, for we are bringing some great teams to Boise and hunger to get into the top 10.” Don’t doubt Patton—he believes this (and it’s happened before).

This Day In Sports…May 24, 1981:

Bobby Unser crosses the finish line first in the Indianapolis 500. But after viewing film of the race, officials penalized Unser one lap for passing under the yellow flag and declared Mario Andretti the winner. Months later, the decision would once again be reversed and Unser would become the official 1981 Indy 500 champion.

(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment Sunday nights at 10:30PM on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra and anchors five sports segments each weekday on 93.1 The Ticket. He also served as color commentator on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football for 14 seasons.)

Hot stretch for a golfer with cold roots

Thursday, May 23, 2013

This season is shaping up to be Graham DeLaet’s best yet on the PGA Tour. First, look at his bottom line. It’s only May, so DeLaet’s chances at a second straight million are pretty good this year. He collected $174,200 after tying for 10^th last weekend at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. The former Boise State star has made $811,384 in just 14 events this year after earnings of $1,051,951 in 2012. DeLaet is approaching $3 million for his career, which started impressively in 2010 only to be interrupted by a back injury in 2011.

It’s been an unlikely path for DeLaet, from the frozen plains of Saskatchewan to Boise, where golf and winter are not entirely synonymous. If he had grown up in, say, Boca Raton and played college golf at Florida, DeLaet’s success on the PGA Tour might be more plausible. But here he is, No. 54 in the FedEx Cup standings, one spot behind Bubba Watson and two behind Jim Furyk. DeLaet and the PGA Tour move 31 miles this week to Fort Worth and the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial beginning today.

Don’t look now, but Boise State’s season opener at Washington is exactly 100 days away. What happens from here? Summer conditioning, player-run practices, fall camp, one public scrimmage that should tell us a bit more than the spring game, the shakeout of the two-deep, and kickoff in the renovated Husky Stadium. Should the Broncos perform the way most expect them to, it’ll be the 15^th year of Boise State’s Golden Era.

Brian Urlacher’s retirement from the Chicago Bears stirs up memories of his 1999 visit to Bronco Stadium during his senior year at New Mexico—which was also the first year of the aforementioned Golden Era at Boise State. Before becoming the Bears’ All-Pro middle linebacker, Urlacher was the Lobos’ monster free safety who also got spot duty at fullback. It was an interesting time at Boise State. The Broncos would finish the 1999 season 10-3 with their first Big West and Humanitarian Bowl championships, but when New Mexico came to town they were 1-2.

The 20-9 win over the Lobos was one of the launching pads for what we see from Boise State today. New Mexico scored first on Urlacher’s eight-yard touchdown catch out of his fullback spot. But that would be UNM’s only TD of the game. It was also the game that turned on the “Fidler Fake,” so named by Bronco coach Dirk Koetter with a nod to then-special teams coach Dan Fidler. Greg Sasser was the up-man in punt formation, took the snap and faked a handoff between his legs. Sasser froze there for a second, then stood up and scampered 39 yards for the clinching score.

KTVB’s Jay Tust reports that Tommy Smith’s contract with the Cleveland Browns appears to have been a phantom. The former Boise State linebacker’s agents at KLASS Sports maintained that Smith signed with the Browns, but now they say Cleveland’s offer was then pulled. So Smith is still looking. Elsewhere, dismissed Bronco safety Lee Hightower has confirmed that he has committed to Houston. And at Nevada, the Mackay Stadium field will be named after newly-retired coach Chris Ault, appropriately enough.

There’s still local baseball to follow before the Boise Hawks get started next month. Treasure Valley Community College has qualified for the NWAACC Championships this weekend on the campus of Lower Columbia Community College outside Vancouver, WA. The Chukars debut in the eight-team junior college tournament tonight against Everett Community College. TVCC's roster features 24 players who hail from somewhere along the I-84 corridor between Ontario and Twin Falls.

Yannick Hanfmann of USC made quick work of Boise State’s Andy Bettles in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Singles Championships yesterday. Hanfmann broke Bettles’ serve in the first game of the match, setting the tone in his 6-2, 6-4 victory. Bettles, the 11^th Bronco to qualify for the individual championships, finished his season at 30-10 overall, including a 23-6 dual mark playing No. 1 singles for the Broncos during the spring season.

Twenty Boise State athletes are set for competition at the Division I Outdoor Track and Field West Preliminary Championships in Austin beginning today. They’ll be entered in 22 events. The 20 Broncos in the preliminary meet equals the most in school history, with the previous standard set in 2007. Jordin Andrade is the highest-ranked Boise State representative, currently No. 5 in the 400-meter hurdles. Andrade told KTVB this week his goal this week is to be an All-American. Also, Daveon Collins ranks sixth in the 200-meters and 15^th in the 100-meters.

The NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships begin today in Marion, IN, with the College of Idaho represented by its largest contingent ever—six men and nine women. Mountain View High grad Hillary Holt, who has already qualified for the U.S. Championships next month, is the star of the group. Holt is the holder of the fastest 1500-meter time ever posted by a female in the state of Idaho, the 4:11.68 she ran in beating a star-studded field at the Oregon Twilight meet in Eugene.

Back to the golf world: the College of Idaho’s Trish Gibbens shot a 79 for the second straight day and is tied for 35^th midway through the NAIA Women’s Championships in Lincoln, NE. The Caldwell product has to place in the top 40 after today’s round to qualify for the final 18 holes tomorrow. And Quail Hollow pro Jim Empey tees off today in the Senior PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis. Thirty years after his successful college career at USC, Empey is still qualifying for those prestigious tournaments.

This Day In Sports…May 23, 1958:

Wilt Chamberlain passes on his senior year at Kansas—but not to go to the NBA, which wouldn’t allow him to play in the league until his college class graduated. Chamberlain thus signed with the Harlem Globetrotters and toured with them for a year before joining the Philadelphia Warriors.

Temporary detour for Jamar Taylor

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

OTAs (organized team activities) are important for rookies in the NFL, alllowing them to assimilate into a new system and develop chemistry with new teammates. It appears Jamar Taylor’s work in that regard with Miami Dolphins will be done in street clothes, as he was in Philadelphia yesterday undergoing surgery for a sports hernia. Recovery is time pegged at three to six weeks, so the former Boise State star is expected to be ready by the start of training camp. But he’ll have some catching up to do. Taylor was plagued by injuries during his junior season with the Broncos and was bothered even as he rambled 100 yards for a touchdown on an interception return against Arizona State in the Las Vegas Bowl. But had a healthy and extremely productive senior year and parlayed that into a second-round NFL Draft pick.

At first glance, it appeared former Boise State linebacker Tommy Smith didn’t stick after his free agent tryout with the Cleveland Browns. But now Smith’s agents at KLASS Sports say Smith has been signed by the Browns after all following a series of moves by the team yesterday that included the release of former Fresno State running back Robbie Rouse. Smith logged 61 tackles for the Broncos last season, finally getting a starting spot as a senior. He can also play fullback.

Rivals.com (among others) reports that dismissed Boise State defensive end Sam Ukwuachu will transfer to Baylor after visiting its campus Monday. "It's a done deal, and I'm reporting June 3,'' said Ukwuachu, who told Rivals he also considered Florida and Utah. "Baylor was my best option. It's close to home. It's a good program. (Boise State coach Chris Petersen) really helped me to where I wanted to go. Things just didn't work out up there.'' Ukwuachu said Baylor coaches told him they’ll look into applying for a hardship waiver so he can play immediately this fall. Otherwise, he’ll have to sit out this season and will have two years of eligibility remaining with the Bears. Word has been swirling that Lee Hightower, kicked off the Boise State squad after last season, will land at Houston—but no definitive word yet.

Around the horn with Bronco opponents: Washington tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins’ pretrial hearing in Seattle Municipal Court has been postponed until July 1. Seferian-Jenkins was charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence last month after being arrested March 9. He has been suspended from Huskies team activities since then. Coach Steve Sarkisian has said he wants the legal process to play out before deciding on further punishment, so it may be another six weeks before we know if he’ll play against Boise State August 31.

Mountain West newcomer San Jose State is not a Boise State opponent this fall, but its athletic director is eminently familiar. It’s hard to get anything pushed through in California these days, but Spartan AD Gene Bleymaier has unveiled a $38.5 million renovation to 80-year-old Spartan Stadium. When you consider that the Steuckle Sky Center at Bronco Stadium cost almost $36 million, this is big potatoes for SJSU. The remodel will be privately financed (two big words) and will include the Vermeil-Walsh Athletic Complex, named after San Jose State alumni Dick Vermeil and Bill Walsh. This will be the first major improvement to Spartan Stadium in almost 30 years. Bleymaier hopes to break ground later this year and have it done in time for the 2015 season.

Speaking of San Jose State, Bleymaier hired away Boise State’s top men’s basketball assistant to become head coach of the Spartans seven weeks ago. Now Bronco coach Leon Rice has promoted from within to fill Dave Wojcik’s post as associate head coach. Jeff Linder, who came in with Rice three years ago, will take that spot. “Jeff has played a major role in building this program,” Rice said. “He possesses high-level knowledge of the game of basketball, and has the ability to identify and develop talent.” Rice still has John Rillie on his staff and added Texas high school coach Danny Henderson last month.

It’ll be USC’s Yannick Hanfmann awaiting Boise State’s Andy Bettles today in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles Championships. Bettles is ranked 40^th in the nation in singles, while Hanfmann is 45^th. Bettles is 30-9 in fall and spring matches combined, playing No. 1 singles for the Broncos. Hanfmann is 28-6 and has lost just one match during the spring season while rotating between the No. 2-4 spots for the Trojans. It’s an international field on the University of Illinois courts—example: Bettles is from Somerset, England, and Hanfmann hails from Karlsruhe, Germany.

The College of Idaho's Trish Gibbens battled cool temperatures and gusty winds yesterday as she carded a 79 in the first round NAIA Women's Golf National Championships in Lincoln, NE. This is the second straight trip to nationals for the senior from Caldwell—last year she went with her Lady Yote teammates, who qualified as a group. Gibbens is the first C of I women’s golfer to make the tournament as an individual in 10 years. She was a first-team NAIA All-American in 2011.

This Day In Sports…May 22, 1969:

The question of alignment in the merger of the National Football League and American Football League is settled. The NFL’s Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers agreed to move from their compatriots in what would become the NFC to join AFL franchises in what would become the AFC. The Colts and Steelers would both win a Super Bowl within six years. The Browns have never even been to the Super Bowl—not the original version that became the Baltimore Ravens, nor the current version of the team that was born in 1999.

Some Kiper temptation for Demarcus Lawrence

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Consider for a moment who you think Boise State’s top NFL Draft prospect is on the 2013 Bronco team. If you’re ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., you’ll say Demarcus Lawrence. Kiper has Lawrence as one of the top 10 prospects at defensive end in the 2014 draft. If Lawrence is available for the draft, that would mean he’d forego his senior year at Boise State—he is only a junior this year. Only three Broncos have ever declared early for the NFL. It worked out well for Ryan Clady and Orlando Scandrick in 2008, and not so well for Jeremy Childs in 2009. In his first season after transferring from Butler Community College, Lawrence led the team with 13 tackles for loss and 9½ sacks last year and was named first-team All-Mountain West. He also had an interception and returned a fumble for a touchdown.

Also of note among Boise State opponents on Kiper’s list: Washington’s Austin Sefarian-Jenkins is his No. 1 prospect at tight end, and UW’s Bishop Sankey is among the top 10 running backs. The Broncos will see them again (or at least Sankey) at the grand re-opening of Husky Stadium on August 31. Kiper likes three BYU players, putting Kyle Van Noy No. 3 among outside linebackers and wide receiver Cody Hoffman and tight end Kaneakua Friel in the top 10 at their positions. And Fresno State’s Derek Carr goes into his senior year as a top 10 Kiper pick at quarterback.

Fresno State released all of its 2013 kickoff times yesterday, and gametime against Boise State will be convenient for Western ESPN watchers. The Broncos and Bulldogs will tee it up at 7 p.m. Mountain time in Fresno on Friday, September 20. For those attending the game, it’ll be convenient, but not particularly comfortable. The normal high in Fresno on September 20 is 90. Four years ago when Boise State played in Bulldog Stadium on September 18 the temperature topped 100.

At the end of a session with reporters yesterday that had Detroit wide receiver Calvin Johnson talking about his goals this year and playing with injured fingers last year, he was asked about former teammate Titus Young. And he got really quiet. "It's very tough," Johnson said, according to USA Today. "We pray that he can get his off-the-field situation straight so then he can move forward with his life." Johnson sat a few feet away from Young in the locker room during the former Boise State standout’s two seasons with the Lions. "You can never foresee things like this," Johnson said of Young's troubles. "And like I say, we just wish him the best, man. It's unfortunate what he's going through. We're praying for him."

Another shot for Gary Stevens in the Belmont Stakes? Well, why not? After Oxbow’s upset win at the Preakness, trainer D. Wayne Lukas is planning on entering horse and rider in the Belmont on June 8. It sets up a rematch with Kentucky Derby winner Orb, although that horse’s camp hasn’t committed yet. There’s no doubt who Lukas’ top jockey is. “He's so on top of all this stuff," Lukas said of Stevens. "He'll tell you the fractions, who was laying fourth on the backside and everything. He's very into this, very into this.”

Stevens was still relishing his Preakness crown when he appeared on the Jim Rome Show yesterday. “That was one of the easiest of the nine (Triple Crown wins) I’ve had,” Stevens said. Old-timers will remember how ecstatic Stevens was after his first Kentucky Derby win aboard Winning Colors 25 years ago. But this was something else for the 50-year-old native Idahoan. “It’s the best victory of my career—I’m not going to lie to you.”

Former Dontrelle Willis is in Sports Illustrated again this week, but it’s not like he used to be in Sports Illustrated. Under Willis’ photo is the headline, “Misfit Boys Of Summer,” and a story on the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League, where one-time big leaguers go to try to resurrect their careers. Nine of the players on the Ducks’ 25-man roster are former major leaguers, including Willis—10 years after he burst on the scene as National League Rookie of the Year and earned a World Series ring with the Florida Marlins. He has been out of the bigs since the end of the 2011 season, when he went 1-6 for Cincinnati while still only 29 years old. The D-Train was the Hawks’ Opening Night starter when the Cubs era began in 2001.

Followup on an ESPN.com non-BCS recruiting analysis I talked about last week that trumpeted Boise State and BYU. It referenced BYU’s ability to extend college careers through LDS missions and brought up Tanner Mangum, the former Eagle High quarterback. Mangum leaves on his mission this summer, but he did get spring football in with the Cougars. In BYU’s spring game, he completed all six of his pass attempts and rushed for 56 yards. Mangum is still technically a true freshman, so he could yet redshirt when he returns to Provo in 2015.

The theory regarding College of Idaho football is proving to be true: that the new Coyote program will provide an invaluable opportunity to in-state players. Yote coach Mike Moroski has signed 10 more players to be charter members of the reincarnation of the C of I team, all of them from Idaho. The Coyotes won’t even take the field until 2014, and they already have 42 players on the roster.

This Day In Sports…brought to you by PEASLEY TRANSFER & STORAGE…a tradition you can trust!

May 21, 2010: The Cincinnati Cyclones end the Idaho Steelheads’ dream of a third ECHL championship with a 2-1 win in Game 5 of the Kelly Cup Finals. That gave the Cyclones a four games-to-one decision before a crowd of 13,438, the largest ever to watch an ECHL playoff game. The Steelheads never recovered from the shock of last-minute Cincinnati game-winning tallies in Games 1 and 2 in Boise. Every game of the series was decided by one goal. The disappointing finish couldn’t take away from an impressive Steelheads season that saw the team capture the Brabham Cup for best record in the ECHL and Derek Laxdal earn league Coach of the Year honors.

As well-scripted as “Seabiscuit”

Monday, May 20, 2013

My favorite line in the aftermath of Saturday’s Preakness Stakes came from Joe Drape’s account of the race in the New York Times. Wrote Drape, “They are a couple of old guys, D. Wayne Lukas and Gary Stevens, and for nearly 30 years, they have fallen in love on the racetrack, traded harsh words off it and fallen back in love enough times to be made honorary Kardashians.” My second favorite line came from Stevens himself: “I was just walking the dog.” That was the Caldwell native’s description of the home stretch when he knew he and Oxbow had the Preakness in the bag. At 50, Stevens became the oldest jockey ever to win the second leg of the Triple Crown—and the first grandfather ever to win a Triple Crown race to boot.

It was a monumental upset as Stevens beat 15-1 odds and the favorite to win the Triple Crown, Orb, just 4½ months after mounting his comeback. Oxbow led wire-to-wire. "In these classic races," said Stevens, "you don't give up anything they give you for free, and they gave me a free three-quarters of a mile today, and I was smiling pretty good midway down the backside." It was Stevens’ ninth victory in Triple Crown events and his first since 2001. He has now won each leg of horse racing’s trilogy three times. Lukas had waited longer between trips to the winner’s circle than Stevens—the trainer’s last victory was in 2000.

A USA Today story written by Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press sheds a little more light on the Titus Young timeline. “About a week before he was arrested for the first time, Titus Young happened to be on the same flight from Miami to Detroit as Lions linebacker and former teammate Stephen Tulloch,” writes Birkett. “Tulloch said the free-agent wide receiver took their chance encounter as an opportunity to open up about the mental issues he has been dealing with.”

Birkett continues: “At one point, Tulloch said Young even shared a paper explaining his disorder, a condition Tulloch didn't want to reveal Friday. ‘He's aware of the situation that he's dealing with and he showed me a paper and we went over it and I looked over it, and I understand it," Tulloch said. "A lot of people laugh about it and ke-ke-ke about it, but it's real. He has head issues, and the Titus Young when he came in as a rookie and the Titus Young now is two different people.”

When we saw the sea of empty seats in Aloha Stadium as Boise State played Hawaii last November, it was just the tip of a bigger iceberg. The Hawaii athletic department has rolled a up a staggering $13 million deficit over the past 10 years, and it has been aggravated by the collapse of fan support for the struggling Rainbow Warriors’ football program. Well, from the “it would never happen in the Gem State” department, the $13 million is going to be “absorbed” by the Chancellor’s office at the end of this fiscal year on June 30. At least it gives new athletic director Ben Jay a fighting chance to succeed.

Two Boise State football recruits took home track and field hardware for Rocky Mountain at the state 5A meet over the weekend. Khalil Oliver, a junior safety who has committed for the class of 2014, won the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.21 seconds. And one of this year’s signees, Eli McCullough, finished his high school career by taking the shot put at 58 feet, 2¼ inches. Rocky won the boys 5A championship.

The Grizzlies also won the 5A girls golf title, as Treasure Valley teams took home 13 state championships in spring sports for the week. Four schools, Eagle, Rocky Mountain, Bishop Kelly and Fruitland corralled two crowns apiece. Interestingly for Fruitland, one of the titles was not in baseball. The Grizzlies, with Boise State linebacker-to-be Joe Martarano playing what he says will be the final baseball game of his career, fell 8-4 on their home field Saturday to Snake River. Fruitland’s 3A titles were in boys and girls tennis. The Cinderella of the weekend was the Timberline High baseball team, which barely qualified for state and then won it all with a 6-2 triumph over Coeur d’Alene Saturday.

Another healthy payday for Graham DeLaet, as the former Boise State standout took home $174,200 after tying for 10^th yesterday at the HP Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, TX. DeLaet was seven shots back of winner Sang-Moon Bae after carding a pair of three-under 67s in the first two rounds and a couple even-par 70s over the final two days. If DeLaet could just have the 17^th hole back on Saturday, when he double bogeyed a par three. Fellow former Bronco Troy Merritt tied for 29^th at the Web.com Tour’s BMW Charity Pro-Am in South Carolina. And, in his final event as a current Bronco, T.K. Kim finished 20^th at the NCAA West Regional in Pullman, posting three consecutive one-under 71s. Kim had 12 top 25 results as a senior, tying Merritt for the most in Boise State history.

It was a two-man race at the finish Saturday in the Famous Idaho Potato Marathon. After 26.1 miles, Moscow’s Alex Talhelm edged Declo’s Ryan Achatz by just 12 seconds, crossing in 2:45:43. Boise’s Brittany Goicoechea won comfortably on the women’s side, running a 3:09.00. The second-place finisher came a long way for the Famous Potato—Natalie Malligan of Gymea Bay, Australia.

Two former Boise Hawks get some notice today, both of them veteran pitchers. Ricky Nolasco of the Miami Marlins, the best player left (albet an unhappy one) on a team gutted by ownership during the winter, beat Arizona 2-1 yesterday to snap a seven-game Marlins losing streak. Nolasco went eight innings, allowing just one run and striking out 11 in improving his record to 3-5. He’s the franchise’s all-time leader in victories with 79. Then there’s John Lackey of Boston, who was as sharp as he’s been in two years in a 5-1 Red Sox win at Minnesota. Lackey, now 2-4, went six innings and yielded one unearned run in what could have been a longer stint were it not for a three-hour rain delay at Target Field. The break was long enough for the stadium to show the original “Sandlot” film in its entirety on the Jumbotron.

This Day In Sports…May 20, 1978:

In the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, the second act of horse racing’s fabled trilogy, Affirmed reprises his narrow Kentucky Derby victory, beating Alydar to the wire again. Three weeks later, Affirmed would top Alydar one more time—this time by a nose at the Belmont Stakes—to become only the 11^th Triple Crown winner since 1919. There have been none since.

One last step lies ahead for Ebo Makinde

Friday, May 17, 2013

After looking over Chadd Cripe’s numbers in the Statesman from Boise State spring testing, I’m left thinking of what can be for Ebo Makinde. The senior-to-be from Phoenix ran a stunning 4.24 seconds in the 40-yard dash during the drills at the Broncos’ Junior Pro Day and also finished first in the three-cone drill and pro-agility test. Makinde has always dominated in spring testing—it’s the fall testing while the popcorn’s poppin’ that he now needs to ace. He can use his senior season to bust up the cloud that’s been hanging over him since November, 2011. That’s when Makinde, off to a bad start anyway against TCU, collapsed with a hamstring injury on the second of two Casey Pachall bombs that went over him for touchdowns in the Broncos’ 36-35 loss to the Horned Frogs. The raw talent obviously remains. In a few months it’ll be time for harvest.

In post-spring football strength and agility testing in 2010, Makinde finished first in four different categories as his redshirt year ended. He ran a 4.34 in the 40, topping Jamar Taylor and Titus Young. Makinde was also tops in the three-cone drill and the pro agility drill that year, as well as the vertical jump. Then that September, Makinde found himself in the heat of the battle during Boise State’s 33-30 victory over Virginia Tech at FedEx Field—and didn’t play a lot after that. In his career, Makinde has logged 27 tackles and one interception.

No need to spend a lot of time on this, but SI.com’s Chris Burke came up with “Worst Offseason Power Rankings,” meaning the 10 NFL players who have had the worst offseasons. Nine of the 10 had scrapes with the law (the only one who didn’t was No. 3 Tim Tebow). I don’t need to tell you who’s No. 1 on the list. Titus Young is still behind bars, with his family declining to pay his $25,000 bail at this point. Statements by Young’s ex-girlfriend in her court restraining order documents are disturbing. “He would say things like, ‘I understand why O.J. killed his wife,’” she wrote.

With Gary Stevens prepping for his first Preakness Stakes in eight years tomorrow, we get another check of his place in horse racing history. Last week’s Sports Illustrated listed the eight most memorable Triple Crown races of all time, and Stevens won two of them. Writer Mark Beech rates the 1997 Preakness as No. 6—Stevens won that race aboard Silver Charm, giving rider and horse two legs of the Triple Crown before an upset by Touch Gold in the Belmont Stakes.

Stevens’ first Kentucky Derby win aboard Winning Colors 25 years ago is No. 3, with Beech calling it “the most acclaimed victory of trainer D. Wayne Lukas’s Hall of Fame career.” Winning Colors was the third (and last) filly ever to win the Derby. Stevens has teamed with Lukas for his comeback in this year’s Triple Crown races and will ride Oxbow again tomorrow at Pimlico. Oxbow finished sixth in the Run For The Roses two weeks ago. It’ll be another big day at Stevens’ original home track, as Les Bois Park will hit the pause button during its Saturday race card again to show the Preakness.

The Boise State men’s basketball team’s 69-65 win over San Diego State in the regular season finale in March could be considered a harbinger of the team’s hoops future. But the Aztecs aren’t just going to pull over on the side of the court and let the Broncos pass ‘em. SDSU should be the preseason favorite to win the Mountain West next year, a notion strengthened by the commitment it has received the other day from Tulane transfer Josh Davis. The 6-8 forward, who graduates from Tulane tomorrow, will be eligible immediately and is expected to fill the void left by one-time Mountain West Player of the Year Jamaal Franklin. Davis was All-Conference USA last season after averaging 17.6 points and 10.7 rebounds for a Green Wave team that won 20 games. A big get for the Aztecs.

Joe Vaz will play right away for the College of Idaho, do you think? New Coyote coach Scott Garson has signed the 7-1 Vaz to an NAIA Letter of Intent. The junior college transfer from Palomar College in California will become the tallest player ever to put on a C of I uniform. Vaz was the leading rebounder and shot blocker among JC players in the state of California last season.

No bogeys yesterday for Graham DeLaet to open the HP Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, TX. The former Boise State star carded a solid three-under 67 and is tied for 14^th going into today’s second round. Thing is, DeLaet is still a whopping seven shots off the pace. How about Keegan Bradley torching the course with a 10-under 60? Elsewhere, Boise State’s T.K. Kim shot a one-under 71 at the NCAA Regionals yesterday at Palouse Ridge in Pullman. He’s six shots behind Will Pearson of Memphis among the golfers with individual invitations to Pullman regional. Only the winner out of that group advances to the NCAA Championships.

The 2013 Famous Idaho Potato Marathon fires up tomorrow morning at 7:00 at Lucky Peak State Park. The temperature tomorrow should be marathon-perfect (not so sure about the sky). Race director Bob Fries expects to see some of the event’s top times ever, for a couple reasons. They’re starting with the full and half-marathons together, allowing “competitive runners in both races the freedom to go all out without needing to pass slower runners and/or walkers.” And for the first time ever, the course will have two full lanes from the starting line to about the 2.5 mile marker near Diversion Dam. In the past, runners would be funneled onto the Greenbelt around mile 1.

In the “state everything” department, it was one of those days for valley schools at the Idaho 5A Baseball Tournament yesterday. Five local teams made the field, and the only one that was victorious beat one of the others—Timberline over Boise, 4-1. Rocky Mountain, Eagle and Borah joined the Braves in the consolation bracket. And the days of state track and field pageantry at Bronco Stadium are long gone, as the state meets that begin today are split between Eagle High (5A and 4A) and Middleton High (3A, 2A and 1A). Good luck to all.

This Day In Sports…May 17, 2011:

Hard to believe it’s been two years. The most prolific professional athlete ever to come out of the state of Idaho passes away at the age of 74. There was no brighter beacon from the Gem State in pro sports than Harmon Killebrew—on so many levels. The Pride of Payette broke into the majors as a 17-year-old in 1954 and hit 573 career home runs. He was the top right-handed home run hitter in American League history until being passed by Alex Rodriguez. But Killebrew also left a legacy of caring, typified by the golf event he founded in 1977 honoring a Minnesota Twins teammate, the Danny Thompson Memorial Tournament in Sun Valley for leukemia research.

Where will the UW game end up?

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Yesterday’s announcement that ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain will be the regional home of Mountain West football and men’s basketball doesn’t affect Boise State football this year. The only game left on the Bronco schedule without a TV home is the opener at Washington, and that’s controlled by the Pac-12. So that presumably means either ESPN or the Pac-12 Network, and with the hoopla surrounding the grand re-opening of Husky Stadium, the intrigue of a Las Vegas Bowl rematch, and the fact that at least Boise State should be in the Top 25, why wouldn’t it be ESPN (or regional ABC)? We should know imminently.

The ROOT Sports deal does affect Bronco basketball, though. The network is set to telecast 25 Mountain West hoops games, and with Boise State bubbling under a number of preseason Top 25 lists (and making the one from CBSSports.com), the Broncos should see an increase from the four games ROOT showed last season. Note that it’s the Rocky Mountain feed, not the Northwest one. But Mountain West Deputy Commissioner Bret Gilliland says that most games involving Boise State are expected to be available on ROOT Northwest.

While Boise State fans awaited the long-anticipated new video board in Bronco Stadium with bated breath, Idaho announced plans yesterday to install a sleek new one in the Kibbie Dome. The screen will be 30 feet by 50 feet—it’ll look even bigger than that in the cozy confines of the Dome. Then Bronco Nation exhaled, as word came out that the State Board of Education has approved Boise State’s plans for a 33 foot by 60 foot video board above the blue turf. Details to follow on when it will go up; athletic director Mark Coyle recently told the Statesman he’d like to do it this year. And here’s hoping the screen’s clarity is unaffected by the sun. Now, about basketball. I imagine the Vandals will arrange the hoops setup in Cowan Spectrum to accommodate the new board. Now that would be nice. It’s back to bated breath for Taco Bell Arena.

There was a spike of activity on the Boise State chatboards yesterday when BroncoCountry.com’s Jared Crews posted his story on Joey Martarano. Crews reported that the Fruitland High star has chosen football over baseball once and for all and will join the Bronco program as a linebacker this summer. Martarano was expected to go high in the Major League Baseball Draft three weeks from now. "I've been talking to a lot of guys that are close to the draft," he told Crews. "I was told I'd go somewhere in rounds 3-5 and told them that wasn't good enough," Coach Chris Petersen was patient throughout the two-sport tug-of-war. "It's going to be awesome to play for Coach Pete," said Martarano. "It just shows what type of guy he is for him to hear me out on all of this baseball stuff. I'm real excited to play for him."

The headline reads, “Prince Harry’s throwing motion is better than Tim Tebow’s.” It could probably add in “the Air Force quarterback corps,” since they don’t get to throw that much. It seems Prince Harry was at the Air Force Academy last weekend and got to try out American football under the watchful eye of Falcon coach Troy Calhoun. Reportedly by the end of the demonstration, the Prince was hitting receivers 40 yards away and caught a 50-yard pass on the fly. Calhoun joked that he wanted to sign Harry up. That would sell a few extra tickets in Bronco Stadium September 13.

The account on Prince Harry’s football lesson from USA Today’s Chris Chase was chock full o’ zingers. “No Air Force players were able to participate in the impromptu training session because the NCAA is a rational organization with meaningful rules that protect the true spirit of student athletics,” writes Chase. “In this case, a restriction against athletes interacting with celebrities prevented the service academy players from attending. Heck, it took an NCAA waiver for coach Troy Calhoun to be there! And here you thought it was just the British monarchy that was antiquated and out of touch!” Chase continues: “Harry also took some snaps, thus assuring that he’ll take at least one more than Tim Tebow in 2013.”

Gary Stevens and Oxbow have drawn post position No. 6 for Saturday’s running of the Preakness Stakes. “Oxbow, for a change, got a decent post position, so that’s going to help there,” said trainer D. Wayne Lukas. “I like what happened there very much.” The odds for Stevens and Oxbow have been cut in half since the Run For The Roses—they’re currently 15-to-1. Orb, the winner of the Kentucky Derby, is the even-money favorite. Stevens, the Caldwell native who got his start at Les Bois Park, will be riding in the Preakness for the first time in eight years.

Not only did former Boise Hawk Ramon Ortiz make it back onto the Toronto roster after being designated for assignment by the Blue Jays four weeks ago, he was inserted into their rotation when he was called back up. And not only did Ortiz start last night against the San Francisco Giants, he beat the defending world champions for his first win since 2011. Ortiz allowed one run on six hits over seven innings in the Jays’ 11-3 rout of the Giants. It was also his first victory as a starter in over six years. Ortiz turns 40 a week from today.

This Katie Cotta is pretty good. Cotta tossed her second-straight no-hitter at the College of Idaho yesterday as top-ranked Concordia-Irvine blasted the Lady Yotes 9-0 to advance out of the Irvine bracket to the championship flight of the NAIA Tournament. Mountain Home’s Nickayla Skinner finally ran out of gas, but she finished her junior year with a school record 25 wins, 11 shutouts, and 247 strikeouts. The C of I ended up 36-23, tying for 11^th in the country in NAIA.

Other notes: The state 5A baseball tournament begins this morning at Memorial Stadium, with five Treasure Valley schools in the eight-team field. Local coaches consider it a wide-open affair. Rocky Mountain starts off against Highland, then Boise and Timberline face each other, followed by Borah against Madison and Eagle versus Coeur d’Alene. And Boise State senior T.K. Kim opens play in the NCAA Regional Golf Championships today at Palouse Ridge in Pullman. If Kim can finish first among individuals not on one of the five advancing teams out of the regional he’ll earn a trip to the NCAA Championships in Atlanta in two weeks.

This Day In Sports…May 16, 1869:

The Cincinnati Red Stockings, baseball’s first all-professional team, play their first game, defeating Antioch 41-7. I always thought we’d see a score like that during the Steroid Era, but it never happened. The first official baseball game of any kind was played by the amateur New York Knickerbockers and New York Nine in 1846.

All perceived to be well on the recruiting front

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Boise State’s 2011 recruiting class may have taken another hit last week with the departures of Sam Ukwuachu and Jimmy Laughrea, but the Broncos’ current landscape has to be considered separately. Tom Luginbill and Craig Haubert at ESPN.com take a look at recruiting among five top non-BCS schools and Notre Dame, and they have Boise State “trending up.”

Writes the duo: “The luxury of redshirting every recruit every year allows Boise State to develop players at a much slower pace, which really enhances the overall depth and talent of its roster. Staying out of the Big East allows the Broncos to maintain their current, very successful process. This is a huge factor. Remember, they only have to have good enough players to win their conference, which gives them a shot once a year against BCS conference foes.” That last item is a thinly-veiled dig at that good ol’ strength-of-schedule.

Two Boise State opponents are on the list—Luginbill and Haubert have Fresno State trending up based on its new summer bridge program for incoming freshmen, and they have BYU in neutral due to the continuous unknown of the effect of returning LDS missionaries. But, they note, “the maturity that system helps create gives the Cougars a leg up over time. This is especially true with QBs such as (former Eagle Mustang) Tanner Mangum from the 2012 class. Expect the Cougars to be a thorn in college football's side for years to come.” Mangum is set to join BYU next year after his mission is complete.

Former Boise State standout Titus Young pleaded not guilty yesterday to all eight counts he faces, three of them felonies, at his arraignment in Orange County, CA. The three felonies are all burglary charges—the misdemeanors range from assault and battery of a peace officer to resisting arrest. Two of the burglary charges are new, felonies based on intent after he twice took items from a Chevron convenience store in Laguna Hills in the hours before his original double-arrest episode a week and a half ago. In addition, a woman presumed to be the mother of Young’s son has filed a permanent restraining order against him. Young’s attorney says his family is now deciding whether to post his $25,000 bail. Might be better for his own safety if they didn’t.

Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, who’s been closely following the Titus saga (it’s amazing how much attention is being paid to this in Detroit), was on Idaho SportsTalk yesterday with the word that Young had been medically cleared to attend the arraignment hearing later in the afternoon. Of the media’s fascination with these sad happenings, Birkett said, “It’s a spiral downward like I don’t think we’ve seen.” Young could be looking at 7½ years in prison.

Canadian TV's leading sports anchor, Brian Williams, was in Boise this week to spend a day with new Montreal Alouettes coach Dan Hawkins. "I said, we've got to go Idaho to learn something about this fellow,” Williams told KTVB’s Mark Johnson. “And the more I read about him, I mean swimming with sharks, climbing Macchu Picchu, running with the bulls—I said either this guy is truly unique or he is downright nuts. I said, ‘We've got to get to Boise.’” Williams and his CTV network crew spent the entire day at the Hawkins house in Boise. The “Bob Costas of Canada” (as Johnson calls him) feels the former Boise State coach is a good fit for Montreal. "The French are Latin, they are demonstrative, passionate, they care,” Williams said. “They speak with their hands like Dan Hawkins, so they will love each other." The CFL season opens June 27.

June Jones strong-armed a nickname change in the University of Hawaii football program 13 years ago, dropping the “Rainbow” from “Warriors.” Fans grudgingly went along with it, since Jones had engineered a stunning turnaround in Hawaii’s football fortunes. But most did not like it. In fact, some other sports still used “Rainbows,” while other kept “Rainbow Warriors.” New Hawaii athletic director Ben Jay understandably wanted to standardize the nickname for marketing purposes, so he announced in February that all sports would be known as the Warriors. That opened a can of worms, and—lo and behold—yesterday the school announced all men’s sports will hereby revert to the Rainbow Warriors nickname, and all women’s programs to the Rainbow Wahine.

After scooping Timberline defensive end Don Hill out of the Treasure Valley, Washington has picked up a second commit from the state of Idaho. Scout.com reports tight end Chase Blakley of Coeur d’Alene has given the Huskies his verbal. Blakley had offers from Wyoming, Idaho, Idaho State and Eastern Washington, although interest was ramping up from the major schools.

The big picture as we look back on the Idaho Steelheads season: it could be the launching pad for quite a run under Brad Ralph. The first-year coach had to reconstruct the team not once, but twice—when he came in last summer and tried to change the culture of the club, and after the NHL lockout ended when he had to replace a slew of top performers who moved up the AHL. Ralph made some great talent decisions, finding guys like Tyler Gron and Brett Robinson in the CHL and James Isaacs and Ian Watters in the SPHL. The Steelheads posted the second-most wins in their ECHL era this season and were especially tough at home. “There’s a lot to build on and a lot to be proud of,” Ralph said yesterday on Idaho SportsTalk.

It’s all Nickayla Skinner all the time, as the College of Idaho women’s softball team has advanced to the championship round of the Irvine bracket in the NAIA Championships. Skinner, the Mountain Home High grad, tossed a five-hit shutout and added a solo home run as the Lady Yotes blanked St. Gregory’s of Oklahoma for the second time in two days, this time 4-0. Skinner and the C of I had lost a morning semifinal game in a 1-0 no-hitter at the hands of No. 1 seed Concordia-Irvine, who the Yotes will face again today for the right to advance to the championship bracket in Columbus, GA. They’ll have to beat Concordia twice.

This Day In Sports…May 15, 2003, 10 years ago today:

In the midst of a national hubbub over Annika Sorenstam’s upcoming appearance in a PGA Tour event the following week, the Albertson’s Boise Open announces a sponsor’s exemption for 13-year-old Hawaiian phenom Michelle Wie. The eighth-grader with the 290-yard drives would be the first female ever to play a Nationwide Tour event. Now 23, Wie has just two career victories on the LPGA Tour.

No one wants to see it get any worse

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Now it becomes clear that Titus Young may be lucky to be alive today. Bill Palttos, owner of the San Clemente, CA, home allegedly broken into by Young last Friday night, told KTLA-TV in Los Angeles he was prepared to shoot Young. Palttos confronted the former Boise State and Detroit Lions wide receiver. “I just yelled at him, ‘You better get the hell out of my house,’” Palttos told the station. “I feel sorry for him, and I’m sure glad that he left and I didn’t have to find out what’s going to happen if he came in,” Palttos said, “because I’m afraid I would have shot him.” It’s astonishing, concerning, and downright scary what’s happening to Titus Young.

Interestingly, the media in Detroit have been covering the story extensively. Lions beat writer Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press wrote last night about an interview with Young’s dad, Richard. The elder Young was having what he said was a good day with his son last Friday when he mistakenly gave Titus the key to his black Mustang (which Titus wasn’t supposed to drive after his two arrests the previous Sunday). “He took off and we ain’t seen him since,” said Richard Young. His dad said Titus had sought help recently at outpatient facilities in Texas and in Newport Beach and Malibu. “We want y’all to pray for the Young family,” Richard Young said. “Ain’t nothing we can do, man, but pray. We just want Titus to get well. We ain’t thinking about football, we’re thinking about our son now because I don’t know what’s going on with him.”

You would think that Young’s former running mate at Boise State, Austin Pettis, would know him well. Pettis, the St. Louis Rams wideout, is the Broncos’ all-time leader in receptions, while Young is BSU’s career leader in receiving yards. Their college careers were concurrent, from 2007-10. Pettis was on Idaho SportsTalk yesterday, and while acknowledging that he and Young were friends in their Boise State days, he says he hasn’t had much contact lately with his troubled colleague. “He has a real good heart,” said Pettis. “He’s in a tough situation right now. He’s a funny guy—I’m sad this is happening to him.” Pettis will be back in Boise at the end of the month for Alex Guerrero’s 5^th annual Gridiron Dreams Football Academy.

Quintin Mikell is the antithesis of Titus Young. Mikell never had anything handed to him. He redshirted instead of playing as a true freshman at Boise State. Despite two conference Defensive Player of the Year awards with the Broncos, Mikell went undrafted in 2003. He signed on as a free agent in Philadelphia and worked his way from special teams to starting safety and played in the Super Bowl and the Pro Bowl. Mikell was picked up by the Rams for his football smarts and leadership in 2011. He was released in a salary cap move two months ago, but the latest word is the Rams think enough of Mikell that they could still bring him back.

If Alex Smith still has wheels, this could be a good idea. Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid has hired the inventor of the Pistol offense, former Nevada coach Chris Ault, as an offensive consultant. Ault is intensely familiar with the San Francisco offense that was tweaked in favor of Pistol protégé Colin Kaepernick after he took over Smith’s starting job. Smith has since signed with the Chiefs, and Ault could define the facets of the Pistol that would allow Smith to thrive. It’s ironic that Smith, the first overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft, never had a chance to run the Pistol with the Niners. It’s a compelling new chapter for Ault, who spent 37 seasons as coach and/or athletic director of the Wolf Pack.

I have a selfish reason for going to Mountain West Conference broadcasting news today. San Diego State is moving its football and men’s basketball games to the one-time home of the late Wolfman Jack. The Aztecs will be heard on XEPRS-AM, the “Mighty 1090,” licensed to Rosarito in Baja California. It was on that station Wolfman Jack ruled the nighttime airwaves from 1965-72. With higher power allowed on Mexican frequencies, the Wolfman’s show would reach nooks and crannies all over the West, including Boise. He once made a stop on the south hill in Meridian, doing a couple wild hours live on KFXD in 1971 to promote a Labor Day rock festival in Hailey. Learfield Sports, which also holds Boise State’s rights, is making the switch for SDSU. We’ll see if the Aztecs come in on the Mighty 1090 here the way Wolfman Jack used to.

Rutgers, searching for a new athletic director in the wake of the Mike Rice abusive coaching scandal, was zeroing in on Fresno State’s Thomas Boeh. But Boeh, once seen as a front-runner, has withdrawn his name from consideration. The position with the Scarlet Knights opened up five weeks ago when Tim Pernetti accepted a $1.2 million settlement to resign. Boeh has brought some calm to the Bulldogs’ athletic department since being named AD in 2005. There have been no academic scandals, although many feel it took far too long to make the change in the football program that brought Tim DeRuyter to Fresno last year—and gave the Bulldogs their first league championship since 1999.

The Idaho Stampede has three representatives at the 2013 NBA Development League’s Elite Mini-Camp in Chicago, already underway. Justin Harper, Reggie Hamilton and Josh Owens are showcasing their skills in front of NBA scouts and executives looking to fill Summer League and training camp rosters. Harper, a 6-10 forward, played in 48 of the Stampede’s 50 games this past season, avergaing 11½ points and 6½ rebounds. Owens, the 6-9 forward out of Stanford, played 42 games and averaged 5½ points and 4½ rebounds. Hamilton saw action in 18 games with the Stamps.

The College of Idaho women’s softball team threw its best at St. Gregory’s of Oklahoma to open the NAIA Championships yesterday. Good move. Nickayla Skinner tossed a one-hit shutout, leading the Lady Yotes to a 2-0 victory in the Irvine Bracket. It was the C of I’s 10^th consecutive win, taking them into a game this morning against Concordia, the pod’s No. 1 seed, for a spot in the bracket title game.

This Day In Sports…May 14, 2011:

Boise State’s final conference competition after 10 years as a member of the WAC, as the Broncos finish second on the men’s side and seventh among the women at the conference track and field championships in Honolulu. It also marked the final time Boise State and Idaho would ever face each other in a conference event. The Broncos’ greatest successes during the WAC era came in football, of course. The final report card showed 75 wins, five losses and six undefeated seasons in league play, and a perfect 40-0 record on the blue turf.

Close again, but no cigar for the Steelies

Monday, May 13, 2013

The Idaho Steelheads weren’t able to coax the ECHL Western Conference Finals back to Boise after all. CenturyLink Arena will be quiet this week after Stockton closed out the Steelheads with another grinder victory, winning 2-1 Saturday night to take the series four games to one. No relation, but the Thunder’s Olivier Roy morphed into Patrick Roy once again, with 44 saves in 45 Idaho shots on goal. For the series, Roy stopped 191 of 200 Steelies shots. A breakway by Rylan Gallardi with 10 minutes left in the game typified the Steelheads fate. Gallardi had a great look, but Roy got his body in front of the puck and stuffed it.

The Steelheads are left to deal with the “what ifs” after their quick exit from the conference finals. What if they had cashed in on that stunning penalty shot they were granted with 1.4 seconds left in Game 4, when Roy rejected Austin Smith? What if the Steelies had consequently gone into overtime Friday and won, ensuring that the series would return to Boise? Momentum could have turned, possibly for Game 5 in Stockton but definitely for a Game 6 in CenturyLink. But that’s in moot point land now. The Steelies ran into a Cinderella, and Stockton should make life interesting for the Reading Royals in the Kelly Cup Finals.

Somebody make it stop. More police blotter for former Boise State star Titus Young. The one-time up-and-coming wide receiver for the Detroit Lions was arrested yet again Friday night, the third time in less than a week he’s been taken in. This time Young was allegedly burglarizing a home in San Clemente, CA. When police arrived, Young fled—then fought with officers once they caught up with him. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has charged him with burglary, assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. Bail was set at $75,000, and Young is set to be arraigned today. This is beyond sad.

Repeating the question I asked last night on Sunday Sports Extra: Is Titus Young “Titus Done?” Is this all there will ever be of his NFL career? Young has 81 catches for 990 yards and 10 touchdowns. He made 48 catches in a rookie year that ramped up rapidly, then had 33 grabs last year before he was shelved for insubordination. Young did not see the field after Thanksgiving, and he may never again without repentance. And he won’t repent until he gets help. From his first media interview in Boise at the age of 17 in 2007, you could see Young had an aura about him. He was bright, and his personality magnetic. But he couldn’t keep selfishness in check and paid for it by missing 10 games of his sophomore year due to suspension. That he was able to follow the rules and combine for 150 catches as a junior and senior now seems miraculous.

The Boise State men’s tennis team’s season-ending 4-3 loss to Clemson in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday can be best described by coach Greg Patton. “It was a thriller movie with more swings than a kids playground,” said Patton. “After (we lost) the doubles point we seemed doomed, then we resurrected ourselves to make the match look like we had a victory in the bag.” It was there the Tigers had a “not so fast my friend” for the Broncos, as Filipp Pogostkin ran out of gas in the final match of the day and fell in three sets. There are few things in college tennis as exhilarating as a 4-3 win, and few as wrenching as a 4-3 loss.

More weekend wrap: At the Mountain West Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Las Vegas, Boise State’s men finished fourth and the women seventh. But the Broncos’ Daveon Collins was named the Mountain West Outstanding Performer after winning the 100-meters and 200-meters (the latter in school-record fashion) and running a leg of Boise State’s winning 4x400-meter relay team. The Bronco women’s softball team ended the season with a 7-6 win over Nevada Saturday at Dona Larsen Park, riding five home runs. The College of Idaho women won the Cascade Conference Track and Field Championship Saturday with another sterling effort by Mountain View High grad Hillary Holt leading the way. And the Lady Yotes softball team opens play today in the NAIA Championships against St. Gregory’s of Oklahoma in Irvine, CA.

After a 74 dropped him well back in the pack Saturday, Graham DeLaet carded a three-under 69 in the final round of The Players Championship yesterday to finish tied for 26^th. The former Boise State star picked up three birdies on the back nine, and that was worth a lot of money. DeLaet earned $67,450 for the tournament and now has $637,184 for the season. He’s made the cut in 10 of his 13 starts.

Officials of the Idaho Select basketball program are elated after what they say was a “great final” in the 4^th annual Northwest Premier Invitational tournament yesterday. Utah Pump N Run got by Hoop Dreams of Boise featuring Borah High star Isaiah Wright, 57-52, for the championship. More than a dozen college coaches came to Boise to watch according to tournament organizers, who got a thumbs up from new College of Idaho men’s coach Scott Garson. “Idaho Select definitely does it right. I am already loving the Treasure Valley basketball community! Great hoops here,” tweeted Garson.

A.J. Pierzynski’s stint on the disabled list is giving former Boise Hawk Robinson Chirinos a second shot at the majors. Chirinos was called up Friday by the Texas Rangers, and yesterday he played in his first big league game in almost two years, starting at catcher and going 1-for-4 with a double in the Rangers’ 12-7 bashing of the Astros. Chirinos played 20 games for Tampa Bay in 2011, and that’s the extent of his major league career. He was the Hawks’ second baseman during their Northwest League championship season in 2002, when he hit .247 with eight home runs and 38 RBI.

This Day In Sports…May 13, 1976:

In the last American Basketball Association game ever played, Julius Erving scores 31 points to help the New York Nets overcome a 22-point third quarter deficit and beat the Denver Nuggets, 112-106, to win the final ABA title. It also marked the retirement of the league’s signature red-white-and-blue basketball. The next season the Nets, Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers would merge into the NBA.

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