Good morning and Happy Hump Day Cougs! I’m back from Vegas and in one piece, albeit still completely exhausted, largely without a voice and now starting to get sick. Was it all worth it? Hell yes it was, especially the no voice thing. I twice was largely responsible for kicking off the fight song in the large Cougar section. I’m gonna have to work in some room on the ol’ resume for that achievement. I won’t talk about the game itself (insert your preferred reference here…ad nauseum, dead horse, whatever), but I do want to touch briefly on the experience. While it was surely disappointing to many a Coug gambler – my two brothers and many others I met with much higher stakes included – it was really quite remarkable to experience a late half-point cover in Las Vegas. I was never terribly nervous about the Cougs losing the game, but man it was the most intense 8-point game I’ve ever experienced. A couple quick-hit Vegas anecdotes before I move on to talking about football:
To the young lady at the airport bar who was relaying to your mother the fact that your significant other had spent $13,000 on Hookers and Blow the night before, I’m very sorry. I would recommend never going to Vegas again. There are many cliches associated with Sin City, but when it ends up being the Hookers and Blow route that happens, Vegas becomes a stay-away.
To the German dude I was partying with at the Hofbrauhaus that blacked out mid-dance, somersaulted over the table and somehow popped back up and immediately started dancing again, you’re awesome. I’ve never seen anything quite like it and probably never will again.
To Courtney, our server at Gilley’s, I heart you. I’m sorry we thought you were old.
Alright, enough of that. Suffice it to say, I had a great time on the trip and whole-heartedly agree with my main man Longball that Bill Moos needs to set up some Away and Away games with UNLV. Do it for us, Bill. On to the football talk…
As the title of this heretofore incoherent rambling indicates, Wazzu is already a quarter of the way through the football season. A lot has already happened in three short weeks. If you’re the call-every-mini-controversy-a-gate sort, we’ve had Body Language-Gate, Struggled With an FCS Team-Gate and of course, Tuel-Halliday-Gate. It seems we can all agree that this is not how we envisioned the Leach Era starting, but when has a college football season ever started exactly how we think it will? (Hint: the answer rhymes with lever and means not ever.) I’ve decided to look at this season so far like a golf hole. It doesn’t much matter how you make a par as long as you make a par. Similarly, it doesn’t matter to me (anymore) how the Cougs have gotten to 2-1. At the end of the day, the record says 2-1. If you remember, that’s exactly where a certain Blogfather who writes on Wednesdays said we would be so I’ve decided to not be dissatisfied. If the particularly angry Coug fan I met at the aforementioned Hofbrauhaus happens to be a reader, he can totally vouch for this. For as many times as he said we stink, I said, “2-1 is 2-1”. I was likely trying to convince myself more than him, but ultimately we were both zonkerberry crunched (drunk, for those that don’t speak Huddy) so it was a fairly ridiculous conversation regardless. Aaaaaaaaanyhew, my point is….well, it’ something. I think it’s that it’s time to stop pissing and moaning about not winning pretty and just worry about winning. Who are we to be picky anyway?
Since this post is already the least structured post in the history of history anyway, let’s fire off some quick quarter pole awards, shall we?
The Clark Griswold, “If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn’t be more surprised than I am right now” Award for achievement in surprise.
The winner here is none other than my favorite pleasant surprise of the season, My Main Man Ian (Ioane Guata). It looks like we have an anchor in the center of our defensive line for the next couple years so that’s pretty cool. Also…..
The Hair Raid Award for Special Achievement in Hair Raidness also goes to My Main Man Ian! Good job, good effort, Chester Sua and Justin Sagote, but the Hair Raid thing is just even more next level on a massive defensive lineman who is currently playing like a crazy person.
The Bobby Boucher Award for “Slap Hands” Awesomeness goes to……
Me! I learned at Sam Boyd Stadium that high-fiving the parents of a college football player who is having a helluva ballgame is pretty awesome. Said parents may or may not have appreciated my over-exuberant approach, but I think they were into it. When I started yelling “All Pac-12” at them, it might have become a bit much. Blame it on beer sales at UNLV games…or the fact that I’m a spaz.
The “Hey, aren’t the young guys supposed to be the ones making mistakes? You guys are our veteran leaders out there. How about we get rid of some of those dropsies, blown coverages and stupid penalties, mmmmk?” Award
There was a multi-player tie in this horribly named category, but your winners are Marquess Wilson, John Fullington, Nolan Washington, Damante Horton, Tyree Toomer and Daniel Simmons. To borrow from the unnecessarily evil version of Dan Devine in Rudy, “You’re an All-American and our captain. Act like it.” Also, to bastardize the response from Fake Roland Steele, I believe that these guys will. My faith in this group of players is as irrational as it is unwarranted, with the exception of MQW of course, but I believe that they will start making plays and consistent good football is coming.
I think I’ve run out of things to say so let’s all say a quick thank you to the Schedule Gods for giving us the gift of EWU-UNLV-Colorado to work out some kinks, then get ready to bear down for a grind that starts in a couple weeks.
Go Cougs.
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