Happy Thursday Coug Fans!
It’s the eve of the 2010 Winter Olympics, but who has time to care with all the news pouring out of Cougar Country. It’s been a big week, what with a new D-tackle signing on to Paul Wulff’s 2010 recruiting class, starting cornerback Brandon Jones being dismissed from the team after another run-in with Johnny Law, Pac-10 expansion rumors hitting a fever pitch and buried under all these headlines, the most important news of all… the Cougar men’s hoopers face off against the Cardinal in Maples tonight.
Read on for plenty of random thoughts on that, walk-ons and the Winter Olympics…
Maples. I hate that place. Is it just me, or have the Cougs never seemed to win there, EVER. Of course there were the years where Stanford was a force with Coach Monty and Brevin Knight, then Coach Trent and those 8 foot tall Lopez twins. You didn’t really expect wins in those days. But to me Maples has always been one of those places that even in our good years and the Cardinal down years, victory has been so hard to come by. I’ve never been there, so I can’t speak to the impact of the venue itself or the crowd, but I suspect that the maddeningly consistent combination of smart players and good coaches has something to do with it. Winning at home is the hallmark of solid programs, and the Furd has been exactly that, solid.
Is there any glimmer of hope in this year’s match up? I’ll tell you what, if any of you are still holding out post season hopes for this team, this is one of those wins you just gotta have. Lets hope the young pups in crimson can play some solid D, keep their composure, hit the boards and stay after it for 40 minutes. Fields and Green are ballers, and should give us fits, but this Cardinal team can not hang with us if we’re firing on all cylinders. I don’t have a prediction for you except to say that without a doubt the refs will be cartoonishly awful and Bud Nemek will let you know every single call they miss.
In football news, I hope you all have a chance to check out the Cougfan article on this year’s crop of invited walk-ons. You may say, “walk ons? Who cares!” Well I will tell you who cares… YOU DO! This is important folks, and another area that was being neglected to the detriment of the team before this new staff arrived. These players are important for a lot of reasons, and our own LucasCoug sums up their most important contribution nicely…
“These kids should be the ones playing special teams. The last 5 years we have had starters on the special teams Lines and Wedges and it absolutely kills us in the game itself!”
He’s right, you know. Anyone remember our special teams play last year? If you have spent as much $$$$ on psychotherapy to forget it as I have then I apologize for triggering a flashback. It wasn’t pretty. You may also have noticed that our starters on both sides of the ball were getting worn down and INJURED a lot. Me thinks having to depend on so many of them to fill the holes on special teams contributed mightily to these other well-publicized woes. Not to mention, every once in a while one of these kids emerges as a major contributor. Last year it was Pullman High’s very own Jared Byers (I never miss a chance to promote the Hounds!).
Finally, it is time for that quadrennial festival of sledding, skating, skiing and shooting… the Winter Olympics. I’ll be honest, as Olympic events go the Winter Olympics are my 4th favorite behind the Summer Olympics, the Special Olympics and the Beer Olympics. So, needless to say, I’m not overwhelmed with the Olympic spirit. However, these games do have me thinking… I miss the Cold War. I really do. As wars go it was so civil. I mean can you even imagine us and Al-Quaida taking a timeout from drone attacks and suicide bombings to play some hockey? It goes to show you never know what you have till its gone, and boy did we have a good thing going with those commies in the Olympics. I was so much more engaged in the Olympics when there was a lethal, indeed nuclear blood feud brewing just beneath the surface of every event. I would cheer until I was hoarse every time a 14 year old, 75 pound Romanian girl would do a face plant on the floor exercise. I would be high as a kite for days off the sheer joy of an apple pie and pony tails American gal out touching a 6’5″ 215 lb East German she-man in the 400 M freestyle. They were such great villains, always bigger, stronger, meaner, and, of course… they cheated like crazy. We could revel in both the self righteous indignation of being “unfairly” beaten by them, or celebrate our sheer American awesomeness by overcoming such long odds when we did beat them. It was the golden age of Olympic Sports, and it will never be that great again. I’m sorry but there is no combination of aerial flips that Sean White can do that will ever match the Miracle on Ice.
That’s all for now folks. Everyone get back to work, and GO COUGS!
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