Observing from afar on the first of July...presented by Clearview Cleaning.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009.
Today’s the day Larry Scott succeeds Tom Hansen, the 26-year commissioner of the Pac-10. It’s no less far-fetched today than it has been the past couple of years, but you’ve got to check out a couple sentences from the Sporting News Daily online edition. TSN used the occasion to list three intriguing issues facing Scott and one of them was “Football title game.” Writes Dave Curtis, “If Utah and Boise State continue their annual BCS runs, calls for expansion to 12 teams will continue. No changes are imminent, but of the six biggest leagues, the Pac-10 remains the most likely to grow in membership.” It was worth throwing in as we kick off the second half of the year.
But this is the vision of Hansen, sometimes criticized for his lack of vision. He was asked if Scott might someday be overseeing a Pac-12 or a Pac-16. “I don’t think. It certainly won’t be soon,” replied Hansen. “The reason a conference expands is to extend or enlarge its football for football television reasons. As we learned back in the 1990’s, the only real attractive place we could go was Texas. Texas then had, and likely still does, about seven percent of the nation’s television homes. The other institutions within our footprint would bring no gain. Nearby, including in the state of Utah, there aren’t enough television homes to make those institutions attractive. The prospects just aren’t there.” Hansen didn’t even get as far as the state of Idaho.
Next question. “Does the idea of a conference championship game cancel out some of those factors?” Said Hansen, “Our athletic directors have looked at that, and they’re not in favor. They would rather play nine games, and play a complete schedule. In addition, and this is a big thing, they’re not interested in dividing into divisions. There is a strong desire for all our members to play in Los Angeles every year, and having one of the L.A. schools play in their stadium. They get great exposure in the second-largest market in the country, and their coaches get their teams to play in a great area for recruiting. It’s an extremely valuable thing for our schools.” Yes, that is indeed a tough nut to crack.
Some Bronco football softball news today. Monday night the team held its first softball practice for its First Tee of Idaho charity game a week from Friday at Memorial Stadium. Here’s what we know from anonymous sources (whose initials are Richie Brockel and Kyle Wilson). There are concerns about George Iloka’s accuracy—he has a cannon for an arm, and it goes all over the place. Austin Pettis was the hitting star, but Wilson blamed it on the pitching (“That won’t happen in the game.”). James Crawford “took, like, 15 swings and missed on every one.” And Titus Young thought it was dance practice. The big game between the offense and defense is Friday, July 10, at 6PM, beginning with the home run derby.
Gerald Alexander’s trade from Detroit to Jacksonville was finalized yesterday. The former Boise State standout goes to the Jaguars for wide receiver Dennis Northcutt. The deal, first announced last Friday, had to wait for both players to pass physicals. That was no small issue in the case of Alexander, who suffered a fractured vertebra in the fifth game of the season last year. He’ll provide much-needed depth to Jacksonville’s safeties group. Alexander has 88 tackles, two interceptions, two fumble recoveries, and two sacks in his two-year NFL career.
Three in a row was too much to ask of a Boise Hawks team that’s still finding its way. Yakima salvaged the finale of a three-game series versus the Hawks with a 9-5 win last night at Memorial Stadium. Josh Lansford, making the switch to the mound this year, was saddled with the loss after allowing the eventual winning run on a wild pitch in the seventh inning. It was the only run allowed in one inning of work by the son of former major leaguer Carney Lansford. Keying the Boise offense was one of the South Korean contingent—Jae-Hoon Ha knocked in four runs, three of them on a bases-clearing double in the fourth inning. That doubled Ha’s RBI total for the season. The Hawks now hit the road for three games at Tri-City before returning home for the 4th of July.
Capital High’s Kasen Covington is on a roll. Not yet a senior for the Eagles, Covington followed a second straight state championship with a national title yesterday by capturing the triple jump at the U.S. Youth Track and Field Championships in Ypsilanti, MI. The leap of 48 feet, 4½ inches qualified Covington for the U.S. world youth team, with a trip to Italy and the World Youth Championships waiting next week. He has one more piece of business in Ypsilanti, though—the long jump, which will be contested today.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by A-1 PLUMBING…where the red carpet is always on time!
July 1 in many a year: The day when new conference affiliations traditionally take effect. On this day in 1970, Boise State officially became a member of the Big Sky. In 1996, Boise State and Idaho joined the Big West on July 1st. In 2001 on this day, BSU and Idaho went their separate ways—the Broncos off to the WAC while the Vandals began to split time with the Sun Belt (for football) and the Big West (for all other sports). And Idaho joined BSU in the WAC four years ago today.
(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 1350 KTIK/The Ticket. He also handles color commentary on KTVB’s telecasts of Boise State football.)
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