Presented by BLAZ’N DIAGNOSTICS.
Friday, May 2, 2014.
This is a good day for Boise State to celebrate the end of the sanctions handed down by the NCAA in 2011. It was three years ago today the university announced an NCAA investigation of the athletic department involving 80 secondary rules violations and one major infraction. The major one, the use in competition of a women’s tennis player not yet enrolled in school, was the tipping point. Football was accused of providing impermissible housing, transportation and meals totaling $4,934 to 63 incoming players during summer workouts over a five-year period, to become known as “Couch-gate.” The penalties were made official in September of that year—the loss of three scholarships and three spring football practices for three years (retroactive to the spring of 2011). The culmination of spring football three weeks ago effectively marked the end of the penalties.
Just what the Idaho Steelheads needed—another overtime tussle three nights after the longest game in ECHL history. But the Steelheads did it again, this time in Anchorage, as Josh Robinson had pocketed 47 saves and a shutout when the game ended just over six minutes into the first OT with a 1-0 victory. Gaelen Patterson, who had fired the centering pass to David de Kastrozza on the winning goal Monday night, got the deciding tally himself early this morning Mountain time at Sullivan Arena. The Steelies are 5-0 in one-goal games in the Kelly Cup Playoffs as Game 2 of the National Conference semifinals unfolds tonight.
That the Steelheads even got the game to overtime against the Aces is amazing. Idaho put up all of two shots on goal—two—in the second period and had been outshot a stunning 32-10 overall by Alaska at the second intermission. Yet Game 1 remained scoreless. In the end, Robinson had 47 saves to add to the 83 he had Monday night. That’s an unfathomable 130 saves in the last two games for Robinson. Maybe he gets a rest in favor of Pat Nagle tonight? But how do you stray away from such a hot hand?
Let’s do a little rewind on Gary Stevens as he gears up for another Kentucky Derby tomorrow aboard Candy Boy. It was a year ago that Stevens’ comeback was hitting a crescendo, as he returned to the Run For The Roses aboard Oxbow. The Idaho native had retired from horse racing in 2005 due to chronic knee pain—he had been taking anti-inflammatories daily for 15 years. Stevens got back in the saddle thanks to a nutritionist, a personal trainer and a sports psychologist, dropping more than 20 pounds to fit into his silks. But he already had one thing in his corner: seasoning. "I wish I had the body I had when I was 26 and the experience I have now going together," he said this week in USA Today. "I'd truly love that. Let's just say I'm having a good time."
Here’s your other Idaho tie tomorrow. Derby favorite California Chrome is, in effect, Rousing Sermon’s brother. Both horses were sired by Lucky Pulpit, owned by Boise’s Larry and Marianne Williams. Rousing Sermon, trained at Tree Top Ranches in Parma, finished eighth in the Kentucky Derby two years ago. California Chrome has a four-race winning streak, including a dominant win at the Santa Anita Derby last month. There’ll be 38.3 million people in the Golden State and 1.6 million folks in the Gem State rooting for California Chrome (the latter 1.6 million on the condition that Candy Boy doesn’t win).
Tomorrow is also Opening Day at Les Bois Park, with the track running 30 racing dates for the 2014 season. That’s down one from last year—very simply, racing began the Wednesday before the Kentucky Derby in 2013. So there you go. This will be the fourth season since Treasure Valley Racing rescued the sport from local dormancy midway through the 2011 season. First post time tomorrow will be 2 p.m.—there’ll be a break late in the card so everyone can view the Run For The Roses.
Idaho Stampede guard Kevin Murphy was named first-team All-NBA D-League yesterday. Murphy, who finished the season as the league’s leading scorer, was the only Stampede player to make the first three teams. Pierre Jackson, the runaway leader in D-League scoring when he left the Stampede to go overseas in February, averaged 29.1 points per game. Murphy was right behind him at 25.5 points per game for the season. Stampede guard Dee Bost earned honorable mention honors after finishing second in assists with 8.4 per game. Bost was also named a D-League All-Defensive third-teamer.
Boise is being mentioned as a possible home for what would be, in effect, a Double-A affiliate of the Seattle Sounders of the MLS. The Sounders say they’re close to fielding their own USL Pro soccer franchise. “We’re somewhere between 95 and 99 percent heading toward a USL Pro team here, certainly to begin with,” Seattle general manager Adrian Hanauer said Tuesday, according to a story at SounderAtHeart.com. By “here,” Hanauer means the Starfire Sports Complex, the Sounders’ training facility in Tukwila. But the club would entertain a move of its USL Pro team after 2015, with possible landing spots including Tacoma, Spokane, Bellingham, Everett, and “even Boise, Idaho.” Thing is, in a poll at SounderAtHeart.com asking where the Sounders should place a USL Pro franchise, 81 percent of the more than 3,600 voters say Boise.
Troy Merritt just has to maintain today, and he’ll make another cut on the PGA Tour. The former Boise State standout shot a one-under 71 yesterday in the first round of the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, five strokes behind leader Angel Cabrera. The downer for Merritt was a bogey on the 18th—he also had one at the turn. He’s playing back-to-back events on the tour for the first time in almost two months.
On the campus go-round: the College of Idaho baseball team opens play tomorrow morning at NAIA West Grouping Championships in Vancouver, B.C. The Coyotes face Menlo College after splitting a four-game series with the Oaks in Caldwell just two weeks ago. The Boise State women’s softball team closes its home schedule with a three-game series against New Mexico today, tomorrow and Sunday, at Dona Larsen Park. The Broncos have won nine of their last 10 games and are tied for second in the Mountain West, one game behind Fresno State. And Boise State’s only home track and field meet of the outdoor season, the Idaho-Utah Border Clash, is today and tomorrow at Dona Larsen Park. The Broncos are hosting athletes from BYU, Utah State, Weber State, Idaho State, College of Idaho, Northwest Nazarene and Lewis-Clark State.
It’s hard to put much stock in the court calendar in California. Troubled former Boise State wide receiver Titus Young was supposed to appear for another preliminary hearing a week ago, and the court date finally came up Tuesday. But, according to USA Today, Young’s attorney said he is in a Los Angeles area hospital. "He's receiving treatment and is in a safe place," Brian Hurwitz, said after a brief court hearing, at which Young was ordered to appear for another pre-trial hearing June 5. But Hurwitz said he hopes to come to an agreement with the Orange County district attorney's office before the case goes to trial. Young was arrested three times in a week last May and faces 11 criminal charges.
This Day In Sports…brought to you by HARMON TRAVEL…the art of travel—perfected.
May 2, 1939, 75 years ago today: Lou Gehrig pulls himself out of the New York Yankees lineup for the first time since 1925—2,130 consecutive games earlier. Gehrig would never play another game and would soon lose his battle with ALS, now known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Gehrig’s consecutive games record would stand for over 66 years, with Cal Ripken finally breaking it in 1995.
(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.)
Scott Slant sponsor sites:
