Training Camps Underway, Mobilizations Inevitable...and the Lights Go Out in the Big Sky

Mobilizations are underway...For the Kaiser!

Ah, the month of August. The month of high summer, with the heat in midday and pleasant relaxing time on the porch to enjoy the cooler evenings. Alas, because of the never-ending war for supremacy that is college sports, it is the month where war clouds begin to gather on the horizon, heralding the resumption of open hostilities to fight for the rights of ownership over the many fantastic wooden trophies handed out at the end of the long season courtesy of the Big Sky Conference, which is, appropriately enough, the dead of wintertime when everything is dead and dormant.

ISU Soccer has started their fall camps today, which the first rounds are physicals meant to see who actually worked out this summer enough to not die within the first few days. Football's first day is much worse, because they are shacked up in meetings all day in stuffy rooms and auditoriums. Only beginning tomorrow do the boys report to training to begin the full scale mobilization for the annual war that takes place from August to January (and in our little division's case, it's December). Volleyball begins next week when everyone is back in town and they are very eager to get their camp underway for the start of a very optimistic season, one which hopefully will culminate in a Big Sky crown, the first since 1990. Rugby will also be getting underway within the next two weeks to begin a hopeful campaign of resurgence to the ultimate goal of the National Championship tournament.

Mobilizations are underway throughout the conference as well, with camps opening up throughout the continent, each filled with optimism, dreams of Wooden Trophy Glory, and for football, the dream of "Who gets the honor and infamy of knocking off Montana and NOT sharing the Conference championship with them, so it actually counts?" In Missoula, the Emperor O'Day I is confident of retaining total hegemony over the continent even under the direction of the new Field Marshall Robin Pflugrad. Meanwhile, down south in Bozeman, the always-rebellious Bobcat Battalions mobilize to fight for their independence from Griz hegemony and their return to power under Robert II "Man of the Ash". In Ogden, King Ronald I McBride hopes to recover some territory lost to the Griz and stave off talk that Weber will slip once their fearful leader Cameron Higgins is past of age in the Weber military. Out west, the sea-born republic of Portland is struggling to survive and remain a legitimate player in the Big Sky balance of power. They have said in the past if their recent Elector, Nigel Burton, doesn't get the job done then they will likely reduce their army to bits and pieces and withdraw from general operations to create a more streamlined, professional army. The Confederation of Eagles under Beaumont Baldwin in Cheney is optimistic at a resurgence to knock off Montana and take over as the main power. And in Sacramento, Lord Sperbeck is wanting a great campaign to become more relevant in Big Sky affairs. Down in Flagstaff, the always scheming Jerome Sauers is practically begging for a war, in hopes he can halt the downslide of his shrinking empire. Northern Arizona has a well-trained and dangerous military, however their effectiveness is limited by dubious decisions of their leaders. Also, a winning campaign for NAU would bring in money and stave off chronic underfunding of the general army there. At Northern Colorado, the Army of Greeley is hoping to expand their territories after taking a beating on the battlefield for so long. They are a hungry, healthy little empire with aspirations, being urged ever onward by their leader, King Downing I "The Scotsman." And for Idaho State under Archduke Zamberlin I, a war is the only way to survive as an empire, which is beset with too many problems to name.

Within a few weeks, these young men and women will be flinging themselves at each other on various battlegrounds as the great melee unfolds as time goes. War is in the air! The Big Sky is up in arms once more! The lights are going out in the Big Sky Conference, and we shall not see them lit again until May, when the leaves have fallen off the trees and have grown BACK AGAIN!