The Ups and Downs of the Softball Season and Other Fun Stuff

Since my last post, softball has tried to rebound from their horrible skid in Oregon to the Ducks and Beavers. They've done really well in some games and Oregon-like in others but since they're still fighting, I give my props.

At the Antichri--I mean, BYU--Invitational, they went 0-4. They were beaten by UNLV in the first game 9-8 and would show strong efforts against Cal State Bakersfield and BYU before being wiped out in the 4th game by UNLV, who ran wild with a 19-4 score.

ISU would rebound against the Argos of Great Falls, Montana, by dishing out some frustration in the shape of a 16-1 beating and a much closer 6-5 game. This series against the Argos also saw little Megan Miller earn the All-Time Hits Leader in ISU history! Congratulations to you, Megan! ISU then trekked to Seattle and lost both games 13-3 and 11-9, one of which was lost after a fantastic rally (props!). The next day was all ISU with the Bengals winning 8-7 in the first game and 5-4 the second time around over Seattle.

ISU is home again on Tuesday, hosting cross-state pals Boise State University for like, the FIRST TIME EVERRRR! Hopefully ISU can pull this out and win and get rolling in conference and gain ISU's first conference title since the 2006-2007 season that saw the ISU Women's Basketball team win in Missoula and the ISU Soccer team beat Sacramento State in a dramatic overtime finish on penalty goals.

In other news, the football team has hosted their Spring practices and stuff and because 1) I'm lazy, and 2) Kelvin Ang of the Idaho State Journal has it covered, you can see how things are going hyah:


(On a sidenote, you can see me on there sometimes. Look for my posts as "Bengal Superfan")

On a note about the spring practices, Stew Tracy ran all over the defense with 203-rushing yards. Now I'm not saying I won't praise Stew for getting those yards. That's good, aggressive running, something we didn't bother to have with whatever the hell kind of offense we had last year (I'm still trying to figure out what we were attempting to do. All I saw were stretches and screens. Bah). What I am critical of is the defense for letting Stew run over them like that.

Speaking of getting run over, ISU Rugby ran into a brick wall against the Montana Men's League Bozeman Cutthroats Rugby Club. It started promising enough with some good runs and solid line play but then it deteriorated when the Cutthroats got their back line going. Seriously it is the BEST back line I have seen since joining Bengal Rugby in Spring 2009. We were beaten in the rucks and failed to put pressure on their back line, and we did not tackle well at all. We're hoping to rebound with a potential away match against the Boise Stingrays this Saturday (speaking of which we would have played them 2 weeks ago but the Idaho spring weather prevented much of the team from traveling to Boise).

ISU Rugby is still looking good with a 4-2 record this Spring and could finish 6-2 if we win against the Boise Lions and the match-unconfirmed with the Stingrays. (Both of which are full of Polynesians, which means this blogger will be lining up against 6'4", close to 280 pound mammoths. And I'm only 5'3" and 150...hehehehehhehe)

And as a last note, because every blog post needs a picture...

AWWWWWW! IT SOOO CUTE!

And have a random rugby clip of Georgian Giorgi Shkinin returning an interception for a try (it's just like a touchdown) against Ireland for your daily dose of awesome. To give you an idea how awesome this is, interceptions in rugby are rarer because the ball is being passed laterally, making it a pain to pick it off. Picking off passes in rugby requires skill, timing, and a good level of testicularity.

Kefka Continues Laughing

And Kefka continues to laugh. Softball lost to Oregon State in two games, 12-2 and 8-0. Hey, told you he'd continue laughing. Oh did I mention that before he became insane, Kefka deliberately used biological warfare on a town that was under siege...and he was winning said siege? He did it just because it was taking too long.

Anyways, there's the nerdy side to this blog. Hopefully softball can rebound at St. George, Utah before their first home match next Monday at noon (in this blog author's opinion, it's a ridiculous time. Seriously, whoever makes the schedule must open it up to students and the public better. I mean, Mondays at noon I'm in class and then I split for lunch. Schedule for Saturdays and Sundays at those times if you want, with the occasional Friday. But noon in the middle of the week is just crazy.)

Wowwwwww

Softball...lost in spectacular fashion to #25th ranked Oregon this Spring Break...19-0 the first game and 13-0 the second time around. Such merits this image of one of the most evil, insane and pathologically cruel characters to ever grace any video game, Kefka, laughing in his usual crazy fashion. For those who don't know, Kefka is the main villain of Final Fantasy 6 and essentially becomes a god later on in the game and a completely nihilistic god at that (I mean, the guy becomes a god and the source of all magic in the world, wipes out millions of people just because he can, and spreads a sickness around the world that slowly kills off plants and animals as to further the suffering of the survivors; who by the way, must pay homage to Kefka in a cult that worships him, knowing he'll probably wipe them out anyway...how evil can you get?).

Anyways, hopefully the team rebounds vs Oregon State and then gets the home games going with some wins. If not, Kefka will continue laughing.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately

"If Ron Burgundy says it...IT'S THE TRUTH!"

Sorry for the lack of posts and all. It's been a crazy few weeks and all but I'll give you people the news you deserve, even if you've already seen it, read it, and argued about it over pitchers of Bud Light and shots of Wild Turkey on Mug Nights at Hooligans.

In a post I just posted, this is ISU's new theme song until something good happens. Indeed, it could very well be embraced by the city of Pocatello and Southeast Idaho at large. It's so perfect!!!

http://rocketrossblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/isus-new-fight-song-in-light-of-recent.html Follow the link hyah.

ISU basketball went to two very different paths since the last official postings, and so did the Big Sky. The men received their orange Snuggies today, with a bonus matching black Snuggie from the Big Sky Trophy God in honor of their illustrious 7 and 20 campaign. It was a season that many say went downhill after the completion of the usually brutal non-conference slate. The downfall began with another loss to Sacramento State at Sacramento by 1 point and after that it was all downhill. ISU lost on Senior Night and later on lost their final game to EWU. It can't hurt as much as the way Weber State went out though. Up by 20 at halftime...IN OGDEN...in the Big Sky Championship Game, with ESPN2 and a good Ogden crowd with the Big Sky Trophy God in attendance, Weber State was looking very good at avenging last year's "Holy-Shit-That-Happened" moment against Montana State. NOT! The Grizzlies rode Anthony Johnson the whole way as he scored a Big Sky Championship Game record of 42 points as they STUNNED Weber State to reach the Promised Lands. The Big Sky Trophy God handed out a beautiful purple and white Snuggie to a distraught Wizard of Weber and departed without the usual good-hearted mockery, knowing this was indeed a tender moment for the Weberians.


Weber State lies in stunned ruin as Montbo looks over the carnage approvingly

On the flip side of the coin, the ISU Women pulled off a series of great upsets and thrilling games on the home run of the season (the last 6 of 8 games were in Reed Gym) by toppling the Conference powers at home with powerful defense and Oana Iacovita, who should be inaugerated into the list of Great Romanians. It started with grinding Portland State and holding Vince Young Faucher to a Colt McCoy-vs Ohio State 2006 level of performance. ISU did the same to the high flying Eagles, who would eventually go on to host the tournament as regular season champions. ISU also hung with Sacramento State using...DEFENSE!!! The game went into overtime (off of several bad calls by a certain lady referee, who almost threw Yours Truly out of the game) and there was no better way for Senior Andrea Videbeck to go out than getting the game-winning steal. ISU secured 4th place in the regular season and sadly, fell to Portland State at the Conference Tournament in Cheney, Washington. PSU would go on to the NCAA's, giving Claire Vince Young Faucher one final raid on unsuspecting monasteries.

Other updates:

ISU Rugby lost to Utah Valley in the Conference Tournament, after beating Boise State for a second straight semester in the first round. ISU's Spring record so far is 2-1-1 with wins against Boise State and Utah State, the tie coming against Snow College (in which the game was called due to a brawl at halftime) and the loss against UVU in the tournament, 25-18. There are still some games to be played against Montana Tech and others being arranged for April, in which Yours Truly hopes to get in on and take part in modern-day Viking raids and battles.

Softball is alive and at 4-13, is going to finish up the non-conference slate for awhile with the two Oregon schools, and will be home after the Spring Break period is over. Of interesting note, Coach Andrea Wilson is on paid administrative leave at the moment with investigations pending. Hopefully nothing will turn up and the whole incident just passes over, whatever the hell it is (this softball program has already survived a 24-year absence, countless defections and transfers, and a softball coach (Larry Stocking) who embezzled money from the program and is now serving a prison sentence for it. I just want it all to end and let softball worry about playing softball instead of looming scandals and dissention).

ISU's New Fight Song in Light of Recent Breakdowns

So in an earlier post I remarked that men's basketball would have to win out in order to avoid a total collapse. Well, they didn't. In fact, we finished 7-20 for the season. In honor of this achievement, I present to you, loyal fans, with ISU's (and Pocatello's) new fight/theme song: the Cheers theme.

Enjoy!

Big Sky Conference Women's Basketball Standings. Plus an ocelot

It's January 10th, and boy oh boy was it an eventful day. Caesar crosses the Rubicon, Napoleon annuls his marriage to Josephine, and John Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil. Oh and funnily enough, the League of Nations holds its first session and ratifies the Treaty of Versailles...on the same day, 26 years later, the United Nations hold ITS first ever session.

But that's kid stuff in the face of the awe-inspiring might that is Big Sky Women's Basketball and the Race for Wooden Trophy Glory! Portland State continues to roll, Eastern Washington is a surprising 9-6 (3-0), Idaho State keeps to the sacred and divinely-inspired tenets of bludgeoning teams to death and sacrificing the survivors, and Montana under Darth Selvig is struggling in the wake of losing Mandy Morales and Sonya Rogers (only 2-2 so far, 7-9 overall). As for the rest, here are the standings!

Eastern Washington (3-0) 9-6 W3

Portland State (3-0) 9-7 W3

Idaho State (3-1) 8-9 W2

Montana (2-2) 7-9 L2

Northern Colorado (1-2) 8-8 L2

Northern Arizona (1-2) 3-13 W1

Montana State (1-3) 8-9 L3

Weber State (1-3) 7-10 L1

Sacramento State (0-2) 4-10 W1

So here we have the Eagles in the lead, having beaten Montana, MSU, and Sacramento State. Portland State, the other unbeaten, has defeated those same schools with that Vince Young impersonator, Claire Faucher (pronounced Fo-shay for those not familiar with Les Langue Francaise). Idaho State is in 3rd, having played 4 Conference games with 3 wins (over NAU, Northern Colorado and Montana State in overtime) and the lone loss to Montana (only account of a late run by a freshman on UM's roster. I forget her name, and am too lazy to look it up). Montana, the dominating force of the conference since the Fall of Numenor and the founding of the Kingdoms in Exile, has struggled mightily this year. Mandy Morales, the warrior from hell, has moved on to basketball in Greece (appropriately enough) and Sonya Rogers has also graduated. Darth Selvig is going to be entering a rebuilding year in conference play; they finished non-conference with a 7-9 record. It was only a few seasons ago they cracked the Top 25 in the country. Norther Colorado is next at 5th in conference and hopes to regain some composure after their defeat at Idaho State. UNC is sporting a 1-2 record in conference play with the win coming against NAU. Speaking of which, they are tied for 5th (6th in the official standings) with an identical 1-2 record. The lone victory was against a faltering Weber State. NAU finished non-conference with a 3-13 record, which was painful to say the least. Montana State comes in at 7th, with a 1-3 record and a 20-point win over Weber State. Weber State comes in at 8th, with a 1-3 record and their only win vs Northern Colorado. On a sidenote, they beat BYU in 2 overtimes, which is awesome (because BYU=Sauron). And bringing up the wagon train is Sacramento State, who has no wins as of yet (and it hopefully won't be ISU).

So far the conference race has been fun to watch and it will get even better as the season rolls on. And hopefully it will end with ISU clutching the Wooden Trophy after beating opponents senseless by bludgeoning and pounding them to a pulp and earning the praise and blessing of the Big Sky Trophy God! Go Bengals! For Defense and the Munger Way!


OCELOTS! AWWWAAAHHH!

By the way, have a random picture of an ocelot. They're cute. It's like the unofficial mascot of my blog. Cute, mysterious and totally random.

On the Move Up for Montana and FCS Football all dramatic like

The silent ruins of a once proud FCS program, forgotten by time

Urban Meyer once said, "If you're staying where you're at, you're regressing, not progressing."

There has been a lot of talk on whether Montana should move up when the NCAA removes the moratorium on teams moving up in 2011. It's a subject that has been beaten, brutalized, and savagely ripped up into tiny tiny pieces over the years. However, this year is special. With the failing of several FCS programs and their imminent axing, along with several programs like Idaho State and Northern Arizona who are running the risks of going the same way, plus several of the FCS' best programs planning on moving up immediately after the moratorim has been lifted and others planning on moving up in the very near future, the debate on the move for Montana has gotten bigger and has taken on more meaning.

Egriz has a thread debating where Montana would be in 5 years. Many have said that the Griz will likely be competing for bowl games in FBS play, and while expressing distaste for the idea, it seems some of Griz Nation is accepting its inevitibility. And they, sadly, are correct in my opinion and from what I'm seeing.

FCS football is a losing proposition, a fading realm reminiscient of older times of a more informal, freer society of ragtag regional powers scrapping happily amongst each other in a quest of establishing dominance that used to characterize FBS football before the rise of the 24/7 News Era. Programs that cannot bring in the gold are becoming mere pages in a dusty history book long since forgotten. Hofstra and Northeastern have dropped their programs entirely and after the firing of Jerry Glanville, Portland State said in a press release that "if we don't get this hire right, it may be the last football hire we ever make." My very own Idaho State football team is on the edge of being axed. Northern Arizona is wondering if they should also cut football due to the chronic budget shortfalls plaguing Arizona. Sacramento State is also pondering the move to ax their program as well, due to the major fail that is the California economy. Meanwhile, the best and most recognizable programs of the FCS, Appalachian State, Texas State, Montana and James Madison and a few others are looking at the 2011 date with an ever bulging eye. Major stadium upgrades are being looked at and being constructed, and other details being mulled over as well. Not that they will for sure move up but it is a distinct possibility. These teams along with a few others constitute the top, very elite half of the FCS. The rest of the FCS is losing money; in most cases many programs are bleeding money out of a major wound.

Montana finds itself in a unique situation, and that's not necessarily a good thing. Missoula is a grand football citadel in a state that's sparsley populated, with few population centers that barely match up to dynamic Boise or Salt Lake City. This isolation will make it a hard sell for the Griz to get into a conference; indeed if the FCS will last long enough for the Griz to get settled. Adding to this is that Montana is in a conference that is slowly fading and withering to nothing; their empty stadiums an echo of what once was. Outside of the state of Montana, there is no interest in any of the Big Sky schools save for a small minority of diehards who will go down with those ships. And unlike their bretheren east of the Mississippi, who compromise a good 90% of the FCS' best teams, Montana is the one and only top program in the FCS West. There will be no competition for the Grizzlies whatsoever, no matter how many teams are brought up from Division II football.

Although Montana enjoys playing for national championships in a playoff system, in the long run Montana will be doomed to a long, empty decline to irrelevance and eventual fading away if they stay in the FCS. There simply is no future with the decline and fading away of the FCS, never mind the dying of the Big Sky Conference.

Elrond Half-Elven elaborates on this (paraphrased and worked around to fit this thing):



"If Montana remains in the FCS after this moratorium is lifted, you will still be a winning program. If your enemies in the CAA have moved on or have been defeated and you are crowned champions and all that you hope for comes true you will still have to taste the bitterness of the inevitability of collapse. Whether by the swords of the few remaining programs east of the Mississippi River or the slow decay of time, your program will die. And there will be no comfort for you, no comfort to ease the pain of its passing. Montana will come to death an image of the splendor of the Lords of Big Sky programs and FCS teams in glory undimmed before the breaking of the FCS. But you, Montana...you will linger on in darkness and in doubt as nightfall in winter that comes without a star. Here you will dwell bound to your grief and Montana State under the fading ruins of FCS stadiums until all the world is changed and the long years of your life are utterly spent."