Don't Sleep On Seattle

In the midst of spring time and the entertaining playoff basketball that comes with it, the high hopes I placed on my Seattle Mariners of the American League West are slowly diminishing. The M's of the northwest had lost five in a row and 10 of their last 11 (before beating the Chicago White Sox 6-3 on May 11), two of the contests being shutouts, only scoring a combined seven runs in the losing efforts. The problem is apparent in this dismal 15-24 start, good for last in the AL West in case you were wondering. The Mariner's bats haven't produced what their big chunky contracts said they could produce. Third baseman Adrian Beltre is batting a horrific .254 and is making 13,400,000 big ones. The 15.5 million dollar Richie Sexson has more stikeouts than hits and seems to be better at hitting pitchers with his helmet than putting a piece of wood to a ball. His current five game suspension could be the best thing that has happen to a team since I don't know when.

Ponder these discouraging facts with me for a moment and see if you can digest one of these explanations as a solution. Either they have simply accepted the fact that they have no chance at winning another pennant until they make a big trade to get A-Rod back in the evergreen state, they have given up hope on a manager that they didn't place much hope in in the first place, or they are buckling under the pressure of a city that has seen their Sonics move east to Oklahoma City.

It could be all of those circumstances or none of them, but none the less, I would advise you on one thing:

Don't sleep on Seattle.

Track & Feild

Track and Field here at ISU is really overlooked. We have several exceptional athletes in all events. Lately Cassie Merkley has had an amazing season for the Bengals. She is a javelin thrower and has qualified for the NCAA tournament 7 times just this year. She has also earned Big Sky field athlete of the week three times this season. She competed in last weekends Bronco Twilight in Boise recording a throw of 155 feet, 8 inches which won her second place.
Although track and field events are not publicized as much as other sports around here I think that track is a lot of fun to watch during the finals. I suggest going to watch some of the amazing athletes here at ISU.

Book Review

Blakely Peppinger
Book Review
"Reach For the Summit"

I read the book "Reach For the Summit" by Pat Summitt. This book written by Pat as she recalls her journey to where she is now as head coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers. She has been coaching since 1974 starting and staying with the Vols. She was an All-American and co-captain of the U.S. Olympic team in 1976. She said that each year her experiences of playing and coaching have helped her be a better coach.

She is well respected and you can see that by the way that she coaches. She mentions that she has made mistakes, said words that she wishes she could take back but that she always looks forward and is always looking to improve. One big thing that she mentions in this book several times is about never waiting till next year. She coached a few rough years with some hard working but unsuccessful teams but the teams have always come back at the end of the year for strong finishes. She hated those years because people from the Media kept asking her over and over about what she was going to change for the next season. She hated that because they were in mid-season and although the current situation wasn't looking too well she never let her teams give up and just wait it out to the following year.

She mentions that a big part of coaching and playing is being a good communicator. You don't have to speak well, but you do have to listen well. She says, "Talking is the least of it. If you really want to get something across, body language, facial expression, eye contact, and listening are all necessary parts of communicating."

She relates a lot of stories of current, and past players that have influenced her as a person. A lot of her big experiences in coaching have great life lessons. She loves her job and has a unique passion for the sport.

Another interesting fact about Pat is that this year she improved her coaching record to 983-182 which makes her the all-time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history.

Feature Story

Blakely Peppinger
Feature Story
May 7, 2008

Most people in this community know who the starting quaterback is here at Idaho State University. They also may know the team's record and even the stats of a few players. Since there are over 80 players on the football team at one time, it is hard to get to know any team member off the feild. One outstading player that has made a difference for ISU football is the current starting quarterback Russel Hill.

Russel comes from the Boise area and is a graduate of Timberline High School. He was a standout football palyer for Timberline as well as a star baseball player. In his junior and senior years, he led Timberline's football team to a 12-7 combined record. During his senior year, he helped carry the baseball team to a state championship.

Russel came to ISU in January of 2006 and redshirted that fall. He then earned the position as starting quarterback in 2007 as a Freshman.

Russel comes from a family of alumni of Idaho State. His father and grandfather both attended the University. His father Daryl has not missed a home game since Russ started his college career as a Bengal.

Russel's girlfriend of three years, Bonnie Wagstaff, has recently been called on an LDS mission to New Zealand. She has been to almost all of Russel's games and was with him throughout their senior year at Timberline. She will be leaving in July and will miss his sophmore season. She played volleyball in Wyoming her freshman year at Eastern Wyoming College. She then transfered to ISU last fall and played volleyball for the bengals.

Russel's teammates and coaches all think very highly of his dedication and character on and off the field. Teammate and friend Preston Kelly said, "Russ is a great leader through his hard work and passion for this team." The respect that Russel has earned from his teammates will surely benefit the team this fall.

His latest honor was receiving the "Newcomer of the Year" award at the annual Bennion Banquet. Russel will surely have many other awards coming his way throughout the remainder of his career at ISU.

volleyball

We have a coach! I know you were all concerned. It will be announced tomorrow at 4 with a press conference at Holt. I am very excited about this even though it has taken over 5 months. Luckily though it is just in time for the June 1st start.

Sports Writing Handbook

This book, by Steve Wilstein, was one of the chosen books for our class. I really liked the simple language that Wilstein used in this book, so I decided to use it to write my book report on. Wilstein broke his book up into chapters based on the different areas of sports reporting. He painted a basic picture of life as a sports writer.
At times, Wilstein made the occupation of sports journalism appealing to me and made me want to be on the sidelines watching the sport. Other times, he got into the other aspects of sports journalism, the traveling and long hours away from family. Being as maternal as I am, I plan to start a family soon and I could not leave my family for any length of time.
Wilstein also includes many pictures and quotes in his book so that his readers can rely on visuals as well as his words. The tips and truths about sports journalism make this book a must read for anyone who is interested in being a sports writer.

GO CARDINALS!

As the semester comes to a close I begin to wonder what I will do without you guys.

WAIT! I haven't seen you guys in a while! :) Guess I'll be fine...

Well, baseball season has begun and I will say that my Cardinals are doing quite well for themselves. With 22 wins and only 12 loses they have earned the number one spot of their division. They will play the rockies tonight at 7:30 and I am looking forward to their win. Even though I could be rooting for either team - I would be in trouble if I didn't root for the Cardinals.

Chris Paul

Has anyone seen the New Orleans Hornets play lately? Honestly, I have not seen them play at all this season but I watched them last night and I was really impressed. They are now up 2-0 in the series against the Spurs. I had never heard of Chris Paul until last night as I watched him lead his team as they dominated the Spurs. He is 6-1 and plays point guard and played his college career at Wake Forest. After asking a friend about him I realized that he was up for MVP along with Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. I would recommend you to keep an eye out for him because he seems to be a really classy guy and is a lot of fun to watch.

a race turned into a tragedy

I know we all aren't too concerned about horse racing but in the minutes following the Kentucky Derby, the horse Eight Belles collapsed from injuries to both if its legs. In the following minutes, vets had to put the horse down and out of its misery. There has been lot of speculation and criticism to the sport because of the death of this horse. Many animial rights activists say that this sport is becoming too harsh on the horses involved. I disagree with this because this is the first time that a horse has died right after the race due to injuries received during the race. There have been other serious injuies to horses during big races but this is very uncommon. Ahletes get hurt following games, races and matches. This is part of the sport and I think it shouldn't be a reason to ban horse racing altogether.

Penguins stick it to Rangers in Overtime

Late in the second period the Penguins led by two, and it looked as though the Ranger’s season and Stanley Cup aspirations had filtered past like pucks through their tight defense.

Ranger’s fans had steadily been disappointed by key players, such as Chris Drury and Brendan Shanahan during this match up, and the Penguins worked hard to keep Jaromir Jagr shutdown.

Starting the third period, Lauri Korpikoski snaked across the ice captured the puck, coiled for his second NHL shot and struck the first Ranger goal of the game. With just two minutes worth of play and 17:30 left in the third period, Korpikoski turned the ice on the Penguins.

The Rangers came into the third with a feverish pace, and Korpikoski had just boosted the team ego. A minute later with16:32 left in the third, Nigel Dawes careened down the ice and slapped one into the net. Early into the third, The Rangers tied the score and revived the spirit of this game.

The fast pace continued as both teams fought hard across the ice, took wide shots and were continually denied access by the goalkeepers. Both teams slowed across the ice briefly with just over 8 minutes left in the third period.

But as the clock marched down the third period, the two teams power housed the ice, tumbled bodies off the glass, dislodged sticks and scattered them over the ice like downed soldiers. With 1:18 left in the third, a penalty was called on Drury for high-sticking.

The penalty resulted in a four minute power play for Pittsburg and some controversy. As early in the second period, Ryan Malone mishandled his stick and after a collision with his teammate, Malone’s stick bloodied Drury’ face. Drury had to be removed from the game and the ice scrapped, but a penalty was not called on Malone.

Jarkko Ruutu tried to take advantage of the penalty time and aggressively shot the puck, but Henrik Lundqvist was quick with the block. The clock drained with both teams unable to score and 2:41 of the power play spilled into overtime.

The Penguins skated out to a clear advantage with fresh ice, power play time still on the clock and Drury warming the penalty box. The Rangers, however, remained sharp on their defense and drained the penalty time. Four minutes into overtime the Penguins failed to score and the Rangers failed to shot.

Three minutes later, fighting back hard the Rangers amassed 13 shots. The Penguins stood at 22 shots in overtime. The teams continued to battle with hard blocks and the defense held tight, they catapulted the puck over the ice desperate for an opportunity at the goal.

Sidney Crosby maneuvered into the Ranger’s zone, made a quick pass to Marian Hossa and Hossa ended the game soaring the puck past Lundqvist. The Penguins solidified a game five Eastern Conference win, 7:10 into overtime, and shattered Stanley Cup hopes for the Rangers. “It was three on three, the puck came to, I took the shot and ended the final period,” Hossa said after the game.

It’s a 134 win for Big Brown in the Kentucky Derby

The brunette beast, Big Brown, charged from the outside loaded with an impressive 134 post, thundering past champions to win the 134th Kentucky Derby by almost five lengths. Breaking from the 20-gate, a tough outside position, that has not hosted a win in nearly two decades the favorite dazzled Derby fans burning past the competition for an uncontested win.

Big Brown’s nearest competition, Eight Belles, a tall, raven haired filly chased him down the last furlongs. About seven lengths from the finish the smoky horse slowed in stride, but continued to drive to the wire securing a second place victory before collapsing onto the soft, track soil. jockey, Gabriel Saez, walked away unharmed.

Her downfall spooked Big Brown and jilted Kent Desormeaux from the saddle. Like a cat Desormeaux landed on his feet and quickly recovered his mount. Eight Belles, however, never recovered her footing.

The soul female on the track, she remained motionless until the equine paramedics arrived. Eight Belles is one of eight fillies to make a top three finish in the Kentucky Derby, and one of two for a second place finish. Within moments of her collapse, it was determined the filly had fractured both her front ankles and she was immediately euthanized on sandy track.

A faint blemish that lightly showed on the victors’ faces as jockey, trainer and owner marched to the winner’s circle. Desormeaux dedicated his valiant ride to his family; namely, his son Jason, who suffers from a rare illness that threatens both his hearing and vision.

It may have been something in the opening song, “My Old Kentucky Home,” that marshaled this spirited runner home. After all, Big Brown was bred in Kentucky, the bountiful offspring of Boundary out of the Nureyev and mare Mien. Big Brown remains undefeated after four lifetime starts, and his winnings now out purse the closest competitor by more than $1,000,000.

What's with the Mavs??

I know I don't follow the NBA all that closely but I don't understand how the Dallas Mavericks could fire the coach that turned the franchise around. Avery Johnson help to turn around a franchise that was basically the laughing stock of the NBA before he arrived. He led the team to four straight playoff appearances and one finals appearance that they should have won but lost to the Heat. I understand that the game now is all about winning but how do you fire the guy that helped lead the team to where they are now. I don't get it but I think in the end the Mavs will pay for it.