Thursday, February 21, 2008

Bronco Stadium's secret ingredient

When Boise State’s new luxury suite/press box opens in a few months, it will be a glorious, beautiful jewel in the crown of BSU athletics, and it will help kick off the next great era of Bronco football. But will it have a Dairy Queen?

We would hate to see Boise State sink millions of dollars into a fancy new stadium addition and not have it equipped to serve the needs of its patrons. What do its patrons need exactly? Cherry dipped cones, of course.

The fancy glass paneling and state-of-the-art facilities are nice touches, but for a stadium add-on to succeed, it needs to have a certain soft-serve appeal to it. Fans will get tired of the blinding glare off the façade; they’ll want meat, substance, and a basket of fries. A critically acclaimed architectural masterpiece won’t cut it.

Amenities are what keep boosters and donors coming back for more, so I hope that BSU planners have made appropriate steps toward ensuring that the Mother Ship will cater to its audience. Cake displays in every suite! Double cheeseburgers on demand! Fresh pickles next to the ketchup! And ice cream out the wazzoo would be nice.

On the day we set foot in that giant glass polyp of progress, we want to be handed a chicken strip basket, a Mr. Misty, and a medium Oreo Blizzard and be directed to the big screen TV with College Gameday. We aren’t asking too much.

Do we speak for all BSU fans? All BSU fans who have ever had a Peanut Buster Parfait, yes. Anyone who has experienced Dairy Queen will know that the only thing better DQ’ing something right is watching football while you’re DQ’ing it.

Hopefully, this issue has already been resolved. The demand for Dairy Queen speaks for itself, and there would be an awful lot of Blizzard fan club members upset if Boise State couldn’t find room in its multi-million dollar facility to accommodate them.

We’d hate to have to boycott home games on account of Dilly Bars.

Dinwiddie haggling over the Canadian dollar



Former Boise State standout Ryan Dinwiddie had quite an exciting end to his 2007 CFL season, starting at quarterback in Canada's Super Bowl. Now, he wants to get paid. Relatively speaking.

Dinwiddie said the hold up is largely about incentive clauses. Canadian reports indicate the two sides are $15,000 to $20,000 apart, numbers Dinwiddie called “kind of right.”

A football league dealing in thousands rather than millions is sort of refreshing in a middle class kind of way.

Dinwiddie, CFL team haggling over contract [Idaho Statesman]

BSU football: overachievers

Here is a good story from Yahoo! Sports about overachieving football programs. Guess who grabbed the number one spot? Our very own Boise State Broncos!

Some programs find ways to overcome [Yahoo! Sports]

Combine time!


The NFL combine gets underway today with press conferences and interviews heading toward the first workouts on Saturday. Ryan Clady and Orlando Scandrick both got invitations, and they will be among 13 from the WAC to participate.

Here are a couple of interesting links to Clady stories:

Clady will be working out on Saturday with the offensive linemen. Scandrick, who has a lot to gain from a good combine, will go on Tuedsay.

Scouting Combine coverage [NFL.com]

Putzier cut from Texans


The Idaho Statesman reports that former Boise State tight end Jeb Putzier has been released by the Houston Texans. He is a six-year veteran, having played his first four seasons with the Denver Broncos and the last two with the Texans. He should have a chance to catch on somewhere when training camps roll around.

Texans cut former Boise State, Eagle High standout [Idaho Statesman]