Thursday, May 15, 2008

ACC says good-bye to H-Bowl



The ACC has finally had enough of the Humanitarian Bowl, and the conference will end its bowl ties following the 2008 postseason.

For seven years, ACC teams have traveled to Boise, complained about Boise, and lost to small-conference schools. Conference officials decided they had had enough.

"The people in Boise have always done a fantastic job for us but there was a strong feeling that we needed to get our No. 8 team back into this part of the country," ACC commissioner John Swofford said.
Swofford continued: "Plus, the ACC hates humanitarians."

With an opening for 2009, the Humanitarian Bowl will be looking to fill a vacant spot in its bowl lineup. And although late-December, afternoon bowl games are not exactly hot tickets, we think that the H-Bowl should be able to get an entertaining opponent. Here are our suggestions:
  • Another WAC team. Although, for this to be possible, the NCAA might need to lower its bowl-eligible requirements.
  • Idaho's 5A high school football champion. David Augusto's head might explode.
  • Notre Dame. Every year. They won't have anything else to do.
  • Fast food and mobile phone mascots. The Idaho Powerball can officiate.
  • The Hosei (Japan) University football team. Konnichiwa, college bowl season.
  • A team of WAC bloggers. OBNUG calls dibs on wide receiver!
No more trips to Boise for ACC [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Thursday: Links with disappointment



Story of the day:

Nevada prep to walk-on at Boise State [Nevada Appeal]

Jake Hess, a 6-foot, 230-pound fullback from Galena High School in Reno, will walk-on at Boise State in the fall. Wait, isn't there a WAC football team already in Reno?
"A lot of people were asking, 'Why don't you go to Nevada?'" Hess said. "I really like Boise State - I like the tradition. The town is awesome. I can see myself at Boise."
Nevada's Pistol offense loses games and recruits, apparently.

Other links:

Troy Merritt feature [Idaho Press-Tribune]
Bronco Nation will be there in spirit because golf is pretty boring to watch in person.

A Top 25 list with perspective [EDSBS]
We think Mario Kart should have been ranked higher.

ACC pulls out of H-Bowl [Idaho Statesman]
Also pulling out? National respect.

Expect another wild season [Rivals.com]
And expect a small-conference school to get screwed.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

MySpace profile: Ian Johnson version 2.0

Every so often, OBNUG puts on its investigative hat and hunts down the social network profiles of Boise State personalities. We're not proud of it.



Earlier today, we delved into the personal profile page of Ian Johnson. Or did we?

Further research shows a decidedly more personal MySpace page for #41, complete with accurate information, real photos, and mentions of his wife Chrissy. You mean there can be more than one profile page per person? Technology completely eludes us!

  • Profile name: ian
  • Tagline: Knowledge!!!!
  • Friends: 39
  • Top Friends: Chrissy Johnson, Shaun Jordan
  • Music: Your Life and Mine by Just Surrender
  • Books: "books are for nerds"
  • Most tragic comment: "Hey good luck tomorrow bro! show everyone that Hawaii is no match for you!"

MySpace profile: Ian Johnson

Every so often, OBNUG puts on its investigative hat and hunts down the social network profiles of Boise State personalities. We're not proud of it.

We figured Ian Johnson to be a popular guy. He is an athletic, famous jock with a nationally recognized moment in the spotlight. Yet he only has 231 MySpace friends.

We attribute this to one of two things:
  1. He has agoraphobia.
  2. We did not find his actual MySpace page.
The latter option is a very good possibility, considering his profile lists his income at $250,000 and Barry Sanders as a Top Friend. At the same time, though, he has a lot of real, authentic people on his MySpace friend list, and they all seem to think that they are friends with the real Ian Johnson.

Agoraphobia is out of the question, too. People with social fears do not propose in front of a national TV audience.

Perhaps the reason for his low friend count is that he doesn't use MySpace very often. Maybe he views it as childish and immature, and he sees it as an obsession for those with no lives of their own. We wonder what that makes us then.

On second thought, forget we asked that.
Profile name: Ian
Cursor: giant football clipart
Friends: 231
Top friends: Matt Nelson, Kyle Wilson, the NFL, and ReggieBushFanClub.net,
Music: NFL Rise to Glory
Blog: none
Comments: "Thanx for the add. U R my favorite running back."
Ian Johnson's MySpace [MySpace]

Wednesday: Links with exercise



Story of the day:


Boise State to host big-time QB recruit [Idaho Press-Tribune]

The Idaho Press-Tribune's Dave Southorn is reporting that California high school QB Richard Brehaut will be in camp this summer with the Broncos. Rivals.com ranks him as a four star recruit and gives him a 5.8 on their rating scale that goes up to 6.1.

The following are stats from Brehaut's freshman year. Freshman!
65.0 completion percentage, 2,348 yards, 22 touchdowns
528 rushing yards, 5 touchdowns
Bush Hamdan was not available for comment.

Other links:

Numerical evidence that the BCS is awful [The Big Lead]
Along with the compelling case of common sense and demand, numerical evidence should make things pretty clear.

Boise State's hook-and-ladder spawns new iterations [Scout.com]
One high school is calling it the hook-and-latter. Also popular: the statue of levity, the double reverb, and quarterback stink.

Boise State games are fun to watch [Are you ready for football?]
Was there ever any debate?

McMackin to keep Hawaii's traditional pre-game dance [Scott Slant]
Former BSU WR Bady has new afl2 team [OurSportsCentral]

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Webcams to cloning: the future of recruiting


As if the sordid world of college football recruiting isn't cutthroat enough, technology has kciked the yearlong beefcake auction into high gear. Coaches have turned to webcams to aid their recruiting, as if monetary gifts, hot coeds, self-doing homework, and hero worship weren't an easy enough sell.
(Webcams) are without a doubt the wave of the future in long-distance communicating with high school players. (Alabam's Nick) Saban and Southeastern Conference rivals Les Miles of LSU and Phillip Fulmer of Tennessee are using the Internet tool. Others among several dozen schools
contacted by The Associated Press are considering or have considered it.
The technology is catching on across the nation, especially with uncouth former NFL coaches.
Saban said he speaks to “four or five” recruits a day on the Web when he’s in the office.

Nerd alert!

If webcams are the present, then what is the future? With technology only increasing over the next few years, the prospects of long-distance communication have never looked so good.
  • Star Trek transportation. NCAA rules may prohibit traveling to visit recruits, but they certainly do not say anything about teleporting to visit recruits. How else do you think Captain Kirk convinced Spock to join the S.S. Enterprise? It certainly wasn't a pre-owned Vulcan two-door sedan.

  • Subliminal television messages. The mass media of TV is a great tool for reaching high school prospects, and the art of subliminal messaging could have a five-star player pining after Winnemucca U for reasons they do not entirely understand. The way it works is simple: during the popular ABC Family series Greek, Joe Coach will set up unique banners and ads to display in the background of certain scenes. Also, inserted between cuts from one character to the next would be brief messages intended on convincing college athletes to come to Joe Coach's university. Some call this College Football Live on ESPN.

  • ESP. Banning text messaging, phone calls, and other communication has made life tough on college coaches. But The Man can't keep down brainwaves! Selling a recruit on a school would be as easy as thinking (note: not that easy for all college coaches). The home visit would be replaced by cross-country brain feed. The recruiting calls would give way to recruiting thought missives. Headaches aside, it would be pretty great.

  • Cloning. The job of a college coach is often too much for one man. That is why God invented cloning. The only thing better than one Chris Petersen would be two or three Chris Petersens--one to do the coaching, one to do the recruiting, and a third, miniature one to appear at charity events and children's birthday parties. Regulate that, NCAA!
Web cams new tool in college recruiting [Yahoo! Sports]

Tuesday: Links with family


Story of the day

Kyle Wilson named to Nagurski watch list [WAC Sports.com]

Who needs Orlando Scandrick? The future Dallas Cowboys star bolted the Broncos for NFL riches after his junior year, leaving room for junior Kyle Wilson to fill his shoes. The media thinks that shouldn't be a problem.
The Football Writers Association of America has announced the Watch List for the 2008 Bronko Nagurski Trophy, which is awarded to the best defensive player in college football and sponsored by the Charlotte Touchdown Club. Four WAC players made the list: Kyle Wilson, CB, Boise State; Solomon Elimimian, LB, Hawai‘i; Antonio Baker, DB, Louisiana Tech; and D'Anthony Smith, DT, Louisiana Tech.
By the end of the year, we fully expect Ryan Winterswyk, Derrell Acrey, and Jeron Johnson to join the list.

Other links:

Murphy unimpressed by Idaho prospects [Fight Fight BSU]
And Idaho prospects are unimpressed by his diction.

ESPN/ABC schedule released [ESPN.com]
Navy at Ball State. Clear your Friday, Sept. 5th!

Scott Slant sees more of the same for BSU in '08 [Scott Slant]
More of the same WAC dominance, we hope.

Changes to Taco Bell Arena next? [Idaho Press-Tribune]
Advice for sounding like a Boisean [Real Estate Blog]