Good afternoon Cougs. Some stuff to get to this Monday, so here we go:
Jason Stripling is in some hot water. Kind of an odd deal, but he was arrested and suspended from the team for a fight of some kind on Saturday night. Charged with fourth-degree assault and obstructing a public servant(?), Stripling is done for now. We'll see what happens when more details come out, but the senior linebacker may have played his last game in crimson 'n' gray.
Meanwhile, here's our weekly blog ballot. Nothing earth-shattering, but we're still riding the Florida-Texas 1-and-2 step. And USC takes a huge tumble:
Dropped Out: South Florida (#23), West Virginia (#24).
Finally, something completely off-topic, yet a little fun/funny to take your mind off the dreariness of today. Remember Dock Ellis?
Maybe you do, maybe you don't, but he's famous for one huge thing - THROWING A NO-HITTER WHILE HIGH ON LSD as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1970! It's a classic. Anyway, someone put up a youtube video with the story, as told by Ellis, with some really funny animation to go with it. Check it out, it's worth it:
All for now. Enjoy the rest of your day, and GO COUGS!
Thank God for chili cheese fries. As the Cougs whipped the Martin Stadium crowd into another frenzy this Saturday during their furious second half comeback bid, I found comfort in a steaming pile quite different than the one we were witnessing on the field in front of us. Individually, neither the chili, the cheese(ish) sauce, or the fries are particularly noteworthy, but together they make such sweet magic. They warmed my belly and eased my pain, even while somehow, they stained all 15 layers of clothing I was wearing. Amazing. You may be thinking this is where I tie this analogy of mediocre ingredients coming together to make something so good into some parable of teamwork, and the sum being more than the parts and blah de friggin blah blah. But no, sorry. Just wanted to tell you bout my chili cheese fires.
Why? Because chili cheese fries were the only thing I enjoyed about this Saturday's game. This is little comfort to Papa Longball who generously lets Amieable and I mooch off his season tickets, but the fact is this game was not worth going to. What transpired on the field was unwatchable, bad football. Two interceptions in the first 90 seconds of a game is an amazing feat. Making a struggling UCLA offense look like the 49ers circa 1994 is something few Division 1 defenses could do blindfolded. Worst of all, they destroyed my substantial credibility as a prognosticator by completely falling flat the one time I had the gumption (code word for too much bourbon) to pick them for the upset. Don't expect me to repeat that mistake anytime soon.
I am ashamed to admit this, but things got so bad on Saturday I suffered what can only be described as a manic breakdown of sorts. Late in the game, as the UCLA offense tried to run down the clock with running plays right into the middle of the defense, and kept, unintentionally, getting first downs, I lost it. I stood and began a one man shark attack. Yep, I was openly and obnoxiously mocking the Shark Attack. I clapped my Jaws-hands together furiously and cackled like a crazy person as Amieable and Papa Longball, embarrassed and perhaps a little frightened, tried to grab my arms and get me back in my cold aluminum seat. While it did not quite surpass my lowest moment as a Coug fan.....that would be my drunkenly berating the Husky marching band with heavily slurred nerd jokes for the entire 4th quarter of the 51 - 3 Apple Cup debacle in 2000...
Still, it was not a proud moment for yours truly. All I can say in my defense is that I was simply overcome by the sheer ridiculousness of how bad we were. This was not a tragedy unfolding before us, but a comedy. It all conjured up this quote I have always carried with me from my days (12 days to be exact) as an aspiring literary scholar...
"Tragedy presupposes guilt....vision...a sense of responsibility. In the Punch-and-Judy show of our century....there are no more guilty and also, no responsible men. It is always, 'We couldn't help it'...Everything is dragged along and everyone gets caught somewhere in the sweep of events....Comedy alone is suitable for us."
Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Problems of the Theatre, 1955
Indeed, Coug fans... as old Freddy Durenmatt said, "Comedy alone is suitable for us".
Well that was pretty much a nightmare. Outgained by a wide margin (556-181), outmuscled and outplayed from beginning to end. Oh yeah, down 26-0 at the half as well. Same 'ol, same 'ol.
What else can be said right now? It's got to be wearing down coach Wulff, dealing with the media, left trying to explain yet another 35+ point loss that was never in doubt from the opening moments of the game. But the fans, wow. The comments get uglier by the week, here and elsewhere. I shudder to think how far south things might go if/when we are blown out the last two games, but that seems completely unavoidable at this point. But now we're in seriously dangerous territory. This is passion-killing stuff we're seeing. The frustration level has peaked, if not completely boiled over, and now it's turning to anger and apathy. Not good.
Sutra and I talked earlier today, and we concurred on one very big thing. Most of the year we have been saying that this is a "WAC-level" team in terms of pure talent and depth. But that isn't even reality anymore. I WISH we were WAC-level right now! Hawaii showed us that we aren't on that level, and it's not even close. This is a Big Sky outfit folks, and it's plain as day.
Good morning Cougs. Yep, another WSU flag or two to spot on Gameday, and there they are! The pic quality isn't as sharp as normal, but it's hard to miss Crimson 'n' Whitey flying above Lee Corso's mug. Great positioning, great job! From the last report, that's now 87 shows in a row!? Just amazing.
That says something, about Cougar spirit. I know it's cheezy or cornball or however you want to label it, but there is something, well, different about being a Coug. It's something that is difficult to define or explain to those who don't have the first-hand experience, but it is certainly something that is very real, very true. Ask yourself, what other school would have fans that would go to all this trouble of the weekly flag on ESPN? I recall when this all first started, you used to see some other schools worm their way in there, but they quickly went away. But old Crimson, and Whitey, they are there every week.
There was another cool thing from Coug fans and such, and that was from our good friend Kaddy. Kaddy, whether you know him or not, you know he's a passionate Coug. He's contributed some first-hand posts for us here from the various functions he's attended. He lives and breathes Cougs, and it shows. But here was Kaddy with a couple of extra tickets for the game today. What did he do? Driving over this morning from his palatial Vancouver estate, he offered another one of our friends and readers, "Stiffmeister", tickets and a ride to the game today! How cool is that? Although from the last response it doesn't look like Stiffy can make it, still, what a fantastic gesture by Kaddy for someone he barely knows, other than his screen name. Major props to Kaddy for that one. THAT is what being a Coug is all about!
So, it's a chilly morning at that, if you are in the Palouse/Inland Empire region for today's game. Just a high of 34 expected in the old 99163, although the white stuff probably won't be coming down any longer. They got some snow yesterday, and as you can see from one of the web cam pics this AM positioned squarely on Bryan Hall:
Not exactly SoCal weather is it?
I don't know what will happen today, I mean none of us really knows. It's all reading stats and trusting your eyes and gut instinct, that sort of thing. And I went total HOMER yesterday picking the Cougs, as did my compadre Longball. Maybe we'll both be wrong, in a huge way. Maybe we just picked WSU because, quite frankly, we're tired of picking against the Cougs? Or maybe it's because we've had this game in our sights for a long time as maybe, just maybe, one they can get if the conditions are just right? I don't know exactly why, but consider this:
The last MAJOR upset that both Longball and I picked this year? UW over USC. And we know how that turned out. See, anything's possible! We'll see what happens later today.
A couple of quick items: Nice official start to the Ken Bone era last night, as the hoops team won 94-66. Per Grippi, the 94 points is already more than any game in the Bennett era, the most points scored since 2003. They might be an awfully young team, and they may experience a ton of growing pains this year, but they certainly don't sound like they are going to be boring! But Bone wasn't exactly pleased with the effort:
“I’m glad it wasn’t on TV,” Bone said, lamenting the careless ball-handling, “(and) have Dick Bennett back home in Wisconsin seeing that. That would be embarrassing.”
One thing I do like from that game, aside from the 94 points? Rebounding. They had a 50-25 advantage on the glass. Sutra has been all over it early in conversations about this team this year, about how badly they need some rebounding and size inside (maybe he'll post about hoops sometime soon?). So while my hoops knowledge can fit in a thimble, even I can recognize that when you outrebound your opponent 2-to-1, it's a good thing!
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