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So here we are, just a couple nights away from the showdown in Pullman.  The 4th ranked Zags are trying to break a two game losing streak to Washington State in a battle of wills.  Can Washington State slow down the Bulldogs or will Gonzaga be able to play up-tempo?  The answer to that question will have a lot to do with the outcome of the game.  The last two years Washington State has been able to slow the game down and make it a half court game.  The Cougs have been able to frustrate Gonzaga with their defense.  The Cougs even pulled off the unthinkable and they beat Gonzaga in the McCarthey Athletic Center.  The Cougars have taken 3rd ranked Pittsburgh, and 23rd ranked Baylor down to the late goings and were a only a few made free-throws away from pulling the “upset” on the Bears over the weekend.  The Cougs look to take advantage of the home court crowd and two years ago it was THIS win that started the whole thing in my opinion.

But this is a different year.  The Cougs are very young, and the Zags are very good.  Gonzaga is ranked 4th in the nation for a reason.  They are deep, they are athletic, they are playing defense, and they are very talented.  Gonzaga is undefeated and even in games they have struggled in this year, they have won by large margins.  Their closest game so far has been by 9 points over then 12th ranked Tennessee and even then the Bulldogs were up by 18 late.  Gonzaga is deeper than they have ever been and can beat you inside, or outside.  They can run, and they can play defense.

The Cougars have been better than some thought they might be after losing the big three last year.  Freshman Klay Thompson has been every bit as good as advertised.  According to Mark Few the Cougs have one of the best, if not the best, big men in the west in Aron Baynes.  They have a great point guard in Taylor Rochestie although he has struggled a bit so far this year.  They continue to have one of the best defenses in the country.  But again they are very young, and will make young mistakes from time to time.

I do think this game will remain close for a while, maybe even late.  However I just think Gonzaga has too much depth and experience for the Cougs this time around.  Gonzaga has had two shots this year at teams that have beaten them in the past, Tennessee and Indiana, and they have gotten their revenge.  I think they are about to be 3 for 3 in payback games.  I’m really hoping for a slugfest and a close, entertaining game down the stretch, I just don’t see it.  I’ve got the Zags by 15.

     Are you ready for the biggest cross state rivalry in college football?

     On Saturday, November 22, the WSU Cougars square off against their arch rivals, the University of Washington Huskies in Pullman.   It’s the annual classic  ’Apple Cup’ football game.

     And KXLY4 wants you (Huskie and Coug fans) to get involved, if you’re up for it.

     GMNW reporter, Kjerstin Ramsing has something fun in mind and needs your participation, in person.

     Email her at kjerstinr@kxly.com  if you are available any time between 5am and 8:30am on Friday, Nov. 21st,  just one day before the big game.

Go Cougs!

Today’s the last hurrah for the men and women of the 81st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, who wrapped up their pre-deployment training today at Ft. McCoy with a send-off ceremony. After that they’ll be packing up their gear and getting on planes and headed east to the sandbox for another 12 months.

The brigade’s clenched fist is the Spokane-based 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry, which has armories all across Eastern Washington including Pullman, Moses Lake, Pasco, Wenatchee and right here in town.

Now for the unitiated, the infantryman is the guy that holds the key ground on the battlefield. In combat you’re either Infantry or you’re Infantry support.

Now if you’re a tanker, cannon cocker, bulk fuel specialist or supply clerk, before you get your dander up, for those of you that haven’t read this blog before (that means all of you except for my bosses, my wife and a handful of friends of mine) I make that claim because for most of my adult life I was an infantryman. I was an infantryman in the Marine Corps. I was a Mechanized Infantryman in the Army Guard.

There’s a special, albeit dark and cold, place in my heart for 1-161. It was my battalion and Moses Lake was my armory. Many of the guys over at Ft. McCoy right now spending their last days and hours in the United States before going to Iraq are my friends who I pushed hot steel downrange with last go-around.

At first when I heard they were heading back I had survivor’s guilt. I was neck deep in the you-can’t-say-that-in-your-blog with the battalion last time around. I spent a year camped out in the Green Zone running combat patrols outside the wire with them. I was there for the IED strikes, rocket and mortar attacks, firefights and for the memorial services.

I did my time. I did my part. I pushed my fair share of bullets downrange.

I shot this video below the last time we were in-country. Many of the guys in this video are out of the Guard now. Many of them are going back to Iraq within a matter of days. While I’m glad I’m not going (My wife is glad, too) with them deep down inside I feel guilty because I’m not.

Good luck Highlanders. Unleash hell and return home with honor. We’ll have plenty of beer chillin’ and BBQ grillin’ for you guys when you get home.

I know they played some football in Idaho last week, but the High School football season really gets going this week.  Of all the things we cover during the year, football season is by far my favorite.  I have a lot of great memories from playing football, and I know these kids are building the same kind of memories as they take the field.  It’s always exciting at the beginning of the season because you never really know who will be good or bad.  You can get a good idea, but at the High School level it’s tough to predict because teenagers can grow so much in a year.  Teams can get bigger, faster, and stronger and we won’t know until they hit the field.  We have a great opportunity in our sports office during football season in that we travel all over the place and get to see how towns rally around their teams.  I’m not a huge fan of Joe Albi Stadium as I think High School football is much better when played on the campus of a school.  I think that Albi is an unbelievable place to play for some of these kids, but lets face it, it’s mostly empty, and there is no home field advantage.  Here are some of my favorite places to cover High School football games:

East Valley - My home field.  Curlew - a long way to go, but we’re always treated great.  Inchelium - the ferry ride.  Mullan - along with Sandpoint, the most scenic fields we cover.  Davenport - the huge Gorilla.  Pullman - big cannon.  Lac-Wash - end zone parking.  Ritzville - only place were the PA announcer talks to us on the mike during the game.  Lakeside - great atmosphere.  Hunters - half of the band that plays the Star Spangled Banner is made up of players.

 Whoever your team is, and wherever you go to watch football this year, enjoy it, and good luck to all the players and coaches.

We’re only a day away from the College football season kicking off locally. Tomorrow the Cougars take on Oklahoma State, the Vandals take on Arizona, and the Eagles take on Texas Tech. Throw in the Huskies at Oregon and it makes for a long day of watching football. So with about 24 hours to go I figure I would give my two cents on what I think might happen. This way it’s on paper so to speak, and come Sunday we can all have a laugh at how much of an idiot I am. After all if predictions were easy, Vegas would be out of business. That being said, my biggest prediction, whether I get the scores right or not, is that it will be a long, sad day as I figure all four of our teams will go down.

OKLAHOMA STATE - WSU

The Cougars begin the Paul Wulff era tomorrow and I think it will look a lot like the Bill Doba era did, at least on the scoreboard. I hope I’m wrong here as I’m a big fan of Wulff, but this is going to take a while to get going in Pullman. I predict that the Cougs will look great in the first quarter as they run the first 20 scripted plays nearly to perfection and the Cougar faithful will be booking tickets to Pasadena as they can’t see anything getting in the way of a Rose Bowl. I think it will still be close at the half, maybe even through the third quarter. But in the end I see Oklahoma State pulling away and winning. I hope this game will be a competitive game, and the longer the Cougs can hang around, the more confidence they will get and they might be able to pull it out. But I just don’t think that will happen. I expect this Cougar team to get better as the season goes on, but they will almost certainly make mistakes tomorrow as they take the field for the first time under a new coach with a new offense. On a side note, I think Brandon Gibson is one of the best receivers in the country and I expect a monster year out of him.

Oklahoma State -31

Washington State -17

 WASHINGTON - #21 OREGON

Can Jake Locker really walk on water? We’re going to find out this year. If he can, then his head coach might not get fired, and the Huskies might threaten to win 6 games. If he can’t, expect another disappointing year out of the Dawgs. I guess if you’re a Cougar fan a bad year out of the Huskies wouldn’t really be “disappointing.” I do think the Huskies have a chance in this game. Oregon is going with a back-up quarterback, and it’s the first game of the year, and that’s always a toss-up. The Huskies will need Oregon to play a little sloppy and overcome a big home field advantage in this one.

Washington - 27

Oregon - 35

IDAHO - ARIZONA

Bone-head easy prediction of the day - Robb Akey will be excited. Second bone head-easy prediction of the day - Arizona will throw the ball a lot. That’s the whole key to this game, can the Vandals slow down the Wildcats? My guess is no, but my hope is yes. I think that the Vandals will be able to move the ball on offense but the question is, can they finish drives with touchdowns instead of field goals? Idaho moved the ball really well last year against USC early on, but they couldn’t punch it in. If the Vandals can put up 6’s, and slow down Arizona’s pass offense, they have a punchers chance against the Wildcats. There is a reason for hope here if you are a Vandals fan. Last year Idaho faced one of the top 3 passing offenses in the country in Hawaii and Colt Brennan, and they picked him off 5 times. The downside is, they immediately turned the ball back over to Hawaii, two times for touchdowns. There are two key players in this game, quarterback Nathan Enderle who has to play smart and can’t turn it over, and safety Shiloh Keo who has to make plays on defense, and in the return game.

Idaho - 13

Arizona - 35

EASTERN WASHINGTON - #12 TEXAS TECH

(Touchdown Red Raiders) The Eagles have a lot of expectations this year, but beating Texas Tech isn’t one of them. (Touchdown Red Raiders) Texas Tech averaged 41 points a game last year and is ranked 12th in the country. (Touchdown Red Raiders) They have a heisman trophy candidate in Graham Harrell who passed for 5700 yards and 48 touchdowns last year. (Touchdown Red Raiders) This team put up 43 in a loss to Texas last year, they beat 4th ranked Oklahoma, and won a bowl game. (Touchdown Red Raiders) Eastern will do just fine when they play 1AA teams, but asking them to compete in this game is a little unrealistic. (Touchdown Red Raiders).

Eastern Washington - 20

Texas Tech - 63

Happy College Football weekend everybody.

I know many of you will be enjoying your 3-day Labor weekend and may not be home Monday morning but if you are, tune into Good Morning Northwest between 5-7 am.  We’ll be doing live reports every half hour from the North side Oz Fitness location to officially kick off my “30 in 30″ challenge.  I’ll be wearing my yellow “30 in 30″ t-shirt. 

I’ll be doing 30 triathlons in 30 days starting September 1st.  Most every morning in September I’ll be doing an indoor triathlon at Oz Fitness (3 possible locations) to raise awareness and money for Cancer Patient Care.  My goal is to raise $30,000! Members and non-members are welcome to join me.  Call Oz Fitness at 467-1500 to find out how.

I say ‘most’ every morning because I’m signed up for a Half Ironman triathlon in Grand Coulee on September 13th.  I’m also heading down to Pullman on the Washington State University campus to do a triathlon with a group of students who are taking the triathlon challenge with me.

For the non-triathlete, I’m challenging people to commit to 30 minutes of exercise a day for 30 days; or close to it.  Similar to a walk-a-thon, people can ask others to sponsor their efforts with all money going to Cancer Patient Care.   Details on how you can donate and learn more about why I’m doing this, click on this link.

Plus I’ll be posting daily fitness and nutrition tip right here on the News at 5 blog, courtesy of Natalie Litzell from Sandpoint, Idaho.

       Ten years ago, my parents helped me pack our family minivan full of all my precious belongings (to an 18 year old girl “precious belongings” consist basically of clothes) and trucked me across the state to the small little town of Pullman. Washington State was the school I wanted to go to, but I wasn’t pumped about being there. I was just going through the motions, flying by the seat of my pants. I was going to college just to go. That’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re 18, right? And since I liked WSU better than U. Dub and Eastern (the only other places I’d applied) that’s where I went.

Well it’s the beginning of August and that means one thing in the sports office… the summer is over.  College football officially started this morning with both the Cougars and the Vandals hitting the practice field in the palouse.  I know we still have a few weeks before games start, but this day is the beginning of a long season for us in sports.  Every week we will be going down to pullman, moscow, and out to Eastern and Whitworth to cover football and it seems like summer just started.  With the Shock in the playoffs, and the Indians on a record-breaking pace, you would think that summer is in full stride, but with today’s big day down south our summer is over.  I do love football season, but it is much more fun in the middle of October when the NFL is well within their regular season, and high schools are fighting for playoff spots.  But going to football practice in 95 degree weather while baseball is still going is tough sometimes. 

With that said, it is exciting this year with a new coach in pullman, Robb Akey leading the Vandals, Eastern has high hopes, and Whitworth is coming off of a season where they were left out of the playoffs for some strange reason.  With the new season comes hope at every school.   So lets hope together.

Down in pullman the Washington State Cougars are opening the Paul Wulff era today and with that comes a lot of excitement.  Coach Wulff is a proven winner at Eastern Washington and brings with him a no huddle offense that has Cougar fans talking.  Lets not get confused and call his offense a “hurry up” offense because that’s not the truth, it’s a “no-huddle” offense and there is a difference.  The reason for hope in pullman this year is in one man, Brandon Gibson.  He is one of the best receivers in the country, and he will be tough for any team to stop.  This year might be a record-breaking season for Gibson if you take into account the numbers that Aaron Boyce put up in this offense last year, and with the strong arm of Gary Rogers, look out for Gibson this year.  Rogers is one of many question marks on this team.  He is huge, and has a cannon, but he’s unproven.  It’s rare that a senior quarterback has success as a first year starter.  It’s even more rare that they have success when they have to learn a new system.  We’ll have to wait and see with Rogers but those fans who were calling for Alex Brink’s head last year now get their wish.  I think the offense line will be solid this year, but there are a lot of questions throughout the rest of the team.  Who will play on the defensive line?  Can the running backs stay healthy?  Can the defensive backs survive in a pass-happy league?  Who is going to kick?  Can Andy Mattingly continue to dominate?  All of those questions need to be answered for the Cougs to have a shot at a bowl game.

In Moscow we enter year number two under Robb Akey, and anybody who has met the man can’t help but be a fan.  The team returns Nathan Enderle, their starting quarterback from a year ago who will enter his sophomore season.  If Enderle can continue to grow, so can the Vandals.  Idaho was much more competitive last year, and there is reason to have hope in moscow, but it might be a couple years away showing up in the win-loss column.  Knowing coach Akey and the players in Idaho, i do know one thing, they want to win now.  And if they lose, it won’t be because the other team played harder.  I’m pulling for the Vandals, because like i said earlier, I’ve met coach Akey.

The team that might have the most hype around them in our area this fall is the Eastern Eagles.  They are ranked anywhere from 4th to 6th in the country and for good reason.  They have an all-american quality quarterback and receiver, and a good defense coming back.  It’s always scary when a new a new coach takes over when a team is returning a lot of players, but Beau Baldwin has been here before.  Baldwin knows what he’s doing, and he knows the players he has.   Expect the Eagles to challenge for the Big Sky crown, and beyond.

The Whitworth Pirates are still scratching their heads trying to figure out why the didn’t make it into the playoffs last year.  They return starting quarterback Kory Kemp, and with coach John Tully running things the Pirates should contend to get back into the post season.