blogs.kxly.com

Remember the Alamo.

Remember the Maine.

Remember Pearl Harbor.

Remember 9/11.

It’s been seven years since that last rallying cry became a part of our country’s collective consciousness, the latest in an all-too-familiar string of attacks on either our national interests, national pride or our sovereignty.

In the seven years since the deadly attacks against Washington and New York City, 9/11 has become a political football much in the same way the powers that be assessed blame for the attacks on the Pacific Fleet lying at anchor in Pearl Harbor and the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana’s harbor.

What’s long since been forgotten by the pundits and politicians is that in those terrible minutes after airliners were intentionally rammed into the Pentagon and World Trade Center thousands of American lives were lost.

September 11th is a day to remember those lives lost seven years ago as much as we will pause on December 7th to remember the lives lost over 60 years ago in Hawaii.

It shouldn’t be about politics.

It should be about the people our country lost that fateful day seven years ago Thursday.

It should be about Mothers and Daughters. Fathers and Sons. Sisters and Brothers. Grandparents. Husbands and Wives. Police Officers and Firefighters. Soldiers and Airmen. Sailors and Marines.

That’s what “Remembering 9/11” is really about.

NOTE: And to the vandals who defaced Coeur d’Alene’s 9/11 Memorial overnight. There are probably quite a few firefighters and police officers in North Idaho that would love to make your acquaintance. If you have any information on who defaced the memorial to honor our nation’s fallen, please call the Coeur d’Alene Police Department at 208.769.2320.

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.

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.