Cougar Bites

A few more noteworthy snippets for those who, like me, can’t enough:

The MWC is playing 13, non-conference games against BCS foes this season. All but three of those are away from the comfort of home. Wyoming has the Longhorns coming into town. How they pulled that off, I’ll never know. It doesn’t really matter though because I don’t know anyone in their right mind that would give them a snowball’s chance of winning that game without a blizzard acting as their twelfth defender. Each of the “big three” is playing two non-conference BCS foes so if we (as a conference) can win a majority of these games, we can set up a team for another BCS breakthrough.

Click here to see if your TV provider will be proving you with the most games for watching your Cougars this season. I don’t have a quick link for Utah’s TV schedule, but based on the info from the site, Utah has 5 games on the MTN., 2 on CSTV, 2 on Versus, and 2 on ESPN channels. The BYU game will be simulcast on the MTN and CSTV.

Last year’s debacle (is a 10-3 season considered a debacle?) can be blamed on several things: BYU’s over hype for national prominence, the “Quest” misunderstanding, Max Hall’s ability to find wide open defenders . . .. This year they have refocused their goals and their attention. Sure, it helps that they don’t have the big media spotlight shining on their backs to begin this season, but a win over Oklahoma in week one will put the squarely in the public eye again. A win over reining Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford and the rest of Sooner Nation and the media will be playing BYU’s song for a possible National Championship birth.

BYU QB Max Hall says this year will be about having fun again and playing for the love of football.

Your Cougar Insider

BYU Quick Hits

The college football season is fast approaching; many college camps open in mere weeks. The time has come to grab a hold on your favorite bandwagon and prepare for the ride. I’m hoping that by making this post, I can inspire one of my fellow CBAC bloggers to take up the mantle of “Ute Insider” and keep us all posted on the happenings for the team “on the hill.” Here is just a quick sampling of some coming highlights for the 2009 football season.

As tough a schedule as I can remember in years, including a neutral site game against:

Oklahoma Florida State Utah State

TCU and Utah

Nationally televised games for all the big games – all on HD!

Coach Mendenhall has been hitting the recruiting path hard this off-season, landing a whopping 20 as of today, including top-rated QB, Jake Heaps, as well as other four-star recruits, WR Ross Apo, and DE Bronson Kaufusi and Kona Schwenke.

Check out the new 2009 BYU Football Guide here.

I can smell the football in the air. ESPN is starting to talk more and more about it. If you read any of the local sports chat rooms, rivalry talk is rampant and excited. Utah is coming off unquestionably the best season in its program’s history, the MWC’s history, and possibly all of non-BCS history. TCU is picked to win the conference. But both schools have to come through Provo and that always bodes well for the Cougar faithful.

Your Cougar Insider

The Jazz: A Parable of the Guacamole Six Dollar Burger

This post is in response to Banker’s post concerning the Jazz off-season moves and the discussion it provokes. I know CBAC Smack rules dictate that we respond in the comments section but I felt that my rebuke was enough of its own topic to be a separate post. I’ll start off by saying that I’m no stranger to Carl’s Jr. I’ve been a fan for quite some time and my current belt notch is probably thanks to that franchise. In my years of patronage, I’ve never had the guacamole six dollar burger. I’ve always thought it looked okay and some of my friends would get that burger every time we went there and go on and on about how good the “Guac-burger” is. Recently I had a coupon for it so I thought I’d try it. Man, I opened up that box and it looked great! Bacon, Cheese, Guac, the works. From the first bite only one thought came to my mind. GROSS. I was immediately regretting my choice of lunch. I finished that burger hoping with each bite that the choice I made would somehow get better. By the end, my stomach was reeling and my colon was very upset, almost yelling at me, for making such an ignorant choice. I have a feeling my system will be paying for that choice for awhile longer.

In my mind, this experience could be correlated to the Jazz. This off-season is like the Jazz standing in line, coupons in hand, waiting to order. The choices made could disrupt the system for many moons to come. Everyone’s talking about “Bosh for Booze”, “Get Memo out of Town”, “Lose the bigs and get some defense”, and “Blah,blah,blah”. I’m just here to say that sometimes the best change is no change. Stick with the spicy chicken or the super star. Jazz fans should be careful what they’re wishing for in being so quick to lose our “20&10” guys. If we're not careful we could be on the outside of the playoffs looking in. Loosing records haven’t ever really been part of the Jazz culture but believe me, if we’re too hasty with our coupons, we’ll most likely regret our off-season choices. I say we keep our core group of guys (except CJ – he’s always expendable) and make a go at it again next year. If Boozer gives us 4 or 5 months without injury and solid effort all will be water under the bridge and the fans will love him again. Look at AK, after the Houston series a few years ago the whole city wanted his head on a skewer. Now he’s just “Overpaid but Lovable AK”.

Keep the team. Ride out the waves and turmoil. Take the cap hit for a year and we’ll have a look at going deep in the playoffs this coming season. Hasty decisions this off-season could be more damaging to the Jazz system than the Guac-burger was to my system. Just saying…

Tuesday Conversation

So, this will be a quick thought to hopefully spur on a conversation. I was recently contemplating the quick exit from the playoffs the Jazz made this year (not bad considering we were in the Conference Finals, the second round, and then bounced in the first this season) and wondering what the future might hold for the Jazz. The team has a new president who said he likes all our players. But I, as do many of you I am sure, feel that this relationship has gone on too long with some of these players, and dare I say coaches?, and its time to cut ties and start the healing now.

That being said, of the current roster, who would you like to see go or stay and why?

I've reviewed several mock drafts and one has the Jazz drafting two point guards. The other has the Jazz drafting 6-11 PF out of Gonzaga, Austin Daye. What do you expect to see in the draft?

And of the potential free agency market, does anyone catch your eye?

Banker's Bites

Ah, I can feel the lethargy settling in like a thick fog on my brain. We’ve officially entered the doldrums of summer in the sports world. The Jazz season came to a crashing halt in Los Angeles two weeks ago and all we have left is to sit and watch while the Jazz face a reconstruction period, possibly equivalent to the size of the I-15 reconstruction pre-2002. Does Boozer opt out? Do they try to keep Millsap if Boozer stays? What about Memo, Korver, and the other five players currently in the final year of their contracts?

Football is on hold now till the end of summer. The draft is past, spring camps have opened and closed and now all we have to hold on to is how does BYU prepare to face the Big Time in OU in Jerry’s New House and how does Utah plan to maintain the same level they played at last year. Fantasy football is approaching, but you can only mock draft so many times before you want to rip your face off just to change up the monotony.

RSL is in full swing and despite Scuba Steve’s belittling of soccer on this very blog last October; I’m a big fan. (For those who may also be fans, but haven’t found where to watch the games, I’ve found them on 2.2 on the new digital channels.) But you can only hold on to so much soccer.

So what does that leave us? I’ll tell you what’s piling up on my radar screen: lots and lots of outside time. Yard work, swimming pools, park playgrounds, camping, hiking, backpacking. It’s a great thing to live in this state where we get to enjoy seasons because there is so much to do. So shake off those cobwebs, put the Jazz, the Cougars and Utes, and the rest of the I-don’t-care-who-wins-it-all NBA out of your mind and get outside and enjoy the weather.

(By the way, does anyone know of any great, lesser-known or unknown camping spots here in the State that are good for families?)