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(8) Boise State (3-0) at Bowling Green (1-2)
GAME NOTES: Winners of seven straight road games, the eighth-ranked Boise State Broncos give it another go this weekend against the Bowling Green Falcons in non-conference action at Doyt L. Perry Stadium in Ohio.
Boise State has already had its share of wild games this season, beginning with a 19-8 victory over Oregon in the opener. After sending Miami-Ohio packing in a 48-0 romp back on September 12th, the team opened its Western Athletic Conference slate against Fresno State on the road last Friday. In a game filled with enough highlights to satisfy a year's worth of action, the Broncos managed to escape with a 51-34 decision. The victory was the ninth straight in conference play for BSU after it ran the table in the WAC a year ago.
As for the Falcons, who are hosting a top-10 team for the first time ever at Doyt L. Perry Stadium, they've gone from beating Troy in the season opener (31-14) to bowing to both Missouri (27-20) and Marshall (17-10) on the road in recent weeks.
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No. 8 Boise State visits Bowling Green
Winners of seven straight road games, the eighth-ranked Boise State Broncos give it another go this weekend against the Bowling Green Falcons in non-conference action at Doyt L. Perry Stadium in Ohio.
Boise State has already had its share of wild games this season, beginning with a 19-8 victory over Oregon in the opener. After sending Miami-Ohio packing in a 48-0 romp back on September 12th, the team opened its Western Athletic Conference slate against Fresno State on the road last Friday. In a game filled with enough highlights to satisfy a year's worth of action, the Broncos managed to escape with a 51-34 decision. The victory was the ninth straight in conference play for BSU after it ran the table in the WAC a year ago.
As for the Falcons, who are hosting a top-10 team for the first time ever at Doyt L. Perry Stadium, they've gone from beating Troy in the season opener (31-14) to bowing to both Missouri (27-20) and Marshall (17-10) on the road in recent weeks.
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Fresno bond debts to climb
The city of Fresno may soon have to borrow more than $20 million to bail out two local nonprofits -- at a time when the political and financial risks of taking on debt have never been more clear.
Barring a miracle, the city will be asked to make good on a $15 million construction loan that the Fresno Metropolitan Museum cannot pay. And City Hall also is on the hook for more than $5 million owed by a foundation run by the developer of the troubled Granite Park project.
Fresno already has nearly $1 billion in outstanding debt, mostly in bonds, and there's no guarantee the city can keep making annual payments without having to dip into funds now used for vital services.
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GARRY BREDEFELD: Grizzlies owners should keep up their end of deal
The on-going saga regarding the downtown stadium, unfortunately, continues. Ten years ago, the drama was about getting the stadium built, and finally it was completed. Half a million people visit the stadium annually and what was once an empty lot now generates property taxes, new businesses, jobs and community pride over a first-class stadium that is owned by the citizens of Fresno.
Now the ownership of the Grizzlies complain the city negotiated too good of a deal for the taxpayers in 2000 and that the rent of $1.5 million dollars is too high.
Jerry Duncan, in his Oct. 21 commentary, argues in support of reducing their rent and states no other Triple-A baseball team pays nearly as much (true) and reducing the rent is not a taxpayer subsidy (false).
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Pat Hill just might be in need of a miracle
Enter the Warzone, where sacred cows run scared.
Fresno State athletic director Thomas Boeh sure had plenty to say about Pat Hill's contract situation.
Unfortunately, Boeh is one of those people with the ability to rattle off mountains of words and still not say anything definitive. (More often than not, they become college administrators.)
Enter the Warzone, ringing in the New Year with a few jabs.
Nice of Fresno Falcons co-owner Brian Glover to inform us the de-iced hockey team lost more than $4 million during the past three years. Would have been nicer had he spoken up 13 months ago before the city spent $5 million to upgrade Selland Arena.
Perhaps Glover figured those improvements were meant for the Ice Capades.
Not sure if this was a joke or an oversight, but the mass e-mail sent out by Falcons CEO John Tull announcing the team had ceased operations included this phrase near the bottom: FRESNO FALCONS SEASON TICKETS STILL ON SALE!
Get 'em while they're hot.
Which of these events has a greater chance of taking place in 2009?
The Falcons return to the ECHL under new ownership or Pat Hill changes his offensive philosophy.
We'll take neither for $800, Alex.
Don't mean to imply that Fresno State's football coach is inflexible, but we've seen plaster walls with more give.
We've heard the publishers of Webster's New World Dictionary are adding a new verb -- gartrell -- to their next edition.
It means "to run over, around or through your opponent while encountering little or no resistance."
Gartrell Johnson's 285 rushing yards against Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl reminds us of Utah's Mike Anderson gashing the Bulldogs for 254 yards in the 1999 Las Vegas Bowl.
After that game, Hill challenged his defense to become "more physical" during the offseason. Sounds like good advice even now.
Because both are extremely large and ... um, lack quickness, Fresno State big man Brandon Webster earned the nickname "Glacier" last season from certain members of the media. (One in particular.) Now add global warming to the list of shared attributes. Our man has dropped a few pounds.
For fans wishing talented freshman Paul George would assert himself more offensively, look at it this way: If George did that, he wouldn't be here as a sophomore.
For no apparent reason: Andrea Bona.
The New York Yankees signed slugging first baseman Mark Teixeira to a $180 million contract. Isn't that kind of like Hell getting an extra heater?
Best of luck to ex-Fresno Grizzlies infielder Lance Niekro, another in the long line of failed San Francisco Giants position prospects, attempting to resurrect his career as a knuckleballer. That gives us an idea: Teach Todd Linden and Tony Torcato the eephus pitch.
Great Moments in Sports Journalism, Pt. 2
Former UC-Davis basketball coach Bob Williams (now at UC-Santa Barbara) following an ugly victory: If that game was a guy, he would never get a date.
Us: What if it was a girl?
Williams: Then you'd say she had a nice personality.
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