Warszawski: Ready for sizzling Mountain West time in Vegas

Enter the Warzone, somewhere between frying pan and fire.

▪ Spending the early part of the week in the only place on Earth hotter than Fresno: Las Vegas.

That is, if we’re permitted to go outside.

▪ The Mountain West Conference Football Media Days are Tuesday and Wednesday. It’s a great time of year because every team is in first place and bursting with optimism about the upcoming season.

Even Fresno State.

▪ Look for the Bulldogs to be picked either second or third in the West Division, behind favorite San Diego State, when the MW media poll comes out Tuesday morning.

That high? Well, one must account for Hawaii and UNLV.

▪ Yes, we realize Fresno State lost to UNLV last season.

If “Unsolved Mysteries” were still on TV, that game would deserve its own episode.

▪ Still think Zack Greenlee is the favorite to win the quarterback battle, but newcomer Ford Childress showed a strong arm and clean delivery during a recent offseason workout in the stadium.

And the West Virginia transfer wasn’t airing it out …

▪ Or, if the Bulldogs are intent on running the ball more, as offensive coordinator Dave Schramm suggests, perhaps Kilton Anderson deserves a shot.

▪ The story by ABC 30’s Sontaya Rose about Bernard Berrian catching ex-teammate Therrian Fontenot on camera burglarizing his house certainly was a talker.

No one likes to witness Bulldog-on-Bulldog crime.

▪ Judging by Sunday’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony, one might think baseball from the mid-1990s through early ’00s was dominated by pitchers and singles hitters.

One would also be dead wrong, but that’s the voters cleansing history.

▪ John Smoltz warned about the dangers of too much pitching at a young age, imploring kids to play other sports besides baseball.

Wonder if certain Clovis parents were listening.

▪ Alex Rodriguez was a cute comeback story until a recent three-homer game gave him 23 on the season.

Now he’s a suspicious comeback story.

▪ Various baseball insiders have the Giants targeting an ace pitcher, Cole Hamels or David Price, before Thursday’s trade deadline.

Because if the Dodgers get one of those guys, look out.

▪ A’s outfielder Billy Burns left Friday’s game against the Giants with a “testicular contusion.”

And that’s when we stopped reading.

▪ Boy, Colin Cowherd’s new tenure at FOX Sports got off to a flying start ...

▪ From now on the NFL will start random halftime and postgame checks to make sure footballs are properly inflated.

Guessing one team gets checked more often than others.

▪ Random checks for footballs? How about random checks for concussions?

▪ Not only will the NFL forbid Junior Seau’s family from speaking at his Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Commissioner Roger Goodell just suspended them for the first four games of the 2015 season.

▪ Defending his role in the Saints’ Bountygate scandal of 2012, Gregg Williams maintains “there was nothing done to try to hurt somebody.”

Guess those $8,000 payouts given away for “kill shots” don’t count.

▪ Best of luck to Oswaldo Lopez in the Badwater 135 Ultramarathon, though when someone runs 135 miles across a scorching desert there probably isn’t much luck involved.

▪ For no particular reason: Charlie Culberson

▪ For 10 years, officials at a golf course in Norway have been trying to solve the mystery of who keeps pooping in cups on weekday mornings.

Sounds like a half-assed effort.

▪ Retired NBA all-star Gilbert Arenas was banned from all basketball-shooting games at the Orange County Fair after winning too many prizes.

Arenas’ life never ceases to be a carnival.

This story was originally published July 27, 2015 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Warszawski: Ready for sizzling Mountain West time in Vegas."