Rich's sometimes disjointed rambling

In newspaper articles, sports talk radio, the message boards, you name it, there was somewhat of a “here we go again” attitude for the Wyoming offense after the second and third scrimmages of the fall. First-year head coach Dave Christensen and his staff certainly weren't happy with the team, particularly the dropped passes, as they looked to build steam to the season opener Sept. 5 when they host Weber State. But as we all seem to do these days, we jump to conclusions. Evidently, according to Christensen, the sky isn ’t falling after all. At least, that's the case based on Wednesday’s fourth and final scrimmage at War Memorial Stadium. ------------------------------- Cowboys find more consistency ------------------------------- “For the most part, I think our kids have come out and worked extremely hard each and every day,” Christensen said after Wednesday’s scrimmage. “In complaints, there were a couple of scrimmages that I wasn ’t very happy about because that is game day,

I know what you're thinking: "Gotta' work in the morning, I've got to get to bed." The Rockies are going to lose anyway, trailing 4-1 heading into the bottom of the 14 th . It's understandable. Tell me you at least DVR'd it, just in case there is a miraculous rally. You didn't? Ryan Spilborghs ' walk-off grand slam home run, however, changed everything and the Rockies got a huge, huge, huge 6-4 victory. This could go down as one of the Rockies biggest wins in team history. I say could if they hold off San Francisco to win the wild car or even pass the Dodgers to win the NL West title. And you missed it. Wait a minute, this sounds like a DirectTV commercial for its NFL package. And I'm not Peyton Manning. It was pure redemption for Spilborghs , who hit into an inning -ending double play earlier in the game. The Rockies missed out on a couple of chances to win earlier, but wiffed . Facing a three-run deficit, with no position players left to

I'm not sure where I was on April 14 when it was announced that the Las Vegas Bowl would become the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas. For the life of me, I can't remember if I knew about the name change and new sponsor and I just can't remember. Maybe I was busy (unlikely) and just didn't hear about it. I'm thinking that forgetfulness is probably sneaking up on me like my ever-expanding waistline. Heck, I forgot my physical therapy for my aching back on Friday, and all I need to remind myself of those aches and pains is just getting up from sitting down. At any rate, the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas announced an extension with the Mountain West Conference winner and a team from the Pac -10 Conference. Here's the link to the MWC story if you would like to read more. The MAACO Bowl Las Vegas is scheduled for Dec. 22. Somebody needs to remind me before the game.

When asked if Saturday's scrimmage was a little more even between the offense and defense, Cowboy defensive end Mike Neuhaus pondered the question with some hesitation. With a politician's politically correct response, Neuhaus finally agreed to the statement. But walking away, Neuhaus wanted to disagree to a point. While the Wyoming defense once again looked strong, he found enough fault to give he Cowboys plenty of reason to improve. That seemed to be the tone after the third scrimmage of fall drills, albeit much harsher from first-year head coach Dave Christensen's standpoint. The Cowboys weren't happy with their performances in the last two scrimmages, even with some good and some bad. If they want to finish 4-8 -- even with the daunting schedule -- then Saturday's performance was good enough. I'd say 4-8 won't be good enough. The more I think about that attitude, the more I like it. Yes, the passing game sputtered with 12 dropped passes. Yes, the run

I probably should see somebody about this, but I can't stop dumping on Brett Favre . Well, this seems to be normal for most Packers' fans these days. I caught a blog by Green Bay Press-Gazette assistant online editor Jeff Ash that I found amusing. Ash blog I kind of fell off my ESPN and NFL Network boycott last night and this morning. I admit, I did check out both networks. Well, at least until the latest Favre love-fest . Of course, it was just a warm-up for tonight's Vikings-Chiefs preseason game. More loving to come.

Utah earned a No. 17 ranking, while Colorado State nabbed the No. 24 spot in the 2009 AVCA Division I Coaches Top-25 Preseason Poll released Tuesday by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. Defending MWC regular-season champion Utah returns three starters (10 letterwinners overall). The Utes participated in their 10 th NCAA Tournament all-time in 2008, advancing to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2001. Utah opens its season Aug. 28, vs. Arizona State as host of the Utah Classic in Salt Lake City. Colorado State welcomes back three starters and eight letterwinners to a team that advanced to the second round of the 2008 MWC Tournament. The Rams kick off the 2009 season on Aug. 28 hosting the Asics /Coors Classic vs. Pepperdine . The MWC has had at least one team ranked in the preseason top-25 10 out of the last 11 years. The Wyoming Cowgirls will open the season on Aug . 28 when they host the UniWyo Cowgirl Classic.

Thirteen Mountain West Conference student-athletes, including Wyoming senior defensive tackle John Fletcher, are among the 153 individuals named to the 40 th annual Rotary Lombardi Award watch list. Also named to the l ist from the MWC were Air Force's Nick Charles, Colorado State's Shelley Smith, New Mexico's Erik Cook, TCU's Marshall Newhouse and Utah's Zane Beadles are among the offensive lineman competing for the honors, while BYU's Jan Jorgensen , TCU's Jerry Hughes and Utah's Koa Misi represent the MWC candidates on the defensive line. Linebackers Daryl Washington ( TCU ), Jason Beauchamp ( UNLV ) and Stevenson Sylvester (Utah) are also on the list, as is BYU tight end Dennis Pitta. Beadles is the stepson of Wyoming women's basketball coach Joe Legerski . The 40 th annual Rotary Lombardi Award, presented by Houston's Rotary Club, honors the top lineman in the Football Bowl Subdivision. A list of, semifinalists will be released

For you Broncos' fans who aren't enamored with new head coach Josh McDaniels (especially after Friday's preseason performance ), you might get a kick out of this "fake story" by The Onion. It's been a while since I posted something from The Onion, so here you go: McDaniels -- The Onion And speaking of the Broncos, it is early and it was the first preseason game, but Kyle Orton hasn't done anything to win over the fans. How about getting booed at practice and following that up with three interceptions in the first half in the loss to the 49ers. We'll see what happens, but it could be an interesting year for the Broncos.

Here's some early observations from Friday's Wyoming scrimmage. Robert Benjamin has the tools to run Dave Christensen's offense. Now, that doesn't mean he will be the starting quarterback when the Cowboys open the season on Sept. 5 when they host Weber State. It is still somewhat of a learning curve for Benjamin, as he wasn't able to get to Laramie until late this summer after completing his courses at Phoenix college. Senior Karsten Sween probably has grasped Christensen's spread offense a little better with his experience and his work this spring and summer. But there is no denying that Benjamin can do some good things. He has a strong arm with touch, which was evident on a beautiful 45-yard TD pass to Travis Burkhalter . He can run, which was obvious on his 38-y ard touchdown scamper. All-in-all, it was a nice get to meet the new quarterback for Wyoming fans, as he finished the day with three touchdown passes and the one TD run. He did throw one interc