Rich's sometimes disjointed rambling

Various media have reported that Southside High School ( Greenville , S.C.) combo guard Quinton Thomas has made a verbal commitment to play basketball for the Wyoming Cowboys for the 2009-2010 season. Thomas, at 6-foot-6, is the reigning South Carolina 2A Player of the Year. Thomas averaged 16 points, six rebounds and five assists a game and helped lead Southside, 27-2, to a state championship last season. Thomas also played played AAU basketball with the Carolina Celtics this summer. The team finished with an overall record of 26-7. According to Scout.com, “Thomas has tremendous size and wingspan for a point guard. You could categorize him as a point forward in essence. He excels at getting to the basket currently but during this off-season he's improved his perimeter game and it should benefit his recruitment." It was also reported that among the other schools making offers were East Carolina, Winthrop and South Carolina-Upstate. Thomas is expected to sign his letter-of-i...

The summer Olympics are over. Now what? My wife is now muttering under her breath ... no more Olympics, no more Olympics. I guess it's back to the Food Network. Maybe the Food Network can run its own Olympics? No, I'm not sure I want to watch Paula Dean on the balance beam. And poor NBC. Now the network is back to Deal or No Deal for excitement. Me thinks Michael Phelps would be the perfect host. Get rid of that bald guy. I'm also thinking about a teenage reality show starring Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin . You could call it Smile or No Smile. OK, I admit that I had one eye on what was going on. The other eye was usually on baseball, preseason football, a crime show or on Sunday night, Gene Simmons Family Jewels (guilty pleasure). I did try to flip back and forth between Gene Simmons and the closing ceremonies Sunday night. I'm not a big opening or closing ceremonies guy, but I did know that Jimmy Page was supposed to play. Now, if Led Zeppelin played every day dur...

Former Minnesota Twins pitching great and current Twins television color analyst Bert Blyleven , who was raised in California, often talks about his "California math" when talking about statistics. Could this be Minnesota spelling? This picture of Minnesota utility infielder Adam Everett was actually caught by former Twins utility infielder Denny Hocking, while watching on television, as the Twins were playing the Angels on Friday night in Anaheim . Hocking, who lives in the LA area, text-messaged the Angels stadium to get word to the Twins clubhouse that they might want to change Everett's uniform top. They did and he played the rest of the way with the correct spelling of Minnesota. The lack of spelling in Minnesota, however, isn't hurting the Twins ability on the diamond, as they are currently (going into Saturday's action) in first place in the AL Central, one-half game of the White Sox . Go Twinz !!!! I mean, go Twins!!!

Leave it to a Green Bay Packers fan to spot somebody on the sidelines of the Wyoming football scrimmage in Packers' apparel. Actually, I originally thought he was a CSU coach (from a distance, mind you). UW's Aaron Voos quickly corrected me and told me he was in Packers garb. So that increased my curiosity. Now, I had to ask ... and I did. He's Lenny McGill , a college scout for the Packers. Now living in Broomfield , Colo., Wyoming is one of his target schools in the area. We talked a bit (of course, Brett Favre was the icebreaker) and then I went back to taking some pictures before I went up to the press box for the remote of Sportsline Live. Being the Packers fan, I got to thinking about it and yes, I did remember his name, although not much in detail. So I looked him up in the internet. I found out that McGill played cornerback for the Packers in 1994-95 in the dime package. He was then traded to the Falcons and started for two years before finishing up his career wit...

According to the Boulder Daily Camera, Broomfield (Colo.) senior forward Chaundra Sewell has committed to play basketball for the University of Wyoming in 2009-2010. For more on the story, click here: http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/aug/20/sewell-decides-to-become-cowgirl/

It's that time of the year -- the fall sports season has officially begun for Laramie High School. The Plainsmen football team got things going bright and early at 6 a.m. Monday with the first of two-a-days, practicing later at 3:30 p.m. Also getting going for LHS was the Lady plainsmen swim and diving team, the LHS volleyball team and the Laramie cross country, tennis and golf teams. Check back with Wyoming Sports.org with features on all of the LHS fall programs. For a little slideshow on the Plainsmen practice Monday afternoon, click here: http://wyomingsportsyouth.blogspot.com/2008/08/plainsmen-open-practice.html

Evidently , Colorado State football fans and the media are to take the CSU sports information department's word for their recent scrimmages. First-year as CSU head coach Steve Fairchild has his scrimmages closed to the public and the media. Fort Collins Coloradoan writer Kelly Lyell's scrimmage stories are written without the benefit of seeing what he is writing about. Evidently, the media waits for the scrimmage to end and then receives the statistics and can talk to players and coaches. Lyell wrote in a blog on Friday that this was probably the first closed scrimmages at CSU in 16 years. Lyell wrote that Fairchild said he feels "more comfortable" having some closed sessions as he prepares his first Colorado State University team for the Aug. 31 opener in Denver against the University of Colorado. I've got a feeling that if Joe Glenn closed his scrimmages to the fans and media, there would be some pretty upset people around town and the state. I haven...

Check out this "pick six" interception by former Wyoming cornerback Derrick Martin Saturday night against Minnesota. http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d80a0dcb1

Workers were getting a few things done late during the Cowboys' scrimmage on the new North scoreboard. I got a shot from the press box very late. It's looking good. Can't wait to hear the sound system.

OK, I admit it. I'm starting to get into the Olympics. I avoided the opening ceremonies, I watched bits and pieces of the weekend action. The problem was, I couldn't escape it, even if I wanted to. My wife and step-daughter have probably watched about 90 percent of the action so far. Sunday night I was downstairs and I heard a bunch of hollering and then a roar. As it turned out, the U.S. 4X100 freestyle relay team had some from behind to win the gold. So I watch a little more. Then some more. Monday night I caught the tail end of the men's gymnastics team event. One of the participants, Sasha Artemev , caught my eye. He should of; I did a story on him a few years ago when, as one of the top teenage gymnasts in the country, her was competing in the Regional meet at the UW Fieldhouse . I talked to Sasha and his father, who was a gymnasts for the Soviet team several years ago. When Sasha, who was originally going to be an alternate of the team before Morgan Hamm dropped o...

While my wife and step-daughter continue to be glued to the television watching the Olympics, I asked them who won the beach rowing competition. Sorry, but I thought that was funny. Myself, I'm not putting the Olympics down, but other than a little swimming , a little basketball and a little track and field, that's really all that I am interested in. I'm still a baseball guy and at this time of the year, that's what I am watching. So on Sunday, I watched the Twins and Royals. I know, that's a real ratings grabber there. On the local scene, it was a busy week and weekend. The Laramie Little League All-Stars finished third in the Northwest Regional Tournament in San Bernardino . Congratulations to coaches Ron Harding and Ty McWhorter and the boys. They did a great job of representing Laramie and the state of Wyoming. In case you're wondering, Mill Creek Little League of Washington won the Northwest Regional title with a 10-1 thumping of Murrayhill Little league o...

The University of Wyoming women’s soccer staff is hosting an open tryout on Thursday. “I have conducted open tryouts throughout my coaching career and have had great experiences with them,” stated first-year UW head coach Danny Sanchez. “ Not only do we give students the opportunity to try out for Division I soccer, but we get the opportunity to perhaps find someone that can contribute to our program. To me it is a win-win situation.” Anyone interested in participating in the tryout should contact assistant women’s soccer coach Jason Green at jgreen20@uwyo.edu or 766-4035. *** Wyoming All-Access offers sign-up discount The 2008-09 school year marks the third straight season that the University of Wyoming Athletics Department has partnered with CBS College Sports to bring fans exclusive audio and video coverage of UW athletics. Wyoming All-Access is the exclusive provider of online Cowboy/Cowgirl multimedia at WyomingAthletics.com. Subscribe for an annual package during the month of Aug...

Rock Springs was disqualified for the American Legion Wyoming AA State Baseball Tournament because of four illegal players. Rock Springs went into the tournament as the No. 1 seed from the West Conference after winning that tournament last week in Rock Springs. Apparently state legion commissioner Paul Eastridge had allowed the four players (supposedly from Rapid City, S.D.) to compete, but the national legion board rules late Tuesday night that they were ineligible to compete. What that meant was Sheridan, which was to play Rock Springs Wednesday, wins by forfeit and moves on to face Cheyenne Post 6 on Thursday. Green River, which lost to Post 6 15-1 earlier on Wednesday, now gets a bye in the loser's bracket.

Richard Anderson photo Wyoming senior tackle Kyle Howard, left, blocks a teammate in a drill Tuesday during practice in the Indoor Practice Facility, after lightning moved the team inside. It took just one and a half practices for the Wyoming Cowboys to head to the Indoor Practice Facility. It certainly wasn't too cold or wet or windy, but there was a little too much electricity in the air for the Wyoming coaching staff to take any chances. A lightning and thunderstorm had been approaching from the north for much of the first hour of practice before one hit came a little too close for comfort at about 4:10 p.m. The Cowboys finished the day in the IPF as lightning was seen for much of the time still striking to the north. *** You can prepare you flight to Tennessee as the Vols have set the game time with Wyoming for the Nov. 8 contest in Knoxville. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. MDT at Neyland Stadium. The game is being televised in Knoxville through the VideoSeat pay-per-view service...