Rich's sometimes disjointed rambling

A caller on Sportsline Live asked on Tuesday the status of Cowboy basketball and the possibility of three more players who had possibly given verbals. As it turned out, he was on to something. About the same time the UW sports information department sent out a release to the media that dealt about 99 percent with the future of the program. The other one percent, at the bottom of the release, stated that sophomore center Mikhail Linskens and junior forward Mahamoud Diakite were leaving the program to pursue opportunities to play professional baske tball overseas. Both are leaving the Wyoming program in good academic standing, thus giving the Cowboys two more scholarships to go along with the three letters-of-intent that have already been signed. It was no real surprise to see that Linskens and D iakite were departing. If Las Vegas had odds on who would go and who would stay, they were the heavy favorites to leave the program. With the emergence of redshirt freshman Adam Wadde...

Technically, there is nothing wrong with the lede of a story, written by Reuters and published on ESPN.com. It's about a French pole vaulting champion, who, seeking attention and corporate sponsorship, ran through the streets of Paris naked. Here's the lede : PARIS, France -- A French pole vaulting champion ran naked with his pole through the streets of Paris and posted a video on the Internet, hoping to draw attention to his quest for a new sponsorship deal. Maybe it is just me, but I busted a gut reading the story. Let's dissect this, just a bit. Man, naked, with his pole. Get it. I'm wondering, how would I write this different? Basically, there is no other word to use instead of pole when describing a pole vaulter. Equipment? Spear? Stick? No, none of that would work either. I guess it has to be pole. The only other way to write it would be to leave pole out of the lede and insert it -- whoops, sorry -- write pole later in the story. At any rate, to steal a phrase...

As we all know, Devin Moore and Wynel Seldon , mainstays in the Wyoming backfield for the last four years, are gone. So who is running the football these days for the Cowboys? Nick Landess and Jake Scott? What in the Wide World of Sports is going on here? The two Wyoming kicks ran the ball a little Saturday in practice at the Indoor Practice Facility. OK, I’ ve pulled your chain long enough. The two kickers, like many other special teamers , were just getting a taste in some drills of what it is like getting thumped a little bit in an effort for them to learn how to hang onto the football. It’s all part of the “It’s All About The Ball” campaign that new head coach Dave Christensen and staff have implemented. “Everybody has to learn how to protect the football. If it ends up in their hands, there is one way we want them to hold the football,” Christensen said. Don’t fret, the only time Landess or Scott will run the ball is if there is a problem with the kick and they are running for...

The University of Wyoming athletics department is calling it the greatest schedule in UW football history. It's hard to argue. The Cowboys will host No. 3 Texas , travel to Boulder to face Colorado and also host two other Top 25 programs from last season -- TCU and BYU . In other interesting notes about the schedule: •Wyoming’s 2009 schedule will mark the first time since 2003 that the Cowboys have played two Big 12 opponents in the same season. UW lost at Oklahoma State 28-24 and lost at home to Kansas 42-35 during the 2003 season. •The Cowboys will be playing Colorado for the first time since 1997, when UW lost a 20-19 game in Boulder. That game later had to be forfeited by the Buffaloes due to playing an ineligible player. •The game versus Texas will be the first of a three-game football series between UW and UT beginning in 2009. After opening the three-game series in Laramie in ‘09, Wyoming will travel to Austin, Texas, twice for road games on Sept. 11, 2010, and Sept....

I love hamburgers. I have since I was a young boy. But I don't know about this. The West Michigan Whitecaps, a minor league baseball team, will be offering up major league cholesterol, carbohydrates and calories in a hamburger being added to the menu this year at the Fifth Third Ballpark. The 4-pound, $20 burger features five beef patties, five slices of cheese, nearly a cup of chili and liberal doses of salsa and corn chips, all on an 8-inch sesame-seed bun. The Grand Rapids Press reports that anyone who eats the entire 4,800-calorie behemoth in one sitting will receive a special T-shirt. And likely a trip to the emergency room. The Midwest League team is a Class A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. Rex Larsen, Associated Press Josh Kowalczyk, an intern with the West Michigan Whitecaps, in Comstock Park, Mich., with the $20 burger that will feature a sesame-seed bun made from a pound of dough, five 1/3-pound beef patties, five slices of cheese, nearly a cup of chili and liberal dose...

Future Wyoming Cowboy Michael Dietz was recently named the Gatorade state boys' basketball player of the year. The Casper Natrona senior helped lead the Mustangs to a 27-1 record and a Class 4A state championship. The 6-foot-6 Dietz averaged 17.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.9 steals, 2.2 blocks and 1.7 assists per game. "I've never coached a player who pays as much attention to detail as Dietz ," NC coach Randy Roden said in a release. "When you ask him to do something, that's exactly how he does it in the game and in practice. A lot of kids will try to find an easier way to do things, but Dietz does it exactly the way you want him to do it." Dietz also maintains a 3.56 GPA and volunteers as a youth basketball coach and peer leader at NCHS . Dietz is now a finalist for the national player of the year award, which will be announced later this month.

One breakaway dunk and back flip has Wyoming redshirt freshman Adam Waddell on the national map. Let's just say it wasn't so much for the dunk, but for his landing in the CBI loss to Northeastern last Tuesday that has landed the Cody native on national television. A YouTube sensation, Waddell was featured on ESPN SportsCenter as No. 2 on the Top Plays of the Day and also was featured on other ESPN programing, as well as on FOX News. On Tuesday morning, he and head coach Heath Schroyer will be interviewed in studio on The Today Show. The airing is expected to be between 7:30-8 a.m. live on the popular national morning television show, which is filmed from their studio on the corner of 49 th Street and Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, N.Y. The Today Show is aired live on the East Coast but tape delayed to all other time zones. Waddell and Schroyer left Laramie Monday morning to travel to New York City for Tuesday’s appearance. Wyoming’s starting center...

We will start with a little Monday morning basketball. My NCAA bracket made a nice comeback over the weekend, going 15-1. I had a good opening Thursday, but struggled, like a lot of people, on Friday. Now I am sitting in second place and if things finish well, have a shot to win it. Of course, all of that would be a moot point if Pittsburgh and Louisville would have lost. Both teams gave me a few anxious moments at times before pulling the games out. Once again, the MWC fell flat on its face in the tournament. We spent a great deal last week talking about the disappointment of San Diego State not getting into the NCAAs and that Utah and BYU needed a good showing .... at least first round wins. Both looked like crap. We can talk all we want about the conference not getting respect, but efforts like this just gives those who do not respect the league the opportunity to say I told you so. And by the way. Arizona, which should not have gotten into the Big Dance, is in the Sweet 16. Her...

I'm afraid to even look at my NCAA bracket now. Thursday was a decent day, picking 13 of 16. I was two better than President Obama, but nobody at ESPN will care. On Friday, things are turning south on me. I picked Utah State over Marquette. Probably not a smart move, but I just had a hunch. It almost was a great pick, but almost doesn't count. Then I picked West Virginia over Dayton, Boston College over USC , Tennessee over Oklahoma State and of course, Utah over Arizona. In my defense, all but Tennessee (9) vs. Oklahoma State (8) and Utah State (11) vs. Marquette (6) were solid picks, at least in the eyes of the NCAA selection committee ... they had them as higher seeds. I'm not even counting the final late games, and as of this writing, things are not looking good. My only hope is many of my misses were misses by the rest of my bracket opponents. At least Pittsburgh won, and of course, it wasn't easy.

When the agent gets involved in a dispute between player and management, it's all but over. In today's latest installment of The Young Jay Cutler & The Restless, Cutler's agent, Bus Cook (famous for being Brett Favre's mouthpiece at times), was in the news today as he basically called out Broncos' owner Pat Bowlen for implying to Cutler that they would still keep the offensive coaching staff after Mike Shanahan was hired. Cook told NFL.com that Cutler met with Bowlen shortly after Shanahan was fired on Dec. 30 to express his concerns. "Jay was disappointed in the firing of Mike Shanahan and met with the owner," Cook told NFL.com. "The owner assured him everything would be fine. The owner said he had the second-best offense in football and would leave the offensive staff intact. Jay was good with that. Then he hires an offensive coach who gets rid of the staff." After new head coach Josh McDaniels attempted to trade for Matt Cassel , Cutle...

For the previous five seasons, the Cowboys had been regular students in one sense: They took a week off during spring break, just like everyone else. Not this year. If Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer has his way, never again. “I told this team about two weeks ago that I hate spring break and I don’t want to be a spring break program. I want to play in the postseason,” Schroyer said. “I think it is really big for our young guys to understand the expectations.” The Cowboys, at the very least, will be busy for a few days of spring break as they compete in the College Basketball Invitational, hosting Northeastern University Tuesday night. A win over the Huskies, and their spring break is completely shot: They’ll play again on Monday. This is Wyoming’s first postseason appearance since 2003 when the Cowboys fell to North Carolina in the first round of the NIT. Since then, under former head coach Steve McClain and Schroyer last season, the Cowboys were 11-17, 15-13, 14-18, 17-15 and 12-18. A...

How realistic were the chances that the Cowgirls could squeeze in the Women's National Invitation Tournament? Evidently, not realistic enough. The Cowgirls were left out of the 48-team field that was announced on Monday night. New Mexico was the lone Mountain West team to be named to the tournament. Three league teams -- Utah, San Diego State and TCU -- were named Monday night to the NCAA Tournament. The Cowgirls had hoped that their previous success (winning the WNIT title two years ago) and their ability to draw big crowds could give them a shot at postseason play. But at 16-14, their record wasn't quite good enough. Unlike the men's field, the NCAA and WNIT are all she wrote. The WNIT takes one automatic qualifier from each of the 31 leagues and then adds 17 at-large teams. New Mexico was the automatic qualifier, as the fourth best team in the league. Could Wyoming, the fifth best, get consideration? I'd say yes, but not quite enough. The opening-round loss t...

Like many teams, the Wyoming Cowboys are in the waiting and hoping mode on Sunday, as they learn the fate of their season's work. At 19-13, did the Cowboys do enough to warrant a postseason berth? Of course, the Cowboys won't be playing in the NCAA Tournament, losing to eventual Mountain West Conference Tournament champion Utah in Friday's semifinals. Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer is confident that his team will play again, whether it is in the National Invitation Tournament, the College Basketball Invitational or the College Insider.com tourney. A bid on Sunday would be a huge step for the Wyoming program, Schroyer said Friday night after the loss to the Utes. " I don't know the exact number, but it's harder to go to a post-season tournament than it is a Bowl game," Schroyer said. "I mean, it's really hard because there's so many teams in men's basketball. So, I think we've done enough. For this program in year two to have an oppor...

Well, I guess it is good to be a Utah basketball fan. I know what you are thinking, Wyoming fans, but let's keep it clean. Utah made it a clean sweep over San Diego State on Saturday in Las Vegas in the Mountain West bConference tournament, as the Utes edged the Aztecs 52-50 for the men's title. Earlier in the day in the women's title game, Utah bested San Diego State 63-58. In the men's tilt, defense was the name of the game as tournament MVP Luke Nevill scored 10 of his 18 points in the second half and Shaun Green's steal right before the buzzer clinched the two-point victory. Lawrence Borha scored 12 points and hit three free throws in the final 12.8 seconds for the second-seeded Utes (24-9). They won their second Mountain West tournament title by limiting San Diego State star Lorrenzo Wade to 12 points on 5-of-16 shooting. Richie Williams hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 14 seconds for San Diego State to make it 51-50. After Borha missed his last fre...

In case you are wondering, yes, I am still alive. I do have to say that at times this week, thanks to a stomach bug, I wasn't so sure. I won't go into details, nor do you want me to. But let's just say that it wasn't pleasant . So, to say the least, I haven't been able to devote much time (or have the desire) to Wyoming Sports.org this week. But, I'm getting back to abnormal again, so I will try to keep up. As some of you know, and others who don't know, I started Wyoming Sports.org a little over a year ago in an attempt to keep writing after my departure from the Boomerang after 18 1/2 years. To be honest, writing sports is all I have ever done and all I have ever wanted to do. I won't pretend to think that I'm the greatest sports writer (unlike many in this field), but I dare to find too many who have loved their job more than I have. With that being said, the last year and a half has been difficult, there's no denying it, because I was put in...

You've got to give Mountain West Conference commissioner Craig Thompson credit on trying to get the league in the BCS . He's not backing down. Thompson and the Mountain West Conference has presented the BCS with a proposal to create an eight-team playoff in major college football that would allow greater access to teams outside the six most powerful leagues. Thompson and four MWC university leaders, including Wyoming President Tom Buchanan, announced details of the proposal Wednesday on a conference call. The call for change comes after a season in which MWC champion Utah was the only unbeaten major team but was never seriously in the running to play in the BCS national championship game. The conferences with automatic access to five BCS games are the Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC and Pac -10. Florida beat Oklahoma in the BCS title game; the Utes finished No. 2 after beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Click here for the MWC proposal Click here for AP story

New Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels is off to an interesting start with the team with the leak that he was looking to trade wonderboy Jay Cultler to get a chance for his own wonderboy Matt Cassel . McDaniels couldn't pull the trade off and Cassel was eventually traded to Kansas City. Now, Cutler is crying foul and apparently is going to hold his breath until training camp. Brandon Marshall is in trouble again, with another spat with his fiancee. Granted, Atlanta officials dropped charges against him, but Roger Goodwell is the high sheriff in town and Marshall could still be in trouble. Mike Shanahan has to be sitting back in his year off with a *&#%-eating grin. --- Three years ago, I didn't know what to think of the World Baseball Classic. By the end, I was on board, even if Team USA got its butt whipped. When you look at the big pictured, it is amazing the talent the other teams have, such as Japan, Korea, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico, to ...

Yes, you too can drive what Brett Favre drives. No, this is not the beginning of yet another Favre television commercial. You can literally drive what Favre drives. That is, if you are the high bidder on eBay. Favre has his 2007 King Ranch V8 5.4 L pickup for sale. The pickup has just 8,460 miles on it, so it is in good shape, and of course, there was no driving back and forth from Mississippi to Green Bay. Whoops ... I mean New York. There have been two bids so far, the highest bid at $35,100. I've been looking for a newer pickup. Do I hear $35,101? Well, you know, in this economy, I guess all retirees have to make sacrifices to make ends meet.