Rich's sometimes disjointed rambling

With no Kobe vs. LeBron in the NBA Finals, there was a collective sigh of dismay heard in the league offices on Saturday night. There's no doubt that the most marketable Finals would have been the Lakers versus the Cavs . At least the Finals won't feature the Nuggets against the Magic, David Stern is thinking. For King James, it as an interesting exit from not only the playoffs, but from the Orlando stadium Saturday night. No congratulatory handshakes with the Magic, no post-game interviews with the media. No nothing from James. LeBron J ames came into the NBA a few years ago as an 18-year old man-child. So what is he today? Man or child. He is arguably the league's best player and probably your only argument will come from die-hard Lakers fans. On Saturday night, James was a child. Yes, I know you are disappointed with the loss and the elimination. But LeBron , man up, shake some hands, congratulate the Magic for being the better team, which they are. Be mad at yours...

As Dandy Don Meredith used to sing when the game was decided on Monday Night Football, "Turn out the lights, the party's over." I know, I'm dating myself here. Nuggets fans were likely singing that at the Pepsi Center midway through the fourth quarter. Denver's exciting run to the NBA Finals was stopped dead in its tracks by the Lakers in a surprising way, 119-92 Friday night. Many in this neck of the woods expected one team to take control like the last time the two teams played in the Pepsi Center. Not too many here thought it would be the Lakers . For a team that has had focus problems on the road this season, Los Angeles looked every bit the part as the favorite, and the team the national media has been slobbering over at times this season. In this case, I guess they were right. But I have to give the Nuggets credit. If not for their run in the playoffs this season, I'd probably be just lukewarm in watching the NBA this year. They got to me watch and be i...

In a not-so-surprising move on Friday, the Colorado Rockies have fired manager Clint Hurdle. With the Rockies struggling for the second straight season after 2007's memorable World Series run, the first to go is the housecleaning is often the manager. Did Hurdle deserve to be fired? will general manager Dan O'Dowd be next? Will more high-priced stars such as Todd Helton be traded? Those will be the million dollar question in the next few days or weeks, especially if the Rockies don't turn things around soon. Former Dodgers and Pirates manager Jim Tracy will take over for the rest of the season. I liked Hurdle for the most part. He was good for the organization for a few years but the bottom line is winning. Take away the 2007 season and his tenure at Colorado has to be called sub-par. We'll see what happens. For more on Hurdle's firing, click on this Associated Press story: Hurdle gone

It's officially spring/summer in Laramie for me because local baseball is under way. I say spring/summer because ... well, it's Laramie and it is always a little of both. The Laramie Rangers opened their home season on a nice note, defeating Gering , Neb., 4-2 and 10-5 on Wednesday. I left Cowboy Field at about 9:30 p.m. beginning my 21st season in covering the Rangers. My first game covering Laramie Rangers baseball was in 1987 and Dennis Diehl was the manager. Being a relative newcomer to Laramie and not knowing Diehl , let's just say that first summer was an interesting experience. It's been quite a ride since then. But 22 years later, even though I'm not with the Boomerang, I'm still at Cowboy Field asking youngsters some of the same questions that I probably have asked throughout the years. Knock on wood, one of these days, I'll ask the same question to a Ranger that I asked to his father, a former Ranger. You'll see a couple of different names th...

Nobody can accuse the Cowboy football staff of not getting to know the state of Wyoming. The spring recruiting period for NCAA college football programs concluded on May 22, and during that spring period, at least one member of UW ’s new football coaching staff made a visit to each of the 58 high school football programs in the state of Wyoming. “We felt it was very important to begin building a relationship with the high school coaches and student-athletes throughout Wyoming as soon as possible,” said first-year Wyoming head coach Dave Christensen in a release. “We want to sign every Division I caliber football player out of the state of Wyoming, and we also want to build a walk-on program that gives Wyoming kids a chance to prove they can play at this level.” At the conclusion of 2009 spring football drills, there were 11 Wyoming natives on the Cowboy roster, with several expected walk- ons from Wyoming high schools set to join the program in the fall of 2009. Six returning Wyoming ...

The Laramie Rangers AA American Legion baseball team opened the season with split Saturday in the Riders Spring Classic in Gillette. Laramie opened with as 17-9 win over Rock Springs, before falling to host and defending state champion Gillette 8-5. The Rangers will face Casper Sunday at 9 a.m. and Spearfish, S.D., at 2 p.m. Spearfish owns wins over both Casper and Gillette so far in the tournament. The Rangers will also compete on Monday, depending on Sunday's results.

Congratulations to the Laramie Lady Plainsmen for winning their second straight Class 4A state girls soccer championship, as they downed Gillette 1-0 Saturday at the Big Horn Equestrian Center field near Sheridan. The lone goal of the game was scored by Ariela Schreibeis in the 65 th minute. Laramie and Gillette had split during the regular season, with the Camels handing the Lady Plainsmen their lone loss of the season. Laramie, 15-1-1, went into the title game by beating Star Valley 3-0 and Casper Natrona 2-0. In its two-year run in the state tournament, the Laramie defense has yet to give up a goal.

Evidently, it hurts to be a BYU basketball fan. It especially hurts when the Cougars lose. It hurts so much that somebody has to pay, darn it. Two BYU brothers -- Brett Walkenhorst and Chad Walkenhorst -- want UNLV , the Thomas & Mack Center and the Mountain West Conference, to pay for their misery after UNLV beat the Cougs for the 2008 men's basketball title at the Thomas & Mack. Evidently, the Rebels fans celebration was so out of control that both brothers were hurt. Imagine that. Instead of suing, the brothers should just turn loose Lee Cummard's wife -- affectionately nicknamed " Psycho Sarah" -- on those UNLV fans. Wait a minute, see did that on her own. Here's a link of the story from the Las Vegas Sun

If the Western Athletic Conference told the University of Wyoming that it would never be back after UW hosted the conference track and field championships in 1968, don't expect Mountain West Conference officials to hold the same opinion. Yes, it was a little windy and chilly at times, but rain and snow stayed away and Saturday was simply beautiful out at the Louis S. Madrid Sports Complex during the final day of the MWC championships. My guess is the MWC track championships will return to Laramie, although it will be a few years because of the league rotation. But with the way the meet was organized and run, along with the quality facilities , it was an outstanding meet. Wyoming coach Don Yentes certainly would have liked to seen both of his teams finish a little higher in the standings, but he recognized that the MWC is a very good track conference. Yentes , however, could do nothing but smile about the meet overall, in Laramie for the first time in 41 years. “Overall, it wa...

Best story on Brett Favre's possible comeback to date. I only wish I would have come up with this story. Brett Favre

Utah athletics director Chris Hill might have a future in the government. After saying last week that the university was in somewhat of a budget crunch, that there would be no salary increases, no budget increases and some possible layoffs next year, he gives Utes basketball coach Jim Boylen a 55 percent pay increase from his original five-year deal. Boylen , who guided the Utes to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four years, will get a yearly salary of about $850,000, with other incentives expected to be around $1 million per season. Only New Mexico's Steve Alford, at a little over $1 million per year season, has a better deal in the Mountain West Conference. I'm sure Hill was feeling a little pressure to sweeten the deal, as Utah received inquiries about Boylen from Arizona and Memphis this season. Utah won 24 games last season and tied BYU and New Mexico for the regular-season title. While not a big fan of Boylen's temperament or the Utes, it sounds like a ...

I might have found my ultimate job. This is listed on JournalismJobs . com website: Description: Softball Reporter Roll Call seeks an energetic reporter/blogger for a three-month, part-time (10 hours/week) position covering Capitol Hill’s summer softball season for RollCall .com’s new softball Web site. The successful candidate will have: experience in and around the Congressional, House and/or Senate softball leagues; news reporting experience, preferably sports-related; an engaging writing style; and the flexibility to work evening hours. Send or fax resume with cover letter, and writing samples to: Roll Call Inc., Attn: HR Dept., 50 F Street, NW, 7 th Floor, Washington, DC 20001 or fax: 202/824-0475 or e-mail hr@rollcall.com. No phone calls please. EOE. I think this would be worth checking out. After all, the pay could come from the recent stimulus package. Salary: $1.2 million. Nancy Pelosi will pick the team for the Congressional Dems , with Eric Cantor picking for the Republica...

Joe Heller cartoon on Favre One of my favorite lines from Blazing Saddles has Slim Pickens (Taggart) saying, "What in the Wide, Wide World of Sports is going on here?" Thursday was a Taggart day. On Wednesday, the entire national sports media was going ga - ga over the possibility of former Packers QB Brett Favre coming out of retirement -- again -- to join the hated Minnesota Vikings. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune had head coach Brad Childress flying to Mississippi Wednesday night to meet with Favre ; Childress was spotted gong into Vikings headquarters on Thursday. On Thursday, Yahoo! Sports had Favre telling Childress Wednesday night via the telephone that he was going to stay retired. Evidently, Sports Illustrated's Peter King and ESPN's Chris Mortenson and John Clayton were sleeping on the job. Yahoo! Sports? Gotta' love it. Of course, it is just May 7 and Favre will likely change his mind three or four times before training camp begins and King, M...

Here's what I think about Brett Favre possibly coming out of retirement again to play for the Vikings: If he signs, here's what he will likely say by the middle of the season: Of course, I could be wrong. If he leads the Vikings to the Super Bowl win, he'll probably say this to the Packers, especially general manager Ted Thompson:

Devin Moore hasn't been in Seattle long, but Seahawks fans are already taking notice ... of what Cowboys fans already knew. Moore is pretty good. Just checking out the Seattle Post- Intelligencer forum board, Hawk Squawk , D-Mo was the subject of several posts. A poster called ludakrishna 420 opened it up by saying, "WOW. I thought Butler was explosive but just watch this guy. A great punt and kick returner." He then posted two YouTube videos of D-Mo as example. The first was his 98-yard kickoff return against CSU and the other was a draft video profile on Draftguys .com. By about 3 p.m. (MT) on Sunday, there had been 43 replies on on the original post. Most of the early attention in the Seattle rookie camp has been on top pick, Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry . The Seahawks rookies worked out Sunday. There will be one more minicamp in June before the July 31 training camp begins. Moore wasn't drafted, but if his ability and work ethic continue, I'd say...

Former Wyoming wrestler Joe DeCamillis was among the 12 people hurt on Saturday when the roof collapsed on the Dallas Cowboys practice facility. DeCamillis , the son-in-law of former Broncos and Falcons coach Dan Reeves, apparently suffered a broken vertebrae in his lower back . DeCamillis , who wrestled at Wyoming from from 1984-86 and then in 1988, is the Cowboys special teams coach. He is fourth all- time in the career wins list at UW with 121, winning a Western Athletic Conference title at 177 pounds in 1986. In 1988, DeCamillis finished in eighth place at 167 in the NCAA Championships for All-America status. For more on the story, check out this ESPN link