Rich's sometimes disjointed rambling

With one boot, the Wyoming Cowboys got the Bronze Boot back. And they're going bowling. Walk-on true freshman placekicker Ian Watts kicked a late 33-yard field to to live the Cowboys to a thrilling 17-16 win over the Colorado State Rams Saturday at Hughes Stadium in fort Collins. With the win, the Cowboys, 6-6, are bowl eligible, and with their fifth-place finish in the Mountain West Conference (five MWC teams earning bowl bids), Wyoming will now wait to see which bowl it is going to. Dave Christensen became the first first-year Wyoming head coach to take his team to a bowl game since Paul Roach did it in the 1987 season. It was another typical Border War, as the two teams traded leads throughout. The Cowboys led 7-6 at halftime (thanks to a blocked extra point kick by senior John Fletcher), only to see the Rams regain the lead at 13-7 with a touchdown to begin the second half. Wyoming went up 14-13 in a 49-yard TD run by true freshman quarterback Austyn Carta - Samuels , who ...

As a Packers fan, as well as an Onion reader, I got a kick out of this post. Besides, I haven't had an Onion post lately, so enjoy: Packers afraid to tell Aaron Rodgers he has turf in his teeth

I was one of the 30 or 40 fans to watch the Black Hills State women's basketball games back in the day as a student in Spearfish. I'm sure, just like at UW , attendance has picked up considerably, with the Yellow Jackets recent success on the national NAIA level. Seeing BHSU on the Cowgirl basketball schedule certainly caught my eye and I'll be an interested party while covering the game Tuesday night for The Associated Press, Wyomingsports .org and even the Rapid City Journal. The game will be an exhibition for Black Hills State, but will count for the Cowgirls. The Yellow Jackets are 4-2 on the season, with the surging Cowgirls 4-0. Here's a little different look on the game from the Rapid City Journal. There are some interesting quotes from BH coach Mark Nore . Link: Yellow Jackets face tall task . In case you're wondering, here's a couple of famous Black Hills State graduates: Paul Roach and former Laramie Lady Plainsmen girls' basketball coach Bruce...

It's all about beating the sheep this week for the Wyoming Cowboys. Sorry, it's all about beat the Colorado State University Rams for the Wyoming Cowboys. For you actual sheep that surf the web, I apologize . Wyoming turned its attention to Colorado State for Friday's game about the time that Cowboys head coach Dave Christensen walked out of the locker room Saturday after the 45-10 loss to TCU . With the way things went in the second half for Wyoming, maybe sooner than that. While the UW coaches and players didn't say it publicly , the CSU game has at least been what most UW fans have been pointing to since the Cowboys knocked off San Diego State the previous week. One more win and the Cowboys are in a bowl game. Yes, six wins just make them bowl eligible, but with the Mountain West Conference affiliated with five bowls, a win over the Rams would give Wyoming fifth place outright in the league. Of course, a win over TCU last Saturday would have given the Cowboys ...

I know what you're thinking: Rich's Daily Blog? What the heck? There hasn't been a post in a week. How's that a daily blog? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kind of like for several years when the Laramie Boomerang was the Laramie Daily Boomerang and didn't publish on Monday. I'll try to keep up a little better. Then again, you're probably thinking, don't hurry back. For those who know me personally, though, you know that it has been a difficult last couple of weeks for me and my family. My wife, Teresa, was in a pretty serious car accident and her recovery has been slow. There's been a lot of driving back and forth to Fort Collins, so I have been a little distracted. I even got a speeding ticket on Friday about 5 miles from Laramie trying to get back in time for Sportsline Live. Oh well, let's just call it a $60 donation to the State of Wyoming. Can I write it off on my taxes? Teresa has been getting better every day, so the news has been positive. She has a...

From the San Diego State media relations department after Wyoming's 30-27 come-from-behind win over the Aztecs. Wyoming head coach Dave Christensen On the Cowboys' 24-point fourth quarter: "We started making plays. It wasn't like (the Aztecs) were shutting us down all game, but we had some opportunities where we didn't get 6's a couple of times and we had a fumble. When it came time for the fourth quarter, we played extremely well. At halftime we talked and said that a time was going to come when we were going to need guys to start making plays, and in the fourth quarter, we had a lot of guys making plays." On kicker Ian Watts before his last-minute field-goal attempt to win the game: "I told Ian, if you miss it, it's no big deal; we're going into overtime. You need to treat this as a PAT and relax. And he sure did." On his decision to use bloop kicks against the Aztec special teams : "We were having problems placing the ball and t...

It's been an eventful time in the Anderson household in the last couple of weeks, but not a time we want to go through again anytime soon. It has especially been a tough last couple of weeks for my better half, Teresa. Last week she went through a pretty serious surgery. On Tuesday, she was involved a very serious automobile accident. She had to be taken by ambulance to the Medical Center of the Rockies trauma ward in Loveland , Colo. For those who know my wife, you know what she has been going through health-wise the last few years. Teresa is a fighter and battles each and every day with pain I can't even begin to describe, nor would anybody truly understand. A long-time nurse herself, Teresa has spent much of her adult life trying to make others feel better. She's also spent a lot of time in the hospital this year as a patient at Ivinson Memorial, Poudre Valley Hospital and now at the Medical Center of the Rockies. Nurses share a common bond, which has been the case ...

It was a busy week for the University of Wyoming wo men's basketball and volleyball squads, as both programs announced the addition of new Cowgirls. Signing to play basketball next year for Joe Legerski was Hays, Kan ., guard Kayle Hoffman, while head volleyball coach Carrie Yerty announced that Lakewood, Colo., setter/libero Rachel Keyes will come on board next fall. Hoffman,at 5-foot-10, is a three -time first team all-league selection while attending Thomas More Prep-Marian High School. She was also selected first team all-area by the Hutchinson News and Hays Daily News. As a junior, Hoffman was a first team all-state selection while helping her team to a 21-1 record overall and the runner-up spot in the 3A State Championship. She averaged 16.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists during that time. She was selected to several All-Tournament teams during the past couple of years. Besides lettering in basketball, she also earned letters in softball and volleyball. In softbal...

The Wyoming Cowboy basketball program has dipped into the Chicago and Midwest area once again, as guard Cameron Harvey announced that he will join the Cowboys in 2012. Yes, 2012. Harvey, at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, averaged 15 points, six assists and five rebounds a game last year as a freshman at St. Joseph High, gave a verbal committment over the weekend, according to several media sources. He and his family made an unofficial visit to Wyoming over the weekend. He plans to major in engineering at UW . Harvey will be a freshman in the fall of 2012, and in the spring of that year UW could have to replace as many as seven players who are sophomores this season. Many recruiting services rank Harvey in the top five in terms of prep sophomore basketball players in Illinois. Reports have Marquette, Baylor, Wisconsin, Indiana, Purdue, Notre Dame and Xavier also having shown interest in Harvey. If he plays for the Cowboys, Harvey will join fellow former Chicago prep stars Justin Williams, Ja...

The Wyoming men's basketball opponent Friday in this season opener -- South Dakota State -- played its lone exhibition of the season on Monday night and beat Dakota State 72-58. The Cowboys downed Regis University 78-60 in its exhibition on Saturday. Comparisons between Regis and Dakota State -- Regis is D-2 and Dakota State is NAIA . Other than that, who knows? For more on the Jackrabbits game with Dakota State -- click here

Hopefully this goes a little better than football tweets. Check out UW-Regis men's basketball tweets on www.twitter.com/wyomingsports

Semifinals Friday's Games Class 4A Cheyenne Central 27, Gillette 10 Sheridan 9, Kelly Walsh 7 Class 3A Douglas 56, Worland 14 Cody 32, Buffalo 14 Class 2A Glenrock 28, Greybull 7 Thermopolis 33, Kemmerer 13 Class 1A Southeast 42, Wind river 12 Saturday's Game 1 p.m. -- Lingle-Ft. laramie at Cokeville 6-Man Guernsey 46, Hanna-elk Mountain 34 Kaycee 58, Midwest 56 --- State Title Games In Laramie All game played at War Memorial Stadium. Friday, Nov. 13 11:30am - 1A Championship: Southeast vs. Lingle-Ft.Laramie/Cokeville winner 2pm - 2A Championship: Thermopolis vs. Glenrock Saturday, Nov. 14th 10:30am - 3A Championship: Cody vs. Douglas 1pm - 6-Man Championship: Kaycee vs. Guernsey 3:30pm - 4A Championship: Central vs. Sheridan

Caught this on ESPN, then on YouTube. It's the highlights of BYU -New Mexico women's soccer MWC semifinals. I guess if you want some national recognition without winning, this is the way to do it. BYU beat New Mexico 1-0 in the match, but check out the dirty play of the Lobos Elizabeth Lambert. In case you are wondering, New M exico beat Wyoming 1-0 to earn a spot in the semifinals. New Mexico dirty play On Friday Nw Mexico head cpoach Kit Vela announcd that Lambert is prohibited from taking part in practices, games and conditioning, coach Kit Vela announced Friday. "Liz is a quality student-athlete, but in this instance her actions clearly crossed the line of fair play and good sportsmanship," Vela said. Also on Friday, Lambert apologized for her actions. "I let my emotions get the best of me in a heated situation. I take full responsibility for my actions and accept any punishment felt necessary," Lambert said. "This is in no way indicative of...

UPDATE: The official statistics of Saturday's Wyoming-Utah game were changed with the correct players after the writing of this blog. I don't think there were too many fingers flashed Saturday night, at least by the Wyoming coaching staff. But evidently, the Cowboys are the Rodney Dangerfield of Mountain West Conference football to Utah officials. The don't get any respect. At least, according to the official game statistics when they were first released Saturday night into Sunday afternoon. If you saw the stats when they first came out, you would have noticed that Devin Moore was back with the Cowboys. In fact, Moore not only caught a 30-yard touchdown pass, but he also completed 19 of 30 passes for 121 yards. Maybe the NCAA needs to investigate this as Moore graduated last spring. Also, the touchdown Moore caught came from Eric Benson. Uh ... say what? Well, Moore didn't sneak into his own Wyoming uniform and fool the Utes. His old number, evidently , fooled the game...