Wednesday, May 7, 2008.

The University of Idaho hopes it's coming out of the other end of the tunnel, and somebody just threw nine eggs on the car as it was pulling away after the major slap it received from the NCAA yesterday. The Vandals will lose eight football scholarships and one men's basketball scholarship in the next academic year after falling short of the NCAA's minimum Academic Progress Rates. The APR's Mendoza Line is 925, and Idaho football recorded a 904 and men's hoops only an 880. The Vandal football program appears to be cleaning up under Robb Akey, and UI hoops can do the same under Don Verlin. But stuff happened up there, and the NCAA does not grant mulligans.

What really rankles a lot of Idahoans, whether they're connected to the school or not, is the spin put on it in yesterday's press release out of Moscow. "A decision by the University of Idaho to focus on athlete integrity and character has resulted in some penalties from the National Collegiate Athletic Association,'' the statement said. The problem is, somebody at U of I decided the players who forced that decision should be there in the first place, and this is the fallout.

According to Idaho, seven Vandal football players were dismissed due to violations of "either university policy or state laws." Five players decided on their own to depart, be it for personal reasons or academics, and one other player left due to chronic injury. Idaho appealed the scholarship penalty based on Akey's housecleaning last year, but it was denied. Many are blaming Dennis Erickson, but somebody hired Dennis Erickson.

It was a bad day all the way around for the WAC. Fresno State's APR of 816 was dead last in Division I men's basketball, forcing the Bulldogs to operate on just 10 scholarships next season. San Jose State loses nine football scholarships this season--tied for most in the nation--after placing sixth-to-last nationally in football at 865, its second straight year under 900. A third would earn the Spartans a ban from bowl competition. Boise State had one sport in the danger zone: men's golf, which is put on "public notice" after an APR of only 864. BSU football's rate was 953, men's basketball was 954, and women's basketball was 977, all tops in the WAC. The Bronco women's gymnastics team had a perfect score of 1000.

When the WAC implements a new BCS revenue distribution plan (should a WAC school ever make it that far again), there will be unhappy campers. Why shouldn't a Boise State or a Hawaii get the lion's share of the BCS pot for that once-unthinkable accomplishment. According to the Honolulu Advertiser, the conference is going to level out the cut between the BCS participant and the other eight WAC schools in the future. The Broncos and Warriors received roughly 10 times what the other universities did in the BCS windfall the past two years--BSU got about $4.3 million and UH $4.4 million. In the Pac-10, BCS revenues are pooled, with USC making $1.8 million from the Rose Bowl. But the Trojans have other sources of revenue WAC schools could never dream of.

Who else but George Williams could have been af2 Player of the Week? After all, the Boise Burn star scored six touchdowns and became the league's career leader in TDs and points in the 77-14 pummeling of Stockton last Saturday. With those records, you'd think Williams has a slew of weekly af2 honors on the shelf, but this was the first one for the seven-year veteran. The 6-1, 210-pound receiver out of Kansas State did it every which way against the Lightning--three of his scores were through the air and the other three were on the ground. Williams leads the Burn on the road to Spokane Saturday, where they take on the undefeated Spokane Shock.

Eagle's Davey Hamilton gets back on the track in Indianapolis today as he makes a run at another Indy 500 later this month. The key words for Hamilton are "on the track", because he's not an every weekend racer due to the lingering effects of the injuries he suffered at the Texas Motor Speedway in 2001. "That's the good thing about Indy. We have from noon to six every day to run and there is more practice in the month of May than there is the whole season," said Hamilton on his website blog. He's in the ramp-up phase as he gets used to his new team with Vision Racing. Hamilton ran 221.684 miles per hour during yesterday's second day of practice.

Eagle's Rick Bauer, the former Centennial Patriot, could be on track to get back to the majors if his record in the minors this season is any indication. After bouncing around Triple-A last year, Bauer signed a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians in November. He's landed in Buffalo, the Indians' Triple-A affiliate, where he has a sparkling ERA of only 0.73 in 12 appearances with no decisions. Bauer had a well-publicized falling-out with Baltimore management in 2005 after five seasons with the Orioles and hasn't pitched in the bigs since 2006 with the Texas Rangers. Now 31 years old, the 6-6 righthander is clearly at a crossroads. In his career, Bauer is 11-14 with a 4.34 ERA.

This Day In Sports...May 7, 1988, 20 years ago today:

Caldwell native Gary Stevens, who got his horse racing start at Les Bois Park while a student at Capital High in the late 70's, rides Winning Colors to victory in the 114th running of the Kentucky Derby. It was the first of three victories for Stevens in the Run For The Roses, as Winning Colors became only the third filly ever to win the Derby.

(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment Sunday nights at 10:30PM on KTVB's Sunday Sports Extra and anchors five sports segments each weekday on 1350 KTIK/The Ticket. He also handles color commentary on KTVB's telecasts of Boise State football.)

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