Friday, May 2, 2008.

Boise State has suffered very few major injuries during its nine-year golden era. The only career-ending one was to linebacker Justin Brown in the win over Idaho in 2000. Until now. Linebacker David Shields has had chronic shoulder problems, exacerbated by an injury in the first quarter at Washington last September. He came back a couple weeks later but was never quite the same. Things didn't improve, and Shields was forced to miss spring ball, with whispers that it might be a permanent departure. That was sealed yesterday in an announcement by coach Chris Petersen, who said Shields will now have to miss his senior season.

Shields will help the team in other ways this season, but he won't get to go pad-to-pad with Taylor Bennett when Louisiana Tech visits this fall. The Broncos more or less discovered Shields while they were recruiting Bennett. Shields lived with Bennett's family in St. Louis. Both expected to come to BSU, but Bennett reneged and signed with Georgia Tech. Shields, a running back in high school, converted to linebacker and became a co-starter as a sophomore. He was a solid contributor in the Broncos' Fiesta Bowl win, registering five tackles. Bennett, of course, announced earlier this week he's transferring to Louisiana Tech and will be eligible this season. The Broncos and Bulldogs play October 1.

Another Bronco with injury issues last season has proclaimed himself healthy for his shot at the NFL this weekend. Bishop Kelly grad Tad Miller, the four-year starter at BSU who injured his right knee early in the loss at Hawaii in November, is headed for the New York Jets' rookies-only camp with hopes of landing a free agent contract and a spot in the Jets' training camp this summer. "I feel great, one-hundred percent healthy and ready to go," Miller told BK Football.com. The 6-3, 306-pound guard got back in football shape during a 10-week stint at the Proactive Sports Performance Center in Westlake, CA. Miller feels he has an opportunity with the Jets, as they drafted only one interior lineman last weekend.

Understandably, the WAC is all about what's hot rather than what's not. So after a sub-par 2007 football season, the conference is focusing on its body of work over the past two years, trumpeting its consecutive appearances BCS bowls with "Back to Back" T-shirts distributed to national media. The logo has Boise State and Hawaii helmets next to each other and can be seen on the WAC's website. Commissioner Karl Benson hopes to keep the ball rolling and mentions this year's trendy pick in a Honolulu Advertiser story. "We had Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl, so why not Fresno State in the Orange Bowl this season?" Hence the specially-placed Bronco-Bulldog game to end the regular season the day after Thanksgiving on ESPN2.

The Idaho Stampede scratched and clawed to get their attendance up this season. It finally peaked at over 4,000 in the D-League Playoffs as they were winning their championship. The Stampede feature the highest level of athlete of any minor league team in Boise. Yet the Boise Burn, with players who--to be sure--are not one call away from the NFL, have reeled in over 5,000 fans in each of their first two games. Hey, it's football, and it's Boise. The Burn, winners of three straight games, are looking for another large throng when they host the Stockton Lightning tomorrow night in Qwest Arena.

Of the three former South Central Boise Little Leaguers on the baseball roster at the College of Idaho, Bryan Champ's name is the most familiar. That's because he's always spread his wings as a Coyote. Champ is a star on the C of I basketball team, a two-time Cascade Conference Defensive Player of the Year and the NAIA Division II national leader in steals. During hoops season he burns the candle at both ends, getting in the batting cage in the early morning or after basketball practice. Champ is starring on the diamond this spring, too, hitting .330 with 20 RBIs as he leads the Yotes into the final home games of the regular season this weekend. C of I hosts the University of British Columbia in doubleheaders tomorrow and Sunday that will determine the NAIA Region I title and host site for the regional tournament, set to start next Thursday.

The FedEx Kinko's Classic on the Champions Tour tees off today in Austin, TX. And Payette's Scott Masingill just missed being there. Masingill shot a 72 in the Tuesday qualifier at Austin, and the cut to get into the field was in a playoff at 70. That's exactly what happened the last time Masingill played a qualifier--at the AT&T Champions Classic in California the second week of March.

"There are parts of my game that are good and there are parts that need a lot of work," said the nine-time Idaho Men's Amateur on his website. "The weather in Idaho has been just lousy this spring and I just haven't had the time to prepare, but I'm going to continue to play in some qualifiers later in the year." His next attempt is planned for the Principal Charities Classic in Des Moines, IA, four weeks from now. Masingill, who spent the entire 2006 season as an exempt member of the tour but didn't score well enough to stay, was rejuvenated after a seventh-place finish at the Champions Q-School last fall. But because of rule changes, that performance didn't earn him a tour card, it just gives him a pass into any Tuesday qualifier on the 2008 tour.

This Day In Sports...May 2, 1939:

Lou Gehrig pulls himself out of the New York Yankees lineup for the first time since 1925--2,130 consecutive games. Gehrig would never play another game and would soon lose his battle with ALS, now known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Gehrig's consecutive games record would stand for over 66 years, with Cal Ripken finally breaking it in 1995.

(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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