Friday, May 23, 2008.

The constant experimenting and tweaking that's been necessary on Davey Hamilton's car may preclude a chance to win the Indianapolis 500 Sunday. It has him starting in position No. 18. But how about a Top 10 finish again? Hamilton has a habit of overachieving his starting spot at Indy--no better example than last year, when he came out of the No. 20 hole in his emotional return to the Speedway and finished ninth. Only once in seven previous Indianapolis 500's has Hamilton not matched or bettered his initial position, and that was in his first one in 1996.

Hamilton's top finish ever at Indy was fourth in 1998, but he's most proud of that ninth place he registered a year ago. "To get that top 10, I was satisfied," Hamilton told the Chicago Tribune. "But I felt my car could have been a little better; I could have been a little better. That means we could have finished a little better. So I have to try it again. That was basically the drive to get back here." Now he's counting the hours 'til he puts the pedal to the metal. As Hamilton says, "Just fill the car up with fuel put some tires on it and let's go get ready for the race."

ESPN.com wraps up its weeklong series today looking at the 10th anniversary of the BCS, with Boise State and the Fiesta Bowl threaded through it. The debates continues over BCS versus playoffs. BSU notwithstanding, the beauty of the current system is the do-or-die emphasis week-in and week-out in college football. It's the only regular season in any sport the masses care about that isn't devalued by mass participation in playoffs at the end of the season. Ivan Maisel points to the ratings the Hawaii-Washington game pulled as the very last game of the regular season last December. The Warriors' come-from-behind win that preserved their BCS bid drew a 2.0 on ESPN, a pretty solid number for a game that ended at 3:14AM Eastern time.

ESPN.com looks at independents and non-BCS schools in the BCS era (so that includes Notre Dame). It calls the Broncos' Fiesta Bowl win the best indie or non-BCS game of the era--bowl or regular season, with the 2004 Liberty Bowl sixth and BSU's 69-67 four-overtime defeat of Nevada last year No. 10. The 2006 Boise State squad was named the best team of that group the past 10 years (the 2004 Broncos were No. 7), and Ian Johnson's two-point conversion and subsequent proposal to Chrissy was the best single moment among indies and non-BCS schools in the BCS era--again, bowl or regular season. The Broncos' Ryan Dinwiddie was tabbed as 10th-best indie/non-BCS player of the era.

Without the suspended George Williams, the Boise Burn will have to score touchdowns the old fashioned way tomorrow night, with wide receivers Casey Allen and Ahmad Harris. Those two were mainstays of the Burn offense in the team's inaugural season a year ago. This spring to date, Allen has 36 catches and six touchdowns, and Harris has 26 receptions and seven TDs (plus four rushing scores). The Burn will try to persevere and improve to 6-2 as they host Central Valley at 3-4. The Coyotes are quarterbacked by one-time Cal starter Joe Ayoob, and their leading receiver is former Nevada standout Nichiren Flowers (40 catches, 12 touchdowns).

The ECHL's Kelly Cup Finals ended last spring on May 31, when the Idaho Steelheads finished off the Dayton Bombers. That's late enough. But this year the Finals could come close to overlapping the Boise Hawks season. Of course, the series won't be in Boise. Las Vegas and Cincinnati have made the Kelly Cup Finals, with the opener not scheduled until tomorrow night, and Game 7 (if necessary) slated for June 7. The Wranglers swept Utah in the National Conference Finals--former Steelhead Scott Burt ended up with two assists in 13 playoff games for the Grizzlies.

Boise State's Clancy Shields put up a good fight yesterday against Virginia's top-seeded Somdev Dewarman, the top-ranked collegiate player in the country and the defending national champion. Ultimately, though, Dewarman was too much, prevailing 6-4, 7-5 for his 31st straight victory and knocking Shields out of the singles draw at the NCAA Individual Championships in Tulsa. But Clancy and his brother Luke were hot in their opening match of doubles play, upsetting the Georgia duo of Jamie Hunt and Nate Schnugg, 6-4, 6-2. The Shields brothers now face a supreme test in the round of 16 from second-ranked Robert Farah and Kaes Van't Hof of USC.

Former Boise Hawk Jamie Burke is the definition of "role player" right now with the Mariners, having been anointed Erik Bedard's personal catcher. Burke will be behind the plate tonight for Bedard's start against the Yankees in New York. "If a pitcher is having success with a certain catcher, you definitely have to weigh that heavily," McLaren said. Burke has caught four of Bedard's starts this season, and the 29-year-old lefthander has gone 2-2 (that's pretty good for a Mariner these days), holding opposing batters to a .168 average. Burke isn't in ther for his offense, although he has gone 4-for-7 his past two games to raise his average from .136 to .241.

Wind usually isn't a big issue in the Treasure Valley, but has anybody ever seen a spring like this? Participants in the state high school track & field championships are dealing with it at Bronco Stadium. I guess now it's just "rain, rain go away." Good luck to them--and to all the golfers in the 48th Annual Memorial Day Match Play tournament at Broadmore Country Club in Nampa this weekend. The 16-man championship flight includes seven scratch players.

This Day In Sports...May 23, 1958, 50 years ago today:

Wilt Chamberlain passes on his senior year at Kansas--but not to go to the NBA, which wouldn't allow him to play in the league until his college class graduated. Chamberlain thus signed with the Harlem Globetrotters and toured with them for a year before joining the Philadelphia Warriors and becoming one of the greatest players in NBA history.

(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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