Wednesday, May 13, 2009.

The Sporting News this week features a special report: 50 States - 50 Rivalries. I think you can guess which rivalry in which sport was chosen for the state of Idaho. Yes, the Bronco-Vandal football series. And TSN went to former Boise State coach Dan Hawkins for his observations on BSU's dominance in the new century. "I'd tell [Idaho] point blank: find a T. Boone Pickens to help you out. Given their geographic location, they need a huge influx of money and facilities to get the kind of players that they need to compete. They are behind the 8-ball in terms of location. Look around the country at some of the rural areas that have great teams--they also have lights-out, unbelievable facilities and support for the program. That's it in a nutshell."

Kind of a blunt assessment from Hawkins, but it's hard to dispute that. Long-time Vandal boosters will acknowledge that when things were still going great guns with the football program in the early 1990's, little was being done to improve and develop athletic facilities. And that inaction had long-term effects. Idaho announced a master plan for the Kibbie Dome in January of last year--then the recession took hold. Beyond budgeted repair and renovation work, the economy is hampering the Vandals' efforts to make the Dome worthy of their FBS status.

Somebody's going to notice all this pub here for Hawk and wonder why his Boise State successor isn't getting equal time today. That's because Chris Petersen and his wife Barbara are donating $150,000 to Boise State's new College of Business & Economics Building. The new structure will rise at the site of the old University Inn at the corner of Capitol Blvd. and University Drive, although BSU is still about $2.8 million short of its fundraising goal for the project. BSU hopes Petersen's contribution will jump-start the stretch drive.

Here's arena football pinball reality for you. The Boise Burn seem like they're scoring a lot of points, don't they? Well, I decided to look it up. The Burn are putting up almost 55 points a game, but that's only ninth in the 25-team league. And ol' reliable Casey Allen is having a pretty good year, right? I looked that up, too. Allen is not ranked in the af2's top 25 in catches or receiving yards. He does lead the Burn with 40 grabs for 572 yards. The one pinball that does rank is the scoring of former Nevada star Nichiren Flowers. He's had exactly half of his 28 receptions go for touchdowns and has one more score on a fumble recovery. Flowers is 12th in scoring in af2. The Burn return home Saturday night to face the Tri-Cities Fever.

Boise State men's tennis coach Greg Patton remembers his first stint with the Broncos, when they advanced to the quarterfinal round of the 1997 NCAA Tournament and Patton was national Division I Coach of the Year. BSU was recognized as an elite program in tennis but has been bubbling under since. "I'm tired of being underdogs," said Patton the other day on Idaho SportsTalk. "We're out to prove that this program is legit and is going to get back where it was." A win tomorrow in the NCAA's could do it--the Broncos take on No. 3 Ohio State in the round of 16 in College Station, TX. Also today, the WAC Track & Field Championships get underway at Utah State.

It's been an agonizing and perplexing wait for Dontrelle Willis, but the former Boise Hawk returns to Detroit's starting rotation tonight in Minnesota. The D-Train has been on the disabled list since just before the season started after being diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. It's been a train wreck for Willis since he joined the Tigers as a free agent in 2008, but manager Jim Leyland expects him to be ready tonight. Willis won't be on a particular pitch count--he threw 118 pitches in his final rehab start for Triple-A Toledo. The 27-year-old lefthander's last win in the majors was in September, 2007, with the Florida Marlins. Willis spent over three months in the minors last year.

Now that Davey Hamilton's in the third year of his comeback at the Indianapolis 500, there's more attention on his racing than the adversity he faced in trying to get back to the Brickyard. In 2007 it was all about the six-year ordeal consisting of 21 operations that all but pieced Hamilton together after his crash at the Texas Motor Speedway. Now it's about strategy and engines and track conditions as Hamilton strives to approach the success he had 10 years ago at the Brickyard. But Davey hasn't forgotten how far he's come. "This race is what made me get healthy again and I don't know if I would have [otherwise] had the drive to recover because this race means everything to me," Hamilton told Motorsports.com.

This Day In Sports...May 13, 1976:

In the last ABA game ever played, Julius Erving scores 31 points to help the New York Nets overcome a 22-point third quarter deficit and beat the Denver Nuggets, 112-106, to win the final ABA title. It also marked the retirement of the league's signature red-white-and-blue basketball. The next season the Nets, Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers would merge into the NBA.

(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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