Monday, June 8, 2009.

Won't be the last time you hear a story like this. Perhaps as soon as next season, the WAC will reduce the field in its men's and women's basketball tournaments from nine teams to eight. Any need to ask why? Costs need to be cut everywhere, and this is a natural place to start. Commissioner Karl Benson announced the change after the WAC Board of Directors meetings last week in Las Vegas. So, no more play-in game, not that anyone will miss it. Soccer and volleyball qualifiers in WAC tournaments have already been reduced to six.

I've been thinking about this--in December there was a sign of scheduling to come in a variety of college sports. Washington State's women's basketball team traveled to Honolulu and played Hawaii two times in four days. June Daugherty's team won by 18 points on a Friday, then lost by six the following Monday. Take it one step further. Though it's not an ideal solution, why couldn't the sports that require two conference games between the same opponents each season redefine home-and-home? In year one, Boise State plays Hawaii twice in a three-day period in Honolulu. In year two, the Warriors do the same in Boise. Initially nobody would like it. But eventually everyone may have to do it.

The Boise Burn have found many ways to cobble together victories this season. Saturday night against Central Valley, they did it with...their running game? In arena football? At least that was the offensive mode near the goal line. Fullback Damian Walker broke a franchise record with four rushing touchdowns at the Burn knocked off the Coyotes 67-48 in Qwest Arena. For the game, Walker had nine carries for 20 yards--actually pretty good numbers in the indoor game. Special teams were in there, too, as Terrance Sanders scored his sixth kickoff return touchdown of the season. Boise is now 8-2, equaling its win total in each of the team's first two seasons. Barring a complete collapse, the Burn should qualify for the af2 Playoffs this season for the first time.

The headline at Winnipeg Sun.com said, "Dinwiddie dumped." That's the way former Boise State great Ryan Dinwiddie feels after being released by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. "They just said they didn't think that I was one of the guys who would fit into their offense," Dinwiddie told the Sun. Everything is new with the Bombers, now operating under a new coach, Mike Kelly. The paper said Dinwiddie will try to get a shot with another team, and that Saskatchewan and Toronto are possibilities. "We'll see and I'm hoping for the best," said Dinwiddie. The move happened on the eve of Winnipeg's training camp. "At least the timing does give me a chance to catch on with someone else."

Dinwiddie is BSU's career leader in passing yards with 9,819 and touchdown passes with 82. Kellen Moore, not surprisingly, is on pace to shatter those records. Just take his freshman numbers and multiply by four. At the end of the 2011 season, Moore would have 100 touchdown passes and 14,944 passing yards. Tony Hilde holds the career mark for total offense at 10,138 yards--Moore is on pace for 14,824.

Boise State Athletic Hall of Famer Wesley Moodie can add "French Open finalist" to his resume. Unfortunately, it didn't go as far as French Open champion, as he and men's doubles partner Dick Norman of Belgium fell to Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic and Leander Paes of India in the title match at Roland Garros. Moodie and Norman won the first set 6-3, but Dlouhy and Paes blasted through the next two at 6-3, 6-2, to capture the crown. Moodie still has his 2005 men's doubles championship at Wimbledon tucked away.

It was not the best of weekends for local ties on the Nationwide Tour. Former Boise State star Troy Merritt, Nampa PGA Tour pro Tyler Aldridge, and Boise veteran Ryan Hietala all missed the cut at the Melwood Prince George's County Open in Maryland. Merritt had made the field through last Monday's qualifying round. Today, Nampa's Eric Peterson, a financial planner who's very good at his hobby, will compete in the U.S. Open Sectional qualifier at Tumble Creek Country Club in Roslyn, Wash. He'll be joined there by fellow Nampan Jason Kimball.

Former Bishop Kelly star Nick Symmonds is clearly in a comfort zone at Hayward Field. Symmonds tamed the fabled Eugene track again yesterday, winning the 800-meter run at the Prefontaine Classic, running a 1:45.86. That's a solid time for a guy who hadn't run a major race in 2009 due to knee tendonitis. Symmonds won the U.S. Olympic Trials at Hayward Field last year--and his next race will be in the same venue at the U.S. Outdoor Track & Field Championships later this month.

Former Idaho Steelheads Scott Burt and Lance Galbraith are left with just two Kelly Cup rings. Of course, that's better than none. In the first Game 7 to decide an ECHL championship in 10 years, South Carolina beat Alaska--and Burt and Galbraith--to win the Kelly Cup. It was the Stingrays third title in franchise history, only the second team to accomplish that feat. Galbraith did score one of the Aces two goals. We'll see what happens with The Rooster and Burt from here; they're 29 and 32 years old, respectively.

This Day In Sports...June 8, 1966:

The National Football League, founded in the early 1920's, and the American Football League, which began play in 1960, announce a merger. Although the two leagues would continue to play separate schedules until 1970, there would be a common draft--and a title game pitting the champions of the two leagues beginning in January, 1967. That would become Super Bowl I.

(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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