Monday With the Mounties, 1/14/08

January, 14, 2008

Well, after a week break, due to inclement weather by the way (not really, but ODOT uses that) I have a lot of good material this week. Beginning with, is everyone familar with the crackers, "Better Cheddars?" My question is, what came before it? Who are they better than? Is there now a defunct cracker company by the name of "Cheddars?"



Is this a great time for Mountaineer basketball or what? The men climb all the way to number three in the nation, and the women have now won 32 of their last 36 games, and sit at number 19 in the current national poll. I'm going to go out on a limb and say, the eyes of the nation have never been on Eastern Oregon University like they are now. Just as the EOU Athletic Department looks every few times a week at the teams ahead of Eastern in the national polls, we can only assume that schools in Nebraska, Florida, and all over the country are doing the same.



Now saying that, I can guess that there were some big Northwest University fans around Mid-America Nazarene in Nebraska, Embry Riddle University in Florida, and a few others Saturday evening. The Golden Eagles of NU pulled off an upset here in La Grande over the men's team by three points. I'm going to write this as a basketball fan, not EOU fan and say, Northwest was the better team Saturday night. EOU might be better overall, but the Eagles played their best game against Eastern. And, that's what you have to do to beat the best team, play your best game. The Mountaineer men find themselves in new territory this season. They are no longer the ones looking to win in upsets, but the team to be upset.



Congratulations to Northwest, I thought they played extremely well game in front of one of the toughest crowds in the conference. The Eagles were beat the night before at the College of Idaho by 19 points, and turn around and beat the number three team in the nation. I felt this was great coaching, John Van Dyke has his team ready to play from warm-ups to the final buzzer. I think the EOU fans got a taste of what could be two of the final four teams in the conference on the men's side last weekend. But, let's not rule out the College of Idaho who are riding a four game win streak and sit at third in the conference for Tuesday night's game. The road does not get any easier for the Mountie men as they face the 'Yotes Tuesday, the travel to Concordia and Corban this weekend.



The Eastern women are red-hot lately, winning four straight, and 13 of their last 14. After a sucessful trip, "business" trip in Hawaii, the women have returned to the mainland and played well. After a shaky night against the Evergreen State College, EOU seemed to have their swagger back against Northwest in a blow-out victory. Coach Anji Weissenfluh has to feel very good being in first-place in the Cascade Conference after 14 games and in the driver's sit to win their fifth league title in six years. All this after losing three incredible starters, two graduation and one to injury. Can Coach Weissenfluh get a raise?!



Tuesday night will be the first installment of the I-84 Cup battle in La Grande. Last season, the EOU men split during the regular season with the 'Yotes, but defeated C of I in the opening round of the Conference tournament in Caldwell. The Eastern women have not lost a regular season game to the College of Idaho in La Grande since the 2000-01 season. The last time the EOU women fell to the 'Yotes was the 2002 season in the conference tournament semifinals.



Continuing on my food theme this week, I like SPAM. No joke, I like it. It maybe terrible for me, but it's tasty. I don't need to know what's in it, or how many calories it has, I like it. Now, what I do find amusing is there is a SPAM Lite. Are you kidding me? What's next sugarless sugar? Oh, that's right there is Splenda. My father has a joke with SPAM, I think it's pretty lame, but we'll use it here... "What do you call it when you forget to get SPAM at the grocery store?... SPAM-nesia!" There you go Dad, I actually typed it for the world to see.



So many things have happened in the world of sports in the past two weeks, Roger Clemens, Marion Jones, NFL Playoffs, the Blazers win streak; let me see if I can touch on them all real quick. Clemens, what were you thinking with that tape? We as listeners learned nothing from it. Not one time did Clemens ask, "Why did you lie?" And, only one of those two gentleman knew that it was being taped, so why would Clemens say anything to sound guilty? His trainer said nothing guilty, and he was the one unknowing of the recorded conversation. Marion Jones, what a shame, basically all I have to say. NFL playoffs, as much as I hate them, I do not see the Patriots being beat, the only team that stood a chance lost yesterday in the Colts. Super Bowl final score, Patriots 37, Packers 13, and the best thing about the game will be some Jessica Simpson commercial. It's great to see the Portland Trailblazers win with no real big names. I hope they continue to turn heads and go deep into the Western Conference playoffs.



Last two, I am not impressed with the current number one in men's NCAA division one college basketball, North Carolina. They have played no one, and we as an audience are subjected to watch each week as they beat Kent State or Penn. I am impressed with the PAC-Ten this season again. Although no one will know about them until March because of the contract they have with Fox Sports Net! And unfortunately, the teams will beat up on each other until the tournament and a five or six loss team will look a lot worse than they really are. I'd love to see eight teams from the ten make the tournament. Washington will make the N.I.T., sorry to say Oregon State, you would not even make the Oregon State High School playoffs this season. That's enough for now, as always, it's all in good fun, until next week, stay down or MOUNT UP!