POSTED: Thursday November 13th 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THE SPORTS CORP SPOTLIGHT
A weekly blog devoted to all things sports in Colorado Springs, the "Amateur Sports Capital of America."
The Sports Corp Spotlight
A weekly blog from Mike Moran and the Colorado Springs Sports Corporation devoted to all things in Sports in our town and around the area, and the “buzz” for everything from the Olympic athlete to the weekend warrior. Enjoy it and make plans to get out and get in the game!
The Air Force-BYU Clash this Saturday at Falcon Stadium is one of the biggest games in AFA grid history, rife with possibilities for the Falcons (8-2), who have not whipped BYU at home since 2002……..the Cougs are ranked #14, #16 and #17 in the three major polls this week……….BYU’s offensive line outweighs the AFA defensive front by 326.4 pounds to 261.6 pounds……Air Force’s last win in Falcon Stadium over a ranked team came in 2000 vs. 20th-ranked Colorado State, 44-40…….the last time Air Force beat a top 20 team in the A.P. ranking and went to a bowl game in the same year was 1970 when the Falcons defeated sixth-ranked Stanford, 31-14, at home and played in the Sugar Bowl……....the 8-2 start by the Falcons is the best since 1998 when the Falcons went 9-1….think BYU might just be looking ahead to the following Saturday and the titanic clash with arch-rival Utah in Salt Lake City?…….. Radio: KVOR AM 740 in Colorado Springs; KCKK 1510 AM in Denver and Northern Colorado Sirius Satellite Radio, Channel 122 Talent - Jim Arthur (play-by-play) Lee Douglas (anaylst) Jay Ritchie (pre- and post-game)….. Television: CBS College Sports (CBSC) Channel 613 on DirecTV, 152 on DISH and 170 on Comcast; Talent - Tom Hart (play-by-play) Trev Alberts (color). …….Here’s Your College Ice Hockey Blog Rumor of the Week! The capable Mike Chambers of the Denver Post blogs this week that “Conference expansion is on its way, folks. Because of the looming demise of College Hockey America, don’t be surprised if the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and the Atlantic Hockey Association go from 10 to 12 teams, with Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha joining the WCHA and Robert Morris and Niagara going to the AHA. This isn’t just opinon. In true blog form, I can’t divulge my sources at this time because things are too political — which is why this issue won’t make the paper right now — but this is what is being discussed by conference commissioners. And it makes sense.” Chambers goes on…...”UNO is a natural fit for the WCHA, with strong state rivalries with Colorado and Minnesota. Alabama-Huntsville isn’t a fit for anyone, but …if UAH goes to the CCHA, we would have five conferences with a near equal amount of teams”…….(In the spirit of full disclosure)—UNO is my alma mater (1966) and originally longed to belong in the WCHA when the school’s only Division I program started up in the 1999 season, but the league wanted Omaha to “wait” along with Minnesota State…..and the CCHA invited them right away……UN-Omaha would have brought the WCHA a 16,000-seat arena, geographic common sense and immediate rivalries with teams like CC, North Dakota and Denver, and a growing city with big-time amenities (Omaha hosted the 2008 U.S. Olympic Swimming trials at its gorgeous downtown Qest center and drew 96,623 fans, a national record, for cryin’ out loud!…………The Omaha World Herald’s powerful sports columnist Tom Shatel, who rules in the city, notes that one of the reasons that Omahans like the CCHA membership for UNO is that the casual Omaha football fan can identify with league schools like Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan state……which is right on point…..stay tuned……….All Quiet On The Home Ice: Colorado College is on the road this weekend at Minnesota State in a big WCHA series and Air Force goes to Holy Cross for a pair in AHA play….the two big-time local powers hook up on Friday, Nov. 28 in their annual clash at the Cadet Ice Arena…. College Ice Hockey Attendance Leaders……..The CC Tigers rank a lofty fourth among the nation’s college ice hockey attendance kings…..the top five are Wisconsin (13,776), North Dakota (11,716), Minnesota (10,112), Colorado College (6,756), and New Hampshire (6,404)……..Somewhere, Chip Hilton, Coach Henry Rockwell, Soapy Smith, Speed Morris, Fats Ohlsen and the rest of the Valley Falls High gridders* down at the Sugar Bowl Ice Cream Parlor will be watching: It’s “Championship Saturday” on November 29 at Mile High Stadium in Denver, and the state prep football 5A and 4A title games…..11:00 and 2:30 p.m. for all the marbles….. Our teams still alive?……….4A #1 Pine Creek (11-0), hosts #8 Heritage Friday, #7 Fountain-Fort Carson (10-1) plays at #2 Wheat Ridge (11-0) on Friday………..tickets at (303) 830-8497 or via your own computer at www.championshipsaturday.com……….* (if you recognize the Valley Falls gang, let me know, if not, you’re too young to care)………Sky Sox PCL Baseball,which drew a franchise record 303,048 fans last summer, is proud to announce it has partnered with TicketReturn, LLC to offer 2009 Sky Sox ticket packages for sale online. This new service gives Sky Sox fans the ability to choose the exact seats they want in their favorite seating locations throughout Security Service Field. Sky Sox fans were first introduced to TicketReturn (and its easy-to-use features including print-at-home e-ticketing) last season when individual game day tickets were offered for sale online. Fans can purchase Full Season Ticket plans and 6-, 12- and 24- Game Weekend plans using this new online tool. These ticket packages start at just $55 per person….go to www.skysox.com or for more information contact Sky Sox Baseball Ticket Director, Whitney Shellem by phone (719) 304-5614 or by email wshellem@skysox.com.……….Your Air Force Athletics Photo Store Is Open……….Falcon fans can now grab their own photos for a collection at home and select from a big menu of options from the 2008 football season and 29 sports in three sizes, framed and unframed……..you can even utilize custom on-line framing choices. Go to www.goairforcefalcons and start shopping now….. A Note of Interest About Air Force Men’s Basketball- The Falcons will honor longtime former head coach Reggie Minton with a tourney in his name on Nov. 22 and 23 at Clune Arena…... The two-day event features UCCS, Wofford and Texas Pan-American. The Falcons, who captured the title in last year’s inaugural tournament, will play UCCS (Nov. 22) and Wofford (Nov. 23) in this year’s Classic……
In The Spotlight- CSU Pueblo Football Season Is The Rage
Best 2008 Sports Story In The State? May just be the inaugural football season for the CSU-Pueblo Thunderwolves under head coach John Wristen, AD Joe Folda, and the CSU-Pueblo “Friends of Football,” (which came up with a $12 million donation to get it rolling)…….and through the efforts of scores of passionate fans and President Joe Garcia, the school brought back football after dropping it in 1984, and it was a sensational return…….an amazing 39,263 fans (avg. 7,853) came out to see the five home games in the brand-new, 6,500-seat Neta & Eddie DeRose Thunderbowl, starting with a turnout of 9,897 on September 6 to see the team upend Oklahoma Panhandle State, 24-13…….Wristen put together a roster of college transfers, recruits, walk-ons and a handful of JC transfers in less than a year and they chalked up a 4-6 mark (3-6 in the RMAC) in their inaugural season, the second-best in NCAA Division II history for a school with just one calendar year to prepare…….Wristen, a Pueblo native, came home for this challenge after quarterbacking the school when it was the University of Southern Colorado, leading the team to the NAIA playoffs in 1983, then coaching at Colorado, Northwestern and UCLA along the way……..like to know more? Go to www.gothunderwolves.com
Weekend Menu: BYU (9-1) at Air Force Football, Saturday 1:30, Falcon Stadium www.goairforcefalcons.com tickets at 472-1895…….Men’s Basketball: Western State at Air Force, Friday 7:00 p.m. at Clune Arena…….Southwest Oklahoma at UCCS, The Lion’s Den, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. www.gomountainlions.com…..CC Tip Off Classic, Reid Gym, Friday & Saturday (CC, LaVerne College, Washington (Mo.) University, North Park University) www.cctigers.com……..Women’s Basketball: Northern Colorado at Air Force, Friday 5:00 p.m. Clune Arena…….
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Keywords · Amateur Sports · Colorado Springs
Name: Mike Moran
Organization: Colorado Springs Sports Corporation
Email:
Phone: 719-634-7333, ext. 1011
URL: http://www.thesportscorp.org
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