NOW
"Have Shotgun, Will Travel."
That would be a great slogan for the Fresno State football team, if it ever gets tired of "anybody, anytime, anywhere," the credo by which it has lived ever since Pat Hill, a former UNLV assistant, took over as coach.
The Bulldogs of the Western Athletic Conference this year will travel 18,190 miles to play college football, the most in the nation. Fresno's season opener at Rutgers -- 2,891 miles away -- is the longest road trip in the NCAA this season, not counting Hawaii.
With 4,518 round-trip miles, UNLV's travel schedule is only the nation's 88th worst. The Rebels play seven of their 12 games at home this year.
Only two schools from BCS conferences -- Oregon State at No. 7 and Stanford at No. 9 -- are ranked among the Top 10 in frequent flying and/or driving miles which shouldn't surprise anybody, because teams from BCS conferences don't travel unless they have to.
As for the shortest trip of the year, that would be Houston at Rice -- 16 miles round trip.
So if the wife and I lived next to the Houston campus and drove to the Rice game, she might not have to stop to use the restroom before we got there.
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----- The United States Olympic team has charged into the baseball medal round at Beijing behind Las Vegas 51s relief pitcher Mike Koplove, who has retired all 13 batters he has faced in China; and 51s infielder Terry Tiffee, who is hitting .478 (11-for-23) with six doubles. By committing to play in the Olympics, Koplove and Tiffee missed the 51s' current road trip to Fresno, which is sort of like Beijing, only with more raisins.
THEN:
Today's Olympic thought: If they ever decide to add a fourth medal at the Olympics, it should be platinum, because ever since women started dying their hair, platinum has gotten sort of a bad rap. Besides, telling your friends you got a platinum in the two-person dinghy sounds better than getting a rhodium in anything.
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