Cougar Fans One-Stop Resource on Anything and Everything about WSU Athletics

Questions or comments? Please direct them to Jason Krump, Communications Coordinator, Washington State University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, at athleticinfo@wsu.edu.

Aug. 28, 2008, 11:30 a.m.

Just a quick post right now...I wanted to post a picture I took of the sign last night. As you can see, the lettering lights up. I am told the 'S' will be lighting up by this weekend.

I mentioned about Saturday's football game yesterday but football is not the only sport in action this weekend. Volleyball heads to Boise, and soccer left yesterday for its cross-country journey to Virginia.

I'll be back this afternoon.

Aug. 27, 2008, 5:05 p.m.

As promised, although a little later than I intended, here are some more stadium photos that I posted on the martinstadium.org website.

The first game at the newly renovated stadium is getting closer with each passing day. Before we know it, Sept. 6 will have arrived. Be sure to catch up on all the changes around the stadium that will be occurring on Cougar Football Saturdays.

But before the Sept. 6 game against Cal, there is the matter of Oklahoma State at Seattle in the annual Gridiron Classic, Aug. 30.

While I was out taking photos there was a line of students, which at one point reached to the Martin Stadium sign, who were picking up their tickets to Saturday's game. You'll be able to see the end of the line in one of the photos I posted.

Go Cougs!

Aug. 26, 2008, 9:30 a.m. (UPDATED 2:50 P.M.)

I went back out this afternoon and took some more photos, which you can view in this PHOTO GALLERY from today.

The first three photos were taken at 9:30 this morning, the remaining I took about 20 minutes ago, which includes the photo you see at the left hand side of the page. I have also posted a gallery on the martinstadium.org site, which you can access HERE

Tomorrow, I'll go back out to take some more photos, not only of the sign, but of what they are doing around the rest of the stadium, which is extensive.

As a reminder, for updates on football, volleyball, and soccer, be sure to check out the sport's respective blogs on the Cougar Blogs page.

Go Cougs!

Aug. 25, 2008, 4:20 p.m.

Good afternoon on a rainy Monday in Pullman.

I hope you were able to join us this morning for the chat session with volleyball coach Andrew Palileo. If not, here is a link to a transcript.

Just like the Sunday before I had the opportunity to play the Palouse Ridge Golf Course. I took some pictures this time. Here is a PHOTO GALLERY. Grand opening is Aug. 29. For more information on Palouse Ridge, please visit its website.

Go Cougs!

Aug. 22, 2008, 3:30 p.m.

A jammed-pack Friday.

First of all, here are some photos from last night's Cougar Sports Banquet at the Mirabeau Park Hotel in Spokane Valley. Drew Bledsoe and President Elson S. Floyd were special guests at what was a great kickoff to the 2008-09 athletic season.

Drew capped the night off with a speech that ended with him recounted the infamous snowy 1992 Apple Cup. Drew asked those in the audience who attended the game to raise their hands if they stayed for its entirety. It seemed like everyone's hands shot up in the air. Now, I'm not sure how many of those were being truthful, all I can say is I wasn't one of the individuals who raised their hand. I was a senior at the time and for some reason me and my buddies thought it would be a good idea to get to Martin Stadium a couple hours before kickoff to get a good seat (stupid move No. 1). Well, we got good seats, but for some reason I wore tennis shoes (stupid move No. 2) and by the time halftime rolled around I was an ice cube. So a friend and I decided to leave (as it turned out, stupid move No. 3) and watch the second half at a local establishment. We were warm, but also missed one of the greatest 30 minutes in Cougar Football history.

I'm curious what your best memory is of the 1992 Apple Cup? Please relay them to me at athleticinfo@wsu.edu.

Now that you lost all respect for me, here are some other items going on. I went out to this afternoon's scrimmage and took some photos, which you can view HERE. (One note, you will notice I don't identify any players in the captions. My purpose is to get you photos as quickly as possible so you have a flavor of what is going on).

For a recap of the scrimmage, be sure to check out Joe Nickell's First and Crimson blog.

To get a taste of what is happening with the university, the All-Campus Picnic was held today at Mooberry Track. You can view pictures at the WSU Today website.

School starts Monday. The football season starts Aug. 30. And the National Lentil Festival is this weekend, where the women's basketball team will be holding an autograph session tonight.

It's a busy time at WSU and Cougar Athletics.

Aug. 21, 2008, 2:20 p.m.

The rain let up just enough this morning for me to go out and take some stadium pictures. Here they are. Just 16 days until the Pullman opener against California.

Tomorrow, soccer kicks off the 2008-09 athletic season traveling to Montana for a 4 p.m. Pacific Time match. Check out this week's soccer release for a preview.

I'm off to Spokane for tonight's annual Cougar Sports Banquet. I'll be posting pictures tomorrow from the event, which will feature President Elson S. Floyd and Drew Bledsoe.

Go Cougs!

Aug. 20, 2008, 4:55 p.m.

It's been raining most of the day so I held off on taking the weekly stadium photos for a day or two. However, in the afternoon I learned that the scoreboard graphics were being tested; the rain lessened (in fact, the blue sky and sun have made their first appearance of the day) so I went out and took a couple of shots for today's entry.

Also, last night I mentioned volleyball coach Andrew Palileo's chat on Monday, Aug. 25. As promised, here are the details for it.

Have a great evening. Go Cougs!

Aug. 19, 2008, 5:55 p.m.

I just completed an online chat with soccer head coach Matt Potter. To read a chat transcript please click HERE. Thanks to Matt for participating in the chat. The next edition of the Cougar Chat series will be Monday, Aug. 25 when volleyball head coach Andrew Palileo enters the chat room. Check back to wsucougars.com tomorrow for further details.

Until then, have a great evening. Go Cougs!

Aug. 18, 2008, 3 p.m.

I hope you enjoyed the weekend and managed to stay cool. For me, I had the opportunity to play a round at the Palouse Ridge Golf Club yesterday. I'm not sure what I lost more of: lbs. from the 100-degree heat, or golf balls in the wheat fields from my errant tee shots. No matter, it is a beautiful course that will have its grand opening on Aug. 29. For more information on Palouse Ridge, please visit its official website. Along with the upcoming CUB opening, there is a lot going on at WSU outside the athletic realm.

In the athletic realm, there is a lot happening Cougar-wise at the Olympics. For the latest, please check out Linda Chalich's Beijing blog. Today's entry has a nice perspective from Diana Pickler.

And finally, don't forget soccer coach Matt Potter's online chat tomorrow at 5 p.m. You can submit questions now for Coach Potter and follow the chat by clicking HERE.

Aug. 16, 3:45 p.m.

Because I was gone last week and only posted a couple of entries during my time away, here is a special Saturday post. And for today's post, I went out to the scrimmage at the stadium and took some photos, which you can check out HERE. I'd have taken more, but I would have melted as the mercury hit the century mark.

Hopefully the fans in the stands didn't melt either. Thank you to all who came out to watch. One note when looking up in the stands was that the fans gravitated toward the shade of the press box and scoreboard. And as the shade moved, so did they.

This post has photos from the scrimmage, but I don't have anything about it. For that, be sure to check out Joe Nickell's First and Crimson blog later today.

Time to go somewhere with air conditioning. Have a great rest of the weekend and see you Monday.

Aug. 15, 2:30 p.m.

Thus far, the news out of the Olympics has been dominated by swimmer Michael Phelps. For Cougar fans, swimming is an event that has a Cougar connection with the Beijing Games. Congratulations to sophomore-to-be Rugile (Rue-GEE-lay) Mileisyte (Meal-e-SHAY-ta), who won her heat in the 50-meter freestyle today.

Mileisyte is one of five past and present Cougars at the '08 Games. Bernard Lagat (1500m and 5000m, Ian Waltz (discus), Diana Pickler (heptathlon) and Anson Henryy (100m and 4x100m relay) are all competing in track and field.

Be sure to check out the games official website at http://en.beijing2008.cn/ . For something fun to do, go to the Athletes and Teams page to get information on any athlete at the Games.

Have a great weekend everyone. Stay cool!

Aug. 14, 11 a.m.

This post is about football...no the other football, that is, soccer.

The Cougars were practicing at Lower Soccer Field this morning (pictured) preparing for their season opener at Montana, Aug. 22. Three days before leading his team to its 2008 debut, head coach Matt Potter will conduct an online chat on Tuesday (Aug. 19) at 5 p.m. You can submit questions now for Coach Potter and follow the chat by clicking HERE.

And like Joe Nickell's football blog, you can receive the most up-to-date information on the WSU soccer team by going to the Cougar Soccer Blog, authored by Craig Lawson.

By the way, you will notice in the picture the abundant sunshine. While the fall sports season is fast approaching, you wouldn't know it by the weather. Forecast highs for this weekend are in the mid-90s, with sun, and some more sun.

Have a great Thursday Cougars!

Aug. 13, 11:45 a.m.

This will be a stadium renovation themed post today.

I recently posted stadium photos on the martinstadium.org site. Thanks for putting up without a gallery last week in my absence, but as a reminder, you can catch what is going on at the east side of the stadium by viewing the image brought to you by the stadium webcam .

You will notice I included a scoreboard photo in the gallery, and you will also notice what was displayed on the board: a broadcast of SportsCenter. That got me thinking that this would be a good way for students, who happen to be the process of moving in and are without cable, to get their SportsCenter fix. However, unless that student is a construction worker, getting into the stadium would pose a problem.

And lastly, speaking of the stadium, here is a story I wrote about the renovation for the latest issue of Washington State Magazine.

That's all for today. Go Cougs!

Aug. 12, 11:15 a.m.

I'm back in Pullman after a week in Detroit. It's good to be home, although my bag apparently enjoyed Michigan so much that it decided for an extended stay. I'm not sure when it will decide to arrive back at Washington, but I hope it will be over the next day or two. My work clothes are in there!

As I wrote last week, I found a WSU connection with the PGA Championship through Tony Bennett. I had to opportunity to walk with Tony for a few holes on Saturday following Steve Stricker, a good friend of Tony. I've included a photo of the back of Tony's head (and everyone else's) that I took on the second hole of the Oakland Hills Country Club. You can see Steve in the background. Yes, I know what you are thinking...this is a great example of the high-quality photography that can only be found on this blog.

Since I wasn't around for the beginning of football practice last week, I made it a point to go out to watch this morning. I've included a snapshot, which I took from the recently constructed CUB elevator tower. The elevator isn't operational so I walked up the steps as high as I could go. After taking several minutes to catch my breath, I took the accompanying picture. Nice view from up there.

By the way, the CUB looks tremendous. When you are in the area be sure to check it out. In the meantime, visit the website to learn about the newly renovated CUB.

And by the way, my colleague Joe Nickell began a football blog last week coinciding with the beginning of practice. This is the place to go for all the information you can handle on Cougar football. Be sure to check it out.

Great to be back in the Northwest. See you tomorrow.

Aug. 5

So here I am at the PGA Championship in Detroit, Mich. I know halfway across the country, today marked a significant day for Cougar Athletics...the beginning of football practice. I wish I was there in person, but the next best thing is to read Joe Nickell's blog to find out what is happening back on the WSU campus.

I stated before I left I will find a connection with the PGA and Cougar Athletics. Well, here's one: PGA Tour winner Steve Stricker, who was runner-up in the 1998 PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club in Redmond, is good friends with Tony Bennett. Stricker hails from Edgerton, Wisconsin, a state Coach Bennett is somewhat familiar with.

Until later. Go Cougs!

Aug. 2

Good Saturday afternoon Cougars. For those who did not get a chance to participate in yesterday's chat with Paul Wulff you can read a transcript by clicking HERE. And, football single-game tickets on sale begins today.

Football practice begins Tuesday. Normally, I would be at practice taking pictures for this blog; that is, if I was here. I will be out of town next week working as a member of the media relations staff at the PGA Championship. (This means no stadium photos on the martinstadium.org site next week. Sorry, but you can still follow the progress on the stadium webcam.) However, I still plan to post a few entries while I am away. You may ask: What does the PGA have to do with Cougar Athletics? Well on the surface, nothing. But I still will be looking for one. Stay tuned.

July 31, 3:50 p.m.

The scoreboard is operational! And to prove it, a replay of the 2003 Holiday Bowl is being shown on it as I write. I went out and took a few photos, which are posted on the martinstadium.org site. As a teaser, I included one in this post.

Don't forget Paul Wulff's chat tomorrow at 11 a.m. You can submit questions for Coach Wulff now by clicking HERE.

Until tomorrow, have a great evening Cougs!

July 30, 4:10 p.m.

This afternoon, I posted this week's photo gallery on the martinstadium.org website. Be sure to check out the new scoreboard.

Former and current Cougar student-athletes have certainly made a presence on the international sports scene this summer. The theme continues as Nikola Koprivica will represent his native Serbia in the 2008 U20 Men's European Basketball Championship.

July 30, 2008, 7:25 a.m.

Good Wednesday morning. A quick morning post to recap the stories that have been posted at wsucougars.com recently.

Recent Cougar graduate and record-setting tennis player Ekaterina Burduli didn't have to travel far to find her first employment out of school: assistant tennis coach at WSU . Welcome back Eka, even though you never really left.

From the tennis court to the basketball court, Kezia Kelly (pictured) was named to New Zealand's junior national team and Derrick Low signed a one-season contract with the Sydney Spirit out of Australia's National Basketball League.

Don't forget head coach Paul Wulff will conduct an online chat, exclusively at wsucougars.com, this Friday at 11 a.m. You can submit questions for Coach Wulff now by clicking HERE.

And finally, in keeping with the football theme, ESPN.com's Ted Miller posted his thoughts on the Pac-10's five most bitter rivalries. WSU-UW is rated as No. 5. What do you think? Send me your thoughts at athleticinfo@wsu.edu.

July 29

Football practice starts a week from today. To lead up to that day, a day that I expect all Cougar fans have been waiting for since last winter, head coach Paul Wulff will conduct an online chat Friday at 11 a.m. You can submit questions for Coach Wulff now by clicking HERE.

In keeping with the football theme, the scoreboard installation is coming along swiftly. Photos of the installation were posted today on the martinstadium.org website.

July 28

I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. It's hard to believe that when this weekend arrives, so will August, which means football practice begins. (I'll pause to allow for cheering to take place).

Also taking place next month is the Olympics, and five past or current Cougar student-athletes -- track and field's Bernard Lagat (1500m and 5000m), Ian Waltz (discus), Diana Pickler (heptathlon), Anson Henry (100m and 4x100m relay), and swimming's Rugile Mileisyte - will be competing at the Games. Pickler joined track and field head coach Rick Sloan last Friday for an online chat . Be sure to check it out. There is great inside perspective on the Olympics and Diana's preparation for it.

Lastly, check out the photo gallery of the ongoing athletic facilities construction happening on campus. Also, follow the scoreboard renovation in real time with the scoreboard webcam on the martinstadium.org website.