The NBA conference semifinals are delivering just what the fans want ... intensity. Which series has been the best, most surprising?

Posted by John Mincks at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Fresno State softball team defeated New Mexico State 7-6 in 10 innings early today to stay alive in the Western Athletic Conference tournament at Honolulu.

Earlier Thursday, Fresno State lost to Louisiana Tech to fall into the losers bracket. With the victory over New Mexico State, the Bulldogs have four more games to win if they are to win the tournament.

In the 10th inning against NMSU, Caitlin Stiglich and Aja Scheuber led off with singles. Then Andrea Ortega reached on an error that allowed Stiglich to score the game-winning run.

Later today, the Bulldogs will face tournament-host Hawaii in another elimination game at 7:30 p.m. PDT. The winner of that game plays the loser of an earlier game between Nevada and Louisiana Tech, neither of which has lost a game yet.

Posted by Robert Zizzo at 1:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

By now, you know the NCAA penalized Fresno State men's basketball three scholarships for next season - the governing body for college athletics averaged the number of scholarships Fresno State awarded during the last four years (11) and subtracted by one.

This was the program's penalty for a historically low Academic Progress Rate.

Coach Steve Cleveland called the calculation "unfair" because it includes circumstances that Fresno State has already been punished for.

Fresno State awarded just nine scholarships in 2003-04 because of self-imposed scholarship reductions. They were a result of a former team statistician writing 17 papers for three players and being paid $1,500.

As a result, Fresno State also imposed a two-year probation and postseason ban. Later, the NCAA placed Fresno State on probation through 2010.

Fresno State awarded 11 scholarships in 2004-05 and 2005-06. The number increased to 13 last season.

Fair or unfair?

By the way, this is Fresno State's annual APR scores: (Each new score is averaged to create a multi-year score. The annual score doesn't mean anything, other than to show immediate improvements or vise versa.)

2003-04 - 611
2004-05 - 818
2005-06 - 905
2006-07 - 885

Current multi-year APR - 816

Posted by Gary Estwick at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

When new people join us here at Blog Central, they sometimes think, "Hey, this is supposed to be a sports blog. Why does he spend so much time talking about other stuff." That's a very good question, one that I'm not going to acknowledge, other than to say, "These accusations are unacknowledgeable."

And now, pay no attention to this blog entirely unrelated to sports ...

Why is it that after all this time, people still don't understand how to win at "Family Feud?" The show has been on for 30 years! I don't know the exact statistics, but at least 112% of all families have appeared on "Family Feud." Roughly.

So here's the thing, which I'm almost embarrassed to point out, that's how obvious it is: JUST PASS! All you have to do is pass. The host gives you an option, pass or play, and you say the first one. It's just that easy. Wait, back up.

Two people walk to the front of the studio and stand facing each other. A question is asked. All you have to do is hit the buzzer and say one of the answers on the board. These are not tough questions. It isn't "Jeopardy." It's a survey. A simple survey. You don't have to be smarter than 100 people, or even smarter than some of 100 people.* You just have to know what a few Americans would say. You know the people being surveyed are Americans. "Jeopardy" isn't sending surveyers across the Pacific to interview Japanese commuters. These are Americans, and not a day goes by when we don't read story about how simple-brained, idiotic, making-home-wrestling-videos stupid Americans are. (See, that sentence had a double negative in it. A German blog would have never done that.) So you know the answers are easy, not to mention that most 5-year-olds can repeat what they hear adults say.

* Nearly every hour I wish I could go back and ask my high school guidance counselor about four hours worth of questions. Add this one to the list: "Tell me what I need to do to become the guy who surveys 100 people for 'Jeopardy.'" He didn't even mention that as an option. Seriously. What a sweet gig that would be. There are no right answers. You just write down whatever comes out of people's mouths. I could knock out a survey by noon and be napping by 1 p.m. Chemist? Don't tell me about becoming a chemist. Tell me how to be Richard Dawson's RIGHT HAND MAN!!

So I'm watching "The Feud" the other day. It's the Simmons Family vs. the Davis Family. I wish I could describe each and every player, but I was so focused on the strategy, the gamesmanship, the pondering of questions, the gnashing of teeth, the host who reminds me of another actor.* Truth is, it had been a while since I'd seen the show, and all I could focus on -- what I had forgotten about the show that always frustrated me -- was that no one passed. Not once. The players were Caucasion. I remember that. I didn't notice any Midwestern accents, but who knows, they could have been from Sioux Falls for all I know.

*The most recent host of the Feud is John O'Hurley, that tall guy who was Mr. Peterman, Elaine's boss on "Seinfeld." (There will be another Seinfeld reference in this post. Be patient.) Do you ever just confuse two people for no other reason than they're just mixed up in your head?** They don't look alike or have any connection, they're just subconsciously linked. Maybe you discovered them at about the same time, or they have the same birthday and you see their names listed near each other every year on "Inside Edition." (Some day, I will post at least 2,000 words about Deborah Norville, every one of them glowing, and you will all feel like you just ate 50-quart snowcones. It's a schoolboy crush. Do your best not to be here that day.) Well I mix up O'Hurley and Craig Ferguson, the late-night host who was Drew Carey's boss on that show that Drew Carey had, the one about Drew Carey, that starred Drew Carey, where Drew Carey hung out with his friends and went by the name Drew, dangit, what was the name of that show? Anyway, until a couple days ago I actually thought they were the same person, O'Hurley and Ferguson, which makes absolutely no sense. Now that I think about it, though, they were both TV bosses and they both speak kind of weird. We may have just unraveled that mystery.

**I have one of these mental blocks concerning the band "Soundgarden." Let me explain. An ex-girlfriend and I used to play one of those never-ending games of Name That Band. No matter where we were -- baseball game, bar, drive-thru, doctor's office -- if we heard a song, whoever yelled out the name of the artist got a point. We could have been in an ambulance on the way to get her lacerated tongue looked at, and if a song came on the radio, she would scrape "Mellencamp" into the flesh of the closest paramedic with a screw she took out of the ambulance floorboard with her fingernail. It was that serious. No one actually knew who was winning, not that it mattered, since the game didn't have an ending. Except that we eventually broke up, so I guess it kinda did. Point is, neither of us could ever think of the name "Soundgarden," and every single time one of its songs would come on we'd both just sit there like idiots, knowing exactly who it was, beating our heads against the nearest load-bearing wall, until we'd finally have to Google it. Eventually, it became a running joke and the very next day after we had to look it up, she would say, "What's the name of that band we can't remember?" and we'd have to look it up again. You might think I'm exaggerating, but I had to Google "Seattle" and "grunge band" before I started this paragraph.

The first question of the show was something like, "When you hear the word 'moose,' what do you think of?" The Simmons family, having all snorted Red Bull before the taping, buzzed in less than a nano-second and got an answer on the board. And of course they wanted to PLAY! Yes! We'll play! How could we not play?! We just got one right! There are only five questions left! How can we turn down opportunity like this? The show is practically giving us money! Never mind that we have to get every single answer correct with less than three misses and two of our team members are the cousin no one talks about and an uncle who ate shrooms until he was 38! Let's do this!

The Simmons Family got two more answers before striking three times. The Davis Family stole the points. Surprise, surprise.

Second question of the show: What did hippies used to wear that they thought looked good? The Simmons Family, with the reaction time of Indy car drivers, buzzed in first, guessed an answer on the board and chose to ... ... play. They got a couple easy answers, bell-bottoms and tie-dye, and then they were down to a couple answers and flamed out again. Davis family decided on "flowers in the hair" and even though I raised my eyebrows, it was right. Stole it again. Davis family led 175-0.

This is how "Family Feud" continued, as it always continues. The next question was, Name a comedian whose movies are funny. Davis family, not having learned the lesson of the first two questions, won the face-off, opted to play, then guessed "Jerry Seinfeld" and "Bill Cosby." Yes, they were indeed fantastic, ground-breaking comedians, but not really known for movies. There could have been some TV/movie confusion here. The Simmons family stole with "Robin Williams." I was looking for a load-bearing wall to smash my face against.

Fourth question was Name something highwire performers use in their act, which is not really a question, now that you mention it, more of a demand of some sort, but you get the idea. Simmons family decided to take the initiative again, winning the face-off and opting to play.* There were only four answers. They guessed a balancing pole and then another human being, which was correct (Gotta tell ya, if I'm on a tightrope act, I do not want anyone else up there "helping"), then they were stumped. The Davis family stole with unicycle, locking up the victory. All four players chose to play. Their families lost every time. O'Hurley* could have asked them to name every single element on the Periodic Table of Elements, and I swear some guy from Missouri would say "Hydrogen" and choose to play. I don't know what it is. There should be a name for the rush that comes over you during a game show. The "Family Feud momentum," or something like that. It must take you over. It's pride, maybe. Like Michael Jordan, you want to win with the ball in your hands. You don't want the other team to screw up, you want to take control, answer the questions, celebrate your victory, not the other family's failure. So no one passes. Even though it's the sure way to get to the Speed Round, or whatever it's called. (We need to get trivia cranked up again. What is the actual name of the game at the end of the "Feud," the bonus round that involves two players from one team trying to total 200 points?) Also, there's the TV factor. No one wants to be the person who didn't believe in their family on national television. If there is one group that people mistakenly put unnecessary faith in, it's their families.

*A little "Feud" history here. The original host was of course Richard Dawson, who kissed all the women. "For luck," he used to say before he kissed their cheeks, and frankly, looking back, it was creepy. Some of them loved it, some looked like he had something green growing out of the corner of his mouth. The next host was Ray Combs, the short, energetic man, who was replaced by Dawson after a couple years. Combs lost in his business ventures and lost his family and ended up hanging himself with bedsheets in a hospital at age 40. I realize this entry just took a weird turn, but it's pretty impossible to discuss the "Feud" and not mention the Combs tragedy. There have been three recent hosts, in the "new era," if you want to call it that. There was Louie Anderson, the stand-up comic who has a show in Vegas now, and then Richard Karn, who was Al Borland, Tim Allen's sidekick on "Home Improvement." Now, it's O'Hurley's show, and he's pretty good. And, bless his heart, he didn't make fun of the contestant who thought his former co-worker, Mr. Seinfeld, made great movies.

Posted by Matt James at 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Fresno Morgan Melloh tied a school record for pitching victories and Fresno State handled New Mexico State 4-0 Saturday in the first game of a Western Athletic Conference doubleheader at Bulldog Diamond.
Melloh pitched a five-hitter with five strikeouts and improved to 36-5, tying Robin Mackin and Maureen Brady for most victories in a season.
Melloh also went 3 for 3 with a double and scored the first run on Jenna Cervantez's sacrifice fly in the fifth. Andrea Ortega also delivered a two-run double in the inning. Fresno State capped scoring in the sixth when Haley Gilleland drove in the run on a ground out.
Fresno State (48-9, improved to 13-3 in the WAC, but Nevada clinched the regular-season title earlier in the day with a 3-2 victory against San Jose State.

Posted by Jeff Davis at 6:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Morgan Melloh pitched a four-hitter with 13 strikeouts and Aja Scheuber singled in the winner, as 10th-ranked Fresno State beat New Mexico State 3-2 in nine innings Friday in the opener of a three-game Western Athletic Conference series at Bulldog Diamond.
Melloh improved to 35-5 and needs one more win to tie Robin Mackin and Maureen Brady for the school's single-season record.
Fresno State (47-9) is 12-3 in the WAC, but still trails Nevada by one in the loss column. Nevada beat San Jose State on Friday. Should the Wolf Pack win once Saturday, they will clinch the WAC title because it owns the tie-breaker against Fresno State.
Scheuber had three of the Bulldogs' eight hits and drove in all three runs. She raised her average to .356 and is second on the team with 40 RBIs.
Haley Perkins opened the bottom of the ninth getting hit by a pitch for the second time in the game. Haley Gilleland singled to center, moving Perkins to second.
But when Scheuber came up, there were two outs. She hit a 3-1 pitch to center and Perkins scored standing up.
The teams will conclude the regular season today with a doubleheader starting at 4:30 p.m. The games were scheduled for 1 p.m. start.

Posted by Jeff Davis at 9:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've always loved conspiracy theories and you've got to wonder why Robin Mackin chose to leave the Fresno State softball team and seek "other options."
Mackin said she's looking for a better fit. Didn't she have it comfy here? Ace pitcher, headline grabber and celebritiy. Next year she could have teamed with Morgan Melloh for one of the NCAA's most devastating pitching tandems. No telling how far the Bulldogs could have gone in the tournament.
Mackin took this semester off to train with the Canadian Olympic Team. She's been rubbing shoulders with teammates who also play college ball in the U.S. And the team will begin playing U.S. competition, so it's a chance to check out some new colleges.
I asked Melloh whether she planned to be wearing an Arizona uniform next season. She politely gave me the brush off, saying she's leaving her options open.
So I asked Bulldogs coach Margie Wright if other NCAA programs might be tampering with Mackin, trying to get her to leave for their schools? Wright wouldn't bite, either. She said she had no idea.
So why would Mackin, who had it all here, want to leave this behind? We'll probably find out after the Olympics when Arizona or UCLA or LSU or Arizona State put out a press release saying they've got a new pitcher.
That leaves Fresno State with Melloh, who can only improve and should be among the NCAA's top pitchers next year. But she isn't a Cat Osterman, who can carry a team on its back to the College World Series. There might be some good news, though. It's rumored that Wright might land another sensational arm before next season. Tune in for that news.

Posted by Jeff Davis at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)