Once upon a time....

Happy Thursday Cougs, as we roll towards the New Year's weekend.  You know you just have to love this time of year, with all this time off.  I was lucky enough to get Monday and Tuesday off as company holiday, as my company was named in the Top 25 best companies to work for by Fortune magazine for 2012.  A perk of getting in that coveted top-25?  X-mas Eve AND New Year's Eve off as company holidays!  In other words, back-to-back four-day weekends.  In my line of work this is an extremely crazy/busy time of year, so I can't tell you enough how happy we all were to get these long holiday weekends.  

But enough about me.  A few days ago, WSU's official site took a stroll down memory lane with a look at the 1988 Aloha Bowl.  It was cool to read their recap of the game, and brought back a few memories for yours truly.  You see, the fall of '88 was when I finally decided I would head to WSU as a student, so that was a fun football season to watch and think about being in the stands the next year (of course, I hoped that the fall of '89 would include Dennis Erickson and Timm Rosenbach, but that's another story!).  Anyway, that was a great finish for an excellent 9-3 football team, one that saw Rosenbach lead the country in passing efficiency after leading the world in INT's the prior year, and the Cougs had two 1,000+ yard running backs in Rich Swinton and Steve Broussard.  Erickson's one-back attack was becoming the hot, cool new offense and really was part of a one-back revolution across the nation.  

So with all these bowl games whizzing by left and right this time of year, of course it's a natural thing to think about good 'ol WAZZU and why it flippin' BLOWS that we are sitting this one out - again.  And here's a few reasons why.....

Um, Yeah, It's Getting Weird

Happy X-mas Eve Cougs, and of course we hope you and yours enjoy your holiday wherever you happen to be on this fine day.

So there's not a heck of a lot going on in the Coug-a-verse, but we did round up a few things for you.....so here we go:

Hello Followers.  Hope you’ve had a great week.

By the time that you all read this, I’ll be somewhere near the great state of Virginia, waving to our good friend Tony Bennett en route to the brood’s Holiday breeding grounds know as…

MIAMI, Florida!!!!!

Last year, Mrs. Sutra and I got carried away with the drive and buried Little Sutra somewhere on I-95 as we made the drive between Miami and New York in one day—20.75 hours to be exact. 

This year, little Sutra is bribing us to do it in two days, but given that we have a hot date set with Momma Elsa and Marysol on Saturday night…

Safe to say, we might just try to do it all in one day...

While Miami awaits, the bigger point of excitement for me right now is YOUR Seattle Seahawks.   So, for a quick Seahawk Sidebar (on a Friday), click on the JumpaVegas.

Happy Thursday Cougs, as we barrel towards the holiday weekend and prepare for family get-togethers and such for most of you early next week.    

So have you and yours been out to see Santa Butch?  A little secret for you - believe it or not, one of our blogfathers who used to write here and there was actually Santa Butch for a number of years (true story).  I am not sure if he is donning the suit this year, but hopefully you can get out and see him before it's too late (or maybe it is too late?  I really have no idea).  I won't spill the beans as to which of us was Santa Butch, but some of you long-time readers can probably figure it out.....

Alrighty then, on to the links.....

So about that post yesterday speculating on the whole medical redshirt idea for Jeff Tuel?  Yeah, never mind on all that.  Per Bud Withers yesterday afternoon who first broke the news, and then elsewhere with more quotes and such, Jeff Tuel is moving on from Pullman.

Predictibly so, there's a lot of reactions and waxing poetic about #10, so let's see what is out there regarding the end of the Jeff Tuel era.....

Last week I implied that I enjoy the off-season coaching carousel more than the bowl games. This was a lie, so I’m sorry. The truth is I love bowl games. Not only are there all kinds of scintillating, intriguing, and sometimes bizarre matchups, but they all happen at a time of year when I have time off work and my house is packed to the rafters with snacks. Last weekend the bowl season got kicked off in high style by Arizona in the New Mexico bowl and it is going to be difficult for any game left on the schedule to top it. Between the sideline intra-squad fight that got two Arizona players ejected by their own coaches, to the incredible comeback from 2 scores down in the last seconds of the game, this really had it all. As a night cap the mighty Aggies of Utah State put a drubbing on the Toledo Rockets that was not nearly as entertaining, but did reinforce my much publicized man-crush on Gary Anderson. So what could the bowl season possibly have left to offer? Plenty. Lets take a look after the jump...

Greetings Cougs, and a happy Tuesday morning to you and yours as we head down the stretch towards the big X-mas holiday a week from now.  How in the WORLD is X-mas a week away?  Unreal.  It's true, kids, what all the old adults told you growing up - it really DOES go faster, each and every year, the older you get.  Enjoy it and live in the NOW!

So there isn't a ton of Coug-links and such floating around, but as always there are a few points of interest out there.  So let's take a look.....

Hello Followers.  Hope your day is off to a good start.

In light of the terrible news and tragedy of yesterday, we felt it necessary to try to finish this week off on a bit of a happier note.

So, to read about my holiday wish for a homecoming party of sorts for the Cougar Football coaching staff, then click on the old jumperoo.

(Read On.)

Hello Followers.  Hope you’ve had a great week.

Today’s post is one of the more difficult ones I’ve had to write during my time on the blog.  But, in light of the information included in the report submitted by Bill Moos to President Floyd two days ago, I feel compelled to offer a few thoughts which I’m sure will be controversial.

Read on.

Good morning Cougs, and a happy Thursday to you and yours.  

So the WSU investigation wrapped up on Marquess Wilson, and the news flew around pretty much everywhere last night on the school's internal findings.  You can read through the entire review here if you wish, and it's got some pretty interesting findings as to what has been going on since Mike Leach arrived in Pullman.  Some of it harsh, some of it tough love and I guess people are going to have different reactions to the whole thing based on what they believe.

But one word of caution here -  is this really the end of the story?  Or are things just getting started?  I mean yeah, the WSU internal investigation is done, but there is another shoe to drop here and that's the Pac-12 investigation, stress on the word Pac-12.  I'm not insinuating that the report will be all that different, and I do think Bill Moos and the rest have done what looks like a thorough job here.  But as much as we are all ready to move on from all this, I don't think this thing is quite over, at least not yet anyway.

But there's already a lot of reaction out there, so let's take a quick glance around at what people are saying.....