Meeting Terrelle Pryor's modest transportation needs.

If you haven’t already, take a moment to read this post by ESPN’s venerable Pac-12 Football reporter, Ted Miller. Of the major issues being debated in College Football, compensation for players is right up there with a playoff system. The argument is that College Football and to a lesser extent, basketball create enormous revenues that are lavished on coaches and athletic directors, but are not shared with the men who put in most of the hard work to make those revenues possible… the players. For the flip side of that argument, Miller quotes Jay Paterno (Joe’s son) extensively about the ample compensation these athletes already receive and then goes on to stake his own position that any proposal to pay players is dead on arrival because of Title IX. Title IX, of course, is the regulation that dictates there must be equal opportunities for both men and women in college sports. Ever wonder what happened to the WSU wrestling team? Since Football offers 85 scholarships, quite a few more than any other sport, this usually results in schools fielding more women’s sports than men’s in order to balance out the scholarships allotted to each sex. Fair enough, so what does this mean for paying players? Ted Miller says it means you would have to pay ALL scholarship athletes, not just those from the revenue generating sports. Kinda hard to imagine, isn’t it?

Well, Ted may be right and this may be one issue that just doesn’t have legs, but I am not so sure. This matter has gained a lot of momentum lately. This off season proposals have been floated in both the Big 10 and the SEC to provide extra money to players ostensibly to offset the costs associated with travel and enabling their families to afford to watch them play. The Big 10 has discussed using funds from its conference television deal to help players out with what it estimates as a $2000 gap between what they are already compensated for, and what the expenses of being a student athlete are. Meanwhile, in the SEC, Steve Spurrier has garnered the support of six other coaches in the conference for a proposal to provide a similar stipend out of the coaches’ own pockets. Clearly this issue has evolved from a debate over the hypothetical, to real concrete proposals from the powers that be. Neither of these proposals is likely to go anywhere, not least of all because they completely ignore the implications of Title IX. But I guarantee these won’t be the last ideas proposed and sooner or later something will stick. Read on for more...

Happy Friday Cougs, and welcome to spring fish wrap #8 as we take a look at the upcoming WSU opponents for 2011.  If you are at all interested, you can find the prior wraps for 2011 here.  Up today are those Oregon Ducks, the defending conference champs looking to take yet another step forward in '11.  After coming oh-so-close to a national championship last year, are they ready to close the deal this year?  Or will 2011 see them take a small step back after a season in which everything just went so right?  Let's take a look.....

I recently came across a YouTube video courtesy of the WSU Archives.  The video is a highlight clip compiled of Wazzu's visit to the University of Texas in 1954.  If you didn't know, this was the trip where Texas requested Cougar RB, Duke Washington, not make the trip to Texas because of the color of his skin.  More after the jump. no comments

I know that some of you have been hearing some rumblings about this for the last couple of months, and there was even louder talk around the spring game that this might be happening sooner rather than later.  But as Bert Klasey says from KIRO ESPN Radio 710 in Seattle:

Be sure to tune in to the Kevin Calabro show on ESPN 710 today at 4:45pm for a BIG announcement from WSU Director of Athletics Bill Moos.

I'm not trying to oversell this thing, but if you're a West-side Coug, this is the type of news you've waited a long time to hear.

Hmmm!  Should be interesting to hear around 4:45 today!  And if it is what we are hoping it to be, well, great news for the Cougs to get on the Seattle powerhouse known as KIRO ESPN Radio.  With the Seahawks and M's already in the fold, what a great landing spot for WSU sports!?  Now they just need to hire away Ian Furness and Puckett from KJR, and the circle will be complete.  

GO COUGS!

Happy Humpday Cougs, and a new month is upon us.  And with June now here, the annual preview mags get closer and closer to showing up on store shelves across the country.  I for one cannot WAIT for Phil Steele's latest-n-greatest, which should be shipping early next week!  Hooray preview season!

Anyway, Athlon's has gone ahead and released all their Pac-12 covers for this year's edition (hat tip to "CrimsonDynamo" in comments yesterday).  If you weren't familiar with the way Athlon's operates, usually they create a regional cover for the different schools, and that's great and all.  I mean if you are living in Seattle, for example, are you more likely to pick up the Athlon's edition with a UW player on the cover, or would you instead grab the one off the shelf with the Arizona schools?  It's a good idea and something that a lot of the major preview mags have done for a long time.

This is, of course, the first year we'll see the Pac-12 in these kinds of things, so that is cool.  But what's interesting for this year?  Athlon's has released six different regional covers this year for the Pac-12, all with a local flavor.  And with that, ELEVEN different Pac-12 schools will see the cover.....that's right, ELEVEN, not 12.  Any guess as to which Pac-12 school, uh, didn't make it??  Feel like getting your inferiority complex on??  Here's all six covers, so check 'em out yourself.....

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