Well, the court case for that incident has started (Shirley faces four misdemeanor charges) and the defense seems to suggest that a concussion he suffered during a game may have contributed to all of this.
Dr. William Carveth, an official team doctor the past three seasons, testified that the concussion Shirley sustained days before he drove a car into a townhome complex in the late night hours of Oct. 8 could have compounded the effects of the alcohol he drank that night and affected his decision making, emotional stability and ability to follow directions.
Carveth met with Shirley on the afternoon of Oct. 8, two days after Shirley sustained a concussion in the Bulldogs' game against Nevada. At that time, Carveth reported Shirley had "a mild, if any, concussion."
Now, that second paragraph is interesting. October 8th was the night that Shirley plowed his car into that apartment building. In more testimony, Carveth stated that Shirley continued to have pain and ... a month later ... Carveth wrote a letter to the school saying he had a "moderate" concussion (Shirley was trying to get reinstated to Fresno State).
The defense also brought out Fresno State head coach Pat Hill, two FSU basketball players and a track and field athlete. They also had the apartment complex manager state that the lights around the accident scene had been out.
It's been a long time coming, but Tuesday Kansas State fans got the official word. KSU has dropped Fresno State from its 2008 schedule and replaced it with powerhouse Montana State. Kansas State will pay Fresno State $250,000 as part of a buyout agreement.
This is a quick reversal in philosophies for Prince and Kansas State. A year ago at this time, Prince was championing the tough schedules facing KSU in the future and encouraging a move away from previous head coach Bill Snyder's cupcake-laden slates. At that time, he was quoted as saying:
"Where we are in the development of our team and our program, I think having the opportunity to go play those kind of opponents [Auburn and Fresno State] will do nothing but benefit us," coach Ron Prince said Monday.
I suppose the fact that the Wildcats finished 5-7 a year ago, while Fresno State was 9-4 in 2007 might have had something to do with Prince's flip-flop.
On the other end of the deal, Fresno State has added Rutgers to their schedule to replace Kansas State. That move should surprise few. Pat Hill and the Bulldogs have always had the attitude of "any team, any time, anywhere." In fact this isn't the first time that an opponent has backed out of a game against Fresno State.
Hill is used to foes dropping him. Earlier this decade, he saw Oklahoma State and Texas Tech duck out of visits to Fresno. The inability to get opponents to come to his turf has led to Hill's team getting just five home games this fall.
Well, from the looks of things, GT should be happy to be in a bowl of any sort at all. Such is the assumption one can make when you've been bypassed by a 6-6 team in the selection process. But the truth is, my lord- GT is one unattractive team right now. Among the things to consider are a passing attack that somehow managed to get worse after the departure of Reggie Ball, the recent dismissal of coach Chan Gailey and a pasting at the hands of Georgia that reversed the trend of GT at least being competitive against at the Bulldogs.
Come Here Often?
This will be the second time the Yellow Jackets have shuffled off to Boise for the postseason, the first being a 52-10 victory over Tulsa after the 2003 season...believe it or not, I actually remember watching this game and having to endure a grueling interview with Steve Largent trying to save face while his alma mater got its ass handed to it.
I say this realizing that news of this sort isn't going to detract from the Les Miles situation, the ACC championship or even the fact that on the west coast, "That's So Raven" is placed directly before said ACC championship. But just so you don't make any plans to trash Bobby Bowden's lawn if the Seminoles lose in the Music City Bowl or whatever, be forewarned that the only person who's going to fire him from the FSU coaching gig is Death himself.
While Bowden has two more wins than Joe Paterno and three fewer years, the more striking number is $2,023,689.15. That's Bowden's 2006 salary, which is amazing considering that it's about four times what Paterno's "official salary" is...and then there's the whole "what's a 78-year old man going to do with over $2 million new dollars?" thing.
Granted: this complaint is coming from Fresno State fans, who have a reputation for being rambunctious and rude guests.
We had found a parking spot and were making our way into the stadium. Of course we were all wearing red and were heckled a bit, which is entirely understandable and expected. Our seats were located in the visitor's section in the northwest corner of the north end zone. Like most stadiums, this section is surrounded on all sides by the opposing team's fans.
Unlike most stadiums, however, sitting in this section means that you will be constantly verbally and physically assaulted for four quarters. Let me stress that I am no stranger to hostile athletic environments. I've been to games at LSU, USC, UCLA, Oregon etc., but I have NEVER seen visiting fans treated like we were on Saturday night.
What follows are a lot of details we can't print on here and obviously cannot verify. Fights. Foul language. Lax to non-existent security. Large men with children on their laps verbally abusing people. You get the picture. Take it or leave it (and frankly, some of it comes across as subtly racist - what does a Hawaii fan being Samoan have to do with anything?), but it's interesting if true.
Hawaii claims their recent success has made it difficult to lure non-conference visitors to travel across the Pacific and play them. Maybe, just maybe, word is also getting around that their fans don't make for great hosts? Aloha means hello, but it also means goodbye. Hmm ...
Initial reports are that he's fine . . . but I don't know. There are mere mortals who would be out for a few nights after the hit Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan took from a Fresno State defender late Saturday night.
Hawaii had a decent lead and probably could have sat him down, but he was gunning for the NCAA career touchdown passing mark. Earlier in the evening he tied BYU's Ty Detmer, and needed just one more touchdown pass to fully claim the record. This all could have been avoided if he hadn't thrown an end zone interception the previous drive, not that we were staying up late hoping to see a record set or anything.
What?
Hey, he has my sympathy. That hit was just brutal and I don't wish that on anyone.
Texas A&M quarterback Stephen McGee was victorious Saturday (47-45 in triple overtime against Fresno State), but his postgame disposition betrayed the usual joy that comes from a win.
McGee made no apologies and became testy with reporters when questioned about the one-dimensional approach of the coaching staff.
"I'm so tired of hearing (about throwing it more)," said McGee, who completed 13 of 24 passes for 79 yards and one touchdown. "When it comes down to it, we're a team. We're going to do whatever it takes to win.
"Today we did that. That's what it comes down to: getting the ball into the end zone. Offensively, we ran the ball every freakin' time, and they did not stop us. I wouldn't see us doing anything different. That's what we are about: getting the ball in the end zone."
I smell a Herm Edwards speech coming ("you play to win the game!"). This may be one of the rare moments in modern football history where a quarterback could care less about the forward pass.
I watched the fourth quarter and overtime of that game. McGee's right, the Aggie run offense was never stopped, but Fresno State came damn close a few times if not for some incredibly gritty "want-to" runs from both McGee and man-mountain tailback Jorvorskie Lane.
Because of concerns about a rise in ganglike activity at Downtown Disney lately, loitering or "any other inappropriate behavior" by groups of youths is not going to be tolerated, spokeswoman Jacquee Polak said Tuesday. ... Orange County deputy sheriffs have issued at least 48 trespass warnings at Downtown Disney during the past two weekends since the push against loitering began. Records of those cases provided to the Orlando Sentinel show that 45 of the 46 people banned from Disney for life during the past two weekends were blacks or Hispanics.
No pattern there. According to the story, Disney's security identifies the "problems" and then calls in the Orange County deputy sheriffs to remove them.
Well, this past weekend they threw out four African-American teenagers and banned them for life from Disney World. These particular four teens were also verbal commits to Florida State: Vincent Williams, Avis Commack, Nigel Carr and Nickolas Moody. Moody's dad is a civil rights attorney in Philadelphia and Williams' mom is a supervisor at the Disney World's Polynesian Resort. Clearly part of a dangerous element.
The players got together for the weekend to get to know each other and bond before their senior years of high school. They definitely bonded.
I wonder how closely ESPN will be covering this story? Probably a lot closer if it happened at Six Flags rather than a fellow subsidiary of the parent company.
Proud home of the best mustache in sports... Last Year: A brutal 4-8 (4-4 in conference), unranked.
Fans Are: Shaking off a rough season, and also upset that Boise State has usurped the role of non-BCS sweetheart that the Bulldogs enjoyed not too long ago.
Expectations: There's a big rebuilding project underway in Fresno, so expectations are tempered. Getting to a bowl game would be a step in the right direction and will assist in erasing the memory of '06. Questions:
1. Will the Bulldogs find some offensive mojo under new OC Jim McElwain? McElwain represents the third offensive coordinator in the last three years for the Bulldogs, and the 'Dogs have struggled to find an offensive identity over that entire duration. Just a few years ago, David Carr was drawing the nation's interest running a high-flying attack, but recent years have seen the Fresno offense trending toward a more vanilla run-centered offense. OC Steve Hagen skipped town this offseason to join his old boss Butch Davis in North Carolina, so Pat Hill turned to Jim McElwain, a protegé of John L. Smith from Louisville and Michigan State to take over the show. While it's hard to call the move a huge improvement, McElwain doesn't have to do a lot to improve on last year's abysmal performance. 2. Can Tom Brandstater develop into a reliable quarterback? Fresno State has a pretty impressive history of producing NFL-caliber quarterbacks over the past decade or so, as we've seen Trent Dilfer, Billy Volek, and David Carr at the next level. However, more recently, the trend has changed. Paul Pinegar had an uninspiring career and last year's starter Tom Brandstater had the worst QB rating in the entire WAC last year. Heading into spring, it seems like the senior's starting job is safe, but there are a few underclassmen who will be pushing to take over the job if Brandstater has another rough season. With a new quarterback coach coming in, it's anybody's guess what will happen here.
3. Will the secondary be able to step it up this year? 11 games. It took the Fresno State secondary 11 games to get an interception. Considering their schedule against a slate of fairly pass-happy WAC teams, that's a pretty remarkable achievement and probably a large reason they lost seven games in a row during that stretch. The defense will be revamped this offseason, and the hope in Fresno is that it will become more agressive and fly to the ball to create chances for turnovers.
Technically, San Jose State officially changed its name to San Jose State University years ago, despite being the state's first California State University. Fresno State still puts the CSU in front of the Fresno, except for athletics where it is simply Fresno State. The 'Dogs and Spartans have had a storied rivalry, but the last 12 meetings have all been won by the Bulldogs. And that has allowed Fresno State to take a 35-32-3 series advantage into Saturday's 71st rendition of the rivalry. But will be most remembered for its tremendous six game run from 1986-1991, where the winner of the rivalry each year, won the PCAA/Big West and represented the conference in the California Bowl.
The 1986 game stands out in most people's mind. No. 19 ranked Fresno State took its 4-0 record into San Jose but came a way a 45-41 loser in what Sports Illustrated dubbed, the "Game of the Year". All-Everything Spartan QB Mike Perez shredded the Bulldogs early and SJSU took a 24-0 lead. Fresno State stormed back and took a commanding 41-31 lead late in the fourth quarter, but Perez led SJSU to two touchdowns in the final two minutes. The last, he shook off All-American DE Jethro Franklin to hit WR Lafo Malauulu in the end zone for the go-ahead score. Ironically, Malauulu wanted to be a Bulldog but his scholarship was given the Bulldog WR Stephan "Touchdown Maker" Baker. Baker was the better choice as he went to become a third round pick in the 1987 NFL Draft, but Malauulu vowed to then Bulldog Coach Jim Sweeney that he would regret not signing him. And he came true on his promise.
The subsequent five games were close, hard-fought battles -- save SJSU's 42-7 win in 1990 -- and capped by the 1991 duel between future Pro Bowl QB's Trent Dilfer and Jeff Garcia, won by the 'Dogs, 31-28. In between, SJSU beat Fresno State in front of a then Bulldog Stadium crowd, 20-16 in 1987. 1987 was a down year for the Bulldogs, as was 1988 for the Spartans, but Fresno State barely escaped with a 17-15 victory. The 1989 game was a classic 31-30 game won by the Bulldogs. Fresno State left for the WAC in 1992 and the two schools played in a non-conference game in 1994 and have played 10 straight games since 1996 when SJSU joined the WAC.
You may remember there was some buzz when the Bengals drafted Fresno State DT Jason Shirley. Shirley, up to that time, was best known for driving drunk and smashing his car into an apartment building.
It's been a long time coming, but Tuesday Kansas State fans got the official word. KSU has dropped Fresno State from its 2008 schedule and 
Happy To Be Here?
I say this realizing that news of this sort isn't going to detract from the Les Miles situation, the ACC championship or even the fact that on the west coast, "That's So Raven" is placed directly before said ACC championship. But just so you don't make any plans to trash Bobby Bowden's lawn if the Seminoles lose in the Music City Bowl or whatever, be forewarned that the only person who's going to fire him from the FSU coaching gig is Death himself.
Granted: this complaint is coming from Fresno State fans, who have a reputation for being rambunctious and rude guests.
This story comes by way of 
Technically, San Jose State officially changed its name to San Jose State University years ago, despite being the state's first California State University. Fresno State still puts the CSU in front of the Fresno, except for athletics where it is simply Fresno State. The 'Dogs and Spartans have had a storied rivalry, but the last 12 meetings have all been won by the Bulldogs. And that has allowed Fresno State to take a 35-32-3 series advantage into Saturday's 71st rendition of the rivalry. But will be most remembered for its tremendous six game run from 1986-1991, where the winner of the rivalry each year, won the PCAA/Big West and represented the conference in the California Bowl.
