The Wyoming Cavalry will have a new team and a renamed team on its schedule next season. The American Indoor Football Association announced two new teams will play in Utah next season. The teams are the Utah Valley Thunder and a to be named team in Ogden.

 

The AIFA is also looking at expanding in Wenatchee, Wash. League officials visited Wenatchee a few weeks ago, and the new arena there is owned by the same company that owns Arizona and New Mexico's arena, so it would be a good fit for the league. 

 

The AIFA's press release says the Thunder are an expansion team, but news articles say the team is the Utah Saints under new ownership and in a new location. The Saints went 1-13 last year, allowed a league-high 845 points (including 103 in a game against Wyoming), and the league had to step in midway through the season to keep the team alive on the field and financially. Utah Valley is based in Orem, and is now owned by Dave Affleck, a former BYU player. Affleck's son, Mike, was the Saints’ quarterback last season. The Thunder will be coached by Chad DeGrenier, who played quarterback for the Arizona Adrenaline last season.

 

I think both new teams will be good for the AIFA and the Cavs. Utah was Wyoming's closest opponent last year, so having two teams in the state will cut down travel costs. Also, a new team and a new/improved version of the Saints should mean better competition. At the very least, it adds another opponent, which is good since the Cavs didn't play outside of the West Division last year until the playoffs. With the Ogden team and possible Wenatchee team, Wyoming won't have to play the Utah six times, Arizona five times (four regular season games and one playoff game) and New Mexico (four times).

 

What are your thoughts on these AIFA announcements? 

Before most people move their thoughts to basketball, Ithought I’d give some of my highlights from last weekend’s Wyoming State High School Wrestling Championships last weekend at the Casper Events Center.

 

Here they are in no particular order:

• There was never a dull moment. I was overwhelmed the first half hour or so I was covering the meet because I hadn’t been to anything like it before. I covered every class, so I couldn’t just focus on two or three mats. It took me a while figure out I had to focus on one match at a time with so many things going on at once. Luckily though, with nine mats of action during most of the tournament there was always a good match to watch. You just have to follow the cheers.

 

• The Class 4A race: Star Valley, Natrona County and Gillette all led the meet at one point. The team title came down to the last match where Gillette’s R.J. Boylan beat NC’s Nick Elliott at 285 to give the Camels the title. Had Boylan lost, the Camels and Braves would have shared the title. Gillette won its sixth title in a row, while Star Valley showed it could compete and challenge Class 4A schools after winning four of the past five Class 3A titles.

 

• Cokeville winning its third title in a row.

 

• Powell establishing itself as the team to beat in Class 3A with Star Valley moving up.

 

• Greybull-Riverside’s Kasey Garnhart and Torrington’s Jared Hatley becoming the 10^th and 11^th wrestlers in Wyoming history to win their four individual titles. Leading up to the Championships, I talked to Garnhart, Hatley and many of the previous four-time champions. Accomplishing that feat seems like one of the toughest things to do in high school sports. Congrats to both of them.

 

• The fans: The fans at the Events Center were smart and knew their wrestling. Garnhart and Hatley both received standing ovations from the crown, and most fans were aware of the team races. Gillette fans were cheering and chanting Jesse Hillhouse’s name when the Kelly Walsh wrestler was going against Star Valley’s Ricky Fairbanks. Star Valley fans, likewise, were cheering for Gillette’s opponents.

 

• Three get third titles: Gillette’s Tyler Cox, Greybull-Riverside’s Colten Zier and Cokeville’s Rodney Teichert each earned their third titles. Cox will go for his fourth next year.

 

• Three go undefeated: Cox, Lander’s Brett Klopp and Southeast’s Stephen Easton each had perfect seasons.

 

• Getting to know Star Valley’s Dakota Dana and coach Eddie Clark: Dana had a family tragedy this year and still managed to get fifth place at 4A’s 130-pound weight class. He’s overcome more than most people could handle and still managed to compete. He’s a guy that people want to cheer for. Clark is also a quality individual. He helped Dana deal with the loss of both parents and was emotional each time I talked to him about Dana and his losses. Clark has gone beyond his call as coach to help Dana.

 

• Finally, I hope the Gillette fan that collapsed during the first match of the finals is having a healthy recovery.

 

What were some of your highlights from the championships?Now that wrestling is over, are you following your school’s basketball teams,are you looking forward to any spring sports, or are you already lookingforward to next year’s Wrestling Championships?

 

My focus is switching to girls basketball. I’m coveringClass 1A and 2A girls basketball this weekend and the 3A / 4A tournaments nextweek. Let the games begin…luckily there is just one at a time this weekend.

 

Dave

Shrine Bowl executive director T.J. Claunch announced the coaches and players for the South team on Sunday. The team will be coached by Kemmerer's Shawn Rogers. He will be assisted by Darrell Bullington (Kemmerer), Brick Cegelski (Cheyenne Central), Jay Rhoades (Douglas) Matt VandeBossche (Lusk), and Mark Bullington (Southeast). The 36 players on the South team include 13 Star-Tribune Super 25 players. The Super 25 players are Cheyenne Central's Brock Hayden (WR/DB) and Matt Cook (OL/DL); Cheyenne East's Alex Stratton (QB/DB) and Darren Neely (WR); Douglas' Scott Boner (RB/LB); Evanston's Jake Spero (RB/LB) and Kyle Crandall (QB/DB); Glenrock's Jim Downs (OT/DT); Kemmerer's Jason Easley (RB) and Rem Roberts (RB/CB); Rock Springs Drew Rollin (QB); Star Valley's Zack Booth (OL/DL) and Wheatleand's Chase Tyson (TE/LB). Twelve alternate players will be named at a later date. The 35th annual all-star football game is June 14 in Casper. Check out Monday's Star-Tribune for a full roster.

I’ll add my two cents to Patrick’s preview for tonight’s Kelly Walsh-Natrona County basketball games at Swede Erickson Thunderbird Gymnasium at Casper College. The girls tip off at 6:15 p.m. and the boys are scheduled for 7:45 p.m.
Don’t count either team out in the girls game. I saw NC (8-6) overcome a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter against Billings (Mont.) Senior, then win overtime in late December. The next day I saw KW (3-9) cut a 12 point deficit down to two points in the fourth quarter before Billings Senior held off the Trojans with late free throws.

This is what NC junior guard Taylor Diehl said about the Fillies comeback:

"We kind of like comebacks. We are kind of into those. We've done that in a lot of games, come back. We don't always pull ahead, but we seem to always do best in the fourth quarter."

Both girls teams are coming off wins, and KW’s 49-38 victory against Star Valley was from behind. The Trojans rallied from 9 points down in the third quarter to beat the Braves.

As for the boys, I’m looking forward to seeing NC’s Michael Dietz and KW’s Cobi Eskew go up against each other. As Patrick mention in his preview Eskew, 6-foot-3, is averaging 18.2 points per game, while Dietz, 6-6, is averaging 18.1 points per game. Both big men put up 25 points in the last games they played, and both made a 3 pointer. Dietz and Eskew can both play on the inside or outside, are good defenders and good passers. If these guys aren’t scoring, you know they are helping their team in others ways.

The Trojan boys are in new territory, coming off their first win of the year — a 61-56 victory against Star Valley on Saturday. KW (1-9) might have some confidence coming into this game because they finally got a win, but it’s hard to be overly confident when you face Natrona County (12-0), the No. 1 team in Class 4A.

I’m looking forward to seeing the atmosphere tonight. This will be the second KW-NC sporting event I’ve seen. I covered the John Miller Memorial wrestling match in December, and crowd was loud and went nuts during a big move and after each match. I expect tonight to be a raucous atmosphere.

The Swede has wireless Internet, so I might give game updates and the final scores on this blog. Stay tuned.

Dave

I don’t know if I could have started my job at a better time for high school or junior college coverage.

My first weekend on the job was the high school football semifinals. On Friday, I went down to Cheyenne and saw East beat Gillette 35-34 in double overtime in the 5A playoffs. The next day I went to Lusk and covered Riverside’s 10-9 victory against Lusk in the 2A semifinals. The next weekend I wrote previews for the 2A and 5A finals and covered the 2A final between Big Horn and Riverside. Riverside won its first state title in a 21-20 game.

I covered three games and all decided by one point. I don’t think I could have had a better introduction to football in the state. Of course they were the best teams in the state, so they should have been good games, but I don’t think many people can say the first three games they covered were all one-point games.

A few notes about the games:

*It sounds cliché, but you win championships by taking care of the ball and not hurting yourself with penalties. Gillette was called for three penalties in double overtime. One was on offense, but the Camels still scored a touchdown. The others were on defense and gave East first downs. When you give a team extra downs inside the 10-yard line you are going to pay, and Gillette did. Riverside forced multiple turnovers in both games I saw them play and benefited from the turnovers.

*I put in close to 900 miles covering these games. I’m now pretty familiar with the eastern part of the state and I-25….  I saw a few tumbleweeds go across the highway and cracked up each time I saw one… Driving through a state with mountains is more entertaining and beautiful than driving through the cornfields of Illinois, Indiana and Missouri.

*I loved that I couldn't’t get cell phone reception in Lusk, but there were multiple wireless Internet networks I could pick up in the middle of town. I also enjoyed picking Chicago’s WBBM 780 AM while out there. 780 is the main Chicago news radio station. It was nice to hear some familiar voices from home.

*I’m a fan of a neutral site for state championships. In Illinois and Missouri, where I grew up and where I went to college, the state titles were at neutral sites (University of Illinois’s football stadium and at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis). Both these sites allowed ample room for fans, media and gave kids a chance to experience playing at a college or pro stadium. Going to the final in Big Horn slightly changed my view though. First, Big Horn is a beautiful setting for a game. In the fourth quarter you had the sun setting behind the mountains in the background of the field. It was a breathtaking view and I wish I had more time to take it in. Fans drove their cars right up to the field and some people were sitting in truck beds instead of the stands. I hadn’t seen a game where fans could do that and where everyone lined the field. This was a big game in a small town and you could easily tell that. The pressbox, however wasn’t big enough for the scoreboard operator, two radio stations, videographers for both teams and me. A neutral site would.

The idea of covering junior colleges is new to me, but I also haven’t lived in an area where community college had sports teams, let alone good ones. It makes sense to cover Casper College and take all the phone calls that we do from other schools around the state. People need something local to cheer for besides high schools, especially in a state where UW is the only four-year school, and that’s where the junior colleges come in. The Thunderbirds’ women’s volleyball team went to the NJCAA National Tournament a few weeks ago, and we covered it. Laramie County Community College made the NJCAA soccer tournament that same week. The teams are good, so you need to cover them. It makes sense.

Last weekend I covered the UW-Colorado State football game in Fort Collins. You can read about my experiences on YouW.

Those are a few impressions from my first month of the job. I’m not sure what I’ll be blogging about next. It all depends on what I’ll be covering. I am going to be the main high school wrestling guy, so if you have any story ideas or want to talk wrestling, shoot me an e-mail at david.buck@trib.com

Dave

I’m Dave Buck, the (somewhat) new guy on the Star-Tribune’s sports staff. I’ll start my blog off in style by giving you a glimpse of my first few weeks on the job and what I think about the local sports scene so far.

My first reporting assignment was covering a “major announcement” by the Casper Rockies on Halloween. It was my second day on the job and I didn’t know much about the team besides it having a terrible record  (22-53) last year. My coworkers told me the word on the streets was the team was either going to change its name and / or the affiliation with a major-league club. The press conference, only the second the team besides announcing the team was coming to town, was at the Wonder Bar.

An hour or so before the conference I was doing some research on the Casper Rockies’ Web site.  I was looking at the bios of team officials to figure out who I might need to talk to and I decided to look at the “contacts” section. That is where things getting interesting. The top of the Web site said “Casper Rockies” but all the e-mail addresses said (name)@ghostsbaseball.com. So much for a big surprise and major announcement. The team was changing its name from Rockies to Ghosts. The Casper Ghosts, just like the cartoon. The team still could change affiliations. Were they that ashamed of the Rockies in the World Series just a few days earlier?

I get to the press conference and meet team owner Kevin Haughian and General Manager / Director of Fun Matt Warneke. I tell Warneke that I noticed the new e-mail address and he said that was a glitch in the site. It wasn’t supposed to be changed until after the press conference. Warneke also says there will be some shock value with the announcement.

The press conference was a typical announcement. There was an intro hyping the team and then the new logos were unveiled, including two with the cartoon character, Casper the Friendly Ghost dressed as a cowboy. The shock value came with Casper Ghosts logo with fierce “mystical baseball logo.” Also, the new hats are glow in the dark.

Glow-in-the-dark hats are pretty shocking. The Ghosts are the first team to utilize the thread with New Era, the makers of the hats.

Changing the team name to Ghosts on Halloween could have made for a lot of clichés and cheesiness. Thankfully none of the team officials dressed up in costumes for the press conference (thought they did later, see below) and there weren’t any terrible puns about a “spooky announcement,” the team’s “ghastly performance last year” or “having tricks and treats for fans.” Haughian said this about the date of the announcement:

“We thought it was fitting. … It just made way too much sense if we are going with the name Casper Ghosts not to announce it on Halloween.”

I went back to the Wonder Bar after work to have a beer and ran into Warneke and a few other team officials. They were dressed as Ghostbusters. Cool costumes, but don’t Ghostbusters get rid of ghosts? Interesting way to promote the new product.

Journalists, and most people, should think that clichés are bad. With that in mind I decided not to make Halloween a big part of my story. I did think about it though.

This was a joke lead I came up with:

The Casper Rockies gave fans a treat on Halloween, but the team’s Web site played a trick on team officials.
The team had a spooktacular press conference on Wednesday announcing the team is changing names to the Ghosts.
Ghosts’ officials said the change has noting to do with last summer’s ghastly season or the Red Sox haunting sweep of the parent Rockies in the World Series.
Despite treating fans, the Ghosts were tricked by the team’s Web site. E-mail addresses under the “contacts” section said “(name)@ghostsbaseball.com” a few hours before the official announcements, so some people already knew the team’s “major announcement.”…

I also pondered this lead, but because I didn’t cover the team I didn’t think I had the authority to write this, especially as my first article:

Fans now have a new reason to boo the minor-league baseball team in Casper.
The Casper Rockies changed its name to the Ghosts on Wednesday at a press conference at the Wonder Bar.
“I’d like to see it where when we do something good or the team is announced where everyone in the stands is ‘booing,’” said team owner Kevin Haughian. “I think we can have so much fun with this. We are only going to be limited by our imagination and the name itself will be a springboard to a lot of crazy things.” …

Here are links to the online and print stories I did:

http://www.trib.com/articles/2007/10/31/news/top_story/0ba5da8f8605835d87257385006cfe35.txt (Online update, has photo of some of new logos)

http://www.trib.com/articles/2007/11/02/sports/pro/91242b5f48a813f3872573850080404e.txt (print version)

My take on the name change: It makes sense to me as someone who just moved here that the team would want to be named the Ghosts. Haughian said when he moved the team here from Butte, Mont., that he wanted it named the Ghosts, but Rockies officials wanted all minor-league affiliates to have the same name. I didn’t know much about Casper before apply for my job than it was in Wyoming, but I did know who Casper the Friendly Ghost is. One good aspect about the name change, Warneke said, is when people google or search “Casper and Ghost” they will learn about the baseball team, along with the cartoon.

This move was made for economic reasons and I respect that. Sports more and more is about making money. Fans were not buying Casper Rockies gear because if they wanted something that said Rockies they would buy Colorado gear, Haughian said. The change was about creating a new identity for the team and it certainly achieved that. Of the 159 teams in the minors 124 have unique names and identities. The majority of the teams who have same names as the parent club are owned by the major-league franchise.

The glow-in-the-dark hats should sell well and the line of clothing with Casper the Friendly Ghost is creative and should also make the team some money. I know if I had kids or had some cousins who were young I’d buy them some of the Ghosts gears with the cartoon on it. Having a unique hat with New Era means the team’s hats might be sold across the country or world at hat stores in malls. Making more money with merchandise sales could mean good things for local fans. That extra money might mean the cost of going to games could be cheaper.

Covering the team’s press conference was a great first story for me. It allowed me to meet team officials and get a feel for how they operate in a low-key, fun setting. I look forward to working with those guys again.

Thanks you if you made it this far. I’ll try to keep future posts shorter.

Coming soon: Welcoming to Wyo part II, High School football