First Time Ever-By Rod Eyre

On November 22, 2008 you might be able to witness something that has never been seen before. An event of this magnitude can only be compared with Haley’s Comet, or the reincarnation of the Buddha. It’s even as exciting as the streaking incident of 2004. 40 years of Weber State football misery will transform into bliss this Saturday afternoon as the Weber State football team will be aiming for their first ever sole Big Sky Championship.

A win will, in all likelihood, ensure the Cats of a FCS playoff seed, the likes of which has never been experienced by the Weber State faithful, nor the Ogden community. Will you be there to watch witness it?

Granted, Utah and BYU will be playing, but lets be honest with ourselves, does either team have a shot at claiming an NCAA Championship through a legitimate Playoff? Unfortunately, the answer is a resounding no (by the way, I hope the Utes win). The Holy War will happen again next season; unfortunately for many, being able to watch Weber State, for the first time, claim a perfect record against Big Sky foes will not.

Weber eventually will match this feat again some season- it might come as soon as next season. Instead of wishing your would have been there in years to come, JUST BE THERE. Wouldn’t you rather be one of the faithful fans in the crowd this Saturday to watch the Cats do it for the first time claim a spot of history! I know I do, and I will be there.

Much like the Dee, Stewart Stadium has been more empty than full lately. For the first time in history Weber State University can boast a student body of over 20,000, but what’s the purpose of bragging about such a fete if none of them support the institution? Ogden city, for the first time in decades, is vibrant and growing, but where is the community? Don’t they know that there is a university in their midst that is clamoring for their support? Ogdenites and Wildcats: students, alumni, or hapless dropout, support your school. Fill the stands this Saturday at noon and honor the accomplishments of this team, they have earned your support, and need it desperately to continue their run towards a National Championship! BE THERE!!

Weber State: Playing to Make History

This Saturday Weber State plays host to Eastern Washington in a game, that if Weber wins, will ensure the Wildcats stand alone as Big Sky Champions. WeberHoops founder sent out an email to some website loyalists that does a good job of summing up Weber State’s football season and outlaying the importance of this Saturday’s game.

Here is the email:

Your Weber Update:

Weber State's football team is having possibly or already the greatest season in school history with 1 game to go before the playoffs. Weber has already won the Big Sky title which was the first since 1968 (back when John L Smith was on the Weber football team.)

WSU is 7-0 for the first time ever, having never even gone 5-0. 9-2 overall with losses to Hawaii (36-17 final after being up 17-7 at the half) and Utah (37-21). In the Utah game, WSU's QB Cam Higgins threw for over 300 yds, 2 TD passes and 0 INT's. This yr against Utah's D, only Oregon State has been able to do as good as Weber's QB. TCU didn't even score 21 in Salt Lake. Higgins is just a soph but is a candidate for the Walter Payton Award, its the Heisman of Div I FCS aka I-AA.

If WSU wins out they have a chance to get one of the 4 seeds of the 16 team playoffs starting Nov 29. Currently Weber is ranked 8th in the nation in Div I FCS.

National championship game is in Chattanooga, TN, Dec 19.



Cody O


Wouldn’t it be great if Weber was able to host a playoff game and go on to become national champions? But first thing is first, in order to increase their chances of a top four seed in the playoffs and of hosting a game, they need to take care of Eastern Washington.

And people from the greater Ogden area have no excuse not to come:

1- Tickets are half off for adults and only $1 for kids.
2- The game is at noon. The Holly War starts at 4:00 PM, so there is no conflict of schedule with that.
3- If we win, everyone is going to rush the field! How often have Weber football fans been able to do that? This is a once-in-a-forty-years opportunity!
4- The first 2500 fans to show up at the stadium will receive free Wildcat t-shirts.

So no excuses not to come. If you are not a Weber State fan, it is time to become one. Weber State football is on the verge of making history, and I want to say I was there to see it happen.

Good Week For Weber. Bad Week For Me.

What a depressing week it was for me! More specifically, what a depressing weekend it was for me! Last Saturday could have become one of the greatest Weber State sports memories of my life, but alas, it wasn’t and won’t be.
I had the chance to make two great memories for myself, but instead found myself buried under books and papers, trying to get caught up with my classes.

First of all, I could have made the trip with two of my brothers, several friends, and over 2,000 fans to Idaho State to see the Wildcats rip the Bengals to pieces, clinching their first Big Sky Championship if a very, very long time. As I watched the highlights on the news, read the stories in the papers, and watched Cheese’s highlight video on weberhoops.com (That video is seen below), I became irate at the fact that for some reason Weber State chose this year, when I’m too busy to even sleep, to be good at football! It just sucks. And it depresses me. However, there is some hope as Weber’s offense next year looks to return almost everybody and Mac extended his contract another four years. Maybe they’ll win the Big Sky next year at home and I will be able to rush the field like a mad man.

Since I wasn’t able to make the trip to Pocatello and was at home with my one-year-old daughter, I thought maybe if I could dig in and get my papers written, I’d have the chance of taking my daughter to see her first Weber State basketball game at the Dee that night. Unfortunately, that memory never happened. I just had too much to do. We will have to make that memory another day. The good news here is I did buy season tickets and I will have a whole month of no classes in December, where I will surely be able to take her to a game and witness the miracle of purple slowly filling her veins.

Weber State Whips Poor Portland State at Home

Cheese made it out to the Weber-PSU game and edited up his footage a bit and added some sweet music from Taking Back Sunday. He also made the trip the Pocatello, where he caught some great footage of the blowout game and the Big Sky Championship celebration! He should be done with that video in a few days.

Victory Dew--By Rod Eyre

It was an unseasonably warm January night, in 2003. Fresh off another basketball victory, just one in a string of 17, a group of Wildcat fans gathered obsequiously in a circle by a tree with a small purple spot on it. The tree looked inconspicuous and common, but this tree was no ordinary tree, it was special. Much like the Liberty Tree, this tree signified reverence and awe, as it represented the achievements of Weber State and the common student.

Next to the tree sat a dilapidated red cooler, a circle formed round it, while a giant of a man, one of Weber’s most rigid and loyal, eagerly started plucking, what could have passed as manna to the Israelites, chilled cans of Mountain Dew. Fervently each fan gripped their dew, and keenly opened the can in the midst of the mild night air. Something great was on the horizon, one could sense it in the air, as a breeze of anticipation and optimism surged past them. Slowly each person heaved their green treasure upward into the night sky, as words of praise and approbation were uttered towards Supaman and the Pride of the Purple and White. With the toasts complete, and under the chant of “WEBER STATE, WEBER STATE, Great, Great, Great,” each fan with ravenous delight guzzled their Dew. A tradition had been born! The Victory Dew had arrived!

Zealously Weber fans assemble round the red cooler, at the conclusion of each home victory, as students, fans, and Dave Baker form a circle, in the hallow area in front of the Victory Tree, and salute the accomplishments of the WSU basketball team with words of adulation; devouring Dews. Under such humble beginnings this proud and lasting tradition was conceived. Since that time it has been erected into a lasting tradition treasured by numerous fans and devotees of the Purple and White. As the underlings of the Big Sky, Bengal fans, jealously watch in disarray and impotence. GO CATS!!!

Changes to Weberhoops Website

This year has been a big year of big (and hopefully good) changes for Weber State’s number one fan-run website. First off, as you have probably noticed, we changed our name from wsubball.com to weberhoops.com. This was an effort to come up with something easier to remember. Plus we wanted to get Weber’s name in the URL.

Weberhoops has also changed the name of Berger’s Blog to Wildcat Wall. This was done for two reasons. First, we wanted a name that would be more associated with Weber State. (But don’t worry. Though name is no longer in the title of the blog, I will still be providing my insight on Weber State sports on a regular basis.) The second reason for changing the blog name is because Weberhoopos has acquired the talent and insight of two new Weber State sports enthusiasts who will be contributing to the blog. Eric Neff will join me in blogging, and Phil (mostly known as Cheese) will be creating videos to include on Wildcat Wall.

I’d like to quickly introduce these two Weber Fans to Weberhoops’ visitors.

It is no exaggeration to refer to Eric Neff as the true Weber State insider. I challenge anyone out there who knows someone who is associated with Weber State to ask that person if he or she has heard of Eric. I can guarantee you if they don’t personally know him, they have at least heard his name, or know someone who has. Not only did Eric graduate from Weber, he was also involved in Student Government, the fraternity scene, and many other school organizations. We are very much looking forward to the news and insight he will be able to provide us through his many contacts on campus.

Cheese is one of the biggest Weber State sports fans I know. He is currently attending Weber State, pursuing a degree in Business Administration. He recently obtained a camcorder and began making videos, highlighting Weber State sports and Ogden, Utah. Here is a link to his first video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOXzDlcFHGw It’s a highlight of Weber’s recent trouncing of Montana. It will be great to not only get his videos on Wildcat Wall but to also see them available on YouTube.

I hope you enjoy the new entertainment and information available from Eric and Cheese! They should have plenty to write about and record as this is turning out to be the best football season in years and as WSU basketball is looking just as promising.

Response to Lame Ute Fans and the Media

I was shocked when on my way home from the Weber-Utah football game Saturday night, an angry Ute fan called a local radio station, complaining about Coach Ron McBride’s actions during the game—particularly the fourth quarter. This caller was saying McBride was classless for “running up the score” in the fourth quarter. He said Coach Whittingham put in his second and third stringers in the fourth quarter out of respect for McBride, and McBride’s leaving in his starters for the whole game was an ungracious way to lose to the kind-hearted Whittingham and his Utes.

HA!

Anyone who has ever read my blog knows that I am very much both a Wildcat and a Ute fan. But I just about died when I heard this and other similar arguments coming from the media and fans alike.

First off, how is it even possible to “run up the score” if you are losing? Ridiculous. And if you are going to bring up running up a score as classless, we need only to point out Utah’s “classless” sloshing of the Wyoming Cowboys last year. Were the Wildcats supposed to succumb to a 30 point loss? Of course not.

Whittingham didn’t pull out his starters out of respect for Mac. He pulled out his starters because he has to face a Pac-10 team this Thursday that just knocked off the number one ranked team in the nation last week.

One thing these fans and media obviously have forgotten is that Mac is a head football coach for a football team that is not the Utes. All week long I had to listen to media people ask Mac about what he thought about the Utes and their chances to be BCS busters. They asked him about how he recruited as Utah’s head coach. They asked about his coaching philosophy when he was a Ute. They asked him questions about current players on Utah’s roster. They asked him questions about anything other than the team he actually coached for.

I understand most of the people in Utah could care less about the Wildcats and they wanted to hear Mac’s thoughts on div I-A football. But come on! I heard two separate interviews Mac did, one on kall 700 with Bill Riley and the other on kfan with David James. Neither one asked Mac a single question about his Wildcat team. Talk about disrespectful.

And then after the game, because McBride’s boys were able to score two touchdowns in the fourth quarter against Utah’s reserves, making the game look close than it really was, people are getting all butt-hurt. Why would Mac do such a thing to the Utes? We thought he liked the Utes!

HA!

It’s like it never crossed their minds that Mac takes his job at Weber State seriously. It’s like they think Mac isn’t competitive, that he isn’t a good coach.

McBride said after the game that he came to win. And he showed that by fighting to the very end. He could very easily have pulled out his starters in preparation for a big conference game against Montana this Saturday. Maybe he should have to prevent possible injuries. But I think Mac was sending a message, not to the Utes, but to his team, that he wants to make sure they have no quit in them and that if they are good enough to play competitively against the 17th ranked team in the nation, they sure will be able to compete against Big Sky powerhouse, Grizzlies. He was building their confidence. And this Saturday we will see if it worked. I suspect it did.