CRAWFACTS/Edition 10

Appreciate all you great readers allowing myself to take little time off in the month of August and no, I was not on vacation, just had some other responsibilities, but as we get closer to the start of practice for NCAA teams, you will see this blog on a frequent basis, close to everyday actually.

I would appreciate all of you telling other people about this blog, plus if you use twitter, please follow myself @wchoops, to pick up even more information.

And very soon, I will have a huge announcement about this blog, so stay tuned for that. So to start my new run of blogs, which will not end anytime soon hopefully, here is another edition of CRAWFACTS, which is news, notes and anything else for your enjoyment.

Thanks----I want to start out today, by once again thanking Tim Marsh, who helped me set up this blog with all the technical stuff. Tim is a good friend, who would do anything for anyone and I also want to congratulate him on his retirement from Washington State U, where he had a great career and now he can get some sleep.

Want to also thank Kevin, who writes what I consider to be next to my blog, (just kidding), the best college basketball blog in the country and trust me, I read them all, http://parsingthewac.blogspot.com, it is always fresh and always important info, plus Kevin has often referenced my blog and it is not forgotten and greatly appreciated. Too many bloggers think their you know what does not stink and are not willing to recognize other people. So thank you Kevin and keep up the awesome work.


Pat Summitt--- Of course our thoughts are with us as she battles just a horrible disease, dementia and alzheimers. But, what bothers me is why does it take a celebrity to bring this to our attention. Dementia is the fastest growing disease in this country and we should be discussing it everyday and ways we can hopefully prevent it or find a cure. I do not like bandwagon jumpers, who the only time they mention something about horrific diseases or health issues, is when a celebrity is involved. As I write this there are thousands of caregivers, both in the health profession and families who are taking care of people and to me are real heros. Pat Summitt, get better, but readers, at the same time, don't forget all the people in this country who are afflicted with horrible health and battle things everyday.

ESPN--- It was a great idea three years past to open the college basketball season with an ESPN 24 hour marathon of college games from around the country and this year is no exception. It is also nice to see that ESPN does not forget the west coast, three Pac-12 teams will be involved in this opening day extravaganza and two West Coast Conference teams, as well as WAC member Hawaii. The highlight game involving west coast teams, features Washington State visiting Gonzaga. I am already thinking this could be an upset by the Cougars. The other west coast teams playing game will be St. Mary's, Stanford and Cal. Randy Bennett's team will host, Northern Iowa, of course Randy Bennett will open the season with his great 10 year contract extension, so he might just be with the Gaels for awhile.

Oregon State---No one will say it, but I have to think that this might be a make or break year for the Beavers' coach Craig Robinson. The Beavers at best have been average under Robinson and at some point he can't continue to rebuild the program and wait for next year. The Beavers have some depth and they have some really good players. With their schedule just announced today, they should come out pre-conference play with a pretty good record, as they play teams at home like Montana, Idaho and Howard which they should beat. Attendance for Oregon State has sunk to some all time lows as of late, some wins might cure that, hopefully.

emails to crawscorner@gmail.com and please follow on twitter @wchoops