I've heard only snippets of Michael Doctor doing well... and nothing else about him.

How are the grey shirts looking thus far?

Very cool! Let's make more noise in this arena!

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/orst/sports/w...

But when he carries the ball across the goal line it's one inch lower than it would be if someone 5'11" did it.

Those touchdowns just don't count as much as the taller touchdowns.

Per angrybeavers this morning and confirmed by scout.com... Ward was offered a gray shirt by OSU and will most likely take it.

There's a rumor emanating from Scout message boards that TJ Ward's facebook page states that Terron Ward is a Beaver. I know that's a three-layer rumor, but is there any truth to it?

Looking at the numbers makes me wonder what in the world the Big Televen is thinking wanting to expand and have a championship game. They always get two teams in the BCS. And they get a team to the championship more than naught... with all conferences being naught.

If there wasn't a rule denying a third BCS bowl game for any conference, then Penn State would have probably played in one as well.

They've sacrificed tradition for their current standing, but money-wise they are set. In fact, a championship game would just decrease the chances for them to put two teams in the BCS by adding a loss to someone's record.

And then we also wouldn't have to play those pesky home and away series in basketball. Wouldn't it be nice if we never had to see UCLA, Arizona or USC play at Gill every year?

I mean, they just detract from the overall legend that is OSU basketball. Don't they?

So let me get this straight.

If the Pac 10 expands to 12 teams, adds a 'championship' game, forgets all this nonsense about traditional rivalries and brings crappy football to every season by maybe managing to add Sun Belt, lower tier CUSA/MAC/WAC and 1-AA opponents to our schedules...

... then we can make $1.475m per school instead of $1.77m?

Wow! That sounds like a really good deal.

I wonder why we haven't jumped at this bountiful opportunity already?

This is an interesting discussion on a deeper level than presented thus far. There are just too many distractions to the main point though. The idea is that wrestling is a tough draw for fans. It doesn't exist for the fans, and neither do a lot of other sports. But it's always nice to be known and appreciated for your endeavors no matter what you do.

First, the Title IX canard is just playing into the hands of the institutions who want us to think that wrestling and other Olympic sports are not as valuable as football and basketball. There is more money, and there are more male athletes in college sports than there were in the early 70's. The problem is that all the focus has been extended to football, basketball, soccer and, to a certain extent, baseball. When Title IX starts to limit women's sports give me a call. That will be the day you know that colleges are truly strapped. They will actually be cutting monies across the board rather than shifting it around to what they deem are more important endeavors.

If a family of four spends their auto budget equally amongst genders, the dad drives a $50K car, the mom drives a $35K car, sister drives a $15k car and brother is left out in the cold... then why does brother blame the females in his family? Now consider that dad's car eats more gas and costs more to insure than the two other cars combined. Brother's argument is even more silly. Imagine that argument if it held fast after his car was taken away just because dad wanted a flashier car.

The MMA/evolution argument is interesting. But I think it misses the mark. Most MMA matches end up being a violent "EAT MY CROTCH!!" festival. At times I can see the draw due to the skill necessary to compete. But it really bores me 95% of the time. But that doesn't mean many others aren't drawn to it. So what makes it viable?

It's strictly a marketing problem. Boxing fell off the face of the earth when they took it pay-per-view. Promoters took it away from the blue collar guy's television set, and the blue collar guy gave boxing the finger. Other Olympic sports suffered when Wide World of Sports left the weekend airwaves for infomercials. And the Midwest has youth wrestling leagues that are as popular (and less expensive) as baseball and football leagues. I still remember my junior high science teacher's recruiting speech... in class.

"In my town, when you walked down the street the dogs would bark at you if you played basketball or hockey."

It was true for all I know. Let's hope Les Gutches does a good job in his new position with USA Wrestling. It speaks directly to this issue, and it's funny that an OSU alum will be the one to take it head on.

I know some of you will contend my statement about relative successes by bringing up Dale Thomas' tenure. Track and field and wrestling have similar NCAA success over time. But this isn't a world in which almost everyone wrestles. There aren't large groups of people wrestling down the road in front of my house. I'm not aware of the two dozen or so national publications with names like Wrestler's World.

The point is that, while we have had great success in wrestling on the collegiate level, the greatest test of an Olympic sport is Olympic success. And in a much much deeper talent pool Oregon State track and field has enjoyed that success.