Boning up on Bulldogs
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Columnist
When feisty Chris Herren dunked over the University of Hawai'i in a 1997 game at Fresno and then stood over Micah Kroeger on the baseline and taunted the Rainbows, it could have started a fight.
Instead, it was the spark that ignited the basketball rivalry that has come to be the Hawai'i-Fresno State series that continues tonight at the Stan Sheriff Center.
With Brigham Young no longer on the schedule — Roger Reid and his sons long gone — and Billy Tubbs and Texas Christian having moved to Conference USA, it is the Bulldogs who now stand above the rest as making the Rainbows and their fans see red.
But how well do you know their growing rivalry and some of the participants in it? Take the Rainbow-Bulldog trivia challenge and measure just how knowledgeable of a fan you are.
Get 10 to 13 correct and you're "Da fan." Seven to 11 right means you know your stuff. Anything less and you've probably been spending too much time listening to Jeff Portnoy.
1. It started in a high school playoff game in 1960 in Redlands, Calif. when my throat kept getting dry and I got tired of walking over to the water fountain and decided instead to suck on a wet towel. Since then, I've always had the team manager soak two towels, one of which is placed on the floor under my chair and the other on top of it for me to gnaw on.
2. I always tell Jerry Tarkanian it is an honor to play him but he says, "Well, have a bad game against us, will you?" But I rarely do.
3. I celebrated my 21st birthday this year by amassing 13 rebounds and 10 points to help upset the Bulldogs in the WAC Tournament semifinals.
4. They booed me, and waved signs at me saying, "Hey, (bleep) me" and in the end I left the court at the Stan Sheriff Center in 1997 with 35 points and a smile.
5. I had a cameo role in the movie "Honeymoon in Vegas." In my one scene I lean over to James Caan and Nicholas Cage and say, "I fold."
6. I was key to getting the Rainbows to the NIT quarterfinals in 1998 but came up an airball and missed dunk short of delivering the team to New York.
7. I was a walk-on and when three starters fouled out in the WAC Tournament game at Fresno in 2000, I came off the bench to hit a big shot and give the Rainbows a chance at a double-overtime upset.
8. I was a Rhodes Scholar candidate and have a law degree but you'll find me on the bench as an assistant basketball coach.
9. I took a cruise to Alaska this summer but spent my time drawing up a new amoeba defense, a 1-1-3 hybrid zone, you'll probably see tonight.
10. Come 2003 or 2004 this series — and probably the WAC Tournament — will be played in what they are calling the Tark Mahal, a $103 million, 15,000- to 18,000-seat facility.
11. I could have been a Rainbow tonight. But knowing I might have only one year of eligibility, UH chose to drop out of the recruiting derby for me and take Mark Campbell for their point guard instead.
12. For several years, we investigated rumors that a Fresno bettor had "inside information" on several games, including the Feb. 1, 1997 UH-FSU meeting, but found nothing to substantiate it.
13. There is a statue of boxer Young Corbett outside of Selland Arena in Fresno, Calif. but the fight that made headlines in this series was a fan who tried to take me on in 2000.
Answers: 1. Jerry Tarkanian. 2. Predrag Savovic. 3. Phil Martin. 4. Chris Herren. 5. Jerry Tarkanian. 6. Anthony Carter. 7. Tre Stovall. 8. Danny Tarkanian. 9. Jerry Tarkanian. 10. Save Mart Center. 11. Chris Sandy. 12. A federal grand jury. 13. Marquette Alexander.
