COUGARS

An interesting morning, which probably portends another interesting day. We have links that lead into a discussion, so read on.
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• On the spring football front, we have our usual links, that is to our story and not much else. ... There are other football-related links, like this Buster Sports piece from Nick Daschel on the Pac-10 and the NFL draft the past decade, with one Cougar on his list. And there are basketball links, like this interview with former coach Tony Bennett and this WSU-produced short on Daven Harmeling, written by Washington State's Julie Titone, a former S-R colleague.

• But the interesting stuff has to do with Husky Stadium, the Qwest Apple Cup deal and other political intrigue. With the legislature winding down – and who would want that job this year? – the convoluted bill aimed at supplying money for Key Arena while at the same time allowing King County residents a chance to fund the Husky's stadium renovation, just may be dead. And the sponsor, Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, seems to want his revenge on all the Cougar fans who led the charge against it. We've got 10 percent unemployment and this is what people spend their time on? Wow. But I digress. This week, WSU AD Jim Sterk, on an on-line chat, brought up the possibility of WSU slipping out of the Pac-10 if more money isn't forthcoming either through the Apple Cup project or an increased donor base, something he's tried to expand for years. Our John Blanchette has his opinion on Sterk's comments and where WSU athletics are headed. So the question is, will WSU's football team be headed to Qwest for the Apple Cup in 2010? We should know more about where the proposed deal is headed today.

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• That's it for now. We're working on a couple of stories, one, on Brandon Gibson and the NFL draft, that will run in tomorrow's S-R. We'll post it this evening. Until then …

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