This is the area where KKRY/KMTA Sports Director Ben Catley will share his random thoughts with you ... about sports, of course. A new one will appear every few days, sometimes more than one per day. Remember, these are the opinions of Ben Catley, and not necessarily the thoughts of Senger Broadcasting, its employees or its advertisers.

12/5/06: That's why I don't like Wolverines!! (and other musings)

-- I'm tired of hearing about all of the whining from Michigan fans about the BCS Championship game. Listen, you had a chance, and you didn't get it done. And thanks to all of the people who pushed Florida ahead of Michigan. Say what you want about the SEC, but I do believe that the Big 10 has three teams in the top seven of the BCS standings, with the three teams having a combined record of 34-2. For the record ... the second-best team in the country is LSU.

-- The high school wrestling season may provide the best story this winter season. The Miles City Cowboys are showing a lot of promise, and while they may not be the best dual team, they will show a lot of promise in tournaments. The fourth-place finish at the Sidney Invite is just the beginning.

-- The best performance of the weekend, though, was turned in by the Miles City Cowgirl defense on the basketball court. The Cowgirls held Billings West to eight points in three quarters. Just think of what is to come for this team, especially if they get the kinks worked out on offense.

-- All I want for Christmas is .... well, never mind. I think you may know.

-- The best story in the NFL this season may very well be the fact that the New Orleans Saints are in the drivers' seat in the NFC South, and may be headed to the playoffs. They had a solid draft, acquired Drew Brees, and have a recharged team led by head coach Sean Payton, my choice for Coach of the Year. Just think, Carolina has blown five 4th-quarter leads (and could be 11-1), Atlanta has been inconsistent, and Tampa Bay is not doing well at all. The time may be right, and things are adding up to a big season in the Big Easy.

9/17/06: Random grumblings ... (OK, so maybe not all of it!)

-- Deer Count on the Sept. 11 drive to Gillette, WY - 2. On the way back - 72. It's a good thing for them I am not a hunter.

-- People ... don't get away from Cowboy football. The rumbling in the box (and not from me) was that the crowd wasn't what people expected. These kids will play hard, and defensively, they will be sound. Get behind them.

-- Speaking of Cowboy football, someone made a point that there are no "heroes" on this year's team. Their point was that there are no "all-stars" on this football squad. There will be kids who will be All-Conference on this team, but I haven't seen a team who won plenty of games who didn't have at least one kid whom you could turn to when you needed a big play. That player has not stepped forward yet for the Cowboys, but there are candidates.

-- This week's "HUH???" award goes to the people who schedule away, non-conference college football games without at least a split crew. The first award should be on the desk of Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops, whose team was taken to the cleaners in Oregon. An onsides kick may have been touched early by the Ducks, but the pass interference call (which the ball was deflected by a defender, which nullifys the interference call) should not have stood. There was clear evidence that the ball was deflected.

However .. two things happened which make this really hard to swallow. One, the way the ESPN/ABC commentators handled it (after all, the replay booth official is human, just like they are). The other -- the crew was a Pac 10 official crew. While I didn't agree with some of what happened, it just looks bad when you have a crew from the home team's league call a non-conference game. They should be split crews. I didn't like the Big 10 crew at the Ohio State-Texas game, either. They should be split, and BOTH schools should help foot the bill to make it happen.

-- Can someone please explain the "tuck rule" to me?? Jake Delhomme is the latest beneficiary of the rule, made famous thanks to Tom Brady in a playoff game. I need to see what they mean by it, and how it applied to that play that could have cost the Vikings their football game on Sunday. It didn't, so it's not so bad. And no, my opinion has nothing to do with the fact that the person who signs my paychecks is a Vikings fan.

-- The hottest team in the area? May be Miles City volleyball. They have won nine in a row, and they are playing the best of anyone in the area on the court. This could be the year the decade-long drought of State Tournament thirst ends for the Cowgirls.

-- If you had Atlanta, New Orleans, Minnesota, Baltimore, San Diego, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago and Seattle all at 2-0 at this point and time, congratulations. The Saints are the odd team out, but look whom they have played -- The Packers, who have struggled, but at least they scored points, and my Browns, who may struggle to win more than four games this season. I am only mildly surprised about Minnesota, Baltimore, Atlanta and San Diego.

-- One more thing ... I was afraid ESPN would go overkill with Monday Night Football. I was right. From 1 p.m. (our time) until 9:30 or 10 p.m. of nothing but NFL Football, especially the seven times of seeing highlights of every game, the numerous references to TO, and previewing one game? I like football, but maybe it's time I catch up on my DVD viewing.

9/8/06: Steaming mad on a Friday night

You may be shocked at what I am about to write in this column, but believe me, I am the most disappointed person in Southeastern Montana right now.

Here I am, it's a Friday night without a game, and I was hoping to be able to flip around the radio and hear about Forsyth, Colstrip, Baker, and anyone else who may be playing. I had heard that the Malta station may keep their AM power up so that the Shepherd game (which, by the way, that team has a Miles City connection, so don't be surprised to hear more about them now) could be heard here.

What did I get?? Nothing.

I tried to achieve this feat in my car on Friday night. I didn't hear but some scratchy parts of the Baker-Wolf Point game. And the best signal I could get was, ironically, by our transmitter, 10 miles outside of town. And, yes, that's on US 12, heading to Baker through what I call the Deer Den East.

And .. then I find out we get to drive through Deer Den South to go play football on a Monday night.

Here I am, getting to do my duty of calling the Miles City Cowboys ... on a Monday night. Kinda cool .... if it were anywhere but Gillette, WY.

I like Gillette ... they have a batting cage where they use real baseballs, and the pitches actually break, plus they have the best restaurant ever created in Golden Corral ... it's the drive from here to there in the daylight that scares the bejeebers out of me.

And you can multiply that by 10 at night.

So here's to my compadre in sports reporting, Slosh himself, for offering to keep me sane.

OK, back to being steaming mad now. Some other early-pre-fall points to ponder.

-- I do not like Monday Night Football on ESPN. The main reason -- the other two next to Mike Tirico. I watch golf because of Mike Tirico on the microphone. The problem is that Tony Kornheiser (huh?? Explain THAT one to me) and Joe Theismann try to have the same repor that Theismann had with Paul McGuire. Say what you want about that tandem, they were better than the train wreck in there now. Tirico is someone who calls the game the way it should be ... maybe they should move Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso up from the college ranks -- those two blended very well with Tirico during the Thursday night ESPN college games last season.

-- Someone can go pinch Ryan Howard anytime now and wake him up out of his "sophomore slump" he's having. The burly first baseman from the Philadelphia Phillies, who won this year's Home Run Derby, has 54 home runs now. And no one is questioning whether or not he's clean. Give him the MVP, even if the Phightin' Phils don't make the playoffs.

-- Speaking of home runs ... guess who has awoken from a season-long slumber? Yup ... Barry Bonds. Now playing for a contract and a playoff berth. Then again, who isn't playing for the Wild Card in the National League??

-- An update from a prior column .. the WWE is easier to follow along with than Days Of Our Lives. I am confused as to who is married, why Sammi won't marry Austin, why Carrie married Lucas, and how in the world did Roman, John Black and Abe end up on the same police force? And where is Bo???? At least I know that DX is a team I would go to Bojangles with, or anywhere else here in town, Trish Stratus is a better human being than she is a WWE Diva, and that I hope Edge gets planted through a Table after getting hit with a Chair off a Ladder and loses the "Rated R" title to John "I am a Marine" Cena at Unforgiven. Oh, and the Irony that Tripe H is actually in a fighting storyline with his real father-in-law is one for the history books. Not as serious as the Adam Copeland (aka Edge)/Matt Hardy/Lita story, which was more true than any storyline should be, but still memorable.

(Which is scarier ... that I would write about this, that I have seen Days recently, or that I know enough about both of them to write about it??)

-- Last but not least ... I have to hand it to members of the Miles Community College men's basketball team, who somehow decided to show their ultimate support of the Lady Pioneer volleyball team on Friday night by dressing in like uniforms. Yes, this will be an item that comes up in November on a road trip.

Here are more thoughts of the moment:

-- Barry Bonds has now made it to 715. Now, the question is will he make it to October with the Giants? I am thinking that if some team in the American League wants to get a guy who can carry his team to and in the post-season, just by standing on deck, then if the Giants aren't in contention near the trading deadline, the temptation will be there. Which means that only the Yankees, Red Sox, and maybe the A's could pull off the trade. The Yanks have trouble at the DH spot, so that is a conceivable notion. The Red Sox are out -- see David Ortiz. The A's may not want to take on Bonds' contract, but who knows what may happen. This baseball season has been that crazy ...

-- Staying with home runs ... Albert Pujols hit No. 24 on Sunday. I think the talk of him hitting 60, 70-plus will slow down for a while, but he's still the best player in the game at the moment.

-- After hearing the stories about what happened at the Class A Track and Field Championships over the weekend, I can safely say that I hope the Mavericks sweep the Miners. And 10-run them in each game. It's one more reason to grumble about Butte. But the scenery is so nice ....

-- Normally, the post-season becomes non-interesting when my teams are out of the playoffs. That hasn't changed this time around, either. While Shaq is fun to watch, especially with the way he's playing tonight, the NBA is on the same level with the NHL right now. Of course, I don't know who my NHL team is anymore, since I used to watch Washington (which plays more like an AHL team), and the Cavs were bumped out of the NBA playoffs by those dag-gone Pistons. I say, MORE BASEBALL, please!??!?!?!

-- I am surprised that someone voted that the Miles City Mavericks would get 40-plus wins this season. Then again, if they do, they will get to go to state this year. Which, of course, will delay my vacation! Who cares!!!! I'd rather go to the state tournament than go away for a few days to do nothing but act like a tourist and play XBox all day.

-- If it sounds on the air like I'm wearing a t-shirt that says "I'd rather be in Millington, TN," I apologize. I would rather be at the Division II World Series. Then again, it was Year Two in Lamar, CO, before the Lopes went, so is it too early to make plans for next Memorial Day Weekend??

-- By the way, I know now that Rob Bishop doesn't read this column. Why? James Lester did not start game one of the Northwest District Series. Then again, maybe he did and that was why he didn't. Who knows!!! I'm just glad that you can build on 43-17.

-- Another MCC by the way ... don't be surprised to hear another voice on our broadcast Friday night. I will be there, but I may have company in the booth.

First, let's handle MCC baseball. The bottom line is that this team has done more than they ever have, which would make this season successful, no matter what happens this weekend.

They will get pressed by Iowa Central's offense, who can put up the runs. They have been pressing a bit at the plate lately. And, let's be honest, the offense has not broken out all over, yet.

I think it will go three games. That leaves the ball in the hands of the Pioneers, and don't be surprised to see Tony Campbell or Clint Marcott get the ball, with Jeremy Knowles ready to close if necessary. James Lester is likely to start Game 1 on Saturday.

And I like the Pioneers' chances.

*******************

Some random thoughts from around the sports world:

-- I have been excited to see the growth in the Cleveland Cavaliers during their Eastern Conference Semifinal against the Detroit Pistons. LeBron James and company have done a tremendous job in taking a 3-2 lead against the defending conference champs, and the NBA World Champion in 2004. I don't know if they can get past the Pistons (it has to be done in Game 6 tonight), but it's been a solid season. Note to LeBron -- sign an extension, please!!!

-- Barry Bonds needs to be a DH. Period. He has become a crutch defensively for the San Francisco Giants in left field, and will DH this weekend when the Giants begin interleague play at Oakland. I hope he gets to 715 -- my own thoughts there -- and then considers his all-around meaning to the Giants, who have a chance to contend in a very weak NL West.

-- I like this time of the year, because of the baseball post-season. However, I think that things do need to change. And I believe that what I am about to say will draw a lot of flack. Even though I know that the program does not have the funding to be a Division I team, I believe Miles Community College baseball should switch conferences. Until they can move fully into Region XIII -- which could happen in 2008 -- they should get themselves fully prepared for the season by playing in the Division I Empire Conference. They would be a .500 team in that conference, but they would get thoroughly battle-tested for the post-season, and head back to the Region XIII tournament in the post-season. It's not likely to happen that way, but it would be nice to see, and likely help write this team a ticket to the Division II World Series on an annual basis.

-- Which is harder ... filling out a tournament bracket for the Big Dance, or learning how to dance? Personally, I find picking the 8-9 or 7-10 games harder ... and the last person who taught me something on the dance floor was a very good teacher!! I had to learn how to do my own brackets! Reminds me, I need another lesson ....

-- Is the WWE a man's way of watching a soap opera without feeling embarassed? Really, it's easier to follow than Days of our Lives ever could be.

-- Why no Cincinnati in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament? I don't get that one at all. Air Force didn't play anyone that would make you think they deserve a berth on their non-conference schedule. And they won't .. their feeder programs are going through a down year this year, which doesn't bode well for the immediate future for the Falcons.

-- March 13th marks the beginning of the spring practice sports season. Good luck to all of the track and tennis teams, as well as the Class B and C golf teams. May you have plenty of success this season.

-- Picks for the World Baseball Classic final four: Puerto Rico, Korea, the US and the Dominican Republic. That is, if the US doesn't end up in another three-way tie. All that has to happen now is the US beat Mexico, Korea beats Japan and Puerto Rico beats Cuba.

-- Speaking of that, Major League Baseball wimped out in my mind with the situation with Cuba. On one hand, I understand that this should not be a political arena, but denying the rights of the First Amendment on US soil would be a tremendous disappointment. That's part of the reason I want Puerto Rico to beat Cuba. That way, we don't have to deal with all of that.

-- Finally, I'm looking forward to hiding this weekend. While I did find out there would be a seat for me on the Pioneer team bus, I decided I couldn't get away too well with taking off Wednesday for a tournament I would only go watch. Oh well ... the 100-plus games are coming soon enough.