Sidelines
Sorry, but it’s tough to
forget ScrewdrivergateUR apologies, San Jose State.
We'd like to be focusing on today's game, really we would. You deserve our attention. It's time for a new topic. One game at a time, all that stuff. It's time to move on. Time to throw ourselves into Hawaii-SJSU.
If only we could put Fresno State behind us.
They tell us that the UH players are plenty focused for tonight's contest, which is as it should be.
But sorry, San Jose State, for the rest of us, this Bulldog hangover is hanging on. We can't shake it. The stirring comebacks. The postgame comments. Screwdrivergate.
Screwdrivergate has now made the national news.
This is the game that won't go away.
This is water cooler stuff. Must-see TV. This has been wacky, wild, compelling. Disturbing. What next?
First, on Monday, June Jones said that game officials should have ended the festivities in Fresno early, when a screwdriver apparently flew out of the stands and stuck in the ground, ominously, in front of him.
Then, Tuesday night, on his call-in radio show, Jones said that during the postgame bustle he had been secretly hoping that one of his players would have punched out Fresno State coach Pat Hill.
(Wait, that is out of context. The context was that an irate Hill was allegedly cursing at Hawaii's players to take their celebration off of his home field -- interpretation of these events probably depends on your point of view -- and had Jones been a player confronted by similar circumstances, he might have "jacked up" such a challenger himself.)
What?
What in the name of Dennis Franchione is going on here?
Meanwhile, on the mainland, the Fresno Bee was reporting that Jones' screwdriver allegation had caused a stir, and that Fresno State was initially defensive and skeptical.
"What happened to the screwdriver?" FSU director of facilities Terry Logan asked the Bee.
Fresno State athletic director Scott Johnson was quoted as being tired of answering for "every little incident" related to his notoriously rowdy crowd.
But wait, there's more.
Of course by Wednesday night, the night before the aforementioned report came out in print, Fresno State had already talked to Jones, backtracked, and issued a formal apology.
In it, in part, Johnson said: "I am embarrassed by that type of fan behavior. It tarnishes the 'Red Wave,' which has a great reputation across the nation for its outstanding support of Bulldog Athletics."
You can't make this stuff up.
Fresno State has a reputation across the nation for its home crowd, all right.
Then, to top it all off, Jones acts like the whole thing is no big deal.
How could we not be enraptured? How could we talk about anything else?
Now this is a storyline. This is a rivalry with legs.
Jones and Hill have dominant personalities, and it seems like they both wouldn't mind being the dominant personality in the WAC.
Of course, it helps Jones' cause that his team has won the last two outings in dramatic fashion.
Hill is an intense, emotional guy. And while it's clear that Jones respects and appreciates Hill, Jones, like a bemused brother, knows how to push those buttons.
Put that together with an emotional game, a big win, a defining, dramatic win.
And Screwdrivergate.
Please forgive us, San Jose State, if we seem a little distracted heading into tonight's game.
At least we're just talking about it.
In Fresno, they're probably still looking for evidence.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com