Are you ready for some behind-the-scenes OBNUG info? Pinky-swear you won't tell anyone? We had this idea for a regular feature where we make a bet with a blog from an opposing school each week. Whoever wins the bet gets to have their own post on the other's site, covering whatever topic they choose. Seems like a good idea, right? Only problem was that we severely underestimated the Internet presence of the Idaho State Bengals.
To be fair, they do have a few pages online, but when you take away the professional media and athletic directors, you are left with little more than random blogspot accounts and Facebook pages. And we were not in the mood for a Scrabulous wager.
Their lack of publicity was a bummer to us, but more importantly, it raised the question of just how many Idaho State fans exist? So far, we know of Merril Hoge, Mitch Rudder's family, and a bunch of people who lived in Pocatello during the Bengals' 1981 championship season. Other than that, we don't see a lot of interest in ISU.
What's worse is that the few who are out there are some pretty surly individuals. Here are some of the comments we received while trolling for interest on Big Sky websites.
Regarding the One Bronco Nation Under a Supreme Being comment, please ignore them. I made the mistake of visiting their website, and they already are making ignorant remarks about ISU and the Big Sky. I wouldn't waste any time with their juvenile attempts at humor.
Juvenile attempts at humor? Our Robb Akey contact page takes offense to that.
I doubt very highly they will accept your offer (especially after taking a look at your page and seeing how unprofessional it is).
It's a good thing this guy didn't see our Blogger account.
Now maybe we overlooked a large cache of Bengal boosters hiding out in some random, hard-to-find message board. Or maybe Idaho State fans simply prefer to congregate en masse at the A&W on Free French Fry Night to breakdown the latest ISU news. Reservations for 83?
We know one thing's for sure: if the Bengals happen to pull the upset Saturday night, their fans will start coming out of the woodwork. Hmm, looks like we'll never get to meet one after all.