Embedded reporter braves Hawaiian Islands

Already, this blog is more successful than anyone could have imagined. The internet hasn’t crashed. The F.C.C. is still not involved. I haven’t been fired from the job that actually pays money. It’s pretty much Jelly-of-the-month bonus time from here on out.

With that in mind, the blog proudly presents something completely fun and unexpected: We have a correspondent! I was as schocked as you are. His name is Brett Frank, an assistant coach for the Fresno State women’s basketball team. More importanly, one of the 10 coolest people you’ll ever get to meet. OK, chances are you won’t get to meet him, but I have, and you should be jealous. He’s single-handedly changed my thoughts about people from Oklahoma.

I should probably tell you that Brett is the lead assistant for the Fresno State women’s basketball team, one of those facts you probably didn’t need to know, and one he would certainly never mention. Ever. But that’s who he is. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, unlike 95 percent of college coaches and Skip Bayless*. Brett once held a little gathering at his house and announced that everyone should watch out for his sliding glass door. And later in the evening, he walked right into it.

*Never actually spoken to Skip, but even by sports-columnist-turned-ESPN-talking-heads standards go, he seems pretty pompous. On a semi-related note, I met Woody Paige at a press box in Albuquerque, N.M. OK, I didn’t meet him. As I passed by, he tried to hand me his ballot for New Mexico Bowl MVP. When he realized I was a fellow columnist, he came by my seat to apologize. Very nice of him. That’s the end of the Woody Paige story.

So you’re probably wondering, What will this Brett Frank be corresponding? Good question. Before this site meets its inevitable demise, hopefully lots of stuff. He’ll be our roving correspondent. For now, he’s at the Western Athletic Conference tennis tournament in Hawaii. For those of you who are unaware of the WAC, the schools are Fresno State, Hawaii, San Jose State, Boise State, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State, Idaho, Utah State and Nevada. Since the home office of this blog is in Fresno and its written by a sports columnist, we’re going to have more than our share of Fresno State sports news. Bear with us.

The tournament starts this afternoon (Thursday) in Hawaii. This is Brett’s initial report. He was polite enough not to rub it in by mentioning umbrella drinks. Before his next post, I’ll try to find a picture of Brett and figure out the time difference on the Islands. Here ya go:

Aloha!

 After an early morning trek which afforded me the opportunity to appreciate Fresno rush hour traffic (or lack thereof), I arrived at LAX around 8:30 a.m.  Surprisingly, the lines proved to be sparse and security was a breeze at this usually packed airport.  I made my way to gate 46A and off I went. 

If the introductory greeting has not yet sunk in, I’m currently typing this while pool side in Honolulu, HI.  I have the great fortune of being able to soak in the rays while attending a historic event.  No, not the Spam Jam scheduled to attract over 8000 visitors to Waikiki this weekend, but rather the 2009 WAC Tennis Tournament being held at the UH Tennis Complex.  Why historic?  One of the greatest successes within the Fresno State Athletic Department will be attempting to defend their title and add to a legacy of greatness.  You read correctly.  Tennis.  While we are all aware of the great successes of many of our sports, this sometimes undervalued, unappreciated sport has been making a name for the Bulldogs on the national scene for quite sometime. 

To simply call the Fresno State Women’s Tennis team a dynasty is like referring to Barack Obama merely as a politician.  This amazing group of young ladies will be attempting to bring the championship trophy back to Fresno State for the 8th consecutive year.   They have dominated their competition in a manner that is unparalleled.  As impressive as it may seem fielding the current nationally #1 ranked doubles tandem of Anastasia Petukhova and Renata Kucerkova and defending national runners-up and currently ranked #13 duo of Melanie Gloria and Tinesta Rowe, their stellar singles play throughout the conference season is beyond remarkable!  The previous 4 mentioned along with Freshman sensation Laura Pola have swept through the conference season without a blemish on their singles record!   

For those not particularly familiar with the college tennis scoring system, a match consists of a possible 7 points.  Each team fields 3 doubles pairs.  A sweep or a victory margin of 2 to 1 grants an overall “point” to the winning team.  Following doubles, each team fields 6 singles players with the victor of each match earning an additional “point” to the overall score.  It takes 4 points to earn an overall team victory for the match.  How did the Bulldogs fare?  They managed to impose their will on WAC opponents to the tune of a 54-2 discrepancy out of 56 possible “points.” 

If you have not had an opportunity to see them in action, I truly feel you are missing out on something very special!  Coach Simon Thibodeau and his assistant Laura Gordon are simply remarkable and may be two of the most dynamic young coaches in all the NCAA.  Bulldog Women’s Tennis is something we should all be very proud of and consider ourselves fortunate to have in our community.  I hope all you Red Wave faithful out there will continue to follow the action throughout the weekend as I will be updating the tournament as it goes.  Take care and have a BULLDOG day!

Brett Frank

 

OK, so there ya go. More than you’d ever need to know about WAC tennis. And some bonus information on “Spam Jam,” which I had never heard of. Must be cool if 8,000 people are going. Brett got a little heavy on the Fresno State rhetoric there toward the end. You can have a ”Bulldog Day” if you feel like it.  The blog* doesn’t care either way.

*The opinions expressed by Brett Frank in his correspondent reporting are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions MattJamesBlog.com and its subsidiaries. OK, there are no subsidiaries, but there could be someday.

Brett’s right though, the Fresno State women’s tennis team has been beating the rest of the WAC like it was the side of a blurry TV for years now. If it weren’t for one of its players leaving the team at winter break and returning to South Africa, the Bulldogs would be a serious national title contender. They’re still a long shot.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned. Scores and first-hand reporting from today’s action are coming soon. Now when someone asks you what you did today you can say, “Great question! I learned the intricacies of the Western Athletic Conference’s tennis scoring system.” Hey, this blog only promised to be informative. No one ever said you’d actually want the information.