"The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" from November 29, 2009 Sports 2Night.

"The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" from Novemeber 29, 2009 Sports 2Night. (it's our new Sunday segment dealing with the previous week in sports)

The Good:
Boise State women's basketball team is 7-0 to start the season after beating Washington State 68-64 on Sunday to win the UNLV Lady Rebel Round-Up tournament. The Lady Broncos are the only unbeaten college basketball team (men or women) in Idaho. No local media have been giving these girls their proper due thus far into the season, and I know that will change here at Sports 2Night real quick.

Also good:
The Idaho Steelheads, after sweeping Stockton in a three game series for the third time this season. The Steelies own the most wins and best overall record in the ECHL - and host the Alaska Aces Thursday and Friday this week. The two-game series also marks the return of Lance Galbraith and Scott Burt to Qwest Arena, the first time the two have appeared together in opposing uniforms. Both were part of Idaho's 2007 Kelly Cup Champion team.

The Bad:
Austin Pettis' ankle injury on a needless 2-point converstion try with a 13-0 lead in the first quarter against Nevada. Few teams use the swinging gate (or whatever it is) formation on extra point attempts, and Boise State has used it successfully many times this season. But it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt - and when you lose your stud wide receiver (Pettis was tied for the national receiving TD lead going into the game) on a play that isn't likely to matter anyway - well, that's a little more than plain 'ol bad luck. It could have and should have been avoided.

The Ugly:
Adidas owns the exclusive contract to provide uniforms and apparel for the NBA. That agreement also extends down to the Idaho Stampede and all NBADL teams, too. Adidas, a German company, wants to move production of the NBA uniforms from upstate New York to Thailand, putting the jobs of about 100 Americans at risk.
NY Senator Charles Schumer called on Adidas last week to reverse its decision and to continue making the uniforms in the United States. Sunday, the senator said he is turning his attention to the NBA after getting a lukewarm response from Adidas.

“I called Commissioner [David] Stern. I told him that Basketball is America’s game and game day jerseys the NBA players wear should be made in the U.S.A., plain and simple. Commissioner Stern said he’d look into it and work with us, he seemed sympathetic, he’s a man of his word and I think the league understands how unfair this outsourcing is,” Schumer said Sunday.

The senator quoted Stern as saying, "Keeping the facility in Perry should be a slam-dunk."

As a former fan of the Seattle Sonics, I have little faith in anything said publicly by David Stern or the NBA league office. After publicly saying the league would do everything in its power to keep the Sonics in Seattle, Stern stood idly by while a group of Oklahoma City businessmen went through the motions of trying to keep the team in Seattle, later shown to be nothing more than empty gestures to maintain public opinion. Most of those businessmen were friends of Stern, and had planned all along to move the team to Oklahoma.

Am I bitter about that? Absolutely. I won't go to, watch or participate in any NBA activities until Stern leaves his post.

What does this have to do with where the jerseys are made? Nothing more than advice for senator Schumer and the good citizens of Perry, NY: Don't hold your breath waiting for Commissioner Stern to step in and do the right thing, because he wouldn't know the right thing if it jumped up and slapped him across the face.

Other thoughts this week -

Bronco fans should overwhelm the mailboxes of Sooner Nation with thank-you notes this week for knocking off Oklahoma State in the annual bedlam game. That opens a big door for the BCS to select Boise State and a second team from the Big Ten.

Nebraska and Texas play Saturday for the Big-12 championship, and Bronco fans need to cheer hard for the Longhorns in that, because a Nebraska victory would send big red to the BCS, and Texas would likely get the at-large berth over Boise State.

But Iowa and Penn State are both two-loss teams, I hear you say. Well... that doesn't really matter, because they are both in the top 11 of the BCS (and likely will be in the top ten if Cincinnati falls on its face against Pitt), and remember what happened last year when undefeated BSU was passed up for two-loss Ohio State.

A Cincinnati loss to Pittsburgh would hurt the Bronco's chances at the BCS as well, but not as much as Nebraska upsetting Texas.

Basically, Bronco fans - root for the favorites to win this week and everything should play out just the way its supposed to.

This week's local sports picks:
Monday: Idaho Stampede vs. Reno Bighorns
Thursday/Friday: Alaska Aces vs. Idaho Steelheads