Fontana’s own private Idaho
Drive around long enough in Southern California and it’s almost inevitable -- you start seeing things that really aren’t there.
Candidate No. 1: Almost any drive back from Palm Springs on a Sunday after 3 p.m. And, specifically, auto travel back from the Coachella Valley music festival falls under the heading of cruel and unusual punishment.
All this leads to Interstate 10 in Fontana. Briefing wonders just how many motorists rubbed their eyes, blinked a few times and thought they were seeing things upon spotting a billboard congratulating the Boise State football team on its undefeated season: “You made us believe.”
Believe it. The billboard was in recognition of the Southland athletes on the team, according to a report in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
Next up: Congratulatory billboards honoring the Indianapolis Colts on the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago.
Trivia time
Where did Boise State football Coach Chris Petersen play college football?
Cat people
An entry in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia claims that Petersen, who grew up in Yuba City in the Sacramento Valley, “to this day despises cats because his neighbors had so many of them.”
Spandex ballet
Bicycling.com wanted to know where its readers have worn spandex.
As of Friday afternoon, there were more than 1,800 votes. Fifty-five percent wear it only on rides, whereas 15% checked the box with the description: No shame in my game, I wear it wherever.
Idle thought: As a Toronto Star fashion writer once put it, Fashion felony: One word -- spandex.
Captain Crunch
A minor league hockey team is giving troubled pop star Britney Spears a chance to trade her dancing shoes for snowshoes.
Staffers of the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League promised to shave their heads if Spears (who recently shaved hers) accepted an offer of a free trip to upstate New York. The club also is pitching the enticement of a free ticket to tonight’s game against Manitoba to any woman who shaves her head.
“The team and community want to provide Britney Spears with a stress-free environment and the chance to experience a high level of hockey,” said Crunch President and
Chief Executive Howard Dolgon.
“In addition to being 3,000 miles away from Hollywood, Syracuse is light years away from that pretentious environment. There won’t be paparazzi within 100 miles.”
Trivia answer
Petersen, the proud holder of a lucrative new contract, played at UC Davis.
His agreement was approved by Idaho’s state board of education Thursday and he could earn $1 million if the Broncos go undefeated next season.
Plenty of money not to spend on cat food.
And finally
John Amaechi, speaking on the “Best Damn Sports Show Period,” on reaction around the NBA after he came out: “Doc Rivers has reached out and said some really good things. Apart from that, the silence has been deafening.”
*
