(Note: This post is meant for those people with a sense of humor. There's nothing terribly offensive here (i.e. if you're looking for jokes about dead live mascots you've come to the wrong place... although there may be a joke about fictional dead live mascots). If you do not have a sense of humor, please feel free to avoid this article altogether. If you insist on reading it anyway and feel the need to complain in the comments, please identify yourself beforehand as someone with no sense of humor so the author and other blog readers may choose to ignore you accordingly.)
Last year I had a great time talking about all the reasons to hate Florida (tongue planted firmly in cheek... but seriously, I hate Florida). So I thought it might be fun to look at various aspects of some of our upcoming opponents on a semi-regular basis with a little good-natured ribbing thrown in for good measure. Aspects as varied as pop-culture, athletics, politics, entertainment, and other miscellanea . Please understand that I am only kidding... really. Unless you're reading the feature right before we play Florida or Auburn, its totally in jest. And just to show I'm not above self-deprecation, I'll be lampooning the State of Georgia before we play Tech (assuming Kyle doesn't kick me off the blog before then).
So all that said, hit the jump while I drop a little knowledge on ya...
1) POTATOES!!!!Idaho is most widely known for potatoes. Or potaters. Mmm...hmmm.
2) Idaho Has A Number of Famous Natives
Lana Turner (Actress), Harmon Killebrew (Hall of Fame Baseball Player), Ezra Pound (Poet), and Marilynne Robinson (Pulitzer Prize Winning Author) all hailed from the Gem State (Gem State?). I guess even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then.
But lets not forget the most famous Idahoan of them all: Chaske Spencer.
Wait, who's Chaske Spencer.... Oh God... Its one of those damn Twilight kids.
For the love of all that is holy, put a shirt on!
Ok, so he isn't one of those sparkly vampires, but this should still be enough to kick Idaho out of the U.S.
3) Idaho Politicians Know How to Bring the Crazy Too!
A year ago, it was easy to bag on Corrine Brown. Heck, if you want to bag on Georgia all you have to do is bring up Cynthia McKinney. I had to dig deep to find their Idahoan brethren...but found him I did.
I'd like to introduce you all to Pro-Life Richardson.
And yes that's his legal name.
This gentleman unsuccessfully ran for Governor then the United States Senate. Now, this is not a political blog and we like it that way, but I think people on both sides of the issue can agree that legally changing your name to reflect your views on a political issue is a little bit nuts.
4) Boise Is a Beautiful and Vibrant City
Seriously. Its really nice. I've never been there but I'm thinking of going. I flew over it once and really enjoyed it. Its home to the 2nd largest Basque community in the U.S. and has a large Mormon community as well. Its got ballet and opera too, but we won't hold that against it. It is also home to the Idaho Stampede of the NBA D-League.... former team of Sundiata Gaines. Yata!
5) Boise State is Stronger Academically Than You Might Condescendingly Think
They have the 15th ranked undergraduate engineering program in the country according to US News and World Report. So feel free to dust off all those virginity and Dungeons and Dragons jokes you've been saving up for Tech.
6) The Official Mascot of Boise State is Buster Bronco.
"He is a brown bronco with a large head and an open mouth"
(h/t Wikipedia)
Prior to 1966, Boise had a live mascot, Mr. Ed:
Following an unfortunate incident at an Elmer's Glue Factory, hippie protests led to the ban of official live mascots and Buster Bronco was born.
7) The Most Memorable Musical Mention of Idaho Was ....
By a band from Athens, Georgia.
If I had to say one thing to Boise State, it would be: You're livin' in your own Private Idaho... Underground like a wild potato.
And speaking of YouTube...
8) Boise State Fans Rock da YouTubez
Its turns out that the fans up in Boise can seriously rock the interwebs. I did some research today and here are the results:
*YouTube has over 2 billion hits per day
*Of that 2 billion, 47% (940 million) are Boise State fans watching or uploading Boise hype videos.
*The average Boise State fan spends 17 hours a day viewing or uploading hype videos.
*The other 7 hours are spent sleeping (1 hour) and posting links to hype videos on weblogs associated with upcoming opponents.
So thats it. You now know everything a Georgia fan needs to about our upcoming opponent and the city and state from which they hail. I wish the Broncos good luck (after September 3rd) and look forward to watching their tilt against non-descript Pac-12 opponent in the Non-Descript West Coast Bowl.