Why the hate?

As a young boy, I thought the University of Idaho wasn't so bad. I grew up in Boise and liked the Broncos, but would root for the Vandals when I saw them play. I had aunts and uncles who attended the University of Idaho and a couple that actually played on their sports teams. As a naive child it seemed to me that Idaho and Boise State were separated by geography alone. Then I grew up, as we all do, and realized that much more separate Boise State and Idaho than geography. The Broncos, quite frankly, are winners...and well, the Vandals are losers...and I don't just mean in a statistical or historical way (although the stats will back up this assertion). But alas, I am still a relatively young buck and can scarcely recall "the streak", Johnelle John L. Smith, or John Friesz—so I thought it best to solicit the older Bronco fans out there to find out just how deep the hatred runs. Turns out: pretty deep. Screen names were provided to protect the innocent from Vandal drive-bys, which we've heard are known to happen.

ADBill

I am sure you are aware that first game, the DAVs* tried to duck Boise College and were forced to play us.

Prior to the game their coach said the 1st half would be more like a scrimmage and in the second half they would embarrass Boise (You guessed it, the Vandals lost).

The third game was the first one played in Moscow. That same coach Robbins, led the Vandals through the Boise locker room singing "Kiss my Ass BJC" (classy). This cost the (Vandals) the game—the Vandals were heavy favorites and the Broncos didn't think they could win, but that stunt was all that was needed to get Boise on the winning track. My source was Al Davis a Boise player and starter.

Broncobadger

The Vandals used to control the SBOE when I was a kid (in the 50's). No matter what we (BSU) or ISU for that matter tried to do to improve ourselves or grow.....the Vanholes would squash it.....add to that the never ending string of scandals and lies to come out of that cesspool up north and you will have a damn thick novel not a story. There is too much for anyone here to jot down in an email. Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it. Every BSU student should really go back to the early days of the school and the state of Idaho and understand just what kind of people you are dealing with. Some of you young guys don't understand why some of us older guys hate the Vandals so much....well I will "F'ing" gar-un-tee you that it is well deserved and make no mistake they hate us.....they have always hated us, and they have tried since BSU was formed to shut us down.

I have never considered this a rivalry; even when I was a child.....I have always viewed it as some kind of twisted punishment that we have to have anything to do with those A-holes. I do not care to associate with criminals and scum, yet the state of Idaho makes us do that every time we have to come into contact with those losers.

What goes around comes around and the Vanholes are now reaping what they have sown. They could have taken the high road and been the flagship institution in this state but instead they chose the low road and they deserve every rotten thing that happens to them.

Tell us how you really feel, badger.

Flashypaws

In a nutshell...the Vandals have always percieved themselves as a superior breed. I don't know why exactly, but Idaho alums talk about U of I like it's the Harvard or Yale of the northwest. It wouldn't be so bad, but once you realize how self-centered, and self-righteous, and self-congratulatory, and self-aggrandizing, and self-absorbed, and dumb most of these guys are...well, the hate just comes natural.

It's the feeling you'd have if Richard Simmons billed himself as one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century. You'd wanna pick him up by the hair and slap him until he cried. They should just drop back into AA, and disappear, as far as I'm concerned.

Make no mistake, this isnt a rivalry, its a class war, and when it comes to class, BSU has it, and U of I never will.

Richard Simmons isn't one of the greatest athletes of the 20th century?

Some Broncos take exception to the 1996 game that saw the Chris Tormey-led Vandals running up the score on an in-his-final-days Pokey Allen and the Broncos. They even ran a fake punt when they were up by nearly 50 points.

Me personally? I don't like the drunken frat boys that come to the games at Bronco Stadium and try to pick fights in the student section. I don't like the book-cooking that the Vandals do with their pathetic home attendance numbers. I don't like sleeping porches or beefcake photos. I don't like Dennis Erickson, Johnelle John L. Smith, Chris Tormey, Tom Cable, Nick Holt or Robb Akey. That's right...I don't like Robb Akey—the hybrid of Alex P. Keaton's dad on Family Ties and the neighbor from Office Space. I do like Rob Spear, though. Stay gold, Rob...stay gold (and please NEVER leave Moscow).

*DAV=Dog Ass Vandals, apparently Tony Knap rallied the troops and coined this term after the Vandal locker room hijinx in 1973.

Leaked photos from Vandal Camp

Quarterback Nathan Enderle exhibits the Vandals new secret weapon, "the Forward Pass"


Placekicker Tino Amancio works on his craft


Walk-on Fullback Hughey Gold poses briefly for the assembled press before taking to the practice field


Just across from the practice field, the Kibbie Dome looms. Quiet...for now.


The new Vandal O-line has finally added some bulk up-front


A Vandal H-back darts his way through defenders as several other nap quietly on the field


Coach Robb Akey poses in full regalia in his office prior to the morning session

Did you hear the one about the Vandals?

Part 2 of our WAC football preview is here (remember, we're starting from the bottom), and this time we brought in the big guns. Kevan Lee from OBNUG was kind enough to write this glowing send up of those loveable losers—the University of Idaho Vandals. We're glad that someone out there also thinks that Robb Akey looks like the dad from Family Ties (but with the social graces of the neighbor from Office Space). Adam Korby looks a little like Tina Yothers, too. No?

Robb Akey's mustache has seen a lot of things: the sidelines of Washington State, coaching stops at Northern Arizona and Weber State, and enough Just for Men to drown a horse seven times over. But through the mustache's journey from town to town and Arby's to Arby's, one thing the mustache has yet to see is a WAC win.

Akey and his furry friend failed to earn one last year, losing games to New Mexico State (inexcusable) and Utah State (virtually impossible) along the way to going 0-for-the-conference. The final tally in the first year of the Akey:

• 0-8 conference record
  
• 37 points per game allowed
  
• one Boise State "donkeys" reference
  
• one 58-14 loss to Boise State
  
• 18 instances of throwing hands up in the air as if to say, "What more can I do? Besides teaching fundamentals, I mean."
  

Yet through it all, one thing has remained clear to Akey. This Vandal team is his family.

“I like the way this family is together at this point in time and that is going to be huge,” Akey said. “We’ve got a family here and that is a great thing."

Forget for a moment the ramifications of such smothering statements (recruits want to hear "We have hot coed girls" not "You're like the son I never had") and imagine what love Akey must have in his heart to desire kinship with this ragamuffin group. The Vandals are one of the most dysfunctional teams in the country, so it takes a big man to love them so much. I don't necessarily mean that as a compliment.

At some point in the evolution of Akey's head coaching tenure, he obviously made the decision to take this family thing and run with it. Was his mustache jealous? Most certainly, but a horse-hair ivory brush fixed that. Still, choosing the family angle is a rather unique approach to an undisciplined, untalented bunch. And it leads to some interesting questions:

• Can the players call him Papa Akey?
  
• Does Adam Korby get the birthright?
  
• Who does the chaperoning on dates?
  
• In bed by 10:00? Lights out at 11:00?
  
• What will he say when Shiloh Keo asks why he looks different than Nathan Enderle?

Family vacation to nowhere
With family in tow, Akey is ready to hit the road and go places in the WAC. Too bad Nathan Enderle hates car rides. The Idaho quarterback-by-default-not-by-choice will take the Vandals as far as they will go this year, and he will do so with a blatant disregard for completion percentage.

Enderle, who is perhaps better known for not being Joey Harrington's little brother, was not particularly good last year, which fit in well with the overall theme of the Vandals. He is nothing if not a team player.

If you ask us, Enderle's problem is his inaccuracy, poor decision-making, and ADHD pocket presence. If you ask Robb Akey, Enderle's problem is not having a mustache.

There. Fixed.

Enderle's inadequacies are too bad because the Vandals have a very good running back behind him. Sophomore Deonte Jackson, heretofore referred to as "the offense," has the potential to be the WAC's top runner this season both because he is talented and because he will get an overwhelming amount of touches. The Vandal skill players are short on skill and long on getting tackled easily, so Jackson's game-breaking ability will be much needed. Yes, I know I just said "game-breaking ability."

It was the mustache's idea to put Idaho State on the schedule
The Vandals are always good for at least one Division I-AA team on the schedule. Goodness, if they weren't, they might never win a game. But whereas most D-1 schools breeze through these cupcakes, the Vandals fight and claw and scratch their way to seven-point wins. And boy are they happy about it.

This year's I-AA opponent is Idaho State; the same Idaho State who will lose to the Broncos by 50 points the week prior. After the Bengals, Idaho gets Western Michigan, Utah State, and San Diego State in what, for any other team, would be a super easy stretch. For the Vandals, it will be a perfect opportunity to show how far they have or haven't come. If they can't win two games out of those four, then they might as well fold the program and let Akey's mustache use the Kibbie Dome as its own, personal bachelor pad. Did someone say Kibbie Dome mustache?

We swear we didn't know there was film in the camera
The Vandals have a few things going for them that are entirely new and foreign. For starters, the coaching staff returns in tact (which may or may not be a good thing). Second, there are some good players on the team in Jackson and Korby. Third, the schedule is incredibly easy. Start printing those "2008 Idaho Vandals: 3-9" T-shirts!

But then again, these are the Vandals we are talking about. And they obviously have serious lapses in judgment.

Might this problem manifest itself at the most inappropriate times on the football field? Of course it will, although hopefully they'll keep their shirts on this time. Idaho is bound to blow it once or twice this season; that's what they do best. But it appears that their strategy is to put themselves in situations where screwing up royally doesn't cost the team in the win column. For instance, Nathan Enderle forgetting what an out route is will probably happen in the San Diego State game, but the chances that the Aztecs take advantage of the mistake will be minimal. Their schedule could seriously save them a game or two.

Of course, they stand no chance of beating the Broncos, Bulldogs, or Wolf Pack. But it is becoming increasingly more apparent that the Vandals are not concerned with competing at the top of the WAC. They are concerned about competing somewhere, anywhere.

And that should be good enough for the mustache to see its first WAC win.

University of Idaho big in the UK...

...not that there's anything wrong with that.

Really?!

So Vandal coach and noted mustache-afficionado, Robb Akey, was asked about the recent NCAA sanctions against the University of Idaho that will strip the football team of 8 scholarships in 2008. First, Uncle Robb told mesmerized onlookers how he responded to the NCAA actions:

With dissatisfaction.With determination. And without regret.

Then added, "with fries, please", but was told that he'd have to pull around.

Akey, who is a cross between the dad from Family Ties and the neighbor from Office Space , went on to imply that the NCAA employed a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" framework for punishing offending institutions. This assertion, backed up by Rob Spear's ridiculous spin on the punishment shows that someone up north doesn't get it.

We lost retention and ultimately some eligibility points because we made decisions to protect the character of our athletic program

The punishment is not for kicking criminals off the team, but for having them on the team in the first place...furthermore, to paint every departure from the team as being due to "protecting the character of the athletic program" is just wrong. 7 Vandals were removed from the team for breaking laws or university policies, 5 were removed for sub-par academic progress, and the rest left due to dissatisfaction with the team or injury issues. Again, no one is punishing the university for kicking felons off the team, Rob(b)s, but rather, they are punishing the systematic neglect that has taken place over the last 7-8 years.

Robb Akey is not the reason that most of the bad eggs "found" their way onto the Vandal squad—and no one is accusing him of such. But to subtly accuse the NCAA of taking erroneous actions is sub-moronic. Akey said:

Go visit that campus. It will be very evident whether the coach is the problem, the school is the problem or things are being done to address the situation

Again...what?! No one said you were the problem, Robby...but the university has to answer for low APR regardless of how and when it occurred. If you really want to point the finger of blame, look no further than honcho Rob Spear, who signed, sealed and delivered a who's who of coaching ineptitude, shady fundraising practices, non-qualifiers and JC transfers to your doorstep. Spear is the common denominator in the last few coaching hires and recruit signings. And, oh yeah, the school is the problem.

But nice 'stache.

Statesman article