The local news can be filling

MORNING NEWS

There is so much in the way of local news today, we had to take some time and link to the stories.

• We’ll start with college football and this Steve Bergum piece on Eastern Washington kicking off fall practice Monday. The Eagles are doing something interesting, starting practice late (they open Aug. 31), then doing their two-a-days after the first game. For more on Eastern, check out Steve’s blog.

• Speaking of Eastern, John Blanchette makes a persuasive argument this morning that the Cougars should be playing Eastern instead of, say, Portland State. Isn’t it better, if you are going to play a 1-AA school (yah, I know officially that’s not the designation anymore, but I’m still using it), to play one in your own state, keeping the money here? Makes sense to me.

• The Vandals had their first scrimmage Saturday and we ran this story. For more on UI sports, check out Dave Trimmer’s Vandal blog.

• Dave also had another story in today’s paper. It’s on the summer travels of former U-Hi basketball star Angie Bjorklund. Bjorklund played this summer in Europe for the U.S. Under-19 team, helping them to the world title.

• The Spokane Indians may only have a 23-28 record, but they are atop the Northwest League’s East Division.

• I also want to point you toward the old-fashioned version of Internet comments, your letters that appeared in today’s paper. They are all about Barry Bonds and his not-tainted-one-iota home run record.

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• Before we post these links, I thought it would be appropriate to call your attention to a few baseball-related links. The M’s won yesterday, but it wasn’t easy despite a grand slam from Yuniesky Betancourt and a three-run shot from the suddenly powerful Raul Ibanez. Speaking of home runs, the Times’ Larry Stone visited Babe Ruth’s birthplace for this column. And Tacoma’s John McGrath expresses joy at a M’s/Yankees wild-card race.