Blog matters

A sampling from the past week of entries in The Spokesman-Review blog SportsLink at spokesman.com/sportslink.

Spokane’s focus is quarterback Erik Meyer, who was the league MVP and offensive player of the year last season. He’s sure to be a hot commodity in the pass-happy AFL and his 2013 season proved he’s an elite quarterback.

Spokane didn’t sign Meyer to a multiyear contract prior to 2013 for several reasons. There was some concern Meyer, after a couple of injury-plagued seasons, might not return to football, but the former EWU quarterback stayed healthy in 2013 and put up huge stats. Majority owner Brady Nelson said AFL rules prevented the team from offering him a multiyear deal during the season.

So Meyer is free to look at other teams. He is originally from La Mirada, which isn’t far away from the home base of the new LA Kiss. The Kiss, however, have offered Tim Tebow a contract (it’s doubtful he’ll sign after turning down overtures to remain in the NFL if he switched positions) and recently acquired veteran QB J.J. Raterink from Iowa. Other teams will gauge Meyer’s interest.

Working in Spokane’s favor is the fact the team made a bold trade to acquire Meyer during the 2011 season and stood behind him when he was sidelined by injury for much of that season and nearly all of 2012. Meyer is an EWU product and has a home in Cheney.

I’m leaving The Spokesman-Review to cover the UW football/basketball beat for the Tacoma News Tribune. I’m not going to waste your time by waxing poetic about my time here – I haven’t been around long enough to deserve to – other than to say that the S-R has been a great place to work, WSU has been great to work with, and I appreciate every one of you who kept this place lively during the past 20 months.

I’ll remember my time here fondly, but am excited to join the team over in Tacoma, and couldn’t be happier to be moving closer to my family on the west side. This isn’t goodbye yet – I’ll be here through the Stanford game – but just a heads up that I won’t be here much longer.

With Idaho’s offense sputtering through the first two weeks of the season, coach Paul Petrino said he’ll continue to platoon redshirt freshman Chad Chalich and junior Josh McCain at quarterback. But he also made clear who’s atop the depth chart. “Chad’s the starter. Josh is just going to come in and play,” Petrino said.

Petrino said McCain, a junior-college transfer, gave the Vandals a nice spark with his legs in a 42-10 loss at Wyoming. Chalich, meanwhile, “played really well” in the fourth quarter, the first-year coach said. The Coeur d’Alene native has completed 41 of 59 passes (69.5 percent) this season, but Petrino reinforced that he and McCain have taken too many sacks and “both made silly mistakes.”