Jim Allen

Quincy Forte isn’t about to slow down – somebody might be gaining on him. Eastern Washington’s first football practice on Thursday was already in the books when Forte, the Eagles’ leading rusher last season, decided to put in a few extra wind sprints in plain view of the media folks interviewing coach Beau Baldwin.

Jake Hoffman is hungry, and he’s not talking about lunch. “I haven’t played a football game in almost two years, and I’m ready to be unleashed,” said Hoffman, a two-way star at North Central High School who was redshirted last season at Eastern Washington.

With 10 minutes left in Thursday’s opening football practice at Eastern Washington, the loudspeaker began to blare out the 1990 MC Hammer hit, “U Can’t Touch This.” Almost on cue, receiver Cooper Kupp took a short pass from Vernon Adams, juked past one defender and busted a 15-yarder up the middle – untouched.

It was just like old times Thursday as the top-ranked Eastern Washington Eagles opened football practice in Cheney: Vernon Adams was on the mark and Cooper Kupp was hauling them in.

Beau Baldwin doesn’t have time to be burdened by great expectations – there’s too much work to do. Don’t get him wrong: Eastern Washington’s football coach is excited about the Eagles’ preseason No. 1 ranking and the opening game on Aug. 23, when the ESPN mothership will descend on Roos Field and make Cheney – for one weekend – the epicenter of college football.

For Spokane Shadow coach Chad Brown, it was all about the process. “I felt like the players worked hard, had fun and got better for me all season,” said Brown, who last fall was named to coach the Shadow in their first season back after a nine-year absence.

Thanks for the memories. Eastern Washington University has made a lot of history during the first 50 years of the Big Sky Conference, especially when you consider that Eastern didn’t join the league until 1985.

All Mike Ramos needed was a little focus, the former University High School soccer star told himself.

One foot into the chilly water of Fernan Lake was the motivation I needed: I would not be falling off that paddleboard. And I didn’t, which says more about the peaceful waters and the calm teaching of Kym Murdoch than my own poor technique. “You’re doing fine,” said Murdoch, the owner of Coeur d’Alene Paddleboard Company, who discovered the sport five years ago in Hawaii. She liked it so much, she was teaching the sport three months later. “I just fell in love with it,” Murdoch said. “It’s super easy, it offers serenity, and you’re getting a great workout and you don’t even know it.” She’s not the only one. According to a report last year by the Outdoor Foundation, standup paddleboarding, or SUP, was the most popular outdoor activity for first-time participants, winning over 56 percent of the newbies among sports. Sales in 2012 totaled $15.6 million, or 22 percent of total surfboard sales, according to the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association.

Eastern Washington University basketball coach Jim Hayford has a new five-year contract and a big raise, the school confirmed Friday. After agreeing in principle on a new deal, Hayford and the Eagles made it official this week with a five-year contract worth $117,000 a year, not including incentives.

Eastern Washington University basketball coach Jim Hayford has a new five-year contract and a big raise, the school confirmed Friday.