David Bashore | Posted: Wednesday, December 24, 2008 11:00 pm
Most folks will wake up this morning and head to the Christmas tree, pulling out presents and finding out what surprises await.
In the spirit of the season, let's take a look (all in good fun, of course) at what some area sports personalities might be hoping for under their trees this morning:
Jack Bagley, Burley boys basketball coach: Improvement from the guard position to complement Kyle Hepworth and Bill Blauer, who have the post pretty well established. Short of that, a fifth year of eligibility for Colton Moon may do the trick.
Heidi Cartisser, CSI volleyball coach: A big-game performer, and a mulligan.
Steve Kent, Richfield girls basketball coach: A challenge. The undefeated Tigers' average margin of victory this season is just short of 35 points. The closest any team has gotten is 19, and the greatest spread is 81.
Skylar "Poke" Morgan, Minico running back and All-Idaho Class 4A Player of the Year: Two more yards.
Steve Gosar, CSI men's basketball coach: A few of those handy medical packs from the video game "Wolfenstein" which significantly improve the health of the person to whom the packs are applied.
Ed Simons, Jr., former Dietrich football coach: Two tickets to the Solomon Islands, and a happy retirement.
University of Idaho All-American punter T.J. Conley: Fewer opportunities to display his talent.
Ken Johnson, Twin Falls softball coach: An Amber Petersen clone. Or at least someone capable of filling her shoes.
Kimberly football/basketball players Eric Marvin, Braeden Nield, Justin Winmill, A.J. Schroeder, Lael Schoessler, Cody Wadsworth, Isaac Makings and Nick Dame: A Fruitland- and Shelley-free road to a state championship game.
Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore: A do-over on a certain fourth-quarter pass.
BSU's football program: An invitation to the Mountain West Conference (or Pac-10, if the conference strangely decides to expand to 12 to invoke a championship game).
CSI softball coach Nick Baumert: A whole lotta pitching to go with that potentially scary offense we'll see in a month or two.
Hagerman boys basketball coach Kevin Cato, and his Pirates: Another visit from that March mo-jo.
David Bashore may be reached at 208-735-3230 or dbashore@magicvalley.com.