Scattershooting while waiting for the Super Bowl . . .
Air Force is scary. These future pilots of million-dollar aircraft are disciplined, they execute and they play as hard as their aortas allow.
The Falcons, once doormats to the rest of the old WAC and MWC, are now in the combat seat with hands on the trigger. The cadets are for real — no longer fodder.
We'll get a close look at them today through Monday at BYU and Utah as they march in step and bring hoops to the wrestling mat.
Where else can you find a team composed of Ivy League-looking blokes who can hit the deep ball and complete drives to the basket with stretch moves on backdoor cuts that are anatomically impossible — as if they've got telescopic antenna arms. They may look a little nerdy, but they humiliate plenty when they feast on layups under and over guys bigger and stronger.
Give them all the laser-guided ordnance needed — and credit due.
So, the Detmer brothers square off this weekend as bench jockeys in the NFC playoffs.
Ty Detmer is a backup for the Atlanta Falcons, and his younger brother, Koy, will hold a clipboard for the Philadelphia Eagles. Ty is of BYU fame; Koy made his name at the University of Colorado.
Philadelphia sportscaster Vai Sikahema got both on TV and cut a piece with Ty challenging Koy to a wrestling match at midfield before kickoff. It would be fun.
Reminds me of a real such event. Ty was the star record-breaking quarterback at Southwest High in San Antonio, and Koy was his understudy, a couple of years younger, who'd later break some of his brother's state records in Mission, Texas.
One day they were golfing with their father, Sonny, and a friend in a friendly match. Ty was getting the better of Koy and decided to rub it in. As the foursome left one green for the next tee box, Ty trailed Koy and took his driver out and poked his sibling in the seam of his shorts from behind. Again and again and again.
Competitive Koy, ticked as a booted rattler, turned and attacked Ty.
Right there alongside a San Antonio freeway fence, commuters could see Ty and Koy in a donnybrook. "Funniest thing I've ever seen," said Sonny.
Still, repercussions flood in over a reference in a column here Monday that BYU's athletic program, for all its challenges of the day, is still the MWC "Big Dog."
That phrase set off the fuse on some Ute fans, who, rightfully so, want respect for Utah busting the BCS, providing feed money to the rest of the league to the tune of millions, going undefeated and dominating in basketball for most of a decade — Final Four appearance et all.
OK, a humbled other MWC Unmagnificent Seven should confess.
But the comebacker army in my e-mail box: Since 1999 when the MWC kicked off competition, BYU has won 55 championships, Utah 12, New Mexico and Colorado State 10.
And, finally, comes this note from a face on the frontier, gone a year ago from the Cougar sidelines and sacrificial spot appearances in BYU football losses.
University of San Diego quarterback Todd Mortensen, the 2004 Pioneer Football League North Division co-offensive player of the year, will play in the Las Vegas All-American Classic today in Sam Boyd Stadium for the West squad.
Mortensen, with only one year of eligibility, played for Jim Harbaugh and in 11 games completed 234 of 389 passes for 2,874 yards and 25 touchdowns with just six interceptions. He set single-game records for both attempts (57) and completions (37), and single-season records for attempts and completions while leading the PFL in passing yards, completions, completion percentage, touchdown passes, passing efficiency (140.3) and total offense.
Good for Todd. Great young man, composer and now star QB. No report on how his CD sales are going.
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com