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News
Adoptive family seeks award for bomb dog that went to war
News Published: Wed, June 19, 2013
Ruby and Wade Ridpath with their combat veteran dog, Carlos, who served five years as an explosive-detecting dog in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Ridpaths nominated Carlos for the American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards in the military dog category. by Erin Prater erin.prater@gazette.com – “Bring him home.” As Ruby Ridpath typed those words into an [...]
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- Bernie Herpin may face Sen. John Morse in recall, if he gets signatures
- FIRE NOTEBOOK: Reception canceled for Waldo exhibit
- Red flag fire warning for El Paso County, dry conditions all week
- Man in custody after traffic stop
- UPDATES: New areas to open temporarily Wednesday morning to Black Forest fire residents
Life
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s ‘gentlest giraffe’ dies at age 32
Life Published: Tue, June 18, 2013
Courtesy of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo The Gazette – The most recognizable giraffe at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, known for her unique, nearly all-white coloring, died Tuesday morning due to complications of old age. Becky, a 32-year-old reticulated giraffe, had been on a “quality of life watch” for about a year and a half, the [...]
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A&E
DOG DAYS OF SUMMER: The dogs who went Hollywood
Arts & Entertainment Published: Tue, June 18, 2013
by t.d. mobley-martinez tracy@coloradosprings.com – I love dogs. And I’m not alone. Which is probably why they have found themselves pictured or portrayed since men began to walk upright. Cave paintings and Egyptian murals. Those “Blue Dog” paintings. Tin Tin’s Snowy, L. Frank Baum’s Toto in “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” Astro, Scooby Doo and [...]
Sports
Sky Sox use Chris Volstad’s pitching, solid defense to top Tacoma 4-1
Sports Published: Tue, June 18, 2013
by JOE PAISLEY joe.paisley@gazette.com – Colorado Springs starter Chris Volstad got into a rhythm and the Sky Sox defense came up with three big double plays to down Tacoma 4-1 Tuesday night. The first two double plays ended Rainier scoring threats in the second and seventh innings and the final, a line drive grab by [...]
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- Former Rockie Esmil Rogers shuts down former team in 8-3 Toronto victory
- Northern Colorado football camp entry fees given to Red Cross after fire
- Subhead
- KLEE: With limited roster, CSU football must rely on flexibility of coaches
- McBride and Paulsen can’t carry Colorado Springs Sky Sox to victory in 12-7 loss to Las Vegas
Business
New hires, promotions & honors
Business Published: Wed, June 19, 2013
The Gazette – Tom Reiter has been named chief executive officer and president of Rocky Mountain Health Care Services, which provides a continuum of services to people who are elderly, blind, brain injured, disabled or living with diabetes or AIDS. Reiter will start July 1. He has more than 23 years experience in health-care organizations, [...]
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Military
Army show at home base brings a case of nerves for Fort Carson soldier
Military Published: Mon, June 10, 2013
In The Soldier Show, the stars of the show are not only performers, but soldiers. The Soldier Show travels the world to entertain our soldiers and their families. The show came to Ft. Carson on Thursday, May 30, 2013. (Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette) by erin prater erin.prater@gazette.com – hen the Army’s “Soldier Show” rolled into [...]
No…ever since they landed in West Point, this team has been garbage.
AF wins and becomes bowl eligible, but I’ll ask again, what happened to this offense since they landed in West Point? 3 games in a row the offense has been atrocious. Better fix it quick or next weekend’s game against Fresno St will get ugly for AF.
Nothing is easy for these guys. Cody looked more like himself tonight.
Any win is a good one and nothing is taken for granted. Defense made some nice plays. Congrats on making a bowl 6 years in a row.
Honestly, Ever since the deflating loss against UNLV in game #3, I have come to expect anything with this team. But when it comes down to it, with only five returning starters on this year’s team, a sixth straight bowl game is quite an accomplishment. Calhoun continues to put winning football teams in Colorado Springs, and I will continue to support AFA. GO FALCONS!
Not pretty but I’ll take it. Going bowling! Another opportunity to recruit in Texas and find a linebacker!
Ebo…great point. We basically get another month of practice and get these kids ready for the future and recruit. We all knew this year was going to be trying, but we had some early success and our expectations got up there and we had some low moments.
Football is a great game. Congratulations to Coach Calhoun and the entire staff and team on a 6th straight bowl bid.
You know you can never tell with this bunch going into Fresno what might happen and in the bowl game.
Go Air Force!
Calhoun treated this game as a scrimmage. “Boys, here are your 4 plays for the game. They will know what is coming. If you want to win, you will just have to out execute”. Not a pretty game to watch, but the offense show signs of their early season ability to move the ball. Fresno will be a different story. We will need a few passes and some miss direction plays against a huge and much more talented team.
And for the second week, the defense showed improvement.
A bowl game is great for developing next year’s team, but at 6-6 and who we have beaten we do not deserve a bowl, too many bowls for undeserving teams such as Air Force. Oh well, we’ll take it.
Just think next season we could win the Mountain West conference without Boise State, San Diego State, TCU, Utah and BYU. We just can’t lose to teams like UNLV and Army in the future. Heck, New Mexico should have beat us.
I HATE FRIDAY NIGHT COLLEGE GAMES!
Did you see Air Force announced over 25,000 fans in attendance? I guess they counted everyone 2.5 times : ) Thank goodness the cadets were there.
Plus I know a lot of AF fans were at the CC-DU hockey game, that’s tough to compete against.
What are everyone’s thoughts about the Friday nights games? I do not like them and think it’s not worth what they are getting from the TV. I think it’s hard to build the fan base when there are games on Friday instead of Saturday and how many people really watch college football on Friday?
Good comments above all around. An odd season, or transition season? AF did good in getting to a bowl game – will allow an extra month of practice and more TV exposure; but I really didnt’ think the team consistently excelled for at least one ‘whole’ game. Offense looked like gangbusters vs Nevada – but not our defense or special teams. Defense has looked good in spurts throughout the year. I think, the way things turned out, the schedule this year helped us get to a bowl game – just the way it goes. Beating Nevada was nice – but I don’t know that Nevada’s had much of a season this year either – not sure they’ve beaten anyone with a winning record.
Anyway – good we got the Hawaiians at home this year and a qb that was shaky at best.
Friday night games for college? get rid of them. Unfair to the players – and not well supported by fan attendance.
Friday night is for high school football and this time of year, especially in Colorado – college hockey. College football should always be on a Saturday. The crowd last night at Falcon Stadium was a joke, a Saturday game would have been much better. I know AF athletic staff were giving away free tickets to just try and fill the stadium for ESPN2 game. Looks like people still decided to not come.
I agree with the comments on Friday night games. I used to be a season ticket holder, and really enjoyed tailgating and all that goes with college football, but I knew the writing was on the wall when they sold out to TV and installed permanent lighting.
The mix of night games (on any day) but especially the Thursday night games pretty much ruined it for me and we dropped our season tickets.
I was glad to see the team win its final home game of the year on Senior Night. The senior class will have the fond memory of having played in four bowl games. I was in attendance last night surrounded by rows and rows of unoccupied seats. I, too, abhor Friday night college football games, but one sad reality of college athletics these days is that TV dictates when games are played and teams and conferences jump when TV networks speak. It’s a shame that the AFA senior class played its final home game in a stadium significantly less than half full.
I hope Air Force doesn’t turn out to be this year’s UCLA. Let me explain. Last year UCLA posted a 6-6 regular season record, went to the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl game and lost to Illinois 20-14, thereby finishing with a losing record [6-7] for the year. I think the Falcons are in for a very difficult time of it next Saturday against Fresno State. All season I have said I expect AFA to suffer a double-digit loss to Fresno State and AFA’s performances the past three weeks–including last night–have done nothing to persuade me otherwise. Coach Tim DeRuyter is familiar with the schemes Air Force will likely present the Bulldogs. DeRuyter will have his team well prepared to face the Falcons. My opinion is that in the near term future Fresno State frequently will be the pre-season pick to win the MWC. Additionally, I think the Bulldogs will be a tougher opponent than the Falcons’ bowl game foe.
I share the opinion that this year’s Air Force squad, while being bowl qualified, may not be bowl worthy. The fact remains that most teams posting a 6-6 or better record find themselves in receipt of a bowl berth. It will be interesting to see how the Falcons do against a yet-to-be-determined opponent. Seven teams which are in the current alignment of the MWC, or next year’s MWC alignment, or on AFA’s schedule this season, are in position to go to a bowl game [Fresno State, Boise State, San Diego State, Nevada, Utah State, San Jose State and Navy].
My wife and I have been able to attend all eleven AFA games thus far, but because we are hosting a Thanksgiving gathering of twenty-five family members this Thursday, we won’t be traveling to the Fresno State game. Neither will we be going to the Armed Forces Bowl game because of a long planned ski vacation in Summit County the week of Christmas to New Year’s Day. Most certainly we’ll watch both games on television and pull for Air Force to post its sixth consecutive winning season.
GO AIR FORCE! BEAT FRESNO STATE!
Wow East Coast Falcon you are a diehard great fan. Thank you!
But you’re right Friday night is bad for college football, the Falcons just aren’t that good this season and CC was playing DU in hockey at the World Arena. Were lucky the cadets have to attend the game, otherwise may have been 5,000 people in the stands last night….maybe if I count everyone twice.
Sure would rather be at the AFA-Hawaii game on this beautiful Satruday afternoon. I didn’t go last night or the last Friday game against Nevada. Since the Mountain West network went away, AFA no longer get the times they would rather play, like 1PM on Saturday. TV has taken over control of the game, and not for the better. Bring sanity back to college football and get rid of the BCS and limit ESPN’s control. It is a shame I have paid for season tickets for 25 years and cannot use two games this year since they are on Friday nights. I am obviously not the only one, judging by the crowd.
Part of the Friday night attendance issue, of course, is the previous performance of the team. If we were coming into this game with wins over Army, Navy and Michigan (three we should have won), then I think you get a better turnout by at least 50%. That said, Friday night college football is a bad idea, but not so bad an idea, apparently, that ESPN can’t sell advertising enough to make it worthwhile for the participants. Nevertheless, I’m gratified at the win (I remember all too well seasons when we could barely win two games), and at fans like East Coast and the rest of you who continue to support the program from near and far. Hoping for a good performance next week–given this team’s inconsistency, we could see a victory as easily as a bad defeat. Go Air Force!!
Powerhouse Temple put 63 on the board today against Army!!! Unreal
Jimmy
That ARmy game and team has got you torn up.
Because I’d like to know what happened to this offense since that Army game started. They lost and got pounded by an awful Army team, were terrible against SD St, and looked awful again last night against possibly the worst CFB team in the FBS.
Thoughts?
Fire the Offensive Coordinator.
The play selections were pathetic.
The game was painful to watch.
This did not resemble Air Force Football in any way, shape or form.
A miserable effort.
They are not worthy of any Bowl game.
We are not a great team in means but we are above .500 with another chance this week. Saying the effort was miserable borders on pure ignorance. They must be worthy since they got a bid last night.
by any means…..
I’ve seen several better high school games this year. Air Force does not deserve a bowl game this year. Wins against 1-AA should not count toward the six required for bowl eligibility. This team does not block, tackle, secure the ball or run the triple option well. They need a complete return to basic football 101. That’s on the coaching staff.
You’re right about not deserving bowl and win over Idaho State should not count.
A bowl is a bowl- more practice time. This was to be an off year for th Falcons and they may match the very,very, unachieving 2011 squad.
MWC TV is gone. With AFA the sole 2013 national draw for MWC, the Falcons will be playing a lot of Thursday, Friday ESPN, etc games. Very bad for local fans, but…
All hail to the Bigs at USAFA and USAF. The Big East is dropping to the MWC, MAC, etc level for NYD bowls. BSU, SDSU now look stupid with all the travel, Olympic sports, etc.
Great effort all season long by our undermanned, under experienced squad and the staff.
A national mag said preseason 6-6 and the Armed Forces Bowl.
Go Falcons, beat Fresno State and Pat Hill’s players.
Navy change its mind on the Big East if it can
They absolutely deserve a bowl bid and got one.
Go AF!
Wish we could have played the University of Colorado instead of Idaho State but then again, Idaho State is much better.
It’s great to be an AF fan and support the Falcons, it’s another to say we deserve a bowl game, come on that’s just crazy – you’ve been watching the games right?
A bowl is a bowl- more practice time. This was to be an off year for th Falcons and they may match the very,very, unachieving 2011 squad.
MWC TV is gone. With AFA the sole 2013 national draw for MWC, the Falcons will be playing a lot of Thursday, Friday ESPN, etc games. Very bad for local fans, but…
All hail to the Bigs at USAFA and USAF. The Big East is dropping to the MWC, MAC, etc level for NYD bowls. BSU, SDSU now look stupid with all the travel, Olympic sports, etc.
Great effort all season long by our undermanned, under experienced, often injured squad and the staff.
A national mag said preseason 6-6 and the Armed Forces Bowl.
Go Falcons, beat Fresno State and Pat Hill’s players.
Navy change its mind on the Big East if it can
I dont think you understand support and what it means. Maybe you don’t deserve to be a fan? I do think they deserve a bowl bid. They got a bowl bid. Maybe if you compare us to the SEC??? IT does not meet your standards. If you recall not long ago we were winning 3 games during a season. Maybe if you see some of the AF players and Admin. you ought to tell them that you don’t deserve a bowl. I agree it has not been the best of years but it is to those kids playing and not quitting, in good times and bad.
We have a bunch of good kids who play hard and have won 6 games. It is what it is!
A bowl is a bowl- more practice time. This was to be an off year for th Falcons and they may match the very,very, unachieving 2011 squad.
MWC TV is gone. With AFA the sole 2013 national draw for MWC, the Falcons will be playing a lot of Thursday, Friday ESPN, etc games. Very bad for local fans, but…
All hail to the Bigs at USAFA and USAF. The Big East is dropping to the MWC, MAC, etc level for NYD bowls. BSU, SDSU now look stupid with all the travel, Olympic sports, etc.
Great effort all season long by our undermanned, under experienced, often injured squad and the staff.
A national mag said
,preseason
,6-6 and the Armed Forces Bowl.
Go Falcons, beat Fresno State and Pat Hill’s players.
Navy change its mind on the Big East if it can
I continue to be amazed at comments in regards to players for AF. It is well known that AF, Army and Navy play at a size and at times talent disadvantage to the teams that they play. Yet these young men suit up and play…no excuses. It seems to be lost to those that are watching them play that they are in addition; responsible to their military training and a course load that is no joke, they suit up and play…no excuses. These young men play every game with full expectation of winning…no excuses. For this yes…if they meet the requirements to be bowl eligible I applaud their accomplishment. There is no quitting in these young men and they deserve it. GO FALCONS.
oops…I attached my statement to the wrong article.