The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT July 31, 2010

It seems like a long drive from the Silver Valley to Coeur d'Alene, especially when you're thinking about things that don't make much sense anymore.

Whether a couple of in-state rivals are bickering over a possible end to matchups in football or watching teams go out and try to buy a championship, I'm still not convinced these situations will end well for anyone involved.

BOISE STATE, which is moving to the Mountain West Conference starting in 2011, has announced recently that the yearly matchup between the Broncos and the Idaho Vandals will not be guaranteed after this year's matchup on Nov. 12 at the Kibbie Dome.

As if either team needed to put any more fuel on the fire, Boise State president Bob Kustra opted to poke the fire even more by referring to the Idaho fans as "nasty" and "inebriated."

Every football game I've been to, I am surrounded by nasty people, who like to get inebriated.

This is what rivals do to each other. They taunt each other, yell, boo and express their anger in vulgar ways.

That is how most football fans are.

I can understand the idea of not wanting to play the game, with BSU jumping from the Western Athletic Conference to play teams such as Texas Christian, Air Force and Brigham Young, but to close the book forever is crazy.

Should the Vandals find a way to win the November game, (and judging by every Vandal fan I've talked to lately about the game, they will), that will probably help speed up a rematch being scheduled between the two schools.

ON THURSDAY afternoon, a part of me was caught off-guard when former Houston pitcher Roy Oswalt was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for a group of prospects.

One of them, Phillies pitcher J.A. Happ, was supposed to be the future, or so the team said last year when not wanting to trade him to get Roy Halladay at the trade deadline.

Philadelphia went on to go to the World Series after acquiring Cliff Lee last year, then dealt him at the start of the season to Seattle to get Halladay in a three-team trade on Dec. 14, 2009.

Oswalt had been with the Astros his entire career and seemed destined to retire there.

Now, the Phillies have three aces in their rotation, while the Astros and Mariners are now looking forward to October for the end of another miserable season.

Hopefully something good happens for the Mariners soon. It's almost becoming too painful to think about. Especially when driving to work on a hot summer day.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2020, or via e-mail at jelliott@cdapress.com.