The other morning while drinking my coffee I read  Bradley Guire's column, in Magic Valley Times-News, on his experience at the BSU vs U of I game.

http://www.magicvalley.com/sports/article_1b6b9c4a-214b-5c05-beb0-482b519d582d.html

I'm not sure why I was so riled up over a former Alabama band geek's  thoughts on our rivalry, but I was, and it prompted me to write an email with some questions. The answers were shocking. Now granted I wasn't the most professional when writing this, but for some reason I expected him to be, maybe because that's what he gets paid for. Anyway, I really wanted to get other thoughts from some OBNUGer's on this exchange so here goes.

To:Brad Guire
Subject: No place like getting beer bottles thrown at you?
Bradley-
Are you retarded? Does good football have anything to do with how much the teams hate each other? Or is good football determined by how many beer bottles are thrown at the team band? I guess I am confused at the point of the article. Do you want more fights at the stadium, more people, or different teams? I look forward to your responses.
Sincerely,
Kevin Larsen

His response was a one-word sentence, explaining how he owed me no response given my introductory line.

My follow-up:

To: Brad Guire

 I don't know Brad, maybe a yes or a no to the first question. However, if you were to answer the other questions, then the answer to the first question would be easy to guess. Do you have answers to those questions? That column you wrote would suggest that you have all sorts football knowledge, and now we Idahoans are lucky enough to have you here, so I thought I would pick your brain and learn some things. Was I wrong?

He responded by claiming that Byron Hout getting punched was the highlight of the season, letting me know that he hasn't played sports past age 10, and pretty much asserting that he's a journalist and I'm not so end of story.

After reading of Alabama Brad's mental disabilities, I sent a response to the sports editor.

Hey Mike,
 
Some information has come to light about one of your employees, and because you are the sports editor and he is an idiot when it comes to sports I thought I would let you know.
 
Firts, the guy calling himself Bradley Guire, is not Bradley Guire. He informed me in an email that he is mentally handicapped, and he has changed his last name to Guire. This is just some information that I thought his employer would like to know.
 
As far as his skill set goes for getting his job, I think maybe he is not in the right position mentally to be covering any sporting events at all. I had asked Brad a few questions after his column about the BSU vs U of I game, and I was completely shocked by some of his answers.
 
Q.Does good football have anything to do with how much the teams hate each other?
 
A.Of course. The whole idea of competition is to prove that Team A is better than Team B. If there's not animosity, then why keep score and pay people like me to publish these things?
 
Q. Is good football determined by how many beer bottles are thrown at the team band?
 
A. No, a good football atmosphere is determined by how many people try to assault a peripheral group associated with the source of the true hate: the football team.
 
Q. Do you want more fights at the stadium, more people, or different teams?
 
A. Fights can be fun. The Oregon guy punching out the Boise State guy this year was the only real highlight of the season. The only point was that the atmosphere isn't what I grew up with, and I thought it was boring.
 
 If a man that covers high school football, or any sports at any level, believes that animosity is the only reason for sports, and that good football atmosphere directly coincides with how many assaults there are that day, and that the highlight of the season is one player punching another after the game, then he should not be covering high school sports or attending any sporting events for that matter. Someone with a thought process like Brad, that thinks sporting events are a place for violence rather than a place for character building and learning how to be a part of a team, then Bradley really has some issues that should be addressed by mental health professional. 
I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Kevin Larsen 

Your thoughts OBNUG?