Briar Napier: Extremely, and not just because I’m probably covering it. And from what I hear from the Texas coaches, the Lone Star State fans will show up.
Jeff Welsch: Such a great idea. And when it’s over, we might even have a new slogan: Don’t Mess With … Montana.
Daniel Shepard: Sure! Sounds like a great way to create exposure and some unexpected rivalries.
Jake Iverson: Extremely. So fun to see a usually small sport take center stage.
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Chris Peterson: Absolutely! I love 6-Man football and they take their football serious in Texas, just like we do here in Idaho. Should be a lot of fun.
Briar Napier: Without giving up too much background info, give me the man Max Kellerman would trust with the “fate of the universe” on the line — Springfield, Illinois’ own Andre Iguodala.
Jeff Welsch: A fellow of some basketball renown named Earvin Johnson was a year behind me at a rival school. We prepared him for Larry Bird.
Daniel Shepard: John Cannon, a 6-foot-10 kid from my hometown. Blocked over 600 shots in his high school career and played three seasons at Georgia. Ask him about that time I dominated him in an open gym, though. True story.
Jake Iverson: Chad Newell, who set the all-time rushing yards record at Billings Senior and ranks top-10 in rushing yards at MSU, grew up down the street from me. Not an easy guy to tackle in backyard football.
Chris Peterson: Loree Payne, a Havre High basketball great and standout for the Washington Huskies made me a fan of the Blue Ponies. There was rarely an empty seat in the gym when she was playing.
3. As international players have won the past six NBA MVPs/been the past two No. 1 draft picks, how can American players keep up?
Briar Napier: Fundamentals, fundamentals. Nikola Jokic has made an all-time great career out of playing elite-level, old man-style rec ball. Why can’t our kids do the same?
Jeff Welsch: I dunno. Lebron James seems to get along OK without having an old-old man style of play — even if he is a (relatively) old man.
Daniel Shepard: American players gotta quit focusing on the wrong things.
Jake Iverson: We’ve gotten too concerned with looking good over here. Jokić and Dončić are both old school strong, where you insulate the muscles behind a protective layer of blubber.
Chris Peterson: I think it’s cyclical. There are some great international players now and more seems to be on the way but I don’t know that means a drop off for American players.
4. With the likes of Wimbledon, the Tour de France and Olympics ahead, what is the most physically demanding sport?
Briar Napier: It’s cycling. I recently bought a road bike, and the thought of going up even the most mild hill makes me want to vomit.
Jeff Welsch: The single most demanding event by a variety of measures is the bicycle Race Across America (RAAM), so gotta align with Napier on this one.
Daniel Shepard: Y’all ever watched an old NASCAR race at Darlington? No power-steering, 3,000-plus pound stock cars, 110-degree heat. Richard Petty was superhuman.
Jake Iverson: Marathon running, which so many people I know did in Missoula last weekend, is insane to me. We’ve invented so many easier ways of getting around.
Chris Peterson: Hard to disagree with cycling.
5. You have a ticket for a round-trip flight to anywhere in the world. Where are you going and why?
Briar Napier: Australia. It’s dependent on the length of my trip, but a tour of the outback and an Aussie rules football game would be high on my wish list of stuff to do.
Jeff Welsch: Tough call but a wildlife safari the Okavango Delta of Botswana edges the deserts of western Australia and the fjords of Norway.
Daniel Shepard: Daytona Beach, Florida, to the world center of racing. Gonna get Richard Petty’s autograph and watch the greatest race on Earth.
Jake Iverson: Japan, to eat all the sushi and watch all the Nippon baseball I can.
Chris Peterson: There’s no place better than Green Bay when the Packers are playing.
