Hoke will soon discover few care about San Diego State football

Brady Hoke apparently doesn’t quite seem to know the circumstances.

The new San Diego State football coach can close practice to the media all he wants ... nobody cares.

But when it comes to closing Saturday’s practice at Qualcomm Stadium to the public, maybe somebody does care.

Hoke may not realize that few people care about SDSU football in the first place. Closing all practices to the public is no way to reach out to a "fan base" already turned off by SDSU football’s 10 straight non-winning seasons..

This isn’t Ball State, where Hoke led his former team to a No. 12 national ranking at one point last season. This is San Diego State, which can’t even beat San Jose State or Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Hoke may be fooled when the Aztecs draw over 50,000 fans for their home opener Sept. 12 vs. Southern Utah. That will be due to the annual KGB Sky Show; not the Aztecs.

When Hoke comes home to a virtually empty stadium his remaining five home games, it might just remind him of the empty stadium the Aztecs will practice at this Saturday.

Too bad for him.

San Diego State better served by being in NIT?

We all know that when one door slams in your face, maybe the next open door will turn out to be much better than it appears.

Take the San Diego State basketball team, for instance.

Two weeks ago, who would’ve thought that being in the NIT would be better for the Aztecs than making the NCAA Tournament?

Not I.

But as it turns out, the NIT has been much more than a consolation prize.

Don’t you think that making the NIT Final Four serves SDSU better than a first-round loss in the NCAAs would have?

(Sure, you could make the argument that the Aztecs would have won a game in the NCAAs. But that would have been a first.)

Take what coach Steve Fisher told the media before the Aztecs departed for the NIT Final Four in New York with more than a grain of salt.

“I’ll be the first to say that if we made the NCAA Tournament, we might still be playing. I really thought we could win at least two games and make the Sweet 16. I wouldn't have been at all surprised. But it's a thrill to get to New York and Madison Square Garden. We're better served to be where we are now than had we lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. We'll get more mileage out of this.”

That they will.

If the Aztecs win the NIT, it will be the school’s first national title since the 1973 men’s volleyball team.

That, alone, makes the NIT more than worthwhile.

La Mesa man celebrates 100th birthday at SDSU

Let's put sports aside for one day and focus on a once-in-a-lifetime event going on at San Diego State University’s College of Extended Studies this afternoon.

William “Uncle Bill” Gilmore will celebrate his 100th birthday while joined by fellow classmates at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute through SDSU’s College of Extended Studies.

SDSU President Stephen L. Weber and Provost Nancy A. Marlin will make a special presentation to Gilmore during the celebration. Among other things, Uncle Bill will receive a certificate from President George Bush.

Gilmore still drives from his La Mesa condo to the SDSU Extended Studies Center, where he has taken more than 30 classes through the Osher Institute; a unique place offering adults 50 and better a chance to return to campus and study a fascinating array of topics from political science to art history, literature to astronomy.

Although once intimidated by compositional writing, Gilmore now takes joy in exploring the topic while writing his memoirs. He attributes his pursuit to Patricia Geist-Martin, professor in SDSU School of Communication and Osher Institute faculty, who persuaded him at age 99 not to drop her Osher “Of Lives and Words” course and continue on his memoirs.

He intends to always follow the advice he offers others: “Life is for the living – get busy, and be happy.”

That’s great advice from a great man!