Columnist Steve Guiremand: ‘Bad boy’ Van Pelt cleared to play in Liberty Bowl

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Dec. 20, 2002 | 10:24 a.m.

Steve Guiremand covers college football for the Sun. He can be reached at steveg@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-2324.

The folks in Fort Collins, Colo., are breathing a little easier this week.

Star quarterback Bradlee Van Pelt, a.k.a. "Bad Brad," will be allowed to play in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 31 despite his arrest outside a bar in the city's popular Old Town district last week.

Van Pelt, the coloful and controversial Mountain West Conference offensive player of the year, has agreed to undergo anger management counseling after being charged with misdemeanor verbal assualt.

Verbal assualt?

No doubt a few University of Colorado fans wouldn't have minded that charge being put on Van Pelt after he went on a postgame radio call-in show to taunt the Buffaloes following the Rams' win over CU earlier this year. Or even coach Sonny Lubick, after Van Pelt openly criticized the Rams' play-calling near the end of their loss at UCLA. Or the Wyoming player Van Pelt kicked during a pileup this year.

What Van Pelt said to warrant being arrested outside Washington's Bar and Grille at 1:47 a.m. last Friday morning hasn't been revealed. But one can only speculate.

Patron: "Hey Van Pelt. Your girlfriend is uglier than you are!"

Van Pelt: "Why you bleep!'

Officer: "Watch it Van Pelt."

Patron: "And smarter, too."

Van Pelt: "I'm going to kick your bleeping bleep!"

Officer: "Book him, Dano. Verbal assualt!"

Obviously, things had to be a little more heated than that for Fort Collins' finest to actually arrest the star quarterback from the football team. And give them credit for not playing favorites.

And it adds another interesting chapter to Van Pelt's legacy at Colorado State.

Show me the money

San Diego State athletic director Rick Bay, taking a page from Wyoming athletic director Lee Moon's book, has decided to sell next season's Sept. 6 home game with Ohio State back to the Buckeyes for a reported $2.4 million.

Bay's reasoning is simple. The big payday will go a long way to helping ease the school's $1.5 million athletic department deficit. He told the San Diego Union-Tribune the school would likely have garnered only about $860,000 if the game had remained at Qualcomm Stadium.

Moon pulled off a similar payday earlier this year when he sold the Cowboys' scheduled Tennessee home game to a group in Nashville for $2.3 million.

Still, in San Diego State's case, you wonder if the move was really a smart one.

If Ohio State upsets Miami in the Fiesta Bowl, the Aztecs could have played the defending national champions and Heisman frontrunner Maurice Clarett on their home turf next fall. That no doubt would have brought some much-needed local excitement to the program and would have helped to escalate season-ticket sales and fan interest.

Instead, check out this non-conference home schedule for the Aztecs: Division 1-AA Eastern Washington and Division 1-AA Samford. San Diego State also hosts Air Force, BYU, Wyoming and New Mexico in Mountain West Conference play.

The Aztecs better enjoy playing in front of 100,000 fans at the Horseshoe in Columbus because they probably won't get that many fans for their entire 2003 home schedule now.

Notes, quotes and anecdotes