Columnist Steve Guiremand: Van Pelt’s mouth still running

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Aug. 29, 2003 | 9:42 a.m.

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

Call him "Bad Brad" or "Brash Brad." Or just plain entertaining.

Colorful and controversial Colorado State quarterback Bradlee Van Pelt, the reigning Mountain West Conference offensive player of the year, appears to already be in mid-season form.

You might remember that Van Pelt caused quite a stir with Colorado fans last year after he led the Rams to a 19-14 upset of the Buffs. Van Pelt puncuated his game-winning 23-yard touchdown run with about six minutes to go with a spike into the helmet of Colorado safety Rod Sneed.

If that wasn't enough to get the folks in Boulder in a tiff, Van Pelt decided to call a sports talk show while driving back to Fort Collins after the game to talk a little trash about Gary Barnett's squad. Among other things, Van Pelt called the Buffaloes "the worst No. 7 team" he'd ever seen.

Van Pelt, who did not attend the Mountain West Conference's media day even though he arguably is the conference's marquee player -- hey Sonny Lubick is no dummy -- had been lying low about this Saturday's much anticipated rematch with Colorado at sold out Invesco Field at Mile High. Until Thursday that is.

In a story in the Rocky Mountain News, Van Pelt not only showed little remorse over his famed spike or his postgame comments, he seemed ready to dump even more gasoline on the fire.

Van Pelt, who transferred to CSU after his freshman year at Michigan State, said he actually had some preliminary talks with Colorado before picking the Rams instead.

"Their response was similar to a lot of people's: 'If you want to play defense, we might be able to talk.' " Van Pelt recalled. "I didn't leave Michigan State, a Big Ten school, to go play defense somewhere else. I was not willing to consider defense, especially for the Buffs."

And what about those Internet rumors that Colorado has placed a bounty on his head this week?

"I think their tactics down there (in Boulder) are (to try) to scare people up here, that they are all pumped up, they want revenge, they are going to come out and hurt this guy, hurt that guy -- that's a bunch of (bull). ... They are trying to intimidate us, and I don't think they are good at it, to tell you the truth. They need to look at themselves in the mirror and realize intimidating us is not going to work."

And ...

"I don't know what revenge they are talking about. We beat them fair and square. I'm sure I made, I guess, some inappropriate comments, at least some people thought they were. I didn't think they were inappropriate. But whatever. If that's how they are going to get themselves going, that's fine. We don't have to get up for CU. It seems like CU is the one trying to get up for us right now.

"I know I'm getting a lot of attention right now, but the way I look at it is: Give me all the attention. If they worry about me, they are forgetting about the rest of the team."

What is Lubick's opinion of Van Pelt and his often very candid comments?

"He's a fun-loving person," Lubick said. "You have to love Bradlee. Yes, he talks too much. You just have to give him 10 minutes to cool down."

Pulitzer prose?

It should be noted that Van Pelt was not even called for a penalty for his head-spike on Sneed, who appeared to be trying to grab his face mask. But that didn't stop the folks in the Colorado sports information office from doing a little editorializing.

The official game recap in this year's press guide reads: "The Rams marched 84 yards in seven plays, capped by a Bradlee Van Pelt 23-yard run for a touchdown. Van Pelt turned 180 degrees and backed into the end zone on the play, and then fired the ball into the face of CU safety Roderick Sneed in truly one of the most classless displays of sportsmanship the rivalry has ever seen."

Get the feeling people in Boulder aren't big Bradlee Van Pelt fans?

Once around the MWC