Ron Kantowski hails one little fella who wandered into the end zone and scored some TV exposure for the MWC

Thursday, April 26, 2007 | 7:04 a.m.

I n the blink of an eye, or, more accurately, the time it takes a wide receiver to run a fade route in an intrasquad scrimmage, a 4-year-old tyke managed to fix the Mountain West Conference's lack-of-exposure problem.

The MWC has been raked over the coals for signing away its TV rights to a couple of obscure cable networks that many of its fans are having trouble finding on the dial, no matter how times they check their local listings.

But the conference hit the big time this week after little Caden Thomas became an unwilling nickel back in Colorado State's spring football game.

CSU calls its spring game a football festival, which basically means that kids like Caden get to walk around the sidelines while somebody tries to sell his parents season tickets.

The youngster didn't appear to be paying rapt attention to the game, although you can hardly blame him for that. Having seen way too many of these meaningless springtime affairs, there are times I wish I had brought my Transformers or some Silly Putty to help pass the time.

Plus, he was stationed in the end zone. It's not like the Rams have made a habit of frequenting that part of the field the past couple of years.

But then Caden's father, standing nearby, blinked . In the next instant, the toddler was stretched out on the field, bleeding from a nasty cut on his forehead after CSU wide receiver George Hill crashed into him while trying to catch a touchdown pass.

By now, unless you are a DirecTV subscriber still trying to find the.mtn on your satellite dish, you've seen the replays. All jokes aside, it was a frightening incident. It took 30 stitches to close the wound on the Thomas boy's head. Otherwise, he emerged unscathed.

He can thank his lucky stars and Hill's quick thinking for that. In the split second he had between noticing little Caden and crashing into him, Hill was able to part ly wrap his arm around the boy, cushioning the blow.

As a result, the two have become TV stars. They were in New York on Wednesday morning, appearing on "The Early Show" on CBS and the "Today" show on NBC and the world rejoiced - partly because Caden was doing fine and partly because there's only so much Lindsay Lohan one can take on rolling out of the sack.

"When I looked directly at him, I just fell straight to the ground and tried to stop my momentum," Hill told "Early Show" co-anchor Hannah Storm. "Being a parent (Hill has a 2-year-old ), that's a scary scene right there."

Caden's father said he saw the football in the air and instinctively reached for his son.

"It was third down and 10 and I had the feeling they were going to run the fade route to the corner," Mike Thomas said.

Too bad for Caden that UNLV wasn't the opponent. Then CSU could have just run up the middle for the first down.

"I put my hands out for my kid and he just got past me and connected with George," Thomas said.

Hill, who dropped the ball, immediately rolled onto his back and handed the toddler to a referee, who must have been a volunteer and not a card-carrying MWC official considering he did not flag the boy for an illegal substitution.

"It was kind of scary ' cause I got bonked by the football," Caden told a reporter.

It has been a big week for the youngster, who received a phone call from CSU coach Sonny Lubick, a football signed by the Rams players and a CSU jersey emblazoned with his name and Thomas' No. 27.

Considering he broke up the play and the Rams need help in the secondary, CSU also should have offered him a scholarship.

Although Caden's parents appreciated the gifts and attention, they said after he's done posing for the cover of the Mountain West media guide they might have him stick with soccer.