Monday, Dec. 22

Hello from rainy San Diego. Just got back from the Poinsettia Bowl luncheon on the USS Midway and a press conference with Boise State's Chris Petersen and TCU's Gary Patterson.

The luncheon was a great event with the bands playing and cheerleaders cheering — even if rain forced everyone from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier that is now a museum. Both teams were there.

ESPN's Rece Davis was there and here is the audio from Davis' speech, which was very amusing. He also talked about Mark May's comments about Boise State. Check tomorrow's Bronco Beat blog for those comments.

One of the cool things about the bowl is the partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Much of the luncheon focused on the "Wish kids" as they are called with a moving rendition of the National Anthem by one. It moved some people to tears. Each team has a Make-A-Wish captain for the game, although Boise State's captain could not attend because he is in the hospital. Each team provided a jersey for their Wish captain.

It was moving stuff.

The teams handed out Inspirational Awards with Boise State equipment manager Dale Hoste winning the Broncos' award. TCU senior offensive lineman Giles Montgomery won the Horned Frogs' award.

• I wanted to pass along a few other news items:

— The rain in San Diego is sure to make Qualcomm Stadium a bit sloppy. It has been raining pretty steadily all morning and into the afternoon.

— Poinsettia Bowl officials said they have sold more than 35,000 tickets for Tuesday's game, which includes the 15,000 distributed to the schools. P-Bowl officials are hopeful that the good weather forecast for Tuesday will help the walk-up crowd.

The fourth-year bowl set an attendance record of 39,129 for last year's game between Navy and Utah.

• Below are the rules for the Name the Score contest. Please don't enter twice, but I wanted to give everyone another chance to participate before kickoff.

Thursday, Dec. 18

It will be up to Treasure Valley college football fans to make sure the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl is not the least attended bowl game of the season. Ticket sales by Maryland and Nevada are dismal.

The Baltimore Sun reports that Maryland is not expected to bring a whole lot of fans to Boise.

The more disheartening story is from the Reno Gazette-Journal. Nevada has sold about 100 tickets to the Dec. 30 bowl game.

Ouch.

So, once again, it will be up to college football fans in the Valley to attend the game and support it. Now you know why the game's executive director, Kevin McDonald, tried so hard to keep Boise State in the bowl.

Audio prediction

Here is what I think is going to happen in the Poinsettia Bowl.

Name the Score contest

OK, it's time for the Name the Score contest — Boise State vs. TCU, Poinsettia Bowl-style.

Here are the rules for the newcomers:

Boise State plays TCU in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego on Tuesday, and here is your chance to predict the score and win a $20 gift certificate from Domino's Pizza.

Place your guesses in the comments down below and we will pick two winners.

Closest to the actual score of the game wins.

All entries must be received by 5 p.m Mountain time Tuesday.

When you register to make comments at IdahoStatesman.com, you put in an e-mail address. I will contact the winner through that e-mail address.

If it comes down to tiebreakers, closest to Boise State's actual score, closest without going over and then first received will be the tie-breaking order.

Good luck.