Bill Moos confirms he sold Gonzaga a home game for $0

Remember last year when Coug fans were upset for a one-way bodybag game at Auburn that netted us a cool million dollars, but nearly cost us a Bowl Game? And in that same year, we let BYU buy their way out of their return trip to Pullman?

Those were the days.

As Jacob Thorpe confirmed in his interview with Moos today, there is no home-away-neutral setup in this three-year agreement. Bill Moos has agreed to sell WSU's home game to Gonzaga for a tidy sum of $0. Remember all the hand-wringing in the last thread over how Pullmanites would be able to get to Spokane on a weeknight? Kind of romantic to think about, considering now you're not getting tickets.

Can we NOW agree that this is a ridiculous concept? No longer do we have to use the term "dignity" in any trade-off, considering we received absolutely nothing in return? (Actually, that is probably a lie, Bill Moos did get a year-long grace period before anybody found out about this in return).

We can divert our attention and gnash our teeth at evil Gonzaga and weasely Mark Few all we want. But they're looking out for themselves; not us. Bill Moos didn't have to say yes. And shouldn't have.

Bill (can I call you Bill? I have "skin in the game"), here's what you do the next time another school tries to con you.

Step 1: Tell them FUCK NO

Step 2: Tell everyone who will listen exactly why you said FUCK NO and let Mark Few try to explain why now THREE in-state schools refuse to play him.

Step 3: Announce a home and home and Spokane series with Saint Mary's.

Step 3a: Bring back Marcus Capers to make two more jumpers against Saint Mary's.

Step 4: Drop Gonzaga from everything. Seriously. Burn that relationship to the ground.

But since you didn't call me beforehand, Bill, you've now made our entire program look like Gonzaga's bitch. And I'm not entirely sure what can be done to rectify it.

You done fucked up, Bill. And not a Bowl Ticket Ban threat, overpaying by nearly double for Ernie Flipping Kent, playing conference games in Seattle type of gaffe. This one is pretty permanent.

Kind of makes Sterk's 7-year contract for Bone seem quaint.

We're not Gonzaga's little brother. Gonzaga is absolutely a better program than WSU right now. But we don't need Gonzaga on their terms. Gonzaga isn't always going to be better than us. Gonzaga's arena is the size of our student section. We could've walked away from this garbage and absolutely nobody would've blamed us. And once the story got out as to WHY we walked, I bet you we actually gain some of our closet CougZags back. But instead, Bill Moos has cemented us with Little Brother status, allowing all those closet CougZags to just become Zags full time, knowing that one of the schools is major league and one is its Triple-A affiliate.

And Moos' biggest sin? You now have eight months to prepare yourself for another round of Greg Heister on ROOT Sports.

I'd be a lot more angry about it if it weren't so hilarious and perplexing. Seriously, what possible reason would anybody use to defend this nonsense? Preserving the rivalry and its future revenues? Is it worth preserving when you just cut revenues by a third?

I guess what drives me the most crazy is that Bill Moos will tell you everything you want to hear about building something special and not taking any crap from "those other schools," but when one of those aforementioned "other schools" calls Bill and tells him his program isn't good enough to play Gonzaga every year, he sheepishly agreed like a proper doormat when he"appreciated their position."

I get WSU has disadvantages. Hell, I spent the last three months pleading for Leon Rice to stay in Boise because the WSU job could ruin his career. I get the program is broke and needs to do unsavory things the blue blood programs don't have to do in order to compete. As the resident carny running this Gravitron, I think I have the credentials that say I'm nowhere near a blind-optimism type of fan. That said, even I know WSU is better than this. And you should have too, Bill. I'm mad; I'm disappointed; I'm mostly confused. You sold us out.

For zero dollars.