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If you’ve been following the committee for a longer period of time, you’ll understand that the Commish, aka myself, has been allotted one random college football-related trip a year away from my kids and my place of residence in San Antonio, Texas. (This is just basically, since this is not my full-time gig yet… but we’re getting closer and closer.) Also, I apologize for the delays in this post, I got sick, then my kiddo got sick, then the holidays came and I am sorry for this delay. Also, buckle up, this is a long read here.

Last Year in 2024, I went to Flagstaff to the Walkup Skydome and got early season snow along with hanging out with the NAU Loggers in the end and a side of extra point controversy. You can read about it here. My Northern Arizona Adventure. In 2023, I went to Pocatello, Idaho, on a pilgrimage of sorts to see the stadium where my beloved ULM won a National Title in 1987 and got to go to Big Sky Conference Headquarters. My Pocatello Pilgrimage (which apparently did not make the transfer over from the Substack to Beehiiv but I got this saved in google docs and may republish it someday) The year before that in 2022 when the Committee was really still in its infancy, I went to visit Las Cruces, New Mexico for a FIU and New Mexico State game and got to witness Diego Pavia’s first game where he completed more than 50% of his passes at the Division I level. New Mexico State Odyssey

I just want to give a gigantic thank you to my wife and my mom for allowing me to take this trip. Without their permission and tremendous help, I wouldn’t have had the chance to do something this incredibly ridiculous again.

Also, I want to thank you, the readers, followers, and patrons. Without your support, I wouldn’t have been able to make this trip happen.

Finally, a huge thanks to all the awesome folks at Idaho, especially Jerek Walcott, for allowing us to get a media credential to wander all over the place, providing us with a guided tour, and even allowing me on the Kibbie Dome roof.

There are not many domes in college football at all; this place grew in the lore of college football, whether it was from the NCAA 14 Game’s Fame or just the real uniqueness of the architecture of this place. Many folks may have an opinion on this dome, but one thing that is truly unique about this place is it wasn’t meant to be a dome at all.

It was originally built as an open-air concrete stadium in 1971. Here’s an article on the 50th anniversary of the stadium’s opening.

"Here's the irony: the Kibbie Dome is not really a dome," said Alec Holser, a founding partner of Opsis Architecture in Portland, Oregon, who led the 2011 renovation of the building. "There are other geodesic domes made of wood, but this is actually a vault.” The Kibbie Vault sounds amazing but they go with Kibbie Dome in Moscow.

"It's an arched-shaped continuous [roof] like a blimp hangar. In fact, one of the few other structures of similar gargantuan size were the blimp hangars built in World War II." In my head, I knew this “dome” was expansive on the inside but to see it described as a BLIMP HANGAR really puts things into perspective. I heard people say it was an airplane hangar but BLIMP HANGAR really opened my eyes.

I still don’t think I was mentally prepared for it.

I’ll opine more on the Kibbie Dome later but let’s get going with my trip.

Picking this Year’s Trip

Well, this year was an incredibly simple choice. I had been to the other domes in the Big Sky Conference. There was only one left… The Kibbie Dome.

I just had to pick a game and a date. I was looking at the calendar, and the game on October 25th against Portland State allowed me time to get up there, and I could keep my mom in town the week after to do Halloween with the kiddos.

As an added bonus this year, Big Sky Brigit said she’d join me to meet up at the Kibbie Dome, and she would drive over from Missoula, Montana. She said she never really traveled to away games when she attended Montana State and would love to join up for the trip.

Also, last year I said, “Don’t worry, Kibbie Dome, I am coming to see you, and I will make it happen, but I could not pull it off this year.” So that was done.

I also said, “Two flights and seven to eight hours of travel in one day is tough, but doing that twice in one weekend is something I could pull off in my younger days without a problem. However, I am definitely not as young anymore, and I realized I would need to sandbag a few more days to pull off the trip to Moscow.”

So about that last part, yeah, I couldn’t work an extra sandbag day for traveling. This trip was likely going to tire me out, but it was all so incredibly worth it in the end.

Time to Travel to Spokane

Doesn’t it sound glamorous? I am jet-setting off to scenic…. Spokane. I really had trouble booking a flight to Spokane from San Antonio. There really aren't many options to get there, and this would be a tough set-up flight for me. After a few months, I was lucky enough to find a flight to Phoenix and then from Phoenix to Spokane. One good thing about going back to Pacific time was that my entire day would not be blown by travel since I was going two hours back in time. I prepared for my trip to the Pacific Northwest, noting it would be cold (40s-50s) and rainy.

My flight from San Antonio initially included about a 1 hour and 10 minute layover in Phoenix for my connection to Spokane. However, the flight was delayed right after I checked in. Basically everyone was trying to get a connecting flight in Phoenix too. The flight “made up” some time in the air, and thankfully my connecting flight was right there two gates away in a corner of the airport, and I was able to walk right off and board my connecting flight.

As I was boarding the flight to Spokane, in the first-class section of the plane, there were many Wazzu-clad plane-goers who didn’t take a kind look at my Big Sky Conference vintage Homefield hoodie. Thinking to myself, I realized Wazzu and Idaho don’t get along and are rivals, and also if I was going to Eastern Washington too, I don’t think Wazzu likes them either.

I settled in for my approximately three-hour flight and put on the movie The Big Short, which matched the flight time. I worked for Washington Mutual at the time of the financial crisis in 2007-8 and vividly remember someone calling me while I was working the phones to tell me my company had failed. It was an odd call, like a spurned WaMu customer was like, Hey, let’s call up the WaMu call center and not really gloat, but, like, hey, you are going to likely lose your job. I ultimately didn’t lose my job and wound up working for JP Morgan Chase after it all went down. It was fun to see what happened in a movie form, like I knew some details about it, but I was on the Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) side of things at the time.

I landed in Spokane earlier than expected and interrupted Brigit’s beer and popcorn while she was waiting to pick me up in our luxurious all-wheel-drive grey Ford Escape. I walked around the airport and got my bags, realizing I don’t think I had been this far north in my lifetime. Not only that, but I had been to Maine before, but the realization that, oh, this is further north hit me as I stepped outside waiting for Brigit to arrive.

Brigit came around the small airport and picked me up. It was funny to finally meet Brigit in person; we had podcasted and chatted so many times before. Then it was like, Oh yeah, we’re in a Ford Escape together all of a sudden.

QUICK TRIP to EASTERN WASHINGTON

While up here in Spokane, I realized Eastern Washington University was really close to the Spokane airport. Brigit was down to go see THE INFERNO at Roos Field. Like, who wouldn’t want to see red turf field in person? I had emailed the Eastern Washington athletic department to see if we could stop by the field even though they had a road game at Weber State that weekend. They said they would leave the gate open for us, but the band and track team could be out there.

From our interview with Big Sky Commish Tom Wistrcill, Brigit and I asked about Eastern Washington’s red field and what it was like. Tom stated Eastern’s field was better in person than on TV, and he said Boise’s field was better on TV than in person. We arrived at the field with that in mind. As we drove around Eastern Washington, I noticed the vegetation and foliage were quite red in many aspects. The trees and shrubs matched the school’s colors a good bit.

We parked and went to enter Roos Field. The band greeted us by playing the Mission Impossible theme as we tried to find the entrance. Once we found the entrance, right on cue, the band changed to the Jurassic Park theme song, and I immediately started laughing. We walked around the stadium and took so many pictures. Once the band finished, we headed down to the field and walked on the red turf. I FaceTimed with family while on the field. My 8-year-old said he immediately wanted to go to Eastern Washington for school just because his favorite color is red. Eastern Washington, if you got a scholarship for him, he’s all yours in about 10 years.

Also, the Big Sky Commish was right. The red field fits in so well with the campus surroundings, and really green turf would probably stick out like a sore thumb in this area. The surrounding black outline helped it so much. I don’t think cameras are good enough to really balance out the amount of red we see on TV or in online highlights. Fantastic field and stadium, Eastern Washington.

Time to get settled in Spokane.

Brigit and I needed something to eat and drink now; after all, my early arriving flight interrupted her popcorn. I had really only had my standard ginger ale and whatever cookies they gave me on the plane to eat. We stopped by the Iron Goat. I tried a beer that tasted like I was drinking salsa but in an excellent way, the La Chola Mexican-style Lager infused with flame-roasted hatch green chiles and lime puree. It was great; then we got the biggest appetizers known to mankind and then finally decided to check into our hotel right next to the Spokane Convention Center.

Nearly falling asleep from travel as soon as I hit the hotel bed, I summon the energy to say, Brigit, let’s go get dinner. We nearly settle for the Chili’s across the street but walk on over to The Onion. We watched North Texas’ Drew Mesetemaker throw for 600+ yards, setting a school record against Charlotte and Game 1 of the World Series. I tried a Cougar Gold cheese dip for the first time, and it’s magical. I enjoy my burger and realize it's time to go to bed; being up at 6am Central and over 6 hours of flying has taken it out of me. We head back to the hotel to get some rest and plan to head out early in the morning to make the 1 ½ hour drive to Moscow. I head up to my room and then get sucked in by the Cal and Virginia Tech double OT game. As soon as that finishes, I crash out.

My Date with Kibbie Destiny

I wake up early on Pacific time standards since my body is still on Central time. Realizing we have a 1 ½-hour drive to Moscow from Spokane. We decided to go through Pullman and then to Moscow on the journey. It was an overcast day, but I enjoyed the vegetation and scenery I had never seen before. The rolling hills of blonde grass were just beautiful and very relaxing. We had to refill the Ford Escape with gas, and we stopped in a town called Spangle, which called itself the “Gateway to the Palouse.”

As the gas tank filled, I walked away and just viewed the expanse of the Palouse region. Growing up and with all my travels, I hadn’t really seen anything like it. It was calm, serene, expansive, and truly Big Sky country. We drove through all the towns on the way to Pullman, and I really enjoyed the drive through Colfax (which we learned apparently was a speed trap; we avoided any issues there). They even had a wacky waving inflatable Wazzu-themed guy.

We drove through Pullman and right by Wazzu’s stadium and campus. Since they were also playing that day, the town was bustling for their parents weekend. Brigit and I stayed focused and kept going.

As we go through Pullman, and get on the Pullman-Moscow highway, I spot a dispensary right on the border of the state and then see the Welcome to Idaho sign with a glimpse of the Kibbie Dome as we pull into the state. It’s pretty cool Moscow leads by putting its best foot forward. 

We drive on campus and go to the bookstore to buy some Vandal merchandise for the family as a thank you. For me, it’s really cool to see the fall colors of the trees in the rain, as where I live we don’t get those, and we’ve been in a drought for so long.

Campus was gorgeous. I really enjoyed walking around even though it was rainy and about 45 degrees out. I’ll admit it was a little chilly because when I left San Antonio, it was still in the 90s every day.

Hello Kibbie Dome, I’m Home.

We parked in the media parking lot and I text Jerek Walcott, the Assistant Athletic Director for Idaho. Jerek walks out to meet us and guide us into the Kibbie Dome. We walk towards the Dome and it’s massive. The pictures you see online don’t do it justice. The dome is buried into a hill and looks much smaller from the photos, much bigger in person.

In my opinion, the Dome gets a bad rap as a stadium, and people just judge the building by its outside. You’re never supposed to judge a book by its cover; don’t do this with the Kibbie Dome either. Frankly, it’d be weird if the Kibbie Dome was gussied up with clear windows like the Cowboys stadium instead of the fiberglass or if it was painted to match the school colors on the outside. I appreciate its humble nature, and it’s really a marvel of architecture.

We enter the offices and weight room attached to the building, then head up to Jerek’s office. As we leave to go on a tour of the Idaho basketball arena, I am handed the Potato State Trophy. I got to feel the weight of the now 18.6-pound trophy, and yes, it was Jerek who carved this thing late nights after 9pm, much to the chagrin of his wife.

Oh yeah, one thing about this trophy. Underneath it, there is a special sticker attached to it. Even though Idaho State won it this year, we’re still a part of this rivalry. After all, I have been to both domes. 🙂

Jerek served as our personal guide on this trip for Brigit and me, which was awesome. It was like he was my personal Kibbie Dome sherpa, which will make sense a little bit later. First, we go check out Idaho’s new all-wooden basketball arena right next door to the Kibbie Dome.

We head back to Jerek’s office and then go walk around the tailgating areas and pass out so many stickers and koozies to the fans out here for the 2-5 Idaho and 0-7 Portland State. Jerek and other Idaho folks said they wished we were here for another weekend for the crowd to be packed. Brigit and I both said, No, the people who are at this game are our people. They’re coming out to a game no matter the records or weather.

It’s Game Time, let’s enter the Dome already!

I took a video of walking into the Kibbie Dome, entering from the same spot as the Idaho football players do. I laugh at the end of the video because I am in disbelief I am actually inside the dome. And yes, BLIMP HANGER is an accurate description of the Kibbie Dome. The inside is absolutely MASSIVE. The video of the entrance is linked here on our YouTube.

Brigit and I meet all the incredible staff of Idaho athletics, and they say how much they enjoy the things we do on social media. I must say I don’t know how to take a compliment, or I am still in denial people actually like what we do. It’s really weird to hear people enjoy what we do in person, but in a good way. We talk with Eric Anderson, the director of marketing for Idaho. He tells us a secret about a certain nameless social media account he runs. Also, he has a surprise for Brigit and me. Eric tells us that if Portland State scores a touchdown or attempts a field goal going towards the scoreboard, they’d have a special graphic to try to distract the kicker.

It’s finally time for the game to start, Joe Vandal comes out on an ATV and rides on the field and kickoff is here. The very first drive Portland State takes the drive into field goal range and it’s fourth down. Here goes our field goal distraction.

At some point in the proceedings, I made an off the cuff remark about the camera people on the overhangs to Jerek. Then it turned into you want to go up there? Jerek told me this, the stairs were right here and we’d have to climb them to get up there.

I know I am out of shape and that climb looks extremely daunting, not to mention the ladder thing but I have to say yes, right? I am likely not going to ever get another chance to do this again. So, I tell Jerek yeah sure. Then seemingly Jerek disappears to get clearance or someone who would go with me.

My wife texts me and says my kiddo is watching the game and he wants to see me on the sideline. So, I stay on the same side of the field and find an orange sideline advertisement. During this time, I find myself next to the Idaho Athletic Director Terry Gawlik. We have a conversation for about 10-15 minutes, and I have to explain it was our character on the scoreboard because she didn’t know what it was. I love every moment of this, and Terry is awesome. We meet some others on the sideline and a fellow photographer, ClipsbyJames, and hand him some stickers. My kiddo finally spots me on the TV, and it hits halftime with Idaho well in control. Brigit and I head on up to the press box for the first time to relax. Oh yeah, by the way, this entire time, Brigit has been strapped with like three or four cameras snapping so many photos. Brigit is killing it.

At some point we hastily grab some Jersey Mike’s sandwiches and get a drink. We meet all the staff and interns by handing out stickers in the press box. Jerek returns and says it’s time to go to the Kibbie Dome balcony. Brigit goes to hang out in the Spanish announcers’ booth for the time being while I do this because there was no way she could carry all her gear up there. Jerek advises me to take off the hoodie because it’s a climb, and I'll likely be sweating on the climb. Hoodie off and deep breath time.

Climbing the Kibbie Dome

Let me just be honest right now. I am a little nervous doing this, but I am not afraid of heights. I have many thoughts running through my head, but backing down is not one of them. How many stairs will it be? This is crazy; why am I doing this? I have to do this as Commissioner of the Sickos Committee. My wife is going to kill me. On the other hand, my kiddo will think it's awesome.

Jerek leads the way. I ask him how many others have done this. He mentions just three or four people; CFBCampusTour and ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura were ones who did this previously. We enter a door where he has to swipe his badge; this is serious stuff here. The door opens, and I am met with just so many stairs staring 😉 me in my face.

Ok, I am really out of shape and my 44 year old body and self are in for a test. We start climbing with Jerek leading the way. As we start climbing he points out how the dome itself is held together. I realize during the climb, I am actually here at the Kibbie Dome’s 50th Anniversary of the ROOF that closed the dome. You remember from the piece I linked earlier the stadium was built in 1971 but not enclosed with a roof until 1975.

It's made totally of wood, which is a badge of honor in that part of the country. The University of Idaho launched one of the first forestry departments in the country in 1909, and it's one of the school's proudest programs.

"It's a crazy construction," Holser said. "They literally got a contract to basically build a dome over the existing stadium, which is just nuts."

Holser said it's a remarkable feat of engineering, using the company's wood truss system with steel joints, particularly when you consider that it was all done by hand calculations in the pre-computer era. The roof spans 400 feet across, covering 4.5 acres, and the center is 144 feet above the field level, equivalent to a 12-story building.

It’s funny as I am climbing and sweating to get to the balcony overhang I am looking at something really incredible insane. Jerek is explaining the construction of this while climbing. We finally reach the area where we would go down the ladder to the overhang/balcony.

I’m nearly out of energy and I try to gather myself to go down this metal ladder thing. It’s weird when you climb a ladder, you normally go up first but I have to start by going down. Jerek has me go first. I go really slow down this ladder and at the halfway point, someone on the Idaho staff has written Look Down in the dust/dirt of the area which was not cool. I finally make it down and I immediately need to sit down to gather myself. The combo of out of breath, out of shape and the fun mental state of the heights. I needed a breather.

Jerek is roaming around while I am just gathering myself. I finally get back up and walk around. We take a few pictures and some selfies.

Before we leave the area, Jerek and I take some selfies, and he says he wants to stay to the end of the Idaho drive. Funny thing, on the very next play, Idaho hits a big play for a touchdown. While in the Kibbie Dome rafters, Jerek posts this tweet. You can hear my voice in this tweet too.

Unbeknownst to Jordan, who is manning the Committee twitter account, quotes this tweet and posts this. Guess I am the Phantom of the Dome.

We go to climb back up the ladder, and Brigit spots us from the Spanish announcer’s booth and snaps this picture of me climbing up the ladder. I am mid-climb; just look at my ladder form. (yeah, I am climbing slow)

As we get back up in the area we climbed down from, Jerek says, "You want to go to the roof?" Hell yeah, I want to go on the roof! On this part, there weren’t any stairs, and I am walking on the edge of the wooden roof. Honestly, this part was much easier of a climb, and my nerves were gone. We pop out of the roof hatch.

As we get onto the roof, Jerek says “This is cool, It’s great to take the time to really appreciate what I have here more.” I just look around the area on top of the Kibbie Dome. It’s incredible, Jerek points out Wazzu’s Martin stadium lights eight miles in the distance. I took so many photos from the top of the roof and I made a Kibbie Dome Roof photos video.

After I experience the top thrill of my life in a college football sense, we climb down. Jerek warns me to duck my head on the way down, because if I don't, I will slam my head into the concrete.

I head back to the Press Box and see Brigit. I told her I need water and to just sit down. We go to our seats and sit down. I am flustered a bit from the roof, stairs and balcony.

We chill in the press box for the rest of the game. Then go down to the field after the game. We walk around, and I try to kick an extra point and fail on my two attempts. The thing that angers me the most is when I got back home, I booted the ball perfectly. I am not a clutch kicker. We go back to Jerek’s office and run into the head coach and take photos with the coach. Then we meet his family, and I am handing out Sickos Committee stickers to his kids. What is happening to my life? Because it is unbelievable.

We say our goodbyes to Jerek and farewell to the Kibbie Dome. We thank them for everything and a phenomenal time. Jerek grabs a Chik-Fil-A cookie for both of us as we go.

We head into town to grab some Hawaiian food at LocoGrinz Hawaiian BBQ. Yeah we’re getting Hawaiian food in Moscow, Idaho. And it was delicious.

The place was packed due to Parents Weekend at Wazzu, and it was worth the wait. Brigit and I hop back into the rental Ford Escape and make the 1 ½ hour drive back to Spokane. The drive was dark and rainy, but Brigit drove it well, and I got to act as navigator in a rally car race sometimes. We get to the hotel to crash for the night.

I wake up at 4:30 am Pacific time, and Brigit takes me to the Spokane airport and says farewell. Brigit heads back to Missoula, and I am on my way back home to San Antonio.

Brigit made a huge photo album of the trip here.

I wake up at 4:30 am Pacific time, and Brigit takes me to the Spokane airport and says farewell. Brigit heads back to Missoula, and I am on my way back home to San Antonio.

I have hit the post limit here and I am over 5,000 words. Thank you for reading and I’ll leave you with one final thing. The pylon that got away.

If you could ever so nicely click this link below. It will help allows us to travel more, cause we get paid by the click!

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