Head Coach Mike Leach, currently of the Washington State Cougars, is known for his interests in a wide array of topics: pirates, chimpanzees, Daniel Boone, and Geronimo to name but a few.
Well, now you can add Bigfoot and aliens to that list.
Back in September, Leach was asked in a fan-submitted question about his thoughts on Bigfoot and aliens at his weekly press conference. Leach is known for being a colorful guy, and his response did not disappoint:
“I hope there’s Bigfoot ... I doubt there is, not to throw a shadow over the rainy forest in Washington, where there’s already a lot of shadows. I hope there’s Bigfoot. I don’t think there is. The reason why I don’t think there is because we’ve found bones of dinosaurs and everything else, but we haven’t found bones that I have heard of of Bigfoot ... It’d be fun if there’s Bigfoot. I hope there’s Bigfoot, but my guess is there is not.”
As such, the quote made it to USA Today's #19 slot on the Top Sports quotes of 2017. That's especially notable considering this is the same year Celtics point guard Kyrie Irving declared the earth is flat, and Jets wide receiver Jeremy Kerley name checked the Ghost of Christmas Past as a reason a banned substance may have gotten into his system (speaking of substance, there are other quotes on the list of significantly more importance as well).
Anyhow, thanks Coach Leach, for your thoughts on Bigfoot during the 50th anniversary year of the Patterson-Gimlin film. And for letting us know your take on aliens as well:
“Aliens, I suspect there is. I don’t know that they’re little green men and I don’t know if they’re specifically in our galaxy … I don’t know that they’ll be hostile mutants and the rest. They might look remarkably like us or style-wise they evolved in a different direction, maybe buildings, cars different who knows.”
“On Earth, they say well we’re the only ones. Well, really? Why? Have you been to other planets, have you checked out the other planets? I think it makes more sense that if it happened here, it happened somewhere else than it does that it only happened here. And then we know that there’s galaxies beyond our galaxy.
“I certainly wouldn’t rule out life somewhere else other than just Earth because to me, that seems like a lot less of a stretch than the notion that ‘oh, we’re only one. We’re the only one special enough that lightning struck a puddle of mud or we’re the only ones special enough that God cares about enough to have life on this planet.’
“See, I don’t believe that. Everybody wants to be special but I don’t think we’re that special.”
-Aaron Sagers