It looks like the Fresno Falcons story is going to end with a whimper rather than a bang.

When we lasted visited them in late December, the Falcons were a defunct ECHL hockey franchise and City Hall was up in arms.

Fresno Hockey Club LLC, the Falcons' owner, on Dec. 22 had suddenly ceased operations. It was early in the 2008-09 season, but Fresno Hockey Club partners Chris Cummings and Brian Glover said the team was losing too much money. Operations had to cease immediately, they said.

The Falcons' death cost the city about $3.5 million in lost rent over the life of the team's 20-year lease at Selland Arena. The city had also invested millions of dollars in upgrading Selland largely with the expectation that the Falcons would play there for at least two decades.

City Attorney James Sanchez on Dec. 23 said his office was taking the first steps toward possibly suing Fresno Hockey Club for breach of contract.

But earlier this week, Sanchez said there will be no lawsuit. He said the Falcons have no assets, so the expense of going to court makes no sense.

"You don't want to throw good money after bad," Sanchez said.

Cousy and Russell. Magic and Kareem. Stockton and Malone. And now, in a slightly different but no less important context, you've got Steve Cleveland and Boyd Grant.

Cleveland, the current Fresno State men's basketball coach, and Grant, the winningest Fresno State men's basketball coach, held court for 30 minutes Tuesday morning at a news conference at the Save Mart Center.

Just like the above-mentioned all-star tandems from basketball's past, Cleveland and Grant were in sync with each other and oh so smoooooth.

An update on the availability of season tickets for the 2009-10 Fresno State men's basketball team:

Team spokesman Stephen Trembley says season tickets to the Save Mart Center's upper bowl are on sale for $189 each. Call 278-DOGS (3647) or go to gobulldogs.com.

You must call the Bulldog Foundation (244-5600) if you're interested in lower bowl season tickets. My guess is a season ticket in that prime location requires a BDF membership.

Trembley says he doesn't have up-to-date season-ticket sales numbers for men's basketball. "The figure is changing every day," he says.

Coach Steve Cleveland and former Bulldogs coach Boyd Grant are scheduled to hold a news conference at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Save Mart Center. Among other things, they'll talk about the Bulldogs' Dec. 1 non-conference game against Pacific at Selland Arena. Selland was nicknamed Grant's Tomb back when Boyd was in charge of the program.

The news conference might turn into a bit of imaginative marketing for a team with plenty of potential. I like seeing Fresno State take the risk.

I'm trying to make sense of these four bits of information from Fresno State athletics:

1.) Bulldog Foundation annual fund drive totals:

2009 -- $6,252,828 pledged; $5,329,901 paid as of late September.
2008 -- $7,226,719 pledged; $7,161,318 paid.
2007 -- $7,289,114 pledged; $7,275,931 paid.
2006 -- $7,778,165 pledged; $7,770,685 paid.
2005 -- $7,181,882 pledged; $7,175,449 paid.

The payments are divided about 50-50 between donations (to help fund scholarships) and season-tickets (which help pay for operations).

Football and men's basketball are the primary catalysts for season-ticket sales.

Obviously, there's trouble this year with sales in one or both of those programs.

2.) On Sept. 15, the Budget Committee of the Fresno State Athletic Corp. board met in the North Gym annex. Paul Ladwig, Fresno State's associate athletic director for Broadcasting and External Relations, presented the Athletic Director's report.

Referring to season-ticket sales for the 2009-10 men's and women's basketball program, Ladwig told the committee: "We realize there are some dollars out there to be had."

Translation: The women's team, an NCAA Tournament-qualifier the past two seasons, is a known quantity. But the men's basketball program has suffered a variety of ills for the better part of a decade. This year could be different. The university sees a huge ticket-selling opportunity with Coach Steve Cleveland's 2009-10 men's team.

3.) This year's men's team includes some talented veterans -- Paul George, Sylvester Seay, Mychal Ladd and Ned Golubovic. Among a promising group of newcomers is 6-foot 10-inch Greg Smith, The Bee's 2008 Player of the Year.

The Bulldogs this year could win 20-plus games. Without a doubt, this is a pivotal year in the Steve Cleveland era.

In other words, the men's team has no shortage of compelling drama ... ticket-selling drama.

4.) Today is October 5. According to the university's Web site, Cleveland's squad opens the 2009-10 season in less than a month -- Nov. 4 with an exhibition game against Fresno Pacific at the Save Mart Center.

I spoke with two university employees today -- your average fan (definition: didn't have a season ticket last year, isn't a Bulldog Foundation member) still can't buy a men's basketball season-ticket.

How can this be?

Here are a few extra bits of news from Tuesday's meeting of the Fresno State Athletic Corp. board's budget committee, along with some context:

* University officials said Jay Vickers, the Bulldog Foundation's associate director of development, has accepted a job at the University of Arizona. Officials didn't say when Vickers will leave the Bulldog Foundation, or the nature of his new job in Tucson.

Death was in the air.

It was late August at the Farewell Funeral chapel in north Fresno. Somber men and women filled the seats.

So many that their collective whispering generated a lot of noise. That's how I missed the first verse to the background music. But I caught the second verse.

"Hank, why do you drink?
Why do you roll smoke?
Why must you live out the songs that you wrote?
Over and over everybody made my prediction.
So, if I get stoned,
I'm just carrying on an old family tradition."

Ah, yes, the comforting insights of "Bocephus" -- Hank Williams Jr.

There would be much to remember in the memorial service for Larry Leon Curtis Sr.

***

Fresno State athletic director Thomas Boeh wants the Western Athletic Conference to share some of the pain of the nationwide recession.

Boeh told the Fresno State Athletic Corp. board on Wednesday that the university will "formally" ask the WAC to reduce its dues.

"It seems entirely reasonable for the league to find ways to be more efficient," Boeh said.

Fresno Hockey Club, LLC and the City of Fresno may be headed toward a courtroom showdown.

But is it a sure thing that the defendant would be the owner of the now-defunct Fresno Falcons ice hockey team?

What conclusions can we draw about the Fresno State football program under coach Pat Hill using the concept of "returning starters"?

Hill has ended each of the past seven seasons with a bunch of returning starters on which to build in the following year.

It's five games into the season, and the Fresno State football team is undefeated on the road (3-0) and winless at home (0-2).

This unusual situation is rare, but not unique, in Bulldogs history.

The 1967 Bulldogs of second-year coach Darryl Rogers opened the season with three straight home losses: 24-16 to Santa Clara, 30-14 to Idaho and 21-20 to Montana State. They hit the road and won their next two: 31-25 over Cal State-Northridge and 41-14 over Cal Poly.

Fresno State then beat visiting Cal State-Los Angeles 14-3 to snap the trend. The Bulldogs were 3-8 that season.

The 1945 Bulldogs of Alvin "Pix" Pierson also were undefeated on the road and winless at home in their first five games. But this one has an asterisk.

Fresno State won three away games, but the two at home were ties. There was no tiebreaker at the time. The Bulldogs lost on the road in their sixth game, and finished 4-6-2.

When will the 2008 Bulldogs break out of this win-on-the-road, lose-at-home rut? They host Idaho (0-2 Western Athletic Conference, 1-5 overall) on Saturday.