Never a Dull Moment

9-10-90

Never a Dull Moment

It was a pretty good week for Cobber sports. The Cobbers and Dragons renewed their 70-year-old football series before an appreciative community. The women's soccer kept winning. The volleyball and golf teams had good opening weeks. And our days here were, again, full.

From my vantage point as sports information director, coach, and teacher (jack of all trades, master of none, say my friends) I am frequently blessed with days into which a month's worth of events and ideas are packed.

Last week was filled with such days. And I again had a fascinating spot from which to watch the whirlwind of life at Concordia. Here, for better or worse, are some snippets.

Monday The crunch to get out the fall's first major press release was on. Our teams' opponents needed rosters and schedules. Our athletes' hometown media needed to see how their former local hero is succeeding at Concordia.

And our area media were in need of stats and facts to cite in their pre-game buildup to Saturday's Concordia-Moorhead State football opener.

In the rush to paste up the release, we debate which sports get how much space on which pages. Who is entitled to prominence? Do we allocate space between sports based on fan interest? The number of athletes? Men vs women? Last year's winning percentage? Dare we think in terms of "major" and "minor" sports? And, most importantly, is it spelled "Erik" or "Eric"? In the end, as our deadline approached, we relied on a proud journalistic tradition. We put stories and stats in wherever they fit.

Part of the release included another back-page Perspective, a column which has become a semi-tradition over the past few years. The purpose is to offer some insights into why we do what we do here in Cobberville sports, how we grapple with our successes and failures, and, indeed, how we define success.

Today's column is, I think, a clever gem. It's a spoof that pokes fun at those who would make college athletic contests into a more than just healthy games. It mocks those who try to fashion games into some holy crusade, pitting Good verses Evil. People are going to love it.

My 10:30 Sports and Society senior seminar provided a welcome 70-minute respite from the chaos of deadlines, a time for ideas, away from life's clutter of numbers.

The class discussion was ripe with banter about whether sports brings communities together to bridge divisions of class and race. One student attested to the bonding effect sports had on his town. "When I was in high school, our town was tremendously united behind the idea that our football team was terrible," he said.

Tuesday The Perspective is meeting with mixed reviews. "You're going to get killed." said one trusted colleague.

"You're going to get butchered," said another. I call that mixed reviews.

Apparently, some people didn't get the spoof, or got it but worried that others wouldn't. If read with no sense of humor, the article was a scathing attack on Moorhead State. Providing locker-room-wall material to inspire the Dragons this week was part of their concern.

Another day, another lesson.

Later, one of my golfers came in. He is quitting to join the choir. This is a frequent occurrence here in Cobberville. "It's just a lot more prestigious making the concert choir than the golf team," he said.

"Besides, they take better trips." I couldn't argue with him on either count.

Two coaches stopped by to ask if their game programs were at the printer. "Soon," I said. They were hoping for a more specific answer.

Wednesday Dean Hashbarger, the women's soccer coach, came by, still beaming about last week's win over Carleton. Wins have been rare in the past for women's soccer. But Dean has a much better team this year. It's fun to talk to a coach who has such innocent appreciation of a single win.

Gary Gilbert, our excellent athletic recruiting coordinator, came to my Sports and Society class. He and I put on a little demonstration of how a Division I recruiting visit would go, Gary playing the part of the Division I football recruiter, me playing the highly- sought-after high school senior. About twenty-five minutes into the mock interview Gary announced to the class that he wouldn't ever recruit me. Too arrogant. My class agreed.

We had our first meeting with those coming out for women's basketball this year. As the coach talked about preparatory details, like shoe sizes, schedules and conditioning, the veterans eyed the rookies, trying to form opinions about who can help us this year, even though they've never seen the rookies play. The rookies sat nervously, filling out forms, trying to look confident as their insides kept churning. They wonder if they can play at this next level of competitiveness.

The coach tried to put them at ease, without much success.

Our volleyball team lost at Moorhead State in their season-opener tonight. They have about thirty-five games to play over the next eight weeks, so, like baseball, there won't be much time to stew over one game. Still, it's a loss.

Cobber football coach Jim Christopherson was interviewed by a local TV station for the 10:00 sports about the upcoming Cobber-Dragon game. "The game is really a celebration of the two campuses coming back to life in the fall, filled with students," he said. Perfect.

Thursday A new faculty member, who has one of my golfers in her class, calls and asks if the men golfers are really going to miss class four out the first six Fridays this semester. I try to tell her they'll do the makeup work required and that the absences are really unavoidable.

She confesses to being dubious about our priorities but she says she'll try to work things out. All the local press stories this week about the football game are coming out great, constantly citing the atmosphere of healthy excitement and mutual respect which surrounds the Cobber-Dragon series. For an SID, that's a good week.

Friday While waiting for my golfers to finish their opening round in the Bemidji tournament, I talk with other golf coaches, all of whom are baffled as to why their programs don't get more money, and why some schools have even dropped golf. Some say they brought their teams to the tourney to win. Others say the main thing is to have a good time. Age-old debates, new context.

Saturday We return from Bemidji to learn that the Cobs lost to the Dragons 35-32. One of our defensive backs was working security in the gym, trying to study.

"It was a great game," he said. As he rattled off details it was clear that, despite the pain of losing, he was proud to have been part of a game that has been played so long for so many right reasons. It was a pretty good week for Cobber sports.

These pages are maintained by Jerry Pyle pyle@cord.edu . These articles are copyrighted © and may not be published or reproduced without the express permission of Jerry Pyle.

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