Soccer teams around the world remember the passing of someone associated with the sport with a minute of silence before a match. Both teams and the referees line up around the center circle and bow their heads, together with the multitude of fans who, standing up from their seats, keep a religious silence for a long and moving sixty second homage.

In Italy, this silence is broken with a long and sincere applause that lasts the whole minute. I don't know why, but I guess that we, Italians, can't keep too quite for too long and decided that a minute of silence to remember a deceased person wasn't good enough and decided to replace it with a noisy and heartfelt applause.

When I first moved to Wabash, the first person I met, walking across the Mall, was Mike Bachner.  He knew who I was but I didn't know who he was.  He called out my name, approached me with a great smile, shook my hand, introduced himself and welcomed me to Wabash.

In the months to come, I got to know Mike a little better and even though our encounters were always brief and far in between, he always shook my hand and gave me a friendly smile.

Upon my return to campus today, I found out about Mike's passing and the news saddened me quite a bit. Perhaps, it was his friendly smile, or his good nature, or perhaps it had been our casual first encounter, but today I feel that I need to remember him with a minute of silence. My head bowed, my eyes closed, and a long, endless applause inside my head.

Mike Bachner, R.I.P.

Posted by Roberto Giannini at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I learned about the "Game of all games" when I joined the Wabash Athletic staff last January. I am shy to admit that before that I had no clue that such an event even existed. I never watched college football before and my American football exposure was limited to cheering for the San Francisco 49ers when their record was 1 and 15 in 1980. I moved to the Bay Area to study English and since there wasn't any of the kind of football I was used to around I decided to watch American football and I picked the 49rs because they were the worst team in the NFL, at that time. Little did I know that the franchise would have dominated the eighties and produced players like Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Dwight Clark, Roger Craig and many more. Yet, I had never watched a college football game before last Saturday.

I am a soccer guy, flesh and bones, who called football the sport with a round ball all of his life, but enjoyed watching (a lot) and learning (just a little bit) about this American tradition and settled for calling my football either soccer or futbol, like my Latino friends like to spell it.

I fed from the energy that the campus exuded all week. I enjoyed watching the Sphinx Club members doing their routine before, during, and after the game. I smiled at some bare-chested Wabash students who challenged the chilly weather (some of those fearless souls where my soccer players!). All and all, I was grasped by the colors, the festivities, the atmosphere, the excitement...and the RIVALRY! I saw some very humorous T-shirts and signs from both sides (again, some of my soccer players seemed to be just at the right spot!), but mostly I felt I was part of something bigger than life itself ... a tradition that endures through time!

Just ask the hundreds of alumni who keep coming back year after year. Wabash got under their skin in a way that is impossible to describe unless you are part of the whole experience.

I want to be honest, I also felt envious about it and in my heart hoped that something exciting and engaging like the Monon Bell could be part of our soccer future. Nevertheless, I was glad that some of our soccer recruits came and watched the game. As I glanced through the crowd, trying to find them, I was certain that they were feeling some sort of connection with Wabash, its tradition, and the sense of uniqueness that makes us what we are... a very special place.

The 113th Monon Bell was my first one and it will most definitely be not the last.

My heartfelt congratulations to you coach Creighton and your staff. Even though the season didn't progress to the NCAA play offs, I am sure I share many fans' feeling by saying that the Wabash Football Program, with its players, its staff and its philosophy, has already moved from good to Great! You are an inspiration and an example to follow and I am honored to have you as a colleague.

Posted by Roberto Giannini at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)