So here we are, first day of practice, and I’m sitting here in the middle of a small break wondering where my summer went.  Not that I’m complaining; after all, it’s my senior year and I’m ready to go, as are the rest of the guys on our team, especially my fellow seniors.  Last week, I, along with 15 of my senior teammates traveled to West Virginia for our senior trip to go whitewater rafting and camping.  It was an awesome experience.  I’m far from a country boy, so the whole “let’s go to West Virginia and camp in the wilderness” thing wasn’t necessarily up my alley, but when it was all said and done, we had an awesome time, and there were no incidents a la Deliverance.  Highlights of the trip included Denver Wade losing his sunglasses out my van’s window on the way down (according to Mr. Wade, $160 sunglasses, no less), Dan Eddelman trying to start a fire while others criticized, and me knocking our boat’s guide out of the boat (according to him, “For the first time all season.”; I was proud of this).   

For the years that I’ve been at Wabash, it has always been a tradition for the seniors to go on a trip the week prior to the season starting.  They’ve climbed mountains and jumped out of airplanes, among other things, and it has always seemed to be a great experience for the men who went.  It gives us an opportunity to talk about the upcoming season, and really bond with the guys that you came in with.  After all, my class started with about 60 guys, were down to around 35 after one year, and now we sit with 20 after inheriting 2 from last year’s class (a great thing, because they’re both studs).  So since we’ve all been through football together for the last 3 years, we all have great relationships, and I think it shows, both on and off the field.  

            Our first practice today went well, and I only expect things to improve as we keep moving along.  My own personal blog will be updated here before too long, so look out for that.  In the meantime, I’ll try to gather up some entertaining summer stories.  I’m out. 

-Matt Hudson