No, I'm not opening for Jimmy Buffett (if you're a Parrothead like me you know that Brother James has been opening the Bama Breeze tour with the Willie Nelson classic), but I am leaving the office yet again for a short period of time.

During the school year I'm lucky if I spend four straight days in the office without traveling somewhere (usually someplace with an Ohio zip code). But I've actually spent most of my time in the office in June other than my quick jaunt to Virginia.

But by noon on Friday I should be sitting by bay in San Diego, chatting with some my counterparts in the sports information business as we prepare for the 50th anniversary of our organization, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

A couple of my friends here at the College give me hard time about this annual gathering --- "What a great time it must be hanging out with 2,000 statisticians talking about the best way to stat an offensive rebound in a basketball game!" And while I will admit there are times the conversation does lend itself to the statistical side of our profession, there is a lot more that I take away from the CoSIDA workshop each year.

If the "theft" of an idea is the sincerest form of flattery, then I've dished out more praise than just about anyone else on the planet. Every year I return to Wabash in early July with three or four new ideas for media guides, game notes, story ideas for our local media, or just new and better ways to work with my student workers. I've even had the chance to share some of the innovative ideas I've been a part of developing here at Wabash with some of my fellow SID's during table topic sessions at previous conferences.

There is also the networking time. I've met SIDs that I would not necessarily have regular contact with during the year who have become wonderful people to bounce ideas off of. I know I'll run into Derek Smolik and Bob Lowe (Bob and I will probably end up guarding one another during our annual basketball tournament if everything works out in the tournament draw) at some point during the week.

It's not really a vacation, but it's a good time to share stories, gather ideas, and gear up for the 2007-08 year with people who understand what it's like to be the last person out of the press box.

Count on this though - I'm near the water so there will be some boat time somewhere!

Posted by Brent Harris at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Do you ever notice that sometimes you need a vacation when you come back from vacation?

I took one of my annual summer vacation trips to Virginia last week. At least they've become annual trips as of about three years ago. I visited some friends in the Lynchburg area and had a chance to make a quick stop at Hampden-Sydney College.

I can almost say I had a chance to visit our friends at Hampden-Sydney. Over the past year, there has been an increased effort on the part of both all-male schools to share information, and even share students after a fall break exchange in 2006. I had the opportunity to attend a portion of H-SC's annual Alumni College.

I arrived Saturday morning to hear history professor Ralph Hattox's energetic lecture on the history of the Islamic people. Hattox weaved a verbal tapestry of detail, at one point sharing with the large crowd of Hampden-Sydney alumni gathered for the weekend series the exchange of gifts between the Islamic and Western ambassadors. While the Muslims provide gifts of extravagant beauty, the best gift the Western world could offer was "huntin' dogs!"

Fellow history professor James Simms followed later in the morning session with a fascinating lecture on the science and technological differences between the West and Islam from 400 BC until around 1500 AD. He masterfully explained how the Reformation not only led to a revival of scientific achievement during that time in Western civilization, but continued to lead to even more democratic movements politically as well as religiously.

Some of my time was spent enjoying the wondrous beauty of the Virginia countryside. While there never seems to be enough hours in the day when I make my annual pilgrimage to the East (my goddaughter reminded me once again that I still have not visited a single Civil War site during any of my trips), it was a good opportunity to recharge the batteries.

Now, how many pages do I left to work on in the football media guide?.......... 

Posted by Brent Harris at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)