I know there are some of you out there wondering why you opened the sports page of the Wabash web site and saw two guys standing by jet skis and a story about fishing as the lead item. Particularly going into a big Homecoming weekend.

I'll be the first to admit for years I never thought of fishing as a "sport." I had the opportunity years ago to spend a week in Canada on a fishing trip (one of those spoils of being the production director of a newspaper and print shop). I enjoyed the trip, but I just never got the thrill of fishing.

I am, however, one of those people who can watch poker on TV (when I'm not playing it) and enjoy every second of it. To me, I understand poker, chess, or similar games being consider a "sport" by the fans. I don't try to explain it. It really is a personal thing. I will even admit publicly I watch curling when it's on TV during the winter Olympics. I don't know why, but it fascinates me. And I've even learned to enjoy equestrian events on television thanks to two friends who have taught me the basics of the sport.

My neighbor really started changing my mind about fishing. Dan is a professional bass fisherman. He goes to tournaments all the time, and can earn some big prize money. So let's see --- physical activity that provides income and requires preparation and training. So what's different about that from any other sport we enjoy in person or on television.

The men of Wabash constantly surprise me. A few years ago I wrote a story in the alumni magazine about one of our students who became a professional bull rider. He traveled (on his own) to rodeos, trained, and eventually became ranked in the national polls (another sign you're a sport). I watched our ultimate disc team play a weekend tournament last year (and I've tried to play the game with our cross country team a few times). I know that's a sport.

Now James Ket and Andrew Newkirk are competing at the highest level of the collegiate ranks in a fishing tournament. It reminds me a lot of Geoff Lambert battling at nationals last season. So you'll find a photo of James and Andrew on the main sports page, and when they win it all for themselves and Wabash this weekend, you'll find them right back there again.

Posted by Brent Harris at 08:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This will come as a shock to some of you. This entry will not feature any song titles or references to music and really won't follow much of a theme. I just thought it would be nice to share some thoughts about the fall season.

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Hard to believe we're almost a month into the fall sports season. And it certainly feels like we're in mid-season form. We've now been able to add Live Stats to football and soccer home games thanks to the new wireless network on campus. We did a lot of testing this weekend, and I know from comments submitted by a few people who helped in the testing that everything worked very well. Thanks, Brad Weaver, and the rest of the IT department for all of your hard work over the year to make these thing happen.

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Speaking of the web, I get a lot of comments from Wabash fans about how much they like our web site. A lot of that thanks should go to the unsung hero of the Wabash web, Mark Siegel. Mark is our programmer and makes all of the pieces of the web site work. The popup pages that now appear on the fall roster pages? That's all Mark's programming. I'm always thrilled to hear comments and thoughts as to how we can make the site better, so keep those coming. I also want to thank those behind-the-scenes people who help make it so good.

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Speaking of behind the scenes, an additional amount of material on the web and in print happens because of some outstanding student-workers in my office. Josh Vaughan put all of the player bios together in about four days, sifting through 175 questionnaires to place all of that info on the web. Home soccer matches can't run efficiently if we didn't have Bryan Reeder, Austin Faulkner, Bogdan Stancu, Curt Peterson, and Bobby Wade and the rest of the guys at the table. The list of workers at football games is to numerous to mention here, but I will try to tell their story later this year. All those stats, the play clock, and those programs you all gobbled up this weekend (my program sales budget thanks you!) are all handled by Wabash students, and are handled as efficiently and professionally as any adult group I've seen working at Division I schools. If fact, my crew corrected me on two yard line spots in the Franklin game. And I'm supposed to be the professional (my excuse is I had other items going on at the time, but it's a pretty flimsy excuse).

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How about that Wabash cross country team! Two first place finishes out of three races this year. Roger Busch and a small but might Red Pack are sending a notice that they refuse to be a middle-of-the-pack team in any race.

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Even though we're very early in the fall season, the winter sports are starting practices. Swimming always gets things underway with their fall lessons program. It was another successful year for the program now led by John Weitz and Kyle Dunaway (not to mention a great group of swimmers who really enjoy working with all of the young kids who participate in the program).

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A final word - thank you to everyone who has had such nice comments, emails, and notes (I received two copies of Jim Amidon's column along with cards in the mail last week) regarding my recent award. It is nice to see one's work appreciated, but that's not why I do what I do. I do it because it's a lot of fun, and the stories I get to tell are so remarkable. So thank you all for your kind words, but we know return you to regularly scheduled programming.......

Posted by Brent Harris at 08:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)