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I go to events. I write a game story. What appears in the paper and online is very singularly focused. Stats, scoring, quotes. Of course, this isn’t how I actually experience the event. I talk to people, eat some snacks, and hear things out of the crowds not fit to print. Most often when I get home and my wife asks me how the game was, my answer doesn’t have a whole heck of a lot to do with the game.

For instance, I didn’t know what to expect when the crew from Gary’s Tumbling took the floor at the Sidney basketball game Tuesday night. I had seen their traveling trailer in the parking lot when I entered, but I didn’t really think about it again until I saw them unrolling a piece of wrestling mat on the gym floor at halftime. An unfurling mat causes a bit of an adrenaline drop for me. Something about Pavlov and some dogs…

Just the old school wrestler in me I guess, but the Gary’s crew clearly knew what they were doing. What followed was an explosion of tumbling, flexibility and feats of strength that left me in awe. I was so absorbed that I failed to notice the music number to which they performed was “Moves Like Jagger”, which is quite possibly my least favorite song currently getting radio play.

I had time to walk around the school at little bit and I spent a good deal of time admiring the trophy cases. I noticed Steve Meyer’s name appears as a coach on quite a few of them. I’ll mention it to him next time I see him. I already know he will put up a scowling, dismissive front, but secretly be pleased as he recounts each entire season in great detail. It’s like clockwork. I would be proud, too!

Just like anytime, anyplace there is a Cowboy/Cowgirl sporting event, superintendent Gregg Cruickshank will be there somewhere if you look closely. He is the master at blending in and looking like most everyone else, but he is there. It’s almost like a “Where’s Waldo” puzzle book from back in the 90′s. I know I am not the only one who remembers those. Just like Waldo, Mr. Cruickshank is there if you look close enough. Only without the candy-striped shirt. Which I don’t think would be a bad look for him.

Kent Larsen is a man of many talents. Coach, Athletic Director, do it yourself audio set up guy, microphone personality, you name it. He is the opposite of Mr. Cruickshank in that he appears to be everywhere all at once. Like Pacman and Snuffleupagus, Mr. Larsen has the ability to disappear from view on your left and immediately reappear on your right with no time elapsed. He denies it, but I’m pretty sure it’s a superpower.

Mr. Larsen looks the same whether his team is winning or losing, much unlike Dave Dowling who makes it possible to tell exactly who is winning and how his team is playing simply by looking at him instead of the scoreboard. Tuesday he was happy nearly the whole time because his team looked great. Shelby Anderson was nearly unstoppable and impossible to miss with her headband and all her hair stacked on top of her head. From a distance with my poor eyesight it looks like she is balancing something on top of her skull, maybe a pineapple. It’s intimidating and it makes her seem much taller than she already is.

Speaking of tall and intimidating, next time I need someone to watch my back when I go someplace unfriendly I select Rachel Finnell. I saw an East Mills girl try to take a rebound from her and not only did she flatten her opponent with a barrage of twisting elbow smashes, she held the grudge for a few minutes flattening the same girl repeatedly with relentless aggressive defense. The thought of her and Shelby returning next season for another year of carnage in the paint has me excited already.

Erick Rodriguez has phenomenal taste in shirts and ties. His tie the other night was the exact shade of blue that I prefer. He began using the exercise equipment up behind the balcony where I was sitting during the game without properly warming up and I implored him to first attempt the stretching exercises posted on the wall next to the workout area. I know the top sheet of stretches got torn down because the list starts at seven, but half is better than none, right Erick? I think maybe his fellow Cowboys should remind him of the importance of stretching whenever possible. I nominate Jake Cain to be in charge of this.

I wish the boys had won their game too, but all credit is due to East Mills who played well. The Wolverines have had an excellent season, and they deserve at least a share of the conference title which is what Tuesday’s win guaranteed them.

I’m not sure if anything I saw topped the girls from Gary’s Tumbling. Any rhythmic display that can make Maroon 5 not affect me like nails on a chalkboard has to be listed near the top. Sometimes people watching is just as fun as watching a game, and that was certainly the case Tuesday night. See you soon.

I’ve only been covering Corner Conference athletics on a nearly exclusive basis since 2008, so my frame of reference is just that, the last four years. The conference has a long rich tradition, and I love hearing about it. Those of you who talk to me on a fairly regular basis know the avalanche of questions that careen your way when I get a chance to bend your ear about the past. But this isn’t about that. This is about what I have seen since I have been around. At this particular point in conference history, the corner conference basketball title goes through Sidney.

The Cowboys are the two time defending regular season champions, accumulating a 37-7 record against conference foes in that time. Area Player of the Year Heath Huntley and company were nearly perfect in 2009-2010. Trevor Schaaf quietly piloted the Cowboys through a parity-filled field last year, putting the Cowboys in position to win a war of attrition on the last day of the season.

The Cowgirls were regular season champions last year as well, giving Rodeo City a nearly unprecedented double title. The year before, the Cowgirls didn’t win the conference title, but it was Dave Dowling’s squad emerging in the post season. The Cowgirls knocked off Stanton en route to a regional final appearance. No conference school can match this over the course of the last two seasons.

All of this was quickly forgotten this season. The Cowgirls were crushed by graduation and are in a rebuilding year. The Cowboys got off to a bad start, losing an awful game at home to Nishanbotna and then getting whacked by double digits against Fremont-Mills and East Mills. The hype was already there from football season as far as the Wolverines and Knights were concerned. Deservedly so, I might add. After all they were the two best 8-man football teams in the state. It was easy to forget about the defending basketball champs in the face of all that athletic talent.

Stanton got off to a hot start this season as well, but it just didn’t seem all that shocking when the Cowboys upended them in the final seconds just before winter break. That game seemed like a tossup from the start. What followed winter break would have been pretty tough to predict. The Cowboys started by taking revenge on F-M in an overtime game at the high school in Tabor in a game they trailed most of the time. Then in the conference tournament the Cowboys rallied to beat South Page and Stanton before surviving East Mills (and an odd intentional foul call) in the semifinals.

Sidney then proved the game in Tabor was no fluke by defeating the Knights again in the conference final in Malvern. With two of their three conference losses avenged and a tournament title under their belt, the Cowboys turned their attention to Botna last night. Sidney piled up a 25-6 lead and cruised to the win.

The regular season title is still East Mills’ to win. The Wolverines are a game up on F-M and two games up on Sidney. A quick glance at the schedule shows with one week to go, the Wolverines still have games remaining against the Cowboys and Knights. A win Tuesday night all but assures the Wolverines at least a share of the conference title, but that win must come in Sidney against a Cowboy team that is firing on all cylinders.

It’s truly a team without a superstar. Casey Cruickshank provides the emotion. Brendon Hardy is the calm. Jake Cain provides the fearlessness of youth and thanks to the student section I know he is a freshman. Mason Sheldon and Jared Gregory are the enforcers. Nick Shipley brings the odd flash of brilliance. Kent Larsen always has a game plan.

Like I said, I’m new to the conference. I’m even newer to basketball, but my instincts tell me this is a big game for both teams and a lot is on the line in Sidney Tuesday night. A win for the Cowboys all but assures them a top-two finish in the final conference standings. A win for East Mills all but assures them a share of the title.

It’s a big game and it’s been an incredibly fun season for me and an incredible last three seasons for the sport of basketball in Sidney. The Cowboys/Cowgirls have put on quite a show over the last couple season and Tuesday night the road to the boys’ conference title will go through Sidney. It would be a shame to see anything less than a packed house for both games. The entire basketball program has certainly earned it.

Clarinda sophomore Blake Luna looks to score back points during a match earlier this season against Lewis Central. Luna won his second Hawkeye 10 Conference title Saturday, Jan. 28, at Clarinda as he posted a fall in the finals of the 120 pound match. The Cardinals finished sixth in the team standings of the conference tournament. (Herald-Journal photo by Joe Moore)

By Kent Dinnebier

An emotional tribute to former Clarinda Cardinals wrestler Dustin Morrison set the stage for the championship round of the 2012 Hawkeye 10 Conference Wrestling Tournament Saturday, Jan. 28, at Clarinda.

A 2009 graduate of Clarinda High School, Morrison was among a group of four soldiers from the 1st Battalion 168th Infantry Regiment of the Iowa Army National Guard who were injured April 11 when a roadside bomb detonated underneath an armored vehicle in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktia province.

Despite being seriously injured in the incident, Morrison continues to make a remarkable recovery and received an enthusiastic round of applause from the capacity crowd attending the tournament.

Soon after, the Clarinda wrestling fans had another reason to cheer as sophomore Blake Luna claimed his second conference title by winning the 120 pound individual championship. He won the 112 pound title last year as a freshman.

Luna squared off against Reed Nichols of Atlantic in the finals Saturday and built an early 6-2 lead with three takedowns in the first period. Then, early in the second period, he secured the victory with a fall.

Behind the strong performance by Luna, the Cardinals finished the tournament with 105 team points and edged Carroll Kuemper by one point for sixth place honors. Creston won the conference team title with 241.5 points and Atlantic was second with 226.5 points.

The Cardinals also had three wrestlers earn third place medals during the tournament. Luke Strong won a hard fought 3-1 decision over AJ Clark of Glenwood to earn a third place finish at 138 pounds, while Trey White and Cordell Turner also delivered third place finishes for Clarinda at 126 pounds and 152 pounds respectively.

Meanwhile, Scott Brockman came away with a fourth place finish for the Cardinals at 182 pounds and Skyler Shane won his fifth place match at 145 pounds Saturday.

By Kent Dinnebier

Clarinda had its 13-game winning streak snapped Friday, Jan. 27, by Atlantic as the Trojans collected a 55-51 win and knocked the Cardinals from their perch atop the Hawkeye 10 Conference standings.

Both teams entered the pivotal matchup with a 7-1 conference record. However, Clarinda stood at 14-1 overall and Atlantic was 13-2 with one of those losses being a 63-59 overtime loss to the Cardinals Dec. 13in a non-conference game at Atlantic. The lone Clarinda loss coming into play Friday night came against Carroll Kuemper in the second game of the season.

The Cardinals looked determined to duplicate their early victory over the Trojans Friday night as they scored the first five points of the game. Tyler Steeve sank a free throw and soon after Steeve and Jared Stansbury each made baskets to give Clarinda the early advantage.

Following a pair of Atlantic free throws, Dakota Woods connected from the floor and then Steeve knocked down a shot from beyond the three-point arc to extend the lead to 10-2 with 3 minutes, 30 seconds still to play in the opening period.

The lead grew to 10 point points, 16-6, when Kramer Samuelson came up with a steal and a layup for the Cardinals. Samuelson went on to score 13 points on the night for Clarinda.

Stansbury then capped off the dominating first quarter with a basket that gave Clarinda its biggest lead of the game at 19-8. Stansbury led the Cardinals in scoring Friday with 16 points.

Yet, the driving force behind the early success of the Cardinals was Steeve. He scored eight points in the opening period. However, it was a different story for the second in the second quarter as he was whistled for three fouls and was forced to the bench.

As a result, Atlantic was able to chip away at the 11-point deficit and eventually closed the margin to 25-19 as Chad Christiansen hit a three-pointer to close out the first half scoring.

The Trojans continued to creep back into the game as play resumed in the second half. Atlantic closed to within four points before Brandon Sweet drilled a key three-pointer that extended the lead back to 30-23. Sweet had also delivered a basket in the second quarter and finished the game with five points.

However, after Sam Markham came up with a steal and a layup for Atlantic, Steeve was whistled for his fourth foul of the game and was again forced to the bench. He later committed his fifth foul in the final minute of the game and departed with 11 points.

After Stansbury delivered a pair of free throws for the Cardinals, the Trojans took advantage of Steeve’s absence and rattled off 10 unanswered points to close out the period. Then, for good measure, the Trojans tacked on a free throw to open the fourth quarter to seize a 37-32 lead over the Cardinals.

Samuelson stopped the run with a pair of free throws, but Atlantic answered with three shots from beyond the arc. As a result, the Trojans held a 46-39 lead with approximately 2:00 remaining in the game.

With 0:19.3 left on the clock Samuelson gave the Cardinals a small glimmer of hope when he knocked down a three-pointer to draw Clarinda within four points, 52-48. However, the Cardinals would get no closer as Atlantic converted three of four free throws down the stretch.

The final score was set at 55-51 when Woods hit a shot at the final buzzer. He ended the night with six points.

I remember the last time I was truly scared. I’m not talking mildly agitated or somewhat worried. I’m talking terrified for my well-being, death is a distinct possibility scared. I was in my late 20′s and driving east on Interstate 80 through the Nevada desert in the middle of the night. Somewhere west of Winnemucca my headlights lit up a sign that said “Prison zone. Do not stop. Do not pick up hitchhikers. Do not leave your vehicle.” I’ve driven near prisons before, but never in my life seen such a sign. Alone, at night your mind wanders. Why is the sign necessary? What kind of prisoners are there? Much like the warning on my hairdryer warning me to not use while bathing or sleeping, is that sign there because something happened? And then, just like in a bad horror movie, somewhere to the east of that one of my tires blew out. I flew all over the road before finally coming to rest on the shoulder.

It was dark. The kind of dark you only read about in books. Edgar Allen Poe dark. The sky was completely clear and with no light pollution I could see more stars than I dreamed possible. Under different circumstances I might have just sprawled out and counted the constellations for the rest of the night. But, through the lens of a frazzled traveler who had just thought about gruesome death by felons for the last several miles, these stars were scary. I remembered a sign that said Winnemucca was six miles away very recently and on the horizon I could see the lights of a small city. Maybe I just imagined it, needing to see hope. I looked back up at the inky sky and saw three shooting stars in under a minute, so I made a big wish and began to run.

I was pretty fit at the time, but certainly no distance runner. I ran 1.5 miles in nine minutes once, which isn’t exactly going to blow anyone’s doors off. In my estimation, it was certainly slower than a motivated killer, so I lengthened my stride and tried to control my breathing. I never faltered. I was frightened out of my wits, strung out from the road and completely unprepared to run farther and faster than I had in my whole life. It’s amazing what terror and adrenaline will do for your speed and stamina.

This might pale in comparison to some of your own stories of being frightened, but I can only relate to what I have experienced myself. It was a number of factors conspiring to meet all at once that night. There were some powerful forces at work that night, most notably my imagination. And my imagination convinced me that if I didn’t get to town, I might not make it through the night.

I didn’t fear failure that night because failure simply wasn’t an option. Was the danger real? Probably not. But I believed completely it was that night and so I simply didn’t even consider failure. No water, no light, if I collapse from exhaustion the coyotes would find me far sooner than any help might. Oh yeah, don’t forget the conjured image of a frenzied escaped felon bent on my demise catching me in the backstretch. I found mental and physical strength beyond what I had previously known.

I realized that night I could accomplish anything if my mind was right. Fear and anxiety are tools to be used, not to be avoided all together. It’s essential to harness them to achieve your maximum potential. We crave the feeling of fear. Why else would roller coasters or bungee jumping exist? What bad can come from a roller coaster? I can think of a lot of negatives. You could fly out of your seat. The coaster could crash. You could throw up on yourself. Someone else could throw up on you. What can go right? That you don’t die. And to top it off we will pay good money to do it.

So I’ve never been much on being scared since my moonlit run through the desert. I think it’s served me well. I just wish I had this understanding of myself when I was younger, particularly in the athletic and academic realm. Oh, the things I would do differently. I know I’m not the only person to every say “if only I knew then what I know now”, but it’s true. So as February approaches, high school athletes all over the state face the fact that soon they will get out of bed one morning knowing if they don’t win that night their season is over.

This is why post season sports are so much different than the regular season. There is real consequence to losing. If you do there is no tomorrow, no get ‘em next time. And that affects different people in different ways. I’m convinced this pressure is why the craziest things happen in the post season. Some athletes and teams are able to harness the fear and anxiety and create one of those unbelievably glorious moments that leaves people talking for years. Others melt under the glare of the spotlight, unable to bear the weight of the moment. It’s why we pack the gyms to watch. The spectacular upset, the trick play, the leave it all out there game plans.

Do something amazing. Do everything you can to prepare yourself to take advantage of every opportunity. You will be amazed at what you are capable of. It’s more than you ever dreamed possible.

Unfortunately, I didn’t learn this lesson until I was 28 and my great moment was wasted sprinting alone and terrified across the desert in middle of the night. I found a tire shop in town and a person willing to give me a ride back to my truck. He was astonished that I had abandoned my truck and run that far in the middle of the night. So was I. I still am.

Last week I had brief discussion with one of my favorite coaches. Actually he is one of my favorite people, but the discussion centered around athletics, so it’s relevant that he is a coach. He told me about a workout led by one of the best players in the conference, and that he was impressed by how hard they worked.

Not one word about technique, and I am pretty sure there was plenty of it. Not one word about anything other than the ferocity and intensity of the workout. Since then, I have heard or read several other individuals comment on the dedication needed to succeed in any endeavor, most specifically the athletic ones.

The athletic world has a dirty little secret. The key to its success can’t be found in a book, or learned in a summer camp. It’s not something that can be bought and it’s the one thing that truly makes athletics fair, because everyone one has access to it. Hard work. Mind numbing, exhausting, repetitive hard work. Cardio until you puke, weightlifting until failure, and playing whatever sport it is you love as much as possible against a wide variety of opposition. Preferably opponents more skilled than you.

Of course they don’t tell you at that expensive camp you went to. No one will pay money to throw up or bleed. Much easier to tell yourself that a four day technique camp over the off-season is all you need to do in order to be ready. Simply being around around big name, expensive talent will not cause you to learn so much that you will be miles ahead come high school season. Not if you aren’t back home working hard on what you learned at least four or five times a week after the camp is over.

If you aren’t going to do that, save your money. You ever see those infomercials that advertise a pill or technique that will cause you to lose body fat without diet or exercise? That doesn’t work either and deep down inside everyone who pays for the product knows that. There are no shortcuts. It’s the reason steroids are such an unfair advantage. Not because they make you big and strong. They don’t. What they do is give your body the ability to work out harder and more often. Quick recovery time. They can pack more hard work into a day than someone who is not cheating. Yes that’s exactly what it is. It’s cheating and its repulsive.

Surely technique is important you say? Of course it is and the more exhausted you get, the better your technique has to be. When you have no spare energy, you cannot waste motion. You cannot be out of position. Everything has to be perfect when you are exhausted, or it will simply fail. Train your technique when you are ready to collapse, and work hard to reach exhaustion. Your technique will improve. I promise. So does your coach.

Finding that glorious balance between exhaustion and exhilaration is a sign that you are making progress. Learning to recognize that the agony of getting out of bed in the morning is just your body repairing itself to do it all over again. You learn to detach yourself from it and use soreness and fatigue as simple barometers of how hard you are working, almost like the instrument panel on a car. There is nothing as wonderful as facing an opponent who doesn’t have this ability. You see the uncertainty in their eyes, watch them falter, and then quit all together. You own them and you will never look at each other the same again.

When I was in high school, the college wrestlers used to come back for our practices when they had time. They would warm up by practicing with one of us and then hang around and go after each other when our practice was over. More than once I was reduced to an exhausted, sweating, crying pile of rage and sweatsuits, unable to stand yet still vowing revenge. Revenge that would never come of course, but man I was improving every day even if I didn’t know it then.

Besides, the sting of one’s pride being taken and the dull ache of getting out of bed to do it all over again the next day are temporary. The agony that comes with someday realizing you didn’t try your hardest to attain whatever goal it is that you have is twice as painful. And it’s permanent.

I’ve seen the girl who led the workout at the start of this story play. She is special already. The girl she was working out with isn’t even in high school yet. I’ll bet any amount of money you want that she will be amazing someday and I plan to be around to watch it all unfold.

I sleepwalk. I’m pretty sure I have mentioned that before but but that doesn’t mean you read it then, so I’ll mention it right up front. I also run into stuff when walking a lot, even when I am not asleep. The two combine in an equation completely laden with potential fail. I don’t know where I was headed when I got out of bed last night, but I know where I ended up. I ran my knee directly into the sharp corner of one of my stereo speakers. A big, heavy one.

It’s an incredibly confusing way to wake up and if you have ever taken a direct blow to the kneecap, you know where I was in that moment. The speaker was sharp. Really sharp. The impact of my kneecap moved the whole speaker about a foot. I struggled to stifle the scream that tried to come out of my mouth and my competitive instincts kicked in. I did what ever coach I ever had since the beginning of time would have told me to do. Yep, I got up and walked it off.

In retrospect, it seems like such a foolish thing to do. Is it the best thing to immediately put one’s full body weight on the very knee joint that just suffered blunt force trauma? Maybe not. I’m a grown man in my own home. I can do what I want. Apparently what I wanted to do was get up and walk off a crippling leg injury. So I did. Not surprisingly, this approach made it hurt much, much worse. I staggered forward into the kitchen to compensate for not being able to bear any weight on my aching limb. I felt a trickle on my shin bone. I remember thinking it was likely blood from my knee right about the time I hit my head on a cupboard door that I had left open before turning in for the night. I saw stars, felt the corner of the cupboard door dig into my scalp and I went down again.

What are my instincts when I fall and suffer some sort of injury? Yep, you may have already figured out what I did next. Keep in mind I had been in a sound sleep not 10 seconds before, so cut me some slack. I popped right back up to my feet and hit my head on the same door. The three knockdown rule is always enforced at my house so this time I stayed down. I took inventory of myself, found that everything was working properly, and carefully stood up to find something with which to clean up my blood. I didn’t need my wife waking up to a blood-stained house to add to my quickly mounting set of injuries.

My head and leg ache today and it’s given me plenty of time to stop and take pause. Who in the heck first said “get up and walk it off”, anyway? I heard it a million times from a million sources and here I am a 41 year old man still doing it. As it turns out the only thing that is really injured is my pride, but what if? Oh well. I’m still learning life lessons. I’ll chalk this one up to experience right after I rearrange the setup of my stereo system.

My knee and head will take a little more time to right themselves.

With the impending New Year nearly upon us, I took a look back at 2011 and compiled a purely opinion based list of my favorite moments for the calendar year. I gave priority to events I actually saw, but anything was fair game. I tried to take into account relative importance of the event as well as how visual pleasing it may have been. Presented in chronological order.

1. February 8th. Fremont-Mills avenged a shellacking in the first round of the Corner Conference basketball tournament at the hands of Clarinda Academy, punishing the Eagles 72-49, after losing 70-44 earlier that season. The win knocked the Eagles out of a first place tie for the conference title with Sidney, gift wrapping the Cowboys a second straight conference title on the very last day of the regular season. That gave Sidney a clean sweep of the basketball season at the Cowgirls had already wrapped up their title earler, making Sidney basketball central for the area in 2011. It’s a;lso worth noting that the previously mentioned win for Clarinda Academy over F-M in last years conference tournament is the last time F-M lost a basketball game to a Corner Conference opponent.

2. April 13th. One season before, Andrew Thompson snuck up on area runners, establishing himself as the areas premiere distance runner, despite the fact he hadn’t run distance races prior to that season. in 2011, he was a marked man and after Shenandoahs Sean Skillern placed at the state cross country meet in the fall, it was inevitable that the two would meet the next track season. The showdown came at the Mustang Relays in front of a huge, partisan crowd. Thompson won the two-mile by a comfortable margin, but Skillern opened up a big lead in the mile and the home crowd stood and roared only to watch in disbelief as Thompson ran Skillern down at the tape, winning by a quarter of a second.

3. May 12th. At the regional track meet in Corning Sidney’s streak of state qualifiers was in trouble. The Cowboys were down to Casey Cruickshank who would be running in the 800 against Conrad Sain of Treynor and Michael Kauffman of Orient-Macksburg, both of whom had recorded faster times in the event. Still, with all non-winners having a chance to qualify through time comparison, Cruickshank would have a chance to go if he ran fast enough regardless of where he finished. Sain started to pull away but Cruckshank kept within striking distance of Kauffman. Kauffman nipped him at the tape, but Cruickshanks time was fast and when the results from around the state came the nesxt day he was on the qualifier list. Not only did the Sidney streak survive, the news that Cruikcshank and Alexa Whitehill of South Page had both snared spots gave every Corner Conference school at least one qualifier.

4. September 2nd. In a game nearly devoid of offense, Sam Kroepl raced 80 yards to give Shenandoah the only score of the game in a 7-0 win over Red Oak, breaking the longest losing streak in the state. There had been several near misses in the three years prior and were the better team several times in games they ended up losing. On field meltdowns, bad luck, bad calls and personal changes were all responsible, but Kroepl’s run stood the game on its head because the Tigers hadn’t come close to scoring all season. it was the break the Mustangs needed and it was the first of three wins for Shen, making P.J. Hedrington’s first season an unquestionable success.

5. October 21st. A.J. Scarborough went 65 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the East Mills/Fremont-Mills showdown. That was bad news for the Wolverines who had to be hoping they had an answer for everything but Nate Meier. Scarborough’s run established immediately that indeed the Knights had more than one weapon and the writing was on the wall in the battle of the two best 8-man teams in the state. With the Wolverine defense having to worry about multiple breakaway threats, Meier went on to nearly 500 yards of rushing that night and F-M went on to easily win the state title.

Thirty years ago, in what seems like a completely different lifetime, I competed in a youth wrestling tournament at South Page High School in College Springs. It was December of 1981. I’ve been back to the Springs since. I’ve covered a couple football games there and even a baseball game a couple summers ago. But I hadn’t been back to the high school itself.

So last weekend when I was sizing up the weeks’ basketball games, the fact that Essex was playing the Rebels in College Springs all but made my decision for me. I was curious for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that the two teams will play together next season. In fact the girls already do and the girls from the two schools watched much of the game together.

I wasn’t sure what to expect. I don’t know all that many people from Essex and I know barely anyone from South Page, but its always fun to see something new so I grabbed a notebook and a camera and headed down to the southern extreme of Page County.

What I had failed to take into consideration is the fact that I am married to a Sunderman, and that means almost mathematical certainty that I will be related to at least one person present anytime I attend any event of any type in Page County. Of course the minute I walked in to the gym I ran into the Rebels number one most passionate fan, Chris Sunderman, who is actually fairly closely related to my wife’s family.

I don’t know if you have ever watched an athletic event with Chris, but listening to his stories is nearly as entertaining as the contest itself. He delighted me with tales of his own youth wrestling tournaments in College Springs back in the day and insisted he missed wrestling the most because its the only sport where you can legally lift your opponent before slamming him to the ground.

He knew as much about the athletes from Essex as he did the home team and on one occasion he exploded into applause for Levi Allen making a nice play before shaking his head and looking at me.

“I know I should wait until next year,” he said. “But I can’t help but cheer for the Essex guys when they do something well.”

It was indicative of the entire night. There was no lack of intensity in the gym. Both team were playing hard. There was just zero animosity. It was a gym full of people who have realized the path they have chosen requires they to throw in together and work as one long term. The adults are leading by example and if anyone in the gym was particularly frumpy or disenfranchised about the arrangement for the future, they did a good job of keeping it to themselves.

And when I shifted to the baseline to take a final barrage of photos before the end of the game, I bumped into Essex Athletic Director T.J. Young who on an unrelated note was rocking an absolutely stellar pair of bright red shoes. T.J. wound up standing next to Chris himself and the two talked for the rest of the game, presumably about the past and what lay ahead for everyone in the future.

It’s refreshing to see adults lead the way. Sports consolidation is tough for everyone involved and its next to impossible for kids to get along with each other when their parents are hostile. No evidence of that Tuesday night.

The game finished and I did some interviews and prepared to leave. Chris told me one more story about how some of his toughest wrestling matches as a boy were against his brother Curt. Curt, he claimed, relied too much on technique and was unable to overcome Chris’ older brother strength. He also said he wasn’t sure if he could take him now because Curt had boys who had wrestled for Shenandoah and that would give him a chance to practice on a regular basis. I smell a grudge match at the next family reunion. I will happily referee.

South Page won the game, but the contest itself was just one of many things I enjoyed that night. The gym just had a good vibe. I can pretty much guarantee it won’t be another 30 years before I return.

I went over to Sidney the other night to see the Cowboys take on visiting Nishnabotna in a boy/girl doubleheader. I’ve had more occasion to see games over the last few years and I find myself having a better understanding of what exactly is going on as far as X’s and O’s go. I get a sense of why a player is headed in a certain direction and what he hopes to accomplish by doing so. It’s the rules that are killing me. I discover more basic rules that I never had any idea existed.

A three-second violation? Are you kidding me? Fortunately I watched a good of both games with Donnie Sears and he was able to clue me in on some of the details. He explained the rule to me. I cannot for the life of me imagine how someone could keep track of where they were standing while trying to track a ball and keep tabs on five opponents at the same time. It got called two or three times that night so I guess its not just me.

All this counting. The referees are always jabbing their hand in the air and counting for some reason or another. Three seconds. Five seconds. Even ten seconds depending on what exactly is going on at the moment. None of this counting has anything to do with the actual game clock, which seems to stop constantly. It’s pretty easy to follow the scoreboard. You can keep track of just about anything on there. The score, time remaining, team fouls, quarter, and in a true statement of how seriously basketball takes its rules, there is a special spot on the scoreboard just to let everyone know just exactly who has committed a foul and whether or not that person is a repeat offender.

After every foul is called, the offenders jersey number is displayed along with how many times that night he/she has broken a rule. Sometimes the other team is awarded free throws which means the fouler has to stand by and watch while the foulee gets to shoot with no one defending them. This again reenforces the importance of following the rules. The rules that I am not yet completely familiar with. This is going to take some work.

For the players that just can’t get it right after multiple warnings, basketball saves its ultimate punishment. Five strikes and you are out. Upon a players fifth foul they are forbidden to play for the rest of the game and are almost always banished to the far end of the bench with only a towel. That would certainly be me if I attempted to play at this point.

The whole blocking/charging thing is still killing me. Everyone keeps telling me I’ll catch on as I watch more and more, but they all agree the rule itself can be very subjective and interpretation can differ from ref to ref. I always feel so bad for the guy who gets called for blocking. After he/she peels themselves off the wall and stands back up, they will see their number displayed for all to see and more often than not be forced to watch the guy or girl who administered that freight-training shoot free throws.

Maybe I am wrong but it seems like MOST of the time it’s blocking that gets called. If I am way, way off on that I apologize. Either way, there always seems to be a much more intense reaction from the crowd when the charge is called and the player who got flattened will jump up much quicker only to get the crap smacked out of him by appreciative, enthusiastic teammates who will swarm him in a hoarde.

It’s an intense sport. Much more intense than I originally gave it credit for. I think the crowd plays a large role as well. A larger role than even football since it’s indoors and the sound just reverberates all over the gym. I think very few football crowds, especially in rural Iowa, can whip up enough frenzy to truly impact a game on a regular basis. That’s not so in a gym and indeed it seems to be a tradition to shout as loudly as possible and wave anything you can in a distracting fashion when the opponents are shooting free throws.

In short, I am enjoying my foray into basketball much more than I thought I would. I am learning quickly about the nuances and rules, and hopefully I will continue to gain an appreciation and understanding of this very popular sport. At the very least, I hope to avoid being banished with only a towel to show for for my efforts.