Being a beach bum, my month away from social media and the end of this blog as we know it

It’s been about two months since my last blog so I’ll update you about what’s been going on and my plans for 2017!

What have I been doing?

A lot actually.

Without going into all the boring details I’ve been doing a lot of work and a lot of traveling.  The month of November was very busy as we signed 13 recruits in the early signing period (most ever for Wichita State).  We lose a lot to graduation on the women’s side this year and have made some significant progress this fall in replacing some of those great athletes.

We had our annual Intrasquad Meet in December, which came off well.  Our kids look like they had a solid fall.

View from my room at the convention

Most of my December was spent traveling.  I went to Orlando for our annual USTFCCCA Convention, which is always a lot of fun and a lot of learning.  I saw some great speakers and got to hang out with a bunch of coaching friends as well.

Then I headed down the east coast of Florida for the next week.  I went to Melbourne Beach (south of Cape Canaveral), South Beach Miami, Key Largo and Key West and then back up the Gulf of Mexico side through the Everglades, up to Naples and then to Punta Gorda (near Ft Myers) where my mom lives.

Key West being a beach bum

After that couple weeks of sun and 85 degrees in Florida, I headed north to Ohio for a few chilly days before going back to Wichita for New Year’s.

It was a great trip to get away and put some perspective on life.  Sometimes when you are going full blast at work for months at a time it’s good to take a break before heading back to work.  And now I’m definitely refreshed and excited for the next six months of track and field!

We had a track meet at KU Friday.  We only had a couple of practices since we got back so this was a meet to kind of “shake off the rust” so to speak.  Overall it went well and next week we really get our indoor season going at home against KU and Kansas State on Thursday.

What have I not been doing?

Social Media.

I decided to take the month of December away from social media and I’m glad I did!  Except for the rare post for work, I didn’t read a thing on Facebook, Twitter or post a Snapchat story for a month.

Why?  This year’s election brought out a lot of negativity on social media and I just got tired of seeing it.  Even though I would block or unfollow much of what I didn’t want to see it was about impossible to shield myself totally from all the terrible comments, articles and crap out there.  So the ultimate “unfollow” was to never log on in the first place.

What did I do when I got bored?  If I couldn’t look at Facebook, Twitter or Snapchat how would I ever pass the time?  Well I started reading a lot more books.  I started going for walks around downtown Wichita (where I live) discovering lots of cool new places.  I started having more one on one communication with the people I was around.  To sum it up, I merely tried being a real person.

I’m going to head back to social media now but in a more limited way than before.  Hopefully most of the political stuff is gone and I can go back to seeing pictures of my friends’ pets and kids.

The end of this blog as we know it …

After a few years of pretty consistent writing, I feel like it has started to become a little redundant.  So I’m going to make a massive change in what I post.  I've always received a lot of great comments about this blog and I genuinely appreciate everyone who comes here and reads from time to time.

Going back to my thoughts on social media, I decided I want to use my platform for a much more positive message.  I have so many great people in my life that have had such a positive influence on me that I would like to try and share that with anyone who might be interested.

Instead of a weekly blog about what I’m doing, I’m going to write about a different person in my life who inspires me.  And hopefully some of those writings may inspire others.  It’s my way of thanking all of you who have made my life so great over the years.

Final thoughts …

I may throw in some track and field, movie or travel blogs from time to time but I’m going to try and make 2017 less about me and more about what a wonderful world I’m fortunate to be a part of.

I do a weekly email for anyone interested in Wichita State Track & Field so feel free to email jwise@goshockers.com if you want to be part of that mailing list to keep up with the Shockers!

I’m sure I’ll lose a portion of my readership but that’s ok.  I’m not trying to win any elections this year.  Haha.

Until next time, thanks for reading and Go Shocks!

USTFCCCA Convention recap

I’ve been bad at blogging in the last few months because of a variety of reasons but I will try to do better!  I’ve had several people ask me to keep it up so for my loyal followers (about 10 of you) I will do my best.  I have a lot of things I would like to write about and I’m not sure where to start.  With the holiday break coming up I will probably write several blogs about a variety of topics but for this week I will keep it to ……

The USTFCCCA Convention

Every year the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) holds their annual convention where track and field coaches from all levels, divisions and from all around the country converge for a week of learning and discussing our favorite sport.

A lot of people ask me what goes on at this convention so I will keep a “sort of” journal of the happenings.

Here goes …..

Monday

With the convention being in San Antonio this week, most of our staff decided to make the 9-hour drive from Wichita together (Coach Rainbolt went down early).  We have five of our full-time staffers on the trip so the 15 passenger van wasn’t too crowded.  We rolled out of WSU at 8:30am and headed south!

Our Director of Operations Ryan Patton took the first shift and drove us to Ardmore, Oklahoma, where we stopped off for lunch.  Being a night person myself, and waiting to pack until around midnight, I slept most of the morning.

Pole Vault coach Pat Wilson took the wheel next and gave us his thoughts on some of the best music bands of his generation.  Pat used to be a drummer in a local band so he definitely knows his stuff.  Don’t ever try to play name that tune with Coach Wilson.

I took over after dinner and we rolled into San Antonio around 8pm.  There were already dozens of coaches starting to socialize in the lobby of the JW Marriott.  After a quick run and shower I headed down to say hey and have a drink with some of my coaching friends.  Besides the WSU coaches, I saw my good friend Sean Lonergan from Stephen F Austin, Keith Roberts and Alonzo Webb from Pitt, Wendel McRaven from Texas A&M, Adam Bray from Pitt, the list goes on and on.  These late night socials create conversations from simply catching up with each other to talking about the future of our sport.

I was waiting up late to wait for former Shocker Nate Thiesfeld (who coaches at High Point University) to arrive from a delayed flight but eventually had to head to bed because Tuesday I’ll be playing in the annual golf outing and need to be up early.  The outing will be played on the very difficult TPC San Antonio which has been the host of the PGA’s Valero Texas Open.  I haven’t played golf in a couple months so hopefully I can keep it in the fairway.  Luckily it’s a scramble format so I only have to play ¼ as good as normal.

Tuesday

I woke up around 6:30am and walked over to the TPC San Antonio Oaks Course that is on the property of the JW Marriott.  It is host to the Valero Texas Open on the PGA Tour and fellow Kent State alum Ben Curtis won here in 2012.

There were about 20 teams of four playing in the coaches tournament and my team included our head coach Steve Rainbolt, former Shocker jumps coach (and now Southern Illinois coach) Terry VanLaningham and Black Hills State University head coach Seth Mischke (our ringer).  It was a fun and difficult course to play and led by Seth we shot 8-under par 64 to tie for third place.  We all took home about $300 worth of Nike golf stuff.  Good times!

Golfing took longer than scheduled and none of us had eaten lunch so I went with Terry and Seth to get some Chinese food around 3pm instead of hitting up some of the teaching symposiums.  I made sure our volunteer sprint coach Shamoya went to them and she filled me in on what happened later that evening.

After a power nap we all got dressed up to attend the USTFCCCA Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.  The USTFCCCA does a very professional job in all aspects of the convention and especially on events like the Hall of Fame (and later this week the Bowerman Awards).  There were six men and women being honored and after a short film each of them spoke about their careers and the people who influenced them the most.  It was a long ceremony (over 3 hours) but I enjoyed listening to the legends of our sport talk track.  There were some crazy and hilarious stories told as well as some tears shed.

Around 11pm everyone was pretty tired but we met up in one of the hotel rooms and chatted with new and old colleagues until around 2am.  I finally got a chance to meet up with Nate Thiesfeld as well as hanging out with other High Point and Stephen F Austin coaches.  I fell asleep around 2:30am.

Wednesday

Being slightly deprived of sleep, I decided to sleep in until 9am and then catch a symposium by former Illinois sprint/hurdle coach Gary Winkler about the do’s and don’ts of training.  Gary is a great coach and I always enjoy listening to what he has to say – and usually it reinforces what we are already doing.  This symposium was no different.  Good stuff.  Also Carl Lewis (coaches at Houston) sat right in front of me for the session.

Then it was off to the “Opening Session” where everyone gathers to honor national champion coaches from 2015 and listen to the keynote speaker.  This year’s speaker was Oliver Luck from the NCAA (he’s also NFL Quarterback Andrew Luck’s dad).  He gave a lengthy speech about the issues facing the NCAA as we head into the next few years.  He didn’t talk very specifically about track and field, which was disappointing, but overall it was a good speech and we were all ready for lunch.

Later in the afternoon we had our first NCAA Division I General Session.  This is where the coaches at the DI level get together to talk about issues surrounding our sport and how to make it better.  Sometimes there are entertaining arguments but usually it’s pretty cordial and informative.  After this meeting we broke out into meetings with our conferences so the Missouri Valley Conference coaches discussed some of the same issues in a smaller forum.  One of the main discussions was should we change the outdoor 1500m race to the Mile.  The 1500m is the international distance but most Americans connect with the Mile better.  We will vote on these issues Friday morning and if they pass it will go to the NCAA for approval.  Sometimes we vote overwhelmingly for an issue and the NCAA still rejects it.

After the meetings, Mondo sponsored a fantastic BBQ dinner where we all ate way too much really good food.  They also had some fun stuff like wall climbing, skeet shooting, photo booths, etc. but mostly we just hung out and socialized with our fellow coaches.  I spent most of my night with my good friend Kevin Lucas who is the head coach at Mount Union, a D3 school in Ohio.  We went to the same high school and it is always fun to catch up with him and his wife Holly who is speaking at the convention about “Preparing for your future after coaching”.  She’s a lawyer.  Kevin did good, haha.

I also got to hang out with former Shocker coach Marc Burns (currently at Missouri) and former Kent State coach Wendel McRaven (currently at Texas A&M).  It’s always interesting to hear stories from the SEC and of course they love to hear stories about Coach Rainbolt.

Turning in around 1am tonight. Thursday will be full of activities once again including the annual Bowerman Awards, which crowns the top NCAA Track & Field athletes of the year!

Thursday

I woke up early Thursday to get some complimentary breakfast and then workout before heading to hear Virginia Tech coach Dave Cianelli speak about building track and field programs as well as Ralph Lindeman talk about the high hurdles.  There was also a lunch sponsored by Nike before heading to another of the NCAA DI General Sessions.

But the highlight of the day was the Bowerman Awards, which is basically the Heisman Trophy of Track and Field.  I’ve been fortunate to attend each of the award ceremonies since it began in 2009 and it’s always a very classy presentation.  This year ESPN’s John Anderson was the host (he was a high jumper at Missouri) and, like in previous years, he was very funny and did a great job.

Oregon sprinter/jumper Jenna Prandini and Florida jumper Marquis Dendy won and everyone had a great evening.  Afterwards I got to hang out with former Shocker coach Joe Eby (now at Baldwin Wallace) and our Shocker coaches.  I went to bed reasonably early (11pm) because Friday would be a long drive home.

Friday

The main thing that happens on the final day of the convention is voting on topics that we may or may not send to the NCAA committee for review for Division I T&F.  Here is a review of the topics and what the voting results were:

The first proposal was to add scholarships that would be designated for cross country and it failed 194-191.  This was the closest vote of the convention.  This is a very complicated proposal that is hard to fairly explain on both sides so I won’t go into great detail here but, obviously, it was split amongst the coaches.  Generally the Power 5 coaches voted for it while the others voted against.

The next proposal passed easily 331-65, where the NCAA would come up with a practice schedule for the championships.  The practice days are kind of crazy at a facility with hundreds of people trying to workout so this proposal would help alleviate some of that cluster.  Hopefully the NCAA comes up with something that works for everyone.

Another vote that passed 258-113 was to define what a track and field meet competition is.  This seems obvious but it’s the first step in helping define our sport a little bit better for the general public.  This will not change most track meets in any manner.

The next one was hotly debated – should we stay with the 1500m or go back to the Mile at the NCAA DI level?  Going back to the mile won 221-169.  This was interesting because usually distance coaches generally agree with each other but this one was split.  We will see if the NCAA approves it, and if so it may go into effect in 2017.

The next proposal was also aggressively debated.  It was to reduce the number of All-American awards from the current (top 8 first team, next 8 second team, next 8 honorable mention) to just the top-8 for All-American status.  It was defeated 238-160.  This topic had the most discussion of any proposal and it looks like we will stay with the same system for honoring All-Americans.

The final proposal was a minor one that passed 311-91 where teams have to have the same uniform for the duration of each day of competition.  For example you can’t have sprinters in black and throwers in gold on the same day.

After the voting we packed up and headed back to Wichita around 11am.  I drove the final leg from Dallas and we got home around 10pm.  Myself and Coach Wilson spent most of the trip talking about our team and the upcoming season.  We’re both excited to get things going in January!  I slept in until 11am Saturday.

Final thoughts

I always enjoy going to the USTFCCCA Convention and this one was no different.  Mostly I enjoyed reconnecting with friends and colleagues that I rarely see anymore but I also enjoy learning things at the symposiums and listening to the proposals that try and better our sport.

Next year we will go to Orlando!  

Next time

So many things to talk about but I’ll probably give an update on our team, how the Intrasquad Meet went and our expectations for the year.

Until then, thanks for reading and Go Shocks!

Convention recap, Will the "Power 5" doom T&F, The Interview and a bunch of good "R" movies

Even though we’re on a break from practice and competition, there’s still plenty going on in the world of track and field.

Track and Field

Most of my time this week was spent in Phoenix, Arizona, at the USTFCCCA Convention.  It was another good convention where I was able to learn some things, discuss our sport with peers and see lots of coaching friends in a relaxed social atmosphere (and play a little golf).

Here is the day-by-day of what I did at the convention:

Sunday – I arrived around 10pm and hung out with friends from Texas A&M, Pittsburgh and Auburn.  We mostly talked about our head coaches and their unique personalities.

Monday – I played in the coaches’ golf tournament with Coach Rainbolt as well as friends from Stephen F. Austin and Black Hills State.  Our group only managed to place 10^th out of 19 teams with an -8 score of 64, but we had a blast and unfortunately it was the only day I played golf this week.  Later in the day I went and saw legendary coach Dan Pfaff talk about sprinting.  Pfaff has coached some of the fastest men in the world and it was a comfort knowing that much of his philosophy is the same as ours at Wichita State.  Also on Monday I listened to well-known recruiting expert Dan Tudor speak about how to brand our program in the recruiting process.  He was very interesting and I plan on using several of his ideas immediately.  I also attended the Hall of Fame dinner and induction ceremony where six coaches were honored.  Our director of operations Ryan Patton arrived very late in the evening after flight delays so I stayed up and socialized with coaches from our staff and many others who passed through the crowded lobby bar until he arrived.

Tuesday – I got up and worked out for a while before heading to what’s called the Opening Session of the Convention, where everyone is welcomed and someone of high regard usually speaks.  The speaker this year was Jeff Schemmel, who is a former track coach and athletic director, who tried to give us some insight on what’s happening at the NCAA level and how it will affect our sport.  As you may know the NCAA will be going through some major changes in the upcoming months.  The “Big 5” conferences have autonomy to make whatever rules they want and the rest of us will have to deal with it.  Much of what they will do will likely result is more spending and thus could affect Olympic sports like track and field.  The one sobering statement Schemmel made was, “Your program might not get cut but you are probably sitting next to someone who will have their program cut.”  I could go on in a lot of detail about this topic but before knowing what the Power 5 conferences are going to do it’s probably a waste of this space.  Check back in a couple months for those thoughts.  I also went to a short session where former Oregon coach and now Tracktown, USA, bigwig Vin Lannana spoke about how to connect our sport better with our community.  I got some good ideas from this session that I hope to use during the track season to get more people interested in Wichita State Track and Field!  We then had a Division I general session and Missouri Valley Conference breakout where we talked about many of the issues facing our sport like possible rule changes, changes to our national meet and how to make our sport more important on our campuses.  The night finished with an excellent barbeque dinner sponsored by Mondo where we all overate and hung out talking about our sport until midnight.

Wednesday – After getting up for another morning workout, this day was filled mostly with being in the Division I general meetings where coaches debated topics from the day before.  Sometimes there can be some very entertaining back and forth discussions but usually we don’t end up accomplishing much.  For me that’s one of the most frustrating parts of the convention because track coaches all want to have their own agendas and often don’t agree with how to move the sport forward.  One good thing that came out of this week is it looks like our NCAA Outdoor Championships will move to separate days for the men and women (men on Wed/Fri and women on Thur/Sat) where it will be much easier to promote the meet and championship storyline.  ESPN will be broadcasting all four days with field event action on ESPN3.  It’s the most live track (12 hours) that the NCAA has had in my lifetime and probably ever.  Now we just need to get some Shockers to that meet and compete well!  The other highlight of Wednesday was the annual Bowerman Awards given to the top male and female track and field athletes for 2014.  It’s often referred to as the “Heisman Trophy of Track and Field”.  It was another first-class affair this year with the winners being Laura Roesler of Oregon and Deon Leondre from Texas A&M.  Good job to the USTFCCCA office for putting together

such a great event!  Afterwards I got to spend some time with our friends from Sacramento State as well as my best friend Kevin Lucas (and his wife), who is the head coach at Mount Union College in Ohio.  Kevin was honored earlier in the week at the Opening Session for winning the 2014 Division III NCAA Outdoor Championships.  It’s pretty cool that two country kids from Eastern High School in Brown County, Ohio, ended up doing ok in the college track and field coaching world.

Thursday – The only thing left for the week was to vote on the various topics brought forward so by 10am our convention was over.  We voted to approve text messaging recruits and voted against having volunteer coaches more involved in recruiting (although I voted for that one).  I was traveling back to Wichita with Ryan Patton and our flight didn’t leave until 4:30pm so we decided to take a walk and grab some In-N-Out Burger before we left (those are good burgers man).  We were joined by one of my former Shocker athletes Nate Thiesfeld, who is now the sprint coach at High Point University in North Carolina.  After that is was off to Houston and then Wichita before arriving home around midnight.

So if you were ever curious, that’s pretty much what goes on at the USTFCCCA Convention each year (well at least the stuff I can write about here).

WSU Track and Field

Most of this week was just keeping in touch with our athletes via text messages, Facebook and phone calls about how their training is going.  So far I’d say most of them are doing well but I know some of their individual training situations aren’t ideal.  Hopefully they can stay focused through any cold weather and difficulties they encounter.

We have about two more weeks of “on your own” training left before we are back in the Heskett Center.  And in three weeks from today we’ll have competed in our first meet already!

Academically it looks like our team has come through finals pretty well.  We’re still waiting on a few grades but our men’s team will have around a 3.0 GPA this semester while our women are above 3.2.  On top of that we shouldn’t have anyone come up ineligible.  Hats off to the hard working student-athletes as well as their academic coordinators (Andrew Moses and Sarah Wiley) for keeping them on task.  For a team of 130 athletes, that’s a remarkable feat!

The Interview

Did you hear about how Sony pulled their upcoming movie “The Interview” from theaters after getting threatened that terrorist activity would result if the movie was released?  When I first heard about this I thought it was a clever way to market and would get people talking (and who knows it still might be), but now they have totally pulled the movie from theaters and said it would not be released on DVD or On Demand.  The Interview is a comedy starring Seth Rogan and James Franco where they are trying to assassinate the leader of North Korea – Kim Jong-un.  I can see how the subject matter is controversial but the fact it’s a comedy and obviously a joke makes me worried what will happen in the future to other things regarding our freedom of speech.  I think Sony should go ahead and release the movie and if this somehow puts us in danger (which I don’t think it will) then I would much rather deal with that then bowing down to other countries who don’t like what we do.  Because if we do things will get worse and worse in regards to what “terrorists” think they can do.  I was glad to hear President Obama say that Sony made a mistake by not releasing the movie.

There are all kinds of offensive movies made in the world every year – lots are even about the USA and our leaders – but not letting people have freedom of speech is very bad.  There have been recent movies made about our presidents that were very negative but no one ever thought about denying their ability to be made or released.

Is it possible that a movie could be made that goes too far?  Yes, I’m sure there is, but I’d rather our country decide that instead someone from another country who threatens to harm us.  The proper way for North Korea to have handled this would be for their leader to call our leader and let us know how offensive it is.  But we know that’s not how things work over there.  The worst thing you can do when a bully tries to intimidate is back down.

I feel like there’s been too much politics in this blog recently so let’s take a break from ALL that for a while!

“R” Movies

I don’t have any “Q” movies so we’ll move onto the next letter!

This is the 17th of a 24 part series (are you bored yet?) where I list movies I own by letter (I don’t have any movies that begin with Q, X or Z but I do have some that start with numbers).  I currently own a small collection of 178 movies (and growing most weeks) on DVD.

Most of the movies I own I had previously seen and enjoyed immensely.  Some are movies that I had not seen but was curious about.  Some were gifts from people with bad tastes in movies.

I own 11 “R” movies, one of my most popular letters.  Here’s the list from best to worst …..

Movie Name (year made, length, MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Worldwide box office)

Ringu (1998, 96 min, NR, 7.3, $??) – This is the original Japanese version that inspired the hugely successful American version.  It’s basically the same movie as the American one but done with a little bit less gore.  I really like this movie for how creepy and original it is.  The plot is whenever someone watches a mysterious video they get killed a week later unless they can figure out the mystery.  If you’re into horror movies you should definitely put this one on your list.

Rocky Balboa (2006, 102 min, PG, 7.2, $152m) – This is the final “Rocky” movie which details Balboa coming out of retirement to fight the reigning heavyweight champion in an exhibition fight that gets serious.  I don’t own any of the other Rocky movies because they are so often on TV but this would still be my favorite of the bunch.  I’m intrigued by people who are almost out of the game (or a musician who’s not popular anymore) and how they deal with it.  Also this is the most realistic fighting in any of the series and they basically make it a HBO fight just like they would broadcast it.  Very well done!

Requiem for a Dream (2000, 102 min, R, 8.4, $7.3m) – Ok this is not a movie for the faint of heart but if you can handle uncomfortable scenes and situations it’s well worth your viewing.  Jared Leto is the main star here who plays a guy addicted to drugs.  In fact it follows several people with all kinds of addictions and the director Darren Aronofsky (who also did Black Swan) does visuals that make it seem like the viewer is also on the same drugs so often you don’t know what’s going on.  If you like a movie that will make you feel all kinds of emotions then this is the one for you.

Running on the Sun (2000, 100m, NR, 7.4, $2.4k) – I found this documentary online and took a chance when buying it and am I glad I did!  It follows several runners who are competing in what some call the most grueling race in the world, the 135 mile uphill race through Death Valley and into the mountains.  It's not a big budget movie at all (in fact it only made $2400 in theaters) but what's so good about the movie is how it shows in excruciating detail what these athletes go through to finish the race.  There are elite level runners all the way to people in their 60’s who are just trying to conquer the race and finish.  Very motivating – every time I’ve shown it to my athletes they have no reason to complain about their workouts, haha!

Reservoir Dogs (1992, 99 min, R, 8.3, $2.8m) – This is the first movie the general public ever saw from director Quentin Taratino (Django, Pulp Fiction, etc).  It didn’t make much money but from this came Pulp Fiction and the rest was history.  The plot is simple, a jewel heist goes wrong, but the only thing you see as the viewer is the aftermath inside the hideout afterwards.  Tarantino’s normal signature items are here (great dialogue, brutal violence, unique characters) and there isn’t a moment wasted.  If you are at all a fan of QT then you need to see this movie because this is where it all started!

The Rookie (2002, 127 min, G, 7.0, $80m) – There are some parts of this movie that really hit home with me.  It’s a true story about Jimmy Morris (Dennis Quaid) who makes it to the major leagues for the first time when he’s 36 years old.  Another movie about an older guy trying to see if he still has what it takes to be successful at the highest level (see Rocky Balboa).  It’s a truly remarkable story that is very effective in how Disney put it together.  I’ll admit the part where he finds out he’s finally going to the majors is one of my favorite ever movie moments (and I still get a lump in my throat every time).  I saw it’s rated G, I didn’t know that was still possible!

Running Brave (1983, 106 min, PG, 6.8, 3m) – Another true story turned to dramatic movie about a sports star.  This one is about the improbable life of Billy Mills (Robby Benson).  It follows him through his younger years, onto his college days at Kansas then culminates with his incredible Olympic victory.  It’s one of those movies that if it were fiction no one would think it was possible.  I saw it as a kid in school (my junior high math teacher was the track coach) and now I live in Kansas and have a whole new respect for it.  It’s not the best movie with the best acting but if you’re a track fan you’ll enjoy it.

The Ringer (2005, 94 min, PG-13, 5.8, 40m) – This is one of those movies that you’re not sure you should be laughing at while you’re watching, but can’t help it because it’s funny.  Johnny Knoxville needs money so he plays a mentally handicapped guy so he can fix the Special Olympics.  There are a lot of seemingly insensitive jokes about the handicapped but in the end you realize they were probably in on it and you feel a lot better.  It’s an odd movie-going experience where you feel bad for laughing then feel good for watching the movie afterwards.

The Rocker (2008, 102 min, PG-13, 6.2, $8.7m) – Not many people saw this movie but I think it’s pretty good.  Rainn Wilson (from the TV show The Office) plays a failed drummer who is given another chance at success when his nephew’s band needs another member.  Like I said it’s a funny movie that just never found an audience so if you have a chance to catch it you should.  The video of Wilson that goes viral and makes the band famous is worth seeing the whole movie.

Reefer Madness (1936, 66 min, PG, 3.7, $??) – I can honestly say I’ve never had marijuana in my life but I’d heard this was one of those “it’s so bad it’s good” movies so I bought it on a whim.  It was originally made to try and scare teenagers away from smoking weed by showing all the bad things that will happen if you do it.  It was so bad an ineffective (and not accurate) that it became a cult movie where people actually got high while watching it!  It’s definitely a very bad movie but I laughed a lot and the version I have has a commentary track by the guy from Mystery Science Theater where he makes fun of it the whole time.  I don’t recommend using drugs but feel free to have fun with this one!

Rock of Ages (2012, 123 min, PG-13, 5.9, $59m) – I’ve heard the musical of the same name has been hugely successful and this movie has a lot of big stars and music but for some reason it just misses the mark.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s still quite fun and seeing Tom Cruise go all Axel Rose on everyone is awesome, but at 123 minutes it’s about 20 minutes too long.  Although if you like 80’s rock music you’ll enjoy it for that alone.

What a great list of movies – a little bit of everything.  And who wouldn’t love a list with two running and five sports movies!

Next week

With it being the holidays and all I might take the week off but then again who knows maybe I’ll have another long plane trip to kill some time here with you fine folks!  As a matter of fact I will, I’ll be heading to Florida to see my family so possibly look for a long, long list of “S” movies (15).

Until then, thank you for being such dedicated readers and Go Shocks!

Lots of traveling, Abe Lincoln and Ferguson, and Pulp Fiction edges politics

I’m writing this on Sunday as I fly to Phoenix so I have plenty of time to rant.  There’s not as much going on with WSU T&F so I’ll be bouncing around this week.  I just got a new laptop so the format is a little goofy - sorry.

Track & Field

I’m on my way to Phoenix, Arizona, for the annual USTFCCCA National Convention.  It’s the one time every year when track and field coaches get together to discuss the current state of our sport.  We also listen to great speakers from all the world of athletics as well as socialize with our coaching buddies.

            I always enjoy the convention.  Usually it’s at some fancy hotel and resort (this year it’s the JW Marriott) and yes I’ll be playing some golf with Coach Rainbolt.  But what I like the most is that our sport feels really important for a week.  They have the Bowerman Awards here, which is often referred to as the Heisman Trophy of track and field.  It’s done first class all the way and you feel like it’s a big deal (and it is).  The speaking topics are usually interesting and often educational – I always take away a few things to use as well as feeling like we’re doing things at WSU just like the most successful programs around the country.  They have a Hall of Fame ceremony.  Every night there’s a different dinner and social event to attend.

And the NCAA has declared this week a dead period so there’s no recruiting.

Next week I’ll report on what I heard and let you know what I took away from these four days in Phoenix.

WSU Track & Field

We finished up finals this week and most of the team went home for the holidays.  Now it’s up to them to stay focused and come back in January ready to battle to reach our goals.  As coaches we do our best to keep in touch by phone, text, email, Facebook, Twitter – any way possible.  Mostly I’m making sure to touch base each week, at least one time, with every athlete I coach.  It ranges from having kids text me every day to having kids never contact me at all.

We’re also anxiously awaiting our academic results for the semester.  Hopefully by next week we’ll have that complete picture.  Our academic coordinators Andrew Moses and Sarah Wiley do a great job keeping us up to date on anyone who is struggling.  I think we will come through the semester looking good, but like any race you have to run through the finish line so you don’t get clipped by an unsuspected runner (or test).

Early MVC returns

While we had an Intersquad meet last week, most of the MVC competed in actual meets that counted.  Looking over the early results show some great results from several teams.

I           Indiana State ran at Indiana this week and, as we thought, looked very good.  Also looking very good last week was Southern Illinois (especially the women’s team).  I would say the rest of the MVC didn’t have as strong team competitions but most of them weren’t fully competing either.

            In comparison I thought our Intersquad results were favorable.  It might sound funny but the atmosphere at our Intersquad Meet is better than most early season track and field competitions around the country.  If you don’t believe me just re-watch the live stream.

Speaking of live streams

Thank you to the almost 1000 people who have watched our meet online.  If you are a fan of WSU T&F you will be able to watch all of our home meet online this year at Livestream.com.  We have moved over from Ustream because of how much easier Livestream is to use.

The MVC has struck a deal to broadcast the MVC Indoor Championships on ESPN3.com this year.  I think that’s an awesome event to have online because it such an exciting meet!  If you don’t make it to Cedar Falls, Iowa, at the end of February be sure to check us out on ESPN3 or the Watch ESPN app on your phone.

Abe Lincoln and Ronald Reagan

I did a little traveling this week and while I was out I stopped by the Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.  Earlier this summer I went to the Ronald Reagan Museum in California and I can tell everyone that going to these places is well worth your time.

The Reagan museum (located in Simi Valley, California) was massive (one room had the entire Air Force One in it) as well as being educational and inspirational.  Lincoln’s was much smaller because it was in downtown Springfield, but it was no less inspiring.  While I was there I couldn’t help but think about my next topic …..

Ferguson

While I was at the Lincoln Museum I realized I was only a little over an hour from Ferguson, Missouri.  I haven’t really taken any position on what has happened in Ferguson or other recent places like Cleveland or New York City.  I sympathize with both sides of this heated debate but that’s not my point here.

            I was watching a video about the Civil War at the museum.  It was four minutes long and showed an animated map of the USA that was red (South) and blue (North).  Every second represented 10 days and it showed how the lines of battle moved as the war progressed.  In the bottom right hand of the map it had a counter of casualties from both the North and South that eventually caught my attention the most.  At first it registered a few thousand then tens of thousands and then hundreds of thousands.  I knew there were massive amounts of lives lost during the war but as I saw the map becoming bluer with every second it hit me hard that, combined, there were 1.4 million people who died (over 700,000 from the North and over 600,000 from the South) fighting for what they thought was right.

My thoughts turned to our country (and to nearby Ferguson) and I felt embarrassed that we are seemingly so divided.  It’s not even black or white or police or republicans or democrats, sometimes I don’t think we know who or what we’re upset about because we’re forming opinions based off what others are saying on television or social media.  Both the black and white people from the North came together and didn’t just TALK about what they felt was right or wrong – they were willing to put their lives on the line for it.  I hear things from both sides of this issue and they are both correct.  Being in track and field I’ve always been around a diverse group of teammates, coaches and athletes of all colors who have felt discriminated against.  Being a fast white guy as a youngster often put me in social situations in college that were different than my childhood.  I also dated outside my race and the following is very true – groups of people are stupid but when you talk to people individually they are smart.

Just this week I had the opportunity to hang out with a police officer that expressed thoughts about how they are trying to do a job as good as they can.  I can’t imagine what it would be like if masses of people all of a sudden started hating track coaches when all we are trying to do is help people run fast and do our job.  Unfortunately it’s hard for us to have productive conversations about how to move forward because much of the focus of the media is on the protestors not what they’re protesting about.  It’s one of the reasons I’ve all but stopped watching the news – I can’t trust what I’m seeing – so I’ll just continue talking to people and forming my own opinions.  I hope that’s where the rest of the country eventually heads.

Whatever side of the issue you’re on please speak from personal experience and not what others (especially on TV) tell you.  Myself, I’m on the side of what’s best for the United States, which is the side everyone should be on.

Sorry about that rant, on to another media altered story ….

Johnny Manziel

… or otherwise known as Johnny Foosball (at least I hope he can play foosball better than he played football Sunday against the Bengals).  I grew up not too far from Cincinnati so naturally I dislike the Steelers and the Browns.  When I saw the Browns draft Manziel this year I just chuckled.  I went to college not too far from Cleveland so I’m friends with a lot of Browns (and Steelers) fans.  Do I feel sorry for them?  No.  Why not?  Well let me just tell you about the Cincinnati Bengals from 1991-2002, or as Cincinnatians refer to it as “The Lost Decade”.  It was awful being a Bengals fan and I spent most of it in Northeastern Ohio where I even lived with fans of both the Browns and Steelers.  Since the Bengals became relevant again (even though most don’t give them credit, they’ve been good for over a decade) I don’t feel bad for anything that doesn’t go the way of the Browns and Steelers – including drafting a guy like Manziel.

            Why am I against Manziel?  Personally I’m not.  But for a guy who has never won a professional football game – show some maturity.  I DO think the guy is talented and can probably play in the NFL but what happened to being humble.  As Crash Davis said to Calvin LaLouche in Bull Durham about having fungus on his shower shoes, “Once you win 20 in the show you can have fungus in your shower shoes and the press will say your colorful.  Until then, you’re a slob.”

Manziel should be a perfect example for young athletes that talent can take to you to a certain level but at some point you need to be an adult.  Guys who have come up through the years and acted this way always have short term success then fall on harsh realities.  When no one cares about Johnny Football anymore what will he become?  Just ask Brian Bosworth.

Johnny please take some advice from Crash Davis.  Or don’t, the populations of Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Baltimore don’t mind.

Speaking of movies …

“P” Movies

This is the 16th of a 24 part series (are you bored yet?) where I list movies I own by letter (I don’t have any movies that begin with Q, X or Z but I do have some that start with numbers).  I currently own a small collection of 178 movies (and growing most weeks) on DVD.

Most of the movies I own I had previously seen and enjoyed immensely.  Some are movies that I had not seen but was curious about.  Some were gifts from people with bad tastes in movies.

I own nine “P” movies.  Here’s the list from best to worst …..

Movie Name (year made, length, MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Worldwide box office)

Pulp Fiction (1994, 154 min, R, 9.0, $213m) – Even though it wasn’t his first movie, this is the one that brought Quentin Tarantino to the world.  To me, Tarantino is a fascinating guy who basically has never done anything the typical Hollywood way – and I respect him for that.  This movie stars Bruce Willis, John Travolta and Samuel Jackson doing all sorts of bad things but we kind of like them because beneath being the bad guys they are also funny and normal in a lot of ways.  The unique thing about watching this for the first time is how it doesn’t go in the normal sequence – it jumps back and forth several times and is quite confusing but in the end it all makes sense.  I had friends in college tell me they left the movie after they realized this halfway through – what a bad mistake they made!  There is definitely some hard language and graphic violence in this movie but it’s a movie that is well worth the 154 minute investment of your time.

Primary Colors (1998, 143 min, R, 6.7, $52m) – John Travolta plays a democratic candidate running for his party’s presidential nomination that is loosely based on Bill Clinton.  I absolutely love this movie for a few reasons.  Travolta does a great version of Clinton – funny, shady, charming, underhanded, loveable – and you kind of understand why these politicians have to act like they do.  Another reason I love this movie is to how it indirectly talks about leadership throughout and it doesn’t come full circle until the end.  Sometimes a leader has to do things that are for the better good and in the process people get hurt or not treated as well as they should.  And this movie shows that in blunt detail.  Billy Bob Thornton is also great as the Democratic strategist.  If you liked the TV series The West Wing then you would probably really like this movie.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987, 93 min, R, 7.6, $49m) – It’s ironic I’ve been traveling a lot this week and this movies is on the list.  Terrific comedy about the travel problems of Steve Martin and John Candy who are both trying to get home from work for the holidays.  I am so glad they went with the rated-R script because there are some of the funniest scenes of the 1980’s in this movie.  Seeing Martin curse out the lady at the airlines is awesome (and can’t be repeated here).  And the running joke of their car getting more and more smashed up as they go is really good.  The only bad thing is they make Wichita look like a tiny little town – but the guy they meet there with the speech problem makes up for it – and yeah I can see him being from Wichita.  Classic!

Porky’s (1982, 94 min, R, 6.1, $111m) – I was too young to go see this movie when it came out in the theaters but after watching it years later it shows how having an original idea and a few crazy scenes can create a buzz and make a ton of money.  Watching it now it seems pretty tame by today’s standards but some of the adult themes back in the day got people talking and out to see it.  The acting isn’t that great and the plot is fairly ridiculous but that doesn’t matter when it comes to Porky’s.  See it with a bunch of buddies and throw popcorn at the screen every time something dumb happens.  You’ll probably enjoy it!

Piranha (1978, 94 min, R, 5.9, $??) – Ahh nothing like a good ole Roger Cormen low budget horror/comedy.  Cormen is the guy who also brought us the original Death Race 2000 movie in the 70’s.  Piranha got made because Jaw was so successful and Cormen figured what else could be deadly in the water?  It’s bad acting and has a cheesy plot but it’s great fun to watch in my book.  It even spawned a recent remake and sequel (I saw the remake, it was hilarious).  Be warned it is graphic but totally worth it.

The Player’s Club (1998, 104 min, R, 5.4, $23m) – This was Ice Cube’s follow up to his surprise hit Friday.  I remember going to see this movie in college and liking it enough that I went ahead and bought it years later.  It follows the life of a couple of strippers who are trying to make their way through life (and college) by dancing for a living.  While it wasn’t a perfect movie it definitely had some memorable scenes by showing how brutal that life can be.  I think Hustle & Flow is a much better movie in this genre but The Player’s Club was definitely an original when it came out.

Parker (2013, 118 min, R, 6.2, $46m) – I totally picked up this movie on a whim because I generally like Jason Statham’s movies and I heard the books this movie was based on were pretty good.  I enjoyed Parker even though I’m not a huge action movie fan.  It wasn’t way over the top like a lot of these movies could go (I imagine they didn’t have the budget to do so) but I think it worked better that way.  Statham’s character Parker is basically a Robin Hood type guy who tries to win over the girl by beating the bad guys (very original haha).  It’s not good enough to warrant a sequel but it’s good fun if you like these types of movies.

Panic Room (2002, 112 min, R, 6.8, $196m) – Being a horror movie fan, I bought this hoping it would live up to the hype (it made a lot of money).  Unfortunately it was just average and not nearly as good as movies like The Ring or something originally from Japan.  Jodie Foster is the lead and is effective enough but don’t watch this movie hoping for it to scare the daylights out of you.

Poetic Justice (1993, 109 min, R, 5.8, $27m) – I only own this movie because it was part of DVD pack with Boyz in the Hood.  This was another John Singleton movie that tried to play on the popularity of Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur but it never really worked for me.  The only scene I can remember being funny was when they stop and randomly join a family barbeque by saying they are cousins from out of town.  I liked Tupac way more in movie like Juice and Above the Rim.  He was a very talented guy, unfortunately we never got to see him mature into a veteran actor.  If you never see this movie you won’t be missing out on anything important.

Final movie thoughts this week …

Interesting how Travolta played in both my top two movies this week.  I was talking to someone who reads this blog and I got to telling them how I would decide how I rank the movies.  I have all my movies listed alphabetically on my laptop and I just start from the top.  So this week the first movie was Panic Room.  I do the little write-up for that then I ask myself do I like Panic Room or Parker better?  It goes on like this until I’m done.  This week was a tough choice for me because I think Primary Colors is overlooked by most and everyone has seen Pulp Fiction but I can’t deny Tarantino’s genius.

Next week

I will report back what I can get from our convention as well as talking about a bunch of “Q” movies.  Uhh wait a minute, I don’t have any of those.  I guess I will go with the 11 “R” movies I own – and there are some true classics!

Feel free to comment below or on my Facebook page and tell me if you agree (or disagree) with anything from Ferguson to Poetic Justice (see what I did there).  I am always amazed at how many people end up reading this every week and I thank you very much!

Until next week, try to stay warm and Go Shockers!

Recap of an epic Intersquad Meet and it's time to go Old School

Our last full week together as a team this semester was a busy one!  It looks like our team has had a good fall as we head into the winter break.

Track

The main thing that happened this week was our annual Intersquad Meet on Friday.  Overall I’d say it went very well for our team.  There are always athletes who don’t compete to the level they want and an early season competition like this one is no different, but this year the Intersquad Meet felt a little more serious and focused – and the results showed.

Like I’ve explained in previous posts, our team is divided into three sqauds (Gold, White, Black) and compete against each other (as well as our alumni Gray team) in a scored quad meet.  The captains of each team serve as the coaches and they did a good job of getting everyone entered in their events and organized in all the relays.  To show how healthy our team is this year, of the 130 athletes we only had about eight that didn’t compete Friday.  That’s a pretty remarkable statistic.

Watch the replay of the Intersquad Meet here.

Gold Squad - 2014 Intersquad Champions!

The team race came down to the final event of the meet with the Gold team beating the White team by only four points (176.5-172.5).  The final event of the meet is what we call the “Special Relay” that has all kinds of crazy things going on with the conclusion being a tug-of-war.  Make sure to watch the replay of the meet above with the ending tug-of-war and you’ll see how competitive our team is about this meet.

The results of the meet don’t count on the official school top-10 or MVC lists but we do run the meet off just like a regular one so all the performances are legitimate.  This is the eighth year for the meet and there were 15 new records set.  That’s a large number!

Now the job will be for our teams to maintain their current fitness for the next four weeks while we’re on break.  Our next meet will be around January 10 and between now and then and a lot can and will happen.  Stay focused Shocks!

Team banquet and alumni

Besides having the Intersquad Meet on Friday we also have our annual team banquet and alumni social as well.  Around 300 parents, alumni, athletes and fans attended this year’s banquet where we honored last year’s team and seniors as well as kicked off the 2015 track and field season. Dozens of alumni were in attendance throughout the day and around 25 of them competed in the meet!  All in all it was a great day for Shocker Track and Field!

Around the MVC

Several teams from around the conference competed on the opening weekend of the college track and field season.  From looking at the results it appears many of our MVC opponents had good semesters as well.  Our conference continues to get better and better every year – another reason our athletes will need to be ready to compete when they come back in January.  Check out the results and updated TFRRS list here.

Recruiting

Now that the semester is over, recruiting will also slow down a bit.  After signing five athletes in the November signing period, we’ve had a couple more give verbal commitments.  Those athletes can sign their letter of intent in April and until then we will continue to work on the 2015 recruiting class.  I think we will also be adding between two and five new athletes in January but we’re not able to publicly comment on those athletes until next semester.

What do track coaches do for the next four weeks?

Not all track coaches are the same but the next month will be the last time for many of us to have a break until July.  The next week will be mostly around the office, checking on how athletes are doing academically as well as having some sporadic practices.  Our staff will be getting together to discuss the state of our team as well as thinking about who we might want to redshirt in the upcoming indoor season.  The following week several of us will attend the annual USTFCCCA Convention in Phoenix, Arizona.  Following that we will be back in the office for a few days getting ready for the early part of the January schedule and celebrating the holidays (I’ll be in Florida with my family).

These four weeks will surely fly by and we’ll be gathered back up for track practice in no time!

“O” Movies

This is the 15th of a 24 part series (are you bored yet?) where I list movies I own by letter (I don’t have any movies that begin with Q, X or Z but I do have some that start with numbers).  I currently own a small collection of 178 movies (and growing most weeks) on DVD.

Most of the movies I own I had previously seen and enjoyed immensely.  Some are movies that I had not seen but was curious about.  Some were gifts from people with bad tastes in movies.

I only own five “O” movies but it’s a good list!  Here’s the list from best to worst …..

Movie Name (year made, length, MPAA rating, IMDB rating, Worldwide box office)

Old School (2003, 91 min, R, 7.2, $87m) – The bringing together of Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughan was genius for this movie that follows three older guys (including Luke Wilson) who create a fraternity near a college campus where they can relive their younger days.  Ferrell is probably at his all-time funniest as he owns the screen for most of the movie (who can forget him streaking through campus alone when his wife picks him up in her car with her friends).  This is a great comedy that doesn’t take itself too seriously – funny, funny stuff.

Office Space (1999, 89 min, R, 7.9, $10.8m) – I can’t believe this movie is 15 years old already but what a great little small budget comedy!  Made with mostly unknown actors (at the time), this movie became a cult classic with its funny jokes and being easy to relate to because of the mundane office work so many people deal with everyday.  Director Mike Judge is probably best known for being the creator of Beavis and Butthead and some of the jokes don’t stray too far from that type of show but overall it’s a very smart movie. Ummmmm yeah I'm gonna need for you to come in on Saturday, ok ... thank you.

Oldboy (2003, 120 min, R, 8.4, $14.9m) – This isn’t the recent Spike Lee movie, it’s the original drama from South Korea that Spike remade.  Some people regard this as one of the best dramas to ever come out of Asia and I would probably agree.  I’ve only seen it recently but upon my first viewing I was very impressed.  The basic premise of the movie is the main character is kidnapped and imprisoned (without knowing why) for 15 years before being released and stumbling upon his captor right away.  There are lots of twists and turns and I am sure multiple viewings will help in understanding everything because the first time it’s a little confusing.  But all in all it’s a very entertaining movie.  I have a fondness for horror/drama movies that come out of Asia and this one doesn’t disappoint.

The Outsiders (1983, 91 min, PG-13, $25.6m) – Really good 80’s teenager movie about two different types of gangs that get into a bad feud after one member gets killed.  One reason this Francis Ford Coppola movie continues to have appeal is because of the actors who eventually hit the big time.  Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, Matt Dillon and Ralph Maccio are part of the cast.  It’s worth viewing to see all these guys in their early years and the movie is pretty good too.

Orgazmo (1997, 94 min, NC-17, 6.2, $602k) – From one of the creators of South Park, Trey Parker plays a naïve Morman who makes his way to California where he eventually becomes a porn star (without actually having sex).  I was in college when this movie was rumored to come out.  South Park was just coming out so anything to do with those guys had interest by college-aged kids.  The actual movie was just ok but it had some definite parts of genius that you could tell these were not the average bathroom humor comedians.  A funny thing about the movie is that it’s rated NC-17 and doesn’t have any actual nudity in the film.  It’s worth seeing for anyone who is a fan of the South Park series.

Next week

Next Sunday I will be on my way to Phoenix, Arizona, for the USTFCCCA Convention so hopefully I can post a blog during the trip.  Nine “P” movies are next on the list that are mostly from the 20^th century.

Until then thanks again for reading and go Shocks!