Training Camp Wrap-up and Back to School

Hi again everybody!

Training camp unofficially wrapped up yesterday for the Golden Flashes and after a couple well deserved days off, the boys in blue and gold will start to begin preparation for the Liberty Flames. It will be good to see former Buffalo coach Turner Gill back on the sidelines at Robert C. Dix Stadium and he and his team will provide a worthy first opponent for Paul Haynes.

The coaching staff announced recently that Colin Reardon will be the starter behind center for the opener. He hails from one of the best-kept secrets in Ohio high school football - the Poland Seminary Bulldogs. As an avid fan of Ohio prep football, the Bulldogs are always a threat in Division III. David Fisher had a solid camp and I like what I've seen from the younger guys as well. Having been around this program for 13 years, I can't remember a time we've had this much quality depth at QB.

. . .

I haven't picked out my traditional opening night tuxedo yet. I was thinking either white with a gold vest or maybe something completely off-the-wall like purple and green.

. . .

The first day of school always brings mixed emotions. Part of it is putting summer in a casket and the doom of impending cold weather. The other part is seeing old friends again and the sense of a new beginning.

I have some good first day of school memories and some not so good. I remember my first day of Kindergarten at Shumaker Elementary and finding a note in my Peanuts lunch box from my mom wishing me luck. Then there was the first time I got to get on the big yellow bus with my brother - putting on the brave face so he wouldn't be nervous.

Then there was my first day as a freshman at Kent State. I foolishly scheduled a 7:45 a.m. class and the Cleveland Indians kept me up late the night before and badda bing badda boom I totally missed my alarm. I was able to hitch a ride from my aunt (and roommate), softball coach Karen Linder. She dropped me off at Bowman Hall for my next class and about halfway through it I was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

I consider myself a connoisseur of the English language but I'm telling you, there were words in that syllabus Mr. Webster himself had never seen. My heart sank deeper as I saw one of the class requirements was a 5-6 page paper due every Friday. My bankroll vanished when I noticed there were four required textbooks for the course. My mind started racing as I thought of possible career alternatives.

Finally I realized the male professor I had signed up to take wasn't much of a male at all. The male professor was in fact a silver-haired female professor in a polka-dotted dress. My eyes shot down to the syllabus again.

PSYCH 30043 - ADVANCED PSYCHOLOGY 

I was in the wrong classroom.

I had managed to put myself in the second of Bowman Hall's lecture rooms. I was sitting in a senior-level advanced psychology class. To this day I thank the Lord I was in an aisle seat so I was able to sprint... err, walk quickly out of there without drawing attention to myself.

My most sincere welcome to the KSU Class of 2017. You will love it here.

TL