I don't get to sign yearbooks anymore, but even though I used to hate doing that for people in high school, I feel like it's probably appropriate to wish Wildcat fans well as they get a break from Chico State sports — and therefore, The Litter Box.

One official year of Chico State athletics is now part of my body of work. Seeing as I took over this beat last year from great philanthropist Sean Murphy in the spring, starting with Scott Bauhs and Charlie Serrano getting national championships in North Carolina, this time of year means that 365 more days have been knocked off the calendar.

For the record, let me just say that in week 2 of Chico State being my beat, Amber Simmons’ transfer to UOP was my first “eeesh” assignment. It was a little weird going from silly high school sports to having phone calls ignored ad nauseum over an athlete transfer.

However, it was mostly gravy after that, and not the chalky, packaged brown kind, either. This year of sports coverage was, to me, like a good peppery biscuit gravy with little chunks of sausage in it. I had the option of sticking with the prep beat or taking over Sean’s role as Chico State reporter, and I didn’t really hesitate despite some nervousness going in. I’m glad that I made the move. The Wildcats — really, every sport I’ve covered — have provided some excitement in every season.

The cross country teams did their thing in the fall, but I really got my feet wet with the soccer clubs. The women were one of the top forces in the region; the men underachieved and saw Mike O’Malley leave his coaching post to be later replaced by Felipe Restrepo. The volleyball team had its own intrigue, with some great individual performances from Lindsay Macias (though a collapse at the end of the season, due in no small part to the suspension of half the starting lineup, was detrimental to the overall season).

Winter was basketball time, and there was drama — DRAMA! — in every form. The women kept on winning, riding a Molly Goodenbour-sparked transition from an offensive powerhouse to a collection of defense-minded grinders to the second round of the regional. From the eruption of freshman Natasha Smith to the emotional ending of Audi Spencer’s fantastic career, the Wildcats always made it interesting.

The men did, too, although it wasn’t always positive (it’s funny how many angry e-mails you get when you’re covering a last-place team; it’s like the frustration fans get can only be expressed to the writer getting paid to relay what’s happening ... The “Shoot the Messenger” phenomenon). Mike Martin was booted midseason, and that preceded the Great MM Shoe Debacle. Yeah, I’m capitalizing it. Rod Hawkins, Jesse Soto and Josh Jackson stand up for their exiled teammate by scribbling his intials on their shoes. It’s another demoralizing season as the Wildcats finish 7-20, but Chico State does send off coach Puck Smith with an impressive win in an inspired performance. Smith is soon replaced by Greg Clink, a former Wildcat himself.

There’s more: Bauhs runs roughshod over everybody, including Kim Ellison and his 4:01 mile record for Chico State in an electric display. The baseball team has a tremendous season despite a lineup composed almost entirely of new faces and comes within a game of moving on to the Division II Baseball Championship Tournament. The softball team struggles, but shows flashes of serious talent toward the end of the season.

The modest success of this blog is like Andrew Ferrin shooting 3-pointers; no, I didn’t really call bank, but the end result is pretty good-looking and that’s all that matters.
I’m trying to make it easier to let this thing lie fallow by leaving behind the wealth of memories this first year as Chico State beat writer has given me. It shouldn’t be too hard; at times it was a downright nuisance to upload to this thing. But I also really do enjoy it, and judging by the massive spike in readership (even with some small bottom-line figures in terms of pure numbers), you enjoy reading it. So I’ll look forward to the fall, when Chico State athletics get back into gear, and who knows? There could be blog-worthy pieces of information that trickle my way over the summer.

Until then, I hope you enjoyed this year of Chico State coverage. But if you didn’t, that’s fine too, because I had a blast providing it and wouldn’t have done it any other way. I thought coming into my career in Chico that this university had the best beat to work with, and, as I rarely find myself saying, I was right.