The Litter Box

As will be seen in the Chico Enterprise-Record on Friday, the CCAA named 36 Chico State athletes as All-Academic Award winners. This is a pretty big deal, if for no other reason than that it gives fans some perspective on how difficult it is to be a student-athlete. Consider how much harder it is to excel at both, though.

Now, to be a varsity letterwinner is no easy task, but let’s face it: Not every athlete is created equal. The ones that really impress me are the ones listed in the article (Katherine Bagwell, Jade Smith-Williams, Cody Dee and Erica Brick) because they’re top-flight competitors not only in the CCAA, but in the whole Far West/West/Pacific Region(s).

Not sure why they’re not the same regions for every sport ... anyway.

A couple semesters ago, I had a sociology class with Smith-Williams (I hate having to say this, but don’t be freaked out; I’m just really good with names and faces) before I knew her on any level. Chico State wasn’t my beat yet, but obviously I figured out who she was in time. The next semester, when I went out to Acker Gym to do the women’s season preview, I chatted her up a second for her take on things.

“How’d you end up doing in that Kaiser class?” I asked her. Then she kind of shrugged and nodded her head, probably because it’s bad etiquette to just knuckle someone’s teeth when you think they’re inferring the obvious.

“Oh, I got an A.”

The way she said it just gave me the impression that she fully expects to give that answer any time anybody asks her about something school-related. Now, I’m not familiar with the curriculum of college athletes, and I’m sure at larger schools it’s just as cake as everyone implies it is, but it’s not like she has some gimme degree. She’s a criminal justice major (there’s that creepy memory again) and she excels in it — clearly. On top of that, she is arguably the best point guard in the region and one of the best in Division II.

My point is that there is a lot to like about people who are more multidimensional than they appear, and for 36 athletes at Chico State to qualify for this award is pretty impressive. I consider myself a pretty motivated individual, but I pick my battles — these Wildcats fight ‘em all, and win.

Posted by Travis Souders at 09:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chico State alum Ryan Trask, who placed ninth in the NCAA West Regional this past season, qualified for the 2008 U.S. Amateur on Monday. Boy, I would have liked to have known that was going on. My day probably would have been different than the beer-and-ice cream-for-breakfast and marathon of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia that actually transpired on my day off.

I was talking about this the other day with E-R sports writer Leland Gordon — I really actually kind of dig covering golf, provided I can follow the action from a cart as it happens. Covering Chico State golf is always a little awkward considering very little press is welcome around the golfers; it usually ends up being a report on the scorecards with additional interviews.

Speaking of the journalistic process, the advent of new camera phones to the E-R office has taken hold and laid the groundwork in terms of making all reporters look really creepy. The supposed benefit of a camera phone for a Chico State writer, for example, would be that the reporter (namely, me) would take one with him if there was no photo assignment for a certain game. This seems like a good idea in theory, until you consider that it equates to a dude on press row at a volleyball game holding out a camera phone at the players. Yeah, that's not weird.

Posted by Travis Souders at 03:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Being broke tends to shackle even the most ambitious sports writers on days off, and on this particular Monday night, consider this one under house arrest.

It's not that pawing around in The Litter Box is something I despise doing, it just seems a little pointless on my day off. However, I'm coming to find that my days off aren't that valuable (I make no money on them) and all they do is give me time to think.

I'm a much better person when I've got stuff I need to do and don't have the ability to hang out with myself all day.

The time is nice, but it truly does reinforce that the saying "time is money" is a complete load. I would trade this whole day off for the measly $300 some dirtbag owes me, although I think it is worth pointing out that I'm not above using my shoeleather resourcefulness to find his house and burn it to the ground. I am kind of tired of the smoke, though, so that might not be an option.

Still, the nearest entry on the Wildcat sports calendar is a women's soccer exhibition on Aug. 15, and I can't leave this thing alone until then. Video games are rotting my mind. My roommate won't play Trivial Pursuit with me. My guitar's e-string busted. It's going to be a few more days at least until I'm escorted out of town for a birthday celebration of some kind and the new book I ordered won't show up until after I'm back. So that means a de facto opportunity to sharpen my nails, and, unfortunately for those of you who only read this blog because you really like Chico State sports, my apologies.

Actually, not really, because there are none going on, at least not for another two weeks. And honestly, the most important thing about Aug. 15, to me, is my financial aid disbursement.

Until then, it's squalor and ramblings only somewhat related to Chico State, but I figure you'll hang tough and grow to commiserate with the guy who's going to be covering your beloved Wildcat athletics soon enough.

Posted by Travis Souders at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Is this thing on?
Good, still works. A little dusty, but still.

Coinciding with the suggestions of several people whose opinions I value, it’s right about time to start scratching around in The Litter Box again. The fall semester — congratulate me now, it’s my last and I’m so happy I could kiss you — is on the near horizon, and that means both the return of Wildcat athletics and the relevance of this blog to anything or anybody.

Most immediately, Chico State fans will get to see the new versions of the cross country, volleyball and soccer teams. I’m particularly interested in soccer, for both the men’s and women’s teams, for a few reasons. The biggest is the men’s club’s coaching change to Felipe Restrepo, a guy younger than predecessor Mike O’Malley and maybe just what a talented but underachieving team needs. Personally, I’m interested to see how they respond to Restrepo.

The women lost several important seniors, and it’s hard to say whether they will be able to get back to the West Regional. Obviously these stories will garner more attention after some games are actually played, but until then, speculation is about all we have.

Speaking of which, I’m going to speculate that the volleyball team will (or at least should) do much better than last season, improving on a team that earned the No. 7 spot in the first round of the NCAA Division II Pacific Regional. Every main player is back, and — going out on a limb, because it’s hard to predict things like these — I don’t know if an incident similar to the suspension of Gillian Heydorff, Lindsey Macias, Erica Brick and Megan Cape will happen again. It was a “violation of team rules” that led to the four-game sit-down that incidentally watched the Wildcats drop to fifth in the CCAA from second. They’re a year wiser, though who knows what that means. One big area to address: Chico State had a losing record in road games; it was pretty good statistically everywhere else.

More to come as the semester draws nearer.

Posted by Travis Souders at 06:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)