Months ago, Vanguard editor-in-chief Nathan Hellman and I made the obscenely long drive to Pullman, Wash., to cover the Portland State vs. Washington State football game.
As we were driving home through the beautiful Columbia Gorge late that night—hours after Washington State romped the Vikings to the tune of 48-9—I caught a brief moment of respite from the usually demanding conversation required to entertain my boss.
I pondered the year ahead and my goals for the sports section, my schoolwork and family life. Looking back, I was naïve and optimistic about the things that I would be able to accomplish.
But from where I sit now, I am nothing short of pleased with the result.
That 6-billion-mile-round trip to the Palouse was the beginning of a wild year for Portland State athletics, their fans and the few writers who cover them.
Members of our staff have traveled to destinations throughout Oregon, Washington, Montana, Utah and Idaho to cover the various teams, and the goals that I made back in September seem now like a distant reflection.
We have certainly missed stories and, like the teams we covered, we were far from perfect.
The experience, though, of working around college athletics, and in particular college athletics at this university, was both a challenge and a blessing.
Balancing the ominous priority of the job and schoolwork required a type of discipline that only few have perfected, and I am not generally among them.
Covering two games per weekend, catching up on time with the family and preparing for the coming week of class work was a daunting task.
Through it all, sports—and, for me, covering sports—became an outlet for stress and a nice release from the pressures and hassles of group projects, lengthy papers and foreign-language exams.
And while we’re on the subject of counting blessings, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to travel to Ogden, Boise and Seattle among other destinations and cover the teams playing.
Although athletes can be a bit pretentious and the work is often a bit thankless, we were privy—and so were you if you were paying attention over the last nine months—to talented teams that competed in nearly every sport.
We boast three conference championships, two in four of the traditional big sports. That’s more than Portland, Gonzaga, Oregon or Oregon State.
Are there complaints? Sure.
The Stott Center needs to be renovated and enlarged and should be Portland State Athletics Department Priority No.1.
The football team needs to rethink their decision to play run-and-gun football and the marketing to involve students with athletics has to dramatically improve. The department also needs to do whatever it can to bring back the wrestling program as soon as possible.
But the product on the field?
That is, and will likely continue to be, a product worth driving to Pullman for.