A Different Perspective Blog

Welcome to the newest feature on the Go Cobbers website. This part of the website will be dedicated to taking Cobber fans inside the ropes of Cobber athletics.

This blog is being written by Concordia Sports Information Director Jim Cella and will hopefully be updated on a regular basis. The opinions and views in this blog are not of the athletic department as a whole or of the college itself. It is merely one person's one viewpoint of what goes on behind the scenes of a college athletic department.

I hope you enjoy the feature and feel free to drop me an e-mail and let me know what you think:

cella@cord.edu

Last Update: Oct. 29 - I'm a Fan!

This Update:

November 1: The Crazy Life Of An SID!

4:04 A.M.

In the words of Roberto Duran, "No mas, No mas." I am officially finished with the longest day of the year. I have posted all 9 recap pages, updated all 9 home pages and schedule pages and have finally updated the main home sports page.

I was going to put a sad face on the front page of the website in honor of Black Saturday - like this:

but I figured I should do the right thing and honor Bob Bain on the front page. He deserves the credit for being one of the founding fathers of the CC hockey team and on a day where every team lost, we need a little positive karma.

I will leave you with some quick thoughts from a very long day on the job:

- Despite the calendar saying it was Nov. 1, the weather was awesome and having a 58-degree day helped the long hours on the job a ton.

- The Cobber football team has more lives than Morris the Cat and somehow might lose two more games and still get in the playoffs and win the title! I actually think they will win on Saturday against Carleton and set up a Titanic showdown at Gustavus in Jay Schoenbeck's last game at GAC that will decide the MIAC title!

- MIAC football is down this season. More competitive and always interesting but lacking the top caliber teams.

- The playoff season is here and once again the Cobber women's teams are carrying the torch. Volleyball opens play on Tuesday and women's soccer starts play on Wednesday.

- Despite the long hours my job is always interseting and the people I get to be around keep it fun.

- I hate the coldness of the hockey rink but love college hockey.

- When I see questionable officiating it makes me glad I got out of coaching. After training a team for a whole week only to see a referee's call completely change the complexion of a game makes me sick.

- The Cobber men's hockey team is on their way up. They will be fun to watch once they get used to each other.

- October 31st is way too early to start the hockey season. The NCAA needs to put their foot down and push the season back a couple of weeks.

- My job is more fun when we win!

- I have an outstanding staff and couldn't do all the things I do without them. So thanks Joe, Brad, Tressa, Ben and Christy. Also want to thank Brandon Root who shadowed me today for part of his Co-Op. I hope you learned something.

- I made it through!!

- Thanks for reading the blog. Let me know what you think. Drop me a line at: cella@cord.edu

3:11 A.M.

Cross off the men's and women's hockey recap pages. They are now posted and have been linked to the schedule pages and main pages. I posted a picture of Cobber hockey pioneer Bob Bain on the men's page. The team honored him tonight before the game and it was nice to see an 83-year old so full of life. He told me he still gets out and skates every day. He went into the lockerroom before the game and spoke with the players - it was nice to hear him the players that they had to get into the corners and mix it up!

One more recap page to go! The swimming and diving recap is next. I think that will be the end of the road as I am starting to hit the wall. Typing slows, witty sayings stop and typos start to pop up all over the place. I know at that point it is time to call it a night and head for bed.

2:07 A.M.

Just finished posting the recap pages for the men's and women's cross country results as well as updating their home pages. By far the most time consuming of the recap pages are the individual sports like cross country, golf, track and swimming. Formatting their results in a neat and easily readable format is a pain in the backside! I would rather run the race or compete in the meet than sit here and tab and format all the results.

Men's cross country coach Garrick Larson always sends a written recap of each meet which helps because the best I can do is look at the results and regurgitate the times and finishes and try to make it look like I know what I am writing. If you read any of my recaps from racing sports they say nothing. It's just a written form of the results. Oh well, it fits into the mold of style over substance.

Starting to slow down a little. The caffeine is starting to wear off and the effects of a long day at the office are starting to take their toll. Need to rally and keep going towards the finish line. Maybe I'll go into the deserted and dark gym and do my best Dave Matthews impersonation and sing at the top of my lungs. If the spirits of all the great singers that have performed in Memorial Auditorium could hear my late night stylings when I need a break, they would never allow themselves to perform in the arena again - kind of like Pavarotti singing in a karaoke bar!

1:02 A.M.

A little set back occurred when the clock switched over to daylight savings time. I was in the middle of updating the blog and lost everything I was about to post. Just another speed bump on my way to finishing.

I was posting that I just finished posting recap pages for the men's and women's soccer games and also updating their home pages. I also explained what all goes into updating saif pages. In a nutshell it goes like this:

1 - Create a new recap page from an old exisiting page

2 - Change all the links on the page and switch out the logo on the scoreboard

3 - Come up with a catchy headline!

4 - Find a picture in the pic archives that fits the theme of the story or headline (i.e. women's soccer - Susan Obermiller had a game-high five shots so I have to go looking for a nice pic of Susy or men's soccer - even though they lost their last game of the year I wanted something to show that they should celebrate having a return to winning soccer season).

5 - After finidng the right picture I then format the pic to fit the recap page as well as the main page for that sport.

6 - I then write a cutline for the picture to explain why it is on the page

7 - After publishing the page I then post the link on the schedule page

8 - Copy the bottom link from the main page of that sport and paste it into the news archive page

9 - Publish the news archive page

10 - Slide all the headlines on the main page down one notch and then make a new headline for the top headline spot out of the text that appears in the smaller text box on the main page.

11 - Slide the text down from top story text spot and condense it so it fits the smaller box

12 - Format the big picture on the page to fit in the smaller spot on the left side of the smaller text box

13 - Create a link from the smaller pic. This is just something I do to make the site more user friendly. Click on any small pic and it will take you to the story.

14 - Write a new teaser text for the bigger text box for the main story on the page - try to be wity and have a good "hook" that will make the reader want to read the rest of the story.

15 - Put the catchy headline in the headline spot

16 - Post the new picture in the big picture spot

17 - Copy the cutline text from the recap page to the main page and condense it if needed.

18 - Publish main page.

There you have it. Only 18 steps to just make a new recap page and update the main page for that sport. Each new recap page and updated main page takes about 20-30 minutes to change. That doesn't even take into account updating the main athletics page or writing recaps. All told I will go through 162 steps just to update the nine sports that played today.

Are we having fun yet? It's even more fun whe you have to come up with catchy and uplifitng text and headlines for nine losses. In my next life I will be a PR person for Al Franken - I can spin anything to make it look good!

12:59 A.M.

Football recap has been posted and the volleyball recap page is added as well as the volleyball home page update. Two diversions along the way. The security guards came in to talk for a bit. They are always fun to talk with and have amuzing stories about what is going on around campus. After that I stopped by Terry Horan's office to see if he didn't have any sharp objects around his office!!!

We talked about the game and the inability of any team in the MIAC to step up and take control. He is concerned about the weather for next week as it could hinder an important week of practice. Also watched a little game film and saw a chunk of the second quarter. The Cobbs had their chance to take a 14-0 lead in the second that might have put enough distance between themselves and the Oles to take the winds out of St. Olaf's sails. Unfortunately it didn't happen and the rest is history.

Am now on my third can of Pepsi. Need the caffeine to keep me going. Next up will be the men's and women's soccer recap pages and then writing the recaps for the fall sports.

11:14 P.M.

All the season statistics have been posted and the little items have been taken care of. Now it is time to settle in and get to the meat of the website info. Women's cross country coach Marv Roeske and the assistant for both teams Nathan Lodermeier just stopped in to talk about the conference meet. They said sophomore Hailey Brenden ran an incredible meet and held off three runners at the finish to finish fifth. They also said the race was unbelievably fast and that the top three teams could all go to nationals.

When coaches stop by to visit it is always a "good news, bad news" situation. I love talking with them and hearing about their meets and games but it takes away from the time I could be working and checking things off on the list.

I did find one positive from today - final score: USC 56, Washington 0. Fight on Trojans, Fight On!

10:16 P.M.

Black Saturday keeps getting better! The TV in my office does not work. I usually watch the featured college football game on ABC and plow away at the work but not tonight. There is no picture and I will not get to watch the final eight minutes of Texas and Texas Tech. Shouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning!

9:59 P.M.

Back in the office after watching another Cobber loss. Black Saturday is complete as the men's hockey team lost to UW-Eau Claire 5-4. CC is headed in the right direction in hockey and it was fun to watch the team play the last two nights. Now they need to learn to win and they can start posting some results as they have the talent to compete with any team.

So, let's check the scoreboard: Cobber teams in action today - 9, Cobber wins 0. The football, volleyball, men's soccer, women's soccer, men's hockey and women's hockey all posted the big "L" and the men's cross country team finished last while the women's cross country placed ninth at the MIAC. The lone bright spot for CC was the swimming and diving team who won six relays at the UM-Morris Invite. They even captured the coveted t-shirt relay!

I am in the process of wolfing down a chicken sandwich from Burger King for my lunch and dinner. I grazed on carrot sticks, celery and pineapple during the football game and had two cups of hot chocolate at the hockey game but haven't had a true meal since leaving the house. That would be almost 12 hours without eating a significant meal - and you think the life of an SID is glamorous.

I am now about to start writing recaps and posting season statistics. From there it will be to the picture galleries. I have e-mailed all the game files to the opponents and league office.

Now the real fun begins. I will start tonight's music selection with something a little upbeat. Need to get out to a good start.

The good news is that the clock says 9:58 it is actually 8:58. Hooray daylight savings time, boo loses!

5:58 P.M.

Sorry about the delay in updating the blog but I had to send the other computer over to the volleyball match and was too busy lying on the ground in pain in the press box. This day will officially be called Black Saturday.

Every Cobber team that was in action lost and the two cross country teams finished as low as they could have in the seeding process going into the MIAC Championship Meet.

This is going to be a long night of writing recaps about losing teams. You think writing business proposals or papers for Philosphy 411 are hard, try writing a recap about five losses and a couple of tough finishes at the conference championship meet. I will be staring at the computer trying to milk something positive out of the whole day.

The lone piece of good news is that the football team still holds their destiny in their own hands. Because of the mediocre football being played in the MIAC, every team that had a chance to put themselves ahead of CC in the playoff hunt lost and so the Cobbers still are in front of the pack - go figure.

The only thing I know is that Terry Horan is the luckiest coach alive right now. If I can talk him into going to the casino later tonight I think I can put away enough for my retirement. I'll let you know if I can get him to go.

As for now it is off to the rink for the men's hockey game. Hopefully we can get one win on Black Saturday!

1:49 P.M.

First major problem of the day. THe copieer in the press box jammed and we couldn't get the toner cartridge back into the machine. After calling on several people to try and solve the problem, former Cobber assistant basketball coach John Whartnaby came to the rescue and solved the problem. They say it takes a "village to raise a child." That holds true for the SID kingdowm as well, it takes many people to help produce everything we do.

Cobbers just punched the ball into the endzone but had a holding call on the play. The game has changed from the Cobbers starting with field possession inside heir own five yard line (thanks to the Ole punter having a career day downing punts by the goal line). CC drive ends when kicker clanks an attempt off the right goal post.

Defense is going to have to keep coming up big.

1:11 P.M.

Game has started and the Cobbers got the ball to begin the game. Jesse Nelson tried to connect on a slant route but threw the ball ahead of the receiver and it got picked off. The Cobber defense then came up with a nice stand and forced a punt.

After the Oles downed the ball on the 1-yard line, CC went 99 yards to score the game's first TD. On the drive, credit Cory Johnson for putting on his Barry Sanders costume and producin several ankle-breaking plays. Jesse connected to Jake Krause for the TD.

Great start for the Cobbs. They are a tough team when they have the lead.

12:55 P.M.

Finally got the computer hooked up to the server and am able to update the site. That's the thing with being an SID, if things go well and there are no problems then it can make for an easy day. However, most of the time there is always something that goes wrong. Today it was the connection to the server.

To recap the morning: woke up at 9:45, said hi/goodbye to my family and got a recap from the Halloween activities. Left the house at 10:30 and went to the store to get ice and a paper. Then headed to Burger King to fill up the coffee pot and to the gas station to fill up the hot chocolate pot.

From there it was to the office to pick up all the electronic gear and then to the stadium.

Setting up the press box for a game is a chore because of all the things that have to go into the press box. Luckily I have people that help out and Cody Dyshaw and the basketball team carry all the big items up the steps and into the press box.

Finally got everything set up and had time to take a break around noon. Always nice to visit with our play-by-play guy Larry Knutson. Today's opponent St. Olaf means longtime broadcaster Mike Morissey makes a trip up to Moorhead. Mike is another one of the great people in the MIAC. It is always a treat to visit with Mike and listen to his "wonderful" jokes!

3:48 A.M.

Cookies are made, coffee and hot chocolate pots are cleaned and ready to go and the fruit and vegetable plates are in the fridge. Looks like everything is a go for tomorrow's sports fiesta!

I even made it with 12 minutes to go before my ETA on sleep time. The reason: a new land speed record at the grocery store. I buzzed through the store and got all the supplies in record time. Surprisingly few people in the store at that time. Usually when I do the shopping late on a Friday there are several people fresh from a night on the town buying all the healthy foods - i.e. chips, hot pockets, Twinkies, pizza, etc. Not tonight. Either the parties were still going or everyone was burnt out from halloween - yeah right!

Time for bed. Hopefully tomorrow brings a playoff berth in the MIAC soccer playoffs, a second-place finish in volleyball, one step closer to the title in football, a boatload of PR's in cross country, two wins in hockey and a great start to the season in swimming and diving. Oh, and a win for the men's soccer team in their last game but not a goal for Justin Foss. He is one goal shy of tying Peter Curry's school record for most goals in a single season. I like Justin Foss a lot - a great kid and it has been awesome to see him end his career on a scoring tear but PC was my boy! We came to Concordia together and in his final game as a senior we won the first MIAC soccer title together (along with Dave Schlauderaff, Brian Mahan and a host of other characters). So as much as I know records are meant to be broken, I am going to take the Miami Dolphins stand on this one. I will celebrate if Peter Curry still holds the record at the end of the day. I hope Justin gets four assists on the day and the Cobbers beat the Johnnies 4-0!!

Good night all!

Late Night Song I Listen To:

Since this is the first installment of this section, you have to go with the DMB. The Dave Matthews Band has seen me through many a long night posting pictures, updating stats and writing recaps. One of my all-time favorites to listen to while I work is #41 - aptly titled because it was the 41st song Dave Matthews wrote.

The song features tremendous solos by the band members and in particular violinist Boyd Tinsley and saxophonist LeRoi Moore. Unfortunately LeRoi passed away earlier this summer after complications from a four-wheel accident. One of the great horn players. He will be missed by many fans. May he rest in peace. One of my greatest memories of DMB is being at Alpine Valley in Wis. and listening to LeRoi play a piccolo solo at the end of song for over four minutes and having 45,000 fans dead quiet and hanging on every note. When the solo finished the crowd erupted like a Metrodome crowd when the Twins won the World Series.

Anyway, here is a link to a live performance of the song performed in 1998 at the United Ceter in Chicago. It also features a wicked guitar solo by Victor Wooten from the group Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.

#41

http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=uesIbOfT8hk

Tribute video abut LeRoi Moore

- well worth the eight minutes to watch an amazing musician.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

Sl777AMNUAw&feature=

iv&annotation_id=event_751407

2:08 A.M.

Well here goes my attempt to explain the things I do and when they get done.

It is now 2:08 a.m. on Saturday morning and I am just finishing up at the office after publishing recaps from the men's hockey game (boo!) and the women's hockey game (yea!), printing off the programs for the volleyball match and the men's hockey game, updating the laptop computers for the three home matches tomorrow and finally creating a recap page for football (and of course updating this page).

You think that I will be going home to get a sound seven hours of sleep? Hah! Think again. I will now be heading to the store to get the food and sodas for the press box for the football game. I will then bake homemade chocolate chip cookies and then I will go to bed. My ETA on hitting the pillow for tonight is 4 a.m.!

Don't ask why I make cookies for the press box but it is a tradition I started when I wanted to update the hospitality in the press box for the media and now it is a game day tradition. Everyone loves the cookies and they are usually gone by halftime but they take a nice two- hour chunk out of my night to bake. I guess that is what I get for having a mother who was the same way and loved to bake chocolate chip cookies for everyone. She even furnished my sister's whole wedding reception with chocolate chip cookies. Damn you genetic pool!

So if you are scoring at home - add baking to the list of things an SID should be able to do.

That's it for now. Off to the store.

Oh, and before I go - if there are typos or other grammatical errors on the page for the rest of the day - tough! I am going to try my best but sometimes I make an occasional mistake. The way I figure it, if baseball players can be in the Hall of Fame if they hit 3 out of every 10 pitches for a hit, then if I am typing better than .500 I should be a shoe-in for the SID Hall of Fame!

YouTube Video of the Night:

This is from the file of what I would like to do with a copier. Especially after tonight when I as trying to get the programs copied for the volleyball match and men's hockey game tomorrow. In a task that should have taken 15-20 minutes - it took almost a full hour because the copier kept getting jammed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=2hLVcfh0OAg&feature=related