[Note: This is the final entry of the Stagg Bowl blog by sideline commentator Frank Rossi. To read his previous entries, click the following links:
1) 12/17/08 - The Road (Sky) to Salem;
2) 12/18/08 - Cold Weather, Warm Reception;
3) 12/19/08 - A Night of Celebrations;
4) 12/19/08 - Meet the Teams (and Miss Virginia); or
5) 12/20/08 - With Nine Hours to Go.]
Since I wrote my first blog entry on an airplane heading toward Salem, it’s only fitting that I begin to write the last “Sideline Guy” entry from the plane ride I’m taking from Dulles Airport to Laguardia Airport. It’s tough to fit in all of the stories from the day in one entry, but I have plenty of them to share with you and am writing this over the period of a day.
I didn’t fall asleep until about 4:00am on the night before the big game because of the adrenaline that I had been experiencing through much of the week. Unfortunately, that meant I was ripe for a rough morning since we were aiming to leave for the parking lot by 7:30am. After falling out of bed and getting dressed up for the sidelines, we were ready to roll. Gordon Mann, Ryan Tipps and I threw together our equipment within 45 minutes and began broadcasting our pregame show at 9:00am.
I have to be honest – our 90 minutes of the show flew by. The weather cooperated (the temperature hovered around 50 degrees until the fourth quarter and no rain fell), and the crowd began filing into the parking lot around the same time. My favorite moment of the show is when Mr. Allison, a Whitewater fan who had his tailgating station set up nearby our pregame set, asked if we wanted some of what he was serving. I motioned for him to bring us some – and much to my surprise, he brought us steamed oysters on the half-shell with cocktail sauce! Now, granted, I didn’t have any breakfast and had no time to really eat before manning the sidelines, so I threw caution to the wind and ate my share. It was a good choice, because I didn’t eat again until 4:00pm. Thanks Mr. Allison and to your crew for thinking of us this morning.
Now, unlike the events I wrote about earlier in the week, this was actually my second Stagg Bowl game day. However, having spent a few days with many of the participants made Saturday feel extremely different from the start. When I walked the Whitewater sideline, I heard a lot of hooting and hollering above me from a few Bridgewater fans. Next thing I know, they’re chanting my old college nickname that has made its rounds on the message boards, “Frank the Tank! Frank the Tank!” That took me by surprise, but it was amazing how many people today took time out to say hello to me – even people I met only briefly this week. I kept harping on the family aspect of the game and related events this week, but I can’t overstate how true it really is.
My feet were killing me after the game because I kept walking both sidelines a lot more than I did last year. I wanted to gain the feelings on both sidelines during their offensive and defensive possessions – and gauge what factor the crowd played at times. My only gripe about the crowd was from the Whitewater side of the field early in the game, although it was an isolated incident. After failing to convert in an early possession, Whitewater quarterback Jeff Donovan came over to talk with his offense on the benches when a small group of Whitewater fans got on him a bit, barking out some negative statements concerning his play on that drive apparently in the name of motivation. Donovan, who always is smiling when I see him, lost that smile from his face – and I think other fans noticed. The next words I heard from the crowd a few seconds later were positive toward Donovan who nodded and smiled once others in that area applauded and repeated those comments. These players will hear enough criticisms from their coaches throughout the day – although, that’s part of a coach’s job, not the fans’ jobs. The sudden expectation of championship wins on the part of some Whitewater fans needs to remain positive in order to be productive.
There were a lot of laughs had and memories created on the sidelines – like when the Mount Union mascot decided to try to fake me out about losing my iPhone on the ground (yeah, I’m gullible since that was how I was getting my feed to the Press Box). Other memories include when I admitted to Springfield Head Coach and Selection Committee member Mike DeLong that I was nervous to interview Mount Union Head Coach Larry Kehres at halftime (I know Coach Kehres has a certain dislike of the mundane “how is your team playing” questions since those answers should be obvious and are a waste of his time). DeLong assured me that, as a fellow East Region guy, he had my back if anything happened. Well, Coach Kehres was a great interview at halftime, as was Coach Leipold after I broke the 100-meter dash record to get across the field before halftime was over to interview him (it was wind-aided, so I don’t get in the record book).
One of the roles of a sideline guy is to report on injuries to either team’s players, and there were about three injuries of any importance all day that I saw. The amazing thing to me was watching these hobbled players insist on getting back out onto the field. Obviously, the training staffs checked out their players fully before allowing such a return, but these players proved to me that no matter how many Stagg Bowls they have played, each one is just as important to them as the last. Coach Leipold spoke Friday at the luncheon about how his team, though appearing in their fourth consecutive Stagg Bowl, does not take the appearances for granted. After watching the sidelines on Saturday, I can confirm that message for both teams.
The best memories of the day, however, came from the post-game award ceremony. Mount Union looked like a team that had won their first Stagg Bowl ever. It was a team that really wanted to end the careers of quarterback Greg Micheli and running back Nate Kmic with the fitting conclusion – and they worked hard, even in the face of a Whitewater comeback, to do just that. When I interviewed Micheli Thursday after the Gagliardi Award ceremony, he was smiling and relieved that the speech portion of an individual award was over. Saturday, when I tracked him down on the field post-victory, he was elated, modest and team-oriented with everything I asked him. Yet, I know that there is an enormous level of personal satisfaction he derived from being able to get the “walnut and bronze” back in the hands of his team. I had never been a real Micheli fan prior to this year’s Stagg Bowl week – not that he had done anything negative, but because his per-game passing stats were never something that jumped out at me and his demeanor seemed somewhat quietly overconfident. I hate admitting when I’m wrong… I especially hate admitting when I’m completely out of my mind. This was one of those occasions – his modesty isn’t overconfidence, but rather, it is truly who he is. He hates the spotlight, and he just lets his arm do most of the talking. And when you look at his per-season and career statistics, you realize that his arm never shut up over the last couple years. Micheli is a true role model – and I hope there are a lot of young players that will learn from his example.
After the postgame interviews, I headed upstairs and reflected for a while as the D3football.com crew put the finishing touches on their stories, photos and the broadcast. I was one of those people this year who was really exhausted at the end of the regular season because of the level of travel I put in covering Union College’s away games for the radio from an average of 1,300 miles away this year (all that while being a full-time student). I’m not looking for kudos, but rather, I’m trying to give an example of the fatigue level that all of us in D3football.com end up with by the end of the season because of the amount of work and travel we put into Division III Football coverage. Yet, I was reinvigorated on Saturday and throughout the week. My energy level was well beyond what it’s been in the last month thanks to the energy and positive regards I received from the players, coaches, fans, families and many of you readers (and, of course, Miss Virginia 2008, Tara Wheeler). I now understand what drives Pat Coleman and the rest of the D3football.com crew to do this every year, and I realize how lucky I was to be in Salem and Roanoke this week.
Some quick words of thanks are due here to Brad Bankson (ODAC Commissioner), J.J. Nekeloff (Asst. ODAC Commissioner and ODAC Sports Information Director), Sara Rechnitzer (ODAC Intern) and Carey Harveycutter (Director of Salem Civic Facilities) – these were the folks who really painstakingly made sure this week went off without any hitches. You succeeded and deserve much more than this brief mention, folks. Also, thanks to Kyle in the Press Box elevator, who always made sure we were walking around with a smile on our faces, and to the entire crew at the Stagg Bowl Stadium for keeping the facilities in tip-top shape, even in the wind, rain and cold weather we experienced throughout the week.
So, this ends the “Sideline Guy” blog for this year – although, let me pass on one final story. On my way home Saturday night, I got on the plane from Dulles to NYC to find the entire Iona Mens’s Basketball team on the plane heading for home. I sat next to the Gaels’ freshman guard Kyle Rawson and had a nice conversation with him after the Gaels’ defeat at Ohio State Saturday. We hit the topic of football, when I brought up the fact that Iona disbanded its football program. Kyle told me that there was still a lot of anger about the decision, although I’ve understood that the travel costs Iona faced after several local FCS teams disbanded their programs made the decision necessary for Iona. I received a good closing lesson from this encounter related to the value of Division III Football programs and what they can do to add a sense of pride and commitment toward the schools that have them. Sure, Division III Football can create Title IX (gender equity) issues because of the male/female athletics ratios that must be maintained by such schools that have programs. However, when you see 104 young men represent their schools as well as Mount Union and Whitewater players did this week, you understand why football is such an important staple in American colleges and universities today, especially those in Division III. It was a fitting end to a tremendous week.
