Duck Hunting

We would love to be duck hunting in Glendale, Arizona, today.

No, I haven't suddenly become a hunter. And I'm guessing that Glendale isn't known for its duck habitat. With my spot next to the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, I'm pretty sure we have the market on hunting in my backyard.

But I'd love to be grilling some Oregon Duck today at the Fiesta Bowl.

We contemplated making the trip. In fact, the day after major back surgery November 26, Randy asked the nurse practitioner about making the trip. To her credit, she didn't laugh in his face, though she did shoot an amused glance in my direction.

"Don't you have a follow-up visit with us on January 2?" she asked. "I don't think I'd skip that appointment for a football game."

Randy is doing well, though we did find out at the appointment yesterday that he will need additional testing because of some weakness in his left foot. 

The 'Cats will have to do it without us. Some of my family will be cheering the 'Cats on in person. My parents made the trip.

For Christmas all of us - kids, grandkids and great-grands - gave them a Legacy Brick, which will be installed in the new West Stadium at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. (This is the replica brick. I didn't get a photo of the case.) It's the perfect gift for lifelong Wildcat fans who've had season tickets on the west side of the stadium for years.

My Dad was a member of the 1953 K-State football team, which had a 6-3-1 record, including a 4-2 mark in the Big Seven Conference under head coach Bill Meek. K-State's six wins were the most by a Wildcat squad in nearly 20 years, since the 1934 team posted a 7-2-1 record and won the Big Six title.

My dad is the guy with the blond crew cut behind No. 23.

He had been an all-sport athlete at tiny Byers High School in south central Kansas. When he arrived on the K-State campus in the fall of 1952, he went out for football and lettered his freshman year. He was on the squad his sophomore year and made the traveling squad for the game at Colorado State University. His most unique football experience was getting knocked out during practice by K-State's All-American and future pro player, Veryl Switzer.

My Grandpa Shelby Neelly played football at K-State, too.  Is it any wonder we bleed purple around here?

Also in Arizona cheering on the 'Cats are my sister Darci, brother Kent, his wife, Suzanne, and their kids, Brian and Madison. My other sister Lisa's family is represented by their oldest, Blake, and his wife, Tamara, and family.

Sky over Bill Snyder Family Stadium, September 2012

If you hear some eruptions coming in the direction of the Stafford/Reno County line tonight, it's probably Randy and me cheering from home. Even after catching colds shared so generously by granddaughter Kinley, we will be making a racket from here.

Let's hope the night is worthy of some purple fireworks! EMAW! Go 'Cats!

If you didn't watch this video on my Facebook page yesterday and you're a Wildcat fan, it will give you chills. I promise. (Stafford County's own Jared Loomis is standing by Coach Snyder and laughing at K-State safety Ty Zimmerman. It's so cool to see Jared on this national stage. The Macksville native was in Stafford County 4-H, and that's where I got to know him, just a little bit.)

Hail, Hail, Hail, Alma Mater!

Some of the best of Brent's college education took place in this press box.

On Saturday, it came tumbling down. The Dev Nelson press box at Kansas State University's Bill Snyder Family Stadium was imploded to make way for the new west addition. (My Facebook friend, Jeff Sutton, posted this video of the implosion. Thanks, Jeff!)

As a student intern with K-State Sports Information during his undergraduate years, Brent probably spent nearly as much time at the football stadium and in Bramlage Coliseum as he did in the classroom. In truth, the K-State Sports Information job was the biggest classroom of all. He got to be on the front lines when ESPN's College Game Day came to town (a thrill for a guy who lives and breaths college sports.)
He had a birds'-eye view from the press box during K-State football games for two years, where he got to see his childhood hero, Bill Snyder, return to the stadium that bears his name.

The west side stadium construction at a game this fall.

It was there Brent discovered that he wanted to make collegiate sports his career. Last May, he earned his master's degree in Sport and Entertainment Management from the University of South Carolina. And, since September, he's been sitting in a press box at Morehead State University's Jayne Stadium during football games and running the video board at their Johnson Arena during basketball games. He'll be the main media contact at Allen Field during MSU's baseball season. He's been developing graphics and marketing materials for the Morehead State Eagles.

It's all practical knowledge that he first discovered while spending Saturdays in that K-State press box and every day working with the people at K-State Sports Information.

As I read news reports about the implosion and saw the photos from my nephew, Brian, who was one of some 1,500 people watching in person, I was struck by this one sentence in a press release:

It was also fitting that following the initial blast, the 600-plus fans watching from the east side of the stadium could read only three words on the collapsed press box: "Bill Snyder" and "Family."

Family: Yes, that's what it means - whether it's the Dev Nelson press box or the new version that will rise up from the dust of the old one.

My parents, my brother's family and one sister sit on that side of the stadium, too. I'll have to use a different landmark to find them with my binoculars next fall. I've always started at the "K" in Kansas and worked my way downward to find their row. 

I know a spot that I love full well ... No matter what it looks like now or in the future.