COLUMN: Being positive is a positive
To those of you who have stopped me to say that you are going to a women’s athletic event, that’s a positive.
It’s a positive for me because that means I wrote something that had an effect on someone, and what I write is actually being read, and it’s a positive for women’s athletics.
I have a tendency to lean more toward the positive when I write than toward the negative because that’s just the way I am; that’s a positive.
Journalists are taught it’s our job to question, to inform the reading public what’s going on in the world, remain neutral and let you make up your mind about an issue.
I’m sort of a counterbalance; someone needs to write the negative and question, while someone needs to let people know that it’s not all bad all the time.
I don’t want to say so-and-so missed his block so our quarterback was driven three feet into the ground. I prefer to simply state that our quarterback was driven three feet into the ground, but he’s a gamer, he got up and wobbled back to the huddle; that’s a positive.
The Utah State football team is back in a conference; that’s a positive.
USU Athletics Director Rance Pugmire has had a vision for the Athletics programs at USU for quite sometime. There was no use pursuing expansion of the Athletics facilities until the football team was in a conference.
Well, Pugmire can now take the sunglasses off the vision; that’s a positive.
He said we need two things to make the vision a reality – “butts in the seats and money.”
The money will come as more fans show up to our Athletics events, and slowly we are; that’s a positive.
When I moved my family to Cache Valley 12 years ago, the football team would give up around 70 points or so to Nebraska and the Aggies would score 10.
The football program is improving under Head Coach Mick Dennehy’s tutelage; the men’s basketball team is competitive, along with volleyball, gymnastics and several other sports; that’s a positive. We’re headed in the right direction.
Rance, I do have a suggestion for you; when Romney Stadium is expanded, move the student section to the visitor’s sideline.
I watched a little of the Southern Mississippi-Nebraska football game the other day on television. The student section of Southern Mississippi was doing everything they could to disrupt the offensive and defensive meetings Nebraska was trying to have on the bench.
It was so fun to watch, that ESPN aired it during the game. They were like a 12th man.
Just a thought Rance; it was a positive.
I work for a female sports editor at The Utah Statesman, that’s a positive. If I make her mad, I know what to expect. I’ve been married more than 20 years and I’ve had a lot of practice at making a woman mad; I’m really quite good at it.
I also discovered my editor is afraid of bugs; that’s a positive. If she ever makes me mad, I know what to send her as a gift.
The Cubs are still in the playoffs; that’s a positive.
They have broken their first 95-year jinx and made it to the second round of the playoffs; that’s a positive.
The next jinx they need to lift is getting to the World Series; that would be a positive.
For those of you who don’t know about the curse of the goat the Cubs have tried to play through for almost 100 years, here’s a cut-down version. In the early 1900s a Shaman wanted to bring his goat to a Cubs game at Wrigley field and was not allowed to do so. He was so angry his goat was refused entrance into the stadium, he put a curse on the Cubs so they would never win a World Series again.
The organization has brought several Shaman and their goats onto the field over the years to try and lift the curse to no avail. Maybe this is the year.
If they don’t make it, that’s OK, a Cub fan vocabulary staple is “there’s always next year.”
Few can tell you why they’re a Cubs fan. They just are; that’s a positive.
I’ll continue to try and write about the positive. I enjoy writing about sports and watching as a fan. It’s a great release from the negative; that’s a positive.
Next time you’re at an Aggie sporting event and they lose, just go back again, cheer a little louder and help them win; that’s a positive.
Earl Scott is a junior majoring in print journalism. Comments can be sent to eds@cc.usu.edu