Grads saw athletic history
Tuesday, May. 6, 2008 @ 12:59 am
The Thursday nights at the Wal had to end sometime.Apparently, after five years of (usually) going to class, stumbling around downtown Reno at obscene hours of the morning and staying up all night to write papers and make sure this rag comes out on time, I’ve endured enough punishment to merit a piece of paper and the right to never sit in a classroom again.
For me, and the two thousand or so other students who will also be graduating in two weeks, the responsibility-free lifestyle of quasi-childhood is over.
We’ve crammed, we’ve imbibed, we’ve grown up and, now, we’ve managed to make it out of the University of Nevada alive.
But the graduating class of 2008 is special for another reason.
We’ve played witness to the best five years in Nevada athletics history.
I don’t think any of us arrived in Reno because of the sports teams. Five years ago the Wolf Pack was a solid mid-major department with a pretty strong tradition but no real national reputation to speak of.
I knew about as much about the Fremont Cannon as I did about the Krebs Cycle.
As we leave, however, Nevada has one of the best mid-major athletic departments in the nation.
The men’s basketball team started a run of four straight NCAA Tournament appearances with a Sweet 16 run in 2004 and the football team went to its first bowl game in almost a decade after beating No. 16 Fresno State at Mackay Stadium.
Since 2004 the men’s basketball, football, men’s golf, women’s golf, soccer, softball, track and swimming and diving teams all won conference championships. The rifle team took second in the nation, the skiing team finished top 10 in the nation and the volleyball team made it to two NCAA Tournaments.
If in five, 10, or 15 years the department has grown to be nationally known , we’ll all be able to say we were part of the beginning.
For me personally, I’ll always remember tailgating at Mackay Stadium and rushing the field after the Pack won back the Fremont Cannon in 2005, exchanging beads with a Memphis fan on Bourbon Street during last year’s NCAA Tournament, feeling the intensity of a Nevada-Hawaii volleyball game, and chilling with friends at Peccole Park after a busy finals week.
I suspect the rest of you have your own memories that you’ll take with you and forever share with the people you met during your time in Reno.
We have been fortunate, my friends, but alas, the end has come.
I hope everyone in the class of ‘08 had enough good times at the University to leave with plenty of fond memories and lifelong friendships.
I know I did.
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