A proud alum moment...

It seems to be on a fairly regular basis that I stop and think about how much I love (and MISS!) my alma matar Bellarmine University. 

I LOVE the Bellarmine Magazine that arrives in our mailbox on a quarterly basis. 
I LOVE following Knights Nation even though I no longer live in Louisville.
I LOVE following the communication department, the alumni association and the university on Facebook and fee like I'm still a part of it.
I LOVE talking to my family and friends who all "get" why BU is so great.
...and I  LOVE getting mail where I see the 2001 Newburg Road return address!

Regardless of what it looks like, I always check my Bellarmine mail. 

Recently, I've gotten some very exciting mail from them and the contents of the mailings are not only what's exciting to me. You see, the nerd in me gets excited about other things. As my career has focused more and more on marketing in the past couple of years, my marketing self is as excited about the awesomely, cool packaging my clever BU friends have been using to grab my attention. (Since they don't realize I pay attention simply by seeing the return address label!) 

Who wouldn't pay attention to a giant metallic silver package like this?!

 What's better is they didn't let me down! The contents lived up to the packaging! My lovely new BU Harry-Potter-esque scarf will, without a doubt, be put to good use. A girl can never get enough scarves!

I should also mention the sweet 'mix tape'...errr, CD, that I received just after Christmas. BU original recordings. While music wasn't my major and I've never played an instrument, I'm quite the lover of instrumental music (with movie/TV scores being my particular favorite)

So in addition to saying THANKS for the cool BU loot, I want to say kudos to those clever marketers! You're the kind of people we steal ideas from for our own marketing! :)

Sports Talk: The Trifecta is to Strike Again

As a correspondent sports writer for The Casey County News, I write an weekly editorial column for the publication. Published Nov. 14, 2012. 

Well, well, well, look at that wouldcha now! The trifecta states of Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana lead the pre-season basketball rankings and are expected to be dominant forces yet again this year. Last week’s debut of games finally gave us all the taste of our teams we’ve all been waiting for and, luckily, we have no reason to doubt the rankings yet.

I am happy to see Indiana atop this list not simply because my husband is a Hoosier, but because of what Indiana basketball was throughout my childhood. Unfortunately the team began to slip on the radar as I grew older and did not even make NCAA tournament appearances a couple of times in the last decade.  Then an unfortunate Kelvin Sampson era only brought a bigger negative light to what was once a revered college basketball program.

I love that despite coming in with a 6-25 season—the worst in school history--Tom Crean has managed to not only keep the favor of the school and fans, but turn around began as a depleted team when he took over in 2008. Four years later, he has a team that consists of seniors who were merely freshmen during that 6-25 season but have stuck with him and took fifth in the tournament last year and are now holding the number one pre-season ranking. Hoosier basketball is back, baby!

My Facebook feed flooded with the name “Jarrod Polson” last Friday when the junior was the clutch player in the Kentucky win over Maryland. As the number three ranked team and defending national champions, it’s nice to already see the Wildcat bench is something to be worried about as much as the big name recruits John Calipari landed the last several months.

Last year’s dominant forces (that are now gone…) were a thrill, but a team needs bench depth and Polson’s performance proved that opponents will need to worry about more than those new recruits. While bringing in the best of the best was part of the coach’s tactic for replacing what went pro, he has not neglected the skill sets that have been sporting blue and white and working under him in previous seasons. I am hopeful Calipari will bring Big Blue Nation another loveable season.

On the flip side, while I do want to see a fun, winning Wildcat season, I am equally if not more excited about the Cardinal season with their pre-season number 2 rank. Because of UK’s basketball legacy, the Cards have always been overshadowed with its fan base being centered primarily around city residents, students and alums. However, the last 10-15 years, with thanks to Rick Pitino, UofL basketball has become a presence in the national scene.

After losing to UK in the final four, Louisville did not see their roster take an exit for the big leagues, but instead saw some seniors graduate and a few players transfer out. While UK fans were quite proud of their number one and two draft picks , I know Cardinal fans are proud to support a top-ranked team made up of the standard student-athletes who are pursuing educational goals as a primary focus. I am excited for Peyton Siva’s senior season. Even if you don’t care for UofL Siva deserves your respect simply for his personal story and the type of leader he is on and off the court.

Last but not least, are them Buckeyes! Most often football is the spotlight sport for Ohio State University. (Not to mention their marching band, of course!) I am always excited to see OSU’s basketball team in the higher ranks despite the shadow cast by football—and to prove their athletics are more than a one-sport-wonder.

There is no doubt I’m sad to be without Jared Sullinger, but Aaron Craft may have been my preferred Buckeye the last two seasons anyway. With defense having always been my (self proclaimed) specialty as a basketball player, I love watching Craft put pressure on an offense. The guy has averaged over two steals a game during his college career and, to me, nothing feels better than coming out of nowhere to snipe the ball. I sure hope he doesn’t disappoint this season.

Of course, we all know, pre-season rankings mean very little except to put excitement in the hearts of fans and give more to celebrate when a lower ranked team defeats a top 20 team. It’s nice to be officially into the season, and it makes me that much more excited to see our Rebels and Lady Rebels jump into play as well in the very near future.

Knight Pride

I don't think I can truly convey the love I have for my alma mater, Bellarmine University. It seems that on a regular basis something else is making me proud to remind those around me that THAT is MY school.

I look forward to every quarter when my Alumni Magazine arrives in the mail. Jon and I--both alums-- sat in silence for a good 30 minutes last time one arrived. Not only is the quality wonderful, but I love seeing features on professors I loved or changes being made to the grounds or the cool opportunities students are taking advantage of now.

I love when I get the chance to attend an alumni event. I did it much more regularly when I lived in Louisville. I was highly disappointed to miss homecoming this past year and the chance to see so many great faces.

Just like any Knight should be, I've been extremely proud of our men's basketball team the past two seasons. An NCAA championship is something I don't think I even considered during my time at BU...and now the team is shooting for back to back titles?

I love seeing the school become a more nationally recognized institution, especially since we are, by far, more than just a school for athletics. Actually, we're really anything but that. I'd say we're the biggest bunch of nerds ever. You'll find the library jam packed on any given night of the week. The best part is you'll find those same study nuts up having a heck of a good time til 4am as soon as that big project is done.

The recently released fan-made (ie, student/alum-made) video, "We're Back" has gotten a ton of attention from many media sources including NBC Sports (so much so Louisville's WLKY brought them in for an interview). The three stars of the video were track freshman my senior year and seeing them pull this off does not surprise me at all. The man behind the music I've also known through many Bellarmine involvements and having many mutual BU musician friends. What I love most about the video is it reflects the quality of those associated with Bellarmine. Not only are we original and creative, but seeing that they asked President J-J McG to make an appearance reflects the student-administration relationship as well.

We might be a bunch of nerds...but we know how to have fun!

Equally if not more exciting (for me at least) is the women's track team claiming the GLVC indoor title! Through my years on the team it was always a dream to one day win the conference. It's crazy to me where the team has gone in the past 4 years since graduating, even more so in the past 8 years since I was a freshman.

We probably had about 20 girls or so on the team TOTAL... mainly distance runners...maybe 3 or 4 jumpers... a couple of us were strictly sprint/mid-distance runners... a few throwers... a couple of pole vaulters.  We rode the "Bellar-Vans," as we called them, to meets rather than charter buses. We didn't have a track to practice on. (Our coaches were experts at impromptu work outs using hills, stairs, parking lots and parks.) We had a few stand-out athletes.

Spring 2006 (Sophomore year) - Centre College Invitation Champs

 By my junior and senior years we'd moved up in ranks and were shooting to finish at the top of the conference each year but we always ended up in a tight mix of teams competing for places 4-8. My senior year in outdoor we managed to place 5th... 8 points behind 4th and 2 points ahead of 6th. (For anyone unfamiliar with track scoring, a team can pick up anywhere from 1 to 10 points on any given event. With 15-20 events in all and teams putting multiple contenders in a single event, points can add up quickly. To have 5 teams within 20 points of each other is tight competition.)

Spring 2007 (Junior Year) - At the end of the outdoor GLVC conference meet.
Our team grew tremendously this year with a very large freshman class.

It was clear my senior year that major improvements were on the horizon for our team: another very large freshman crew with diverse skills that was extremely athletic and competitive along with a brand-spankin'-new stadium! (I admit, practicing on the track EVERY DAY was foreign to me at that point! I kind of missed the hills and parking lots!)

GLVC Indoor Champs 2012!

I've kept up with the team via Facebook since graduating as well as followed a former Casey County High School teammate who became a running Knight herself the year after my departure. Despite whether I was a stand-out on Bellarmine's team or if the team during my years was even that good, there is still a sense of pride in seeing the team's success now. We were a part of today's team's foundation. If those of us from eight years ago hadn't woken up early to ride in those stinkin' vans and done countless hill workouts in Joe Creason Park or on the (old) golf course...where would they be now?