"Reason # 15"

We just got back from our longest road trip of the year, the dreaded Colorado Trip, in which we tour through three different cities in Colorado over a period of four days. We wrestled Colorado School of Mines, Western State, and Mesa State. We spent approximately 24 hrs on a charter bus, and stayed in three different hotels (one of which I accidentally donated a Loper wrestling sweatshirt to). This is the kind of trip that brings tears of joy to your eyes when you see the sign that says exit 272 Kearney 1 mile ahead. It is an interesting thing because it is a rough trip, but I know that come next February it will be this valuable time with my teammates that I will miss as I reflect back on my wrestling career. My older sister really brought this to my attention when she wrote me a note right before we were about to leave for the trip. It went a little something like this "Keenski... I know you have a tough week ahead of you. I just wanted to encourage you. Even though parts of it will be miserable, there will be days in the future when you'll actually wish you could go on a 20+ hour team road trip in a broken down buggie with your teammates. Love you. I hope you have a great weekend, and God blesses the time you have to spend with your teammates!" My sister played volleyball for UNK so she knows a thing or two about road trips. This was really encouraging to me, and made me realize that I am going to miss all the great times with my teammates regardless of whether or not we were crammed inside a hot or cold (and definitely stinky) bus for hours on end. This is what inspired the "Top 29 reasons to be a college wrestler list" that my fellow senior Paul and I came up with on the trip back. Here they are in no particular order:

 

29. Stadium seating your couches 3 high!

28. Pushup contests to see who washes more dishes

27. Hours upon hours of Mafia (passes bus time well)

26. Pro and Sumo wrestling matches

25. Homemade bows and arrows (for a poster picture and personal image)

24. LOST and HEROES marathons

23. Nerf gun wars

22. Living Room Wrestling (submissions and furniture rules)

21. Daylight Doughnuts at 2 in the morning

20. Calf Brandings

19. Christmas Trees that don't fit in your house

18. April Fools Jokes (toothpaste Oreos, putting a friend's furniture in his bathroom, the phantom toilet sprayer, and of course hiding inside the locker)

17. Living with an Iguana, Sugar Gliders, Degus, Fish, and a dog (mostly at different times of course)

16. Learning how to ride a Unicycle

15. Various Halloween costumes (including Batman and Robin, and The Volleyball Team at the volleyball games)

14. Barbeques and Chocolate Malts (Mostly Post-Season)

13. Sticking a 25 lb. Plate in your roommate's bed

12. All-nighters in the computer lab with twizzlers and coffee to get the old paper done

11. Seeing who can ride their bike with no hands for the longest

10. Having your sewage back up in your tub (and bailing it out with a soup bucket)

9. Hanging the first ever indoor hammock (above the triple stack)

8. Prank calling my mom with the alias Jim Shorts

7. Foosball and racquetball tournaments

6. Brunch at Jeff's wife, Hannah's house

5. Flattops, bowl-cuts, and buzz-hawks

4. Inventing new types of food (the Dion Burger and the Sutt-Muffin)

3. Working the speed bag in the the scary basement

2. Movie nights

1. Bible Study

 

I am sure that my teammates would have plenty more to add but these are just a few of

the reasons I will miss college wrestling.

 

I guess it is kind of like when Eomer says, "These are indeed strange days. Dreams and legends spring to life out of the grass."

 

Keenan