First, an amazing Bell Game. For all of my fellow classmates who are starting to sound like those older alumni I talk to who say, “Oh, I hate going down to Greencastle for the Bell Game,” Saturday was a reason why I put up with the greatly reduced seating capacity, the Draconian security measures, drunken Dannie loudmouths questioning my masculinity, the potential of losing and having to watch them celebrate. It’s when you get a game like that, well, everything seems a little bit better.

Then, you get an amazing Colts game on Sunday Night Football against the Pats.

One huge similarity struck me. Both the Little Giants and the Patriots, ahead in the fourth quarter facing a tough quarterback, had a fourth and very short deep in their own territory.

Both decided to go for it.

That’s where the similarities end–and Lord strike me dead if I ever compare the Wabash Little Giants to the damned New England Patriots again.

Wabash senior QB Matt Hudson got a time out, hustled to the sideline, and made the case–against all D3 football logic–to go for it. Jim Amidon writes the amazing story here. They get the first down, control the clock and win the Bell. Brilliant and ballsy. Hudson is hailed as a hero.

New England coach Bill Belichick tells his QB Tom Brady to go for it. They’re short of the first down and give the ball to one of the best two-minute drill efficient, time-managing, field generals in the NFL. Colts drive, win the game. Belichick has the nightmare of answering every Monday morning quarterback in the country.

Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s silly to compare D3 football with the pros. But, for me, it’s still interesting to who sparked the decision and the attitude that accompanied them.

For the Bell game, the right attitude by a quarterback can make all the difference. 2001 Catch notwithstanding, I put Saturday’s gutsiness right up there with Chris Ings’ outstanding will to win the 1995 snow bowl.

As the cliche goes, it’s a game of inches.

In the interest of accuracy, I need to correct the excellent article by Peter Robbins. The good Dr. Hartnett is incorrect in his remembrance of when his Lambda Chi class painted the bench. The Phi Delt freshmen have been painting the Bench scarlet before each home football game at least as far back as the early ’80s.

In 1987, when my class painted the Bench, we encased it in Visqueen, sheets of plywood, and barbed wire. It was very much overkill, I admit, and I have better respect for the current classes who simply put the plastic over it. We did have confrontations with other pledge classes, and I remember at one point somebody heard a twig snap from the other side of the Arboretum. Immediately, almost my entire pledge class rushed toward the sound except for me, who was making sure that our flank wasn’t entirely exposed. Sensing the foolishness of the overreaction, I found myself yelling out, “Hey, this is not Vietnam. This is Crawfordsville!”

We were told that it used to be a contest between the Phi Delts (red) and the Fijis (white) to see which pledge class would have the bench painting in that particular school color before kickoff of the first home football game. I have not been able to confirm this tale, however. But it may explain why we always send the message up to the press box to be read at kickoff, “The Phi Delt pledge class would like to announce that the Senior Bench is red.”

I certainly mean no disrespect to others who have painted the Bench–it’s a great bonding experience for anyone who participates–but I always took great pride in the fact that we painted it scarlet and not our fraternity colors.

The night before I graduated, a bunch of us ended up painting the Senior Bench red at sunrise. To this day I’m not quite sure why we did it. Maybe it was to relive a terrific experience that helped united us as we started out on our own separate journeys in life.

Wabash Archivist Beth Swift also has a good piece on the Bench on her blog. And Tom Runge cataloged last year’s bench paintings. (here and here).

Did you paint the Bench? What stories do you remember?

I shot this video on my little Sony digital cam. Too bad we didn’t see any of these when we were in school.

An overpowering sense of catharsis accompanied this victory. I don’t think Wabash needed a Bell win more.

But where are the old cheers?

Could an actual wave of Gentlemanly behavior have befallen our current students? Perhaps it was an admonishment from administrators at some point which put the kibosh on “inappropriate cheering” in a climate of NCAA-led movements toward positive game environment. Maybe we can chalk it up to simple Sphinx Club laziness.

Truthfully, I’m not sure I’ll miss pledge classes clamoring to “Eat zucchini, eat, eat zucchini!” I put that right up there with the dreaded resurgence of the Homecoming Queen contest as embarrassments to our proud all-male tradition.

So, in response to my status update on Facebook–”The Big Cookie says: DePauw to Hell, Get the Damn Bell!”–Fred Greene ‘90, Ron Zimmerman ‘94, and I started reminiscing about the cheers that used to resonate from the Wabash side of the field. Here’s the list we came up with so far…

• KILL, KILL, HATE, HATE, MURDER, MURDER, MUTILATE!!!
• That’s all right, that’s OK, you’re gonna work for us someday!
• Blood make the grass grow greener, greener!!!
• Defense attack, sack the quarterback! Rip out his spine!
• A rope, a tree, the ref sucks!
• A tree, a rope, the refs on dope.
• Free beer in the endzone, Go Team GO!
• Repulse them, repulse them. Make them relinquish the ellipsoid!
• Albion, Albion, I’ll be on your girlfriend. (That one’s most likely the reason we don’t play that Michigan school any more.)

Yes, they’re not entirely PC, but they were sure fun to do.

Do you remember any others?

It’s the latest Class Agent Letter. Read it by clicking here.

If you haven’t sent us an update in awhile, you have three easy options:

• Submit a class note online.
• Send an e-mail to the Alumni Office.
• Send Kip or Hugh an e-mail.

Don’t forget to include any pictures of kids, vacations, anything. This blog is strongest when we post your updates, so let us know what you’re up to!

I received the following instructions from Luke Messer for Congress HQ for those of you wanted to help with the social media groundswell:

Folks, the campaign for the GOP nomination in Indiana’s 5th district is starting to ratchet up! We are going to be using this group heavily (but we won’t be annoying!) to help get out the word about articles of interest, happenings in the campaign, events you can attend, and volunteer opportunities.

Before we begin that effort, however, we’d like for you to do Luke one favor… Can you please invite other folks from your friends list to join the group? We would like to do a membership push now, before things get hot and heavy. Have you never invited anyone to join a group? Instructions follow.

Thank you so much for joining our group, and for everything we know you’ll do in the future!

How to invite your friends to join the Luke Messer for Congress Group:

1. Open the group homepage: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52815384927

2. Under the smiling picture of Luke is a link called, “Invite People To Join.” Click that link.

3. You will see all of your friends. The pictures that are grayed out, are folks who already members of or have already been invited to the group. Please invite anyone who’s photo is in full color who might be interested by clicking on their picture. They will now have a check next to their name.

4. Once you have selected all your friends, you can add a personal message at the bottom of the page if you’d like. Not feeling inspirational today? Feel free to cut and paste this one:

Hey! We finally have a chance to bring a new, dynamic type of leadership to Congress in Indiana’s 5th District! I’m supporting Luke Messer for Congress in that race. You should learn more about him and help support him by joining this group too! Thanks!

5. Click the blue box labeled “Send Invitations” at the bottom of the screen and you are done!

I have merged my legal practice in Richmond, Virginia, with another firm to form FerrisBowman PLLC. Our practice areas include general corporate law, including corporation formation, intellectual property and real estate transactions. I welcome referrals from fellow Wabash brothers in Virginia or DC.

You can also link to Jim professionally via his LinkedIn profile.

Keep those updates coming!

Knee Doesn’t Slow Him Down

Michigan City’s Ryan Sosinski

Nick Dettmann
Staff Writer

MICHIGAN CITY - Ryan Sosinski wondered: Is it worth it?

Is the pain, the rehabilitation, worth enduring in order to play a sport
he has loved since he was 7 years old?

Yes.

Absolutely.

No doubt about it.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound tight end barely has a left knee to walk on. In
the third game of his sophomore year - his first on the varsity roster -
he tore his medial collateral ligament. Hoping to contribute as a junior
after missing two-thirds of his sophomore season with a knee injury, he
tore the anterior cruciate ligament. The following spring, he tore his
patellar tendon. And, this year after the football season, he discovered
he tore his meniscus.

“It was a struggle,” he said. “… There were a lot of times I thought
about giving up. Sometimes you thought, ‘Will it be back to normal?’ It
probably never will be, but it’s as close as I’ll ever get it.”

The closest he came to quitting? It came Aug. 31, 2007, against
Chesterton, when his ACL was torn.

“I thought about (quitting) a few times,” he said. “But I never really
thought about going through with it. I love football so much.”

The injuries, he says, have molded him into the person - the player - he
is today. They either make or break you, tough to come back from.

When the thought of quitting came up, it was brief. Only during the
surgeries. Once through that stage, Sosinski worked to get back to
football.

His passion wouldn’t let him quit.

“There’s something inside me that won’t let me give it up,” Sosinski
said. “… A lot of times, your greatest success comes from what, at the
time, looks like your greatest failure.”

He’s a walking success story.

On Wednesday, Sosinski announced he would attend Wabash College in
Crawfordsville, Ind., to play football. He wants to study biology and
pre-med, ultimately becoming a team doctor.

He joins classmate Garrett Payne, a wrestler at City, with the same
aspirations.

As a senior this year - his first full varsity season - Sosinski caught
19 passes for 383 yards and four touchdowns. He will play in the
East-West All-Star game during the Sports Fest 2009 this summer in South
Bend.

He was also a News-Dispatch All-Area selection this past season.

“Ryan had an outstanding senior year coming off ACL surgery as a
junior,” City coach Craig Buzea said. “Wabash is getting a very good
pass-catching tight end and, most importantly, a quality
student-athlete.”

Sosinski will join a Wabash football team that went 10-2 last season and
won its fourth consecutive North Coast Athletic Conference championship
with a 7-0 conference record. The Little Giants advanced to the NCAA
Division III playoffs, defeating Case Western Reserve, 20-17, in the
first round before losing to Wheaton College in the second round.

Wabash finished the season ranked 18th by D3football.com and 14th the
American Football Coaches Association.

“When I visited them,” Sosinski said, “I saw their work ethic, and how
hard they work to win to win and in academics, and that’s a place where
I wanted to be.”

Sosinski said he visited the campus four times, including attending two
games - Oct. 25 against Wooster and Nov. 15 against DePauw.

The DePauw-Wabash game, or the “Monon Bell Classic,” is college
football’s oldest rivalry west of the Alleghenies. It has been played
since 1890 and the series is tied at 53-53-9.

“They have a lot of fan support, which I really want to play for,”
Sosinski said. “The DePauw game was nice because there was like 11,000
people there. It was pretty loud.

“It was crazy. I would not have expected to see that for a Division III
team.”

Sosinski considered many schools, including Valparaiso, Indianapolis,
DePauw, St. Xavier, Ohio-Northern and St. Joseph College.

“They’re all good schools, academic wise,” Sosinski said. “I felt I fit
in better (at Wabash) with the football program.

“… Every time I went down there, I got that strong tradition feeling
like you would see at Notre Dame. … I’m looking forward to possibly
playing for a national championship. That’s one of their goals. They
want to take the next step to win a national championship.”

Sosinski says it has been worthwhile.

Definitely.

Contact sports writer Nick Dettmann at ndettmann@thenewsdispatch.com or
874-7211, Ext. 447.

I’m in the OC working for Pacific Life.  My wife and I had our first baby last October, Olivia Grace.  She’s destined for greatness as I start her swim lessons next month.

Nice looking family, Brian!