MAY STORIES BRINGS JUNE PLATI-'TUDES
A notes column penned by David Plati, who is completing his 20th year as Colorado’s Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations.
Welcome to Plati-?Tudes... Summer is in the air, which means I’ll be spraying Titleist Pro V I’s at a golf course near you soon (actually, that 983 driver they make is pretty darn good)... Ah, June. Which means the Blowfish Backgammon tournament is upon us (Madigan, you’re all mine this year)... On a personal note, for those who want an explanation of what I really did as opposed to what one local TV station said I did (believe me, it was trumped up), contact me (don’t always believe everything you see or read)..
TRIVIA QUESTIONS... CU?Sophomore Dathan Ritzenhein will go for an NCAA title in the 5,000-meter run later this week in Austin, Texas. Name the last Buff male to be crowned the outdoor NCAA 5K champ? Seinfeld?What is the name of the Chinese restaurant that Elaine and her communist boyfriend get blacklisted from? And for a bonus, a Big 12 Trivia Question, courtesy CU fan Thomas Lynn: Since the Big 12 Championship in 1996, half the teams in the Big 12 have won at least one championship in the first eight years of the conference. What accomplishment do those same six share?
HESSLER’S NIGHT... The fundraiser for injured CU quarterback John Hessler on April 1 brought in right around $111,450, including over $1,450 raised by the “Bring A Buck For Hessler” campaign in conjunction with the spring football kickoff celebration. New Colorado State AD Mark Driscoll and football coach Sonny Lubick also contributed and attended the event in support of John; it was a pleasure to spend time talking to both (Hessler was the first in-home visit Lubick made after being named CSU’s head coach in late 1992). Things transcend a rivalry folks, and it was truly touching to see them come out and help a Buffalo in need. Hessler made an appearance later in April at CU’s spring game, and while he showed dramatic improvement, still had to be brought in via wheelchair. He vowed the next time he returns to Folsom, he’ll walk in.
YOU’RE OK, KID!... That’s the title of a book authored by Floyd Edward “Ed” Reinhardt, father of CU tight end Ed Reinhardt, Jr., who suffered a serious brain injury in a 1984 football game at Oregon. Reinhardt was a sophomore that season, and opened the year with 10 catches in a 24-21 loss to Michigan State in Boulder on Sept. 8. A week later, his life would change forever. Ed Sr. summarized things this way:
Nearing the end of game two against Oregon in Eugene, Eddie caught a pass and was tackled, his head colliding hard with the artificial surface hard. A blood vessel in his brain burst and he collapsed at the bench. Recognized immediately by CU medical personnel, he was rushed to a local hospital where the blood clot was removed; Eddie would lay in a coma for some 62 days.
Recently, the Reinhardts wrote a book titled, “You’re OK, Kid!” a story about Ed Sr. growing up without a father because of divorce when he was nine and his struggle to eventually find him and bring him back to the family after years of reconciliation. The title of the book is the last words his father said to him, and the inspiring tale might just make an excellent Father’s Day gift.
CONGRATS TO CHAUNCEY... Former CU hoopster Chauncey Billups has made it to the NBA Finals for the first time, as he’s a key starter on the Detroit Piston team that will face the favored Los Angeles Lakers in this year’s championship series. The last player who went to the NBA straight from CU to play in the NBA Finals was Scott Wedman, who played in three straight from 1984 through 1986 with the Boston Celtics; Wedman earned a championship ring on two occasions with the Celts, for the 1983-84 and 1985-86 seasons, defeating the Lakers the first time around and then the Rockets (the Lakers’ got ?em in-between). Matt Bullard, who played at CU for two years before transferring to Iowa, played in two Finals as a member of the Houston Rockets in the 1990s. Billups got off to a great start, with 22 points (8-14 FG), four assists and three steals in the Piston’s 87-75 win over the Lakers in Game 1 on June 6.
CONGRATS TO ADAM... Former CU grad assistant Adam Woullard was recently promoted to the public relations coordinator with the Green Bay Packers. Woullard, who spent the 2002 season working in the Buff media relations office, landed an internship with the Packers the following May. He will assist in media relations with the Packers, contribute to publications, work with fan relations and team services, and oversee production of the team’s weekly media packets. He works with Zak Gilbert, another former CU SID student, who made his professional bones with the Colorado Rockies before moving on to the Packers in 2001. Zak was also recently promoted with the PR operation. Congrats, guys!
NICE START... Former Buff Drew Wahlroos (’02) is playing for the Amsterdam Admirals in NFL Europe, and he made quite the debut in his team’s 34-11 loss to Frankfurt. Wahlroos was in on six tackles, including five solo, added another stop on special teams, and recovered a fumble playing linebacker. He’s the only Buff in NFL Europe as of now, though Mark Mariscal (punter ?02) was at one time assigned to Berlin by the New York Jets.
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P-TUDES SURVEY... Did a combo P-Tudes e-mail list and phone survey, mainly centered around the recent events concerning our football program and people’s opinion on some of the media coverage (just general, no controversy). Many of you had interesting and well though out comments, most of which were critical, however, I didn’t do this to incite or criticize the media; it was done to see who people felt delivered the fairest coverage as the questions were asking for the positive. And remember, it’s subjective, not scientific, so the margin for error is greater than the standard 4.5%. Here’s what the spring P-Tudes poll revealed (126 overall respondents):
What newspaper did you feel covered this spring’s recruiting story the fairest?
BOULDER CAMERA |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| (57) 45.2%
LONGMONT TIMES CALL |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| (35) 27.8%
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS |||||||||||||| (14) 11.1%
NONE |||||||||||||| (14) 11.1%
DENVER POST ||||| (5) 4.0%
COLORADO DAILY | (1) 0.8%
NONE |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| (41) 32.5%
KCNC (Ch. 4) ||||||||||||||||||||||||||| (30) 23.8%
KMGH (Ch. 7) ||||||||||||||||||||||||| (28) 22.2%
*DON’T KNOW |||||||||| (11) 8.7%
KDVR (Ch. 31) |||||| (6) 4.8%
KUSA (Ch. 9) |||| (4) 3.2%
Other ||| (3) 2.4%
KWGN (Ch. 2) || (2) 1.6%
KBDI (Ch. 12) | (1) 0.8%
*?includes no answer and live out of state responses.
Neill Woelk (Boulder Camera) |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| (65) 51.6%
Dan Caplis (KOA-Radio) |||||||||||||||||| (18) 14.3%
B.J. Plaskett (Longmont T-C) ||||||||||||||||| (17) 13.5%
Irv Brown/Joe Williams (KKFN) |||||||| (8) 6.3%
Shaun Boyd (KCNC) |||| (4) 3.2%
Mike Rosen (KOA-Radio) ||| (3) 2.4%
Sports Zoo (KOA-Radio) || (2) 1.6%
B.G. Brooks (RM News) || (2) 1.6%
Dave Krieger (RM News) | (1) 0.8%
Rod Mackey (KUSA) | (1) 0.8%
Les Shapiro (KBDI) | (1) 0.8%
None/Don’t Know/No Answer |||| (4) 3.2%
YES ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| (54) 42.9%
NO |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| (65) 51.6%
OCCASIONALLY ||||||| (7) 5.6%
YES ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| (32) 25.4%
NO |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| (85) 67.5%
OCCASIONALLY ||||||||| (9) 7.1%
CU Winning CSU Shootout (FB) ||||||||||||||||||||| (22) 17.5%
Soccer Winning First Big 12 Title |||||||||||||||||||| (20) 15.9%
Dathan Ritzenhein Accomplishments (XC/Tr) ||||||||||||||||||| (19) 15.1%
Wins over Tech, OU (MBB) |||||||||||||||||| (18) 14.3%
Kane Webber’s 3 Wins (Golf) ||||||||||||| (13) 10.3%
John Hessler At Spring FB Game |||||| (6) 4.8%
Joel Klatt Debut vs. CSU (FB) ||||| (5) 4.0%
CU Win Over Nebraska (SOC) ||| (3) 2.4%
No Answer/No Idea ||| (3) 2.4%
Cross Country Big 12 Sweep || (2) 1.6%
CU Comeback Win vs. Notre Dame (WBB) || (2) 1.6%
April 2 Rally For FB Team || (2) 1.6%
Attending Spring Game (FB) | (1) 0.8%
CU Win At CSU (MBB) | (1) 0.8%
Volleyball Team Success | (1) 0.8%
Jeremy Bloom TD vs. FSU (FB) | (1) 0.8%
Late Wins Over CU, UCLA (FB) | (1) 0.8%
Lightning Strike TD Pass (FB) | (1) 0.8%
CU Win Over UCLA (FB) | (1) 0.8%
Seeing CU Play In Fla. (FB) | (1) 0.8%
Brooks INT To Seal MU Win (FB) | (1) 0.8%
Any Time I Walk To My Seats (FB) | (1) 0.8%
Randie Wirt’s Play All Year (WBB) | (1) 0.8%
SUNDAY CONVERSATION... Kirk Herbstreit came into town last Friday (June 4) to interview Gary Barnett for ESPN’s “Sunday Conversation.” The interview, on-camera, lasted about 70 minutes. The piece that airs usually runs from 5-7 minutes, and then other excerpts pop up over the weekend. So, perhaps 10 to 12 minutes of the 70 could be used. I sat in on the session, which was not at all confrontational; Barnett was asked 36 questions in all, 12 of which I’d call softballs, 10 hardballs and 14 somewhere in-between. What got air? It varied depending on the time. ESPN released a transcript Friday afternoon promoting the piece with 12 of the questions; only six (four hardball, one softball, one combo) were utilized in the Sunday night SportsCenter, the prime display for the interview. Other excerpts were shown during other telecasts throughout the day and again on Monday. Now I knew 36 questions would never make it to the air, plus Gary had some very long answers but were devoid of the shocking sound bite, so those made it to the editing room floor. The interview came off fine in my opinion; no answer I saw was cut off or was presented in a different context of how it was said. But the set-up by Bob Ley had a harder edge, likely due to the network trying to defend its sensationalistic reporting of the story by the once-respected Outside The Lines. Which brings me to... GRAD RATES ISSUE... Once again, graduation rates are under scrutiny for student-athletes. One thing to remember when dealing with percentages is that while a few who don’t (graduate) won’t skew the university rate (68% of the 4,257 freshmen that enrolled in 1997 graduated in six years or less), the difference of as few as five or six will skew the athletics rate. Also, the campus grad rate has increased steadily since 1993 as the number of freshmen admitted has also increased, while the number of freshman student-athletes will be about the same, sans spikes in those years when we added women’s golf (1994) and women’s soccer (1996). Neither account for transfers, either incoming or those who left CU; so the rates for both would actually be higher if those are taken into consideration. One item of misinformation that was out there by some was that the overall university rate is calculated from junior year on; that is not the case, all the numbers are for incoming freshmen. CU has quite an extensive website of interesting campus and student statistical information: those interested can go to http://www.colorado.edu/pba/records/. THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMM... In a recent USA Today article, Peter Johnson in his media mix column wrote about a survey that showed that profit pressures are worrying most journalists?to the tune of 66 percent of those surveyed. The survey he cited showed that journalists are divided as to which way their profession is headed (advancing or regressing). For example, a resounding 61 percent said broadcast journalism was headed in the wrong direction; that shouldn’t surprise you since some TV reporting courses actually teach stalking, an illegal activity last I heard. Those who did participate in the survey did say the felt their profession was becoming less cynical, but the large majority felt that “the economics of news was eroding the quality more than ever.” Hmmm...
McCARTY LECTURES IN EUROPE... Dr. Eric McCarty, one of CU’s team doctors and surgeons and an associate professor and chief of sports medicine CU’s School of Medicine, recently returned from Europe where he and three other sports medicine specialists from the United States participated in a month long visiting lectureship to academic sports medicine centers in nine countries.
This prestigious lectureship series began at the Imperial College of London in England, followed by Oxford. They also visited and lectured in Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and France, before finishing in Athens, Greece. McCarty is the first Sports medicine specialist from the state of Colorado to be selected for this prestigious honor of the European Fellowship.
In its 20th year, this traveling fellowship was developed to help foster a meaningful exchange of scientific information between the Traveling Fellows and their European hosts as well as an exchange of culture and development of long lasting personal and professional relationships. During their trip they participate in scientific symposia, view research facilities and surgical procedures. In alternating years the fellowship is done between North America and Europe. On even years the physicians from North America visit Europe, while in the odd years, the European Traveling fellows visit North America. For further information on orthopedic sports medicine, go to the Society’s website at www.sportsmed.org.
ZIG-ZAG PASSES AWAY... CU lost one of its 1940s football alums when John Zisch passed away in Delta on May 26 at the age of 79. I had the privilege of being one of many to eulogize him at the graveside service in Johnstown. I got to know John after I became friends with his daughter Katie in 1982. Our natural bond was University of Colorado football, though we played some bad golf together at times. His love for his family was off the charts, how proud he was of his children and grandchildren second to none. He extended that love to my own family, befriending my father after my mother died in 1995 to the point where he and Shirley hosted him and my aunt and uncle for a couple of days when they lived in Montrose. They would talk occasionally through the years after that.
P-TUDE PHOTO GALLERY... Below are some pictures submitted to P-Tudes by friends of the columnist (ooh!)... the first was taken by CU's own Mark Murphy in Iraq; Murphy is a Lieutenant Colonel with the U.S. Marines Corps and spent some time as the NROTC Marine Officer Instructor at CU between 1991 and 1994... Next up is one of the newest Buffs on planet Earth, as former women's hoopster Annan Wilson recently gave birth to a daughter, Claire Annan Nauman, born in Minneapolis on May 15 to her proud parents! "Spud" as Annan was known during her playing days, produced perhaps a future Buff center: Claire weighed 8.6 pounds and was 20.5 inches long at birth!... And finally, the third represents about 70 years of CU athletics, as current golfer, junior-to-be Kenny Coakley is flanked by two football alums, Thurston Jenkins ('34) and Dr. Frank McGlone ('34); the three played together in a practice round at Columbine Country Club in Littleton, where Kenny came up just short in trying to qualify for the U.S. Open.
WEBSITE OF THE ?TUDE... So the 80s website and the song lyric websites were hits, so now I need to keep it rolling. Want to see the 10 worst album covers of all-time? Go here: http://porktornado.diaryland.com/albumcover.html. I concur, but the embarrassing part is that I owned the Orleans one (on an 8-track, no less).
TURNPIKE DOG... Ever wonder about that small grave located just southeast of the bridge on U.S. 36 heading toward Denver? The one with the white headstone and small black fence? Well, as told by John Meadows, it’s the grave of “Turnpike Dog.” Seems the tollbooth employees adopted a stray canine, a black and white collie mix, in the 1960s. For 12 years, the workers used to feed it, and people would donate thousands of cans of dog food around Thanksgiving and Christmas every year. When the dog passed away, it was buried overlooking it’s “homeland.” Meadows says the dog even survived getting nicked by cars on two occasions.
THIS WEEK’S NUMBER... 1,999. That’s the number of career rushing yards by Bobby Purify, as he gets a second chance at being a senior after going down with a season-ending ankle injury in the third game of the 2003 season. That ties him for the second most rushing yards by a Buff who has never led the team in rushing for a single season; Darian Hagan ranks 14th overall on the list with 2,007 yards but never led CU in rushing, despite having a 1,000-yard season as a sophomore (he was topped by J.J. Flannigan that year, which was 1989). Purify is tied for 15th on the list with Carroll Hardy with the 1,999 yards, and Hardy never led the team during a season, either. The fourth-most was by Eddie Dove, who amassed 1,612 yards between 1956-58 (which is 21st all-time).
TRIVIA ANSWERS: CU?Adam Goucher was the last male to win the NCAA Outdoor 5,000, doing so in 1998 (Kara Grgas Wheeler won it for the women in 2000). Seinfeld?Hop Sing’s. Big 12?Those same six teams (CU, KSU, NU, OU, UT, A&M) have also lost the Big 12 Championship at least once.
“Plati-?Tudes” features notes and stories that may not get much play from the mainstream media; offers CU’s take on issues raised by those who have an interest in the program; answers questions and concerns; and provides CU’s point of view if we should disagree with what may have been written or broadcast. Have a question or want to know my take on something? E-mail Dave at david.plati@colorado.edu, and the subject may appear in the next Plati-?Tudes.