Cedarville University Yellow Jackets

November 21, 2016

The Blog: A Tradition Unlike Any Other

As I begin this blog, I’m sitting in the computer lab of the Student Center. It’s exactly 7 p.m. on a Saturday night. It’s really a place I’ve been before and writing the blog is a thing I’ve done before, but right now every place is kinda a place I’ve never been and everything is kinda a thing I’ve never done. But I’ll come back to that.

It was an awesome week of practice this past week. We spent most of it on the game field in training because the shorter days necessitate lights after 5:30 p.m. and, if we’re being honest, our practice field looks about as fertile as the Sahara Desert at the moment and, while the bumps and divots can literally and figuratively provide an interesting change of pace and direction in the trajectory of a rolling soccer ball, we prefer the game field’s relative predictability for our purposes (and for our ankles, which have suffered enough as it is). Practice was full of finishing drills, passing patterns, and possession games as per usual as we prepared for the NCCAA Midwest Regional Semifinal against IWU at their place on Friday. The weather was ridiculously nice for this time of year in Ohio and we got after it and competed every day.

The game Friday ended up not going the way we wanted it to and our season ended that day in a manner that makes an old dog want to stick around and put things right. Twenty-six hours removed, I’ve had the same conversations about every little part of that game over and over again and every time it makes me want every minute back. There have been, and will be many more "If only I had…" moments.
I think after every season you come away with regrets. That’s no different for the guys that get another year than it is for Paulo, Twinem, Brad, Lendyn, JB, Gilly, Christian, and I. This year, especially right now, we all have very real regrets because we feel like we have so much more in us than we displayed on that field yesterday.

In the days and weeks to come, we’ll meet as a team and individually with the coaches to debrief, discuss, and maybe even reminisce a tiny little bit. We’ll talk to each other about the season pretty much nonstop for the next week or so. Coach will have a speech at the banquet next semester that some of you, our friends and families, will get to hear. And here in this blog, I’m gonna try to tie a bow, whether it’s pretty or not, on the roller coaster ride that just ended all too abruptly and has left us dazed, confused, and somewhat bruised. And the first thing I’m gonna say is that all those speeches, meetings and discussions, and all the words I could ever write in this last blog will never be able to make real to you what this group of guys that I’ve been blessed enough to be a part of just experienced.

F.A. Hayek, long before I was born, coined the term "particular knowledge" in contrast with the idea of "scientific knowledge." My explanations of both terms will be lacking in depth, breadth, and possibly accuracy, but when has that ever stopped me before? Basically, he uses the term Scientific Knowledge to describe measurable, objective, statistically proven phenomena that can help to give us a removed, sterile, high-level image of what is really going on. Particular Knowledge is the opposite. It is an individual’s intimate, personal, organic, experiential knowledge of their surroundings, which can be somewhat reflected in scientific knowledge, but can in no way be entirely summarized or even understood by any person or group because it is, by its nature, "particular" to every person in every "particular" place. Lost yet? I’m just getting started... and let’s be real, if you started reading you’re not gonna stop cuz this is the last blog of the year. Maybe you started zoning out or skimming when I mentioned potential inadequacy of the depth, breadth, and accuracy of my descriptions, but no hard feelings. I’m a senior in college. You know I’ve been there, like, very recently.

So each guy on this team has his own particular knowledge and experience. And there are some common threads in that experience that I’ll try to flesh out, but that entire paragraph about a dead economist’s vocabulary was basically to illustrate the fact, not that "you won’t get it", because some of you readers know some of my teammates better than I do, but that even I don’t get it for each and every guy that I saw in the locker room every day this year.

But now we’re getting off the roller coaster. We each had our own personal ups and downs, but as a team we had ups and downs corporately and somehow after every turn I ended up a little closer to the guy next to me.

To the moms and dads - your little boys are growing up into such big, goofy boys. How does that make you feel? I hope it makes you proud. You’ve lived a life that we can’t even really fathom and now you’re allowing us to head out into the deep end knowing nothing more than we like to kick a ball and we should try to get good grades. Your support and comfort when we come back home exhausted from treading water is much more appreciated than we like to let on. So for that and so much more, thank you.

To the coaches - What you guys are doing here is incredible. We don’t tell you very often (like, ever), but you’ve made this program into a place that can take a scared little freshman and turn him into a senior who is a better player, leader, brother, and Christ-follower than he was as a scared little freshman and who understands much better, not that the world is small or simple, but that no matter how big and complicated it is, he has nothing to be afraid of and he can make his little part of the world as great as he wants it to be. And that is incredible. Keeping your talents at Cedarville may not bring the most acclaim and worldly success, but your work here has created the environment in which this senior’s life was changed for the better in more ways than he could ever imagine.

To the coaches’ wives - thanks for putting up with all the things these guys do that make them such great leaders for us.

To the boys who still have more time in the program, this is what I have to say: College is crazy. No matter what your major, your year, or your personality. You’re doing all these things you’ve never done before, some of which don’t seem all that important, and you’re doing them at what feels like 1000 miles an hour. And that’s not even the crazy part. The crazy thing is that the way you do all those things on your endless to-do list, whether they’re important in and of themselves or not, is incredibly important and you barely have enough time to breath, much less think about and evaluate this incredibly important thing. That quiz? I can’t say it’s gonna make or break you. Speech class? I can definitely say it’s not gonna make or break you. You’re a new creation in Christ and your identity is not in your grade (and I know some of you love to hear that) or your playing time, but the way you look at each assignment and practice and game in front of you is making you into the man, employee, friend, husband, or father you’re eventually gonna be. Because one step never got anyone anywhere other than one step away from where they were a step ago, but the way you walk and who you’re walking with tend to have a very real impact on the journey than even the largest step or most painful stumble. Walk like you’re not alone because that’s the truth. Walk like the battle’s won because it is. Walk in a way that will allow you to look back once you’re sitting where I am and say "I remember that step. And whether it was easy or not, I’m here because of it and I’m glad to be here because I did my best and I learned something." And walk with the final destination in mind. Sometimes you’ll need to remind your brother about it and sometimes you’ll need him to remind you.

To the Freshmen - It could have been worse. If I’m being honest, it really couldn’t have been any better, but I really enjoy making fun of you guys (especially Levi) so let’s act like I never said that. You guys are pretty weird, but this year and this team was better for having you.

To the Sophomores - You think you got it on lock, huh? Just wait…Also, you guys are turning out to be incredible men each in your own way, and you each very clearly have your own unique way. Keep doing you.

To the Juniors - don’t mess this up. Jk. Walking beside you guys for three years has been a huge part of my experience here. Coach likes to think he has some say, but the culture and the heart of the team are in your hands now. (So for real, don’t mess this up and run my baby into a ditch. I’ll be watching very closely as I live vicariously through you in the coming years and I will know.)

To my fellow retirees - Twinem, Paulo, Brad, JB, Lendyn, Gilly, Christian, you guys have all put more of yourselves into this program than anyone in their right mind would ask of you.

Lendyn is getting married. Wat. Also, I’ve never had the privilege of working with a more caring, positive person.

JB is super mature and also getting married (one of those things is true. The other is… less true). Wat. And I’ve never doubted that when the chips are down he’s going to be fighting for me with every ounce of strength in that tiny, surprisingly fast, weird little body of his.

Brad is just a big goofball that loves Jesus, his friends and family, and soccer. When he got here last year I thought he was super weird. Now, I still think he’s super weird, but I also feel like I’ve known him forever and I could trust him with anything. But he is pretty weird tho for real.

Paulo, from day one, has been committed to excellence in everything he does and he’s helped my GPA more than probably anyone else on the team. Also, definitely has at least one of the top two beards on the team.

Twinem has been a better, more patient roommate than I deserved and had an incredible impact on the field. I’ve learned more facts that I didn’t care enough about to look up on my own from him than I can count and he’s been an example to myself and the team of commitment to our common goal. Also, he’s getting married too… wat.

Christian has been an incredible performer on the field and always a fun guy to be around. The thing that I think everyone should know about Christian though, is that he loves people and he loves the program. This year especially, in the face of more adversity than some players have in a four-year college career, he never stopped rooting for every guy on the team and fought through more injuries than I can count to make this the best year it could be.

Gilly has had an historic career here and managed to remain one of the humblest guys I know. The gilly that got so much of the spotlight over the past few years here is just a shadow of the gilly that I’ve had the privilege of living alongside off the field.

All of these guys and all of the ones that still have some time left in their careers are incredible and I count you, the reader, blessed to know them because I know I am. This program is incredible because these guys are incredible and my experience would be less than what it has been without any one of them and all of those that came before them.

As I sit here writing the blog like I have countless times before in a place I’ve been before, I’m really not writing the blog like I have before and I’ve really not in a place I’ve been before because I’m writing from a perspective that I’ve never had before. My classmates and I have played our last game as Jackets. And it’s crazy and it hasn’t even begun to sink in that I won’t have to go to run to practice after my exam in Intermediate Microeconomics on Monday, but it’s getting there. And all I really know right now is I’ve loved every minute. I’ve loved being a part of a team and a program that really is unlike any other. I’ve enjoyed being tested and refined beside brothers that I’ll hopefully remain close to for the rest of my life. And I’ve loved seeing them grow in Christ as teammates, friends, and much more. And I’ve definitely enjoyed making fun of them all for you and I hope the picture you have of your son’s/boyfriend’s/friend’s experience is a little richer for my doing it in the blog. Thanks for taking the time to read my sarcastic, mean-spirited ramblings.

Go Jackets!

In Christ,

Plumdog out.


November 15, 2016

The Blog: A Tradition Unlike Any Other

We finally had our last home game of the year this past week. And I mean it this time. You might be wondering what’s going through the minds of those eight seniors who will never play a NCAA game in Yellow Jacket stadium again. It is, after all, a pretty big moment in our lives, this being for many of us, the last year of really competitive soccer we’ll have. Well, among other things, this Yellow Jacket is thinking about how a nap sounds really good right now. Also that I have homework to do because, despite my highest hopes, it sadly has not spontaneously begun to do itself. You’d think we’d have fixed this grievous issue by now, but, alas, some evils remain necessary and some college students still procrastinate. Still trying to figure it out, but after this year it looks like I will have to leave the task to those I leave behind in the wild’n wacky world of undergrad.

So about the team. We’re still doing team things and stuff. And we’re still doing school and stuff. This week the team stuff and school stuff happened. We did some things. Some of them we did together. Some we did not. Still other things, innumerable things, really, we did not do. I think we can all agree that the number of things we did not do this week greatly outnumbers the number of things we did do this week and the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, endeavoring young man in me is greatly tormented by this fact. On the other hand, the elderly, time-tested, old (yes, shorter than average) redwood of a senior in me doesn’t bat an eye at all he’s left undone because he made it through another crazy week. Soo…conflict and stuff.

Monday and Tuesday we didn’t have practice as a team. Yes, it was weird. Yes, we survived. The coaching staff came to the conclusion that, after the hard-fought conference tournament we could use a little space and some time off. Also, I’m sure our fearless leaders didn’t exactly mind a little bit of a break to have somewhat normal lives for a day or two.

S/O to men’s XC for an awesome CU Fellowship night on Monday as well! The boys, as Coach Grant "the poster-child" Knight, would say, brought a good word and led us in some worship. Also, they did not leave any running puns unsaid, which was much appreciated, and made some pretty radical statements, verbally and non-verbally, about the appropriate length of men’s shorts in social settings. But I guess when you got legs like those… Ain’t no reason to be hiding that candle under a basket.

We got back to training as a team on Wednesday with two separate sessions of 6v6 small-sided games and it was great. Coach Knight worked up a sweat playing with those in the first session and Papa Zazz and Father Time joined us in the second session (Assistant coaches Zachary Keith Makinde Harris and Isaac Jerome Nelson, AKA "Father Time," AKA "The Dancing Shepherd," AKA "Giggles," AKA "Mr. Sleepyhead" respectively).

Thursday we split time between the practice and game fields because it’s getting dark after we set our clocks back (totally worth it for the extra hour of sleep last weekend) and we needed the lights. If I remember correctly, as practice began the sun was so low that Coach "2 Kool 4 Skool" Faro whipped out the always classy, always fresh Ray Bans for the start of training. Takes a special kind of man to pull off the sweat suit/Ray Ban look, but I think he managed. Friday we were up bright and early for a 7:15 a.m. session in order to give our legs some extra time to recover before our noon game on Saturday.

Friday was also Veteran’s Day and the Jackets MBB home opener. Also it was FINALLY FRIDAY. So it was a pretty good day for a lot of reasons. ‘Murica.

Saturday was game day with a wrinkle. Rather than 7 p.m. like many of our Saturday games, kickoff was at noon, which meant we had to get up and grab breakfast from Chuck’s. I’m not sure about the rest of the team, but I can definitely say that’s the first time I’ve been at a Saturday morning breakfast in the cafeteria since at least freshman year. Maybe the first time ever. We won our game though, which means that we’ll be heading to Indiana Wesleyan University for the NCCAA regional semis and finals this coming weekend and we’re guaranteed at least one more week of practice and time together in training.

There were a lot of big moments this week, but I’ve saved my personal favorite for last. I guess it wasn’t even really just a moment, but an event. Some time Monday or Tuesday the people that do this sort of thing were setting up stations for various seminary/masters programs in the upper SSC as the 9MARKS conference began here at CU. Naturally, we had a station for our own M.Div. & M.Min. programs. And, naturally, we had posters showing a Masters program graduate cheesing like Kyle Smoker in front of Niagara Falls. And, naturally, the graduate they chose to represent the program was a graduate amongst graduates. A man among men. An example and a challenge for all of us that we may never attain, but can and should certainly strive to emulate. And, naturally, this graduate was smiling like the Cheshire Cat after getting married and winning the lottery on the same day. Boy, were those teeth perfect. And the hair? Don’t even get me started. It was, as you must have guessed by now, none other than THE Coach Grant Knight. Go ahead and clap as you read if you feel so inclined. I know I did when I saw the poster. Really just lit up the entire SSC. Not only is he a fantastic coach and family man, but he’s extremely photogenic as well.

So that was pretty much this week. It was a pretty good one in my book, but I think we could top it with this next one coming up.

Go Jackets!


November 7, 2016

The Blog: A Tradition Unlike Any Other

Dearest reader, I’m gonna need to ask you to buckle up and keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle because this may be one of the more lengthy blogs of the year.

Every week when I write the blog I ask myself, "Where do I begin?" And I usually answer myself "at the beginning" because I’m really that sarcastic and I can’t help myself sometimes. This week I answered that same question in the same way, but as I write I’m honestly having trouble remembering what happened Monday through Wednesday because it feels like we’ve been away from school for a month and we’ve covered so much ground physically and metaphorically. Here’s to hoping it all filters back into this old dog’s tired head as he writes.

Monday we were coming off of a great win against KWC and got after it in training. Tuesday was more of the same. Both of these days were filled to bursting with preparation for our four-day trip to West Virginia both athletically and academically. The academic part of it was even more frantic though because we found out some time Tuesday that we would be leaving for D&E Wednesday morning rather than Wednesday night, which meant late notice to professors about missing class, late night studying, and things of the sort that kinda make your head feel like it’s gonna pop off from the mounting pressure as it all piles on.

Thankfully, no heads popped that I am aware of and we got on the road without a hitch (that we were yet aware of) after a solid morning training session. The transportation situation was an interesting one. We had a big space-ship bus (so named by me just now because it is big and white and awkward looking and reminds me of storm troopers) and the short bus, which was piloted by an excellent gentlemen by the name of Norris, who would exhibit tremendous patience and fortitude in putting up with a rowdy crowd of college soccer players through all the ups and downs of the crazy, long, crazy, tiring, crazy weekend. The movie situation was an interesting one as well, for those of us in the bus. We had to use laptops to play the movies, which we had no way of charging because we were in a bus. So on the ride we made it through the rising action of The Patriot (summation – Mel Gibson doesn’t wanna kill anybody, but then he kills EVERYBODY) before our energy supply ran out at a pretty perfect cliff-hanger moment. Our lunch Wednesday was at the Bees of the Apple, or, as it is more popularly known, Applebee’s. You already know we were all over those 2 for $20 deals like Graham on Schwien.

I know it may go without saying, but our abode for the duration of the trip, to our great pleasure, was the one and only Isaac Jackson Inn & Suites in Elkins. For those of you who are unaware, the Jackets and the Isaac Jackson go way back and have very fond memories of one another. Also, this place is like the Cadillac of hotels. It’s a place where some dreams are dreamt, others are made, and still others are disclosed in raucous, memorable conversations between brothers. I cannot imagine an apt comparison to fully portray the depth and breadth of the hotel’s excellence except maybe Valhalla, the mythical Norse home for the mightiest of warriors.

Wednesday night we attended the first-ever G-MAC tournament banquet. Highlights:

• Food was solid
• Twinem, Paulo, and the one and only loose n’lazy, fit n’feisty, mean n’manly, wild n’whiny JOHN SCHWIEN received first team all-conference honors (not that you’d be able to tell from the lasers of death that were coming out of Stone-Cold Schwien’s twin pools of flaming passion we sometimes call eyes)
• Twinem wore tennis shoes with khakis and a polo
• The coaches all gave speeches and Coach Faro repped like a G.
• Many jokes were made and many awkward moments of eye contact with the other teams were suffered through stoically.

Then it was Thursday and the semifinals were upon us. It was, overall, a great day, but not a great one for my pride truth be told. We breakfasted at the hotel. Isaac Jackson came through as always. We spent some time doing homework and watching some film, etc. We went to lunch at Subway. And when I say "we went to lunch," I mean we overran the nearest Subway, packed it to capacity, and caused multiple patrons to turn away as they walked through the door to be met by a 30-man line. Then it was back to our temporary home for some relaxation, homework, quiet time, camaraderie, and more of whatever our hearts desired.

This is when things got interesting. We were gonna leave for pre-game dinner around 4pm-ish if I remember correctly. And I realized at about 3:30 p.m. that I was missing a bag. But it wasn’t, like, a super important bag or the one bag I really needed to bring or anything. It was just the bag with all my jerseys and cleats and everything I needed to actually play soccer, which I guess was technically the point of the whole trip…So thankfully I wasn’t super embarrassed when I knocked on coach’s door and told him. And thankfully I didn’t feel like a huge idiot. Could you imagine if that had happened? As a senior? That’d be embarrassing. Close one, huh? (all of that happened though – it was rough)

So I commandeered the much-coveted jersey of our very own Theodore James Milby - not the freshman class president/chaplain that the freshman class deserves, but the president chaplain it needs (A student. An athlete. A friend.) - so a huge S/O goes out to my boy with the trunk full of junk. I also had the privilege of treading in the very shoes of THE John Schwien. It was the stuff of legends, folks. I used to wonder what it would be like to walk on the clouds and now I know and I’m better for it. I felt like the super fast kid in The Sandlot when he put on the New PF Flyers. My soles were in heaven at long last.

Game highlights:

• JB and JDerek scored eerily similar goals
• It rained a ridiculous amount and then kept on raining.

Friday morning we had breakfast at the hotel again – still great. We watched some more film, did some more studying, played some more games, napped some more, had a recovery session featuring another game of soccer volleyball with what seems in retrospect to have had a fairly flexible rule book, and took over Subway like an invading nation leaving no Italian herb and cheese bread in our wake. Dinner was at Applebee’s and our allowance was upped to $12 or the 2-for-$25 so you already know we got our fill and the waitstaff got theirs by the time we were outta there. Notably, there was an astonishingly awkward date going on at the next table over from Zac, Mason, Kyle N. and me. The couple ordered food and just didn’t eat it. They just sat there and, once the doofus of a guy got off his phone, leaned adoringly across the table and traded small-talk that I’m sure was all too invigorating and enlightening. I believe Mason mentioned that there was a little chin-grab in there at some point, which is a gutsy move for a Junior in high school to pull at a fancy joint like the Elkins Applebee’s.

After dinner we headed back over to D&E to watch the Lady Jackets volleyball team. In short, we came, we bumped, set, and spiked, we out-cheered our opponent, and we conquered in tremendous fashion.

Also, after the game they gave me that super-not-important bag I had left at school because we were able to alert them to my plight before their delayed departure. Apparently, according to my Blogosphere counterpart on their team, they didn’t love the smell of my shoes. The ladies clearly have never spent a wet preseason with a men’s soccer team.

Then it was the day of the finals. As I write it was just this morning when I woke up before my alarm with the game on my mind, but it feels like it was at least two days ago. We got breakfast at Bob Evan’s, the place where everybody is somebody, came back to the hotel, and got ready for the game. From there on out it was all business.

The game was a repeat of last year with an alternate ending that was less fun from a Yellow Jacket’s perspective, but it was another great game and AB had a great game. Congrats to them.

I don’t think I need to work hard to convince you that it stung to watch someone else lift the G-MAC trophy for the first time in over three years. As a senior class, it’s the first time we haven’t won and we can’t say AB didn’t earn it.

As I sit here, eight hours removed from the worst part of my semester thus far, there are all sorts of things going through my mind that I could say that I’ve heard and read about how pain is purifying and the Lord uses it and that’s all true, but what I think I wanna say to you, my readers, and more than that, to my teammates, is this – the measure of a player is what he is willing to give in order to succeed, but the measure of a man, and of a group of men, is what they do when they don’t. When you grind through the ups and downs of two of the craziest months you’ll ever have and things just don’t go your way. You lose in OT. That’s when you see what kind of person you are and what kind of people you’re surrounded by. I can’t imagine a group of men handling themselves better. You don’t just shrug off a blow like that, but my teammates – my brothers – are still alive, they still have each other’s backs, and they will wake up tomorrow and do what they know how to do. They will love the Lord, love each other, and they’ll work their butts off. Also, they will make fun of one another for any and everything, which always makes for a good time.

So next up is NCCAA Midwest Regionals - this Saturday, Nov. 12 at noon vs Cincy Christian at HOME - and your Jackets are certainly looking to get back up and get after it a little while longer.

Go Jackets!


October 31, 2016

The Blog: A Tradition Unlike Any Other

It finally happened. This was the week. I think it was on Wednesday. We were getting ready to go out to practice. It was a little chilly, but just another day of class, camaraderie, and training. All of a sudden we were walking out to practice. Some guys were wearing jackets. Some wore pants. We were a veritable sea of navy blue pulsing with alternating waves of laughter and derision. From outside, our matching practice gear must have made us indistinguishable from one another (unless you saw me walking next to Bryce…the two of us would definitely be distinguishable for obvious reasons).

We arrived together at the practice field and started kicking balls around and getting loose. And Twinem was wearing a puffy coat. Then practice began. And he was still wearing a puffy coat. Practice continued and so did Twinem’s state of over-warmth at the cost of innumerable swishing noises. And then practice ended. Classic Twinem (this entire scenario may or may not have been a "dramatized interpretation" of the actual events, but rest assured that nothing more than the events and dates may be factually incorrect).

But I’ve gotten ahead of myself. The week did not start on Wednesday.

This week started on Monday. With the typical Monday shenanigans. Practice was geared toward our game at Ohio Valley the following day. It was a CU Fellowship week and this one was led by ladies XC. They ran it like pros and had us throw around a bunch of marshmallows in the BTS, which was pretty great in addition to sharing some relevant, encouraging testimonies.

Tuesday morning we hopped on the bus just a smidge before 10 o’clock. The film of choice for the day was, of course, HP6 in which Harry learns all sorts of crazy things about Professor Snape, Dumbledore finds his resting place, and Ron and Hermione totally start to have a thing. The pregame meal was Fazoli’s (I think - I’ll let you know when my staff of fact-checkers get back to me). When we arrived at the field the ladies were still finishing their game and we had the blessing of witnessing a huge OT win and a certain freshman’s first career goal from what I hear.

Our game was another battle. Postgame meal was some pretty tasty pizza from a local joint and we got back to HP on the bus ASAP in order to try to get through it before we got home. And we did! Sort of. We were like 40 minutes into the last one and we were like half an hour from home when we decided to skip to where there would be about 45 minutes left in the movie. Yes, your math is correct, that was a unique way to do it. I think we were thinking that it would be best if we could miss every major plot development and get to the worst possible place to end the movie just in time to pull into Callan around 10 p.m. And, in our defense, we executed this game plan flawlessly and with persistence.

Wednesday’s practice was a recovery session. We took our jog, passed a bit, juggled a bit, and played one of the most poorly officiated soccer tennis games I’ve ever been a part of, but it was a blast as usual. Also, Wednesday was the birthday of our very own John "Katherine’s Boyfriend" Schwien and he spent it exactly like you would expect him to.

Thursday we were back to training in preparation for a big game against the Kentucky Wesleyan College Panthers on Saturday. Friday was more of the same. Friday night - guess what - we had some free time. It was weird and some of us weren’t really quite sure what to do with ourselves, but we made it through and managed to enjoy ourselves a healthy amount.

Saturday was the day of our G-MAC Quarterfinal against KWC. It was a beautiful day for it as well with a high of 70-something and not a chance of rain. It was spent like most Saturdays - sweat pants, homework, naps, and breakfast well after 10 a.m. Pregame meal was at Subway, which was a departure from the norm, but a welcome one to be sure. The night ended in spectacular fashion as well with a solid win to propel us into the conference semis next Thursday in Elkins, WV. Twinem got two for us and tried super hard to play it cool like it happened all the time, Derek got one and celebrated like Derek does, and Bryce got yet another to take over as our leading scorer on the season. It was most likely our last home game this year and I can’t imagine it going much better than it did.

This week we also found out that we are most likely going to the NCCAA Tournament. This means a regional play-in game sometime before Thanksgiving and, if we find success there, a few games down in the home of the not-so-late-but-still-great Sean T Reilly. I’ve already started trying to find places that sell sun screen in bulk to protect my speckled porcelain skin. I was made for more temperate climes.

But our minds are still stuck on the G-MAC with a big conference title yet to win and a couple tough opponents to get through. This time next week we will be back in Cedarville with the conference tourney in the books and we’d much rather come back champs than anything else.


October 24, 2016

The Blog: A Tradition Unlike Any Other

What a week it’s been for the Jackets. By the numbers, there were about 30 guys, seven days, 5 1/2 Harry Potter movies, three games, three states, and two big conference wins and each one of them was unlike any other.

The week started with a pre-game day. We had Mercyhurst at home on Tuesday so we spent the day preparing for that and recovering from a tough set of games on the weekend. Tuesday rolled around and your Jackets were dressed in our typical regalia for home games for one final time this season.

The game itself was absolutely crazy. It was Senior Night and we wore our yellows so it was never gonna be just another night especially against a quality opponent like Mercyhurst. If you want a full recap you’ll have to look somewhere else, but here’s mine: We scored, they scored, we scored, they scored (all that in the first 25 minutes), and then, finally, Levi "Mr. Congeniality" Haight roofed one in overtime to put the game away and give us old dogs a Senior Night to remember.

…But wait. There’s more…

After the game it was announced that one lucky Jacket-Backer had been selected to receive a gift, which was more or less true, but definitely not the whole story. The lucky fan was Kelsey Mullikin who, if you follow Lendyn on any form of social media, you most likely know is his better half. When she got out to half field you could hear the dulcet tones of the one and only JBiebs as the soundtrack to a slide show of these two young lovebirds. All the while Lendyn’s formerly-just-girlfriend stood there perplexed looking for her boo thang (he was hiding behind the rest of us for the moment of the big reveal). Then the music stopped. The wall of Yellow Jackets separating Kelsey-poo and Lenny Pickle parted like the Red Sea before Moses and the God of Israel and the bridegroom stepped forth in a manner that can only be described as almost eschatological. He got down on one knee. He spoke with the smallest stutter, which we can all agree is understandable given the circumstances. He asked the question…

And she. Said. YES. BOOM. Go Jackets and go Prickels. Just like that the two were betrothed. Naturally, the place exploded. E’erbody loves a good proposal and this, my friends, was a fantastic one. Of course we were all excited, but no one on the team expressed their excitement more emphatically than our very own Coach Grant Knight. He looked like a man who won the lottery and was freed from prison at the stroke of midnight on New Years’ Eve. It was majestic and entrancing and we have film.

Congrats to the newly-engaged couple. Couldn’t be happier for you guys.

…And that was just the second day of the week…

Wednesday was a post/pre game day so we went on another lovely recovery jog, passed the ball, and played enough to stay sharp and focus on some points of emphasis.

We embarked on our journey to KWC Thursday morning in the midst of some very "Cedarville" weather. The driver for the trip was to be none other than the man, the myth, the long-living legend Coach John McGillivray. The movie of choice was the first of the Harry Potter series, thanks in large part to the suggestion of our very own Musclebound Hoosier Brian "Slow-n-Steady" Wolverton. Harry really is great. How many 11-year-olds do you know that have stuck their wand up a troll’s nose to save their nerdy friend’s life? None. That’s how many.

Pre-game meal was at Fazoli’s, where I believe we placed our orders with a lovely lady named Edna who had been working there for over a decade. It was delicious, full of carbohydrates, and as greasy as ever. The weather in Owensboro was a little drier than Cedarville’s, but still a touch chilly. We ground out a big conference W in front of a sizable contingent of Jacket families including the Browns, the Smokers, the Prickels (of course), the Hecklingers, and the Aulds all the way from Boston, the second greatest city in the world behind the one and only CLE, land of champions.

After the game we hung around to support the Lady Jackets and munch on some delectable Panera sandwiches and cookies (a black market for cookies quickly developed and was dominated, as you would expect by Papi "the Kingpin" Duque). We did our very best to be rowdy, which, you can imagine, is not all that hard for a college soccer team. Our time in the hotel that night was another brimming with immaculate fellowship. My room was made up of a very strong quad - Zac "The Hair" Muir, Christian "The Tattooed Terror" Alexander, Derek "Cubs fan" Braak, who was in a great mood since the Cubs were winning, but I’m sure he understands that it can only last so long because they’re playing the Windians next. So they’ll probably not be able to win. Cuz that’s what we do in Cleveland and can’t two teams win the same series, nah’m’sayin’? We watched some enthralling animal fights on the Discovery Channel and decided we kinda hate predators, but also learned that you can feel bad for just about anything once it starts losing a fight.

Friday morning we got a great breakfast at the hotel, had some down time to watch homew-I mean do televis-I mean to relax and study. Nobody procrastinated and I have no idea where you would get that wild idea. We headed out to KWC for a recovery session, which was awesome as always and kicked some balls around and did some things. Then it was back to the hotel to change and pack up for Nashville.

The drive to Nashville flew by as we watched Harry, Ron, and Hermione save Sirius and Buckbeak and fight off the dementors and had an all around great time chowing down on some Chick-fil-A because would we really be a Christian school if we didn’t eat there at least once a season? Probably, yeah, but c’mon. We had to.

Once we got to the hotel in the ‘ville we had some down time and made full use of it. Then it was off to the nearest theater to watch Deepwater Horizon featuring the one and only Marky Mark, leader of the funky bunch, don of the Wahlberg family. Great movie, but not great for your faith in the capitalist system and big business. Dinner was at Chili’s near the hotel and it was glorious. Conner "Texas for a Little While at Least" Hughes and I ganged up to make the most of our dinner allowance and I think it’s fair to say we came out winners.

Saturday we had breakfast before 9 a.m., had some more time to study, then got all packed up by about 11 a.m. We had a rousing game of Family, a team favorite, which was won by Coach Grant "Something Ninninger" Knight, who used his parental knowledge of Seussian literature to devastating effect. Then it was off to Trevecca to support the Lady Jackets once again and prep for the game.

Game highlight: the Musclebound Hoosier put us up in typical Brian-style and we held on for another huge conference W. The drive home was all the better for the good result and the three Harry Potter movies we made it through for those of us who stayed conscious. Highlight of the return journey was probably Coach Faro demonstrating our program principle of servant leadership in magnificent style by hand-feeding Coach Mac some pizza while he was driving. It really is a privilege and honor to be led by a man who cares so much about the little things.

And just like that another week was in the books. We’ve got our final regular season game and conference tournament beginning this week so it’s another big one and we’re ready to go.

Go Jackets!


October 17, 2016

The Blog: A Tradition Unlike Any Other

Week #8 has come and gone and we’re something like halfway through the semester and over halfway through the regular season. The weeks just keep getting faster and we just keep smiling and pretending like we have some sort of grasp of what’s going on in this whirlwind.

This week, like many before it, started on Monday despite our repeated petitions to get a better day of the week like Thursday or Friday to kick it off. We made it through class and practice in one piece, held up by the promise of an imminent fall break and a short week. Tuesday and Wednesday followed in similar form as we prepared for a tough game against Salem International on Thursday by working on speed of play and off-the-ball movement in training.

The weather all week was the kind that makes our female contemporaries appreciate everything pumpkin and plaid and makes all of us look forward to Flannel Fridays and bonfires. If there were a leaf pile on campus you can bet we’d have been playing in it like a herd of toddlers in one of those petri dishes we call "ball pits" at Chuck-E-Cheese. But there aren’t leaf piles any where cuz this is college and there’s a grounds crew and we’re adults now :( Trade-offs, am I right?

However, fall break Thursday and Friday did offer a much appreciated respite from being an adult and a chance to catch up on sleep and anything but homework. At the risk of losing all sympathy from my professors about the time constraints of a student-athlete, I’ll admit that I did almost nothing Thursday besides eat, sleep, and watch movies until game time and it was glorious. No regrets yet, but that could change once I start doing all the work I should’ve done.

Friday was a little "busier." We had an AM recovery session to try to get our legs back and stay sharp for our game Saturday at Malone. We jogged, we stretched, we laughed, we cried (except we didn’t cry), and we kicked some soccer balls around as we are wont to do occasionally. After practice coach announced that we would be supping at the Garden of Olives, which elicited a general wave of excitement for breadsticks and breadsticks and breadsticks and breadsticks and pasta and breadsticks with a side of immaculate fellowship and some complimentary mints.

After practice about 2/3 of the team took advantage of the free afternoon to go and hit the links over at Locust Hills. We had five four-man scramble teams and played nine holes. Notably, "Baby Kurt" Gruenberg, ATC and Brett "Pepi-le-pieux" Sumrall, Campus Community director, Mustache-haver, and consummate khaki wearer joined us. Baby Kurt had an itsy-bitsy temper tantrum for almost no reason and broke his pitching wedge. The winning group of the day was Twinem, Levi, Carter, and myself despite my own best efforts. Carter’s back is still probably bothering him a bit from putting us on his back for so long and, as I’m sure you will hear if you mention anything about golf ever again in his presence, Twinem shot better with his irons than his woods and driver. Pretty sure he mentioned something about how Canadian courses are different and better just like their education system. Levi was attired the most professionally, I think it’s fair to say. Kid looked like he would fit in at Augusta and I was wearing running shoes and dress socks with pictures of bacon on them. Guess which one of us is going into the business world in seven months…

After the links we headed back and did more anything-but-homework until it was time for OG. When we got to the Garden we took over one of the back rooms and consumed enough pasta and breadsticks to feed a small village. One of the highlights of our time together came from none other than the best RA around, Isaac "Father Time" Nelson, in classic Isaac style. As the food arrived at our table, he started to pray for our meal and then choked literally and figuratively, which was a little awkward and absolutely hilarious like most of Isaac’s social experience. Baby Liam "The Prodigy" Knight was present and, as is his custom, stole the spotlight with acts like "peek-a-boo," almost headstands, and the always classic "hysterical laughter for no reason." He was dressed in the Knight family style of being just hipster enough to be relevant while remaining respectably un-trendy. Apples and trees, folks. Apples and trees.

Saturday we were up at the crack of dawn and left campus at 7 a.m. for our game at Malone at 1 p.m. Breakfast was at Bob Evan’s, which meant plenty of farmer’s breakfasts to go around. Post-game we got some Chipotle, which was clutch as always. The bus ride felt like it lasted for about a year though. The ride home on one-day trips always seems about 7x as long as the ride there.

We made it back in one piece though and we’re looking forward to another action-packed week. We’ve got Senior Night against Mercyhurst on Tuesday and the KY/TN trip Thursday-Saturday so expect a heck of a blog next week (but not, like, too good of a blog… expect it to be just good enough to be worth reading, but no more than that so your expectations don’t exceed my performance cuz that makes my job easier).

Go Jackets!


October 11, 2016

The Blog: A Tradition Unlike Any Other

This past week was another filled to bursting with practice, games, classes, homework, exams, and the massive iceberg of camaraderie that I’ve only been able to show you the tip of in the blog. Those of us who had the stomach bug have recovered pretty well, but it still kinda feels like E.T. is in my belly trying to phone home every now and then. More importantly, with the exception of Paulo none of the other guys caught what we had, which we’re all happy about.

At this point we’ve been here for about a month and a half and we’re all still alive, breathing (with the possible exception of Mikey "pack-a-day" Auld, who’s fighting something nasty and sounds like he’s inhaling through a kazoo), and better for being here. We’re officially halfway through the season so I think I’ll give a sort of informal progress report. I have no particular plan of attack and do not plan on going about it in an especially effective or specific way, but I want you to keep one thing in mind - like the freshman class, it could be worse.

Some specifics…

…About the freshmen. Mason, the freshman who came in with a mop on his head, got a real haircut and looks almost like an adult now. No such luck with the Kiwi thus far. TJ seems like he’d make a great homemaker. Levi makes everyone kinda uncomfortable because he’s always smiling. Brian is still quiet and musclebound. Carter actually bought a pair of bricks to wear on his feet to practice. Turns out I’ve been right about them so far. It really could be a lot worse.

…About the sophomores. We still don’t really understand how Derek works. If you do, some pointers would be great. Coach Knight actually used the words "baby giraffe" to describe Bryce this weekend, which made my heart happy. Papi actually sits with us at meals sometimes now and occasionally even talks. It’s weird.

…About the juniors. Still on the lookout for Sean’s lips. If seen, please send to Brock 2 East. Smoker’s family has been in town so he’s been eating real food from the outside world, which makes for a happy, healthy Smokey. Schwien shaved his mustache and looks like a normal functioning member of society again, which is nice, but I don’t know if it’s a good thing. Something about pigs and lipstick…But I digress.

…About the seniors. Brad seems to have left his upper lip in the same place Sean misplaced his. Twinem and JB are still engaged (if life were March Madness, I think it’d be fair to say those are two major Bracket-Busters). Paulo hasn’t been deported yet and still has a very rational hatred for the cold. We’re all still generally pretty clueless about what the future holds and definitely not worried at all about the fact that the real world is screaming toward us like a freight train with no brakes. Not one bit.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - life as a Yellow Jacket is a roller coaster. There have been highs and lows, bumps and turns, and it’s been all we could do to keep our arms and legs inside the vehicle. The thing about roller coasters though, is that when you’re in the thick of it, life is a blur. Every once in a while at the top of a hill you get to stop and enjoy the view and see for miles in every direction, but then you start picking up speed and your immediate concerns become the person next to you and whether or not this rickety old thing is going to stay on its tracks for the next few fractions of a second. When you eventually cruise in to the end of the ride you can hardly believe what just happened and that you not only made it out in one piece, but you actually think you’d totally do it all over again without changing a thing. And you look at the person who was on the ride next to you. And that person looks back at you. And you both feel like you’ve known the other as long as either of you has been alive. And you both know that no one else could really understand what you just went through together because they weren’t strapped into that seat with a stomach full of butterflies on the way up a hill that no one should ever even attempt to ascend wondering what in the world they were thinking ever getting on the ride. And there’s a bond. Maybe not permanent and maybe not perfect, but you made it through alongside this person and because of that, you’re one step closer to being family. That’s what’s been going on on the team and that’s how I would describe this season so far. It’s been more than I ever could have hoped in some ways and less than I would have hoped in others, but the bond that we have as brothers on this team has continued to grow and strengthen in the face of, and in the wake of, the dives, dips and turns of this season.

This week we’ve got two more big conference games and fall break, which is just. So. Exciting. Will I personally do anything exotic or exciting during those two days off? The odds aren’t great, but I couldn’t care less because who doesn’t love a four-day weekend?

Go Jackets!


October 4, 2016

The Blog: A Tradition Unlike Any Other

And now it’s October. If anyone knows how that happened, feel free to let me know because I would’ve sworn I just got back to school a week ago.

This week started way back in September though, so that’s where we’ll begin.

Monday this week wasn’t quite as "Monday" as last week’s Monday was, which I think we were all thankful for. The baseball guys led CU Fellowship this week and they knocked it out of the park (heh). Four or five guys spoke, notably including Marc "I don’t really talk much" Russell, which was crazy because I’m pretty sure he really doesn’t talk much, and Colton "Preacher-man" Potter, who went from 0-100 real quick. Some take-aways from the night were that Potter can definitely keep folks awake at the pulpit and Jaden "I need note cards" Cleland is really good at looking like he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

Tuesday was when it all began. This week was Homecoming Week. So, naturally, it was the worst week of weather that we’ve had all year. I’m in my fourth year here and I believe it’s been rainy and <65 degrees="" every="" homecoming="" and="" i’m="" pretty="" sure="" if="" you="" ask="" some="" folks="" who="" have="" been="" around="" longer="" than="" me,="" you’ll="" hear="" the="" same="" thing="" -="" "if="" it’s="" not="" rainy="" and="" gray,="" it’s="" not="" homecoming="" week."="" at="" this="" point="" i="" think="" it’s="" fitting="" to="" give="" a="" shout-out="" to="" the="" haters="" who="" tell="" me="" it’s="" not="" cool="" to="" have="" an="" umbrella.="" folks="" were="" getting="" real="" damp="" in="" between="" classes="" all="" this="" week="" while="" i="" was="" dry="" as="" a="" bone="" and="" happy="" as="" a="" clam="" under="" my="" umbrella.="" talk="" about="" vindication.="" feels="">

Wednesday was a game day so we were looking fresh as could be from stem to stern. Wednesday was an especially wet one though and by the afternoon our game field looked sort of like a really big in-ground swimming pool so we ended up heading over to Athletes In Action in Xenia to play on a turf field where we wouldn’t have to wear water wings to stay afloat for 90 minutes.

Thursday was another gray-ish day, but it still wasn’t phasing me because I still had an umbrella. Boom. The marvels of not-so-modern technology, right? The weather actually started to clear up at practice though and we got to see a bit of a double-rainbow that I believe you can peep on the team Instagram thanks to coach Zachary "Wisdom Tweets" Harris. We practiced off of our practice field in an attempt to not totally destroy it by the halfway point of the season, which becomes difficult with the crazy Ohio fall weather.

Friday was - you guessed it - rainy. Again. It was also especially crowded around campus with all of the alumni buzzing around (Yellow Jacket pun? Yes, please). Practice ended up being held on the hardwood in the gym, which is always a heck of an adjustment after playing on grass, but we put in some work looking to Ohio Valley on Saturday. After practice, the weather was nice enough for some of us to get in nine holes of campus golf, which is just a heck of a way to blow off steam after a full week.

Early Saturday morning is when things got interesting. Schwien, Gilly, Isaac, myself, and Coach Knight’s entire family got real sick real quick. Not quite sure what it was, but whatever it was it was no fun and Gilly, Schwien, and I were nowhere near ready to play by game time. We’re all feeling much better now (Sunday), but prayers that no one else catches what we had would be greatly appreciated.

S/O to all the Jacket-backers who made it out to the game Saturday especially the ones who we haven’t seen around campus in a while. Once a Jacket, always a Jacket.

Go Jackets!

(This week we’ve got another couple games and we’re looking forward to getting back on track in the conference.)


September 27, 2016

The Blog: A Tradition Unlike Any Other

Never fear, my dear readers. I’ve returned as promised although from what I’ve heard Graham was a more than capable substitute so I know you didn’t suffer too greatly in my absence. It was a somewhat eventful week. I would call it a learning week.

Monday hit us like a big bag full of overripe reality after our long weekends (West Virginia for my brothers and my sister’s fantastic wedding for myself), but we made it through thanks in no small part to the miraculous powers of a college student’s overstressed immune system’s best friend NyQuil. If I remember correctly, we had Li’ Dribblers that night, which is always a blast, but didn’t exactly make the day seem any shorter after class, practice, and homework.

Then it was Tuesday all of a sudden. You’d think after my 21 years of life on this planet I’d be able to see that coming Monday night, but for some reason it was hard this week and, for myself at least, Tuesday came flying around the corner after Monday night like Coach Knight driving a team van in a hurry. I understand you may not be able to sympathize with me in this specifically, but I’m telling you it’s a great analogy. As close a parallel as I’ve been able to find outside of geometry class with mom during "middle school" at my kitchen table. Despite the fact that it snuck up so aggressively, Tuesday was another great day. Practice was a pre-game day practice with more finishing and crossing built into the session because, as we’re learning all too clearly, they are two very important things.

Wednesday we went to California. The one in Pennsylvania. And we passed through West Virginia on the way. So far this semester WV has been our home away from home away from home (home away from home being Castle Brock and home being home). Most of the guys, and I’m sure many of our professors, feel like we’ve spent more time there than in Cedarville recently and as beautiful as the hills are, I can’t say that I would make that drive just for kicks and giggles. The movies on the docket this time were Happy Gilmore (as you may have observed if you followed us on snapchat under username jacketssoccer – word has it that a particularly handsome and eligible member of the team took it over for the day, but I digress) and The Express: The Ernie Davis Story. Very different main characters, but both great movies.

As we were passing through WV we naturally went to a small Italian restaurant (because everyone knows that WV is known for its incredible Italian food) where we were served by a gentlemen with well cared-for hair and one glove. I doubt the mob has much going on in that region of the country, but that one-gloved man definitely got a little extra respect from us because at least subconsciously we didn’t want to get on his bad side. That is, until he told one table that we would be getting key lime pie following our meal. And didn’t mean a word of it. It was actually reminiscent of a certain experience that I had involving supposedly stuffed crust pizza and Coach Brett "I have a quote for that" Faro, but that’s neither here nor there. I don’t know what it is, but I guess I just take food more seriously than some people. There were more ups and downs on the emotional roller coaster I was riding in that restaurant than there were on our hilly drive through WV to PA.

Thursday we had the day off practice after getting back late from a tough away game, but we decided to meet as a team to talk about some things. So don’t you worry – I saw the soccer guys. I know, scary that we almost went a whole day without doing something together, but never fear. After our meeting we headed out to cheer on the Lady Jackets to a 1-0 victory over Malone (I think?). At halftime of their game, we had our second-to-last Li’ Dribblers games of the season on the game field, which was, as always an absolute party. I know you’re wondering so I’ll tell you – YES, the one and only Blue Whales still have incredible team spirit and are still the only team legitimately named the Blue Whales despite what Conner "The Lesser" Hughes, coach of the light blue team would have you believe. You can sleep in peace now.

Friday we had morning practice. At 7 a.m. in the morning. When it’s still dark out. And everything is wet and chilly. And it was actually a great session. The turnaround from practice to 9 a.m. classes is always a little tight, but we made it and were able to consume enough caffeine to delay the necessary naps until much later in the day. Friday night a few of us graying yellow jackets, including assistant coach Zachary "Does This Fedora Make Me Look Fat?" Harris, headed to Cincy for the wedding of the one and only Jarrett "Hey, you wanna do something?" Kersten. We had fun, but not too much fun because Saturday was game day and we also had to be on our game in the morning for the final Li’ Dribblers game of the year.

So it was a pretty good week, but it was definitely not an easy one. We had two tough results and no matter how well you play, that’s never good for team morale. I said earlier that I would call it a learning week because when things don’t go your way you have no choice but to learn and move on. So that’s what we’ve done. Last week we learned in a deeper way what it means to be a team. We learned what it means to be brothers. We were reminded of what it means to play "For Him" in the face of some absolutely gut-wrenching adversity and we’re coming out of it a tighter team and better men.

So, as always, we’re looking forward to the week to come, but even more so this week so that we can start the first week of the rest of our season the right way.

Go Jackets!


September 19, 2016

The Blog: A Tradition Unlike Any Other

To my dearest readers,

Part of me wants to apologize. Thankfully though, that is the same part of me that sometimes wants to tell Schwien that I actually think his mustache looks good so I never listen to it and I certainly never vocalize what comes from that deep, dark place. Following our game Thursday I headed immediately to Columbus for my sister’s rehearsal dinner Friday and wedding Saturday because I love my big sister, which meant I missed most of the trip and the game Saturday. Also, because of my sister’s wedding, which was absolutely worth it, I did approximately zero homework, which left me a good bit to do Sunday evening when I would normally write the blog. So I asked the team if anyone would cover for me and Graham stepped up. In preparing to read the following, I would advise the reader to keep in mind that, like this year’s freshman class, it could be a heck of a lot worse. Enjoy.

For most people, school can be pretty overwhelming, especially for a student-athlete like Aaron Plummer who is also tasked with keeping up this blog. Fortunately, there are history majors who have more than enough time to lend a hand. My name is Graham Sachtleben, I’m a goalkeeper for the CU men’s soccer team and I’ll be filling in for Plummer this week.

First half of the week was a fairly typical and uneventful week for the Jackets. Monday, the squad arrived at a nearby park to work with our Li’l Dribblers ministry in the evening. It’s always a good time working with our Li’l Dribblers teams and enjoying the company of bunch of energetic toddlers. Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in typical Jacket fashion. A lot of FIFA, campus golf, and of course, studying. Everything that makes a Jacket a Jacket.

Most of us were pretty stoked for the long weekend. We departed for our hotel near the Alderson Broaddus campus around 10 a.m. Thursday. We got to the hotel in what felt like half an hour. For a brief moment I could have sworn we were living the movie Speed with Sandra Bullock behind the wheel. However, the drive was probably closer to four hours. When we got to the hotel we had quite a bit of free time thanks to our fearless leader. We spent a little over an hour killing time at our hotel before heading out for our pre-game meal at the one (or two or three) and only CJ Maggie’s!

As we pulled up, we all had a bit of Deja Vu. Turns out this was the same restaurant coach had taken us to last WV trip. The same joint we promptly exited that day upon bring informed not only were we at the wrong CJ Maggie’s but, there are apparently multiple restaurants in the world that look exactly like my grandfather’s attic. However, TODAY it was the right CJ Maggie’s! After we had our fill, we stopped briefly at the hotel to pick up our gear and set course for Alderson Broaddus. The game went pretty well for everybody except John "Mr. Pec-tacular" Schwien, who officially owes Connor "The One-Kneed Wonder" Gilmour his firstborn son after what happened.

Friday was our off day. The day started with a lenient 9 a.m. wake-up call. Soon after, we loaded up the bus and journeyed into the WV countryside to go spelunking. Toward the beginning of the ride the coaches turned on Remember the Titans. This particular movie holds a special place in the hearts of the Cedarville Jacket’s team. A simply beautiful and invigorating story which never fails to leave the bus in uncontrollable hysteria. In the midst of the tears and shouting, we almost didn’t notice that the bus got lost and entered what looked like a salt mine somewhere in the hills of WV.

For those of you who remember last year, you will understand that this led to some pretty nasty flashbacks to another time we took a wrong turn in West Virginia. Fortunately, we found our way to the caves, had a quick bite to eat and began our tour. At first, we were a bit unsure. Luckily, geologist and general knowledge expert Joel Twinem showed us the ropes and led us into the dark cave, but clearly struggled himself when the lights went out and he instantly developed a case of "traveling hands." A couple sets of parents joined us as well. The Prickels, of course, the Hecklingers, who are understandably apologetic about Mason, and the Brown’s! We explored the cave for about an hour. The tour guides did their best to "make light" of our underground journey (pun clearly intended), but just dug themselves deeper with each joke (again, pun intended – caves, digging, etc.). Bryce, commonly compared to a small giraffe, seemed to be having trouble keeping his helmet off the stout cave ceilings. A couple of scraped helmets later, we all reached safety. To close the day out, we grabbed a meal at Buffalo Wild Wings. Coach Faro was sure to remind us that the only reason we were going to BWW, and not a healthier alternative, was because we were in WV and you can only go to CJ Maggie’s so many times.

Saturday held another relaxed 9 a.m. breakfast. Shortly afterwards, we found ourselves at the movie theater watching a cinematic work of art called Sully, starring Tom Hanks and his rugged hairline. Everyone seemed to enjoy the movie. I say that because the better half of our bus ride back to the hotel was spent chanting "Brace, brace, head down, stay down".

Next, we began our short trip over to the D&E sports complex where we watched the first half of the Lady Jacket’s game. We got dressed and half our team filled the training room as our athletic trainer Brett patched us up like he was a used car salesman trying to make his offering marketable. The game didn’t go the way we wanted, which made the bus ride back a rather subdued one, but we’ve got our eyes on training and California PA on Wednesday.

Go Jackets!


September 12, 2016

The Blog: A Tradition Unlike Any Other

Some weeks I sit down to write the blog and I feel like there really wasn’t that much to write about. This has not been one of those weeks.

Monday was a fairly typical day of class and practice. Those of us that had played heavy minutes Thursday and Saturday in our two overtime games in WV were still trying to get our legs back a bit so practice was toned down just a little. It was, like much of the week, about a thousand degrees, which made the walk between classes in long pants an adventure and the time spent in air-conditioned classrooms much more appreciated.

We also had Little Dribblers Monday night. For those of you who don’t know, the first month or so of the fall semester we head over to the park in town about once a week and run/coach some games for 3-5 year-olds. The kids are great and super good sports, but there is inevitably some serious trash talking amongst the coaches on any given night because, as all "mature" college students know, if you ain’t first, you’re last. My team’s name is the Blue Whales and they’re awesome. Our team cheer is "Go Blue Whales" and we aren’t always the best on the score sheet, but we always have the best team spirit and we’re getting really good at "I Spy" and stealing noses.

Tuesday we got back after it in practice to prep for Trevecca and KWC later in the week. Wednesday was more of the same, but the training session was a bit lighter.

Our first home Game Day saw your Jackets looking just too good. Shirts and ties all around as is our custom and boy, were we a sight to see. I wouldn’t say we were "dressed to the nines," but dressed to the 8.5’s? I must say we were. Our mothers would have been proud and maybe a little surprised that we were able to clean up so nice on our own. Our fathers would probably have sighed and said "Finally…" We played pretty well, but as is our more recently developed custom, we chose to score just enough goals to force overtime because we just love playing this game so much we never want it to end, apparently. At least after Thursday it seems like Jon Brown feels that way. I’m not sure that the feeling is shared universally.

Friday was great. Because Fridays are pretty much always great. Because they’re Fridays. Training was pretty light again because it was sandwiched between two game days. Friday night was spent as Friday nights should be spent – without a care in the world. Word on the street is that there was some serious Mario Strikers going on in Castle Brock. Bradley "The Best Time to Dribble Is All the Time" Schluter tells me that he and a certain vertically challenged member of our men’s basketball team ran the tables, but for various reasons I’ve adopted the old "pics or it didn’t happen" mantra when it comes to believing what Bradley has to say and I recommend that you do the same.

Then there was Saturday. I’ll begin at the beginning. Then I’ll probably progress one step at a time through the rising action to the climax of the story, which will be followed by the falling action and conclusion. I hope that’s acceptable to the reader because if it’s not, the reader will probably not enjoy reading very much.

It was a pretty normal day through the afternoon. We slept in a bit, watched some soccer, got lunch, napped, some studied - the calm before the storm, if you will. Then the storm rolled in. The Lady Jackets were scheduled to play before us and as they were beginning to prep for their game the sky changed from slightly cloudy to a mass of intimidating dark storm clouds full of thunder and lightning and it started raining. But it was a rain that was more than "a rain." It was like "a rain" got beat up by Cedarville at recess then told its big brother who was a Navy SEAL with barbed wire tattoos about what happened and he showed up to show Cedarville what he had learned in the Navy. It got real crazy real quick and our umbrellas and raincoats put up a valiant effort, but they were tragically outmatched.

So the girls’ game got postponed. Then our game got delayed. Then it was decided that we were gonna go play at Wright State. Then it was decided that we weren’t gonna play. Then it was decided that we were gonna play at Wright State again. Confused? If you’re not you haven’t been paying attention. Also, at this point the sky was a sort of greeny-yellow that made it seem like we were having some sort of weird collective dream sequence. So we rounded up a caravan of cars and got over to WSU and about 20 minutes after we got there the lights were turned on. By this time it was about 8:30 p.m. We ended up starting around 9:30 p.m., which, by coincidence, was my bedtime for much of this past summer. So it was a little outside the norm to start a game that late, but we played ok and ended up pulling out the W a little later than probably everyone would’ve preferred with the possible exception of Jon "No, really guys – I’m engaged" Brown.

It was about 12:30 a.m. by the time we got back to campus with eyes glazed, bodies tired, circadian rhythms hopelessly upset and smiles on our faces.

The coming week holds yet another trip to the land of hills, obscure chain restaurants, and muddy back roads that we call West Virginia and I can’t wait to go because I’ll be going with 30 of my closest friends.

Go Jackets!


September 5, 2016

The Blog: A Tradition Unlike Any Other

They say the first is the worst and the second is the best, but "they" also say all roads lead to Rome and I know for a fact that isn’t true because if it were Coach Grant "The Maverick" Knight would have accidentally ended up there by now. So I don’t know who "they" are, but if I were you, I wouldn’t put too much stock in the first saying, which means that you shouldn’t expect too much from this, the second blog of the year.

The week that has elapsed since the last blog was a wild one. It started with a new thing we’re doing as a team called "Mingle Monday," where we try to eat lunch or dinner with a group of people other than the soccer team. Yes, we challenged ourselves to do this because we’ve become notorious for always being together around campus and some of us don’t know all that many people outside of the team (of course not yours truly – I have tons of friends not on the team and I totally spend time with them on a regular basis).* This, the inaugural Mingle Monday, happened to be the first Monday of the semester, which is typically a lot like the first dip in an ice bath. It’s more than a little uncomfortable, likely painful, takes longer than you want it to, and no matter how many times you do it, it always takes your breath away in what you have to begrudgingly admit is a good way.

In addition to the first real plunge into the semester, Monday night brought around the second-ever meeting of CU Fellowship, which is a student-athlete led group on campus that is trying to bridge some of the social gaps between the various athletic teams on campus and build community. Speaking from my experience here, we at Cedarville, myself certainly included, tend to form conclusions about other guys/gals/teams before we really know all that much about them. It’s a very human thing to do, but I for one have had my perceptions of others proved wrong in the best way more than I care to admit and I don’t think I’m alone in that regard. So we had the first "club" night with CU Fellowship. We played a hastily organized version of the Human Knot, worshiped together, and had folks from various teams speak about the way they had seen the Lord work in their lives over the summer.

Tuesday followed Monday if I remember correctly and for the soccer team, it meant all sorts of things. Before I go any farther, I’d like to note that there is a group of about eight guys that have 9:00 a.m. classes so we all go to breakfast at about the same time and we call it the "Breakfast Club." So far it seems like it’s gonna be a fun time full of Kyle "Sports Fan" Smoker’s adorable squinty smile, Isaac "I’m Lonely When You Guys Leave" Nelson’s infectious giggles, and some sharp-dressed, eligible gentlemen just getting their day off to a great start. So that’s how my day started. It ended with practice, homework, and packing for the West Virginia trip, which began Wednesday Night.

Wednesday saw us all running around trying to get packed, make it to class, and get treatment before practice. We left at about 7:00 p.m. in our brand new team bus. Lemme tell y’all about that bus. Leather seats. TV’s. POWERFUL air conditioning. HUGE YELLOW JACKET ON THE SIDE. It felt like home on wheels (except a little more cramped and raucous). We christened it Big Frank in honor of our gracious Bus Driver and his lovely wife (this was done by me a few seconds ago – I really enjoy exercising my blog-autonomy). First movie we watched was one of the 1,000 Rush Hours. Jackie Chan is the man forever and always and that movie has hilarious outtakes.

We went about halfway that night and stopped at a hotel where our freshmen were given the first room assignments of their college careers. Carter "Facetime" Selvius was agreed by all to be the most fortunate of the freshmen as he ended up in a room with none other than your illustrious blogger, Ben "The Doc" Johnson (classiest gentleman on BOTH sides of the Mississippi), and Connor "Yeah, I’m Still Here" Gilmour.

Next day we had some designated "study time," and were off to complete the second leg of our trip. We went straight to our pre-game meal at CJ Maggie’s before checking into the hotel, but that part wasn’t quite as simple as it sounds. Apparently CJ Maggie’s is something of a chain restaurant. So we initially showed up to A CJ Maggie’s, but not THE CJ Maggie’s where we had made our reservations. It was a pretty scary moment when we walked in and the host responded to Coach Knight’s assertion that we had made reservations for 35 guys with a stare blanker than the walls of a room in Castle Brock. We eventually figured it out though, and got to THE CJ Maggie’s where we enjoyed some salad and pasta.

After lunch it was off to the one-and-only Isaac Jackson Hotel where, legend has it, Connor "I Make The Rules" Scott caught a glimpse of the talented and redundantly-named Phillip Phillips during our last stay. The factuality of this legend is much-debated, but a legend it is nonetheless. All I’ll say about the UIndy game Thursday is that it gave me an entirely new appreciation for the European rules of soccer and that, ironically, the buzzer was no friend of the Jackets.

Friday we got a recovery practice in and bussed over to the "Center for Hospitality and Tourism" in Elkins, which was to be our home for the night. All you need to know about the Center is that it was a remarkable combination of slightly outdated "hominess" and unapologetic "dorminess," that made it seem like someone took the starkly contrasting worlds of my grandma’s basement and Brock Hall, mashed them together, and served them with a glass of warm milk. 10/10 would recommend.

Friday afternoon we had some downtime before congregating in the basement of our temporary abode for a Golf Tournament (the kind with playing cards) that was the cause of much strife, some good-natured back-stabbing, and some drastically heightened blood pressure. That night we went to none other than Bob Evan’s, where, by the transitive property, Strangers are Family (a somewhat worrisome prospect in my mind). Pretty much everybody got the Farmer’s Choice breakfast as usual and we ate like kings. We ended the night with a little Chariots of Fire. The general consensus was that Eric Liddell had some pretty interesting running form and the movie was way funnier to us than the original creators intended it to be.

Saturday morning saw us back at Bobby E’s for some fantastic breakfast food before our game. On this day, thankfully, the buzzer was a little friendlier to the Jackets, but you can read more about that elsewhere.

After the game we were on the road headed for home. We watched 1.75 Batman movies and snacked the evening away. Also on the ride, Joel "No really – I’m getting married" Twinem had the longest-lasting hamstring cramp ever known to man. If I remember correctly, Brad and Braak also cramped up at one point. Aside from that, we slept, complained about the temperature, slept, snacked, and complained about the temperature. We finally made it home tired, smelly, and wanting nothing more than some personal space, but safe around 10:30 p.m. and there was much rejoicing.

This week our games are Thursday and Saturday at home and, while the trip was great, I’m pretty pumped about the fact that we don’t have another six-hour bus ride.

Go Jackets!


August 31, 2016

The Blog: A Tradition Unlike Any Other

The summer came and the summer went and all of a sudden we’re back. Goodbye to the beach, homework-free weekends, and the tan lines that we’ve worked so hard on (some more than others) and hello to computer labs, group projects, late night study sessions, games, practices, and last, but not least, Castle Brock, the soccer team’s home away from home.

Welcome to the 2016 blog. They call me Plumdog and I will be your eyes and ears on the inside of the team for this season. To our new readers, welcome. To our returning readers, it’s good to have you back and I’m looking forward to making fun of my teammates all season long for your reading pleasure for one more semester.

Just a heads up – the blog will be a little different this year. I’m going to leave most of the actual game recap up to others and focus on life with the team. You should find those on any CU MSOC social media. You’re still gonna see all the good, the bad, the embarrassing, and the confusing things that crop up amongst a group of 30 college athletes bumbling their way around campus. I’ll still tell you about Papi’s soul-piercing eyes, Paulo’s weird eating habits, how knowledgeable Twinem is about the human body, the weird noises Derek Braak makes, and Sean’s great, photogenic smile. If you’re lucky, I might even drop some references to things like Coach Grant "U-turn" Knight’s affinity for blazing his own trail on team bus rides or the evident lack of grip on the shoes he wears to the practice field. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

The freshmen. There are seven of them: One New Zealander that doesn’t like shoes, one North Carolinian who has big calves and calls me "mama plum," one Michigander who has spent more time facetiming than studying thus far, one Toledo kid with goofy-looking hair, one chiseled Indianian (He’s from Indiana…I’m open to better terms), one Wisconsinite who only buys orange cleats for no particular reason, and Jon Brown’s more handsome younger brother, who has a voice like a normal adult male. They’re pretty cool guys and good players and the general consensus around the team is that it could be a heck of a lot worse.

As for the returners, two of our number will be filing taxes differently by this time next year. JB and Twinem both got engaged, which is awesome and makes the rest of us look like we have no idea what we’re trying to do with this whole "adult life" thing. The rest of us spent our summers playing soccer, working, and hanging with friends and girlfriends in whatever free time we had leftover. We’re definitely gonna miss the simple life, but I think we’re all glad to be back with our brothers playing very day.

Preseason. We had a week of two-a-days, which felt incredibly long and incredibly fast at the same time and lasted just long enough for us to get real comfortable with life on campus without classes. There were no injuries aside from those we came in with, which was great because we came in with about as many injuries as we had for the entirety of last year and if we got any more even our 30-man roster would have been stretched thin. The freshmen assimilated pretty well once they realized that the answer to every question coach asked was "Cruyff," "Dutch Turn," or "Penetrate." Also, it rained a ton so we actually didn’t get to practice on our own field until the fifth session of preseason in an attempt to preserve the grass.

Highlight of our time thus far: Stuffed crust pizza. Maybe some other pretty cool things happened that other people would choose, but for me this was it (and I don’t see anyone else writing the blog sooo…). There’s a story behind this. Last spring, we were on our way back from a game and coach Brett "Ray Ban" Faro was distributing our post-game pizzas throughout the vans. As he was doing so, he mentioned with a face straighter than my grandfather’s razor that said pizzas were stuffed crust. And, naïve Junior that I was, I believed him. Because why would coach joke about something like that? Post-game food is very close to my heart and, as such, I believe it should be handled, physically and semantically, with care. So I opened my box with a heart as effervescent as a young boy on Christmas morning to what I thought would be four cheesy, greasy, delicious slices of a pizza pie with an extra helping of the dairy product we all know and love. And I bit into the crust…and tasted crust…and nothing else. Our fearless leader, the man we look to for direction and leadership on and off the field, had looked me straight in the eye and told me a tale of glorious cheesy goodness that was soon to be mine. And it was all a lie.

But just this past Wednesday (8/24), after our preseason scrimmage at Urbana, we were greeted in our vans by warm, melty, beautiful stuffed crust pizza. And my heart was happy.

Actual highlight of our time this far: Brotherhood. There hasn’t been one moment that was incredibly special and memorable about our first two weeks on campus. I recognize that not every guy on the team looks at our time here like I do, but for me to narrow it down so much would be an injustice. Each day spent in a hallway of rooms occupied by 30 of my closest friends is a highlight. Each team meal and each minute wasted in the locker room before practice spent talking about things that I’ll never remember are their own highlights because what we have on this team is something special. From super-seniors to freshmen, I’ve never been a part of a more closely-knit group of awesome guys who are so committed to a common goal and purpose. Maybe it’s the senior in me getting sappy, but I think that being back in the midst of such brotherhood is the highlight of the season thus far – even better than stuffed crust pizza.

Some more things: We spent a heavenly weekend at the Prickels’ house following our first preseason game against Tiffin – S/O to Randy and Angie for their hospitality and to Lendyn for putting up with us. I’ve left a lot out, but that’s just gonna happen this semester. Too much life happens here for me to get everything across in blog form so you’ll have to catch up with your favorite Jacket in person for a more in-depth look.

Here ends the first blog of the 2016 season. God-willing, you’ll be hearing from me every week or so until soccer season is over so buckle up and get ready for complex run-on sentences, parenthetical statements, sarcastic jibes, good-natured public name-calling thinly veiled as "nicknames," and occasionally an interesting look into the lives of your Cedarville Yellow Jackets.

Go Jackets!


Aaron Plummer is a senior forward from North Olmsted, Ohio. He is in his fourth season with the Yellow Jackets and is a Dean's List student majoring in business finance.