Before I got a job with the school newspaper, I always used to wonder why the Clarion gave so much coverage to the school’s baseball and basketball teams.
“Don’t they have anything more important to write about?” I used to think to myself. “If I ever got a job there I would write about stuff that actually mattered.”
Well I’ve been here a whole year and you know what I’ve written about most?
The baseball and basketball teams, and I’ve enjoyed it.
When I was first asked to cover the men’s basketball team in August, I had never attended a sporting event in three years at Sinclair Community College. I just assumed that junior college sports couldn’t be that interesting.
That all changed after seeing Tartan Pride forward British Alexander jump four feet off the ground to convert an alley-oop pass thrown off the backboard by teammate Jared Nolan.
The crowd went wild and my perception of junior college sports changed forever.
On Jan. 14, I witnessed the biggest and most enthusiastic group of Sinclair students I’d ever seen in one place when the No. 12 Tartan Pride took on the No. 5 Columbus State Cougars.
The crowd was on the edge of their seats the entire game and cheered the Tartan Pride every time they made a defensive stop or converted a fast break. I cheered along with them and have never felt more apart of Sinclair than I did during those memorable couple of hours.
Best of all, Sinclair sporting events are free to everyone with a Tartan Card, although it’s a slight hassle traveling to Xenia to see the baseball team.
But I did make it to one baseball game during the OCCAC Conference Tournament and found it entertaining as well.
Every player on the baseball team has their own theme song that plays when they take the mound to pitch or come to the plate to hit. I couldn’t stop laughing when they played wrestler Hulk Hogan’s theme music “Real American” or the music from the Skyline Chili commercial.
To everyone that will be attending Sinclair next year, I encourage you to attend at least one sporting event.
I think you’ll be surprised by the experience.
I was.