PURDUE HAS A ROWING TEAM?
This was originally published on Saturday, May 24, but it fits in here so I'll post it anyway.
I've decided to combine these two days into one post for two reasons. One, I pretty much did the same thing for both days, so if I wrote two posts I'd basically be repeating myself. Two, If I tried to write two posts I'd get lazy and not finish. So, whoomp, here it is.
Day 2 started off well enough. I didn't have to show up till 2 pm (we in the business call that a perk), and my boss congratulated me for not quitting, then he said that he had the STORY for me. What was the story about? Steriods? Recruiting violations? Dead horses?
Uh-uh. The Purdue crew team.
I didn't know much about crew. Only that it involved a buttload of rowing, everybody who did it had six-pack abs, and I probably couldn't fit in the boat. Other than that I was clueless.
They were coming off a huge win at the historic Dad Vail regatta, whatever the hell that was, and had some major championship races coming up. I was assigned to do a feature on them for Saturday. And what was more, when I called the coach up, he invited me to go out on the Wabash River with the team in a boat while the team practiced.
I, knowing my size, declined, despite their insistence that I could fit on the boat. I probably could, but I wasn't exactly dressed for rowing, or being on the water but I was going to anyway. I instead opted to travel with the coach on his speed boat.
And so there I found myself, dear and probably nonexistent reader, my second day on the job and I'm sitting in a rickety speedboat with a guy I've never seen before down the Wabash River. Who'da thunk?
So I rode with this dude for the better part of two hours, picking his brain about all things rowing and watching a bunch of sweaty men row boats. Good times...
I saw some other things too, some eagles flying through the trees, and some bighead carp jumping out the water trying to take my head off, all against a backdrop of the Wabash River in the summer. It looked like a scene out of a nature movie...or Deliverance.
After all that was done, I talked to a couple of crewers(?) and booked, the article wasn't due till Saturday and I was way ahead of myself. I'd work on it later. Thus ended Day Two...
Day Three saw me working on the article for most of the day, I wrote most of the info before I started transcribing quotes, like I usually do. I was halfway through listening to the longest interview with a crew coach ever when my recorder started acting up, getting all loud and scratchy and crap. And in the process of trying to fix the problem I accidentally erased all of my interviews from the previous day, basically rendering the whole f-in' boat ride useless.
Well, poop.
Never fear, readers. I had an idea. I knew they were practicing again on the river that day, but practice was almost over. I sped down to the Wabash to get some new quotes, which meant I was going to have to rework my questions to try to get all of the coaches and players I talked to yesterday to repeat EVERYTHING THEY SAID...you know, like a real journalist.
Luckily I had another subject I said I wanted to delve into, so I had a tiny bit of cover from blatantly asking questions again. I got everything I needed...again...and went back to the office to write my article. And then I found out that it would have a spiffy video with it too. Great, more pressure...
So anyway, there's the story behind it, I hope you find your life richer for having read it.
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