Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
COLUMN: On Spring and Community
3/27/2022 4:00:00 PM | General, BRAA
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — I've become Facebook friends with a lot of people I've met since moving to the Mid State. I'll admit I'm not a frequent user of the site, most people my age aren't. But it's the only place I know where I have folks from all parts of my life: my high school classmates and teachers, college club sports teammates, past cast member coworkers from Kilimanjaro Safaris and fellow media colleagues are all found in one spot.
It's the latter category that came through for me this week, as the Old Pro, Dick Palmer, reshared an old column from the Nashville Banner's Fred Russell this week. Dated March 24, 1994, the late Russell quotes William H. Puryear's poem that Russell describes as an "ode to spring." It begins:
How dear to my heart the signs of spring,
Flowers in bloom and birds on the wing,
But dearer by far as Spring draws nigh,
Are the sizzling line drive and the outfield fly.
These opening four lines have stuck with me this week, as both baseball and softball get into full swing with conference play starting up last weekend and continuing into this one. It can be easy to lose sight of the joy I get from baseball and softball at times during March, which for my money is the busiest time of the year in a collegiate athletic department with the basketball postseason, track and field transition and championship prep for both golf and tennis getting underway alongside the two sports on the diamond.
But after getting back from the C-USA basketball tournaments in Frisco, Blue Raider baseball and softball have been a rock for me to continue to get my feet under me this month.
Both teams spent the early weeks of their season away from Murfreesboro (and with snow on the ground as we landed from Texas two Sundays ago, it's not hard to see why!), but having them return to the Mid State gave a plethora of folks in the area a great afternoon or day with their families and friends.
Of course, the results didn't hurt either, with baseball grabbing the final game from nationally ranked Old Dominion with an eight-run seventh inning last Sunday, leading into a series win at UAB, or softball walking off in extra innings against Southern Miss last weekend to clinch their first C-USA series win of the year. Both of which featured the kind of magic (home runs and passed ball steals) only those sports on the diamonds can provide.
Still, spring, particularly the start of spring, always sticks with me in college athletics. It really stuck with me last year, when every sport with a fall championship had one in the spring thanks to COVID-19 precautions pre vaccine. The Spring of 2021 is one folks in college athletic departments will not forget any time soon.
But this year, my first at Middle Tennessee, will stick with me for the community. The community around our basketball teams, who, despite neither being in the Big Dance, had plenty of Blue Raiders engaged in their futures with postseason runs (and the Lady Raiders' run is still going on). It's the crowd we shared on Thursday night, when Vanderbilt came to town, as we all sweated a back and forth contest that came down to the final play in the Glass House.
It's the Blue Raiders, at the Reese, winning on a walk off wild pitch the day they honored their catcher's mother who passed away at her funeral, and the catcher who showed up in the dugout on what had to be one of the toughest days any son could experience.
It's a softball team with a young lineup and a veteran pitching staff finally starting to come together as conference play begins.
It's a men's tennis squad, finally stepping outdoors at home, winning a battle of the Raiders in front of a group of fans just as excited to be outdoors.
Those moments, those feelings, make the temporary frantic pace I feel all worth it at the end of the day. And with plenty of excitement yet to come, I cannot wait for more Blue Raider action in the months to come.
Hope to see you out there with me!
It's the latter category that came through for me this week, as the Old Pro, Dick Palmer, reshared an old column from the Nashville Banner's Fred Russell this week. Dated March 24, 1994, the late Russell quotes William H. Puryear's poem that Russell describes as an "ode to spring." It begins:
How dear to my heart the signs of spring,
Flowers in bloom and birds on the wing,
But dearer by far as Spring draws nigh,
Are the sizzling line drive and the outfield fly.
These opening four lines have stuck with me this week, as both baseball and softball get into full swing with conference play starting up last weekend and continuing into this one. It can be easy to lose sight of the joy I get from baseball and softball at times during March, which for my money is the busiest time of the year in a collegiate athletic department with the basketball postseason, track and field transition and championship prep for both golf and tennis getting underway alongside the two sports on the diamond.
But after getting back from the C-USA basketball tournaments in Frisco, Blue Raider baseball and softball have been a rock for me to continue to get my feet under me this month.
Both teams spent the early weeks of their season away from Murfreesboro (and with snow on the ground as we landed from Texas two Sundays ago, it's not hard to see why!), but having them return to the Mid State gave a plethora of folks in the area a great afternoon or day with their families and friends.
Of course, the results didn't hurt either, with baseball grabbing the final game from nationally ranked Old Dominion with an eight-run seventh inning last Sunday, leading into a series win at UAB, or softball walking off in extra innings against Southern Miss last weekend to clinch their first C-USA series win of the year. Both of which featured the kind of magic (home runs and passed ball steals) only those sports on the diamonds can provide.
Still, spring, particularly the start of spring, always sticks with me in college athletics. It really stuck with me last year, when every sport with a fall championship had one in the spring thanks to COVID-19 precautions pre vaccine. The Spring of 2021 is one folks in college athletic departments will not forget any time soon.
But this year, my first at Middle Tennessee, will stick with me for the community. The community around our basketball teams, who, despite neither being in the Big Dance, had plenty of Blue Raiders engaged in their futures with postseason runs (and the Lady Raiders' run is still going on). It's the crowd we shared on Thursday night, when Vanderbilt came to town, as we all sweated a back and forth contest that came down to the final play in the Glass House.
It's the Blue Raiders, at the Reese, winning on a walk off wild pitch the day they honored their catcher's mother who passed away at her funeral, and the catcher who showed up in the dugout on what had to be one of the toughest days any son could experience.
It's a softball team with a young lineup and a veteran pitching staff finally starting to come together as conference play begins.
It's a men's tennis squad, finally stepping outdoors at home, winning a battle of the Raiders in front of a group of fans just as excited to be outdoors.
Those moments, those feelings, make the temporary frantic pace I feel all worth it at the end of the day. And with plenty of excitement yet to come, I cannot wait for more Blue Raider action in the months to come.
Hope to see you out there with me!
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