When a Game is More Than a Game Feb. 20, 2012
NIT Semifinal in New York
Five years ago I came to Washington State University a cynic. Overweight, often unhappy and with a severe lack of confidence, I found comfort in hanging out with a good friend from back home. Until that friendship came to a screeching- or more appropriately, a screaming- halt.
Bordering on depression, I knew I still had a lot going for me. I was intelligent, a good student and most people liked me. But the frustration of not making friends was getting to me, and I seriously began to consider transferring to the University of Washington, where my two closest friends attended school.
It wasn’t until a life-changing conversation I had with my brother, Weston, that finally helped me turn the page on high school and the comfort of home-living. Knowing both my boredom and my maniacal obsession with sports, Weston suggested I look into a manager position with one of the WSU teams.
Just a few days later I was lining up for a team picture with the basketball team. From then on, my life has never been the same.
My job with the basketball team altered the course of my life forever. It may sound hyperbolic, but it is fact. My freshman year instantly became more enjoyable. I no longer came home from class just to sit at my computer and watch TV. Instead, I was going straight from class to basketball practice, where I got to work with and meet many of the players I spent the previous few years watching represent my favorite school. It was still work, no doubt, but it was fun. It was something to do. It was my passion for which I had been searching desperately.
As freshman year progressed I started noticing a change in my attitude. Having a set of guys who shared many of my interests, were great people and treated me well went a long way towards giving me a more positive outlook on life. Gone was my constant pessimism. “Poof” went my cynical belief that my life was Murphy’s Law in living form.
In retrospect, it was all so foolish anyways. I have the most amazing family any kid could ever dream of. My group of friends meant the world to me. I had an intelligence level that made many people envious. And, frankly, most people liked being around me.
Fortunately, by the end of freshman year that attitude had largely dissipated. But it wasn’t until the summer after freshman year that it evaporated altogether. That’s when I decided to finally get serious about my health. But, true to what would continue to be a motivating factor over my college career, there was a certain degree of basketball influence in my newfound drive.
With seven new freshmen joining our basketball team during my sophomore year, I knew I wanted to make a good first impression. It wasn’t that I didn’t make one before, but people tended to judge me before ever really getting to know me. Because of that, it became hard to become friends with new people. Sure, they would treat me politely and eventually learn I was a good person and nice kid, but at the same time hanging out with them was often a bit of a pipe dream.
As such, starting the week I got back to Issaquah for the summer, I joined the Issaquah Community Center and began working out. As the weight started to melt off, I began to set an ambitious goal of losing more than 40 pounds by the time I returned to Pullman. Multiple hour workouts became a daily feature of my life, while bringing yogurt for dinner suddenly became my health-conscious alternative to eating the free pizza provided at work. By the time August rolled around, I was less than 220 pounds for the first time in years.
Getting back to school became something I was looking forward to. I couldn’t wait to see the reaction of the people I knew.
When late August came, I certainly wasn’t disappointed. Running into people for the first time in three or four months was an event I looked forward to. The compliments were overwhelming- even the coaching staff said they did not recognize me when I walked in. Although it started to get old answering questions about how much weight I had lost- mostly because I hated to talk about how heavy I was in the first place- it was unquestionably worth it.
I continued losing weight thanks to a diet largely consisting of six-inch Subway sandwiches, yogurt, chocolate milk and granola bars. By the end of my sophomore year I was under 190 pounds, or to put it in perspective, two thirds of the person I once was not long before.
Losing weight changed my life, but I am skeptical I ever would have truly found the motivation were it not for basketball. I was an entirely new person. Increasingly confident, incredibly optimistic and undeniably happy. But, as I was losing weight I made myself promise that no matter how much weight I lost, I would never start treating people differently because of it. One of my greatest attributes throughout my life was treating people the right way- no judging, no making fun of people (except for in jest with and about friends) and absolutely no shallow views on women. I had worked so hard my entire life on establishing myself as a good person, so I was determined not to let that go to waste. Proudly, I think I largely succeeded in that quest. Despite physically being a shadow of my former self, morally I remained true to my values.
As I look back on my five years with the basketball team, losing weight and the impact it had on my overall outlook on life ranks at the top of my best memories, given the rewards that consequently followed. But it certainly was not the only reward to come out of my “work.”
Sophomore year I really, for the first time, started becoming friends with a few of the players. Now, I never let such friendships interfere with the quality of my work. After all, during my “interview” for the job, our head manager at the time, Mitch Reaves, stressed the importance of putting the job before cultivating new friendships, a piece of advice that was never lost on me. But when you are around the same people for five or more hours a day, six to seven days a week, friendships are bound to form. Luckily, such was the case with me.
I have been blessed during my time in Pullman to work with some of the greatest people the town has to offer. From the other managers to the staff and the support staff to the players, the Cougar basketball program has been saturated with high-character people since my first day. A number of those people have had a profound impact on my life. In the early days of the job, older players like Robbie Cowgill, Daven Harmeling and Aron Baynes all, to some degree, went out of their way to make me feel comfortable. Being accepted and befriended by such high-profile athletes around campus was a huge confidence boost for a kid with previously exceptionally low confidence. That self-confidence only grew from my sophomore year on as I became close friends with guys like Charlie Enquist, Abe Lodwick, Klay Thompson, Faisal Aden, Brock Motum and a whole lot of others over the past four years. Perhaps one of the most rewarding things about this group of friends is the diverse backgrounds from which they all came. In the past, most of my friends came from similar backgrounds. But with this new group, my friends stretched from Seattle to Australia to Somalia, each with his own unique story. I often wondered how some of those friendships ever formed, coming from such different cultures, but the fact they have changed my life for the better. I could go on a long rant (ok, even longer rant) about many of the stories I have with each of those guys, but for the sake of at least relative brevity, I’ll refrain.
Two of my friends, however, I need to spotlight. The first is Robbie Cowgill.
From the start, Robbie was always welcoming. He had, and still has, an openness and inviting nature about him. You know you can always talk to him and he always has your best interests in mind. That certainly became unmistakably obvious to me at the beginning of junior year. Robbie found me sitting at Northside Dining Hall eating lunch one day, September 4th to be exact, and decided to ask me a few questions about my faith. In talking to him I realized calling myself a Christian did not actually make me one. I always thought being a good person made me enough of a Christian. After all, I have always believed in God, so naturally I considered myself a Christian. But that day, I realized there was more to following Christ than merely being a good person. With Robbie’s assistance, friendship and encouragement, that day I chose to dedicate my life to following Christ. It was a life-changing moment, one that truly redefined the way I lived. Granted, I haven’t been a perfect Christian since then. In fact, it was not until recently that I fully reprioritized the important things in my life and have attempted to better understand and strengthen my faith. But if it wasn’t for Robbie, I’m not sure I ever would have gotten to the point I am at- a point that has, in the most real way, saved me.
Secondly, I cannot hyperbolize the impact Charlie Enquist has made on me. It was his friendship starting sophomore year that had perhaps the greatest individual impact on me during my time in Pullman. The nicest person you could ever hope to meet, Charlie seemed legitimately sincere in our friendship. He quickly became the guy on the team with whom I most easily identified. In the past four years, Charlie and his wonderful family have invited me to their vacation home at Crescent Bar three times and out on their boat for Seafair twice, both life-long hopes of mine. His family is special to me. From his mom and dad to his brother, Oliver, it seems impossible to not have a good time when surrounded by the Enquists. There are certain people in life who just put you in a good mood regardless of the surrounding circumstances. Charlie, to me at least, is one of those people. (I know if Charlie sees this he’ll be mad at me for writing it, but as a retrospective on my college life, I would be foolishly remiss not to mention him.)
As I said earlier, so many people from WSU have helped shape the person I am today. I wish I could highlight the impact each and every one has had on me, but alas I have neither the time nor the interest of any potential reader for thousands of words about each individual. However, I cannot end this reflection without mentioning some of the remarkable experiences I have been blessed with over the course of the past five years.
Starting with a special freshman year- so special, in fact, that it was the best season in the history of Cougar basketball- my best individual game memory came from Denver at the NCAA Tournament. A few of my friends and I decided to make the 19-hour overnight trek from Pullman to Denver to witness first hand the Cougs in the tournament, and it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. I have never experienced a more fun game than the second round matchup with Notre Dame. Coming into the game, nobody gave us a chance. Not one person I saw in the media thought Coach Bennett’s squad could even hang with the high-powered Irish offense. But, not only did the Cougs hang, they flat-out dismantled Notre Dame, holding them to half (41) of their season average (82ppg). Given the stakes, the atmosphere and the shocking success, that game still ranks as my single greatest sports memory of a game I attended.
Although WSU has not returned to the NCAA Tournament since, that does not mean there haven’t been specific games and trips that created lasting memories. The NIT games against Oklahoma State and Northwestern stick out as memorable postseason games, while regular season home games against Gonzaga, Kansas State and Washington are games I will likely never forget.
As for road trips, unsurprisingly two road trips earn top marks in my book. The Christmas Break trip to Hawaii was one of the greatest weeks of my life. Hawaii, itself, is a magical place. The atmosphere alone is breathtaking. Add in the fact I was surrounded by some of my best friends while working a job I love made it extraordinary. In the years ahead, as I look back on my college years, I will undoubtedly continuously come back to that week in Paradise.
Additionally, our NIT adventure to New York was one that was amazing from the time we reached the airport. Flying on the Boston Celtics' private plane was one of the neater opportunities of my life. All first class seating, free WiFi, extra wide aisles, and the destination forthcoming combined to place us all above Cloud 9. While the outcome of our game in Madison Square Garden was less than ideal, that cannot diminish the overall experience of the trip.
I apologize for the rambling nature of this reflection; I simply have too much built up emotion and too many incredible experiences to make this overly coherent.
All in all, as the clock ticks down on the greatest era of my life, I feel as though I am merely standing at mid-court in the final seconds of a blowout victory. After all, the metaphorical game of my college career was well established as a certain win long ago.
Bordering on depression, I knew I still had a lot going for me. I was intelligent, a good student and most people liked me. But the frustration of not making friends was getting to me, and I seriously began to consider transferring to the University of Washington, where my two closest friends attended school.
It wasn’t until a life-changing conversation I had with my brother, Weston, that finally helped me turn the page on high school and the comfort of home-living. Knowing both my boredom and my maniacal obsession with sports, Weston suggested I look into a manager position with one of the WSU teams.
Just a few days later I was lining up for a team picture with the basketball team. From then on, my life has never been the same.
My job with the basketball team altered the course of my life forever. It may sound hyperbolic, but it is fact. My freshman year instantly became more enjoyable. I no longer came home from class just to sit at my computer and watch TV. Instead, I was going straight from class to basketball practice, where I got to work with and meet many of the players I spent the previous few years watching represent my favorite school. It was still work, no doubt, but it was fun. It was something to do. It was my passion for which I had been searching desperately.
As freshman year progressed I started noticing a change in my attitude. Having a set of guys who shared many of my interests, were great people and treated me well went a long way towards giving me a more positive outlook on life. Gone was my constant pessimism. “Poof” went my cynical belief that my life was Murphy’s Law in living form.
In retrospect, it was all so foolish anyways. I have the most amazing family any kid could ever dream of. My group of friends meant the world to me. I had an intelligence level that made many people envious. And, frankly, most people liked being around me.
Fortunately, by the end of freshman year that attitude had largely dissipated. But it wasn’t until the summer after freshman year that it evaporated altogether. That’s when I decided to finally get serious about my health. But, true to what would continue to be a motivating factor over my college career, there was a certain degree of basketball influence in my newfound drive.
With seven new freshmen joining our basketball team during my sophomore year, I knew I wanted to make a good first impression. It wasn’t that I didn’t make one before, but people tended to judge me before ever really getting to know me. Because of that, it became hard to become friends with new people. Sure, they would treat me politely and eventually learn I was a good person and nice kid, but at the same time hanging out with them was often a bit of a pipe dream.
As such, starting the week I got back to Issaquah for the summer, I joined the Issaquah Community Center and began working out. As the weight started to melt off, I began to set an ambitious goal of losing more than 40 pounds by the time I returned to Pullman. Multiple hour workouts became a daily feature of my life, while bringing yogurt for dinner suddenly became my health-conscious alternative to eating the free pizza provided at work. By the time August rolled around, I was less than 220 pounds for the first time in years.
Getting back to school became something I was looking forward to. I couldn’t wait to see the reaction of the people I knew.
When late August came, I certainly wasn’t disappointed. Running into people for the first time in three or four months was an event I looked forward to. The compliments were overwhelming- even the coaching staff said they did not recognize me when I walked in. Although it started to get old answering questions about how much weight I had lost- mostly because I hated to talk about how heavy I was in the first place- it was unquestionably worth it.
I continued losing weight thanks to a diet largely consisting of six-inch Subway sandwiches, yogurt, chocolate milk and granola bars. By the end of my sophomore year I was under 190 pounds, or to put it in perspective, two thirds of the person I once was not long before.
Losing weight changed my life, but I am skeptical I ever would have truly found the motivation were it not for basketball. I was an entirely new person. Increasingly confident, incredibly optimistic and undeniably happy. But, as I was losing weight I made myself promise that no matter how much weight I lost, I would never start treating people differently because of it. One of my greatest attributes throughout my life was treating people the right way- no judging, no making fun of people (except for in jest with and about friends) and absolutely no shallow views on women. I had worked so hard my entire life on establishing myself as a good person, so I was determined not to let that go to waste. Proudly, I think I largely succeeded in that quest. Despite physically being a shadow of my former self, morally I remained true to my values.
As I look back on my five years with the basketball team, losing weight and the impact it had on my overall outlook on life ranks at the top of my best memories, given the rewards that consequently followed. But it certainly was not the only reward to come out of my “work.”
Sophomore year I really, for the first time, started becoming friends with a few of the players. Now, I never let such friendships interfere with the quality of my work. After all, during my “interview” for the job, our head manager at the time, Mitch Reaves, stressed the importance of putting the job before cultivating new friendships, a piece of advice that was never lost on me. But when you are around the same people for five or more hours a day, six to seven days a week, friendships are bound to form. Luckily, such was the case with me.
I have been blessed during my time in Pullman to work with some of the greatest people the town has to offer. From the other managers to the staff and the support staff to the players, the Cougar basketball program has been saturated with high-character people since my first day. A number of those people have had a profound impact on my life. In the early days of the job, older players like Robbie Cowgill, Daven Harmeling and Aron Baynes all, to some degree, went out of their way to make me feel comfortable. Being accepted and befriended by such high-profile athletes around campus was a huge confidence boost for a kid with previously exceptionally low confidence. That self-confidence only grew from my sophomore year on as I became close friends with guys like Charlie Enquist, Abe Lodwick, Klay Thompson, Faisal Aden, Brock Motum and a whole lot of others over the past four years. Perhaps one of the most rewarding things about this group of friends is the diverse backgrounds from which they all came. In the past, most of my friends came from similar backgrounds. But with this new group, my friends stretched from Seattle to Australia to Somalia, each with his own unique story. I often wondered how some of those friendships ever formed, coming from such different cultures, but the fact they have changed my life for the better. I could go on a long rant (ok, even longer rant) about many of the stories I have with each of those guys, but for the sake of at least relative brevity, I’ll refrain.
Two of my friends, however, I need to spotlight. The first is Robbie Cowgill.
From the start, Robbie was always welcoming. He had, and still has, an openness and inviting nature about him. You know you can always talk to him and he always has your best interests in mind. That certainly became unmistakably obvious to me at the beginning of junior year. Robbie found me sitting at Northside Dining Hall eating lunch one day, September 4th to be exact, and decided to ask me a few questions about my faith. In talking to him I realized calling myself a Christian did not actually make me one. I always thought being a good person made me enough of a Christian. After all, I have always believed in God, so naturally I considered myself a Christian. But that day, I realized there was more to following Christ than merely being a good person. With Robbie’s assistance, friendship and encouragement, that day I chose to dedicate my life to following Christ. It was a life-changing moment, one that truly redefined the way I lived. Granted, I haven’t been a perfect Christian since then. In fact, it was not until recently that I fully reprioritized the important things in my life and have attempted to better understand and strengthen my faith. But if it wasn’t for Robbie, I’m not sure I ever would have gotten to the point I am at- a point that has, in the most real way, saved me.
Secondly, I cannot hyperbolize the impact Charlie Enquist has made on me. It was his friendship starting sophomore year that had perhaps the greatest individual impact on me during my time in Pullman. The nicest person you could ever hope to meet, Charlie seemed legitimately sincere in our friendship. He quickly became the guy on the team with whom I most easily identified. In the past four years, Charlie and his wonderful family have invited me to their vacation home at Crescent Bar three times and out on their boat for Seafair twice, both life-long hopes of mine. His family is special to me. From his mom and dad to his brother, Oliver, it seems impossible to not have a good time when surrounded by the Enquists. There are certain people in life who just put you in a good mood regardless of the surrounding circumstances. Charlie, to me at least, is one of those people. (I know if Charlie sees this he’ll be mad at me for writing it, but as a retrospective on my college life, I would be foolishly remiss not to mention him.)
As I said earlier, so many people from WSU have helped shape the person I am today. I wish I could highlight the impact each and every one has had on me, but alas I have neither the time nor the interest of any potential reader for thousands of words about each individual. However, I cannot end this reflection without mentioning some of the remarkable experiences I have been blessed with over the course of the past five years.
Starting with a special freshman year- so special, in fact, that it was the best season in the history of Cougar basketball- my best individual game memory came from Denver at the NCAA Tournament. A few of my friends and I decided to make the 19-hour overnight trek from Pullman to Denver to witness first hand the Cougs in the tournament, and it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. I have never experienced a more fun game than the second round matchup with Notre Dame. Coming into the game, nobody gave us a chance. Not one person I saw in the media thought Coach Bennett’s squad could even hang with the high-powered Irish offense. But, not only did the Cougs hang, they flat-out dismantled Notre Dame, holding them to half (41) of their season average (82ppg). Given the stakes, the atmosphere and the shocking success, that game still ranks as my single greatest sports memory of a game I attended.
Although WSU has not returned to the NCAA Tournament since, that does not mean there haven’t been specific games and trips that created lasting memories. The NIT games against Oklahoma State and Northwestern stick out as memorable postseason games, while regular season home games against Gonzaga, Kansas State and Washington are games I will likely never forget.
As for road trips, unsurprisingly two road trips earn top marks in my book. The Christmas Break trip to Hawaii was one of the greatest weeks of my life. Hawaii, itself, is a magical place. The atmosphere alone is breathtaking. Add in the fact I was surrounded by some of my best friends while working a job I love made it extraordinary. In the years ahead, as I look back on my college years, I will undoubtedly continuously come back to that week in Paradise.
Additionally, our NIT adventure to New York was one that was amazing from the time we reached the airport. Flying on the Boston Celtics' private plane was one of the neater opportunities of my life. All first class seating, free WiFi, extra wide aisles, and the destination forthcoming combined to place us all above Cloud 9. While the outcome of our game in Madison Square Garden was less than ideal, that cannot diminish the overall experience of the trip.
I apologize for the rambling nature of this reflection; I simply have too much built up emotion and too many incredible experiences to make this overly coherent.
All in all, as the clock ticks down on the greatest era of my life, I feel as though I am merely standing at mid-court in the final seconds of a blowout victory. After all, the metaphorical game of my college career was well established as a certain win long ago.