Argus sports staffers Stu Whitney, Mick Garry, and Chris Solari (along with online editor Cory Beck) recorded their weekly webcast today in my class at SDSU. The guest was Aaron Johnston. I'm sure many listeners will get hung up on Stu's not-so-subtle digs at SDSU, but listen to his interview of Johnston and you'll hear a lot of genuine admiration for what the women's team has accomplished. I was also impressed with how much all of those guys love South Dakota sports. They spent an hour before recording the webcast with my students and spoke with great sincerety and passion about the state and about their appreciation for the sports culture here.
Among the interesting points in the webcast:
-- AJ has spoken to people in the know about the WNIT. He believes that if the team wins out, there is still at least the chance of a WNIT bid. If a bid is offered, SDSU will get a chance to make the case for a home game based on our stellar attendance figures. I wouldn't say he's optimistic about a WNIT bid, but the possibility still exists.
-- AJ notes that the women's team GPA for the fall semester was better than 3.6, which is even better than last year's team GPA that ranked the team #2 in the nation. (As a professor, I thought that was the most important and significant thing AJ had to say. That is just an amazing GPA and we should all congratulate the team and be very proud of that performance.)
-- Stu poked around for a response to the men's team controversy, but AJ wasn't biting. I think he gave sincere and honest answers to those questions and said the controversy hurts everybody at SDSU.
-- In response to a question about Heather Seiler, AJ talked about what she has meant to this program, reflecting on the fact that she (and Christina Gilbert) only have six games left in their careers. He also spoke about Megan Vogel's remarkable career to this point.
All in all, it was a pretty interesting day. I know that the 25 or so students in attendance enjoyed spending time with 3/7 of the Argus sports staff and 100 percent of their online staff. I am grateful to them for taking the time to visit for an hour with our students before the webcast recording session. I came away more convinced than ever that we're lucky to have a daily newspaper in Sioux Falls with so much sportswriting talent.
I hadn't met AJ before, either. I came away tremendously impressed with him. The guy just personifies quality and commitment.
Here's a link to the webcast:
http://interface.audiovideoweb.com/l...20806.mp3/play
Among the interesting points in the webcast:
-- AJ has spoken to people in the know about the WNIT. He believes that if the team wins out, there is still at least the chance of a WNIT bid. If a bid is offered, SDSU will get a chance to make the case for a home game based on our stellar attendance figures. I wouldn't say he's optimistic about a WNIT bid, but the possibility still exists.
-- AJ notes that the women's team GPA for the fall semester was better than 3.6, which is even better than last year's team GPA that ranked the team #2 in the nation. (As a professor, I thought that was the most important and significant thing AJ had to say. That is just an amazing GPA and we should all congratulate the team and be very proud of that performance.)
-- Stu poked around for a response to the men's team controversy, but AJ wasn't biting. I think he gave sincere and honest answers to those questions and said the controversy hurts everybody at SDSU.
-- In response to a question about Heather Seiler, AJ talked about what she has meant to this program, reflecting on the fact that she (and Christina Gilbert) only have six games left in their careers. He also spoke about Megan Vogel's remarkable career to this point.
All in all, it was a pretty interesting day. I know that the 25 or so students in attendance enjoyed spending time with 3/7 of the Argus sports staff and 100 percent of their online staff. I am grateful to them for taking the time to visit for an hour with our students before the webcast recording session. I came away more convinced than ever that we're lucky to have a daily newspaper in Sioux Falls with so much sportswriting talent.
I hadn't met AJ before, either. I came away tremendously impressed with him. The guy just personifies quality and commitment.
Here's a link to the webcast:
http://interface.audiovideoweb.com/l...20806.mp3/play
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