23 Years of History

The latest article I have written for "INK" is about the Riffel Royals' football team having a new coach for the first time in 23 years. John Bolen had been the football coach since the school was created in 1985.

The story was very dear to my heart, as I played for John in 2003 and 2004. John was a man everyone respected, loved, and feared all at the same time. He was one of the nicest guys I knew, always supporting the team and giving us words of encouragement. At the same time, you didn't dare cross him. If the size of the man didn't intimidate you, the size of his moustache sure did!

At least John left on a high note. After a number of years of being labelled the team that had successful seasons but couldn't win the big one, Riffel won the 3A city championship in 2002. When I came aboard in 2003, our team moved up from the 3A conference to the 4A conference.

The Leader-Post predicted we would place second last to Winston Knoll that year. Well, we ended up with a 5-2 record, and won the 4A city championship (the first team in RIFL history to win a city title in its first year of moving up from 3A to 4A!) We lost the provincial title to St. Joseph that year. However, we went undefeated in 2004, and won the first provincial title for Riffel since 1989.

The undefeated streak lasted until the city final in 2006, where Riffel lost to Sheldon. Riffel won another city championship in 2007.

Riffel has lost a legendary coach. However, one thing is for sure... he may be gone but he will never be forgotten. John Bolen has built Riffel a strong football program, and the team's future successes will always be because of him.

Check out the Riffel Royal's football web-site: http://www.rcsd.ca/riffel/atheltics/football/footballmain.htm

Check Out INK and the J-School Web-Site!

Hey everyone,

My fellow classmates and I have successfully published the first copy of this semester's "INK" newspaper, and are currently working on the next issue.

My contribution to this issue was an article about the reason why forward Paul Gareau won't be able to play for the University of Regina Cougars Men's Basketball team this year. It also explores what Gareau is doing to make it back on the team, possibly by the winter semester.

I was a little worried when I chose to pursue this story, because I was skeptical about whether Gareau would agree to do an interview or not. I wasn't sure if it would be too touchy a subject for him to want to talk about. However, I knew Gareau from playing against him in high school basketball, so I was pretty sure I could get him to agree to help me out.

However, I wasn't expecting the reaction I received when I phoned Gareau and told him my idea for a story. He was so eager to help, he actually drove to MY house so I could conduct the interview! The hardest interview to get was actually from Head Coach James Hillis! I guess it's easier to talk about yourself than someone else.

If you want to read the article, pick up a copy of "INK" or check out our J-School web-site at www.jschool.ca.

Waste of Time?

Well, the Canadian election is officially over. So what came out of it? Absolutely nothing. The Conservatives still have a minority government. The Liberals are still the official opposition. In my opinion, this election was a waste of our countries time and money.

Now, I am not a huge fan of politics to begin with. In fact, it straight out bores me to tears. But ever since deciding to pursue journalism as a career, I've come to realize I have to become acquainted with it. And after having to watch and listen to all the campaign commercials, watch the debates on television, discuss the election endlessly in J-School, and even attend a Haper rally with my class, I was starting to get kind of curious as to what the results would be.

Change seemed to be in the air. I heard rumours of a Conservative majority. I heard rumours of an NDP official opposition. While I won't say it kept me awake at night with excitement, it did peak my curiousity somewhat.

But after it was all said and done, we ended up with exactly what we started with. The exact same result as the election two years ago. Seems pointless to me. Maybe this is why the voting percentage is lower nowadays. It's frustrating. If I had known the end results ahead of time, I never would have taken the time out of my day to drive to the Northwest Leisure Centre and wait in line to cast my ballot.

So now where do we go from here? Harper continues to lead as best he can, not being able to really do much since he has to maneuver around the Liberals and the NDP. The NDP will continue claiming that they are a legitimate contender, even though they aren't even close. And we'll probably have another election in two years where we'll have to go through this whole song and dance again. And again. And again.