Ryan's J-School Blog

Thankful for the Opportunity

2008-11-16T17:38:00.012-06:00

I stood on the football field with my team, a silver medal in my hand. I wouldn't put it around my neck... not yet. Later I would appreciate it. The men that I had gone to war with all of these months, coaches and players alike, were either crying or looked like they wanted to cry. It took everything I had not to as well. I told the players that I was proud of them, and to keep their chins up. We all watched as Weyburn lifted the city title to the sky, cheering and screaming in delight. It was like listening to nails on a chalkboard. It was deja vu all over again.

I never thought I would enjoy being a coach. I've never been one to tell people what to do. Even when I was a captain of the football and basketball team in high school, I led by example... let my actions do my speaking for me. But that all changed one day when I received a phone call from Jason Duczek. Duczek had coached me in both high school and junior football, and had just become the new head coach for the O'Neill Titans. He needed a Defensive Back coach, and asked me if I would like the position. At first I was apprehensive about the idea, but decided to give it a try.

The first year I coached was the 2007 season. I really didn't expect much from our team... O'Neill had been a terrible program for many years, and hadn't produced a winning team in God knows when. I remember the very first day of practise was a gong show. I had the largest group to coach, I didn't know any of the kids or what their abilities were, and I had no idea what the heck I was doing.

The DB's and I grew together as we both learned from each other. There were definitely some growing pains, though. I remember there were a few games where the opposition picked my secondary apart. But we worked through the tough times and ended up having a great year, with the team going all the city finals where we lost to Weyburn (we missed a field goal for the wn).

Going into this year's season, I had a veteran group of DB's and I was more knowledgeable about what I wanted to work on with them. The year ended up being tremendous for our defensive backs, and no doubt we had the best secondary in the league. We had close to 20 interceptions in seven games, along with four returned for touchdowns. One of my halfbacks was named an All-Star, while the other was also nominated for the award. Lastly, one of my cornerbacks was not only named an All-Star, but was also named the Stewart Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

Our team overall did fantastic, going undefeated throughout the season (which included being the first team to beat Weyburn in three years). And we once again made it to the city final against Weyburn. I thought this was our year... but it was not to be. We were owned all game, and lost 17-0.

What made it all the more difficult was that may have been my last game I'll ever coach. I have no idea what I'll be doing next year, or where I'll be, since I will be graduated from university. The life of a journalist doesn't leave too much free time. But I'll always have the memories, and they were some of the greatest times I've ever had.

Check out the J-School web-site for my latest article. I've interviewed a few of the players from the O'Neill Titans, as well as Head Coach Jason Duczek, about their views of the 2008 season.

Is Society Less Homophobic? Or More?

2008-11-05T11:03:00.001-06:00

Everyone seems to think that life is better nowadays for homosexuals. After all, same sex marriage is legal now, so what more do they want? Right? Wrong! First of all, legalizing same sex marriage wasn’t what homosexuals were asking for in the first place, although it was an important step to take. Secondly, it seems that while Liberal-thinking people are standing up for homosexuals more than they did in the past, the opposition is more fierce than it ever used to be as well.

To find out what I mean by that statement, you’ll have to check out my soundscape by clicking on the link to the right. I’m also planning on continuing to do more research about this topic, and will be writing an analysis piece for J-School in the near future. I’ll post it on my blog when it’s complete for anyone who wants to check it out.

And while I was shocked about many things I discovered while doing this story, I wasn’t shocked to hear that homophobia is still alive and well in today’s world.

I used to be homophobic myself. Raised as a Christian Catholic, I was taught at an early age that homosexuality was a sin. As a child, my parents used to buy me Biblical tapes to listen to. I remember listening to a story from the Old Testament about how God destroyed the city of Sodom because of the people’s sins. From what I recall, it was suggested that one of those sins was homosexuality.

I started becoming less homophobic over time, but my attitude changed dramatically only a couple of years ago. I was a theatre student performing in the play called The Laramie Project. It’s about the true story of a hate crime committed in Laramie, Wyoming. A homosexual man named Matthew Shepard was taken to the outskirts of the town and beaten mercilessly by two men. Shepard died a slow, painful death while tied to a fence in the middle of nowhere.

As actors, we like to do research to enhance our performances. We had a member of GBLUR come in and talk to us about his experiences growing up as a homosexual, and the impact it had on his life.

I used to think homosexuality was a choice men made, and a wrong one at that. However, after listening to the member of GBLUR, I realized it wasn’t. Why would someone choose to be gay? Why would someone choose to live a life of verbal and physical abuse? It doesn’t make any sense. Society needs to realise this.

Homosexuals don’t want to just be tolerated… they need to be accepted.

Homosexuality and Society Soundscape

2008-11-01T16:45:00.002-06:00

I had originally posted my soundscape right to this blog, but I guess it wouldn't play. If you want to hear my soundscape, click on the link to the right

23 Years of History

2008-10-22T14:47:00.009-06:00

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!

2008-10-15T14:02:00.010-06:00

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?

2008-10-14T21:58:00.004-06:00

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.