TAT: The Razorbacks Seek Redemption in the Rock

This article originally appeared in the October 23, 2012 issue of The Arkansas Traveler.

     Coming off their bye week, UA interim head coach John L. Smith believes the Razorbacks are prepared for this Saturday’s game.

     After a regular week of practice last week, the team met Sunday for another day of practice. Instead of only conditioning to work out soreness, like they would following a game, they had a full pads practice, Smith said.

     “It was a little different to come out and have a practice on Sunday night, but we came out with a lot of excitement,” senior defensive tackle Alfred Davis said. “It was a good way to start this week.”

     Arkansas is as “healthy as we can be,” Smith said, regarding injuries.

     Senior tight end Chris Gragg is back, although his knee gets a little sore from time to time. He has missed the previous three games because of an injury sustained during the Rutgers game.

     Smith also added that senior running back Ronnie Wingo, Jr.’s shoulder is “fine” and that senior defensive tackle DeQuinta Jones is “gradually getting a little better.”

     Confidence seems to be high for the Razorbacks, as they are coming off consecutive Southeastern Conference victories over Auburn and Kentucky.

     “We’re gaining confidence daily,” Smith said. “We got our swagger back a little bit and our energy has always been good.”

     Several players are eager to get back on the field after sitting at home and watching other games on TV last Saturday.

     “It was kind of frustrating just sitting around, not playing and watching all of the other games going on,” senior center Travis Swanson said. “We were happy to get back out there (Sunday).”

     The Razorbacks play the Ole Miss Rebels at 11:21 a.m. Saturday in Little Rock. The game will be aired on the SEC Network. Smith feels that the early start works in Arkansas’ favor.

     “We’ll be up Thursday early, we’ll be up Friday early, so getting up Saturday early and going to play the game is not going to be a bother to us or something we’re not used to,” Smith said.

     Offensively, Arkansas will have to control a Rebel defense that ranks fourth in the SEC in both tackles for loss, with 7.86 per game, and sacks, with 2.71 per game.

     “They’re not the biggest defense, but they’re very athletic,” Swanson said. “They move around a lot and rely on their scheme to mess up your blocking schemes.”

     On the defensive side of the ball, the Razorbacks will face yet another versatile quarterback. Sophomore Bo Wallace is averaging 231.6 total yards per game, and last week against Auburn he collected two rushing touchdowns, one passing touchdown and one receiving touchdown.

     “Their quarterback does a great job of managing the game,” Smith said. “He’s not a Johnny Manziel (Texas A&M’s quarterback), but he’s very capable. He’s a good passer and a good runner.”

     This will be Arkansas’ first game at War Memorial Stadium since ULM pulled off the upset with a 34-31 defeat of the Razorbacks in overtime.

     “I’m excited to go back to Little Rock,” Davis said. “I feel like we need to go back and redeem ourselves, go back and defend the Rock like we always have in the past.”

Olden Days Sports

     Over the years, my papa has told me many stories of “the olden days.” I’m sure everyone has heard similar stories from their grandparents or other elderly people. However, the ones that intrigue me the most are the ones about sports, particularly, stories about the different ways sports were played in the past.

     I got the idea to write this when my papa was talking to me about golf. He told me about a golf course in Mena, Arkansas (about 80 miles south of Fort Smith), where he used to live. I was only halfway listening until he said something about the greens at the course. Instead of grass, they were sand. At first I thought maybe he was confused or maybe making a sarcastic comment on the course’s sand traps. But he explained to me that the green was sand, and when you got on the green, you had to use a rake to smooth out a path to the hole.

     I started thinking about it, and the first thing I said was, “I guess to get a hole-in-one you have to hit the ball directly in the cup, because the ball won’t roll on sand. It’ll just stick where it lands.” He said I was exactly right, but now that course has regular grass greens. Sand green golf courses used to be more common, but as irrigation improved, golf courses everywhere were able to change to grass greens. I did a little research, though, and found out that these sand green golf courses do still exist. There are a couple in Missouri, one in Texas, and a couple in Kansas. If I’m ever near one, I will definitely play it, just to see what it’s like.

     Another sport that has evolved a lot since my papa’s time is football. Obviously the players are bigger, faster, and stronger, and there’s more passing now, but the rules have changed, as well. In the past, football teams played what was called a “one platoon” system. Players had to play both offense and defense. If you look at the early Heisman Trophy winners, you’ll see several with “E” listed as their position. Instead of having defensive ends and tight ends, teams simply had “ends.” These players had to be extremely fit and capable of playing an entire game without coming off the field. Today, two-way players are very uncommon in college and large high schools, with only the most athletic playing both ways. However, in small towns, it is not unusual to have two-way players because of their talent or low numbers of players.

     Finally, women’s basketball isn’t very popular today, but those who do watch it probably wouldn’t recognize the women’s basketball played just a couple decades ago. They played a form of 3 on 3, instead of the traditional 5 on 5 that men play and women now play. Six girls from each team would be on the court at the same time, but only three would be playing at a given time. Three “forwards” were specifically offensive players, while three “guards” were specifically defensive players. Each position could not cross the half court line. I’ve always been intrigued by this archaic form of basketball, but it is practically extinct. In 1995, Oklahoma was the last state to get rid of it in favor of the traditional 5 on 5 at the high school level. However, the Granny Basketball League formed in 2005 and 50+ year old women play 3 on 3 basketball under the 1920s rules.
     In baseball, games used to be broadcast over the radio and people everywhere listened intently. My great-grandmother told me, before she passed away, stories of when she was a little kid, skipping school to listen to the Cardinals play in the World Series. This has obviously changed with TV and games being played at night, so you wouldn't have to skip school or work to watch them. Also, in the past, there were "recreation" broadcasts. Because radio stations often didn't have the money or technology to broadcast live from ballparks, they relied on telegraph updates and would relay them to their listeners. The broadcaster would actually pretend they were at the game, calling it as if they were and playing sounds such as crowd noise, the crack of the bat, and the umpires on the field. If the telegraph updates were interrupted for some reason, there would be a magical "rain delay," even though rain wasn't in the forecast for that city. While this doesn't have anything to do with rule changes, I find this interesting and kind of funny.

     I’m sure there are other sports that have evolved into how we know them today, so feel free to tell me about them. Ask your great-grandparents and grandparents; they are full of stories of the “olden days.”

TAT: Scholarship to Honor Uekman

This article originally appeared in the October 18, 2012 issue of The Arkansas Traveler.

     The Garrett Uekman Foundation announced Monday an agreement with the UA to fund a $100,000 endowed memorial scholarship for Arkansas Razorback Athletics.

     UA Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Jeff Long attended the signing ceremony in Little Rock, along with Uekman’s parents, Danny and Michelle, and sister, Meagan.

     One Razorback athlete will be honored with the scholarship each year when it is completely funded. Football players, specifically tight ends and former walk-ons, will receive extra consideration, but all UA student-athletes are eligible for the scholarship.

     “We are grateful to Danny, Michelle, Meagan and the Uekman Foundation for helping Razorback Athletics further meet its mission of developing student-athletes to their fullest potential through intercollegiate athletics,” Long said Monday.

     Before coming to Arkansas, Uekman attended Little Rock Catholic High School, where he excelled in baseball, basketball and football. In the spring of 2010, he signed to play football for the Razorbacks.

     With the Razorbacks, he redshirted during the 2010 season and played in nine games as a redshirt freshman in 2011.

     Last year on Nov. 20, a day after Arkansas defeated Mississippi State in his hometown of Little Rock, Uekman was found unconscious and unresponsive in his dorm room at 11:15 a.m. and pronounced dead an hour later.

     An autopsy revealed that he passed away due to complications from cardiomyopathy as a result of an enlarged heart. He was just 19 years old.

     “(Uekman) was a special young man who made an impact on the lives of his teammates and students around the University of Arkansas campus. He was an extraordinary person and a true Razorback,” Long said.

     “We are deeply honored that the Uekman family and the Uekman Foundation have chosen to make this commitment to celebrate Garrett’s legacy in this way.”

     Following his death, the Garrett Uekman Foundation was created to “continue his legacy by raising funds to support heart disease research and education and to provide scholarships to deserving student athletes,” according to the foundation’s website, gu88.org.

TAT: Club Team Gives Players Next Level Opportunity

This article originally appeared in the October 17, 2012 issue of The Arkansas Traveler.

     Since 2009, the UA women’s club soccer team has given high school and competitive soccer players an opportunity to play at a higher level.

     Freshman right back Haley Reynebeau played at Har-Ber High School in Springdale for four years before coming to Arkansas. While she didn’t attract any Division 1 schools, she had the chance to play small college soccer.

     “I was going to play at a tiny college in Kansas, but I wanted a big school,” Reynebeau said. “I’m from a 7A school, so I wanted football games on TV and stuff like that.”

     Once on campus, Reynebeau sought out information on the club team and tryouts. She finally got the dates on the last day of tryouts.

     “My friend and I were kind of worried, but all of the girls were really sweet,” Reynebeau said.

     When the final cuts were made and the team started playing together, none of the girls really knew each other and they formed separate “cliques,” Reynebeau said.

     However, these divisions disappeared after a road trip to Texas to play three games.

     “After we drove to Texas, we bonded and everyone gets along with everyone now,” Reynebeau said. “It’s kind of like a high school team.”

     Unlike a high school team, though, the team only practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays for two hours each day. Depending on classes and studying, some girls can only make it to one practice per week and sometimes miss games.

     “We take it seriously, but we don’t practice every day,” Reynebeau said. “Our coaches realize that school comes first and they understand that we have to miss sometimes.”

     The coaches’ understanding comes from the fact that they are also students and players on the team. Seniors Nora Farrell and Megan Johnson share the coaching duties.

     “Playing as well as coaching is very rewarding because I not only get to know so many wonderful athletic women, but I get to constructively coach them,” Johnson said. “It’s a wonderful experience and I look forward to doing it in the future.”

     This season, the Razorbacks have played five games and will play their sixth and final game this Saturday against Texas A&M-Texarkana. They have a 1-3-1 record playing in the North Conference of the Texas Collegiate Soccer League.

     Before their first game, the women’s soccer club had not practiced much and barely knew each other’s names. They lost to Oklahoma State 3-1.

     “I thought we did okay for not ever playing with each other,” Reynebeau said.

     Reynebeau said their play has improved steadily over the season as they started “figuring everyone out.”

     Their lone victory of the season came against Texas Tech. Reynebeau stresses that their conference is very tough. Texas Christian, which beat Arkansas 6-0, featured several players that had quit the NCAA team and joined the club team.

     If any girls that have played high school or travel soccer are thinking about joining, they should “definitely try out,” Reynebeau said.

     The club’s fee is $75 and covers all of the costs of traveling, such as transportation, lodging and food.

     Even if soccer isn’t your sport, Johnson still advises students to get involved in other club sports.

     “I love getting to know the girls, the athletic department personnel and the other club teams,” Johnson said. “I encourage others to get involved in club sports so they can hopefully gain similar wonderful experiences.”

What I miss...

     Sitting in the student section at the Springdale homecoming game against Van Buren, a flood of emotion came over me. It was the first homecoming game I wasn’t on the sideline for since my ninth grade year. Then, I watched knowing I’d be on the field next year. Now, I watch knowing that I’ll be in the stands from here on out.

     What will I miss most about playing? That’s tough to answer.

     It could be wearing my jersey in the halls every Friday.

     It could be eating the pregame meal with my teammates.

     It could be relaxing in the locker room with anxious anticipation of what was about to happen in a few hours.

     It could be going through pregame warm-ups as fans filed into the stadium and music blared over the P.A. system.

     It could be coach’s pregame speech.

     It could be walking underneath the band and into the tunnel.

     It could be waiting in the tunnel, about to run on the field, packed like sardines with my teammates, all of us screaming and getting amped for the game.

     It could be running onto the field, with the band playing the fight song and the fans cheering, your feet not touching the ground the entire time.

     It could be standing on the field, in that moment between the ref’s whistle and the kicker’s foot making contact with the ball. Will he kick it deep or kick an onside?

     It could be the up and down, rollercoaster emotions of the game

     It could be the halftime motivational talks by coaches and players.

     It could be the ball hanging in the air right before I grab it and look it in for a catch.

     It could be the locking of arms with my teammates on the sideline as we attempt a last second field goal or line up for one last defensive stop.

     It could be the pure elation after a win.

     It could be singing the fight song with my teammates and friends, win or loss.

     It could be saying the Lord’s Prayer after every game, win or loss.

     It could be celebrating in the locker room with the guys after a win.

     It could be the postgame trips to Braum’s for ice cream with a group of friends.

     It could be wearing the Springdale Bulldog jersey and being a part of 100+ years of tradition.

     But it would be impossible to chose just one. I miss it all.