BYU Basketball: Missionaries in an Unusual Way

The BYU Men’s Basketball Team has been making headlines this year with their great season and All-American guard Jimmer Fredette. With wins over some elite teams, this has been  a spectacular season for them. As many know by now, the university unfortunately  had to dismiss their starting post player, Brandon Davies for violating the school’s Honor Code. Although many have felt this has put a damper on the Cougars’ tournament hopes, there has been some good that has come out of this too.

Because this penalty was so drastic when compared with any other college, BYU has received a ton of publicity from the national media about their choice. Although there have been some negative opinions, I have also found many people to be supportive of BYU’s decision and impressed by their commitment to personal standards. It’s actually been a great opportunity for missionary work, as the national attention has caused people to investigate why BYU is so different from other colleges. Links are below to a few stories that show this and I have video from ESPN and NBC as well.

NBC Nightly News Report . . .

Honor Code Separates B.Y.U. From Other Teams

BYU puts principle over performance

Unrealistic was the topic, not what the analysts opinions.

Snow to Start Off Winter Break? Awesome.

Winter Break is almost finished for me, but it hasn’t been without its excitement. I started off the break by finishing an English final at school, rushing home and gathering my things, followed by traveling with the family to Hermiston where my grandparents live.

The big surprise was every morning we woke up to fresh snow, and it just kept getting deeper. By the time we were ready to leave, there was almost 6” on the ground. Include a quad and some sleds, and you have yourself quite a winter experience. It was definitely a fun way to start off the Christmas Break.

Cross Country State Championships

It’s the middle of winter already and it is crazy how quickly senior has gone by. I’m almost already done with my first semester, for crying out loud.

To start off with, I finished up the my cross country season. I don’t know if I will end up running for fun in college, so that may have been my last competitive cross terrain race. I doubt it though. The state championships were held at Lane Community College in Eugene, and let me tell you, it’s a very large community college. My coach dubbed it as “University of Oregon, South Campus”, due to the large number of students that end up transferring to Oregon.

We arrived the night before and tour the course, than enjoy a nice meal, and get a good nights sleep at our hotel. The next day was the race and it was a pretty neat experience, although I didn’t get the time exactly the time I wanted. I got a cool jacket and pin though, and it was a fun experience. I placed second from my team too, so that wasn’t so bad. After all that, I can’t wait for track to roll around. =)

My Race Photo

Life is Busy. Really Busy.

It’s been quite a while since I have been able to update this thing. The end of summer was pretty hectic and I went into school with a full schedule that hasn’t let up for some time. When it slows down again is a mystery, or it may never happen, which isn’t all too bad since it has been an enjoyable last couple of months.

My school newspaper published their first edition of the year. I am Business Manager in my fourth year of taking the class. It’s gone pretty well but it feels weird being a veteran in the class. There is a link to the website so go check out the online edition. We even have videos  this year on top of everything.

 Astor Post

It’s also the state championship this Saturday for the Astoria High School Boy’s Cross Country team. We were able to clinch the Cowapa League title last week and I individually was able to place 7th in the race, which I was pretty satisfied with. Our goal is to try to place the highest we can as a team, and possibly getting a trophy along the way. It’s a lofty goal but we are going to try hard. The state championship takes place at Lane Community College, and with the season over, hopefully I will provide and update next week of how we did!

Cowapa League Championships

Puma Concordia Race in Portland

A Little Bit of Water

  A couple of days ago I and my brothers got the opportunity to go canoeing with a couple of other guys. When we got  there was the sun was starting to heat up the day, and we launched into the Lewis & Clark River. It was kind of ironic to think that a few hundred years ago Lewis & Clark were doing the exact same thing, but probably with a lot better skill than we were. We passed Netul Landing, which was the canoe launch location while they stayed at Fort Clatsop, and even stopped there ourselves for a quick bite.

One of the great advantages to living in this area is the abundance of wildlife we can see each day. For instance, on this excursion I saw three bald eagles. Two were perched up on trees and the third is pictured below. He was eating a salmon he caught and cawed a little bit at us when we got too close. The fish was still flapping a bit, which was kind of funny.

The sun turned out for us and it was a blast. I have also gone on the Young’s Bay kayaking with a school class and that was a ton of fun as well. I guess one of the advantages to living here is having lot’s of water. It’s been a great summer so far and hopefully there is more to come.

 

 

 

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Nike Headquarters

School’s out, so hopefully I will be able to keep this thing a little more updated. I ran into some account problems awhile back, but now things are all squared away and working out nicely.

A few weeks before school got out I had the opportunity to visit the Nike Campus/Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon. Unless you know someone that works there, it is very hard to get into the place. My Business Leaders of Tomorrow club pulled a few strings and we were able to get in. Let me tell you, the campus is nice. They have a workout facility devoted to the employees, and each building is named after an athlete that has left a mark in the sports world. They have a Mia Hamm, Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods, and Michael Jordan building, to name a few. It feels like a mini-college almost.

My goal going in was to see a super star athlete or score on some new Nike gear. While the athlete part didn’t happen, and I didn’t walk away with a new pair of shoes, I did get to experience some cool things. First off, in the Mia Hamm building, one of the murals on the wall featured the Oregon Ducks football team from a few years ago, with my track coach smack dab in the center.

My other big surprise came around lunchtime. The employees eat like kings at Nike. The food is delicious, and quickly prepared considering the quality of it. I thoroughly enjoyed my Tarheel Bacon Burger, and I could get used to eating there everyday. On one interesting note, the eatery employees looked like ones you would find anywhere else, except for the fact that they were wearing Nike hats.

Anyway, I just so happened to see someone that I recognized sitting at a booth alone, reading a newspaper. I had never met him in person, but I recognized his face instantly. It was Phil Knight. Knight is the co-founder of Nike, former CEO, a former runner for the University of Oregon, and current chairman of the board for Nike. Currently he is the 62nd richest guy in the world. To top it all off, I shook his hand and got a picture with him. 62nd may be somewhat down on the list, but I don’t know how many other guys I will meet who are above him. According to some of the employees, even though he is no longer CEO, his say in company decisions is still heavily listened to and followed.

We also got to see the business of Nike, and the strategy they use that has made them so successful. For example, the core focus of all their advertising is a seventeen year old high school athlete. I also got to see through some tinted windows some of their research rooms. They have half basketball courts, short rubber tracks, and everything else that is needed to test products that they are developing. In this portion of the company, sports really is a science. The have sensors on the athlete doing the testing, and use physics to help improve the product.

Towards the end of our trip, we were able to go into the building that housed the legendary waffle runner, and a bunch of Steve Prefontaine’s original things. The story goes that Bill Bowerman wanted to create a running shoe that would make his runners at the University of Oregon better. One day he had the inspiration to take his wife’s waffle iron and head out to the garage. There he created the solution used for shoe soles, and used the iron to create a innovative new sole. Nike was quick to point out in their presentation also that the Waffle runner was not their first shoe, but rather a football cleat was.

 

We ended the trip with a free shirt. It wasn’t the shoes I was hoping for, but it was still a generous gift. Thanks Nike.

Run Fast

Track season has been keeping me busy the past few months. As such, I haven’t had the time to really update this much. It’s been fun to have ran and I have had a great season. Now that the track season has concluded I will be adding a few things. Check back soon!