The Hog Whisperers

The Putnam County Fair finished its festivities with a bang on Saturday night. Hundreds came out to watch a primal contest, man v. beast aka HOG WRASLIN!!! 53 teams entered this competition, making it one of the biggest hog wrestling competitions in the nation, if not THE biggest. One of those teams just happened to be DePauw Cross Country, represented by Eric, Jay, Taylor and myself (surbubanites ready for action...we all have so much experience in this field). After waiting for what seemed an eternity the pigs finally arrived at the pit, which was 10-20 feet wide, 3 feet deep with about 2 feet of water. There was some big 'ol pigs in that bunch and they sure did smell. Intimidation began to set in. We were the scrawniest team in the top age group and we are all city boys. Nonetheless, the competition began with the youngsters going first. The name of the game is to capture your hog, pick it up and place it on a tire that's set up on a barrel, roughly 3-4 feet high in under 1 minute. It may not seem hard, but these pigs don't want to be caught, and they're slippery. We watched some younger teams dominate, one going as fast as 5 seconds (they had to be on roids). We waited and waited, and watched and watched as some teams defeated their heavyset enemy. One woman was so anxious to get after her pig she face planted after the first step of entering the pen. We watched the smaller pigs get picked and new our chances were good to git a big one. Finally, our names were called. Our heart rates jumped up, was this really going to happen? Yes, it was. We lined up behind the gate, Jay leading the charge, and finally got to see our nemesis. He had to have been one of the top 5 biggest pigs of the bunch. However, our determination would not let us fail. The gate opened and we charged in, missing our initial attack. The hog scurried around the edge and we attempted to get a hold on him. I managed to get it pinned to the wall and wrapped around his mid section. Eric got a solid headlock placed, Jay got the dirty end holding up the rear end and Taylor made sure his legs would do no kicking. Then, in perfect unity we hoisted our pig up and placed him on the tire...VICTORY!!! 18 seconds. A very solid showing easily beating bigger, stronger teams. The fans cheered and Jay and I chest bumped in ecstasy. We left the ring with a sense of accomplishment never before experienced. We then jogged over (we had to show off our running skills) to get washed off by the fire truck. It truly was an experience that I will cherish forever and I think I found my future career. I know Jay's, Eric's, Taylor's and my training is for the better after this event.

DPU CC 1, Hog 0

Water balloon War

The heat has risen in Greencastle, so that calls for some watery fun. Everyone seemed to be struggling for the heat, so I had the great idea of having a giant water balloon fight. With the help of a few friends, I spent several hours filling close to 200 water balloons, not the most fun I've ever had. Then, while people were playing soccer on the intramural fields, we took our payload so we could start the fight. At first there was some hesitation, but then mayhem was unleashed and balloons were flying everyone. People were getting drenched or pelted in the chest with a seemingly unbreakable balloon. I managed to take a shot to the face, and, though it didn't feel good, was hilarious. Overall, people were very satisfied with the fun and I hope it happens again someday, but only bigger and better, maybe with a balloon this size...

Giant Water Balloon.
(I can't imagine getting hit with something like this)

Also this week is the Putnam County Fair. I have never attended this fair but I have been to a few county fairs before. Accompanied by some roommates, we saw plenty of livestock, a cow which I thought was going to charge us, and a small talent show with a 12 year old girl who was belting out Carrie Underwood perfectly. The girl really does have some talent. I'll be back to the fair tomorrow, hopefully for the costume goat parade...if I can make it on time.

So it's been a little while since I posted. 4th of July weekend was fun, but fairly low key. My running has taken a turn for the better and it turns out I'm in much better shape than I thought I was, so I'm pretty excited about the season to come. My family and I went to Martinsville for the annual family reunion and it was surprisingly cold. However, there was a good turnout and it's always nice to see family. We've been going to this reunion for as long as I can remember and it's interesting to see the families change over the years. Little children grew up, teens are graduating college and family members are having children of their own. It's a constantly changing dynamic. After that we went to a Reds' game. We had good seats and it was a good game.

This week has been busy with tours, so not much has really gone on. Some people were on campus for the weekend, but many weren't. I've ended up picking up a new game, bocce ball, to waste my time on. It's a lot of fun playing around campus because it can make for some unique shots. I've also found that I've done a lot better at getting to know/meet new people this summer. I've always been a fairly social and friendly guy, but I've gone more out of the way to hang out with different people, just to give myself some different experiences instead of relying only on my very close and established friends all the time. I think it'll help me out not only for the upcoming school year but also when I move out and have to meet an entirely new group of people.

Here's the link to the news article about Daniel Bretscher. Just goes to show that regardless of what level you go to you can still be successful in sports. DePauw is a D3 school, but it is competitive enough that it can produce a now victorious pro athlete.

Morgantown Triathlon article

Also, I saw Wall-E last night. Even though I'm a 21 year old male, I still found it enjoyable. That, and free movies on campus during weekdays means I'll be seein a lot more movies this summer.

Not much has been goin on lately. I stayed on campus this past weekend, and things remained pretty chill. Running right now is going really well. I've heard that some of my competitors from other schools have really been running significant miles, and it's hard to stay patient, but I like to think I'm taking the smarter approach. Also, the USA Olympic Trials started with some fantastic performances.

In other news, a good friend and DePauw alumni Daniel Bretscher, who's in his first year as a professional triathlete, won his first pro competition this past weekend in Morgantown, WV. He actually defeated one of the best triathletes in the world and he is extremely excited. He's come a long way in the last two years and is becoming a real force in the world of triathlons. I wish him the best and will post the link to an article soon.

It's our year!!

In case I didn't explain earlier, I'm a big sports fan. The Cubs have been on an absolute tear lately, which makes me a very happy man. Best record in baseball, Ryan Dempster is unstoppable, Aramis Ramirez is killin it. Things are happy in Wrigleyville. This trend just needs to keep up all the way through October. It's been 100 years, and I'm feelin some magic in the air this season. That, and with so many potential all-stars, a Cy Young candidate, a clutch saver (I apologize to Kerry Wood on being harsh on him, I'll have to bring out the jersey again) and finally an potent offense, this is the team to beat.

Another big sporting event coming up is the US Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon. This also serves as the US championships and will bring out all the big US stars of track and field. Two weekends ago I went to Indy to watch a last chance qualifier along with Alan Webb (who will make the Olympic team). Hopefully they show it live on tv and I cannot wait to watch.

This past weekend, I went to Holiday World with the family, first time we've taken a trip as a whole family in several years. It was fun, I don't particularly like roller coasters, so I stuck to the water park, which is quite amazing. Had a lot of fun, didn't get burnt (how?) and drank a lot of gatorade from the free drink stands.

The summer so far

I've been here a little over a 3 weeks now and I must say I'm really enjoying myself. Even though I come from a big city (Indianapolis) I've grown really fond of the rural life here in Greencastle. To me there's always been plenty to do and I don't get why everyone complains. The summer is slower, yeah, but again there are enough people around to make things entertaining. Having a few close friends also helps. As I've said before, I run, and it's going well so far. I need to sleep more but I easily get distracted or addicted to the internet which keeps me up late at night. Also, Indiana has gotten so much rain that everything has flooded, but its starting to dry up a bit. But it was ridic. Seriously I've never seen so much and it actually flooded our Nature Park.

Also this weekend we had Alumni Weekend so I spent most of Saturday ridin around in a trolley giving tours to both the elderly and the young. The older alumni loved telling their stories (some of which I really wish I hadn't heard) but they had a good time. Then yesterday I went with my roommates Amanda, Lizzy, Matt and Katie, along with Jay and some Sigma Chis to the famous rope swing north of campus. I must say I was glad I went. There were some locals enjoying themselves (too much?) and I did manage to smack the side of my face pretty hard off of one jump. Then me and a few others decided to go for a long swim, I don't like swimming, it ain't my thang, and I suck at it. So it took me a while.

(heres a pic of the nature park)