Wednesday was Feb. 1, the National Letter of Intent day for football, among other college sports.
My day — and what will be a busy month ahead — started in Eugene to hear Oregon head coach Chip Kelly talk about his recruiting class.
I appreciated Kelly’s approach on this whole recruiting thing. You never know what you’ve got until the players get on campus and you get to see them in person, playing against other elite players. I’m still not sure how anyone — “expert” or otherwise — can grade a recruiting class when they haven’t seen what those players can do. But, oh well.
After hearing Kelly talk I returned to Albany to write my story and do some other duties around the office. With a small staff, that list includes many things.
In the evening I headed to Western Mennonite, located a few miles north of Salem on Wallace Road on the west side of the Willamette River. East Linn Christian, the top-ranked 2A boys basketball team, was playing the second-ranked Pioneers there.
It was going to make for a long day covering both events, but the magnitude of the game was going to make it worth it.
Very interesting set-up there. The gym’s lobby exits into the gym at the mid-court line, with all of the spectator seating in the upper balcony. You never know what you’re going to get when you go to a small-school gym.
East Linn won the game, 71-62.
But that was my busy day to the start of a busy month.
Next week is the start of the high school postseason with district swimming. The following week is state swimming and district wrestling. The last full week of February is state wrestling and state basketball playoffs for the 3A and 2A levels. And that doesn’t include all of the regular-season coverage before the postseason begins.
So, yeah, my February schedule is a little full.