Interesting…

For all of the things I’ve done, I never thought I had actually upset anyone. Okay, maybe one person, but that’s another story.

Sure the crazed beaver fans have been mad once or twice, but most of them are good people and roll with the punches. They laugh it off, “Oh, it’s just that horrid Lilja kid, what does he know?”

It’s true. What do I know? Not a whole lot, but I thought I knew enough.

I never thought I’d written or stated anything that ever got into someone’s soul, I didn’t think I touched someone so deeply that they felt the needed to get even.

What do I know? Not a whole lot.

It’s true.

Today’s game between the Beavers and Hawaii was supposed to be a time when I trained two new KBVR DJs on how to call play-by-play. I was going to show up at 9am, run through set-up, run through rules and how to conduct themselves in a professional manner in the press box. I planned on covering players, coaches, stats and touchy-feely stories that could be discussed during TV timeouts (KBVR doesn’t have commercials and we fill air with back-and-forth chatter). Then it was off to the game two hours early for the real thing, set up, pre-game and then game time. I planned on leaving at halftime – let the new kids roll.

It won’t be happening.

No, my car isn’t out of gas, my dog didn’t die and I don’t have a sick relative in the hospital. I didn’t stay out late last night. I was home at 8pm. The world didn’t end, either – but it does feel that way.

I will not be at the game because KBVR was informed by Steve Fenk of Oregon State Sports Information that if I were to arrive at the game that I would be escorted out by security. No questions asked. I’m not welcome around OSU Athletics anymore. Perhaps it is because I am no longer a student but my knee-jerk reaction would be that it feels like more.

Forget for a moment that these new people for KBVR have a total of five hours behind a microphone combined. In fact, forget for a moment that these two new DJs have no experience troubleshooting technical problems that will arise. Please also disregard that I planned on driving 168 miles – on my own dime – to help these two.

I understand I’ve never been well liked in OSU Athletics circles. Why should I be? When I first transferred to OSU from Wisconsin I did write one article questioning play-calling and another questioning the head coach’s credentials after I fumbled up recruits and came to the wrong conclusion. Those two things got me thrown in someone’s “dog house” at OSU. And, even though I have apologized, it’s disregarded that in Wisconsin, where I grew up as a sports fan, any eight-win season is considered near failure – regardless of the circumstances.

Besides, I have never written anything about coach Dick Foxal, OSU LB Joey LaRocque, Volleyball coach Taras Liskevych, gymnast Tasha Smith, the entire Athletic Department, football coach Mike Riley, OSU guard Seth Tarver, OSU Women’s Athletics, or OSU CB Gerrard Lawson in the last nine months. They all had great stories.

I haven’t won awards for defending OSU Athletics need for more money or the Beaver fans’ right to wear whatever they want. I’ve never been syndicated and featured in other newspapers around the country and shared the wonders of OSU sports with readers at other colleges.

I guess that is what keeps me out, keeps me from entering the press box and keeps me from training two eager broadcasters. I wasn’t fluffy enough. I should have been more like everyone else. It’s a funny coincidence that two pieces of my past keep two pieces of KBVR’s future from early success. Oh, they have learned a lot already, though.

They know that the manipulation of student media is prevalent. Unless you, as a reporter, write and report fluffy pieces and say nothing but nice things 100% of the time – you’re in a dark alley. They have already voiced to me that they don’t plan to say anything that sounds “negative” regardless of the situation or something that would provoke “reaction” from anyone in fear they might be removed by the powers that be.

Sound like journalism? They fear reporting the story, as it is with no fluff.

Well, you win, whoever you are. You can go back to watching the lemmings fall off the cliff. Everything is happy in fluffy town. Everyone is soft. No one ever stops to think – good or bad.