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cover essay: adam kSnker
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Spring comes(no- But he ain’t here yet.
one That’s the thing - we don’t get much of a spring in
asks his name) Nebraska so much'as we get it in tantalizing doses. And yet,
a mender that doesn’* matter because in the fieldhouse, all the splendor
of things of sprjn9is a,ive in a controlled-climate cavern - buzzing lights,
78 degrees and artificial turf, which, some remind you looks, feels
and plays like the real thing.
So we’ve created ways around spring’s late coming, and today in Schulte Fieldhouse,
they’re playing baseball.
Just the same, winter in Nebraska leaves people in the limbo-throes of suppressed pas
sion. The people face a lonely wait until the fall dawns again; or they move into the spring with
all the enthusiasm of bees - waiting on the new spring football season.
And somewhere in between get pitched the spring sports, the ones that haven’t yet fully
bought into the football myth, the ones that some might argue, hearken back to the purist
days, the days of agrarian society. The games like the one being played today in the comfort
of the fieldhouse; some games now ancient in contrast.
* ★ ★
Bob Oevaney Sports Center. Indoor track. Saturday. Gray skies.
. •• . V fi :
with eager
fingers(with It is in the youth of the year that these old games take
patient root: track, gymnastics, golf, tennis, baseball (not to forget
eyes)re the more recent concoction of softball). The staid and stol
new id games of our predecessors are reborn in new and terri
fying ways that shock the purists and the players alike,
ing remaking what- Records are broken, more sound alloys are implemented,
other rubber’s elasticity is further stretched. Nothing can ever be
-wise we should the same but is reclaimed and made new.
have The muscles are stretched and the memories of ten thou
thrown a- sand times at bat, on the track, at the tee, come rushing back in
way... an invigorating surge of dizziness.
Yet today, for most athletes, the rush is never gone but is a per
petual charge throughout the training phases of sport. But when opening day draws nigh, the -
urgency is pressing and the steam builds. At the base level, the age-old arts of competition
remain the same.
Devaney Center. Again. Gymnastics mats at the court. Growing colder.
...(and whose
brook The sports seasons have already come, well ahead of their
-bright flower- scheduled stopover. The weather isn’t ready, and the calen-.
soft bird dar notes another month and a half without spring-like
-quick voice loves activity. April, the most cruel month, is the ideal. It really
V is.
children But you wait around for April in Nebraska and you
and sunlight and prolong an eternity. You start in February - in January,
mountains)in april(but even. You go indoors, and if it gets above freezing, you
if he should go out to ward off the cabin fever. The gymnasts and the
Smile) comes... tracksters get a reprieve, but start in early with the
marathon meets.
But tough luck for the bat-wielders, remembering the unholy sting-chill of a miss-hit in
February. And forget about hitting the links or the tennis courts for awhile, but of course, get
out anytime you can. Find the window of sunshine, the lifting of the mist when spring shines
its beaming face upon you.
Let yourself get wrapped up in it, this miracle of a spring, should it come. Embrace it with
every emotion and treasure it in your heart like so many warm memories of winter anticipa
tion. Fall in love again with the sounds of the games that spring plays ... nobody’ll know
Quotations from e.e. cummings, “in, ” from XAIPE