Tuesday night turned out to be one of the more diverse shifts I've had from a subject-matter standpoint. Usually it's devoted to working on midweek prep sports like soccer, volleyball and cross country, with assorted other tasks thrown in. Check and check. But last night also included figure skating, professional boxing and a little college crew.
While helping with a figure skating story advancing the Northwest Regional this weekend at The RRRink, I chatted with Bill Cloran, a former Oregon assistant attorney general who has long been deeply involved in the U.S. Figure Skating Association, the sport's national governing body. I told him my exposure to figure skating was the same as most others' -- what I've seen on TV or what I've experienced slipping on an icy driveway in winter.
The thing about figure skating, he assured, is folks like me can watch it and know whether it's good or bad. You don't have to be able to distinguish between a flip and a Lutz. A baseball fan, Cloran used that sport as an example. It helps to know the nuances to really enjoy baseball. But in figure skating, you can tell if an athlete's routine isn't smooth and flowing, if she or he misses a jump or loses balance. You can appreciate an elegant, well-crafted technical program or free skate without knowing the specifics of the required moves or the importance of going from one sequence to another.
The figure skating is Thursday through Monday. There will be levels from the senior, or championship, division -- that which you see in the Olympics -- to relative beginners. If you want to see the best of the best, plan on going Friday and/or Saturday nights for the seniors, juniors and novice classes.
Find the schedule here.
While working on that story, Mike Wilson called to report the results of his latest fight -- his second in four days. It was over quickly, by design. Wilson, 26, is 3-0 and relatively old for a boxer just starting his pro career. That's because he had a long amateur stint that included two U.S. championships. What he needs to do now is fight often and build an impressive record. If/when he's 10-0, 15-0, people will notice and he'll become more of a draw and get better opponents.
The guy he beat Tuesday, Sugi Foxx, didn't really belong in the ring, said Wilson. He was big, about 280 pounds, and not in great shape. I looked Sugi up on Google and saw something where at one point -- I don't know how up to date or accurate it was and didn't put it in my story -- through five fights, Sugi was 0-5 and had been knocked out every time. He'd fought five times but only a total of nine rounds.
They won't all be that easy for Wilson, but there's a method to the scheduling.
As for crew, at the end of the shift I reworked a release about Julia White-Hoppe, a South Medford graduate who competed at Oregon State and for the U.S. national team. She has been named an assistant coach for UC San Diego. It didn't make it into today's paper, but watch for it in the next day or two.
