Who are we promoting?

Every once in a while I wonder about the answer to that question, mostly when I read ridiculous press releases. Sometimes it's the story that a school finished 135th in Division III in football attendance. Or perhaps it's when the season preview talks about a quarterback that dominated the league ... en route to throwing more interceptions than touchdowns and completing fewer than 50% of his passes. (And no, it's not because he was a brilliant option quarterback.)

But sometimes a release surpasses all bounds of propriety. That's what this one does. I've removed the name details to protect the guilty, but I'm not sure why. As a former SID, it makes my blood boil. I wouldn't have written a 1,000-word release on my resignation, not even for my memoirs.

[REMOVED] College Sports Information Director and Assistant Athletic Director for Communications & External Affairs [REMOVED] will retire effective August 4.
The longest tenured Assistant Athletic Director in school history, he was named Sports Information Director in July 2000 overseeing the publicity, promotion and marketing of the College's XX-sport department of athletics. In July 2001, he added responsibilities as Assistant Director of Athletics taking on responsibilities for the Athletic Hall of Fame, game management, men's basketball tournament scheduling and other duties.
"I have enjoyed the opportunity to assist with and publicize the achievements of the student-athletes and coaches at [REMOVED]," [REMOVED]said. "However, I must be ethically true to myself and there are personal goals and objectives which I have set for myself which will not allow me to continue at the College."
"There are many people to thank. My sports information mentor [REMOVED], the coaching staff, the student-athletes, Associate Athletic Directors [REMOVED], [REMOVED] Director of Communications [REMOVED] and former athletic director [REMOVED], who had the foresight and faith to hire me in 2000 and provide me with an incredible opportunity."
"Every administrator and sports information director knows that they are only as good as the staff around them, and I was blessed to have some of the best and the brightest grace my office. So I would be remiss if I didn't thank my staff, current and past assistants and student-workers, in particular [REMOVED], [REMOVED] and [REMOVED].
"During my tenure at the College, it was a pleasure to work with my staff in returning the sports information office and the College to a place of prominence in the local, regional and national markets."
Ranked third in publicity among [REMOVED], [REMOVED] and [REMOVED] when [REMOVED] took over the sports information office, the College rose to first place by the end of the 2000-2001 academic year, doubling the combined media coverage garnered by [REMOVED] and [REMOVED].

During the 2005-06 academic year, [REMOVED]'s Sports Information Office held an 18-to-1 advantage over both [REMOVED] and [REMOVED], in addition to comprising over 85% of the College's local, regional and national media coverage, including extensive coverage of [REMOVED].

"Few people can say that they were a witness to history during the course of their jobs," [REMOVED]noted, "but I had the opportunity to promote 11 [REMOVED] Conference championships ([REMOVED]; [REMOVED]; [REMOVED]; [REMOVED], [REMOVED], [REMOVED], [REMOVED]; [REMOVED], [REMOVED], [REMOVED]; [REMOVED]), eight Eastern College Athletic Conference championships ([REMOVED], [REMOVED], [REMOVED]; [REMOVED], [REMOVED]; [REMOVED]; [REMOVED], [REMOVED]), NCAA team appearances ([REMOVED]; [REMOVED]; [REMOVED]; [REMOVED]; [REMOVED], [REMOVED]), [REMOVED] win in 2004 to become the [REMOVED], [REMOVED] NCAA titles in the [REMOVED] and the [REMOVED] game in [REMOVED] history in 2003."

"The perk and goal of his job has always been garnering recognition the student-athletes deserve. It has been an honor and privilege to publicize their competitions, nominate them for awards and share in their achievements."
From 2001-2006, the College earned a school record 50+ All-America honors, a school record six NCAA Postgraduate scholarships and nine CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America honors.
"In 2001, we coined the phrase 'excellence on and off the field' in the sports information office to encompass our mission, and I held equal pride in helping athletes earn academic honors and All-America recognition."
"I am especially proud of nominating the Posgraduate Scholars and the Academic All-America honorees as the College garnered its first Academic All-America honors in men's soccer ([REMOVED]) and baseball ([REMOVED]). There was no greater pleasure in the job than to tell an athlete they earned Academic All-America or Postgraduate honors."
Historically, the six postgraduate scholarships from 2001 to 2006 comprise nearly half of the College's 13 honors as [REMOVED] earned seven from 1969 through 2000.
The quantity and quality of the sports publications- media guides, game programs and website - improved to among the best in Division III as the Sports Information Office oversaw three redesigns of the recruiting publications and two overhauls of the athletics website. On [REMOVED], the College's newest athletics website [REMOVED].com will officially be [REMOVED].

In terms of publications, the [REMOVED] Football Media Guide expanded from a photocopied book in 2000 to a more contemporary glossy color publication in 2002. The [REMOVED] received the College's first College Sports Information Directors (CoSIDA) Publication award in 2004, while the book's cover was judged "Best in the Nation" from among over 100 submissions from NAIA and NCAA Divisions I, II and III by a panel of national experts.
Further, [REMOVED] negotiated a contract with [REMOVED] in the fall of 2005 as [REMOVED] became the fourth Division III institution in the nation with a [REMOVED] website with the launching of [REMOVED].

Named the College's "All-Time Sports Information Director" during the [REMOVED] at the College in 2004, he oversaw the celebration. Further, he was also the major impetus behind the 75th anniversary celebration in [REMOVED] (2005), the 50th anniversary celebrations in [REMOVED] (2006) and [REMOVED] (2005), the 25th anniversary celebration in [REMOVED] (2005), the All-Time Teams in [REMOVED] (2004), [REMOVED] (2004) and [REMOVED] (2006) and the All-Decade Teams in [REMOVED] (2004) and [REMOVED] (2004).
Further, he compiled the first list of letterwinners in [REMOVED] history in football, men's basketball, women's basketball, men's lacrosse, women's tennis, softball, men's soccer, women's soccer, men's swimming and women's swimming, and conducted extensive research for every sport in the College's history.
A national search for [REMOVED] successor will begin on July 1.

Gosh. What big shoe... make that, what a big hat to fill.

Office Space...

"I did nothing, and it was everything I thought it would be."

I bagged work on Friday. Not really to do anything as much as to not do a damn thing. Wasn’t so much planned either. I rolled out of bed, put the dog outside, saw the rain and thought the last place I needed to be was in the car, in the rain, and on my way to work. So when the dog came in, I went straight down to the basement, turned on SportsCenter and drifted right back to sleep.

Around 11, I woke up and debated checking my email and phone messages. Around 11:01, I thought the better of it. Went up, got a now burnt cup of coffee, put the dog out again and noticed the sun coming out. Around 11:15 I debated cutting the grass. Around 11:16, I thought the better of it.

Back to the couch a little world cup preview. 20 minutes of that, and back to the zzz’s. As I dozed off, I thought, “I think I am going to skip a lot of work once the copa del mondo gets underway.”

Around 4:00 p.m. or shortly thereafter, the dog decided to wake me up for our day’s exercise. The sun was out, clouds were on the horizon though. That squelched the brief second of guilt I felt about having the third longest lawn on the street. Ran with the dog for a bit. A bit is about all I can run nowadays. Came home flipped on Wolf Blitzer. He always makes me sleep.

6:15 the wife woke me up. Actually, the dog flipping out that her car was in the driveway woke me up. I showered, we went out, got some beers and wings at a local haunt and watched the Yankees whip the Orioles and Pittsburgh's rain delay filler at the same time - those old Willie Stargell era collars kick ass.

I thought about work twice during the workday. Both instances were fleeting.

I rolled in at 2:00 on this beautiful Monday, cause the damn grass still hadn’t cut itself. Seeing the fresh cut and listening to the birds chirp gave me the idea to play golf this week, so I have calendared two dates. Playing 9 on Wednesday, 18 on Thursday.

“Hey Peter, looks like you have been missing a lot of work lately.”

“I wouldn’t say I’ve been missing it Bob.”

How’s everyone else doing in their quiet time?