The Unlikely Ghosts of Football Playoffs Past
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Friday, 10.30.15 ON THE WEB: www.yankton.net views VIEWS PAGE: [email protected] PAGE 4A PRESS&DAKOTAN The Press Dakotan THE DAKOTAS’ OLDEST NEWSPAPER | FOUndED 1861 Yankton Media, Inc., 319 Walnut St., Yankton, SD 57078 CONTACT US We Say PHONE: (605) 665-7811 (800) 743-2968 The Results Are In NEWS FAX: THUMBS UP to the results of this year’s city survey. (605) 665-1721 Overall, the survey showed many City of Yankton ADVERTISING FAX: services receiving positive feedback across the (605) 665-0288 board from residents. From police and fire to parks, WEBSITE: many residents were happy about how the city www.yankton.net conducts those services. Most of the concern dealt ––––– with a desire for a new pool — which is on the city’s SUBSCRIPTIONS/ long-term radar — and a replacement facility for the Yankton Com- CIRCULATION munity Library. Extension 104 [email protected] The Unlikely Ghosts Of CLASSIFIED ADS No-Shows Extension 116 THUMBS DOWN to the sparse crowd that turned [email protected] out Wednesday for the National Park Service’s open NEWS DEPT. house in Yankton concerning proposed changes to Football Playoffs Past Extension 114 the management plans of three of its properties along [email protected] the Missouri National Recreation River (MNRR). The BY KELLY HERTZ Vermillion, Bon Homme and Wakonda/Gay- SPORTS DEPT. proposed changes to Green Island (the sand bar-ish [email protected] ville-Volin. That was a great storyline then — Extension 106 slip of land located just west of the southern foot of again, more memorable to me than the actual [email protected] Discover Bridge), the Bow Creek Recreation Area and Mulberry Bend I had a lot of time to think Tuesday night as contests.) ADVERTISING DEPT. near Vermillion won’t be earthshaking, but they would be some nice I traveled from Alcester back to Yankton dur- What I remembered more are the people Extension 122 upgrades in how those areas are managed and what they offer. How- ing a football assignment for which I’d been and the places associated with those assign- [email protected] ever, there were literally as many media people (three) in attendance recruited. As I zipped through the darkness, ments. BUSINESS OFFICE as there were public members at the Yankton event, and NPS officials an anniversary suddenly occurred to me. Nothing personal, Yankton, but I always Extension 119 said they saw the same kind of turnout in Wynot for the Bow Creek Twenty years ago this fall, I was loved going to sporting events in [email protected] meeting. (There was no word at press time about the turnout for coping with the last round of football other area towns. Being from a small NEW MEDIA: Thursday’s meeting in Vermillion.) There is still time to weigh in on playoffs I ever faced as this newspa- town myself, I felt at home in the at- Extension 136 these projects before the Nov. 18 deadline. To comment online, go to per’s sports editor. Three months mosphere and energy of such venues. [email protected] http://parkplanning.nps.gov/mnrrpropertyplan/; or stop by the NPS later, I shifted over to the news side Yankton certainly has atmosphere COMPOSING DEPT. office at 508 East Second Street, Yankton. and, shortly thereafter, was promot- and energy for its games, but in small Extension 129 ed to editor. But I didn’t go directly towns, these events seem to consume [email protected] from sports editor to managing edi- the whole community. tor, which I will discuss later. When I was sports editor, I always * * * Holiday Fare THUMBS UP to this weekend’s second annual Although I made that move two seemed to know someone at these MANAGERS Harvest Halloween Festival in Yankton. Last year’s decades ago, Tuesday’s road trip places — they were familiar to me, Gary L. Wood inaugural two-day event has been pared down indicates I never left it completely. Kelly and/or I was familiar to them. I had Publisher to one day, and it will feature a variety of events, The high school football playoffs are some deja vu on this Tuesday in a special kind of chaos for the sports Alcester when I discovered one of the Michele Schievelbein including a battle of the bands, featuring The HERTZ department and every warm body is guys on the chain gang was a relative. Advertising Director Lugnuts and The Rude Band, at the Old Brewery on lower Walnut. Festivities unofficially begin late on call when the postseason arrives. That was some nice nostalgia, and Jim Gevens Most every autumn since my move to news, maybe it’s what got my memory going during Circulation Director tonight (Friday) with a midnight showing of the cult classic “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at the Dakota Theatre. There will also be a I’ve been recruited to shoot photos of at least the trip home. Tonya Schild free screening of “Night of the Living Dead” late Saturday afternoon one playoff game, sometimes more than that. Some of those old venues were great. For Business Manager ahead of the new Zombie Pub Crawl. Here’s hoping everyone has a Tuesday’s assignment took me to Alcester- instance, I always loved football games in happy and safe Halloween. Hudson’s Class 9B opening round game Coleridge, with its intimate 80-yard field and Tera Schmidt against Wall. This was a nice setting. The field embracing trees (or so it always seemed on Classified Manager was tucked into a rolling plain situated next to game night). I also liked Bon Homme’s old field Kelly Hertz It’s That Time a golf course. The trees that surrounded much north of the high school. These places, and Editor of this place were splashed with the orange several others, had a cozy character about THUMBS DOWN to the annual time change, which and yellow hues of the season, creating a them. James D. Cimburek occurs at 2 a.m. Sunday when people across most of perfect autumnal snapshot. So, to recap, I don’t have much memory of Sports Editor the country will be turning their blocks BACK one I’ll probably remember that more than the most of the football playoff games (or other Beth Rye hour to Standard Time. Yes, it’s always a pain — al- game itself. That’s not a knock on the game. sporting events) that I covered, but I do fondly Digital Media Director though we have to admit we like the springtime leap Rather, I often come away from such assign- recall the people and places. forward, which ushers in more sunlight later in the ments with more vivid memories of things Maybe that says something about why Kathy Larson day. The “Fall Back,” as it’s called, gives you an extra like that than the action I was sent there to I moved from sports to news in the winter Composing Manager hour of sleep but it comes at a steep price: It reminds us winter is witness. of 1996. I didn’t make the switch in order to coming as a chilly darkness encroaches on the late afternoon. Also, In fact, as I headed home Tuesday and become managing editor. Instead, I made Thumbs Down to those who forget to inspect their smoke alarms dwelled on how I once dealt with football the move because I just couldn’t do sports and other warning devices to make sure the batteries are in good playoffs, I discovered I had very little recol- anymore. Make no mistake, it’s a great field * * * shape. This is a great time to do it, and it could perhaps save a life. lection of those games. A few do still stand of journalism and awfully fun to cover, but at DAILY STAFF out, like Yankton’s 1991 game against Brandon that moment, I really needed something else. Reilly Biel Valley during a Halloween blizzard, a playoff Twenty autumns later, I can’t say my deci- Cassandra Brockmoller game Bon Homme played up in Fort Pierre, sion was a mistake. But every once in a while, Brandi Bue Rob Buckingham Max Hawk’s last game playing for a state title I do miss the old days, and the faces and Caryn Chappelear in the DakotaDome and a six-man playoff game places that were part of chasing the games. Randy Dockendorf OUR LETTER POLICY current sports editor James D. Cimburek and I Tuesday reminded me of that. It was like Jeannine Economy The PRESS & DAKOTAN invites its readers to write letters to the editor. We ask that covered in Santee. But the rest is a blur. old ghosts visiting me for Halloween, but it Rachel Frederick a few simple guidelines be followed: (Later Tuesday night, I looked up the 1995 was an enjoyable haunting. Jeremy Hoeck l Please limit letters to 300 words or less. Letters should deal with a single subject, football playoffs to jog my memory. That was Nicole Myers be of general interest and state a specific point of view. Letters are edited with brevity, Robert Nielsen clarity and newspaper style in mind. the year when four of the five state champions Follow @kelly_hertz on Twitter. Diana Smallwood l In the sense of fairness and professionalism, the PRESS & DAKOTAN will ac- came from the Highway 50 corridor: Yankton, David Stephenson cept no letters attacking private individuals or businesses. Cathy Sudbeck l Specific individuals or entities addressed in letters may be given the opportunity to JoAnn Wiebelhaus read the letter prior to publication and be allowed to answer the letter in the same issue.