Already

I was visiting with someone the other day when we got to talking about this column for the paper. They asked how long I had been doing this and it occurred to me that it had been 20 years. They were surprised and I guess I was too. It seems time really does fly by when you're having fun.

Honestly, I didn't think it would become a weekly occurrence, maybe twice a month but when stuff happens I had to write about it. Sure I missed a week now and then because I was busy or I really didn't have a lot to say about the sports world that particular week. But I've also written some stuff that I wasn't completely sure was worth printing and then someone tells me that they really liked this week's column or article or editorial or whatever they think this is and I realize that something hits home for everyone.

I've had people tell me that they read this column every week and it's usually the first thing they read in the paper. The only thing I can say is thank you and I guess I will have to keep doing this for a while anyway.

Growing up I enjoyed playing sports and reading about games that were played the day before. I would read the sports columnists and get their take on things and I liked how they inserted humor into sports and make bigger than life athletes look more like everyone else because they were like everyone else except on the field of play or in an arena or gym.

When George Raveling coached at WSU he wrote a column for the paper in Spokane titled Raveling's Ramblings. For me this was something I looked forward to each and every week because it was full of interesting trivia, humor and history. When Raveling resigned to take another coaching job I was bummed because his column would no longer be part of that local paper

But it was people like Raveling and a lot of others that interested me in trying my hand at doing this. My writings are about things that interest me and have very little to do with much research except for important dates and statistics. I've had a fair amount of people tell me I should write about a certain player or subject matter and I said that's a story you want and if you want it then you should write about it because I don't want this column to be anything more than a fun look back on a week a month a year or several decades.

It's interesting that in 20 years how many great games that I witnessed live and how many I watched on TV. The Seahawks went to 3 Super Bowls winning one in that span. The Seattle Storm won 4 WNBA championships in the last 20 years as well. The EWU Eagles went to two NCAA FCS championship games winning once. The local high schools won several championships in football, track and field and competed at the state level in several other sports.

WSU had the Mike Leach era and the Pirate certainly delivered. The most exciting year was when grad transfer Gardner Minshew came to Pullman that saw young kids with peach fuzz on their faces donning a mustache in honor of the QB and his glorious season. Coug fans still love Minshew as well as mourning the loss of Coach Leach.

In the last 20 years we've lost a lot of great athletes some tragically and some due to old age and they finally wore out. I've said a time or two that I didn't want this to be an obituary column but some folks are worthy because they meant something to me or the community.

In the last 20 years I got to tell you about my family and some of the road trips we took to see a state championship game or maybe it was just a game that was between two very competitive teams. Those were good memories that I like to share with the readers. Some liked it some not so much but whatever it was fun.

Some of you don't read the Worst Seat because I talk about sports well my wife usually doesn't read it for the same reason. But when I write about something non-sports related she will take the time to read it and she usually likes what I said.

I can't believe that it has been 20 years since I dropped a column off at the Journal and I became the Worst Seat in the House. I guess as long as you like my ramblings I'll try to come up with a story.

- Dale Anderson is a sports columnist from Ritzville. To contact him, email [email protected].