PSU athletic department takes down the Vanguard

As we reported on our blog several weeks ago, the athletic department took on the Vanguard sports staff in a friendly game of roundball. The results were not good....

Not good if you root for the Vanguard I mean.

To be honest, the sports staff was without one of their finest players and took the court with a lineup of a couple of solid players that had never really played together.

We also featured one Vanguard vagabond, a former arts and culture editor, who admittedly had not strapped up his high-tops in three years.

The athletic department staff... well they certainly had their numbers. Beyond Torre Chisholm and Zack Wallace (pictured) the staff also brought assistant athletic trainer Duane Dewey, sports information bigman Ryan Borde and head equipment man Rick McReynolds to the game.

Their depth eventually took its toll on the beleaguered Vanguard staff. We couldn't hit a shot, couldn't play good defense and probably were doubled up in the rebound department.

The game certainly had its intense moments, (although it probably wasn't as bad as this) but all in all, sportsmanship and camaraderie were the key themes.

The athletic department also brought in a ringer- well kind of. Jeff Boone who is the student leader of the fan group "The Horde" also played. I play with Jeff on the same intramural team and was worried he might be a difference maker. He was.

We should have known there was trouble brewing when at the last moment Chisholm moved the game from the main gym in the Stott Center to the smaller and more dimly lit small gym downstairs and eliminated the main scoreboard one of the big-game elements he had promised us...

There will likely be a rematch at some point, so I don't want to give away the scouting report although I will give you one little tidbit.

Torre Chisholm= not half bad.

The man known in the Vanguard newsroom as "T-Chis" can scrap down low in the paint. This despite his affinity for wearing some unusually short shorts.

Certainly not as short as Washington tight end Chris Cooley, who sported these during Redskins' training camp, thankfully, but short nonetheless. I even heard one of his teammates wondering under the breath if the athletic director was just playing in his boxer shorts.

Anyhow be sure to stay tuned to the blog for more Portland State sports news...

Vanguard takes on the PSU Athletic Department- Who ya got?

I hesitated to announce this to anyone, and although this blog's readership could be aptly described as scarce, here goes.

This Friday the Vanguard staff will be taking on the Portland State Athletic Department staff in a friendly game of basketball at the Stott Center.

The game, brought up by Vanguard editor-in-chief Nathan Hellman, yours truly and athletic director Torre Chisholm, will pit two teams with similar resumes against each other on Friday afternoon in the main gym of the Stott.

As per our request, Chisholm is said to have arranged the operation of the scoreboard for the game and at last check was still working on securing an announcer to call the action over the public address system.

I hesitate to talk any trash before the game partly because the Vanguard doesn't exactly have an all-star basketball lineup. Good writers we may be but outside of Hellman and former editor-in-chief David Holley who will hopefully be suiting up, we could be hardpressed for athletes.

The athletic department? They might be no better. We all know that Chisholm's is pretty skilled at improving the Vikings image, raising money and winning conference championships but the man who spends some of his spare time playing online video games may struggle on the big stage.

We may check in with a scouting report of the two squads later in the week but remember this. Both of these entities have come a long way towards improving themselves over the past 10 years.

For the Vanguard its been increased coverage of Portland State events and improving writing quality and for the athletic department its been upgrading facilities, bringing in Jerry Glanville and preparing to remake the Stott Center and PGE Park.

Two up-and-coming "squads" face off in the Stott Center... This one should be good.