SE: Thank You, K-State
Sep 07, 2021 | Sports Extra
By: Austin Siegel
A few months after I started working here at K-State Athletics, Brookelynn Entz swung by the office to chat about a story she was writing before Senior Night for K-State Soccer.
We met with Scott Retzlaff, our insanely talented Director of Digital Media, and ended up checking out the view above Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
We asked Brookelynn about her exciting future in soccer - Kansas City would select her in the NWSL Draft a few weeks later - and then she asked if working at K-State was my dream job.
"Yes," I said, surprised at how confidently I could answer a question nobody had ever asked me before. It was true then, and it's true now on my last day with K-State Athletics.
Next week, I'm headed to Northwestern as a Graduate Assistant in Athletic Communications and will begin pursuing my master's degree in Sports Administration.
I'm incredibly excited to return to Chicago and my alma mater, but I'm not sure if bittersweet even begins to cover how I'm feeling on my last day with K-State Athletics.
Here's where I want to get back to that conversation with Brookelynn.
I love this story because it speaks to the wonderful person she is – but it's also the sort of thing that just felt normal during my time at K-State.
The soccer star wants to know your dream job. The football coach with his name on the stadium writes you a letter because he enjoyed one of your stories. The interview is already over, but Darren Sproles wants to know if his favorite professor is still teaching her class.
I mean, the entire K-State rowing team signed a card after a story on how the Wildcats spent a year practicing and working out during COVID-19. Then my parents brought a bunch of healthy snacks to their meet in Florida, which a coach or rower reminds me of every time I see them, because that's just the kind of people they have on K-State Rowing.
Seriously, where else does that happen?
I can recall so many moments like this, and I don't think anyone of them would surprise you. Because if you're reading this, you went to K-State or live in Manhattan or have a kid in school here or go to K-State right now or play for the Wildcats or saw a game here and got hooked.
This was new for me. All of it. And I'm a better person and a better writer for the experience.
I'm reminded of a line from one of my favorite authors, Brian Phillips, who described the time we live in as one with "our fingertips fused to an archive of everything that's ever happened."
Given all the different ways you can follow the Wildcats, it's very humbling to think that you ever took the time to sit down and read something I wrote about your favorite college team.
That's why the other line I want to share with you is from the Marvel movie Thor: Ragnarok. In the film, Chris Hemsworth is reminded that his home planet is "not a place, it's a people."
Most of my time at K-State was spent wearing a mask at reduced-capacity stadiums and interviewing student-athletes and coaches on Zoom during the strangest season ever.
But the people that make this place special were always there, in ways big and small.
Thanks to Ryan Lackey, a better supervisor than I deserve, whose kindness and passion for K-State made every day feel like a reminder - "Hey, it's pretty cool we get to do this for a job."
Thanks to Kenny Lannou and Gene Taylor for their leadership and for supporting this position. Everyone on the sixth floor, I'm sure there were a million other things on your mind when the world stopped last year, and every time you reached out means more to me than you know.
And to Julian Jones, Taja Dotson and Chris Sharp - your friendship came at a time when it felt like the pandemic was going to make it impossible to meet people. Thanks for recognizing the look of someone else new to K-State and for so many wonderful adventures in Manhattan.
One of my favorite parts of this is when it comes to your next Sports Extra writer, K-State essentially replaced a prospect who's still working on his jumper with a Hall of Famer.
I'll let him introduce himself – As for me, there's one more story on the way this week, but this is goodbye for now.
K-State will always be in my heart, purple laundry lint will always be in my dryer, and I look forward to following so many incredible K-State Sports moments to come.
EMAW,
Austin Siegel
A few months after I started working here at K-State Athletics, Brookelynn Entz swung by the office to chat about a story she was writing before Senior Night for K-State Soccer.
We met with Scott Retzlaff, our insanely talented Director of Digital Media, and ended up checking out the view above Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
We asked Brookelynn about her exciting future in soccer - Kansas City would select her in the NWSL Draft a few weeks later - and then she asked if working at K-State was my dream job.
"Yes," I said, surprised at how confidently I could answer a question nobody had ever asked me before. It was true then, and it's true now on my last day with K-State Athletics.
Next week, I'm headed to Northwestern as a Graduate Assistant in Athletic Communications and will begin pursuing my master's degree in Sports Administration.
I'm incredibly excited to return to Chicago and my alma mater, but I'm not sure if bittersweet even begins to cover how I'm feeling on my last day with K-State Athletics.
Here's where I want to get back to that conversation with Brookelynn.
I love this story because it speaks to the wonderful person she is – but it's also the sort of thing that just felt normal during my time at K-State.
The soccer star wants to know your dream job. The football coach with his name on the stadium writes you a letter because he enjoyed one of your stories. The interview is already over, but Darren Sproles wants to know if his favorite professor is still teaching her class.
I mean, the entire K-State rowing team signed a card after a story on how the Wildcats spent a year practicing and working out during COVID-19. Then my parents brought a bunch of healthy snacks to their meet in Florida, which a coach or rower reminds me of every time I see them, because that's just the kind of people they have on K-State Rowing.
Seriously, where else does that happen?
I can recall so many moments like this, and I don't think anyone of them would surprise you. Because if you're reading this, you went to K-State or live in Manhattan or have a kid in school here or go to K-State right now or play for the Wildcats or saw a game here and got hooked.
This was new for me. All of it. And I'm a better person and a better writer for the experience.
I'm reminded of a line from one of my favorite authors, Brian Phillips, who described the time we live in as one with "our fingertips fused to an archive of everything that's ever happened."
Given all the different ways you can follow the Wildcats, it's very humbling to think that you ever took the time to sit down and read something I wrote about your favorite college team.
That's why the other line I want to share with you is from the Marvel movie Thor: Ragnarok. In the film, Chris Hemsworth is reminded that his home planet is "not a place, it's a people."
Most of my time at K-State was spent wearing a mask at reduced-capacity stadiums and interviewing student-athletes and coaches on Zoom during the strangest season ever.
But the people that make this place special were always there, in ways big and small.
Thanks to Ryan Lackey, a better supervisor than I deserve, whose kindness and passion for K-State made every day feel like a reminder - "Hey, it's pretty cool we get to do this for a job."
Thanks to Kenny Lannou and Gene Taylor for their leadership and for supporting this position. Everyone on the sixth floor, I'm sure there were a million other things on your mind when the world stopped last year, and every time you reached out means more to me than you know.
And to Julian Jones, Taja Dotson and Chris Sharp - your friendship came at a time when it felt like the pandemic was going to make it impossible to meet people. Thanks for recognizing the look of someone else new to K-State and for so many wonderful adventures in Manhattan.
One of my favorite parts of this is when it comes to your next Sports Extra writer, K-State essentially replaced a prospect who's still working on his jumper with a Hall of Famer.
I'll let him introduce himself – As for me, there's one more story on the way this week, but this is goodbye for now.
K-State will always be in my heart, purple laundry lint will always be in my dryer, and I look forward to following so many incredible K-State Sports moments to come.
EMAW,
Austin Siegel
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