What the hell were these guys doing here?

On Friday, I was exhausted, but satisfied. I walked out of the match [if I could call it that] with the Roadrunners of Cal State Bakersfield, leaving the Walter Pyramid with a wry look on my face. As I made my way through the yellow doors, the cheerleaders asked me, "Hey Super Fan, you were awesome. There is no one one in the Big West who is as vocal as you." I should point out that the obnoxious comedy kings from Cal State Northridge came mighty close as the ladies disposed of them in a triple come-from-behind bang-bang-bang sweep the next night.

So I smiled and said, "Hey, it's not just me, ladies. It's the entire group in Section 111, and the players (save for those stiff from Cal Poly), that are the best." Section 111 in the Walter Pyramid is where the students sit. I sit in the south edge of Row A (seat 16) to allow the others to sit in the center. I told them that I would have to talk with Dr. Emyr Williams about the UNLV game (which they won, 32-14), and the scoring, and the conflict with the men's basketball game with San Francisco State. Originally, I thought it was going to be a slaughter, but it was just a unassuming 72-58 win in Dan "The Rainmaker" Monson's first outing with the Beach. At least I could rest assured that we weren't facing Florida.

As I made my was through the dark, passing by the parking structure, the trees swaying in the November wind, and the Jack Rose Track, a yoiung campus police officer inspected the scene. Apparently the lights at the track died. The officer's name was Vergel Munoz, and he was only 2 years into his job. (The chief of the division was 11+ times his senior in terms of tenure.) So, me and Vergel had a little talk about the game, what I did, and so on, but he brought up something that I wasn't expecting, but that I was glad to talk about.
When Cynthia Buggs, the daughter of Long Beach Polytechnic High School girls' basketball coach Carl Buggs, and #3 on the roster, was about to serve, I pantomimed my foam noodle like a shotgun at work during a skeet event at the Olympics. In less than a year, the Beijing Games would occur, and skeet shooting was one of the events held at the games since 1968, at the Mexico City games.

So Vergel talks about some old, insecure boosters who incorrectly corrolate my act to the Virginia Tech massacres. I maintain this view of these massacres: that was a tragic event, and a heinous act, performed in April of this year by one Cho Seung-Hui, a guy who had no direction, and had no other choice, but to blast a number of faculty and students-32 in all, before adding himself to the list.

If I had the power to talk to him about this before this all happened, AND he was willing to listen to me as if I was his conscience, I'd say, "Yo, Seung, what the hell are you doing? That's just clowning...whay are you going to throw away everything just to satisfy your own personal demons? You're a Virginia Tech Hokie. You have to take pride in your university; you need to be proud of being in a university like this. These people are your friends, your comrades to the very end. Why do you wantr to kill them?

"You can stop this, Seung. But if you're going to, you gotta do it the right way. Seek some help, say to yourself, 'What the hell am I doing? I don't need to be this way. I can choose the path that will save these 32 lives. If someone is going to try to shoot these guys down, it's not me. It will be someone who isn't from this campus, some criminal on the run, and I'd rather sacrifice my life for them, than shoot them down to get some payback that I don't even know what the purpose is.' You should make a better choice that this." More on choices later.

But it was good that he asked me. I told him that I was on my last semester, majoring in information systems. I believe that if you give the right information to the right people in the right place at the right time, it will give them the power to make the right choices and the right decisions. He was abit stunned that I didn't have a driver's license, and that I was 23 years old. Vergel was 26, and his brother works as the CBA (College of Business Administration).

I told him that Buggs sounds like Bugsy Siegel, a famous (or infamous) mobster who I remember for building the Flamingo Hotel and Casino, a Las Vegas Strip landmark. And when they think of Bugsy, they think of guns. But I stressed my take on war and violence: I don't believe in that stuff.My family doesn't believe in it. I am convinced that our war in Iraq is a meaningless cost and a waste of money. I remeber making bad decisions when I was in middle school, a long time before I got here. Eighth grade, young, didn't know any better. But when I rebounded, I was able to make more right than wrong decisions.

Finally, I told Vergel, "Look, if those guys keep thinking about that traggedy that was out of their control many months ago, and is still out of their control today, and let it be the first think they wake up to...it will happen here. Cal State Long Beach is a safe campus thanks to you. They should know that, and they should know that Super Fan told you that." I even brought up Rachelle Ang's quote to me: "At least I'm all right." I told him to tell it to them, and have them say it to themselves.

In total, we talked for about 20 minutes, and then went on our separate ways. For a while, at least until the boosters are reassured of my intentions regarding Cynthia Buggs, I will have to make a good Robin Hood-meets-William Tell impersonation. The gun became a bow and arrow. Ironically, the next day saw an archery contest take place next to the rugby field.

Personally, I was still wondering about that game. It was as if we were facing a high school or a middle school team. It was easy, maybe too easy, save for maybe the third game. I even said, "Hey guys, Bakersfield College can play better volleyball than you guys." Seems I had a point: as of November 6, Bakersfield College's Renegade volleyball team was 15-3 for the season, with three regular season games and the postseason tournaments remaining.

The coach from Bakersfield had this to say:

“They were bigger than (No. 3 ranked) Texas and as athletic as any team we faced
this season,” said CSUB Head Coach John Price. “As with all of the ranked teams
we faced this season, it took us a while to get into the match, but once we did
we were able to hang with a very good team.”

John, I tend to disagree, though the remarks were, I will admit, flattering. Texas has 8 players above 6 feet tall. We only have 5. And teams like Cal Poly, San Diego, Stanford, Washington and St. John's have proven their mettle against us. It was only till the third game that your guys were actually able to play some volleyball. We would have a game against the Renegades than you guys. Hopefully you can spice things up by getting some of Carl Ferreira's sophomores to play for your team...if you're willing to take the initiative.

Otherwise, be prepared for more of the same next year we meet. Oh, and mind the Parking Services people when you're going to park somewhere the next time you head on down the I-5 to Wally's house.