VOL. 25, ISSUE 3 Thursday, March 13, 2008 SINCE 1973

The Badger Beat with Charlie Viana


                                            

With my collegiate basketball career ending on Feb 26, I look back and see how truly grateful I was to be a NCAA Charlie Viana   student-athlete for the past four years. Granted, it was at a small division three school, but college ball is college ball no matter where you are, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. No matter what division it is, every athlete has to go to practice, go to class, and find time for the lifting and running that is necessary to compete at the college level.


Having the longest season of all the collegiate sports made basketball for me that much more enjoyable and, most importantly, memorable. From October to the end of February, I was with the same group of guys day in and day out. We had our ups and downs, the long grueling practices when no one wanted to be there, the game that wasn’t going our way and everyone seemed to be against each other, the early morning runs and lifts, but most importantly, we did it all together.


Of course, winning and playing in front of our home crowd was what we played college ball for, but the one thing I will take away from these four years is the time we spent together off the court. Whether it was hanging out the night after a game, in the hotel on road trips, or when we were up here for three weeks by ourselves when everyone else was home for Christmas break, those were the times I will never forget. It is hard to remember the score of a particular game or who did what on that night, but the days and nights being together and enjoying each other are the ones that will stay with us forever.


The years went by too fast. It seems that only yesterday I was graduating high school and getting ready to start my collegiate career. Throughout my time playing at JSC, I never thought that it would end; it was as if I was going to play college basketball for as long as I wanted to. When that final buzzer went off in our quarter-final playoff game loss two weeks ago, it really finally hit me. The walk back to the locker room seemed to be the slowest I ever walked in my life. The only thing going through my head at that time was flashbacks of the past four years and how I wasn’t going to get a chance to play college basketball ever again.


I must have heard thousands of people tell me playing a college sport is the best time of your life. When hearing this I didn’t really think about it that much or have too much of a reaction to it. It was more on the lines of, “Yeah, yeah. I know how much of a good time it is: I’m doing it right now.”

 


It wasn’t until the days after Feb 26, when I realized that playing a college sport was truly the best time of my life. When I was playing over the past four years, it never hit me how much I was going to miss everything about it. As each season passed I always knew I had more to play, but this time I didn’t. It was wonderful walking around campus and having students and faculty tell me what a great game I played the night before, and in a way there are almost no words to describe how good a feeling it is to hear that the next day around campus.


Each year brought a different team with guys from different places and different personalities. But all these differences didn’t seem to matter at all; we did everything and went everywhere together. No matter what it was, whether it was going to the store to get something to eat or going out at night on the weekends, we were always together laughing and having the best time.


When the last game of the season was over, we would always say goodbye to players who had just played in their final collegiate game. Each year I felt for these guys. I felt the pain for them about not being able to play college ball again. I knew I would feel it too one day, but I didn’t want that day to come.


And when it finally did, on the night of Feb. 26, it was a feeling that I never felt before. My mind seemed to go blank and I felt empty inside. Playing sports and going to school was something I did for a major portion of my life and it had become second nature to me.


There were and are those times when I watch the big-time college basketball games on ESPN and think of how good those guys have it. Playing in front of huge crowds every night, having top-of-the-line facilities and gear, and being all over the television and newspapers every day must be as unbelievable as it seems. With that being said, playing basketball at a small school and not playing on ESPN, I don’t have a complaint about anything in my career.
I am going to miss the little things about playing a college sport the most - the camaraderie, the friendships, and stepping on the court with my boys night in and night out no matter what the outcome. We will go our separate ways and we might not see each other as much as we did when we were in college, but I know that no one will forget the times we shared together.


I would like to thank everyone who was a part of my collegiate career and give a little advice for those who are still embarking on theirs: Enjoy it while you can because it goes by too fast.