An annual tradition: Finding fungi in Southern Illinois

T.J. Cowell, Alestle Sports Reporter

by T.J. Cowell, Alestle Sports Reporter

The other day it became Facebook official, I am now a fan of The Morel Mushroom.

Morel season is something that every spring for two or three weeks becomes somewhat of an obsession at the Cowell ranch. For a month prior and weeks after, going mushroom hunting is something my dad will not stop talking about. He is crazier about crawling around briar patches with the intent of finding fungi that I am. Even fishing takes a backseat when the middle of April comes around.

Morel Mushroom

That being said, I am still my dad’s son. So over time, mushroom hunting was going to become a passion for me whether I wanted it to or not.

On a more positive note, just the pure fact of walking around in the woods for a while getting away from school and work is something that I look forward to. Nevertheless, mushroom season is like having a three-week holiday to a lot of people.

The Illinois State Morel Mushroom Hunting Championship used to be held just a stone’s throw away from my hometown. Yes, there used to be a competitive state championship event held for hunting morel mushrooms. Since the tournament used to be so close, I have even participated in it before.

And for what is normally looked at as a recreational experience, there were some hunters who used to compete to win. Mushroom hunting is serious to some people. Yet kind of like fishing, my dad told me at a young age that mushroom hunting is about having fun. If you aren’t going to have a good time then don’t go.

There are a keen list of websites to check out if you are an avid ‘shroomer or even just curious to know more about morels. One of my favorites is www.morelmania.com, a website that I check daily nowadays to see where people are starting to find mushrooms. Earlier today while looking at the website I noticed there have been people picking morels here on campus. So they aren’t far away people. But good luck trying spots to hunt. Most people are smart enough to keep quiet about where they find morels.

I could go on all day about morel mushroom hunting, especially at this time of year. But I will cut my story short here.

While it is still a little early up north where I am from three hours away from SIUE, Southern Illinois should be starting to get into the thick of things here soon when it comes to finding morels. Best of luck to those who plan to spend the next few weeks finding morels!

If you give a kid a fish

T.J. Cowell, Alestle Sports Reporter

by T.J. Cowell, Alestle Sports Reporter

While killing some time the other day, I decided to pick up this month’s edition of “Heartland Outdoors” magazine and check it out. Although it has been ignored in the backseat of my car the past few weeks, I hung onto the publication after picking it up and glancing through it at an outdoor’s show I attended. I figured I’d hang onto it in case it had some articles that would spark interest into my outdoors blog. Well it paid off. I didn’t have to look very far to find something that I thought was attention-grabbing.

A new study, according to HunterSurvey.com, showed that more than 77 percent of active hunters and range shooters have taken their kids hunting. This study must have taken some time to do because this article listed off fact after fact relating to parents taking their sons and daughters out hunting. Notice I said sons and daughters; about 10 percent taught girls about the sport. More than 34 percent of adult outdoorsmen said they have taken both boys and girls out to hunt. Studies showed the most popular species of game sought after were deer. Smaller game (like squirrels and rabbits, I presume) were also popular.

These facts reminded me of the countless times my dad has taken me fishing over the years. My older brother was more of the hunting type in my family, so if I ever went, it was with him (Granted, I didn’t shoot anything because I did not have a FOID card.) Walking in the woods and finding mushrooms in the spring is about the only kind of hunting I do with my dad.

However, fishing started when I was just over a year old, and now the hobby has turned into somewhat of an obsession for my family and me. I’m sure most of us have seen the commercials and other sources of advertisements that encourage us to mentor the younger generation in experiencing the outdoor life. Let me be the first to tell you that by taking a kid fishing (or hunting in this matter), will sprout memories that will last a lifetime for both of you. The quality time spent together is something positive that will come out of it as well.

Now that I go to college three hours away from where I grew up, in a county that has two stoplights, I don’t get to see my family as much as I would like to. Whenever I am home I try to spend some time with them. Nowadays, when I fish or hunt with my dad, I cherish every bit of time we spend together because someday we won’t be able to go anymore. For now, I will enjoy the times we get to hang out. The relativity of this article to my own personal life was what really caught my eye. Enjoy spending time with those who you care about and like spending your days with, because someday you might not be able to. But the memories that you make with them will last a lifetime.

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“Soon after I embraced the sport of angling I became convinced that I should never be able to enjoy it if I had to rely on the cooperation of the fish.”  Sparse Grey Hackle

And so it Begins….NCAA Tournament Breakdown and Predictions

 

The time is here. There is no escaping March Madness and to me it is the best couple weeks in all hoops, maybe even sports. Even just watching a highlight reel of the college hoops regular season right now on ESPN is giving me goose bumps. The NCAA tournament has caused me to skip school and avoid studying over the years, and I don’t regret a single bit of it.

So here we go, I am going to write a little bit about the NCAA tournament, trying to touch a little bit on a few different areas.

Talking college basketball this time of year is like trying to talk politics; it turns to fire in a hurry. So give me a little bit of space here.

WEST-

We will start off here. Syracuse has been awarded a number one seed (seeded fourth overall). The Orange lost their last two regular season games and will have to travel out west to Salt Lake City if they make it past the first two rounds in the tourney. Speaking of the first round, Vermont will challenge Syracuse to start things off on Friday. Although a number 16 has never knocked off a top-seed, I think there could be a slight (very slight) possibility that Vermont could give the Orange some trouble. If it were to happen, this would be the game. After all, Vermont did knock off Syracuse in the first round of the 2005 NCAA tourney.

Stretching out a little more, I have Kansas State advancing out of this region. I have seen the Wildcats play on more than one occasion this year and they have done nothing but impress me. The problem with KSU advancing that far is the fact three of their losses have come to Kansas. The old saying that it is hard to but a team three times in a season is hard, well the Jayhawks proved that wrong. But Kansas is in the MidWest Region so we will get back to them.

My cliché No. 12 seed upsetting a No. 5 will come in UTEP knocking off Butler. Although some people might disagree with me, I think No. 4 Vanderbilt will hold off OVC champion Murray State (seeded 13^th) just fine. My apologies go out to the OVC and Allan Lewis for saying this but the Commodores will advance out of that contest.

SOUTH-

Ah, the Region with the glorious play-in game. For that contest, I will pick Winthrop even though not many people care anyway. I like Duke coming out of the South even though I despise them as a team. My apologies go out to Big Ten fans but I have No. 13 Siena defeating Purdue in round one. Without their stud Robbie Hummel, Purdue is an entirely different team. For the worse too. The Boilermakers were shell-shocked by Minnesota, 69-42, in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament.

When I bought the video game ESPN College Hoops 2K5 well over five years ago, I used to play with Old Dominion. But even though I have a soft spot in my heart for the Monarchs, I just see Notre Dame being too much for them. With Luke Harangody back, Notre Dame is a whole different team.

No. 3 Baylor I have getting knocked out early, either by Sam Houston State or the winner of the ND/Old Dominion game. A team I like is 7^th seeded Richmond, the Spiders have had their more than their fair share of coverage this year.

EAST-

I will keep this one short and sweet, nothing special in Kentucky getting out of this region. There is a lot of talk about West Virginia making a run, but No. 15 Morgan State is not a terrible team. Even though West Virginia is just that much better. I guess we will see what happens. I just do not see it. Two upsets I could see is No. 12 Cornell over No. 5 Temple and No. 13 Wofford over No. 4 Wisconsin. If that be the case, either Cornell or Wofford would make the Sweet 16.

MidWest-

Kansas has earned the overall top seed, but arguably will have the toughest road to get to the Final Four. Second-ranked Ohio State is another Big Ten team that I should show some love to, but the way they played in the Big Ten tournament, I just don’t think they are peaking at the right time of year. The biggest upset I will pick in this region will be No. 11 San Diego State knocking off No. 6 Tennessee. But Tennessee has wins over Kansas and Kentucky to their résumé.

Final Four-

Kansas vs. Kansas State- Winner: Kansas

Duke vs. Kentucky- Winner: Kentucky

National Champion: Kentucky

T.J. Cowell, Alestle Sports Reporter

IHSA should consider SIUE to host championship

T.J. Cowell, Alestle Sports Reporter

by T.J. Cowell, Alestle Sports Reporter

Again for the second week in a row, I am going to steer away a little bit from the normal outdoors blog. But since it is March Madness, and basketball season as we know it (at least at the high school and collegiate level) is drawing to a close.

And since SIUE athletics is still in a transitory state of Division I, we will branch out to high school hoops. But still we are going to incorporate some SIUE business here.

The other day the Illinois High School Association hosted super-sectional games across the state to determine who will play for the big prizes of boy’s high school basketball, at least at the small school level.

In a week or so from now (probably by the time you read this), the bigger schools will be fighting to see who gets to play up in Peoria for championship gold.

I am sure that most of you who are reading this know how the high school basketball postseason works. First you have regionals, where fields of about six or eight teams battle to see who the best in their area is. From there, the winner of the regional advances to the sectional games. At sectionals, winners from four different regionals battle one another to see who’s got what it takes to keep their seasons alive.As you would guess it, the winner of the sectional championship moves on to the super sectional.

Now we are down to business. When I was a senior in high school a few years ago (2008), the IHSA broke up the traditional two-class system for championships to four classes. (On a side note, I believe this takes away from the credibility of high school sports. Competition is watered down and rivalries are ruined, but that is a whole other subject.)

Teams who advance to the super sectionals are just one win away from greatness, playing at state at Carver Arena. Carver Arena is located in Peoria, where the Bradley University Braves play their basketball games. The Peoria Civic Center itself is home to plenty of other venues but once again I am getting too off subject.

Nowadays, host sites are for the super sectionals are typically held at other universities. Included in that list is Illinois State University (Normal) and Northern Illinois University (DeKalb) for smaller schools and the University of Illinois-Chicago at the Class 3A and 4A level. Now here’s the part where SIUE, more specifically the Vadalabene Center come into play.

I think it would be awesome if SIUE would host a super sectional (like we used to back a few years ago), whether it be for small schools or big schools. Since the Metroeast is home to some bigger high schools when it comes to enrollment, I would think it would be more ideal if this were to happen that the Vadalabene Center would play host for a 3A or 4A super sectional game.

I am not absolutely sure if the sites that play host for super sectional events have contracts or if they put their names in for bid to host these events, but it should be something that should be looked in to. Sure there would be some work to be done (managerially and perhaps financially) but it would be a great way to get SIUE’s name out there. We are after all trying to make a name for ourselves. Who knows, it could even draw high schoolers to our institution.

I would even venture as far to say that SIUE and its Vadalabene Center would serve as a better host site than some of the other current schools that are hosting these endeavors. The four current host sites for the Class 4A supers is are all up north, with only one of them not being in the Chicago area. The way I see it, why shouldn’t SIUE host a super sectional at least for the bigger schools. It is not fair to your Edwardsville or O’Fallon High Schools to travel two and a half hours to play one another this late in the season. I am not saying current hosts aren’t doing a good job, but as much as I still love high school hoops, it would be cool to see a few games played here.

Back to outdoors next week, I promise.

Boating accident survivor to pen book about experience

T.J. Cowell, Alestle Sports Reporter

By : T.J. Cowell, Alestle Sports Reporter

Normally I would write about fishing or something related to the outdoors. But for this week, I have decided to branch out a little bit from the ordinary. A few days ago, while reading through my own outdoors newspaper source, I came across a column about Nick Schuyler.

On March 1, 2009, a little over a year ago, Schuyler was reported as one of the four men missing after their 21-foot fishing boat was reported lost in Clearwater, Fla. The U.S. Coast Guard searched for Schuyler and his comrades for a few days before eventually surrendering their search. A private search of the missing quartet’s family and friends was also organized.

Just when all hope had about been lost, the vessel was found far from shore, wrecked and overturned. Upon finding the missing watercraft, Schuyler was seen clinging to it for life. His shipmates and friends were all missing and are now presumed dead.

The three men who have lost their lives in this incident include Oakland Raider linebacker Marquis Cooper, free-agent NFL defensive lineman Corey Smith and William Bleakly. Bleakly was a teammate of Schuyler’s, both played football at South Florida University.

It has now been confirmed that Schuyler will be reminiscence the experiences of the tragedy in a book. Although I do not do much reading outside of the sports page, I might actually check this book out when it becomes available. In this book, Schuyler will recall the past memories of his friends, those he lost. Schuyler is also expected to talk about what exactly happened the day of the accident. The book will be titled “Not Without Hope”.