Break time

The Victory Bell is out of the office and will return next week

AUSTIN - Greetings from the Longhorn State and from a much-needed break for The Victory Bell.

Valparaiso wrapped up its school year last Saturday and I boarded a plane Sunday morning for a week-long getaway in Texas to visit my best friend. I’m including a trip to Baylor this week to catch up with some old friends.

With apologies to Caleb VanArragon and the Valparaiso men’s golf team, as well as the Valparaiso baseball team, I badly needed a vacation after a long year of balancing the classroom and the court.

VanArragon is currently tied for 28th after two rounds at the NCAA golf regional in West Lafayette. The rest of the team will compete at the National Golf Invitational in Arizona this weekend. The Valpo baseball team will also wrap up its season this weekend when it hosts Indiana State for three games at Emory G. Bauer Field. The Beacons have been eliminated from contention for the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.

The 2023-24 athletic year will be in the books by next week and I’ll be back from Texas to start examining a year that saw plenty of turbulent times mixed with some sweet successes.

In the meantime, I had the pleasure of joining former Missouri Valley Conference staffer Derrick Docket as a guest on his Persons of Interest podcast. Derrick is as good as they come in this world and I was thrilled to spend an hour with him. We delve deep into the marriage of teaching at Valpo and covering the athletic programs in a year where not everything went according to plan. Give it a listen or watch if you’d like.

Thanks again for all your support and I’ll be back next week with more content.

PO