Beyond the Arc
Two things became crystal clear for me this past weekend while at the state track meet at Cessna Stadium in Wichita.
The first thing that became clear, was that while Wichita State is upgrading their basketball facilities, both inside and out, they're doing little in the realm of upgrading the lack of parking.
I understand that if you get to the state meet after 8 a.m., it's likely you're going to have to park a ways a way and end up walking. But come on already! I ended up parking all the way out at Eck Stadium (keep in mind I was wanting to watch the track events at Cessna Stadium not at Eck Stadium).
And if I have to walk a couple of city blocks to get to the stadium, do you think it would be too much to ask for the maintenance crew to maybe close the lid of the blue dumpsters so that while I painfully walk to the facility I don't have to inhale the stench of rotting fish, or was it something worse?
WSU has a great campus, but the parking spots are far too few for the amount of people that fill the university's parking lot during athletic events. Even when the WSU basketball team was under the misdirection of Randy Smithson, and the team was struggling to fill the seats inside the arena, the parking lot outside of Cessna Stadium and Levitt Arena was congested, to say the least.
The second thing that became clear was that high school athletes who compete in the state track meet should go away with a feeling of accomplishment.
Even if you finish last out of a group of 20 athletes, you can still say that you were among the top 20 athletes in your respective event in the state of Kansas.
Marion's efforts in the Class 3A track meet were enjoyable to watch, and while some felt like they fell short of their respective goals, the effort and the season were definitely worth the end result.
Congratulations to the six Marion athletes who competed this past week in the meet. Maybe by the time those six athletes have kids, and they compete in the same meet years later, WSU might have adequate parking places for all who attend. I won't hold my breath, and I encourage others to do the same, especially when you're walking past a blue dumpster.
