The following is another "Have Fun or Get Out of the Way" column by Don Leighton and Mike Granlund and their alter egos, Lance Boyle and Billy Pirkola, which runs occasionally in The Superior Telegram.
Many seniors make their mark as an athlete over their four years at Superior High School. The following three seniors made their own attempt at athletic greatness -- not in competition but as sports analysts for Spartan TV Channel 14.
Tyler Austreng, Bobby Berchild and Dan Tracy ran a weekly sports show titled "The Third Degree." The show began in November and concludes next week with the 29th and final episode.
Beginning with an 11-minute episode, the trio of self-proclaimed sports junkies weren't expecting the show to become what it did. After hours of brainstorming, research and planning during the next few weeks that followed, the boys understood their passion for sports would exceed their introductory show.
They went on to produce 28 more episodes, ranging from 19 minutes to more than one hour. "The Third Degree" is now the longest running student generated weekly show in Spartan TV history.
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Sticking to the theme of fire, segments on the show all made reference to hot topics of the day. The "Burning Issue" was the top story world of sports that the three would discuss and take sides on. "Get Burned" gave the analysts an opportunity to point out the current foibles of many people in the sports world.
And "The Toaster" allowed the analysts to bring to light something new that was "popping up" in the world of sports.
(Lance and Billy would have loaned them the Pirkolator.)
The trio faced many difficulties, primarily their busy schedules and the fact they were all athletes themselves. But they also achieved many unique accomplishments. At the WIAA Boys' Hockey State Tournament, footage they filmed and edited from the Spartans' 6-2 loss to Arrowhead aired on Fox 21 News at Nine. They also conducted interviews with many notable Spartan athletes, such as Chris Blake, Taylor and Raya Kosey, and Bob Murphy.
Their final recognition came at the inaugural "Sparty" awards as they were recognized as Spartan TV's Best Weekly Show.
The final one and a half hour episode can be viewed starting next week on Charter Cable Channel 14.
Now that they have graduated, Austreng will attend St. Cloud State University to pursue a degree in business with hopes of becoming a golf professional. Berchild will head to St. Thomas University to pursue a degree in civil engineering, and Tracy will pursue a degree in journalism at Iowa State University.
NOTE: Dan Tracy, another unpaid member of the Lance and Billy Literary Society, submitted this article for our consideration. Since it is better than most of what we do, we did not hesitate in having it printed as another Have Fun or Get Out of the Way column.
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Thank you, and best of luck to three enterprising and talented young men.
Opinions and/or story ideas can be e-mailed to dleigh1273@aol.com or wgranlund@centurytel.net
