Clark Kent, you are my hero.

You don’t have good vision, you have a job that pays pennies by the hour and Lois walks all over you. Clark, face it, you’re just an allergy-plagued country boy dork. You have so many imperfections; so many things that people excel at over you. But when crunchtime comes, watch out. A little phone booth action and you’re ready to take on the world. You’re the Man of Steel, and at that moment you can accomplish anything. You save the world while Lois is drooling all over you. Then it’s back to a life of hankerchiefs and pocket protectors.

In a perfect world, you could be Superman all the time. I would hate that though. It’s nice to know that a guy who shoots lasers out of his eyes is also clumsy enough to sit on his glasses and crush them. You know, I’m a lot like you Clark and there’s a lot of students at the University who are too.

Hell, I’m so disorganized that one time I left my book bag in a certain BG basketball coach’s office for three days without realizing it. He had to call my dorm room to see if I was going to pick it up. I guess that proves that I?m not the model academic student. Then there was another time I was flying an open cockpit antique airplane with a buddy of mine when we accidently ran out of gas in the air, forcing us to make an emergency landing in 3-foot tall soybeans in Indiana. I guess that puts me close to the bonehead stage. I can’t forget about all those mistakes that have crept in the sports section over my four years either. Ouch, that definitely put me past the bonehead stage.

Clark, I guess this stuff could really get to me if I didn’t know there was a phone booth out there, but I know there is. Occasionally, I run to it and do something great. Then there are times that I don’t mind being like you Clark. If I didn’t have those imperfections I would have never been held at gunpoint after that volleyball match in Athens, had my brain rattled on the football field by a BG linebacker, or spent an hour in the depths of a trash can while that same BG basketball coach sat above the bleachers with a grin on his face. Yeah, it’s great being super, but some of the most memorable moments come from being less than perfect in a less than perfect world. Finding that equal mix of bonehead and phone booth moments makes life great. And I want to thank all of you who have been apart of the bonehead and phonebooth moments.

I want to thank Hickey, Bone, the Wagner Sisters and the Field Manner gang for dealing with the less than perfect mess I leave in the apartment. I’d also like to thank Rat-ti-tat Pat and the Haven House boys, the BG Sports Information guys, all the great athletes and coaches who I have all the respect in the world for, especially to Dan Dakich when he lets me , Pete Stella and Dan Nied start his biography. Also want to thank the cleaning ladies who come into West Hall at 4:30 a.m., , Kimbler, Stormin Norman and the cheerleading gang, and my second family – the BG News staff. Especially the BG News Sports staff past and present. You guys will always be in my heart wherever I go. I could write on forever about you guys, but we’re always the ones just outside the spotlight covering those in it, so why start now?

I hope you all find that phone booth and do something great.

I’d also like to thank Tiki, Shante, Jim, Tyrone, Olga, Marcus, Xing Xu, Wolfgang and the rest of the students posing on the BG Student Handbook. I have never seen any of you on campus, let alone together as the tight friends that you are, but I’m sure you recruit a lot of kids to this campus. Especially since you believe so strongly in the Core Values system.