{"id":2066,"date":"2013-11-19T16:07:21","date_gmt":"2013-11-19T21:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.wabash.edu\/fyi\/?p=2066"},"modified":"2025-12-09T13:48:01","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T18:48:01","slug":"that-rings-true","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/2013\/11\/19\/that-rings-true\/","title":{"rendered":"That Rings True"},"content":{"rendered":"

Richard Paige — I almost felt sorry this morning for the lucky Phi Kappa Psi member bundled up in a winter coat and hunched over the Monon Bell, ringing it constantly from the front porch.<\/p>\n

Here at Wabash tradition defeats almost everything, including early winter\u2019s chill.<\/p>\n

Sometimes in sports the significance of the game is lost on fans, while the significance of the result escapes the players.<\/p>\n

Not here.\u00a0 It was reassuring to hear a pair of Little Giant seniors speak knowingly about the big-picture impact of Saturday\u2019s 38-21 win.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t about the senior class finishing 4-0 or extending the win streak over DePauw to five.\u00a0 It was about everyone else who holds this place dear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so much bigger than Wabash,\u201d said offensive lineman Spencer Burk.\u00a0 \u201cJust the fact that there is this old 300-pound bell that symbolizes so much for so many different people.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got traditions all over the place, but nothing like the Bell.\u00a0 It brings us together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burk then relayed a story about the aftermath of the 2010\u2019s 47-0 win, where over the Christmas Break, he was back home in Greenfield, Ind., walking through the mall wearing a Wabash t-shirt. An alum approached him, asked if he played football and shook his hand in congratulations.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was talking to me like I was the starting quarterback,\u201d Burk said.\u00a0 \u201cHe didn\u2019t care what position I played or what year I was, the only thing that mattered was that I was affiliated with Wabash and he had nothing but pride for us and keeping the Bell.\u00a0 To me, that was the image that it was bigger than me or the uniform.\u00a0 It was so much bigger than I could have expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>
Jon Laird’s 64-yard touchdown reception is pictured here. It was the second-longest catch of his career. Photo by Howard Hewitt.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Similar feelings were expressed by wide receiver Jon Laird, whose 64-yard catch and run for a score broke things open in the first quarter.\u00a0 He had received messages of support all week leading up to his stellar performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis game means so much to the alumni and the fans,\u201d Laird said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve received calls and texts the whole week from alumni this week saying \u2018go get \u2018em.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 The environment here was great.\u00a0 There is no better way to end the regular season than to retain the Bell.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so special,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

That certainly rings true.\u00a0 Especially to the Phi Psis this morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Richard Paige — I almost felt sorry this morning for the lucky Phi Kappa Psi member bundled up in a winter coat and hunched over the Monon Bell, ringing it constantly from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-events"],"w_featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2013\/11\/crop_0947.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2066"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3752,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066\/revisions\/3752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/fyi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}