Working at every Ferris State sporting event are certified athletic trainers.

These men’s and women’s jobs require extensive schooling, up to a master’s degree and the passing of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association certification exam.

Student athletic trainers also play a big part in the Bulldogs’ program. Morning, noon and night, school days and weekends; there are always students out at practices and games receiving hands-on education.

Tim Glover is currently the assistant athletic trainer for Ferris State University and is assigned to men’s ice hockey, women’s soccer and softball teams. Glover graduated from Ferris State with a Bachelors of Science degree in Applied Biology and received his Masters Degree in Athletic Training from Indiana State University before taking the job for the Bulldogs.

“I became an athletic trainer because it’s a combination of my enjoyment for athletics and my interest in medicine. I get to work with young motivated athletes in competitive environments,” Glover said when asked why he chose this career. “I get to enjoy the outdoors at soccer and softball games and the indoors at hockey games as well as post season, road and home games.”

On a normal day, athletic trainers take care of their medical reports, return calls and emails as well as ordering supplies and making sure everyone’s inventory is stocked. They also take part in helping out with personal rehab sessions after injuries as well as taping and setting up facilities with their necessary medical supplies.

“Game days are pretty similar to a regular practice day,” Glover said. “Sometimes we have to take care of the visiting team if they don’t have a traveling athletics trainer and we also have to double the set up because we’re the host team.”

In becoming a certified athletics trainer, the possibility for a professional job depends on the contacts that you know out in the field and the available positions out there. The ability to go down in levels is always a possibility as well, as high schools and travel teams are always in search of a certified athletic trainer.

“One of the coolest things that becoming an athletic trainer has done for me is that I have the ability to help some student athletes achieve their goals through a tough time or two during their career,” Glover said. “I also get to feel younger and have a more positive outlook on life as I deal with college aged students. When it’s appropriate, I get to revert back to their maturity and thinking level as we talk about movies, music and videos games.”

Next time you’re at a Ferris State, high school or professional athletics event, take the time to observe the athletic trainers as they do the important work behind the scenes. Not every job is as glorious as scoring the winning goal or catching the game winning touchdown but when players get hurt, the athletic trainers shine as they take care of the important situations.

The men’s basketball team started off the week at a high as it defeated Wayne State University, 76-72, in the last seconds of overtime during last Thursday’s home game. However, there wasn’t much time for celebration as the men’s basketball team suffered a crushing 80-65 defeat at home against Northwood University.

During the game against Northwood, the Timberwolves held the Ferris State Bulldogs to less than a 50 percent shooting average from both the floor and three point range. Guard, Josh Young scored 19 points, had five rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and a steal. While guard Matt Dehart had 13 total points and two blocks.

During the game against Wayne State University, the score was tied 65-65 leading into overtime. When Ferris managed to score 11 points, nine of which were free throws, to Wayne State's seven points, making the final score 76-72 Ferris State.

“I thought it was good to see us battle through adversity. There were too many turnovers, but the boys really fought through. I am really proud of Justin Keenan. He carried this team on his back and got us through,” head coach Bill Sall said.

Center, Justin Keenan did help carry the team. Keenan scored 32 points out of the total 76 points acquired. He also had five rebounds, three steals and an assist. During the overtime Keenan scored nine out of the eleven points to ensure a Ferris State victory.

Josh Young, a junior guard, also helped out the team, by scoring an additional 14 points. Young also had five rebounds, two blocks and an assist. The team was also assisted by Dontae Molden with 13 total points, four assists, two rebounds, two steals, and a block.

After the recent home matches the men’s basketball team is facing a 7-5 GLIAC record, putting them in third place overall for the conference. The Bulldogs will now hit the road to play games against Northern Michigan, Michigan Tech, Hillsdale and Findlay before they return home on February 12th to face Michigan Tech at 8 p.m.

A close win in the final seconds couldn’t give the women’s basketball team a momentum boost to grab a win on Saturday.

The Lady Bulldogs grabbed another heart stopping win, 77-74, in the final seconds on Thursday against the Wayne State Warriors, but could not put together a winning streak as they fell to the Northwood Timberwolves 83-67 on Saturday.

Thursday’s win had fans jumping out of their seats as the Bulldogs battled the Warriors to the final buzzer.

It wasn’t a flashy win, but it was solid, as the Bulldogs pulled up for big shots and came through in the clutch to pick up their third GLIAC win.

Guard, Becci Houdek scored with 12 seconds left to give the Lady Bulldogs a two-point advantage. The Warriors missed a potential game tying shot, and forward Caitlin Hutchison was sent to the charity stripe where she hit one of her two free throws with four seconds to go.

The Warriors had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer but a long three-pointer came up short.

In a game that saw nine ties and 17 lead changes the Bulldogs only led by one, 35-34, going into the half, but they came out in the second ready to go.

Ferris was able to counter Wayne State’s centers that had both height and weight on Ferris’ post players, by taking shots from beyond the arch and further from the paint.

The Lady Bulldogs were 7-of-12 from beyond the arch, and 29-for-47 from the floor. “We got great looks and we were ready to knock them down,” head coach Tracey Dorow said.

Turnovers plagued the Bulldogs as they committed 24 on the night, but they were able to gut out the win as they executed the high-low on offense.

“Didn’t do a great job on defense, but executed the highlow,” Dorow said. The Bulldogs were led by guard Teghan Thelen who went 3-for-5 from beyond the arch, and 6-for-9 from the floor.

According to Dorow, Thelen did a great job at plugging away the last couple of weeks when her shots weren’t falling. Dorow was also happy that Thelen played through it and didn’t hang her head.

The Bulldogs were 29-for-47 from the floor and 7-for-12 from beyond the arch. They were led by Thelen with a team-high 15 points, along with grabbing four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Guard, Chelsea Simonetti was the only other Bulldog with double-figures grabbing 10 points and dishing out eight assists.

Turnovers did not help the Lady Bulldogs when the Timberwolves came to town, as they tossed away the ball 22 times and couldn’t stop the T’Wolf attack as they shot 29-for-57 on the night.

The Timberwolves jumped out to a 37-26 halftime lead and then outscored the struggling Bulldogs 46-41 in the second half.

The Bulldogs couldn’t stop the Timberwolves who were led by Pam Wilson who scored a game-high 25 points and Megan Starnes added 18 points while Jodi Ostergren chipped in 14 points for the win.

Three Bulldog players reached double-digits as guard Kelsey DeNoyelles recorded a team-high 11 points, Simonetti finished with 10 points and forward Tiara Adams grabbed a double-double effort with both 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Bulldogs are 5-11 overall and 3-9 in league play. They will take to the road next week traveling up to the Upper Peninsula to take on the Northern Michigan Wildcats on Thursday and the Michigan Tech Huskies on Saturday.

The men and women’s track team traveled to Allendale, Mich. to compete in the Grand Valley State University Bob Eubank’s Open. Ferris State took on teams such as Grand Valley State, Conerstone, Aquinas, Depaul and University of Windsor.

The top women’s track runner was senior Krystal Wilson who, with a time of 58.63 seconds in the 400 meter dash, gave her the third place finish and the highest overall finish out of all the men’s and women’s track members for the open.

Sophomore Tina Muir, also placed in the top 10 with her fifth place finish in the mile run, with a time of 5:01.30 minutes. Senior Mikinzie Stuart placed sixth in the 3000 meter run with a time of 10:10.60.

The women’s field team had their highest finish from junior Emily Cross in the high jump. Cross finished fifth with a distance of 1.56 meters.

“Our last meet started off the season well. There were some that ran PR’s [personal records] and others who were very close to their PR’s. We are still very early on in the season, so we are excited to see what the future holds,” said sophomore women’s track middle distance runner, Nikki Wiers.

The only top 10 finish for the men’s track and field team went to junior Matt Jozwiak, who placed ninth with a time of 1:56.42 in the 800 meter run. Other top Ferris State men’s track competitors were freshman Alex Best who placed 19th with a time of 4:31.72 in the one mile run and freshman Tyler Crossman who also placed 19th in the 3000 meter dash with a time of 8:50.91. The top Ferris State men’s field competitor was junior, Justin Trombley in pole vaulting, with a 16th place finish a height of 4.15 meters.

The next Ferris State men’s and women’s track and field meet will be the Saginaw Valley State University Classic in University Center, Mich. On Friday at 4 p.m.

The North Carolina State Wolfpack lost a valued member of its team this past weekend after women’s head basketball coach Kay Yow lost her 21 year battle with cancer.

Yow was one of the most successful women basketball coaches in the history of the sport with more than 700 wins in a career filled with milestones.

She coached the U.S. Olympic team to a gold medal in 1988, won four Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championships, earned 20 NCAA tournament bids and reached the Final Four in 1998.

All this while fighting the disease that eventually took her life.

In 1987, Yow was diagnosed with breast cancer, and living by the words of Jimmy Valvano “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.” She coached through the disease and even when the cancer came back, Yow refused to leave her team.

Her players looped pink shoe laces through their Nikes, wrote “For Coach Yow” on their sneakers, and after she died on Saturday morning at WakeMed Cary Hospital, the world of women’s basketball went into mourning.

Tennessee head coach Pat Summit, the winningest coach in college basketball, told ESPN: “My heart goes out to the Yow family and the N.C. State Wolfpack nation on the passing of a truly remarkable lady and a dear friend in Kay Yow.

“In the two decades she fought the disease, Kay never allowed herself to be victimized by cancer. Kay never pitied herself. Instead, she tried to bring awareness to the horrible disease that was robbing her of her life. Through her foundation in conjunction with the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) - The Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund, in partnership with The V Foundation for Cancer Research, she did all that she could do to help others. That was just Kay.”

Yow inspired thousands of people through her fight against breast cancer.

After Yow took a 16 game leave of absence in the 2006-07 season, she returned to the team. After she returned, the Wolfpack won 12 of its last 15 games with big wins against top ranked rivals Duke and North Carolina in a run that grabbed plenty of fans across the country wearing pink - the color of breast-cancer awareness.

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, breast cancer is the sixth leading cause of death among women, yet, according to the Susan G. Komen website, everyone can name someone they know who has been affected by breast cancer.

Athletes across the country have come together to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research through awareness games.

Athletes will wear pink uniforms, put pink shoe laces in their shoes, wear pink t-shirts in warm ups, and pink ribbons. While coaches will wear the well known pink ribbon pin on their shirts or suits.

Pro baseball players will use pink bats, and wear pink sweat bands on Mothers’ Day to raise awareness and funds for research.

“If you start to dwell on the wrong things, it’ll take you down fast,” Yow said in ‘07. “Every morning, I wake up and the first thing I think of is I’m thankful. I’m thankful for another day.”

*Editors note: Yow’s career statistics were courtesy of ncaasports.com.

Though it still doesn’t roll off the tongue _ the Super Bowl-bound Arizona Cardinals on Sunday will compete for the NFL title for the first time since 1948. More than 60 years and two cities later, their appearance against Pittsburgh ends the second-longest championship round drought in sports. The Cardinals last won the title in 1947.

So, what’s a good masochistic fan to do now? Well, there’s always the Cubs. And the Lions, Kings and Maple Leafs, too.

Here’s a sport-by-sport primer on the longest droughts in pro sports.

MLB: CHICAGO CUBS
About the drought: The Cubs’ drought involves a goat, a foul stench and the undying curse placed on one of America’s most lovable sports franchises.

In 1945, the Cubs having last won the championship in 1908 advanced to the World Series to face Detroit.

When Chicago tavern keeper Sam Sianis showed up at Wrigley Field with his pet goat, he was asked to leave because the goat, well, smelled bad. Sianis reportedly said: “Them Cubs, they aren’t going to win no more.”

And that was that. Forget winning. The Cubs haven’t been back to the World Series since. The Cubs lost that series in seven games. They didn’t make the playoffs again until 1984.

Closest call: Undoubtedly, it was 2003. And it involved a Walkman-wearing fan named Steve Bartman, a foul ball and a lifetime of agony.

The Cubs, who had not won a postseason series since 1908, beat Atlanta in five games. They won three of the first four games against Florida and took a 3-0 lead to the eighth inning of Game 6.

With one out, Luis Castillo hit a foul pop along the leftfield line. Moises Alou gave chase and was in position to catch it, if it didn’t land in the stands. Bartman, sitting in the first row, reached up for the souvenir, thinking it was drifting into the stands. Alou thought Bartman interfered with the ball. However, it was ruled a foul ball, giving Castillo new life.

The Marlins responded with eight runs in the inning to win the game. Florida overcame an early 5-3 deficit in Game 7 to win the series, adding another chapter to the Cubs’ amazing drought.

Other arid spots: Cleveland hasn’t won a World Series since 1948 but has been three times. The New York-San Francisco Giants haven’t won since 1954, when they beat the Indians. But for pure futility, nothing matches the Washington Senators- Texas Rangers. Born in 1961, the franchise is still seeking its first postseason series win.

NFL: DETROIT LIONS
About the drought: Long before the Dallas Cowboys, there was Highland Park’s dynamic duo of quarterback Bobby Layne and halfback Doak Walker.

They were reunited Layne by trade and Walker via the draft for the 1950 season, and it didn’t take long for the Lions to become the most feared predator in the early NFL jungle.

In the first 20 years of the NFL title game, the Lions went once (1935). They returned in 1952, starting a string of three straight appearances. Walker, however, retired after the 1955 season.

In 1957, with Rice’s Tobin Rote filling in for the injured Layne, Detroit swamped Cleveland, 59-14, in the NFL championship game.

Fearing Layne would never fully recover from his broken leg, the Lions dealt him to Pittsburgh early in the 1958 season. On his way out of town, Layne, according to Detroit legend, said the Lions wouldn’t win “for 50 years.”

Oy, what a half-century it’s been. This season, the 50th of the “Curse of Bobby Layne,” the Lions became the first team in NFL history to go 0-16. They rank 20th of 21 teams (with at least 700 games) in win percentage over the last 50 years, ahead of only the Cardinals.

They are 1-9 in the playoffs since the trade the lone win being a 38-6 dismantling of the Cowboys at the end of the 1991 season. And now, with the Cardinals’ ascent to the Super Bowl, they inherit the longest championship game drought in the NFL.

Closest call: There haven’t been any. After beating the Cowboys in 1991, the Lions were routed by the Washington Redskins. It’s been downhill since.

Other arid spots: Cleveland has not appeared in a championship game since 1964. The Browns and Lions are among five clubs to never make the Super Bowl. The others: New Orleans, Jacksonville and the Houston Texans.

NHL: TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
About the drought: GM/ coach/dictator Punch Imlach built hockey’s most dominant team in the final years of the Original Six. Imlach, who arrived in 1958, lost in the Stanley Cup Finals to arch-rival Montreal in each of his first two seasons.

After a one-year absence, the Leafs began a string of four-Cup championships in six years. The last of those was the 1966-67 season.

In an attempt to keep the dynasty alive, Imlach traded away younger players for veterans. The Maple Leafs, with an average age of 31, beat Montreal in six games in the finals, becoming the oldest roster to ever win a Cup.

The NHL doubled its size the next season, leaving the Original Six in one division and creating a second division with six expansion teams. It added rounds to the playoffs and set in motion constantly changing divisional alignments. Toronto played in both, having to contend with the Canadiens in the East and then Detroit in the West.

After Imlach’s trades and the first round of expansion, the Leafs went 10 full seasons before they won a round of the playoffs. They didn’t reach the league’s semifinals until 1993.

Closest call: In 1993, the Leafs had a 3-2 lead on the LA Kings in the Western Conference finals. They trailed, 4-1, in Game 6, but scored three goals and sent it to overtime. After a controversial no-call that could have sent Wayne Gretzky to the penalty box for high-sticking, the Great One scored the game winner. In Game 7, Gretzky recorded a hat-trick to put the Leafs away. Toronto has since reached the conference finals three times, never to advance.

Other arid spots: St. Louis and the LA Kings, both added in the 1967 expansion, have never won a Cup. St. Louis reached the finals in its first three seasons. But since 1970, St. Louis definitely has the Blues.

NBA: SACRAMENTO KINGS
About the drought: No team has been kicked to the curb by as many cities as the Kings. The franchise that began as the Rochester Royals in 1945 has continually marched westward since winning the NBA title in 1951.

In 1957, poor attendance pushed them to Cincinnati. In 1972, they started dividing their time between Kansas City and Omaha. The team also upped its royalty status by going from the generic Royals to the more regal Kings. In 1975, they settled in Kansas City for a decade. In 1985, they packed up all their essentials and Reggie Theus and moved to Sacramento.

No matter where they’ve roamed, one thing has remained constant: no trips to the NBA Finals.

After the Maloof brothers bought the club in 2000, the Kings won first-round matchups in four consecutive seasons and advanced to the Western Conference finals in 2002, losing a classic series to the Lakers.

Closest call: The playoff series against the LA Lakers in 2002 is perhaps one of the best in NBA history. Or it might have been fixed. The final four games were decided by a total of 12 points. Those games included two game-winning shots and overtime in Game 7. In Game 6, the Lakers shot 18 more fourth-quarter free throws in a 106-102 win. According to documents filed in his pointshaving scandal, disgraced referee Tim Donaghy alleged other officials wanted to extend the series to a Game 7, which was won by the Lakers in OT.

Other arid spots: St. Louis reached the NBA Finals in 1961, then skipped to Atlanta for the 1968-69 season . Wherever the Hawks have nested, they have had trouble winning consistently. Same goes for the franchise born as the Buffalo Braves in 1970. Now the LA Clippers, the franchise hasn’t even been to the conference finals.