To: The Kent State men’s basketball team

From: Cody Erbacher (the reporter from the Daily Kent Stater, if you forgot)

I just want to say thank you to everyone involved with the men’s basketball program.

To begin, thank you for all the health problems I will have in my future because of you.

Because of you I am addicted to caffeine. Because of you I don’t sleep … hell, it’s 4 a.m., and I just started writing this thing. Because of you I have a drinking problem.

Now don’t get me wrong, my problems didn’t arise because I was working day and night to figure out how you could win, or why you lost. I didn’t fret over a basket that could have been made or a stop that could have been avoided.

In all honesty, I was honored to cover such a great team in just my sophomore year of college. At the beginning of the season, I wouldn’t have thought I would have sat courtside at Illinois covering a second round game of the National Invitation Tournament.

Then again, if someone would have warned me prior to the season that I would have started pouring energy drinks down my throat daily to compensate for the sleep I lost, I might have thought twice about accepting the position.

Why did I lose sleep? Well, every college student has class work they need to complete. That wasn’t it. I was able to do that during normal hours of the day. The reason I lost so much sleep was because I stayed up all night to watch the TV shows I missed while going to the your practices or games.

Watching you defeat Akron in the final regular season game to win the Mid-American Conference was great, but I was forced to miss prime-time television to see it.

Then there’s the drinking problem.

Who doesn’t like celebrating any Kent State win? Enough said.

Seriously though, I would like to use this letter to give thanks to the coaching staff, athletes and everyone involved with the program. The basketball team is a group of guys who can give its fans a great time at the M.A.C. Center.

But as I sit here and write a little thank you note to the team, I also want to offer my condolences.

If one season did all this to me, then I don’t even want to know what you guys must go through.

Sincerely,

Cody Erbacher

Contact sports reporter Cody Erbacher at [email protected].