Van talk

For years, ‘van talk’ has been a sacred ritual of our program. We spend a lot of time in vans, practically every day for practice. Most of our trips are short, but it’s still enough time to have wide-ranging discussions and/or compare notes on musical tastes. You might think this will morph into a rant about “the music these kids listen to these days” … and … you’d be WRONG! Surprisingly, there is much overlap in their tastes and our tastes. The current iteration of team vans has (for now, at least) Sirius XM satellite radio, so that expands the scope of listening past radio (and really, who listens to commercial radio stations anymore?). My two go-to XM stations are Channel 60 (Outlaw Country) and Channel 23 (Grateful Dead). One guy on the team, a sophomore, will sometimes connect his phone to the van and shuffle his playlist. There is much to like there! Specifically, the Lumineers and Jason Isbell and Tyler Childers, along with some other of the newer country artists. Neat. And then, there was Friday. A trip to New Paltz for a big tempo/interval workout for the men and the women. We are lacking in van drivers for the 2p women’s practice, but Czop and Ian stepped up and volunteered to drive the other vans for us. Huge assist. Made my day. While we didn’t share “van talk,” they filled a vital role for us. And, I’m sure, there was lively “van talk” (or, at least, van music) on their ride to and from Ulster County. Also neat!