Editor's Note: Editor's Note: A risk every small-college athlet...

Musings, missives, miscellany and the occasional dose of malarkey from the catbird seat in Madison.

[Dustin Tervelt]

I really like your take on the article, versus a lot of people who commented on it on the times website, this was very constructive, and focused on a lot of facts.

[Skip]

"everyone ought to know these risks up front... the guess here is that they don't". Sorry Adam, my quote might not be exact, but I think I've captured your drift.

In this litigious society, I find it hard to believe that these small schools do not somehow, somewhere, cover their backsides with written notice to the athletes. If not, they've certainly left themselves vulnerable to litigation.

On a side note, try to keep the guessing to a minimum. You'll live longer and more comfortably.

[Adam Mertz]

Dustin, glad to get a comment directly from the source -- I'm jealous of your opportunity over there in Denmark! Hope you're having a lot of fun with it.

I don't disagree with Skip from McFarland about the schools providing written documentation about the risks, at least once you arrive on campus and report for practice.

But I don't remember this even being a factor under consideration when one of my good pals was debating whether to walk-on in football at UW or to head to Whitewater and have a great chance to play a lot.

It'd be bizarre to base your entire decision on that factor, of course. But just one more element to consider.

[Dustin Tervelt]

No one ever expects to use their insurance... in any matter of any circumstance. When you choose your car that you drive or the boat your drive, you don't choose these things based on your insurance. You base them off of personal choice, you love to drive them/that brand of car, etc. I know this is a loose comparison, but insurance was never a factor in me playing football. I have offers to go play at Divison 2 and could of maybe even walked on at a Division 1, would I of made it? That's to speculation, but I went to UW-STOUT because I loved football, wanted to play as a freshman for 4 years, and loved the coaching staff that was there at the time. Sure their is the hold-harmless waiver from the NCAA and UW-Stout, but did i think about that? Nope, i thought about football, the game I loved and thats what I was signing up for. The experience I gained from playing football at Stout has been invaluable and I could not put a dollar amount on that.

[Chicken Man]

Well, some of us expect to use insurance. In 8th grade football I sustained a significant knee injury. In the subsequent years, through college, I found an element of victory in simply being able to walk off the field. A couple years after graduation I wanted to buy a corvette, but the insurance premiums were beyond my reach.

BTW, I saw a few of your games at Stout, Dustin. Well done, sir!