Author Archives: Tyson Hill

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About Tyson Hill

Tyson Hill is a Senior at Minnestoa State University Moorhead and is double majoring in English—with an emphasis on writing—and Mass Communications—Online and print journalism. He is involved in club soccer with the school and graduated from Minnewaska Area High School in Glenwood.

Exchanging Blanks

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Daniel Hirsch didn’t let go of his dreams just because he went to college. A Junior at Moorhead State University, is studying accounting and moonlighting on the side with his band Exchanging Blanks. Their fan base is small, and they have only just begun to play together, but they have high hopes for the future –a future they hope will get a jumpstart here in downtown Fargo.

The making of a band

The creation of a band isn’t always as dramatic as levels of auditioning and dismay, for Exchanging Blanks, it was as simple as looking across the aisle in church, says Hirsch.

Jake and Charlie Schumacher are the drummer and guitarists for the band and when Hirsch was about 5 years old he ran into Charlie. They have been friends ever since.

“We started playing this last May/June together,” says Hirsch.

After years of playing instruments apart, the threesome has finally evolved into Exchanging Blanks.

What is Exchanging Blanks?

“Its meaning is really open to interpretation, and the genre we would fit into consists of several ranging from indie/punk to classic rock,” says Hirsch.

When compared to more mainstream bands, fans say they are a Rage Against the Machine meets Led Zeppelin meets Weezer sort of arrangement.

They play what they like and oftentimes end up sounding like who they like.

“It’s really difficult to come up with something and not think to yourself that it sounds similar to something or someone else, but as long as its all written by your own accord then it’s original and original is good,” says Hirsch.

What’s cool about being in a band anyway?

“The thing I like about being in a band the most is that you really get to express yourself free of judgment. Sure, you might catch crap from your band mates, but in the end it’s really just another form of expression,” says Hirsch.

Exchanging Blanks writes about things that frustrate them and it comes out as passion in their songs.

“We address an issue that may not be discussed very openly, and we throw some catchy guitars and drums behind, and next thing you know you’re really rocking out to something you believe in,” says Hirsch.

Ready to play yet? Start with the instrument

Every good band has skilled musicians, but how do they get to the point where they are ready to write some music? Practice makes perfect.

“The first bass I got was in seventh or eighth grade, I haven’t taken any lessons but I have taught myself to just kind of play what sounds good and have tried to go through some lesson books,” says Hirsch.

Now well practiced, perform

Exchanging Blanks, like most bands, didn’t practice just to play amongst themselves, but getting shows is harder than just calling venues.

“We have really only played one show, maybe two if you consider playing at the drummer and guitarists’ backyard for a wedding party thing,” says Hirsch.

Ready to play some shows, Exchanging Blanks have spoke with some venues; but because they don’t have any demo tapes, these venues quickly and abruptly fall out of contact.

A future in F-M?

“We just want to play where we are welcome,” says Hirsch who is looking to play shows either in the F-M area or Minneapolis because he has lived both places and has a small fan base in both cities.

Exchanging Blanks is ready and willing to play. Keep an eye out for this up-and-coming new band that plans to announce a concert date for downtown Fargo soon.

Super Soccer

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In downtown Fargo, cuddling with the train tracks, is the Fargo Parks District headquarters. Although few inside speak the same language, and the sport goes by many different names, you’ll find students and adults all signing up their teams for the winter soccer league at the Metro Rec Center. Each team hopes to bring home their league champion’s jersey and a first place trophy.

Metro Rec Soccer

In any given season the Metro Rec Center, located on Main Ave next to Interstate 94, is home to about 40 soccer teams and 400 soccer players from the Fargo-Moorhead area, says Ben Patrie, an employee of the Fargo Parks District.

This building gives soccer players in the area the ability to play soccer inside even in the heavy snow of winter.

Teams vary in ages and skill levels and include up to four different subcategories per league. Each of these divisions play league games against one another and the champion is decided from a four team round-robin tournament of the top qualifiers.

The games are more than just determining winners and losers, says Patrie, it is a time people can come together and find common ground where there would otherwise be none.

A unifying allure

“It brings people of different religion, race, color, age, and sex, all together to play a game that they love,” says Tyler Lane, the freshman goalkeeper for the Minnesota State University Moorhead club soccer team.

“All the fighting in Iraq stopped because both the Shiite and Sunni were watching the national team play,” says Lane, who recalled hearing this news story during the Olympics two years ago.

This isn’t the first time stories like this have been uncovered. Wars stopping to watch a soccer game are frequent around the world.

Soccer and the Nobel Peace Prize

So why don’t they think about giving soccer a Peace Prize?

“That’s a good question,” says Lane, who laughs it off, “I guess it’s because soccer only stops wars for a moment.”

The Fargo Soccer League has yet to stop any wars, but it has helped to bring a culturally diverse population together.

“Many of my friends weren’t born in the U.S., that’s definitely because of the soccer I’ve played in Fargo,” says Fabian Trejo, a sophomore defender for the MSUM soccer club team, “and most of the people I hang out with now are people who I play soccer with.”

Friends or family?

“The team bonding and ‘family-ness’ we share on the field is something I love to be a part of and it will stay with me forever,” says Lane.

And all of the interviewees agree. Soccer, more than any other sport, brings people close like being part of a family.

“When you’re on a soccer team you’re part of a family. Together you win, together you lose,” says Trejo.

Through all the running and fighting on the field, players slowly mesh together and the line of friends or family begins to blur.

Internationally recognized, nationally overlooked

Still, soccer has yet to become overwhelmingly popular in the United States the way it has around the world.

“There are too many big time, traditional sports in this country for soccer to be popular,” says Lewis Grant, a transfer student from England who plays defense on the MSUM club soccer team, “Even high profile players like Beckham and Pele making the jump to play here doesn’t shift popularity much.”

America likes success and thus far American soccer has only seen unsuccessful attempts at winning at an international level.

Hope and soccer

The constant failure at the international level gives hope, says Patrie, because there is still a chance soccer will be big enough to play in front of large crowds some day.

Until that day comes, soccer will have to remain what it has always been in the United States. A deliverer of hope, unification and friendship among the lucky few who have decided to embrace it.

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The Tomahawk Fly

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The birds chirp and the wind whips through the open field. After three days of downpour Jake Torrison, a Concordia senior, is ready to make his first throw on the Frisbee golf course in Woodlawn Park. He cranks his arm back behind his head with Frisbee in hand, like he’s throwing a baseball, and lets it fly. The Frisbee shoots high into the sky then floats swooping from side to side downward until it strikes the ground and continues to roll up next to the hole. Jake has deemed his original style the tomahawk.

Why tomahawk?

“Why not?” said Torrison, “I can throw it over 50 yards farther than when I sidearm it and it’s always more accurate.”

This is obviously an upside and yet it’s a style hardly ever seen on the Frolf course.

“It’s difficult to do,” said Brock Tostenson, one of Torrison’s classmates and Frolfing partners, “I’m better off throwing two throws sidearm than trying ten times overhand and getting one to work.”

Torrison admits that being a collegiate baseball player is an advantage when it comes to the tomahawk throw.

Tomahawk: Jake Torrison’s step-by-step guide:

  1. Grab the bottom of the Frisbee using your pointer and middle finger
  2. Use your thumb to grasp the outside of the Frisbee
  3. Wind up like you’re throwing a baseball
  4. Release when your arm is just past your head
  5. Let the Frisbee slide off your middle finger
  6. And watch it fly!

The allure to Frolf

The different Frolfers are dynamic. Families teaching their children and adults looking to get some exercise can be found up and down the course, but the majority of Frolfers fall into the young adult category.

“I do it because it’s cheap,” said Torrison as his group of four agrees with him laughingly, “it also helps me burn off a few calories after a weekend at Micks.”

Dry means maybe just a drop

But not all Frolfers are in it for the exercise, which is apparent by the beer cans littered around the course and the kids digging into their bags and taking a cool sip while the sun beats down on their group.

Although the ‘no alcohol’ signs are clearly posted, many Frolfers will sneak a drink here and there on the course.

“I don’t really see anything wrong with it so long as they play at a steady pace and put their cans in the garbage,” said Tostenson.

Frolf is here to stay

The Frolf culture is constantly growing, fueled by cheap exercise and fun.

Although the Frolf crowd is currently dominated by collegiate boys there is no reason adults can’t do it too, said Torrison, “I plan on Frolfing after I graduate. It’s a good time.”

Whether you’re an experienced Frolfer looking to try the tomahawk or a beginner just looking for something free and fun, Woodlawn Park awaits you.

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