This month’s interview is with JCHS Junior Chris Tepen. Chris was in my World History class his Freshman year. Now he has the dubious honor of stapling papers for me during my 3rd Hour class. I recruited Chris because of his lightening fast eye-hand coordination and an uncanny ability to staple under pressure. Recently, Chris has made quite a name for himself in the field of SLOOP BALL. The game that started in Mrs. Shortal’s 2nd hour class is sweeping the nation and Chris is one of it’s premier ambassadors. This interview took place on the roof of the school on Monday.

Mr. Gracey: Hey Chris, glad you could make time for us in your busy schedule. Can you believe how windy it is up here?

Chris: No. It is so windy up here I think I actually saw the Giant’s chance at winning a World Series blow by.

Mr. Gracey: It seems like the football season is going well. What’s the team’s playoff status at this point?

Chris: We are playing Taylorville in Taylorville, Friday at 7: 30. They are 8 and1 but we are in it to win it ya hur.

Mr. Gracey: What position(s) do you play?

Chris: I’m really a utility player. Throughout my High School career I have played every position but O-line. But this year I am primarily fullback and punter.

Mr. Gracey: How about those Rams? Can they still make the playoffs?

Chris: I think they can, but they will have to work hard to get there.

Mr. Gracey: How are your classes this year? Any favorites?

Chris: My classes are fine. They are all going pretty well. I can’t say I have any 1 favorite class but I do have the best time stapling papers for the essay warriors.

Mr. Gracey: Tell me about this SLOOP BALL stuff. Who invented this game and briefly describe the rules?

Chris: Well it was sort of a 4 way effort on getting the game started. Rob K. Michael S. Daniel M. and I just started playing one day and Daniel made up the name. We sort of made up the rules as we went along. The rules are simple really, you have to start the game with a trivia question made up by the judge. Whoever gets it right gets to serve. When you serve you have to bounce it off the floor, then the wall, and into the other side of the court. After you serve you volley it back and fourth until it goes out and whoever makes it go out it is the other person’s point. You play to 8 and whoever wins stays and plays the next person.

Mr. Gracey: Have you thought about marketing the game worldwide?

Chris: Actually I have but, I think we will start small like throughout the school and then to other schools around here, and then maybe some day all over the world.

Mr. Gracey: Did you ever think when you were just a Freshman that one day you would be stapling papers for Mr. Gracey? Could you have ever dreamed of soaring to such heights?

Chris: No, I have always dremt of someday stapling papers for you and now I get to and if I die tomarrow I will have died a happy man because of my paper stapling privileges.

Mr. Gracey: And the rest is history. Now you’re doing an intereview for the WAY COOL WEBSITE! Are you a regular visitor to the WAY COOL WEBSITE?

Chris: Yes, I go on it every day after I am done stapling papers. It is a great site and I think it will be the number 1 visited sight after everyone sees it as an advertisement on the Sloop Ball courts.

Mr. Gracey: What is your favorite feature on the site?

Chris: The monthly picture is my favorite feature because it always has such cool pictures on there. I never knew that was you in Braveheart.

Mr. Gracey: Did you go to Homecoming the other night?

Chris: Whoa, did you see that frog fly by, the wind is really picking up. But yes I did go to Homecoming. Did you see me cuttin a rug on the announcements, it was great. I got all my dancing skills from the hard training I endured to get ready for the paper stapling Olympics.

Mr. Gracey: Do you have a job Chris…besides school and stapling?

Chris: I worked at the fair this summer but I wasn’t a carney, I just picked up trash, and fixed stables for the animals. They didn’t even let me get close to the rides.

Mr. Gracey: Oh my God, look at the size of that buzzard over there! Have you ever seen such a site?!

Chris: I thought buzzards are supposed to wait until animals die before they start eating them like that.

Mr. Gracey: Well Chris…it’s been fun. I hope the rest of your year goes well. I truly believe that if you can avoid injury, you have a real chance to make SLOOP BALL history one day. Best of luck and be careful on the way down from the roof.

Chris: You too. I think we are having a Sloop Ball camp this summer if you would like to come.