Fan Of The Week

UC Davis women's volleyball has launched its own promotion on the team's Facebook page. Essentially, fans who follow the page should keep an eye out for a call for Fan of the Week. Then the coaching staff keeps track of who "Likes" or comments on the post. They have a randomly chosen secret number for which response is the winner -- you know, sort of like radio shows that award prizes to the 13th caller. The Fan of the Week gets a free admission to that week's upcoming match, a shout on the Facebook site and (I would imagine) some recognition at the match.

The first winner of this promotion turned out to be Tori Hooper, who played middle blocker and outside hitter for UC Davis from 2006-09. I wrote a Spotlight Aggie feature on Tori for the football game program two years ago, since her upbringing in Cameron Park helped instill a love for a flight. We reposted the article on the athletics website here.

By the way, as stated in the Spotlight feature, Tori has begun training at nearby Travis AFB on the KC-10 Extender, a craft best known for refueling other planes while in flight. I know in-air fueling has existed for a while, but it still blows me away. In my college days, some friends and I took two cars on a little road trip to Santa Cruz. Somewhere along I-80, I positioned my car such that one of my passengers could lean out a side window and pass a plate of cookies to the other vehicle. That was nerve-wracking enough: I can't imagine doing the same thing in mid-air, replacing baked goods with highly flammable jet fuel. Kids, don't try either at home.

For what it's worth, though, back then I drove a Cadillac Fleetwood -- roughly the same size as a KC-10.

Anyway, congrats to Tori, good luck to the volleyball tomorrow night and here's to hoping the Aggie coaching staff has to set its secret number high because of the onslaught of fans who hope to become the next winner.

- Mark Honbo, assistant athletics communications director, already has a courtside seat for Aggie volleyball. But that didn't stop him from vying for the Fan of the Week title.