Voices of the Valley – Oren and Cox

Courtside Chat # 3

(St. Louis, MO) – First year Northern Iowa play-by-play man JW Cox (@JWindell) and Valparaiso beat writer Paul Oren (@TVBOren) joined Mike Kern and me for this week’s Voices of the Valley edition of ‘Courtside Chat’.

Oren has been covering Valpo for roughly twenty years and Cox has been on the job since this past fall. After Gary Rima held the ‘voice of the Panthers’ role for 29 years, Cox has stepped in nicely and fans in Cedar Falls have taken to the former St. Cloud State broadcaster.

Oren wrote for the Northwest Indiana Times but has started his own site for Valpo sports. ‘The Victory Bell’ is a subscription-based, on-line publication. He tells us how that publication got started.

 

 

After spending numerous years in minor league baseball announcing, Cox now has the job of replacing Rima. He says the transition has been made easier by his broadcast partners and the fans.

 

 

After dropping their first seven conference games, the Beacons of Valparaiso have won two straight games. Oren says the team was dealt an early season difficult schedule, but they never lost faith that they could compete this season.

 

 

Ben Jacobson’s Panthers are enduring a season of injuries and sickness. His young players are maturing and Bowen Born and Tytan Anderson are leading the younger Panthers. Cox says the freshmen trio of Trey Campbell, Landon Wolf and Michael Duax are growing and maturing daily.

 

 

Voices of the Valley – Side Shots

Oren will let Valley goers some great places to eat in various cities and why the Northern Iowa fans used to hate him. I try to get Oren to join me in calling the Valpo attack the ‘K-Squared Offense’. We’ll see if it works.

Cox tells us about a unique connection he has with coach Jacobson and some of his experiences during his first Valley season.

You can watch our entire Courtside Chat conversation on YouTube.

Last weeks Courtside Chat is right here.

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