Who put the bop in the bop she bop she bop, and who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong? Two tough, unanswered questions philosophers have wrestled with for eons. Well, maybe only since 1961 when Barry Mann wrote that epic tune, "Who Put the Bop?" Surely you've heard it. If not, you will want to fill in that gap in your musical education quickly – to avoid inevitable embarrassment. The answer will be revealed at the end of this column.

This issue of the Skinny on Falcon Sports is about Mike Farley, Jr., and his accomplishments in football, baseball, and his advertising/marketing career.

After graduating from River Falls High School in 1981, Mike attended UWRF from 1981-1985 earning a B.S. in Broad Area Art with a minor in German. During those years he participated in football, 1981-84, and baseball 1982-85. In football he was named all conference three years in a row and MVP of the team in 1984. His wife, Annie Richardson-Farley was a trainer for the football and hockey teams, working with Gary (Stump) Eloranta throughout her time there.

Immediately after his departure from UWRF, he signed a contract with the Green Bay Packers in 1985 as a kicker. He got cut by them, then by the Vikings and Giants in '86. He was a grad assistant football coach in 1985 under his father and helped win another conference championship for the Falcons. Then, he started his advertising/marketing career in the Twin Cities working for ad agencies and design firms and ultimately, moved down to the Milwaukee area and started his own marketing company (called JSH&P - the initials of his four kids). He continues running this business today. 

Mike Farley, Sr., began a specialty sports camp at UWRF in 1971 as "Mike Farley's Kickers Camp." He was looking for a way to get high school kids on campus, betting that if they saw how nice the campus and area was, they might just come to UWRF to play for him. He later added many other camps (called Big O, Big D, QB-WR, Wishbone, and even a baseball Hitters Camp). They all eventually went away after he retired from the university.

Mike Farley Jr. picked up the mantle to reconstitute the kickers camp under the same name in 2022 with five camps around the state of Wisconsin. This is his third year running half-day camps for high schoolers. He now has 10 camps in three states and looks to expand the footprint further. 

There are many camps around the country, and all of them owe a little nod to Mike's dad for the idea. Many of the guys who head up those camps were campers at his dad's camps. The #1 kicking instructor in the country (Gary Zauner) was a counselor at that first 1971 camp. Mike Jr. suspects most kicking instructors all teach similar mechanics to young kickers, but he likes to focus on the mental aspects of kicking and punting and how they can best help their coach and high school team this season — and not worry about collegiate recruiting. Many of these other camps like to focus on getting a collegiate scholarship. He doesn't. He says he likes to say to high school coaches, "Send your kids to my camps and get back a kicker, not a diva."

The past three years, he's had the honor of speaking at the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association, the Minnesota Football Coaches Association, and this spring, at the Iowa High School Athletic Association football clinic on special teams and kicking. "I have," he says, "a unique perspective on coaching and kicking, and I bring that to my camps where I welcome kickers, from the novice to the all-stater to improve their skills, make a friend, and have some fun while learning."

And now, for those who have skipped the good stuff in the middle, jumping down to find out the answers to the questions, here they are: I don't know. Remember, scientific inquiry depends on unanswered questions. Perhaps this bon mot will help assuage the deep disappointment that now grips you: A property owner hired a worker to do a list of 10 jobs, but found that when the worker was done, he had only done jobs 1,3, 5, 7, 9. Why? "I only do odd jobs," he told the property owner.