Wednesday, September 17, 2003
I'm Sure You Still Love Me
The following is one of my submittions for B.U.'s terrible daily paper. I didn't get a spot, but it's okay, they have a history of choosing mostly crappy writers anyway (ask anyone from B.U.). I kind of take it as a compliment.
Just remember, this was written for a B.U. audience. (So you won't get some of the jokes if you don't go to BU.)
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We may have a hockey team here at Boston University; I’m not quite sure. I am not quite sure if the only thing you’ll read about in the Daily Free press from September to May is the hockey team’s chances, wins, failures, and post season awards ceremonies. Oh, oh wait, that is all we have here and that is all we do.
For those of you who are freshmen, transfers, or creepy isolationists that never venture out of the 16th floor of Warren Towers, we have a hockey team here that gets a lot of press, and rightfully so. Sort of.
The hockey team is a perennial power house in Division I hockey. Even during rebuilding seasons we are a threat to beat any team on any night. We have one of the greatest coaches in Division I AA sports, period. Coach Jack Parker isn’t just beloved, he’s practically a demigod.
The problem is that our favored sons (the Ice Dogs as we so cleverly call them) are really our only sons. You may or may not have noticed but the only football played on Nickerson field is that of West Campus pick up games. And we don’t have a varsity baseball team, but rather a baseball club. (Yes, a club, much in the same way we have a People Watchers Club. Each club requires you not be blind.) These are not quite the athletic standards you’d expect from a Division I school.
Back in 1998, little known President John Silber disbanded the football program. A program that only four years prior had finished 12-1 and captured first place in its conference. Silber abolished the football program, using such claims that the program was losing money and games. (In fairness, the team did go 2-18 over it’s last two seasons, but winning isn’t everything, right?) But the main claim was that funding was needed for women’s sports. Not only did he bury a time-honored tradition of the college experience, he made anyone who protested the move sound like a chauvinist.
The ninety years of football tradition at Boston University didn’t matter then and it barely matters now. Each year someone brings up the point that maybe we should bring football back to our part of Commonwealth Avenue, and each year they are told that the woman will have to suffer. I find that funny since the last time I got my tuition bill it seemed as though there might be enough funding to go around for both. Oh, I forgot, athletics or anything else that might resemble fun is not conducive to learning. Hell, what if we actually went and WATCHED the games! It might lead to trysting! TRYSTING!
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like we don’t have any other teams to root for here. Our basketball programs are improving every year, and there aren’t many sporting moments that match the exhilaration of watching your basketball team in the Big Dance. And woman SHOULD get funding for sports. I used to beg my sisters not to be cheerleaders. I told them to go out and play for themselves instead of rooting on others. Maybe they shouldn’t get equal funding at the expense of other, more profitable men’s programs, but women shouldn’t be denied the right to play either.
The fact is it shouldn’t be all or nothing. I shouldn’t have to pacify myself every Saturday during the fall by rooting for OTHER Boston-area college teams. It just doesn’t seem right, and it isn’t. We have the student body, we have the resources, we have the facilities, and we have the funding. We should never, ever, EVER have to take a back seat to our safety school down the road known as the home of the Eagles. But that’s the way it is.
So, over the next year, and the year after that, and the years long after we are all gone, it’ll be the hockey team we turn too. When you wonder why there are seven recaps of last night’s game and five previews of tomorrow’s, understand there is nothing else. Hockey is our only chance to glow in the national spot light; hockey is our only chance to show the rest of the nation how good we really are. It might be tough to score our Psychology department against B.C.’s, but it’s easy to count the number of goals we put in the net.
Now, if you’ll excuse me I have to begin the Beanpot preview. We only have until February.
The following is one of my submittions for B.U.'s terrible daily paper. I didn't get a spot, but it's okay, they have a history of choosing mostly crappy writers anyway (ask anyone from B.U.). I kind of take it as a compliment.
Just remember, this was written for a B.U. audience. (So you won't get some of the jokes if you don't go to BU.)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We may have a hockey team here at Boston University; I’m not quite sure. I am not quite sure if the only thing you’ll read about in the Daily Free press from September to May is the hockey team’s chances, wins, failures, and post season awards ceremonies. Oh, oh wait, that is all we have here and that is all we do.
For those of you who are freshmen, transfers, or creepy isolationists that never venture out of the 16th floor of Warren Towers, we have a hockey team here that gets a lot of press, and rightfully so. Sort of.
The hockey team is a perennial power house in Division I hockey. Even during rebuilding seasons we are a threat to beat any team on any night. We have one of the greatest coaches in Division I AA sports, period. Coach Jack Parker isn’t just beloved, he’s practically a demigod.
The problem is that our favored sons (the Ice Dogs as we so cleverly call them) are really our only sons. You may or may not have noticed but the only football played on Nickerson field is that of West Campus pick up games. And we don’t have a varsity baseball team, but rather a baseball club. (Yes, a club, much in the same way we have a People Watchers Club. Each club requires you not be blind.) These are not quite the athletic standards you’d expect from a Division I school.
Back in 1998, little known President John Silber disbanded the football program. A program that only four years prior had finished 12-1 and captured first place in its conference. Silber abolished the football program, using such claims that the program was losing money and games. (In fairness, the team did go 2-18 over it’s last two seasons, but winning isn’t everything, right?) But the main claim was that funding was needed for women’s sports. Not only did he bury a time-honored tradition of the college experience, he made anyone who protested the move sound like a chauvinist.
The ninety years of football tradition at Boston University didn’t matter then and it barely matters now. Each year someone brings up the point that maybe we should bring football back to our part of Commonwealth Avenue, and each year they are told that the woman will have to suffer. I find that funny since the last time I got my tuition bill it seemed as though there might be enough funding to go around for both. Oh, I forgot, athletics or anything else that might resemble fun is not conducive to learning. Hell, what if we actually went and WATCHED the games! It might lead to trysting! TRYSTING!
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like we don’t have any other teams to root for here. Our basketball programs are improving every year, and there aren’t many sporting moments that match the exhilaration of watching your basketball team in the Big Dance. And woman SHOULD get funding for sports. I used to beg my sisters not to be cheerleaders. I told them to go out and play for themselves instead of rooting on others. Maybe they shouldn’t get equal funding at the expense of other, more profitable men’s programs, but women shouldn’t be denied the right to play either.
The fact is it shouldn’t be all or nothing. I shouldn’t have to pacify myself every Saturday during the fall by rooting for OTHER Boston-area college teams. It just doesn’t seem right, and it isn’t. We have the student body, we have the resources, we have the facilities, and we have the funding. We should never, ever, EVER have to take a back seat to our safety school down the road known as the home of the Eagles. But that’s the way it is.
So, over the next year, and the year after that, and the years long after we are all gone, it’ll be the hockey team we turn too. When you wonder why there are seven recaps of last night’s game and five previews of tomorrow’s, understand there is nothing else. Hockey is our only chance to glow in the national spot light; hockey is our only chance to show the rest of the nation how good we really are. It might be tough to score our Psychology department against B.C.’s, but it’s easy to count the number of goals we put in the net.
Now, if you’ll excuse me I have to begin the Beanpot preview. We only have until February.
Sunday, September 07, 2003
So We Learn
What did we learn from today?
We learned that you don't suddenly release your team captain and acknowledged heart and soul 5 days before the first game. Especially if said "irreplaceable player" will be joining your week one opponent.
I mean, there are like 16 regular season games. It's not like one is really THAT important.
I know he won a Superbowl, and he will always be able to say that, and he will always have New England's love for that, but Bill Belichick still does make mistakes and the people of Boston need to understand this.
And for you scoring at home: The Globe has been saying that for two years, the Herald will never say it. But what do you expect from a sports department that employs Michael Felger?
Also, the Red Sox will win the AL East.
What did we learn from today?
We learned that you don't suddenly release your team captain and acknowledged heart and soul 5 days before the first game. Especially if said "irreplaceable player" will be joining your week one opponent.
I mean, there are like 16 regular season games. It's not like one is really THAT important.
I know he won a Superbowl, and he will always be able to say that, and he will always have New England's love for that, but Bill Belichick still does make mistakes and the people of Boston need to understand this.
And for you scoring at home: The Globe has been saying that for two years, the Herald will never say it. But what do you expect from a sports department that employs Michael Felger?
Also, the Red Sox will win the AL East.
Monday, September 01, 2003
It's Happening Again
Pedro pitches badly. Must have been the fact that people made him cry and mad ehim sad for not believeing him when he was ill, so he came back early and that's why he pitched poorly against the Yankees. (Oh, his first start back he pitched fine.) SO it must be because he was sick and because people didn't believe him. Don't believe me? Just ask Pedro, he's dying to tell you.
Anyone else think the Sox could probably use that 17.5 million elsewhere next year a little bit better than a prima donna that misses 5-10 starts a year?
I'm not certain either, but the fact that I even have to ask that question now is a little sad. And if Nomar, Manny, Pedro, or anyone else doesn't want to play here, no matter how much I love them, let em go.
Also, I think this team had a great chance to do some damage if they make it to the playoffs. Just as long as they keep Kim away from anything resembling a baseball game.
Just a few more months til the Expos have to trade away the rights to Javier Vazquez. Hmm, Javier Vazquez.
Pedro pitches badly. Must have been the fact that people made him cry and mad ehim sad for not believeing him when he was ill, so he came back early and that's why he pitched poorly against the Yankees. (Oh, his first start back he pitched fine.) SO it must be because he was sick and because people didn't believe him. Don't believe me? Just ask Pedro, he's dying to tell you.
Anyone else think the Sox could probably use that 17.5 million elsewhere next year a little bit better than a prima donna that misses 5-10 starts a year?
I'm not certain either, but the fact that I even have to ask that question now is a little sad. And if Nomar, Manny, Pedro, or anyone else doesn't want to play here, no matter how much I love them, let em go.
Also, I think this team had a great chance to do some damage if they make it to the playoffs. Just as long as they keep Kim away from anything resembling a baseball game.
Just a few more months til the Expos have to trade away the rights to Javier Vazquez. Hmm, Javier Vazquez.
