Lions Sports Fans, Just Give it Some Time

Those who know me realize that I’ve been in a bit of a slump lately. I barely leave my room, I never turn on ESPN, I stopped throwing things at Barry Bonds’ image on TV. Basically, my faith in American sports has been seriously challenged, and Barry’s annoying whining can’t even get me going. This goes for sports and leagues across the board—NBA, college ball, baseball, Columbia.

I don’t even need to explain to most of you why the NBA sucks, especially this year. I think the only solution for the NBA’s defense-itis is a drastic overhaul of the season schedule and playoff bracket: fewer regular season games, fewer teams in the playoffs. Only then will players actually work for the postseason. I’m sick of knowing which teams are going to be in the playoffs before the season starts.

As for college basketball, where have all the superstars gone? Face it, the game is weak now that the best players come straight out of high school or straight from eastern Europe.

Baseball? Juice.

Columbia? This one’s tough. A month ago I wrote a column briefly chronicling my four years as a Lions fan. Basically, my point was that nothing has changed since fall 2001, when I first stepped onto campus wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. Up until a week or so ago, I truly believed this. I began to question not only my status as a fan but the status of athletics at this institution. Maybe our money would be better spent, I asked myself, on other things. Maybe sports just doesn’t have a place in Morningside Heights, I thought. My low point hit during “40s on 40s” or “40s till 40s for 40s” or “40 40s” or whatever that mess for graduating seniors was called. For a while, it was all good and fun—people chilling, BBQ-ing. It was a rare moment of Columbia students having what my fellow columnist, Nick Summers, would call non-ironic fun. This all culminated with a Columbia athlete (who will remain nameless) mounting good ol’ Alma Mater and funneling a beer in her lap. Funny, I thought. Then he proceeded to molest Alma by literally mounting her face. Upon seeing this, I sighed. Perhaps this is the relationship sports and Columbia will always have: a violent and unwelcome one. After all, were not the athletes the ones trying, on these very steps, to prevent the protesters of ’68 from taking Low? They were literally standing in the way of one of the most legendary and defining moments in Columbia University’s history.

But then I snapped back to reality. C’mon, Kevin, I thought, sports aren’t really that big a deal. Can’t Columbia and athletics share the same space? Isn’t there a place for athletic competition in Morningside Heights? In the last few days, I have slowly come out of my severe sports depression. I realize now that it all was probably just a product of the Lakers sucking, anyway.

Columbia really isn’t as bad off as it may seem. On the surface, of course, it looks, well, ugly. Football blew it, as did men’s and women’s basketball. Baseball is currently in the process of doing the same. In terms of results, not too much has changed since I stepped through the gates on 116th four years ago, and for us seniors, this cold, hard fact is both disappointing and extremely frustrating. For me at least, it is impossible not to feel even just a slight sting after four years of watching, covering, and writing about Columbia sports. The essence of the fan is, after all, selfishness: “I want results and I want them now!” the Yankee fan shouts, before he begins booing Mariano Rivera in the Bronx.

But now is not the time for selfishness, Columbia. Look past the results. Get over yourself for a second and realize that we have perhaps finally begun the slow process of athletic reform. In Dodge, there are a few key revolutionaries ready to bring the Light Blue back to 18th century-era prominence. We got head coach Joe Jones, who, from my own experience covering his team, will not give up on Columbia basketball. We got Dr. Dianne Murphy, who may have the goods to bring a winning mindset back to Dodge despite her continuing silence on the Waites firing. And from what I gather, the new women’s basketball coach looks like the real thing.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that as depressing as sports may seem now, it will most likely get better. This, of course, may not be true for the NBA, MLB, or NCAA. At Columbia, however, things have definitely changed since 2001. These changes, while significant, are not visible on the surface, in numbers and box scores. Rather, they are underground, in the offices of Dodge. The groundwork is there; over the next few years, it will be up to the athletes and the coaches to get it done above ground, on the floor and on the turf. And all us seniors will just have to come back with all the other decrepit alumni and get drunk alongside our younger and luckier Columbia brothers and sisters.