These guys just don't know how to win

On Monday, our sports editor preemptively rebutted Zach’s Tuesday column, and I have to say I am a little disappointed she beat me to the punch. The rest of the sports section is supposed to be a jolly group of pals who drink enough in the Spec office that they can find the silver lining in anything. I’m usually the self-admitted jerk—even if I’m chummy with Norries—and now I find myself agreeing with Michele.

Zach anointed the fans the winners of the weekend. Really? There were winners this past weekend? Headliners? I’ll grant you that fan support was superb, but after a sloppy, poorly played mess of a game, why are any of them coming back again?

If the fans were the winners, it’s only because the team on the field has a tattoo stickered on its helmets: losers.

Missed it? Well, it’s not actually there, but how else do you explain such a loss?

At this point, the talent is there. Sure, the Lions could use a game-breaking receiver or a freakish defensive end, but we are stuck in the real world of Ivy League football. Columbia was clearly a more talented team than Dartmouth—Nick Schwieger being the main exception—and it will be the more able side in most of its upcoming games.

The issue isn’t a dearth of senior leadership, either. In fact, this team is led by a core of respected veterans, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

However, as I discussed with one of my WKCR companions on Saturday, there is one big problem with this team: It never learned how to win. It has no signature wins and has played no games of consequence after the midway point of the season. Sunday was the first.

We’re now four years removed from Norries Wilson’s first season, when the team went 5-5. Is that a winning season? Technically, no, but it isn’t a losing one either. At least that team won games throughout the season, and by margins big and small.

This team? Lord have mercy. Its first season, it went 1-9, with the one win coming in a game where the Light Blue still surrendered 262 yards rushing. Its best season to date? Last year’s 4-6 affair, which included a five-game losing streak. All told, the seniors are 10-26 with just six Ivy wins, four of those against Princeton and Cornell. What’s their record against Harvard, Yale, and Penn? 0-7, with two games left to try to get a win.

These seniors have been tremendous in some respects, but they really never did learn how to win, whether closing out a game or coming from behind.

This is one of the most underrated qualities of winning teams. Players and teams learn how to win so that when they get any kind of chance to, they do it.

Why do the Yankees win every year? Because they are the Yankees. Part of that alludes to their never-ending payroll and roster of all-stars. The other half is the combination of a ubiquitous fear of the pinstripes and the internal expectation of a World Series title every year.

Why do unexpected teams make the World Series—say, this year’s Giants or the Rockies from a few years ago? Most often, a team gets hot at the end of the season or in the playoffs, and winning becomes second nature. It’s like breathing.

Norries Wilson’s Lions are at the other end of the spectrum. They find a way to lose football games, and it gets to the point where it is expected.

The Lions were gift-wrapped a win by an inferior team this past weekend, and they still didn’t win. They led 7-3 at halftime despite a) not showing an offensive pulse after their first drive and b) repeated forays by Dartmouth into Columbia territory. When you still hold a lead after that kind of half, winning teams go out and dominate in the second. We all know that didn’t happen. In fact, the opposite did.

Then, with Dartmouth seemingly in cruise control, Big Green quarterback Conner Kempe made a truly moronic pitch, giving Columbia hope. The Light Blue responded with a score.

Next, Dartmouth actually tried to give Columbia the game, fumbling the subsequent kickoff. But of course, Sean Brackett started a game of hot potato, giving the ball to the Big Green three plays later.

Brackett’s fumble? Regifted with another fumble. That’s three Dartmouth fumbles in four minutes, for those keeping score at home. If that wasn’t enough, a pass interference call set the Lions up with just two yards to go, and they finally reclaimed the lead.

We all know what happened next. Dartmouth marched down and scored, and the Lions were left wondering if they would be 5-1 without botched snaps.

But that’s just it—winning teams don’t have to wonder. There are no botched snaps. There are no what-ifs. Gifted wins end up as … wins. I know it’s a shocking concept, but it does exist. Maybe one day, winning will be the norm. It’s just too bad these guys will never know what that feels like