Whether Iran or Baker Field, Think About It!

Something has been happening on campus for the past couple of days. You would have to live under a rock, be afraid of checking the news for fear of seeing that the Mets lost again, or still have a hangover from Baker Blast to not have noticed.

So what is the correlation between the visit of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and sports, you might ask? It might be a stretch, but I’m going to go for it. We are the correlation—as fans, as spectators, and as “experts.”

We are all entitled to our opinions and the ability to express them, but if yesterday and the days prior proved anything, it is that those who are closest to a topic—whether they choose to be or not—are given a platform to express their opinions, no matter how much or how little they are educated on the subject matter.

I’ve watched the news reporters ask questions of Columbia students on campus for the last few days, and, generally, I was proud of the responses. However, there were times when I was downright confused. Many students were articulate and well-educated in stating their opinions—no matter what those opinions were—but others seemed to either be following the crowd or being totally erroneous.

When Geraldo “The Moustache” Rivera came to campus to ask questions on Sunday night, one student even went so far as to relate the visit to the imminent release of Halo 3, which he stretched to be a metaphor for the U.S. against the Middle East.

Every media outlet wanted to get our opinions because we are Columbia students and we should know what is going on and be able to express our feelings about it. But sometimes we don’t know what is going on, and all we have are ill-based arguments that usually follow a popular trend of thought. This is where the correlation to sports—especially Columbia sports—comes in.

There are not many places in the media for Ivy League sports—major media players like ESPN don’t take the time or money to cover most of them. Thus, the Ivy League relies on the Associated Press and student-run publications (like this one) to put up content on any given team, and we, the students and fans, have become the experts in the field.

Unfortunately, there are no more than a handful of people—I do not include myself in this handful—who really know Columbia sports. Not just the big name sports like football and basketball, but all Columbia athletics. However, if Geraldo Rivera or any other reporter came to talk about Columbia sports, there would be a lot of opinions on the matter.

Many of these opinions would probably be based on Columbia’s history of mediocrity. Others may suggest that no one here cares about sports. Maybe a few people would point out successes, but successes aren’t controversial—and Columbia loves controversy—so those people would probably be drowned out.

There is a rift between what we think we know and what we know. As Socrates said, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” This needs to be the case more often.

I’ll give a personal example. While growing up, ESPN was basically my equivalent of crack—I could never get enough of sports. This summer, I got a job working at MLB.com, and I walked in pretty smugly, thinking that I knew baseball pretty well. Unfortunately, I didn’t. I realized that all of my knowledge of players and stats was nothing compared to that of my coworkers, who had made baseball their lives and work. This only encouraged me to learn more so that I could someday have a firm grasp on baseball knowledge.

To return to Columbia sports, it seems to me that many people pass judgment on athletics without knowing the full picture. When was the last time that you attended a game of any kind and really paid attention? Do you know how many Columbia teams won the Ivy League championships last year? Tell me you at least know that we have one of the best fencing teams in the country.

We all stand for free speech, but we all should also stand for educated opinions. If you have no opinion or don’t care, say so, but don’t say that no one cares. If you are one of those who does care, stay away from popular ideas and take the time to learn about things, formulate an opinion, and maybe go out and catch a game or two. Then, if someone asks you about Columbia sports, you can give a fair assessment.