Remembering My Years at CU Through Sports

During my time at Columbia, various parties have made efforts to improve what some see as a lacking athletics program. The athletic director and the football coach have been replaced. Kwame Spearman, CC ’06, called for a rivalry with Dartmouth in the pages of this sports section, hoping that a concrete enemy would engender commitment to Lions pride, so to speak. The administration took away the beer at football games, and then gave it back, and in true Columbia fashion, it seemed some students had been more comfortable protesting the denial of alcohol than they were enjoying the reappearance of it.

But in the end, every university has its pros and cons, and despite the efforts of students like Spearman, the many pros of Columbia don’t include historically enthusiastic followings of the marquee sports. Still, there are ways to enjoy Columbia sports as a student, and I’ve had the pleasure of being able to do so myself during my four years here. And in the spirit of a positive farewell, I’ll share my top five favorite Columbia athletics memories:

1. I think this first one happened in my sophomore year. Or maybe it was my junior year. It all runs together. But at one point during my time at Columbia, I distinctly remember the men’s basketball team beating not just Penn, but Princeton too in the very same weekend. This was glorious.

2. When covering the men’s heavyweight rowing team in my sophomore year, I got the chance to go out on the water and watch a home race. It was a fun, once-in-a lifetime experience. I don’t think I’ll ever get to ride in a motorboat behind a rowing race again. I’m okay with that fact, but I’m glad I got to do it once.

3. Homecoming 2007. I’m not sure I actually went into the stadium at any point. There was a MoonBounce set up. There were free hot dogs. It was awesome.

4. Baker Blast used to be at night. I went with my Carman suitemates freshman year. It was really fun, and I’m nostalgic thinking about it.

5. Partly by chance, I lived with a lacrosse player, Marisa Marcellino, in McBain for a year, and we became very close friends. She’s five feet tall, the quickest and scrappiest athlete I’ve encountered to date, and lives and breathes lacrosse. The women’s lacrosse program has had some shining moments in the past four years, including a victory over Harvard and a resounding win over UC Berkeley at the end of this season. Living with an athlete gave me a firsthand perspective on how much work goes into playing a varsity sport, so it was always really exciting to see the team succeed.

Despite whatever shortcomings Columbia’s athletics program may have, I’ve had a good four years here that have included my fair share of sports-related fun. In terms of SpecSports, I certainly learned a lot and made several close friends. To that end, I’d like to take a few lines of text to thank Anand Krishnamurthy, SEAS ’07, for never, ever sugarcoating anything, which made me a better writer. Thanks to Theo Orsher, CC ’06, for sugarcoating things and still making me a better writer. Thanks also to Nick Summers, CC ’05, for still taking me seriously after my pneumonia-induced fact-checking errors committed in freshman year. Thanks to Jake Olson, CC ’07 for providing laughter and several nicknames, all of which seem to have stuck. And, of course, thanks to the readers of Spec for looking at, and hopefully sometimes enjoying, my articles.