A Mythical Act of Motivation

Under normal circumstances, a man caught with a gaudy, jewel-laden ring on his finger will inevitably fall victim to incessant taunting from his peers. Most unmarried men don't wear any jewelry, let alone a thick, flashy ring. A cross around the neck, sure. I'll even give you the occasional gold bracelet. But real men don't wear rings.

Unless we're talking championship rings.

On the seemingly endless list of behaviors athletes can get away with while the rest of us drool in obscurity, stands the proud display of that elusive championship ring. Any athlete who earns one of those babies is not only fawned over for wearing it, but should arguably be chastised for taking it off.

Which is why I can't decide if Columbia women's soccer head coach Kevin McCarthy should be congratulated or publicly berated.

In a premeditated motivational act, McCarthy not only took off his 1993 Ivy League Championship ring, but deliberately threw it into the Hudson River. And he can't even remember the year in which he did it.

"Oh, I don't know, I think it was 1998," McCarthy said, "but I can't remember exactly."

The story of the toss, which has now become myth among athletes and non-athletes alike, has been somewhat sensationalized in its many retellings. From what I heard, McCarthy, overcome by a swell of emotion after practice one day, led his team to the banks of the Hudson and in a fit of emotion and ceremoniously hurled the ring into the churning waters before commanding the women of the Columbia soccer team to go get him a new one.

In reality, that's not quite how it went.

"When I was coaching the men's program, my last season [1993] was when they last won the Ivy League title," said McCarthy, who took over head coaching duties for the women's team in 1994. "I did throw that ring into the Hudson River after one of our team runs, and I stated to the team that I needed a new one."

Despite the degree to which throwing the ring may have punctuated his point, losing a championship ring is not something to be taken lightly. Thankfully, McCarthy did have some replacements waiting for him at home. The 2006 women's soccer Northeast Region Coach of the Year has (or had) five Columbia championship rings to his name. (He will earn his sixth, as head coach of the 2006 women's Ivy League champions, tonight.) Four of those he earned as a player, from 1981 to 1984, and the fifth as an assistant coach for the men's 1993 championship team.

"It was, in my youthful exuberance, a motivational move," McCarthy said of launching his hard-earned jewelry into the river. "I don't know if it motivated my team or shocked them at the time. It was premeditated; it was an especially good group that year and it was a dramatic action that I wanted to sink in. I thought it would be a dramatic motivational tool, and I think it worked."

McCarthy's 1998 team (if that is in fact the year in which the event took place) finished the season in third place, three wins shy of a championship. But the motivational story certainly stuck, even though McCarthy has not been the one repeating it.

"Pretty much it's come up every year, just because we know about it," senior All-Ivy selection Emma Judkins said. "We tell incoming players about it."

"To be honest that's my favorite Columbia story," senior midfielder Meghan Hurlbut said. "It's kind of like an urban legend, it's something that's just been passed on since he did it."

The story remains fresh in the minds of that nineteen-ninety-something squad, as well.

"When we did win the championship this year, many alumnae called or wrote about the fact that I would finally get my ring back," McCarthy said. "This season has been a deeply meaningful and satisfying experience, and the ring is a symbol of that."

Despite the immunity from ring ridicule afforded to him by both the championship design of the ring and his athlete status, McCarthy said whether or not he dons the ring each morning will be a game-time decision.

"I have not thought about it," he said. "We'll see how comfortably it fits on my finger."

The fitting will be public tonight, as the women's soccer team receives its 2006 Ivy League championship rings at halftime of the men's basketball game versus Yale. Tip off is at 7:00 in Levien Gym.