New outlook on Ivy sports for veteran writer

Damn, it’s good to be back. It’s good to see my friends, shop at Morton Williams, and start my last year of college. Hell, it’s even good to be writing my biweekly column again. If you’ve read Turn Up the Mike with any sort of regularity (bless your soul), then you may have gleaned a few things about my take on Ivy League sports, and sports in general for that matter. You probably know that I’m a die-hard Chicago sports fan (minus that one baseball team that plays at Wrigley Field). You may know that I’m not particularly fond of archery, but that I have a strong affinity for baseball. You may also know that, when it comes to Columbia athletics, I’m what you might call a pessimist. New Year’s is too far away to make any real resolutions for the upcoming year, but I intend to challenge my pessimism in my upcoming columns. Not for you, or my editors, but for myself. Let’s see if I can put a positive spin on what tends to be a not-so-positive sports school. Oops, there I go already…

Like many of you, I grew up feeding on sports. Baseball, basketball, football, croquet, ultimate frisbee, that bizarre obstacle course show on Spike TV. OK, so that last one might not count. The point is that I would watch, and sometimes partake in, any activity in which there was a winner and a loser. My obsession grew over time, and soon I knew what time of year it was based on what sport was in season.

I always dreamed of going to a college with nationally competitive sports teams, where athletes are mini-celebrities and the teams are occasionally featured on ESPN. But instead I came to Columbia, a school big on academics and not as big on athletics. Most of my friends thought I was crazy when I joined the Spec sports staff way back in the fall of 2008. The usual response ranged anywhere from “You’re wasting your time” to “We have sports teams!?” The general apathy toward Columbia athletics is difficult to avoid, but being the naïve sportsaholic freshman that I was, I was determined to see for myself if the teams were as bad as everyone made them seem.

To my genuine surprise, I soon learned that Columbia is part of an extremely competitive and diverse division—the Ivy League. Despite the stereotype that Ivy League sports are a joke, I witnessed first-hand that such a notion is far from the truth. What is true is that, with eight schools, the Ivy League is a relatively small division but one with a long-standing history full of rich rivalries. I learned that the division banned athletic scholarships when the presidents of each school ratified the Ivy Group Agreement in 1954. The more sports I covered, the more I came to appreciate the teams, coaches, and athletes. Unlike colleges where sports are prioritized over academics, Ivy student-athletes maintain an difficult balance between schoolwork and competing. I have often found myself complaining about the time it takes to write an article before remembering the many hours athletes dedicate to practice, competing, and staying in shape year-round.

Over the past three years I’ve come to understand that fan apathy tends to rise and fall with the success or failure of the football, basketball, and baseball teams. Heads turn when they win and look back down into textbooks when they lose. The same does not hold true for most other varsity sports. If, say, women’s squash is having a record-breaking season, you’re unlikely to hear about it. Much of the reason people think Columbia sports as a whole are “bad” is that they are ignorant of the teams that aren’t. For the most part, Columbia’s most successful programs are lesser-known teams like fencing, rowing, and archery. I’m not naïve enough to believe you will become avid fans of these sports, but next time you make a wisecrack about the athletics program, keep in mind that many of the teams are actually top-notch. We, the students (and presumed Lions fans), are largely to blame for negative rhetoric regarding the athletics program and Ivy sports. That is why I, as one of the few privileged to publish regularly on Columbia sports, wish to change my attitude towards them. Now it’s your turn. So go to a game, download the Lions iPhone app, and maybe even peruse the sports section. It’s about time we all gave Columbia sports a fair chance.