The Top Spin

Although I grew up in Texas, a state with an impressive appetite for football and baseball, I was always a soccer player. I admit that I did not learn the rules or positions of 'American' football until seventh grade, when my friends urged me to try out for the school team. My football career lasted two short years and was followed by several more years of soccer, a bit of track, a year of rowing, and hours spent on assorted couches watching sports. For me, sports are less about regional allegiances and more about indulging our collective hankering for entertainment, excitement, and escape (from my Spanish essays or math problems, for instance). In my column, I want to invite readers to hop on the bandwagon and enjoy the sports that we have around us at Columbia. I will address controversies when they come up but always with the intention of reaffirming that sports should be an arena where we can all get along and have a good time.

Benjamin Spener is a Columbia College sophomore majoring in economics-mathematics and Latin American and Iberian cultures.