About three paragraphs in, just as I was about to quit reading, I came across this bombshell: “The Columbia University football team has often received criticism for what ignorant observers see reflected in the scoreboard at the end of the fourth quarter or in the sports column the Monday after a game.”
Ahiza Garcia, the author of this article, goes on to say, “What they don’t see, because they are blinded by numbers and end results, are the private struggles that each member of the team undergoes.”
Because I have a sports column, and because I am often a critic of the football program, I found these comments to be particularly strange and off base. But I was ultimately too focused on preparations for the Saturday football broadcast to stay mad for long.
About thirty hours later, I found myself sitting in the backseat of a rented car, making my way up the NJ Turnpike after witnessing a painful second half collapse by the football team in Lafayette, and wondering what to write in the Spectator or say on WKCR this week. Then, I remembered the oddly placed column I had read the day before.
In the column, Garcia did a wonderful job pointing out the fact that Columbia football players work hard and sacrifice much for their sport. Unfortunately, he failed to mention the equally important second part of that statement: so do the players on opposing sidelines.
This is what makes Ivy League sports so great; the same pressures apply to every single athlete. Columbia football players are not special or unique in their off-field responsibilities when it comes to Ancient Eight play, so why treat them like they are?
Am I saying that the football players shouldn’t be admired for their commitment and dedication? Of course not. It’s just not an excuse for losing, and it never has been for any sport in this league.
Yet some, such as Garcia, demand and expect nothing from this football team because its members are just students who work really hard. We have a name for this mentality at WCKR: the “atmosphere of acceptance,” and it is one of the oldest traditions at Columbia. Only in this atmosphere could a sports section get attacked from within its own paper for accurately calling bad performances bad. It seems that far too many, including most within athletic department itself, have become more invested in the censorship of the student media than the success of the athletic program. Athletic failures have grown to be the norm here, and many folks around Morningside Heights truly believe it to be more productive to pity the football players rather than expect them to win. This mentality goes against everything I know and love about sports, and quite frankly, after reading Friday’s editorial and watching Saturday’s game, I’m tired of it.
Criticizing the football team is not “effortless” either, as Mr. Garcia claims. Talking Columbia football for an hour every Wednesday is hard to do without saying anything critical, as is pumping out a relevant column every two weeks. But who would try to talk about Saturday night’s game without being critical?
Honestly, would I be doing my job if I failed to mention that M.A. Olawale ran the ball six times on first down in the second half against Lafayette, despite averaging just 1.3 yards on those carries? As a result, the Lions faced second and long five times in that second half, and converted just one of the five for first down. Olawale’s other first down carry resulted in a lost fumble.
And wouldn’t I be remiss in my responsibilities if I did not bring up the fact that Ray Rangel, the Ivy League’s leading rusher by over 100 yards, ran the ball just twice in the second half, despite averaging 6.6 yards per carry in the first two quarters? Or the fact that the best player on the defense, junior captain and linebacker Alex Gross, may be out for the season after injuring himself on a special teams play?
None of these things reflect well upon a coaching staff that was thoroughly humiliated on Saturday night. But I do not level this criticism to be mean or indict the ability of the coaches. Norries Wilson and his staff just had a bad day, and he was the first to admit that at the post game press conference. I bring up these points because this football team cannot afford another coaching debacle this season, and putting pressure on the staff in my column or on the radio, no matter how little it may matter, just could change something come next week.
That’s the best part about being a member of the student media: I can be a fan. As a fan, I want nothing more than to see another Ivy League championship in a “major” sport (I jumped up and down on my bed in Carman when the baseball team finished off Dartmouth to capture the 2008 title), and I believe that my criticisms of the athletic program are always in pursuit of this goal. The athletic department has never understood this about student media groups, and they probably never will. The student population, on the other hand, is a different story.
There are still too many students who apathetically buy into the “atmosphere of acceptance” toward sports that permeates this university. But I also believe there are a growing number of students who are ready for a new era in Columbia athletics.
I’m just trying to make sure it gets here.
