It seemed like during my sophomore and junior years at Tufts, I walked around campus nodding my head as if I had Tourettes. This year, my neck got a rest due to several new faces at the college as a whole and in the sporting world.
Still, if I had it my way I would stay at college for at least five years; school is just that much fun. However, I've been playing Jay-Z's retirement "Black Album" everyday for the last month or so, symbolizing that it is my time to go.
It seems like just yesterday that I was conned into writing for The Tufts Daily by former sports editor Manali Shah. At that time during my freshman year, I had little interest in doing anything besides downloading music, running up my phone bill, and getting into late-night fights with my roommate about my snoring habits. Still, I decided to try it, and it worked wonders.
After my first byline, I received instant street cred. While I was only an intramural superstar, I got to study Tufts athletics, got to know its athletes, and thanks to Geico - saved money on my car insurance.
Still, the ultimate feeling comes from writing a sports column. Sure, I could write about global events that actually matter, like the war in Iraq, but for some reason I chose sports. There is something relaxing about being able to criticize a person in a particular sport who you can in no way, shape or form replicate by any means.
I have taken my liberties often. How can I comment about one's dunk when I can only lay my index finger on the bottom of the backboard? How can I comment on a baseball player swinging on a 3-0 count when my last at-bat came during the intramural slow-pitch softball tournament? In truth, I shouldn't be able to, but that's the great thing about sports and sports writing: I can.
Over the two and a half years I have written a column, I am still not sure if athletes respect my opinions. I've noticed a trend, however. When I write something positive everybody is cool with me, but as soon as something negative rolls in, I have enemies.
That is possibly the biggest difference between writing about sports and actually performing them. If a mistake is made on the playing field, it's deemed a mistake, and mistakes happen in sports. If a mistake is made in print, then it's a huge issue and a Viewpoint or correction must take place.
The balance between sports and writing about sports is delicate. I believe the amount of coverage a sport gets at Tufts is in direct relation to the number of fans it gets at its games. And without athletes giving decent quotes and, more importantly, being open to getting called whenever, my job would be a lot harder.
Looking back on it, I have no regrets. I got one sports writing groupie, who actually admitted to being my groupie, which is cool. I believe I have respect in one way or another from most athletes at this school. Also, I have learned that people would much rather read something that is short and funny, rather than long and drawn out, thus my love for Seven Questions.
One of the things I love most about this small Div. III school is that sports do not dominate. I do believe that competition and winning should always be of importance, but athletes are not gods at Tufts. The lack of egos on the most part made writing a column much more enjoyable. Besides I refuse to write about anybody who refers to themselves in the third person.
The miscellaneous sporting memories I have are all of the intramural teams I played on. While basketball, football, soccer, and softball were all fun, you have to admit intramurals is all about personal statistics and championships.
With that in mind, team of the year goes to DaGooses, a.k.a. Spring Champs, for securing one championship and another finals appearance in which we still got doo-doo brown championship shirts to go along with the baby blue shirts we won after the fall season.
Also, Beirut or beer-pong is now an official sport. I was skeptical at first, but after Carlos Montalvan and I advanced to the Elite 8 of the 68 team tournament, I had to make it official. Plus, I conclude that natural athleticism does apply to the sport.
So going down the checklist I see that I have covered Jay-Z, my groupie, Beirut, early morning roommate fights, and street cred. I think that about covers it.
I'd like to thank God for allowing me the opportunity to write my column for a full two years. I would like to thank my parents and cousin Christina for teaching me that you can't be slanderous in print, only libelous. Also big shout out to my little brother Justin and cousin Russell for gobbling up all the cookies and sugary sweets while growing up.
For your ambitions in the snack closet, I turned out to be 5'9'', 200 pounds, not 5'9'', 300 pounds.
