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A Trip Down Memory Lane
May 2, 2008 - 12:00amThe e-mail was short: “Josh, me and you need to have a little chat. No problems, just want to talk.”
So, one night in Nov. 2005, I took a phone call. The voice on the other end was Chris Mascaro ’06, and he was offering me the opportunity of a lifetime.
What if you had the opportunity to go to every Cornell athletics event for free, home and away; receive an all-access pass and the best seats in the house to every event; meet and talk with all the players and coaches; befriend the staff and administration in and out of Athletics, at Cornell and other schools; chat with famous media personalities, coaches and athletes from around the country, in college, professional sports and beyond?
Would you take it?
Lamenting the ‘Criminalization of the Lynah Faithful’
May 1, 2008 - 12:00amAs the academic year winds down, we would like to call the Cornell community’s attention to an issue that affects a significant percentage of students: the poor treatment of hockey fans by the Athletic Department.
High prices for student tickets limit the Cornell fan base and result in empty seats. By comparison, 2008 NCAA champion Boston College offers free tickets to students, as do ECAC Hockey regular season champion Clarkson, Hockey East powerhouses Maine and New Hampshire and CCHA tournament finalist Miami (Ohio).
Sports Section Convert Reflects on the Journey
April 29, 2008 - 12:00amI never intended to become a sports writer. I didn’t write for my high school paper or any other legitimate publication for that matter. I didn’t arrive in Ithaca with grandiose aspirations of sitting courtside at Cameron Indoor Stadium or interviewing Cornell’s elite athletes on a weekly basis. Hell, as a freshman, I barely even read The Sun, let alone considered joining it. But now that I think about it, I didn’t do much of anything freshman year besides drink SoCo, so that isn’t really a knock on The Sun.
Inspiration From Tragedy
April 25, 2008 - 12:00amI started to cry. I haven’t cried in a long time.
I don’t know why it happened, but something about his story leveled me. It made me horrified, saddened, inspired and reflective, all at the same time. Maybe you’ll feel the same way.
Adam Frey, a junior and Cornell wrestler, has always been a man of incredible physical and mental strength. On March 25, only a few days after competing in the NCAA championships, Adam was in a car crash. A car came at him in the wrong lane, and going 55 mph his car fishtailed, rolled, hit a tree and sent him flying to the back of the vehicle.
The first time I read the words describing this, I was sitting in my chair at my desk, unaware of what I would learn next. It was Thursday, two days after the accident.
Representing ‘the Sports Fan in Each and Every One of Us’
April 24, 2008 - 12:00amEvery time I walk at night from the Arts Quad to my house in Collegetown, I have three options — look left, look right or look straight ahead. No offense to Cornell’s wonderful buildings, but I usually decide to look right, because down the hill lies the city of Ithaca, bathed in light. I have always considered this view to be one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. But what even makes it better for me is that I know that somewhere in that sea of light, just down the street from the Chanticleer bar and its neon rooster, is The Cornell Daily Sun building.
Searching For One Shining Moment
April 17, 2008 - 12:00amI’ve always been a competitor. I was one of those guys who you could always find at the park, running his mouth, diving for loose balls and starting fights. I was the captain of my high school basketball team because Coach knew that I was one of those guys who battled in practice and games. Those were the days when I was actually nice and had respectable athleticism. Nowadays, my competition comes from XBox 360 and Take A Loss Tuesdays — I’ll explain later.
You would think with my competitive nature, I would have a pretty good amount of “big game” success … wrong.
Can Political Activism Go Too Far?
April 11, 2008 - 12:00amI don’t know about you all, but I was kind of glad on Monday when Kansas put an end to an NCAA tournament that has wreaked havoc with my bracket like no other in recent memory.
Like much of America, I tend to get caught up in March Madness, obsessed even; it’s a fact. But during such a high-stress period of life, and just in general, I think we tend to forget that there are more “serious” things going on around us — it takes sports to make us sit up and take notice.
It Comes Down to This: Top-5 Picks for Cornell Sports
April 10, 2008 - 12:00amIn the excellent Nick Hornby book and later film High Fidelity, the main character frequently recites top-5 lists about all facets of his life, especially girls and music. Likewise, I love reading about and making lists. If ESPN ran a list of the top-5 NBA players from the 1990s that won an All-Star Game MVP award and also appeared in a Sprite commercial, I would probably read it. With that in mind, a friend and I recently discussed our picks for the best Cornell games during our four years in Ithaca. Of course, I had to put my choices in list form.
I Want to Be a Journalist ... What Am I Thinking?
April 9, 2008 - 12:00amAirplane pilot — commercial not fighter, NBA player, filmmaker, teacher, historian, ESPNews anchor, journalist.
What do all these things have in common? They are all things I once wanted to be when I grew up (the dead giveaway: the specification of commercial pilot — I was probably the only five-year-old that thought that a DC-10 was way cooler than an F-16).
Each one died out for some reason: my development of a fear of flying, the doctor telling me I wouldn’t hit 6-0, my realization that I wasn’t creative enough to make films, didn’t enjoy research or literature enough to be a teacher (I think I just wanted to be taken seriously by adults at an early age) and couldn’t read a teleprompter well enough to be an anchor.
Leave Baseball to Summer; Basketball Should Rule the Spring
April 3, 2008 - 12:00amAh, spring is here. Well, not really here in Ithaca, but it is officially spring now according to the calendar. As the weather starts to heat up, thoughts of barbeques, wine tours, tailgating at lacrosse games and finally abandoning my jacket are pacing through my head consistently.
With all the thoughts of sunshine, many of you sports fans have been consumed by baseball. Drooling over Buster Olney’s season previews, wondering if Johan can help the Mets forget about last season’s debacle, pondering if the Red Sox can really win again (I’d be damned).