Those who know me best know that I have a profound respect for the late Chief Justice Earl Warren. His world-changing statement, “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of “‘separate but equal’ has no place” still sends tingles up my spine, and a powerful dissent in which he wrote, “The censor’s sword pierces deeply into the heart of free expression,” absolutely fires me up. But there is one Warren quote — about newspapers, no less — that took me a while to warm up to: “I always turn to the sports pages first, which record people’s accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man’s failures.”
I, through-and-through, am a news man. And while I still contend that the front page of the newspaper does more than just document “man’s failures,” I have finally come to see the immense value of the Sports section of a newspaper such as The News-Letter.
For much of the early part of my Hopkins career, I must confess, I threw out the B Section of the paper. I know, I know — a cardinal offense, and one for which I still have profound regret.
I misguidedly undervalued sections like the Sports section. I now know better, and the Sports section is one of my favorite sections of the paper.
Reading the incredible feats of Hopkins athletes in this very paper truly inspires me. Look, for example, at Frances Loeb. I’ve never met Loeb, but I am constantly impressed by her commitment to her track career.
The tales told in the Sports section of Loeb’s perseverance and intense dedication to her sport inspire me to try harder in life’s everyday pursuits, especially considering that Loeb is also a student here at Hopkins who consistently receives both Centennial Conference athletic honors as well as academic honors.
Loeb completely shatters track records, and I’m simply stunned and awestruck by her awesome accomplishments on the women’s track team over the past four years.
Likewise, athletes like Hannah Kronick — who absolutely dominated the women’s soccer field by breaking the Centennial Conference record for career tournament goals — similarly inspire me.
Reading in the Sports section how Kronick is motivated not by personal ambition but rather by furthering her team’s success showed her superstardom better than any numeric record ever could.
The point that I’m trying to make is that the Sports section inspires me because Hopkins athletes inspire me.
There isn’t a day that goes by on this campus when there isn’t an athlete training hard to improve in his or her respective sport and thus advance the Hopkins name on the scoreboards, despite having to tackle all of the same struggles as those of us not on sports teams.
They work their asses off to do better, and these efforts advance our school’s reputation and provide exciting games for us spectators.
I’m grateful for all of the lacrosse players who make it so that I’m able to say that I attend the university with the best lacrosse program in the country, and for all the baseball players who snag clutch catches and hit full-count grand slams that make for exciting games to watch.
We as a community owe a lot to our athletes, the least of which is a profound respect. They train everyday to make our university proud and to best represent us Blue Jays, and quite frankly, we don’t do enough to show our appreciation.
I have heard all too often that Hopkins students are filled with apathy, that we treat this place as if it’s some halfway-house between high school and the “real world.” But changing this can’t come from anywhere but ourselves.
We, as students, must embrace this place as our home, and I think a big part of that means having pride in our home. Let’s all go to the games and cheer these athletes on.
Let’s don our Hopkins garb and paint our faces blue and black. Let’s attend more than just the occasional lacrosse game. Let’s all harness our athletes’ efforts as a source of pride and finally forge an insurgent genesis of school spirit.
The Sports section of The News-Letter and the amazing athletes it highlights have really inspired me and made me proud to go to school here.
