By wpengine October 10, 2003
When I was in the eighth grade, my English teacher made our class take two hours a week to read Greek mythology. We were supposed to learn about Zeus, Hera, Athena and all those other wonderful gods and their wonderful tales. To me, it was boring stuff — even with the great pictures, it was dry. While most of my classmates spent their time dutifully reading, I spent my time drawing little “swooshes” on the page that detailed Nike, the goddess of victory. You can’t blame me … Nike was the apparel of choice back then, at least out in California. As I moved on into high school, we were assigned classics such as Antigone (which I’m sure all those incoming freshmen loved, right?) and Oedipus. Ah, you just can’t beat incest and murder. Well, although I didn’t read the literature as carefully as my teachers would have liked, I did draw one pretty important lesson. Apparently, heroes were always doomed because they had a little too much pride. They were a little too full of themselves. They suffered from hubris. And that brings me to professional sports and athletes. Because it’s become clear that like me, they also decided to draw “swooshes” or shoot free throws or practice their slapshot instead of reading. How else can you explain some of the inexplicable acts that athletes have perpetrated over the last few years? On Sept. 29, Atlanta Thrashers’ star forward Dany Heatley crashed his sports car in a one-car accident while speeding along in excess of 80 miles per hour on a narrow road. Heatley, one of the brightest young players in the NHL, escaped the wreck with complete tears of his medial collateral ligament and anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. Yeah, his season is over before it even began and his career is in jeopardy. But he was lucky. His passenger and teammate, Dan Snyder, sustained a fractured skull in the accident and died this past Sunday. He was only 25. Heatley is only 22. And now, after losing his teammate and possibly his career, Heatley may lose his freedom, as he faces a charge of first-degree vehicular homicide. In a situation such as this, fans feel sympathy and sorrow. And while I share those same feelings, I’m also befuddled. Not that Heatley and Snyder deserved the cruel hand that fate dealt to them, but there’s a reason why speed limits are in place. There’s a reason why you’re supposed to drive at the speed limit or slightly above as most people do. There are consequences when you don’t obey the regulations in place … sometimes those punishments are merely speeding tickets and fines. In this case, unfortunately, it was a life. Athletes seem to be more prone to reckless behavior than the average American. Many people argue that athletes aren’t more reckless, but are just in the public eye. All I know is that if I were in the public eye, I’d live my life more carefully than I already do. The fact of the matter is that athletes think they’re invincible. Many times, whether they’re on a court, a field, or a rink, they are. They have thousands if not millions of fans who revere them. Sure, they’re always at risk for on-field injuries, but for the most part, they’re on top of the world, or so they think. And after their games, and after their seasons, they carry that feeling with them to their private lives. That’s why Jay Williams sped around in his high-powered motor bike. Now, he can barely walk and his once promising basketball career is in jeopardy. That’s why Jeff Kent popped a wheelie during spring training in 2002. He wound up breaking his wrist. That’s why Bobby Phils drag-raced teammate David Wesley after practice for the then-Charlotte Hornets. Tragically, he endured the same fate as Snyder. And that’s why Kobe Bryant felt that he could commit adultery (or worse) and keep it from his wife and newborn child. At the end of the day, athletes are the same as you, I, and any other human being. They still breathe air, eat food, and drink water. Their bones still break, and when they’re cut, they bleed. It’s a shame that too many times, they’re not aware of their mortality. For some, such as Dany Heatley and Dan Snyder, they realize just a little too late.Archived article by Alex Ip
By wpengine October 10, 2003
With fall break beginning and five Harvard athletic teams arriving for weekend competition in Ithaca, it is understandable that many Cornellians do not know about the women’s lacrosse exhibition game against Penn State tomorrow at 1:30 p.m on Alumni Field. While the contest is a tune-up for the spring season, tomorrow’s game may be one of the Red’s most important. Coming off its second ECAC championship in four years, the Red looks to replace its six graduating seniors from last year. “It’s always tough to replace senior leadership,” said head coach Jenny Graap ’86. “Women that dedicate four years to their sport at Cornell, by the time they reach their senior year, they’re really just so valuable to the program.” The Red’s biggest loss is Sarah Averson ’03. She led the team in goals with 47 last season, earning first team All-America honors — only the third women’s lacrosse player to do so at Cornell. “Averson got some tremendous accolades during her career,” said Graap, “and was arguably one of the best players to come through the Cornell program.” The Red recruited 13 players to help fill the gaps created by having an older team. The team, however, looks towards its rising upperclassmen to make up for the departing seniors. “Numerically, you replace them with freshman,” said Graap, “but you can’t really replace a lot of that leadership and knowledge that they accumulate over their career.” Three players that are hoping to step up into leadership positions are juniors Lindsay Steinberg, Annie Berkery, and Julia Hughey. Steinberg was second on the team in goals last season with 36, and she looks to add to her status as an offensive power in the absence of Averson. Berkery returns as the Red’s only defensive starter. As a junior, she will be relied on to lead the defensive unit. Hughey is coming off a season where she started in the midfield, after seeing little playing time as a freshman. “Julia Hughey looks outstanding,” said Graap. “She looks like she is ready to make a jump as far as making an impact on a national level. She’s tremendously fit and playing with a lot of confidence in the midfield.” According to Ivy League rules, teams are not allowed to have to have additional dates of competition beyond the traditional schedule. The Red will actually play one less game in the spring in order to accommodate its fall exhibition. Its opponent, Penn State, is not subject to Ivy League regulations and has already played in a tournament this fall. “I expect Penn State to come out at the beginning of the game and be a little more cohesive,” said Graap. “Our objective is really to watch our own squad, to really pay attention to the details of the game, not so much as to always worry about the score.” The Red was ranked No. 12 in the nation last year, a notch higher than Penn State, with an 11-5 overall record. The team finished fourth in the Ivy League (4-3) behind a three-way tie for first place between Princeton, Dartmouth, and Yale. While the women’s lacrosse team, like every other team at Cornell, aspires to win the Ivy League, it also hopes for success on the national scale with a berth into the NCAA tournament. “In women’s lacrosse, different than a lot of sports here at Cornell, the Ivy League is a dominant league in the nation,” said Graap. “To say you are going to win the Ivy, you might as well say you are going to win the national championship.” The Red’s regular season begins Feb. 28 at Georgetown, a rematch of the 2002 NCAA semifinal game won by Georgetown in overtime, 12-10. While the contest should be a heated battle, the team is not worrying about it at the moment. “Right now we’re concentrating on our goals in the fall,” said Graap, “which is to really get the freshmen acclimated to the program and to work on our team chemistry and getting everyone into a cohesive unit.”Archived article by Dan Carroll