With the final athletic seasons of the year winding down, and the academic year soon to come to a close, now is the time for the Class of 2018 to reflect on their time here at Whitman. For athletes, this is especially bittersweet given that for most, this time also coincides with a realization that they are coming to the end, if not already have ended, their careers as competitive athletes. The Wire spoke with seniors who reflected on their years as Blues: Emma Bishop, lacrosse; Noah Schlenk, swimming; Noah Cavanaugh, soccer; and Tim Howell, basketball.

Whitman Wire: How does it feel to be coming to the end of your last year at Whitman? How does being an athlete here play into the feelings you are having about the end of this year?

Noah Schlenk: It feels pretty nice. I’ve been swimming since I was 2 and after 19 years it feels good to be finished with that chapter of my life and headed towards new things. Academically it’s a similar feeling of being ready to try something that doesn’t require me to take finals. It’s really just a lot of relaxation and acceptance for me.

Noah Cavanaugh: I love it here in Walla Walla, but I’m also really excited to move on to bigger and better things! It’s hard to think of what college would be like without all the friends I’ve made playing soccer and having time with both my team and the women’s team. More than anything I’ll miss the game days, training sessions, and hang outs that we all had together.

WW: What was it like to compete for the last time?

Emma Bishop: It felt a bit surreal. I am different from many other varsity athletes at Whitman though, because I started playing lacrosse while here. I can’t image what it must be like to finish playing a sport that one has been competing in for say 8 or 10 years. During my last game my brain kept switching in and out of a competitive mindset, I noticed that I just kept stepping back and trying to absorb and recognize the moment.

NS: Relieving with a hint of sadness. There’s a lot of appreciation for being able to make it this far without a traumatic injury, and it’s always hard to move on from something you’ve given so much time and energy to for so much of your life. It’s strange to think that things will never be the same in terms of intensity and sacrifice, yet the fact that you won’t be pushing yourself to the point of injury anymore is also a relieving feeling.

NC: It was pretty incredible. I’m fortunate enough to be able to continue playing and go professional, so my last game was sad just in the sense that I wouldn’t play on the Whitman field and with the boys again.

WW: How has being an athlete here at Whitman impacted your college experience overall?

EB: Being an athlete at Whitman greatly improved my college experience. I came to Whitman with no intention of playing a varsity sport, my hope had been to embrace intramural sports. By the middle of my first semester, however, I knew something was missing. I missed the community that a team provides, and decided to reach out to the new lacrosse coach in the hopes of finding that community again. Evidently that meeting went well. The women’s lacrosse team has provided such a great community and environment for me to both push myself and find solace within. The organization practice adds to my schedule, the mental benefits of being active for at least two hours a day, and the friendships formed all made varsity athletics a really critical aspect of my Whitman experience.

NC: Playing a sport in college was a great choice, and I would not have it any other way. It’s easy to say that life would be just fine without the soccer team and all that, but I do believe that it was the best experience I’ve had in college. Those are the memories I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

Tim Howell: Being an athlete has impacted my college experience in so many ways. I felt I was viewed as a leader on and off the court, especially within the Walla Walla community which was also an amazing experience.

NS: It gave me a friend group to support me, and provided an area in my life that forced me to be good at managing my time efficiently. My path without athletics would probably have led me to very different people and a very different experience and I’m fairly satisfied with the experience I had going down the athletics path.

WW: If you could do it all again, would you choose to be an athlete? Why or why not?

EB:  It can be hard, but the benefits definitely outweigh the challenges. The memories made with my team while traveling, my growth as an individual and member of a team, and the many other aspects of playing a sport are worth the effort.

TH: Yes, I would be an athlete all over again, because I have such a passion for the game. During my four years as a collegiate athlete, I’ve made so many great friends, met lots of new people, learned life long lessons on and off the court, and was able to inspire and be inspired by others which was something that was special to me.

NS: Of course. Having swam 15 years leading up to college I would have regretted it forever if I didn’t finish out my last four years of competitive swimming. It gave me discipline and kept me healthy through the most stressful times of college.

As these athletes approach graduation, they are all making plans for the future. Schlenk is planning on working as a PT Aid for a year or 2 before attending Doctor of Physical Therapy School. Bishop hopes to work at a law firm or consulting firm for the next few years before attending law school. Both Cavanaugh and Howell intend to continue their careers by pursuing their sports professionally, with Cavanaugh already lined up to play overseas. In the long run, however, Cavanaugh intends to go back to school to get his doctorate and become a chiropractor.

A common misconception of collegiate sports, most prominently at the DIII level, is that they come to a halt when the traditional season is over. However, it is more accurate to say that when the season is over, the real work begins.

But wait … what exactly is an “official off-season?” According to the NCAA, there are two official seasons in the academic year for each sport. One is considered a playing season and the other a practicing season. Depending on the sport, coaches are allocated a certain number of practices over a certain amount of weeks. For example, NCAA allows women’s soccer programs at the DIII level to practice a total of 16 times in the spring season, in addition to two regulation soccer contests, or 180 minutes of competition activity.

We spoke to several athletes who are currently coming to the end of their respective official off-seasons: Claire McCarthy, a first-year volleyball player; Codie Conching, a junior volleyball player; and Ellie Chidsey, a first-year cross country runner.

Whitman Wire: What does a typical off-season schedule for your team/sport look like?

Claire McCarthy: This year, we started captain’s practices and lifts about a week after we got back from winter break. We lifted twice a week, had a “metcon” every Friday (which is just roughly half an hour of intense agility followed by abs), had at least one open gym a week, and coached at PONO volleyball academy twice a week. After spring break, we started our official spring season. We have team practices once a week, individual sessions based on position twice a week, lift twice a week, and coach at the academy twice a week. Even though we have mandatory lifts and practices, most of us workout more on our own time, or play grass for extra reps, so when we step into the gym, we are walking into the gym stronger and ready to compete at a higher level than the last time.

Ellie Chidsey: Whitman has a club track program which operates officially for five weeks in the spring semester, from roughly after Presidents day until the first week of April or so. During those five weeks we operate like a varsity program (meaning use of varsity weight room, coaches and Whitman athletics funding).

WW: How does the focus of the official off-season differ from the regular season (besides not playing conference games)?

Codie Conching: We focus a lot on the little things. We try to tackle the things we need the most improvement on. We usually have individual meetings with our coaches at the beginning of the spring to talk about what our main focus is for the 16 days we have. I like the positional practices in the spring because the coaches are more available for one-on-one critiques and improvements, whereas in the fall we don’t have much time to work on the specifics.

CM: The work we are doing now is completely different from what we have done in our regular season. There is a much greater emphasis on our mentality and building our physical strength, as well as a focus on the basic skills and creating connections with our teammates (like from passers to setters and from setters to hitters).

WW: What do you think is the main goal of the off-season?

CC: [The goal of the off-season is] to fine tune the things that we needed to improve in the past fall, get strong (in the weight room) and create a culture of hard work to carry on into summer training when we are alone, wherever we may be.

WW: How important do you think the off-season is to the success of your team?

EC: It is up to each runner’s discretion how many races they do, so it is pretty individual how that translates as success into the next fall season.

CM: Without the spring season, I don’t think our team would have grown as close, strong and competitive. Spring season was necessary, and although it has pushed us to our limits many times, I would gladly do it all again and am excited to do it again next spring because I know that I will grow even closer with these amazing, strong, intelligent women who have become my best friends and the memories we will make from it.

A common misconception of collegiate sports, most prominently at the DIII level, is that they come to a halt when the traditional season is over. However, it is more accurate to say that when the season is over, the real work begins.

But wait … what exactly is an “official off-season?” According to the NCAA, there are two official seasons in the academic year for each sport. One is considered a playing season and the other a practicing season. Depending on the sport, coaches are allocated a certain number of practices over a certain amount of weeks. For example, NCAA allows women’s soccer programs at the DIII level to practice a total of 16 times in the spring season, in addition to two regulation soccer contests, or 180 minutes of competition activity.

We spoke to several athletes who are currently coming to the end of their respective official off-seasons: Claire McCarthy, a first-year volleyball player; Codie Conching, a junior volleyball player; and Ellie Chidsey, a first-year cross country runner.

Whitman Wire: What does a typical off-season schedule for your team/sport look like?

Claire McCarthy: This year, we started captain’s practices and lifts about a week after we got back from winter break. We lifted twice a week, had a “metcon” every Friday (which is just roughly half an hour of intense agility followed by abs), had at least one open gym a week, and coached at PONO volleyball academy twice a week. After spring break, we started our official spring season. We have team practices once a week, individual sessions based on position twice a week, lift twice a week, and coach at the academy twice a week. Even though we have mandatory lifts and practices, most of us workout more on our own time, or play grass for extra reps, so when we step into the gym, we are walking into the gym stronger and ready to compete at a higher level than the last time.

Ellie Chidsey: Whitman has a club track program which operates officially for five weeks in the spring semester, from roughly after Presidents day until the first week of April or so. During those five weeks we operate like a varsity program (meaning use of varsity weight room, coaches and Whitman athletics funding).

WW: How does the focus of the official off-season differ from the regular season (besides not playing conference games)?

Codie Conching: We focus a lot on the little things. We try to tackle the things we need the most improvement on. We usually have individual meetings with our coaches at the beginning of the spring to talk about what our main focus is for the 16 days we have. I like the positional practices in the spring because the coaches are more available for one-on-one critiques and improvements, whereas in the fall we don’t have much time to work on the specifics.

CM: The work we are doing now is completely different from what we have done in our regular season. There is a much greater emphasis on our mentality and building our physical strength, as well as a focus on the basic skills and creating connections with our teammates (like from passers to setters and from setters to hitters).

WW: What do you think is the main goal of the off-season?

CC: [The goal of the off-season is] to fine tune the things that we needed to improve in the past fall, get strong (in the weight room) and create a culture of hard work to carry on into summer training when we are alone, wherever we may be.

WW: How important do you think the off-season is to the success of your team?

EC: It is up to each runner’s discretion how many races they do, so it is pretty individual how that translates as success into the next fall season.

CM: Without the spring season, I don’t think our team would have grown as close, strong and competitive. Spring season was necessary, and although it has pushed us to our limits many times, I would gladly do it all again and am excited to do it again next spring because I know that I will grow even closer with these amazing, strong, intelligent women who have become my best friends and the memories we will make from it.

On Saturday April 7 against Pacific Lutheran University (PLU), Whitman’s women’s tennis team not only secured a remarkable 9-0 win as a team, but also made history. During a doubles match with Andrea Gu, senior Hanna Greenberg joined Whitman’s Century Club by winning her hundredth career match at Whitman. To further improve her special day, she later added her one-hundred and first win with a singles victory over PLU’s Bayley Gouchanour.

When asked about how it felt to join the Century Club, Greenberg stated: “Joining the Century Club was a big goal of mine, and to be able to do it on our home courts was awesome. My team, coaches, friends and family made it such a special day, and I am so grateful for all of them.”

Head Coach John Hein was also very proud of such an accomplishment: “The way she played showed everything what we have seen for four years as a competitor. She is super athletic, and a fierce competitor who does it with grace and compassion; I’m so proud of her play and love that she’s got this milestone under her belt and is playing great tennis at the right time of year.”

As special as it was, Gu also expressed that what made the day so special for the Blues was the nature of the weekend:

“We hosted the match for the SOS fundraiser at Bratton, where we kicked off Saturday’s match against Pacific Lutheran with a kid’s tennis clinic. I got to work with some middle schoolers as we tuned up their groundstrokes as well as serves. That was such an energetic way to start the day, and it was fun bonding with children in the community who share our love for the game,” Gu stated.

The women as a whole have had a successful season, with a record of 7-1-0 (as of April 14) in conference. Coach John Hein had this to say this about their season thus far:

“I’m so proud of this team. The season has had a different rhythm than previous ones and some of the competitive identity as a team and individual growth we’d hoped to see early on came in March. Spring break was really important for us. I know I sound like such a coach, but the losses to Vassar and Trinity were a blessing that let us focus on how we need to compete rather than fighting ourselves for results. The team really stepped up and since then, we’ve really had a lot more ease and joy to our play and now things are really clicking as we prep for postseason,” Hein said.

Gu also felt that there had been some immense growth in her second year at Whitman. “As much as there are the usual nerves going into matches, the team’s support for each other makes every moment so enjoyable and I cherish all the memories we make, both on the road and especially at home. In doubles, Hanna and I have felt so much confidence since coming into the season, as well as building off of nationals in the fall. We complement each other very well all-around, so we’re pretty much unstoppable! It’s been such an honor to be playing alongside one of two amazing seniors on our team; I don’t want it to end,” Gu stated.

When asked what their hopes were for the rest of the season, both Greenberg and Gu expressed that the team’s main goal was to win the conference title; this would secure them an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. On a more personal note, Gu looks forward to:

“Better outdoor tennis weather here in Walla Walla, and cherishing every moment until the end of the season,” Gu said.

Coach Hein expressed the importance that the team at this point in the season “find that balance of keeping our foot on the gas while trusting how good we are.”

A 6-3 win against Whitworth this last weekend secured the team a second-place seed in the conference tournament, taking place at Linfield on April 21 and 22nd.

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The women’s tennis team enters the NWC Playoffs as the #2 seed and will play Lewis and clark in the semifinal before facing the winner between host Linfield and Whitworth.

On March 16 to 18, the women’s golf team travelled across the country to compete in the Jekyll Island Collegiate Invitational. Hosted by Oglethorpe University, the tournament took place at the Indian Mounds Golf Course in Jekyll Island, Georgia. Shiyang Fan and Phoebe Nguyen both performed well; Nguyen (71-68-75—214, minus-2) placed first in the tournament overall, with Fan (74-75-76—225, plus-3) close behind in third. In addition, by taking fourth place in the tournament overall out of 24 teams, the team was also able to move up from #17 in the nation to #4. We spoke with Nguyen, Fan and Coach Skip Molitor.Contributed by Skip Molitor

WW: How do you think you performed in this tournament?

Fan: I think I am happy with the result of the tournament even though I feel like I didn’t play as well as I would like to. My ball striking was not great but I am proud of myself for staying patient and making up for my ball striking with my short game. Overall, I had a lot of fun playing the tournament and know what I need to work on in the future.

Nguyen: I am really proud of my performance having won the tournament individually.

WW: What was your mentality going into the tournament? What do you think led to your overall success in the tournament?

Fan: I was relaxed going into the tournament. I had just won the previous tournament so I had confidence going into this tournament and was comfortable with all aspects of my game. I was also excited because I knew this tournament had a good field with many of the top teams and players in the country, so I knew it would improve our team ranking a lot if we played well in the tournament. I think staying calm and patient even when my ball striking was not where I want it to be was key for me. And my short game definitely helped a lot. I only had two birdies for the entire tournament but saved a lot of pars because of my short game.

Nguyen: Honestly, I felt like I was not as prepared as I have been in the past since it was only a week since we started competing in the spring. Sometimes when I start a tournament, I am searching for results instead of staying in the moment and playing my own game. However, I think that my mentality of not expecting results heading into the tournament is what allowed me to play freely and have a fun time with my team. Also, it was pretty special knowing that this tournament was very important in terms of boosting our ranking nationally, but my team was able to embrace the pressure and perform how we know we are able to.

WW: How do you think your golfers performed at the tournament?

Coach Molitor: The Jekyll Island Invitational was a great experience for our team. The caliber of the tournament was very similar to the national championship and it was a confidence builder for our players to compete at the top of the leaderboard, eventually coming away with one of the four team trophies.

WW: What do you think led to Nguyen’s success in the tournament?

Coach Molitor: Nguyen’s performance was amazing. Her two under par finish broke the tournament scoring record. Her confidence and composure is as impressive as I have ever seen it.

WW: What do you think led to Fan’s success in the tournament?

Coach Molitor: Fan was incredibly consistent and is well positioned to contend in our two major conference tournaments coming up: the Spring Classic and the NWC Championship.

WW: Was there anyone else that you think stood out in this tournament and why?

Coach Molitor: Our younger players gained valuable experience that will pay dividends if we make the NCAA Championship in May.

The team will be traveling to Spokane next weekend (April 7 and 8) to compete in the NWC Spring Classic at Whitworth University and will compete in the NWC Championships two weeks later in Tacoma.Contributed by Skip Molitor

Concussions are a major issue in contact sports; in recent years this has come to occupy a central role in the discussion of athlete health, as exemplified by the 2015 film “Concussion,” starring Will Smith. Many sports organizations within the last decade have made efforts to step up and make a commitment to preventing head injuries from happening, or, if not possible, preventing them from escalating to detrimental points. But how does this all affect our own athletic programs here at Whitman? I spoke with both faculty and student athletes in the Whitman community to talk about the dangers of concussions, how they are handled and what the future holds for concussion awareness.

If one is not familiar with the issue of concussions and similar head injuries, one may wonder what the exact repercussions are of having a concussion. Nathan Fry, the Assistant Athletic Trainer for Whitman Athletics, explained the risks.

“Dangers range from no real danger all the way to death and everywhere in between. Some concussions have no lasting effects while others can cause psychological changes and permanent brain damage. Multiple concussions given proper time to heal do not usually have serious consequences,” Fry said.

But what happens when an athlete does not allow proper time to heal such an injury? Fry states that this “can lead to second impact syndrome. Typically, when you hear of an athlete dying or suffering permanent damage from a concussion it is associated with second impact syndrome.”

Keith Farrington, a Professor of Sociology at Whitman and an avid sports fan, spoke briefly about the ethical repercussions that come with supporting contact sports that put athletes at constant risk for concussion:

“Football right now is a guilty pleasure because I know full well about concussions; I know full well that a lot of these guys that I love watching play when they reach the age that I’m at (if they’re fortunate enough to do so) their mind may be diminished and their physical bodies may be all beat up, and I have to deal with that as a human being. I’m rooting for something that may be harmful for the people that are playing it,” Farrington said.

When concussions are not handled in a proper manner, as outlined by Fry, they can have serious consequences and it then becomes ethically immoral to support the endangerment of athletes for profit and popularity.

So now, one may ask: how does our athletic department diagnose possible concussions and begin to treat them properly?

“We use a couple different programs to track an athletes’ concussion and their eventual return to sports. We use an online program call XLNT Brain and the SCAT 3 program. Both of these programs help to diagnose a concussion and monitor symptom levels. Once an athlete has passed the XLNT Brain test and has returned to their baseline for symptoms they are run through a progressive exercise program over the course of roughly a week before they are allowed to return to full sports participation,” Fry explained. He also wanted to make especially clear that “all [concussions are] different, even subsequent concussions for a given person can be different, so any concussion protocol has designated steps but is also inherently flexible enough to deal with different grades of concussion and the different symptoms the athlete may be experiencing.”

Fry was also able to speak to the plans that have been put in place by the NCAA itself to regulate the diagnosis and treatment of concussions, as well as the priority that is put on them as a serious injury:

“The NCAA has mandated that all student athletes and coaches take an educational session on concussions. Most NCAA member institutions hand out an informational pamphlet and require everyone to sign a document stating they have read the information. I believe this coupled with the fact that every NCAA institution has an athletic trainer on staff is enough to manage concussion severity … There are also companies who are developing concussion tracking devices that can be placed in either a helmet or headband that tracks the number of blows the athlete has received. These devices are great but costly at this point, but I do see them being widely used in the near future,” Fry said.

Sam Geschickter, a first-year basketball player who was unable to step on the court this year because of a head injury, was able to speak to the support he has received in just his first year as a part of the basketball program, and Whitman athletics as a whole.

“My coaches and trainers at Whitman have been incredible. I’m lucky to be at a place where my health is the first priority, that doesn’t happen at every school … The trainers here have done a great job working with me and doing the correct testing and helping me understand the best way to move forward with less risk of a concussion in the future. My coaches’ only concern the whole time was my long-term health. They never once talked about how me being out would impact our team. They just kept saying that they would never allow me to put my health at serious risk,” Geschickter said.

However, Geschickter felt that some changes did need to be made in order to allow for more flexibility with the treatment of such injuries, to both allow the athlete to manage their own body and to prevent athletes from making dangerous choices:

“I think the rules of each sport are changing and need to continue to change to put a reasonable emphasis on preventing hits to the head. When players do get a head injury there needs to be a more realistic concussion protocol. The options right now are either to report a concussion and have to sit out an unnecessary amount of time, or don’t report and have to keep playing right away. There is no in between where a player can decide when they feel ready to play again like you might with a sprained ankle for example,” Geschickter said.

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Contributed Photo

With the season already having begun, the baseball team has high hopes to take the conference title this season. Head Coach Brian Kitamura took over in 2015 after five seasons as head Assistant Coach, and instantly things started to turn around for the team. In his first season he doubled the win total, and the following year in 2017 the team finished with a season that ranked as the second-highest win total since 1982.

The team took a preseason trip to Southern California, where they were able to get some early success to boost confidence going in to conference play.

“We’ve had every player working their tail off to be the best they can be. Our recent games in California allowed us to get our feet wet and showed us our potential to be a top tier team in the Pacific Northwest conference,” said first-year Tristan Kalnins.

While things have started slow for the Blues’ conference record (losing 3 out of 4 conference games thus far), senior catcher Jasper Crusberg is hopeful that they will be able to turn it around as the season progresses:

“I think we have started a bit slow but I think that is to be expected early on and with some of the key contributors we have lost from last year. I believe our team feels if we continue doing what we’re doing, things will start to turn around for us,” Crusberg said.

In regards to goals for the season, both Tristan and Jasper expressed that the team’s goal for this season was to win the conference championship.

“We each challenge each other trying to reach our max potential. We hope to grow more as we learn more about our strengths and weakness against each team and learn how to use what we learn in order to win a conference title,” Kalnins said.

As a right-handed pitcher, Jasper also expressed that the pitchers individually were all hoping to have a 66 percent or greater strike percentage. They hope to achieve this through the work they have done in the off season, with individual workouts catered to their specific positional needs.

“We’ve spent countless hours on the field and in the weightroom. We’ve had a lot of players with injury in the past so one of our main goals has been to stay healthy and I think the specific individual workouts have definitely helped. Individually, I’ve been practicing yoga to maintain flexibility after recovering from a high school shoulder injury,” Crusberg said.

Finally, seniors Joseph Zimmer, Jasper Crusberg and Anthony Lim were able to speak to the drastic improvements that have occurred over the last couple of seasons.

“Our team has raised the overall expectations and redefined what success means for Whitman baseball. In years past there was not much talk about winning, and now it’s what we expect to do every time we take the field,” Zimmer said.

“We as a team have worked very hard to create a new team culture. I strongly believe that we have drastically improved the team culture compared to when the senior class came in as first-years. It’s something we all take pride in and appreciated the growth and change that we have developed within the program,” Crusberg said.

Lim echoed that hope. “To continue that trend and pass the torch to the younger guys so that it can continue for years to come [would be great].”

The Blues will be playing their next home games at Pacific University Feb. 24 and 25, playing a double header on Saturday (5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.) and a single game at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday.

The Super Bowl is a true American tradition. Every February, hundreds of millions of football fans gather around their televisions to watch the final game of the NFL season. This year was historic in more ways than one; the Philadelphia Eagles squeaked by with a 41-33 victory over the New England Patriots, the first Super Bowl title for the Eagles in team history. In addition, the Eagles pulled off the win with their backup quarterback, Nick Foles, who took over after the first string quarterback and MVP candidate Carson Wentz went out with an injury in December. Needless to say, the Eagles were underdogs who, with a little luck, were able to take their moment and run.

Samarah Uribe Mendez
Students gathered in Jewett Hall to watch the Super Bowl

This week, I spoke to two students, Sherwin Amsbaugh and Alyssa Taylor, in addition to Professor of Sociology Keith Farrington about their experiences this year watching Super Bowl LII. Professor Farrington and Sherwin are both lifelong Patriots fans, with Alyssa being native to the Philly area and a fan of the winning Eagles. Sherwin recalls the moment he became a Patriots fan:

“I became a fan of the New England Patriots because when I was young my family was in Denver and took me to a Broncos-Patriots game. Before the game they took me to a jersey store and told me I could get any jersey in the whole store. For whatever reason I chose a Brady jersey, and the rest is history. I still have that Brady jersey hung up at home,” Amsbaugh said.

Professor Farrington had a more personal connection to the Patriots, also recalling the not-so-glamorous streak the team has had until relatively recently: “I’m from Massachusetts … and as a kid enjoyed Boston sports in general, like the Red Sox and the Celtics and the Patriots. The Patriots had a really miserable history … they were not run effectively as a business; they had all kinds of crazy things happen to them. When it finally felt like they were going to reach legitimacy, they would lose a coach or there would be a big scandal. So, they never quite reached a level of legitimacy like other teams such as the Green Bay Packers and Miami Dolphins or the Pittsburgh Steelers. And so, the last 15 years or so have been remarkable. It makes everything else worth it,” Farrington said.

When all three fans were asked what was their favorite part of watching the Super Bowl this year was, Alyssa was of course proud of the fact that her team had finally won a title: “The Eagles have only been in the Super Bowl one other time while I’ve been alive, I think around 2004 … [so my favorite part was that] my team won,” she said.

Professor Farrington was optimistic and appreciated “the consistent excellence demonstrated by the coaching staff and the players. I mean they have been to seven Super Bowls in the last 10 to 12 years and every one has been a close game … Of course the Patriots have lost several of them (including this one) but they have lost to really good teams playing very well and the ones they have won, they have played very well against good teams,” he said.

Finally, I asked the three what they thought about football’s importance in American tradition. Professor Farrington recalled the time when it seemed there was a shift in popular sport culture:

“It’s been interesting because as I said I have been around for a while and watching sports for a long time. Baseball was the national pastime when I was a kid. I remember kids taking off from high school to watch the World Series or sitting there with a little transistor radio to do so. But football has surpassed baseball in the public mind and it is fascinating to wonder why. I wonder if maybe somehow it fulfills a lot of the same urges and satisfactions that military activity used to; it’s very strategic, it’s a battle, it’s physical and really very masculine… I’m not sure it’s a good thing necessarily and I’m not sure it’s going to sustain itself indefinitely in the future, but I think it’s a huge part of culture,” Farrington said.

Sherwin felt football “has provided so many role models and teaches people of all ages about hard work and overcoming adversity.”

Alyssa, similarly felt football was important ultimately because “it can bring family and friends together, unite cities and it makes people feel connected to the place that they come from even when they’re far away.”

All in all, the future for American football seems bright as Eagles fans celebrate and others look forward to next February.

Samarah Uribe Mendez
Students gathered in Jewett Hall to watch the Super Bowl

Samarah Uribe Mendez
Students gathered in Jewett Hall to watch the Super Bowl