Out of the roughly 1,000-word sports column that Brian Fadem wrote Tuesday, the 20 words he devoted to what happened in the two-and-a-half games he witnessed over the weekend are rather unsurprising (“The BU sports weekend from you know where,” Dec. 4, p. 8). I take that back, it actually is surprising — it has elevated his average to around 10 words a week. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I always assumed that columns within newspapers should be relevant to the section in which they appear, rather than something worthy of a personal blog on LiveJournal.
Personal vendettas against the illogical presence of a hot dog and Jesus at Terrier games aside, Fadem’s column has remained a high point in my Tuesday schedule, as reading the column fulfills the voyeuristic void inside of me. I’m unsure what I would do if I had to turn to Facebook in public to indulge my internal urge to stalk others.
The continual egoism displayed on the sports page is truly spectacular. Rather than focusing on what gameplay errors were made, or proposing changes beyond reintroducing Tyler Morris to the men’s basketball team as the penultimate act to winning, Fadem chose to recount the adventures of his friend and him. Columns, by definition, are expected to have a personality-driven opinion on an appropriate topic. While the personality quota can safely be said to have been filled, the closest Fadem came to providing an opinion was sustained for three paragraphs on the perceived lack of enthusiasm of the Dog Pound.
Having been present in Section 118 for Saturday’s hockey game, I will agree that it may not have been as enthusiastic as possible. That having been understood, however, claiming fans were unwilling to finish chants exaggerated the spirit of the night. Coming off a 6-2 loss to Boston College, coupled with the decrease in intensity of play of our team after the first five minutes, fans were understandingly disappointed, but not as despondent as described.
Using his sports column as a soapbox to complain about the unfairness of BC ushers or to elevate his status as a true fan among a sea of fair-weather ones, Fadem draws the focus away from the sports teams and toward himself. While he claims to have composed one-half of the two fans (presumably Jesus being the second half of this duo) present at the men’s basketball game against Manhattan, I can currently name at least five others present in BU colors and not in irrelevant costume.
Inconsistent reporting, self-promotion and discussions about “hot” cheerleaders or dance team members do not make a sports column. Then again, perhaps I’m wrong, and this criticism of a lack of consistent coverage of sports within Fadem’s columns is a false conception on my part. If this is the case, and an intelligible defense stating that detailing the life of a fan is in fact appropriate for a column devoted to the coverage of sports, I can only say one thing to such an argument: fair enough.
Rosalyn Pierce
CAS ’09