FADEM: BC is owning us this year

According to the ever-reliable Wikipedia, ‘basketball is typically the hot-button sport in the America East Conference, though most rivalries bridge across all sports.’ When looking through the America East rivalries, Boston University is found to rival the University of Vermont.
Is the University of Vermont really Boston University’s rival? I don’t think so. This ‘rivalry’ was never spelled out for me at orientation ‘-‘- I never received anti-Catamount literature and was never taught that the biggest game in any sport at BU is when the ‘hippies’ of UVM make like tourists and come to Beantown.
I was, and still am, under the impression that Boston College is BU’s rival. There isn’t a school that I’ve been conditioned to hate more than BC. It’s reinforced at hockey games when I maliciously yell, ‘Rough ’em up! Rough ’em up! BC sucks!’ upwards of five times per game. ‘The Song’ is a hate song aimed at BC.
But here’s the thing ‘-‘- BC isn’t in Boston University’s conference in all sports. And there isn’t a guarantee that every BU team will play the school on the hill each season.
The men’s basketball team hasn’t competed against the Eagles since an 80-74 loss Dec. 11, 2004. I hear that BC is afraid that someway, somehow BU will pull off a victory and leave its precious basketball program hurting worse than the Pats post-Brady knee injury (see Robert Morris, Jan. 7, 2008). The last time the women’s basketball team tipped off against Boston College? Dec. 18, 2005. It’s been a while.
It’s obvious in hockey ‘-‘- the sport that is most valuable to this school ‘-‘- that Boston College is Boston University’s rival. There is nothing better than the Green Line Friday/Saturday early December matchup. I get to feel clean, happy and comfortable one night in the lovely confines of Agganis Arena and then follow it up the next night with a little self-hating, disrespect, disgust and probable fog out in Conte Forum.
But what about all the other sports at BU? Can we say Boston College is our rival even though we don’t compete in the same athletic conference, even though every game we compete against BC ‘-‘- except in hockey ‘-‘- is billed as non-conference?
Let’s say we do. Well, that’s terrible news because BU has not beat BC in any sport since April 9 of last year, when the women’s tennis team sank the Eagles, 4-3. That victory was the first time BU beat BC in women’s tennis since 2002. Three days later, the Eagles hockey team went off and won their third national championship, beating who it considers its ‘rival,’ Notre Dame.
This year alone, BU has a 0-3-1 record against the Eagles. Both the men’s and women’s soccer teams began their seasons in Newton and both lost – 1-0 for the women, 2-1 for the men. Midway through September, the field hockey team traveled down Commonwealth Avenue, where it was routed, 4-2. The tie? That happened in a women’s softball exhibition game in the first weekend of October.
What’s worse is that even in non-team sports and tournaments, BC is still winning! Take cross country: The men’s team has been doing pretty well this year ‘-‘- a fourth-place finish in the Dartmouth Invitational and a second-place finish in the Ted Owen Invitational. Then came the first tournament in which BC was represented. Eric Ashe of BU was the highest-placing Terrier, finishing 13th. In that same race, the winner was Tim Ritchie of Boston College. To be fair, BU finished sixth in the tournament to BC’s ninth. That kind of counts as a win, right?
The women’s cross country team was enjoying similar success before the appearance of Superfan-athletes. The lady Terriers finished third in the Dartmouth Invitational, first in the Ted Owen Invitational and fifth in the New England Championship. Who won the New England Championship? Boston College.
And get this: This past weekend, the women’s golf team teed off at the Rutgers Invitational ‘-‘- its third tournament of the year. BU finished tied for 14th. Boston College won the whole thing.
When will the pain be subdued?
This is all just silly. BC is curb-stomping us this year and not stopping. It hurts so bad to consistently lose to your ‘rival’ with no real end in sight.
The Eagles do enjoy the luxuries of being in a conference with the prestige of the ACC. They do more recruiting and are, I would say, slightly more well-known in athletics than Boston University.
But there are some games in which recruiting and talent shouldn’t matter ‘-‘- games where willpower, desire, motivation and adrenaline take over. Those games should always be against Boston College.
BC men’s hockey began the season as the nation’s top-ranked team. The Eagles beat Wisconsin, 5-4, with two short-handed goals and two power-play goals last Friday to remain No. 1 after one week of play.
During Friday night’s BU hockey game, the radio voice of the Terriers, Bernie Corbett, said something interesting: ‘I don’t think BC is going to lose this season until they run into BU.’ As much as I want to see BC lose every game they play in every sport, if BU gets to crush an immaculate record then I would get a massive amount of satisfaction from it. But I don’t want to be waiting that long to see a BU team beat BC.
When’s the next shot we have to topple Newton College? The women’s hockey team gets its first crack Nov. 22 at Chestnut Hill. All the pressure is on you, ladies. Things need to change. Because for the good of this fine, private institution, we need to start beating Boston College.

Brian Fadem, a junior in the College of Communication, is a weekly columnist for The Daily Free Press. He can be reached at bfadem@bu.edu. For more of Brian, visit thehotdogandjesus.blogspot.com.