Thomas Hauser on Sports: Remembering the Journey

In the Press Box

In 2009, I revisited Columbia football. In the Press Box Let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first. Entering the 2009 season, the Columbia football team had lost 605 games. Only two teams in college football history—Northwestern (614 losses) andVMI (612)—have lost more.The last Columbia coach to compile a winning record was Charles Crowley, who relinquished the reins in 1929. The first Columbia football game I saw was the home opener against Princeton in 1963. In the forty-six years that I’ve been following Columbia football, the Lions have had three winning seasons. During that time, their record has been 103 victories, 330 defeats, and 9 ties. Discounting the ties, that comes to a .238 winning percentage.This is not good. On the plus side; Baker Field is a nice place to watch a football game. Tickets are always available. And the Lions are true student athletes. Football is an extracurricular activity at Columbia; not an obsession.The players play because they love the game. During my years as a student at Columbia, I went to all but one home game. Now I go to one game a year and listen to several more on WKCR. My sport of choice has become boxing.As a writer, I’ve covered hundreds of fights from ringside. I realized this summer that, for all the times I’d seen the Lions play football, I’d never been in the press box for a Columbia game. I decided to fill that void in my life by writing about this year’s home opener against Central Connecticut State. September 26 was a perfect day for football. Blue sky, a gentle breeze, temperature in the mid-sixties. On a day like that, there’s no nicer place to watch a game than Robert K.Kraft Field in Lawrence A.Wein Stadium at the Baker Athletics Complex. The press room atWein Stadium overlooks the field from high above the back row of the stands.A long built-in table and sixteen chairs are set against a windowed wall that offers a panoramic view of the field.A second table and ten chairs stand on a platform close behind. 182 THOMAS HAUSER There had been twenty-seven requests for press credentials. I was seated in the front row overlooking the fifty-yard-line. Major media was largely absent.The Columbia Daily Spectator was well represented, as were several college-football Internet sites. Most of the reporters were of student age. I was one of the few with gray hair. I was also one of the few writing longhand on a yellow pad. Laptops were the preferred means of note taking.There was wireless Internet access. Muffins, bagels, fresh fruit, and bottled beverages were set out on a table at the north end of the room. Copies of the Columbia football media guide and the day’s game program were also available. This was the first meeting on the gridiron between Columbia and Central Connecticut State. One cynic suggested that CCS doesn’t really have a football team; that their coach went through the dorms onThursday night asking, “Does anyone want to play Columbia in football on Saturday?” In reality, Central Connecticut State had a 4-and-3 record in Northeast conference play last year (losing to Albany, Monmouth, and Robert Morris). It had split its first two games of the 2009 campaign. Columbia had won its 2009 season opener against Fordham 40–28 and was bidding to win its first two games for the fifth time in fifty-seven years. The game began at 12:30. Columbia returned the opening kick to its own forty-four-yard line.A face-mask penalty against Central Connecticut State, a twenty-eight-yard pass from M.A. Olawale to Joseph Taylor, and three well-executed rushes by Ray Rangel followed. Seventy-six seconds into the game, the Lions led 7–0. Three minutes later, Columbia had the ball again, pinned inside its own one-yard line. Rangel for forty-nine yards on first down. Rangel for thirty-four yards on first down. First and ten Columbia on the Central Connecticut State seventeen.The Lions looked like Ohio State. Then the drive sputtered.A Columbia field goal attempt was blocked. Late in the quarter, Central Connecticut State blocked a punt and recovered at the Lions one-yard line.A heroic defensive stand stopped them cold. At the end of the first quarter, the Lions...