There I was in Boston last April, frantically trying to beat my deadline the night the Terrapin women’s basketball team won the national championship.
It was the most hectic couple of hours I’ve ever been a part of. My cell phone rang, and on the line was a friend, with screams in the background, telling me the students were rioting.
“Get outta here,” I said back. “Seriously?”
As shocked as I was, I have to admit I was a bit amused. More importantly, it made me realize sports really are the backbone of this university.
It’s hard to get thousands of students out of bed on a Saturday morning for anything other than a noon football game.
During basketball season, many of these same students can be found waiting in line two hours before a game starts.
To some students, the score of a football or basketball game at this university is as important as their GPA.
And even though some students may have hurt their legs hopping on the bandwagon for the men’s soccer and women’s basketball teams last year, it still shows the energy toward anything related to Terp sports.
Whether students deserve their bad reputation, there’s no denying that there’s plenty of passion.
Because of that, as sports editor, I realize how important the back pages of The Diamondback are each day. Our section will continue to improve this year.
Our before and after football coverage will expand immensely this year. Look for a more improved preview section on Fridays for the next day’s game as well as blowout football coverage on Mondays.
Our website – www.diamondbackonline.com – will feature live game updates from the stadium. If you can’t make it out to Byrd Stadium – I mean, Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium – or you’re not in the College Park area and can’t see the game on television, load up our website for enhanced game coverage.
Something that has slowly caught on during the past two years has been columns; the sports section will continue that trend this year with more columns on a weekly basis.
Despite the improved football coverage, it will not take away from our focus on other sports. Some of you may have forgotten the field hockey team also won a national championship and is ranked No. 1 in this year’s preseason poll.
But would you trade last year’s national championships of the field hockey, men’s soccer and women’s basketball team for a bowl game and an NCAA tournament appearance in football and men’s basketball, respectively?
Maybe. Maybe not.
Regardless, it’s just another thing to appreciate from the sporting world at this university. It’s hard to find the kind of success you encounter here anywhere else in the country.
My life revolves around sports, as I’m sure many of yours do. And I don’t expect that to change anytime soon – certainly not this year.
Contact sports editor Andrew Zuckerman at sports@dbk.umd.edu
