Football is back. Could anything be more awesome?
Absolutely, but the focus is on sports, in particular a game played on a 100-yard field divided into subgroups of 10 yards each, with massive dudes attempting to score.
Some may say there’s more to football than just a game played on grass, and while this is questionable, there are some aspects of the game that can apply to real life. In particular, an invariable truth that says only one of three things can happen: a win, a loss or a tie. Any emotion that accompanies the outcome is nothing but a byproduct.
As such, a quick glance at Northeastern’s football team reveals we lose more than we win (as evident by a .455 all-time winning percentage, including .361 since 2004).
And if you ask me, that’s no big deal. It’s all part of the truth of sport, and to enjoy the wins you must suffer the losses. But, while a loss one Saturday can be overcome by a win a week later, there is another truth to sport that cannot be overlooked: to win, you have to play the game, as the old adage says. And in order to do that, you need a team. With no team, you can’t play, and if you don’t play you have no chance of winning.
Our Huskies do play, and because of this, every weekend they have a chance to win.
Of course, past play and statistics are reliable factors in determining future performance, but they aren’t guarantees. Based on this assumption, the Parsons Field team can win every Saturday.
And with this said, it’s a shame people feel Northeastern athletics would be better off without the 52-man squad.
The presumption behind this? By cutting football, as one student argued in a comment made online on The News’ article “Football drops home opener, 49-14,” the university could move more of its resources toward more popular programs. These programs, like the men’s hockey team, would therefore flourish with the extra cash – enough to make up for the loss of football.
What a clunker!
While more funds in a program certainly goes a long way toward success, it doesn’t guarantee it. If you have a smaller amount of money in a program compared to your competitors, then you are at a disadvantage. But in no way does having more money put you on top. It requires a brand of success – a synonymous relationship with championship play that’s a legacy.
Boosting the hockey squad at the cost of the football program is not the way to do this. An analogous approach would be to tie one arm around your back while lifting a dumbbell with the other. Yes, one arm will become much stronger (and larger), but you’ll look like a fool.
A school without a football team is missing a large part of its culture, character and campus community. Some schools can pull it off, like Boston University, but what happens on Saturday afternoons at NU are as important as what goes on Monday through Friday.
Last year’s Homecoming win over New Hampshire is phenomenal proof of football’s power – a sell-out crowd storming the field for one of the biggest, if not the biggest, upset in school history.
It might have been a once-in-a-lifetime win, but that game proves football is alive and well on Huntington Avenue.
The field in Brookline, while not the sprawling stadiums like those in Ann Arbor, Mich. or Columbus, Ohio, is divine in its own right. Minutes from the birthplace of John F. Kennedy, it serves as a great display of Northeastern’s benefits to the community. The Huskies’ presence brings the community of Huntington Avenue to another part of town and in the process serves as Northeastern’s ambassadors to communities that may think college students of questionable character.
Lastly, without our Kent Street footballers, Northeastern would drop further into the have-nots of college athletics than the haves.
Winning is great, but it cannot be done without teams to begin with. We have a team, and they play Saturdays in Brookline. Show up, and you just might see them win.
– Matt Foster can be reached at [email protected].
