Last week in this column I stated that I would make every effort to cover all types of sporting events. In light of this promise, I would like to issue a quick apology to the baseball team.
I myself used to play baseball and have always had a great love for the sport, especially outside of the professional leagues, which are drowned in consumerism and teams with a monopoly on talent. When I became the sports editor of The Mass Media this semester, I was looking forward to watching all the teams, writing for them, and overall supporting sports at UMass Boston. However, I was especially looking forward to the UMB baseball games.
I did an interview with the coach at the beginning of the pre-season and was made well aware of the fact that the team’s struggle of not having their own field to play on would also be made my struggle in covering the games.
Of course, due to class schedules, my writers and I cannot attend particular games, baseball or any other sport. Nevertheless, we try to make every effort to cover all events. Though our baseball team has no field and getting to games would be a greater feat than going to the softball, tennis, or lacrosse games, all right behind the Clark Athletic Center, I thought that by now I would have been to at least one game.
This has obviously not been the case and I have had to rely on press releases to showcase our team’s excellent 10-5 record, their fourth and seventh ranking in two different New England NCAA Division III polls, Pat Donovan’s award of the Little East Conference “Pitcher of the Week,” and David Waters’ award of “Co-Rookie of the Week.”
The team plays its home games in a number of places. Sometimes they play in Jamaica Plain if it is a non-conference game, sometimes they play at UMass Dartmouth if they can for conference games, and other times they play at B.C. High, but this is a very rare occasion. The immediate problem is traveling if the game is not at B.C. High, and while Jamaica Plain is not too far, for a writer with classes it becomes a cross-country trip.
The other problem our great team has to deal with, a great team that by the way deserves a home field to showcase its talent and commitment, is the fact that it often does not know where it will be playing until a couple of days before home games. That means I cannot assign writers to games that they may or may not be able to attend, and with class schedules coming into the equation, a vicious cycle begins.
The sports section here at The Mass Media would like the team to know that we fully support their efforts this season, and while we may not be able to cover more than a few games this season and have to supplement coverage with press releases, we will find a way to make it up.
Let’s call the Red Sox corporate office and ask for some field time! They have the money and surely they’ll have the time for our team, right? I’m serious here. This is a state school and if we are in need of resources, shouldn’t we turn to the more prosperous in the state? Some of the ownership also belongs to the Boston Globe, our friendly neighbors down the street. Without a doubt, they would do the neighborly thing and offer our talented team, without a suitable home field, a place to play home games, right? I even recall the statement released by the new group of owners in 2001, “We will become active and visible members of this great community and always remember that the team belongs, not to us, but to all of you” (The Guardian, 12/22/01). I know that UMass Boston is a school focused on building community, and clearly so is the ownership of the Boston Red Sox. Let’s all give them a call! I’ll be willing to work with the coach, the athletic director, the players, and the rest of the UMB community. You know where you can find me, second floor of the Campus Center at 2300 Street. Just stop by or e-mail [email protected].
In the meantime guys…Keep Kicking Ass!