The Rahooligan: The Week That Wasn't

Remember Michael Jordan? Danny Almonte? Venus Williams or Pedro Martinez?

On September 10, 2001, these athletes were news.

Jordan was set to announce that he would return to the NBA after a brief foray in general management. Almonte was finally going to start school and pitch against kids his own age. The day before, Venus had defeated her younger sister in the U.S. Open in the first all-siblings final since 1884.

Martinez was about to scare all Red Sox fans by announcing his season was over.

It wasnt, as some media folks like to call it, a slow news day. The news about Jordan returning to basketball was enough to send ESPN into a frenzy and make sports writers everywhere summon their amazing powers of prognostication.

New York writers were still getting their fill of Little Leaguer Almontes saga of fastballs and fraud. The international press salivated over the soap opera that is womens tennis.

On September 11, 2001, there was no sports news. If you turned on SportsCenter, ESPN directed you to the ABC feed of the terrorist attacks.

Looking back, its amazing at how much stuff juststopped.

The 24-hour news cycle that media critics deride has spilled over into sports. Theres no time I can turn on the television and be without sports news. Even when it gets late at night in Cambridge, the European soccer scores start pouring in. Increasingly, there are breaking sports stories. The very concept seems ridiculous.

With the demand for newsespecially sports newsalways increasing, the media can begin covering stories bordering on the absurd. But last Monday, there was plenty of news.

Even here at The Harvard Crimson, the sports writers were getting pumped for the week ahead. Football was scheduled for its season opener against Holy Cross. Mens soccer had some key home games. The up-and-coming womens volleyball squad had a weekend slate of potentially exciting matchups.

We were all just settling in to the regular pace that makes us feel comfortable.

As many of you probably noticed, we didnt publish sports last week. Nothing to report-no Harvard football, no Jordan, no nothing.

The only thing to read about last week was death-and thats not something the sports world can deal with very well.

It all seems wrong somehow, this moving forward or carrying on. If theres anything President Bush has told us, its that this whole thing will take a long time to sort out, and a lot more people will be dead before its over.

But college sports are back in action again, the presses are running, and Ill be covering the new Harvard season opener versus Brown. The Crimson will fill your plate five days a week with the sweetest, juiciest, latest sports news from Harvard and beyond.

Ive decided to deal with Tuesdays events by writing, going to classes, hanging out with roommates, and just generally distracting myself. I was lucky--theres nothing important I was supposed to do last week.

Instead, Michael Jordan decided that his un-retirement announcement will come in the form of a fax. Almonte, after a few days off, finally gets to school in the Bronx. Venus, denied the usual post-victory week of celebrations and talk show appearances, will move on to her next tournament. And Pedros calling it quits.

I wish I could have told you about it last week, though.