I come to you today, Columbia, with the cold pragmatism born of an 0-8 start to the football season. I've waited four years for the Lions to be good—I never asked for an Ivy Championship, just for a team that could compete. I even spent a month as Roar-ee the lion hoping it might bring the team luck.* But today, sadly, it's time that I admit the truth: We stink.
And I don't just mean this year. We stink historically. We still hold the FCS record for most consecutive losses, and the last Ivy League Championship we won was 1961. The Organization as a whole peaked with a Rose Bowl win in 1934—that was 77 years ago, which, incidentally, is a very long time ago.
I don't mean to get down on football. I do hold out hope that the right coach could turn the program around. But our historical troubles have got me wondering: What if we're focusing on the wrong sport?
