Everyone knows that sports editors are the hardest workers in the office, but even we occasionally fear the notorious Editor’s Column. Mention March Madness, the Tiger Woods scandal or Colgate hockey, and we’re off on a roll, but to ask us to write something personal – oh the horror! (And I admit: I will indeed digress into March Madness later). Sure, I have opinions on Greek Life at Colgate, I have stories about faith and I could rant about the health care bill passing. But when I volunteered for this week’s column many moons ago, I had a much better idea: I would write a hilarious article about my exciting spring break! It would kick off with my twentieth birthday, after all. My dreams of visiting old friends at their schools were looking very promising as well, and with the burst of spring weather, anything was possible.

All thoughts of an exciting spring break and a great Editor’s Column soon vanished from my mind, however, lost somewhere between birthday presents and stacks of homework. To be quite honest, I forgot about my quest for “Greatest Editor’s Column Written by a Sports Editor of All Time” status (I’m not that I could beat Harry Raymond’s swine flu quarantine article, anyway). I had a solid 10-chapter assignment for my history class, a paper due by the Wednesday of break, a composition to write in Russian… and a 1,000-page novel to read, with the threat of a quiz if I didn’t finish it. I’m sure that type of workload is familiar to most of us at Colgate… but over spring break? Really?

So, after a bit of apple pie and some belly rubs for my dog, I spent Sunday slaving away with the Big Ten Championship on TV in the background. Another confession: the ratio of TV watching to paper writing was definitely leaning in favor of the basketball game, which explains why Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in the exact same position on the couch, chipping away at my work. Paper, Russian, history: no problem. 1,000-page novel: big problem. Enough of a problem that by 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, I had a bit of a breakdown at page 119, and I texted a couple of classmates to see if I was the only one seemingly incapable of making progress in this monster. And that’s when it hit me. My professor had said, “you will have a quiz if you don’t finish it”. But “it” didn’t mean the entire novel; “it” meant the assignment. And the assignment was the first 150 pages. I’m fairly certain the entire neighborhood heard my Hallelujah.

Thursday I celebrated this fabulous discovery by drinking Starbucks and shopping with my mother, and I remembered my Editor’s Column dreams. And that’s when the Sports Editor, or maybe just the sports lover, in me kicked into high gear. I probably could have spent Thursday night, Friday and Saturday making up for my ridiculous beginning of the week; I definitely could have done something worth writing about, at least. Instead, I watched as Kansas got ousted, Ohio knocked out Georgetown, and Michigan State beat Maryland, opening up a beautiful path to the Final Four for Ohio State. And yes, I do scream at the TV like what I say actually makes a difference. It’s no coincidence that Jon Diebler hit seven three-pointers against UC Santa Barbara and scored 20 points versus Georgia Tech; I had my jersey on.

I’m really not superstitious, but I do love my Buckeyes and I love that my totally epic spring break was simply living vicariously through college basketball. I certainly didn’t achieve legendary Editor’s Column status, but we’re college students – when does our writing ever turn out like we imagined? Hey, at least my bracket is in good shape…