What do you write when you’re out of ideas and out of time?

That’s the question I’ve been contemplating over the past few days, as I get ready to hand over the reins of the sports section to Alex Wolz, Kaley Bell and Michael Hernandez. I’ve been the sports editor here at the Ram for the last two years, and I’ve been on staff for the last three. And as terrible as this sounds, in my last Overtime article for the Ram, I don’t have much left to say.

This isn’t to say that I haven’t loved my time with this paper. Starting out as a wide-eyed freshman, I honestly had no idea my time with the Ram would come to this. To be honest, many of my days since getting to Fordham have mainly consisted of making sure I get to the next one, without some larger goal of what I’d like my college experience to be. So before you ask, no, I did not think I would be sitting here three years later as the Ram’s outgoing sports editor when I first joined the editorial staff three years ago.

As I said in a far-too-emotional From the Desk a couple of weeks ago, I will miss everyone who has made this newspaper so great over the time that I have been here. The reality is, getting to write another Overtime article is just another opportunity to say goodbye, but I already said goodbye. And being that I hate it when I’m leaving a large gathering with my family (remember those?) and they insist on saying goodbye to everyone multiple times, I’d instead like to take this time to pay homage to some of the great things that have happened over the past three years that didn’t have to do with me.

As I’ve realized over the past few months, this section may not be nothing without Fordham sports. But it’s certainly substantially less.

For example, just days after I was named an assistant sports editor in 2017, the Fordham men’s soccer team embarked on a run to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament, a feat unprecedented for a program that has been highly successful before and since. The Fordham women’s basketball team went to the NCAA Tournament in 2019 and is consistently in the conversation for conference championships. The Fordham softball team has dominated the Atlantic 10 over the past decade, with a chance to continue their reign in 2021. Finally, the Fordham squash team has won the Chaffee Cup in back-to-back seasons, proving their own dominance over the area as well.

But it’s not just the on-field accomplishments that stand out in the past few years. Fordham Athletics reckoned with COVID-19 over the past few months, with athletes looking to find ways to stay ready for a return to action, whenever that may be. A group of Fordham student-athletes started Fordham Connect, a group that aims to address the needs of other student-athletes by providing a safe space for them to share their experiences. Another group of Fordham student-athletes founded The Herd, a group that seeks to increase student involvement in Fordham Athletics. 

That doesn’t cover all of it, and the Fordham Athletics community continues to do great things each day. They will continue to do so in the years to come. Alex, Kaley, Michael and the crew will cover it all for you in an exemplary manner, and I’ll still be around until May as part of that group.

To put it simply, I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing with this column. Actually, I haven’t really known what I’ve been doing since joining the staff as a freshman, so why start now?

In the process of writing this article, I received a parachute on Twitter from @jodotcom relaying a story about something Kurt Vonnegut once said. The author went on an archaeological dig when he was 15 years old, and he told one of the archaeologists that he sang in choir, played multiple instruments and used to take art classes, but he also said he wasn’t good at any of those things.

The archaeologist responded: “I don’t think the point of things is being good at them. I think you’ve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that all teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them.” I have not always — or often — been good at this job. But maybe that wasn’t the point.