You may notice that The Herald sports page did not have an Athlete of the Week feature this week. This is a fun little feature we run every week in which we ask an athlete at Brown a bunch of funny questions and, hopefully, get funny answers.
Part of the problem was that with the shortened publication week, we just didn't come up with one in time. But mostly it's because we couldn't write about the athlete who was the obvious choice, both in terms of performance and potential interview pay dirt.
You see, Herald Sports Staff Writer Hugh Murphy '06 is a javelin thrower, and he's a damn good one. Last weekend, finally completely healthy for the first time since his first year, Murphy put on a show - nay, a spectacle - at the Brown Invitational.
His final throw of the day flew 224 feet, 6 inches, good enough to put him in first in the Ivy League this season and qualify for the NCAA Regionals. It also put him in second all-time for Brown, behind John Taylor '95 and his mammoth toss of 240-6. He finished a full 13 feet ahead of teammate Paul Rosiak '07, who took second place.
But the impressive toss was just part of the show. You see, part of Murphy's strategy is to psych out his opponents by screaming at his javelin on his first throw of whatever round it is. After launching the javelin, most competitors let out a grunt of varying volume, but on his first attempt, Murphy got down on all fours and screamed, "COME ON! GO! DAMMIT, GOOOO!" or something to that effect.
Knowing Murphy, whose hilarious columns represent his personality well, this was an awesome and intensely humorous sight. For a clueless competitor, it makes Murphy seem like he'd be more comfortable throwing that spear at a mammoth to use its meat for food and fur for clothing, as observed by my fellow sports editor, Stephen Colelli '08.
Murphy has been breaking out the screaming routine since he started to do well in the javelin his junior year of high school. To put it in his words: "You basically have to make your competition think you are a little bit crazy and that you have absolutely no regard for them as people." He is completely serious when he says this, reasoning that "jocks hate being ignored."
Did I mention he hasn't been healthy in three years? Or that he has had enough drama outside of school - a friend's near-fatal accident, the deaths of his sister and grandmother - to provide content for an entire emo album?
Not to go into Rick Reilly territory here, but honestly, it's a miracle he can still compete mentally after the three years he's had since getting hurt. In the first meet of his career in the spring of 2003, he tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. After immediately becoming the third-best javelin thrower in Brown history after one throw, he underwent Tommy John surgery that August. He admits he started throwing too hard, too soon last year, leading to another season of just one meet before he was shut down.
The plan for Murphy now has him resting until the Heptagonal Championships. After three years of losing his guaranteed points at Heps, the coaching staff wants to be sure of Murphy's health at the year's most important meet.
To Murphy, heaven is sitting out on the porch, possibly drinking his homemade wine, since he realized he'd need better equipment to make his own whiskey. He has irrational hatred for Dr. Phil, Barry Bonds and Family Circus cartoonist Bil Keane. His middle name, at least according to his Facebook.com profile, is not fit for print.
And now he's finally doing his thing: throwing spears really freakin' far.
Maybe good things do happen to good people after all.
It ain't over...The other Saturday highlight - well, other than The Herald's impressive kickball win over the College Hill 'Dependent - was the softball team's stunning comeback victory in the second game of its doubleheader with Harvard. The Bears put nine runs on the board with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to turn a 10-2 deficit into an 11-10 triumph.
The Bears put their first two batters on base, via an error and a hit-by-pitch, but when the next two batters made outs, any chance the team had of making Harvard sweat seemed gone. Even when Melissa Ota '07 homered in the next at-bat, the deficit still seemed to be too much to get excited about.
But then came an error, an RBI single and another hit batter to load the bases. Suddenly, Mary Seid '06, who has been red-hot for about two months, was batting for the second time in the inning, representing the tying run. Seid came through with a bases-clearing double, then Kaitlyn Laabs '09 got the thrill of her young career in blasting a walk-off home run to center.
Sure, it ain't over 'til it's over, 'til the fat lady sings and so on. But honestly, down eight runs with two outs to go, can anyone REALLY hold out hope to do something like this?
Of course, each of those nine runs was unearned, but who really cares?
The fallen soldiersWhile making merry this weekend, pour some liquor out for the spring student-athletes who miss out on the Spring Weekend festivities every year because of games. I'd list all the teams, but you can just take a look at the schedule on the back page to see who I'm talking about.
Sports Editor Chris Hatfield '06 will keep an eye out for ya, Stingray.
