julia dickinsonJanuary 11, 2024—I am a complete mess. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I slowly scraped away at the salty chicken parm sandwich. As I quickly dried my eyes in my sleeves, her mother came into the kitchen to ask how lunch was. (She bought me food for her from a new restaurant in town.) I look away from her and say, “Delicious.” Good save, Drew. She doesn't know that you're crying her eyes out.
Oh, you're probably wondering, “What's the problem?” Bill Belichick is currently appearing on TV screens at the podium one last time as head coach of the New England Patriots, announcing that he is leaving the team after 24 seasons. 24 is an important number because I'm only 21 years old. All my life, Belichick has coached my favorite football team. And this moment brings back all the memories: the Super Bowl, cheering in the stands at Gillette Stadium on Sunday with his brother and father, and the “Charisma” press conference.
Listen, I've fallen down the rabbit hole of watching iconic sports highlights at least once a month since I was a kid, and I watched David Ortiz in Game 2 of the 2013 American League Championship Series (ALCS). (I'm the person who inevitably shed tears watching the Grand Slam that tied the match) for the millionth time. My favorite website of his is basketball-reference.com. The other day I told a friend that it would be difficult to leave New England. One reason for this is that living in a different time zone can prove to be a major hindrance to watching my favorite Boston sports teams play live. Simply put, Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton wish they and I had the same sport.
So it's very clear how much sports is a core part of my identity. I love connecting different situations in life to sports in some way. Does your car battery keep dying? It's the same way Dustin Pedroia's body kept failing, ultimately forcing him to retire too soon. Did you miss out on a job opportunity? It's the same as every NFL team passing up the GOAT, Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr., in the draft until the Patriots took him in the sixth round with the 199th pick. Did you just finish two platefuls of chicken parm, mozzarella sticks, stromboli, and garlic knots at Moulton on Saturday night? It seems like the end of the Patriots dynasty.
Ultimately, the end of the Belichick era was inevitable. He's 72 years old, and his team's performance has declined significantly since Tom Brady left for Tampa Bay in March 2020. That trip south late in his career was similarly inevitable, considering he no longer felt valued by New England coaches. .
However, when Kevin Durant joined the Golden State Warriors in the summer of 2016, there was a departure that no one expected. The NBA was in ruins for two years because, barring injuries, the NBA was basically guaranteed a championship. Durant leaving the OKC Thunder was like Pip abandoning Joe in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.
I bet you didn't see the mention of Victorian literature coming. But, bracing myself for the unexpected outcome, I decided to minor in English during my final semester at Bowdoin College and took three English classes. This was a bigger twist from left field than Shane Victorino's two-out, two-strike grand slam. They defeated the Green Monster at Fenway Park, permanently leading the Red Sox in Game 6 of the 2013 ALCS, and sending the team to the World Series.
One of the main reasons I love sports so much is its unpredictability. Agatha Christie could write a story about “The Butler Did It,” but in Super Bowl 49, an undrafted rookie named Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson with 24 seconds left and won the game. There was no way I could have thought of such a thing. Even M. Night Shyamalan doesn't have the creativity to help the Patriots come back from a 28-3 deficit late in the third quarter to defeat the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI.
One of the great things about my time as an English minor was how unpredictable it was. The fact that I didn't even think about it until October means I never had time to predict how it would go or develop (high) expectations for the experience. Having studied mainly computer science and mathematics for three and a half years, it was a fun challenge for him to take three English classes. But just as LeBron James did in the 2016 NBA Finals when the Cleveland Cavaliers lost 3-1 to the 73-9 Golden State Warriors (the best record in regular season history), I I have accepted that challenge.
When I went to London for spring break, I did my best in the Victorian Realism class. I went to some second-hand bookstores, visited Charles his Dickens museum, and even saw Dickens in Westminster Abbey, Jane Austen, and where the Brontë sisters are buried. And guess what? These experiences were as cool as going to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
You know what else is cool? Norah Jones music. Her debut album 'Come Away With Me' from 2002 (the year I was born) was my soundtrack as I was writing this TOQ. I “don't know why” but her music always transports me to a calm and peaceful state of mind.
How about an unexpected ending?
Andrew Cohen is a member of the Class of 2024.
