Delaney: Back to Class, a refreshing day
Katie Couric taught me something today. Better said, Couric and two college seniors reminded me of some things today.
Don't be a hater. The world is full of them. The swirling vitriolic sentiments that flow freely through our open internet world is not a sign of progress. A friend of mine thought Couric was talking to me when she used the word hater. I don't think I'm that bad. Opinionated and sarcastic, maybe but nothing out of control. At the risk of going to the extreme in the other direction and ending up on Oprah, I do see the energy I've wasted hating on a New York City baseball team and a Southern California college football. These opinions, while well founded and understandable, could be construed as marks on my history.
Couric, the CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor, spoke Monday at Princeton University's Class Day. Princeton's Class Day is a pre-commencement tradition at a university with an endless line of tradition and pride in all of them. I was there because my nephew Andrew is graduating Tuesday morning and I couldn't attend the commencement ceremony.
I'm pretty sure Couric's speech, also including themes on hard work, perseverance and public service, weren't written with sports or athletes in mind. It could've been. Couric's words were universal: as were those of student speakers Jackie Bello and Jason Gilbert, both gifted writers who reminded me of the need for a sense of humor. Those themes should be an integral part of athletics from the scholastic level to the pros. The speakers' sentiments were refreshing for a person easily bogged down by life.
Andrew sat with several friends at the morning ceremony, including a top rower nicknamed Fish. All of the approximately 1,300 graduates wore gaudy 2009 class jackets they will keep for the rest of their lives and wear again at reunions and for the P-rade, a yearly procession of alumni and graduating seniors which is another pre-commencement Princeton tradition. Fish's women's varsity eight boat was sixth at the NCAA Championships Sunday morning, and she is going to continue training while she takes post-graduate classes this summer and fall. Hard work. Perseverance.
Andrew didn't have a noteworthy athletic career. Naturally handsome, Andrew isn't a natural athlete. He's 6-foot-3 or 6-4 and a bit uncoordinated. Yet he was a competitive and at times intense three-sport athlete for three years in high school. Andrew was cut from the lacrosse team in ninth grade. He didn't turn into the hater Couric warned us about. He found a solution. Andrew dedicated to getting in better physical shape, joined the cross country team the following fall and made the lacrosse team when he was in 10th grade. Hard work. Perseverance.
Andrew played club lacrosse at Princeton. Apparently, his skills didn't match his swagger. Andrew's teammates voted him most overrated this spring and he loved it. Overrated on a club lacrosse team? That's a sense of humor and Andrew's overflows. Don't lose that, buddy. Couric, Bello and Gilbert were right. Remember what they said and I'll try to do the same.
Congratulations.
Don't be a hater. The world is full of them. The swirling vitriolic sentiments that flow freely through our open internet world is not a sign of progress. A friend of mine thought Couric was talking to me when she used the word hater. I don't think I'm that bad. Opinionated and sarcastic, maybe but nothing out of control. At the risk of going to the extreme in the other direction and ending up on Oprah, I do see the energy I've wasted hating on a New York City baseball team and a Southern California college football. These opinions, while well founded and understandable, could be construed as marks on my history.
Couric, the CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor, spoke Monday at Princeton University's Class Day. Princeton's Class Day is a pre-commencement tradition at a university with an endless line of tradition and pride in all of them. I was there because my nephew Andrew is graduating Tuesday morning and I couldn't attend the commencement ceremony.
I'm pretty sure Couric's speech, also including themes on hard work, perseverance and public service, weren't written with sports or athletes in mind. It could've been. Couric's words were universal: as were those of student speakers Jackie Bello and Jason Gilbert, both gifted writers who reminded me of the need for a sense of humor. Those themes should be an integral part of athletics from the scholastic level to the pros. The speakers' sentiments were refreshing for a person easily bogged down by life.
Andrew sat with several friends at the morning ceremony, including a top rower nicknamed Fish. All of the approximately 1,300 graduates wore gaudy 2009 class jackets they will keep for the rest of their lives and wear again at reunions and for the P-rade, a yearly procession of alumni and graduating seniors which is another pre-commencement Princeton tradition. Fish's women's varsity eight boat was sixth at the NCAA Championships Sunday morning, and she is going to continue training while she takes post-graduate classes this summer and fall. Hard work. Perseverance.
Andrew didn't have a noteworthy athletic career. Naturally handsome, Andrew isn't a natural athlete. He's 6-foot-3 or 6-4 and a bit uncoordinated. Yet he was a competitive and at times intense three-sport athlete for three years in high school. Andrew was cut from the lacrosse team in ninth grade. He didn't turn into the hater Couric warned us about. He found a solution. Andrew dedicated to getting in better physical shape, joined the cross country team the following fall and made the lacrosse team when he was in 10th grade. Hard work. Perseverance.
Andrew played club lacrosse at Princeton. Apparently, his skills didn't match his swagger. Andrew's teammates voted him most overrated this spring and he loved it. Overrated on a club lacrosse team? That's a sense of humor and Andrew's overflows. Don't lose that, buddy. Couric, Bello and Gilbert were right. Remember what they said and I'll try to do the same.
Congratulations.
posted by Anne Delaney at
7:05 PM
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