The Student Life sports section typically focuses on Washington University sports, so the cancellation of the fall season presents us with a challenge. Still, Student Life remains devoted to providing fresh sports content week in and week out. Yet, we should acknowledge that our coverage is going to look different this semester than it has in the history of this publication. We asked our sports editors about how they plan to continue covering sports, even as sports are placed on the backburner.

How do you intend to continue engaging with athletes during the fall?

Dorian DeBose: At the end of last semester, we published a series of profiles with seniors in sports that were canceled. In those profiles, they reflected about what it meant to lose their final season, but they also basked in some of the triumphs from their careers. I think my instinct is to ruminate on the cancellation of the season, but I want to find less dour ways to engage with student-athletes around campus. For example, if senior Tim Tague of the Wash. U. football team wants to play catch with me while we do an interview, I’d think that’s pretty sick!

We also focused quite a bit on seniors in March and April. I’d like to write more pieces featuring underclassmen athletes this semester. 

Josh Shapiro: In spite of the obvious challenges of covering collegiate athletics in midst of a sports-less fall season, I am incredibly excited to reshape the way we engage with our student athletes. Without recaps, we’ll be able to focus more of our coverage on longform profiles, giving readers a more personal look into the lives of Bears players. I am hoping that this break will also give us the chance to explore larger-scale projects, including but not limited to the college recruiting process and the logistics behind competing as a Division III institution.

Why do you think it’s important to keep covering sports during a pandemic?

DD: I think sports are a wonderful avenue to talk about what makes people tick. Competitiveness and connection can create a great team, but those characteristics exist outside of the field as well. Talking about sports is a way to address topics we don’t normally think about. 

In some ways, I see canceled seasons as a stand-in for the impact of [the] coronavirus. When we talk to athletes about what it means to lose a full season of doing something they love, their perspective provides a tangible way to discuss the general sense of loss that everyone is feeling right now. For them, it’s a lost season. But for others, it’s lost internships, lost jobs, families in flux and the looming specter of mass death. In the same light, it’s refreshing to hear their optimism about sports returning in the future. Even if it’s a new “normal,” I hope there is some kind of normal after [the] coronavirus ends.

JS: Coronavirus has condensed all of our lives. In the name of health, family and security, even the luckiest of us have given up our favorite hobbies and pastimes. I’d like to think that our sports section can provide little snippets of such long lost entertainment—even in the midst of a pandemic. Whether we’re arguing over the value of baseball or debating why Tigers are the world’s worst mascot (and we’ve done it before), us sports editors know how to create our fair share of shenanigans. I don’t think anyone would disagree that we all deserve some fun and distraction these days.

At the same time, sports can be more than fun and distraction. What do you make of the connections between sports, social justice and racial equity?

DD: I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the role that sports teams are playing in social movements right now. On the professional level, they’re helping to keep attention on the racial injustices that permeate this country. At Wash. U., Black athletes have been vocal about the difficulties they’ve faced as scholar-champions. What athletes are doing right now is genuinely brave and we would fail both the athletes and the student body if we failed to cover their efforts.

JS: In the past few months, we’ve seen professional athletes harness their spotlight to create platforms that highlight the racism and racial inequality Black Americans face in modern America. From the NBA players’ walkout during this year’s playoffs to the Chiefs’ and Texans’ decision to lock arms before the start of their NFL season-opener, players from all walks of life are finding their voices and telling their stories. StudLife Sports is the media platform for athletics at Wash. U., and as a section, it’s our job to chronicle Bears’ student athletes and bring light to the many struggles our own Black student athletes (and other student athletes of color) have faced.

What will you miss the most about not having fall sports this semester?

DD: Honestly, I’m going to miss women’s soccer the most. I’ve been a huge fan of the Wash. U. women’s soccer team since I arrived on campus. This year, I think they would have had a serious chance at a tournament run. They were returning all but one starter from last year’s elite-eight finishing team. On top of being a great team, I learned how to cover sports by watching the women’s soccer team. As a freshman, I covered almost every women’s soccer game for StudLife. I wouldn’t be the reporter I am now without that experience, so Wash. U. women’s soccer will always have a place in my heart.

JS: As someone who just started following Wash. U. sports last winter, I was excited to watch our fall teams and athletes compete for my first time. I’ll miss getting to see our fall teams on the field, though I hope I will still have the opportunity to get to know many of our student athletes. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that winter sports will still happen in some capacity.

What’s your favorite non-traditional sport that took hold over during quarantine?

DD: I don’t know if this counts, but I’ve been watching a lot of street fighting compilations. They’re pretty sick! I determined that, in the event of a street fight, my optimal strategy would be to make strong friends. That probably isn’t the answer you’re looking for. The NBA 2K tournament featuring NBA players back in April was cool. Los Angeles Clippers guard Patrick Beverley brings an energy to everything he does that makes him must-watch TV.

JS: I was pretty into Korean baseball. I love watching the Mets, so without an MLB season, any baseball was better than no baseball. One of my friends even started a Korean Fantasy Baseball league!   

What is the strangest sports-adjacent thing you see yourself trying to publish in the sports section this semester?

DD: This probably isn’t the strangest thing I’ll try to publish, but I really want to do a March Madness-style tournament of the greatest words in the English language, complete with a tournament preview and post-match commentary. I miss the pageantry of sports. Going through the grandiose motions of the NCAA tournament gets me jazzed up. And doing it for something as trivial as words is a deeply funny idea to me.

JS: I envision hosting a Student Life cooking competition, with each of our sections competing against each other for the grand prize of Wash. U. newspaper MasterChef. Though Gordon Ramsay would be a formidable judge, my guess is he probably wouldn’t be interested in the job. Can’t hurt to ask though. 

What’s a professional sports hot take that you hope to see StudLife publish this fall?

DD: Philadelphia 76ers point forward Ben Simmons sucks. Much to my colleague [senior scene editor] Benjamin Simon’s chagrin, Ben Simmons is never going to get Philly over the hump. I don’t necessarily believe this take, but my favorite pastime is pissing off Philadelphia fans online. I spend a lot of time on Twitter during professional sports games. My dream scenario is publishing an article called “Ben Simmons is trash, so he’s perfect for the 76ers” then waking up to 17 emails from guys who go by “Junior” about how I won’t say what I wrote in that article to their face.

JS: It is my hot take and professional recommendation as sports editor that we replace golf with spelling in the next Olympic games.  I spent a good chunk of a past Sunday watching a replay of the 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee. A few hours later, I played golf for the first, and probably only, time in my life. In golf, after one round of practice swings, I could drive the ball 100 yards. But even though I’ve been spelling words all my life, I could never correctly sound out “scherenschnitte” (the championship winning word)—it takes immense talent to make it to the top tier of spelling whizzes. Plus, who doesn’t want a little more primetime competitive spelling coverage on ESPN.