By Aron Feingold
Unigo Campus Rep at Carleton College
1. Carleton sports has an intense rivalry with St. Olaf. It’s usually really fun, but cheers can get nasty. Sometimes when Olaf is beating Carleton at a sporting event, fans have been known to engage in such cheers as “Safety school!” or “Let’s play scrabble!” Olaf has retaliated with such actions as stealing Carleton athlete’s letter jackets in the past.
2. Cut and Syzygy, our men’s and women’s club ultimate Frisbee teams, respectively, are arguably our most successful teams. They almost always qualify for nationals.
3. At football games at Carleton, you won’t find any cheerleaders but we do have “cheerboys,” who are typically really hairy, pale, and intoxicated. They wear Carleton colored war paint, lead the stands in sometimes crude cheers, and run laps around the field every time the Knights score a touchdown.
4. “Our sports teams get better every year, and Carleton’s becoming more of an athletic school than it’s been in the past. I feel like athletes are respected for the most part. It’s fun to wear a Carleton uniform and play for your school and be a part of a team.” – Sophie Wood, senior English major, center back on the varsity women’s soccer team.
5. “Athletes are a lot less weird than the rest of the student body.” – A varsity softball alumnus who requested to remain anonymous.
6. One popular all campus sporting event is the annual beer softball game called Rotblatt (you can look this up on Wikipedia). This softball game takes place every spring, and free t-shirts are given away when the sun rises. One inning is played per every year the school has been in existence.
7. “I would like to comment on drinking at sporting events at Carleton College. Binge drinking is the name of the game. If it’s an event, it’s bound to be pre-gamed. Whether it’s smuggling liquor into Laird Stadium for football games or drinking leftover beer found in Evans restrooms on Bell Hill while observing soccer matches, sporting events are often coupled with heavy drinking. But it’s hockey games that see the most action. Before, during and after the frigid bus ride to the Northfield hockey stadium, you’re bound to find students drinking Karkov by the handle and canoodling with one another; all in an attempt to stay warm, of course. “ – Sophomore who requested to remain anonymous.
8. Carleton has a lot of chill IM sports, including broomball and dodge ball which are often popular. Nerdy Harry Potter fanatics have started playing IM Quidditch.
9. No matter how bad our sports teams are, we always know Macalester’s are worse.
10. “Playing sports teaches you time management. You have to come in expecting that it’s going to be a struggle at times to find time for your homework and go to practice and film sessions, but I just keep in mind that it’s worth it in the end and it’ll pay off in the long run.” – John Hanks, senior chemistry major, defensive end on the varsity football team.