I sat down with John Scheve '13, an offensive lineman on the Dartmouth football team, to talk about the start of the Big Green's season and his growing role on the team.
Preseason polls slated the Dartmouth football team to finish fifth in the Ivy League. How did that affect how you prepared for this season?
JS: Obviously being slated fifth wasn't what we wanted originally. I think we went in with a chip on our shoulder and I think we all felt like we had something to prove. We know we have the talent to succeed, and we need keep working hard to show that.
You've started 1-3, going 0-2 in the League. What is the team's mentality right now?
JS: Obviously it isn't ideal, but we're focused on our next opponent. We still have a good team. We are going to keep working hard and we're still optimistic about the rest of our season.
You, and the rest of the team, made Dartmouth history by participating in the first football night game. How was that experience?
JS: It's always fun playing at night. You know, Friday night lights, Saturday night lights. We've all had some kind of experience with it in high school. We had a great crowd, everyone was amped up. It was a different atmosphere. It was great playing at night, even if it rained a bit.
I heard you were unhappy with all of the girls at the school for having rush conflicts with the game?
JS: I refuse to answer this one ... Don't want the girls on campus to be mad at me.
Ok, so you're on the O-Line. I've heard it said that offensive linemen are the people who make the stars of the team like Nick Schwieger '12 and Tim McManus '11 look good. True?
JS: Us offensive lineman, we like our position. We do our job and get to hit people every play, which is a lot of fun for us. It is fun when we see Schwiegs make a big run or when T-Mac makes a highlight reel catch. We enjoy what we're doing. While some might see us as underappreciated, we know what we signed up for.
I also hear that you have some pretty strong opinions in the iPhone vs. Blackberry debate.
JS: Personally, I think that the Blackberry is the most corporate phone ever. It does everything. The iPhone is just a toy. It's a children's play thing. The Blackberry really speaks for itself. You don't see CEOs with iPhones. I mean, what does Ari Gold have in his hand? A Blackberry.
You are also somewhat of a campus celeb. You even made an appearance with a few of your teammates on totalfratmove.com. How was that?
JS: This summer we were featured on this site after a couple of us had competed in a golf tournament. We had been working hard all summer and this photo captured the nice Saturday activity pretty well. You could say that masters was a great experience.
You're going to be making another appearance in the limelight on Oct. 29, when your game against Harvard University is televised on Fox College Sports Atlantic. Are you nervous? Are you ready to be in the spotlight?
JS: I'm all about getting those TV touches. But really, as I said before, it's always exciting to get to play at night. Harvard is a great stadium. Hopefully we'll have a lot of fans and maybe this time it wont be raining all night.
Another question that has been on everyone's minds: How does the football team like the new all-you-can-eat at Class of 1953 Commons?
JS: The new FoCo has been great. A meal isn't $30 anymore. Hopefully we won't go into the red this year, but it's doubtful. I still only have $6 left on DBA. My favorite part, though, has to be the all-you-can-eat salad. We really eat it up.
