If you were walking around campus last weekend, you didn't need 20/20 vision to notice that it was an exciting if not somewhat wacky time for our school. The scene signified that 12S is officially in full swing 70 degrees and sunny, dudes running around campus covered in mud, girls flaunting their elegant Derby hats and Collis Ray doing his thing at Pigstick. So with midterms over (for the most part), I hope you were out and about letting off some steam.
Because of the flurry of campus activities, you might have skipped out on some equally exciting yet wacky events happening in the world of sports, though I'm sure you were checking your ScoreCenter and Twitter feeds to see how your hometown teams were doing in the NBA and NHL playoffs or to find out who won the Mayweather-Cotto bout.
The sport that most closely resembles Dartmouth's spring mindset, however, is baseball. I'll begin with a question: How does a typical 19-year-old spend a weekend in early May? Here's what Bryce Harper has been up to: After one week in the bigs, he's already batting third in the order for the first-place Washington Nationals; he's hitting a cool .308, with a .424 on base percentage; and, oh yeah, he stole home plate for the Nats' only run against the Phillies on national television Sunday night after being intentionally plunked by Cole Hamels.
Putting Harper's ability in perspective is nearly impossible, but let's give it a try. In Dartmouth terms, Harper is that '15 on every fraternity's pre-rush list. If there were a FratRivals.com, he would have a five-star rating and receive more offers than Terrelle Pryor did back in 2008. And when the '15 steps foot in a frat basement, he does not receive the "Eric Stratton, rush chairman, damned glad to meet you" treatment. No, everyone drops whatever they are doing to make sure he's having a good time. And you better believe that the '15 copped a Derby invite this past Saturday.
While the presence of such a freshman might have a negative impact on the Dartmouth social scene, no one is making more noise in baseball right now than Harper. He is the complete package on the field, the definition of a five-tool player. But what impresses me the most about Harper is his energy. I know it's early in his career, but his motor seems to be running on a level that few, if any, can match. The only things Harper can't yet do are rent a car or take his teammates out for a round of beers after a victory.
Harper has the potential to put up Albert Pujols-type numbers very soon. I'm talking about the career .326 hitter who hit 30-plus home runs in each of his first 11 seasons in the pros with the Cardinals, not the guy who just snapped a 110 at-bat homerless streak and is hitting below the Mendoza-line for the Angels after signing a $254-million contract in December.
Pujols, unlike Harper, reminds me of the senior who had his Goldman-Sachs job locked up before Winter term was over. But now he's a '12 that plays pong every night of the week and even though he shows up to class, he's not there mentally.
The day before the homerless streak ended, Angels skipper Mike Scioscia benched Pujols. The Scioscia-path was not likely to sit the $254-million-dollar man for an extended period of time, but maybe the short absence sent a signal to Pujols. It's the same type of warning that a senior receives when he fails his English 47 midterm and starts to realize that the fine line that is the C- NRO limit is being negotiated ever so slightly. At this point, the '12 gets locked in, as Pujols likely will, and shows why he was worthy of that early Goldman-Sachs offer.
If Pujols is on your fantasy team, I understand your frustration I'm an owner myself. However, I advise you to stay patient. Just like dealing with weather in Hanover, you can't panic at the beginning of Spring term when it's raining every day and you can still see the snow left over from spring break. You have to stay calm, embrace the nice weekends and cross your fingers for more to come.
My expectations for the rest of the term are for this exciting, wacky atmosphere to keep on rolling. Just don't mistake the pink bat that Matt Kemp uses to launch his league-leading 15th home run on Sunday (just a guess) for part of the wackiness pink bats mean Mother's Day. So here's a friendly reminder to take some time out of the 12S fun and get to CVS by Wednesday to send home your Mother's Day card before it's too late.
