What Vassar Athletics Needs Is A Slogan

In high school, I never played a team contact sport like football, lacrosse, hockey, or even basketball so I missed out on the locker room experience. My only exposure to the moving team prayer or the fiery half time speech is from what I’ve seen in various clichéd sports movies so the locker room has a mythical quality for me. I dream of a chance to slap Jon Henderson in the face to pump him up, or to stare into Ray Lewis' eyes as he leads the famous “Game time” chant.

Because my athletic career, though long and diverse, lacks a true locker room experience, it’s something I yearn for. I came close to it at Vassar when coach took us to the locker room for a pre-game speech when we played indoors, but something was off. I didn’t feel like the guys in Miracle did after Kurt Russel’s speech, but that’s understandable because tennis requires a more cerebral approach anyway.

I think the problem was that there was no sign with a slogan to touch as we exited the locker room like in Rudy with Notre Dame’s hallowed “Play like a champion today” sign. To fulfill my dream of an authentic locker room experience, I need a sign with a good slogan that I can slap as I exit. It would be similar to the low, nearly record-setting branch of Vassar’s plane tree which I slap during midterms and finals because I heard it’s good luck.

During a hellish week of midterms, I posted a sign with Notre Dame’s famous slogan “Play like a champion today” in the stairwell of my TH so I could touch it whenever I went downstairs. Thanks in part to the sign, I knocked out 3 papers, a midterm, and a presentation.

Inspired by former NBA head coach and blogger extraordinaire Eric Musselman, here’s my categorized ideas for Vassar’s new locker room sign which will come to a vote in the coming weeks:

Coaching adages:

“Your greatest strength is the exploitation of your opponent’s weaknesses via your strengths.”

“Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.” –Albert Einstein

“Reasons = Excuses” – My 6th grade music teacher

Rhetorical question:

“How does what YOU accomplish today influence your ambitions for tomorrow?”

“IDK what you’ve done lately, what will YOU do today?”

“What skills do YOU have?”

Motivational:

“DESIRE to set a goal. Dedication to pursue it. Determination to overcome the obstacles.” – Archie Griffin via Vassar alum Jim Citrin.

“It’s going down.”

“Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.” – Henry Ford

“You can always try harder.” - My friend while coaching 10 year-olds at a tennis camp.

“Motivation is simple, you eliminate those who are not motivated.” – Lou Holtz

Performance-oriented:

“Imagine. Concentrate. Execute. Appreciate.”

“Play beautiful.”

“Smooth is fast. Fast is smooth.” – movie Shooter

School-related:

“You represent Vassar first, yourself second.”

“Victory is relative.”

“I am… We are…”

“Vassar is a small, coeducational, highly selective liberal arts institution.”