Realizing it's time to bid adieu

By Brian Witter

Something struck me this week that made me sort of depressed. I realized that I'll probably never get to root for some of the athletes on our sports teams ever again.

Graduation is taking away some of my favorite players who have accomplished much in the four (or if they redshirted, five or six) years they were students here. Next year, there will not be any shouting of Doron Perkins' name after he penetrates the other team's defense to make a lay-up that defies gravity, and unfortunately, Megan Kakadelas and Leslie Osborne scored their last goals for Santa Clara. All of this was bound to happen though. Our time in college is short and precious.

This school isn't like Duke or USC. We don't feed athletes to the professional leagues, and even when we do, it's not as if any of them are the next great thing either, save a certain recent NBA Most Valuable Player.

Of course, there will always be the incoming high school stars who have signed that National Letter of Intent, ready to come to Santa Clara and become the next Brody Angley or Medhi Ballouchy. Recruiting, however, must be a difficult job for coaches.

Staying on top of the competition when your pitcher or power forward is leaving to pursue a law degree would require a great deal of information and luck, I suppose. Though, players coming and going is really nothing new. Today in professional sports, it's almost impossible to keep up with who gets traded where and how much their new contract is worth.

College is pretty similar to that, obviously without the gross sums of money. Players are constantly recycled to make new spots on the collegiate roster here and there.

With that being said, I am glad I was given the opportunity to see our soon-to-be athletic alumni compete at all. Basketball games would have been different without Kyle Bailey popping threes. What would baseball be like without Ryan Chiarelli or Nic Crosta knocking the ball out of Buck Shaw or Schott this year? Things just would not be the same, and they certainly never will be either.

Even though I'm still not over the seniors leaving, there is one thing that will always live on. That's the Santa Clara tradition, and it is one thing that I will never stand to lose a part of. Even when the athletes, myself and all the rest of us have graduated and moved on from this place, we'll still be Broncos.

* Contact Brian Witter at (408) 551-1918 or bwitter@scu.edu.