Football Slouches Toward a Former Women's College

I don’t have many positive associations with any sport, beyond lots of “quality time” with Dad in kiddie leagues.

In high school I once accidentally caught a pop fly ball in my baseball cap. I somehow managed a flabby toss to a teammate, who tagged a passing runner for a double play. But traumatic run-ins with a few testosterone-for-brains Neanderthals (including the batter of the aforementioned pop fly) loom far more powerfully in my memory. —Dennis G. JerzFootball Slouches Toward a Former Women’s College (Inside Higher Ed)

6 thoughts on “Football Slouches Toward a Former Women's College

  1. Thanks for the comment, Emily. I don’t make the decisions about what letters to print in the Setonian, but I encourage anyone who has anything to say to write in to the school paper — that’s what it’s supposed to be for.

  2. I share many of your sentiments, Dr. Jerz. I am a member of the last incoming class who came in under Seton Hill College in the fall of 2001 (before the school acquired the university status in August of 2002). I want to stress that my freshman year was, by far, the best year I’ve had here. (I have more to say, but I’d like to save most of my comments regarding the changes of this school for (hopefully) a future Setonian “letter to the editor.”) For the record, I am not an athlete.

    As for that incident which involved two of our SHU students and baseball bats, I heard from one of the sisters that one of the students was from my high school, Mt. Lebanon. We had a fair share of problems due to our football team, including (but not necessarily limited to) drugs, sexual harassment, booze, and probably a lot of other things of which I’m not aware because I stayed far away from that crowd. Don’t get me wrong – I love football, but then again, I don’t remember myself applying for places like Mercyhurst College and Duquesne University (“Catholic” schools with football teams). After I completed my college searching, I realized that (among other things) I didn’t want a school with a football team, because I know what kind of problems tend to associate with it (sometimes stereotypes are pretty accurate). In my opinion, it’s a shame Seton Hill felt it had to change in order to attract new students. It was very special just the way it was, with the kind of community it already had, and now, it’s becoming like everywhere else, including my old high school…

    Off the subject, kudos on a great article.

  3. *is proud* I have an eagle eye? Woohoo!

    Bizarre that I actually read things for error before I read them for content sometimes. It happens more than I like to admit, and although it can get in the way of what I’m -really- trying to draw from the piece, I suppose I’m getting practice at being critical. I do hope to edit for the Setonian soon. Perhaps it’ll give me a break from writing (since I’m feeling a personal drought in that beloved area).

    Dr. Jerz, I won’t lie and say that I haven’t considered a journalism minor before. I just never admitted before, either :) We’ll have to talk about that…

    (*cringe* Oops… I guess an email would have worked, eh? Sorry about that.)

  4. I guess my drummer pushed the wrong button.

    *does hoedown*

    I actually noticed “communications” but I missed “Pennsylvania”… I look forward to having you on the copy-editing staff of The Setonian! Didn’t you spot a typo in my web page during the first day of journalism class last fall? These things are good to keep a prof humble… Though in the future, a discreet e-mail would be kinder! ;)

  5. Um, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you misspelled “Pennsylvania” in the first paragraph, and “communications” later on in the paragraph beginning, “The chance to play…”. Can you get that edited?

    I feel sort of silly saying it, but I happily smile in reminiscence of storytime with “The Runaway Bunny.”

    I sincerely admire your writing style… Maybe I’ll write as well as that someday? Also, I think that I ought to share that your mini-bio at the bottom of the page is quite cute. Perhaps in the future I’ll have to find the time to tell you about my years as a fastpitch softball pitcher :)

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