Buzzer Beater

Final thoughts from the Sports Editor

When I first started at the Melrose Weekly News in January of 2007, I had no idea how to score a gymnastics meet, a swim meet or a wrestling meet — and I’m still a little foggy on cross country. But through countless hours of observation and the utter fear of sounding stupid, I’ve learned a lot covering sports in Melrose.
As I write my last article as Sports Editor of Melrose Weekly News, I can look back at the last three and a half years and feel confident in knowing that I learned a lot, learned it quickly and had a ton of fun along the way.
Because of the job I held, I saw high school records fall; I interviewed a World Series MVP, a U.S. Olympic athlete and got sound career advice from Dan Shaughnessy; I’ve seen Fenway Park from the press box and home plate and I’ve walked the parquet floor of The Garden. Of course I’ve also frozen my butt off at hockey games in Belmont, stood in the pouring rain at lacrosse and driven around aimlessly looking for Boston English High School.
I’ve learned that Melrose, like every other town, is very political — and sports is no exception to the politics. Sometimes it’s what you know, other times it’s who you know. Athletes, whether high school or professional, are not exempt from the scrutiny of their community. Sometimes they are held to a higher standard, and yet other times they are given a free pass. Melrose is no exception.
What I often forget in covering roughly 25 varsity sports a year is that despite the excitement of records being broken and dramatic runs through state tournaments, is that these are after all kids — children, essentially. Kids make mistakes. They do stupid things that they may regret for the rest of their lives and no one regrets it more than they.
Mistakes are what make us grow. You touch the stove as a two-year-old and you learn that’s not something you want to do again. Hopefully the student-athletes of Melrose are learning from their, and others’, mistakes.
I think Melrose is a good community with good kids, good parents, good coaches and a good athletic department that tries to hold kids accountable for their actions. It’s not as easy as it seems from the outside (see above, “politics”).
The next time a student-athlete does something regrettable, ask yourself this: Would you give back all the buzzer beaters, upsets, walk-off wins, rivalries, tournament runs and other proud moments to take back a regrettable decision? I don’t think you would; I don’t think they would; and I know I wouldn’t.
It’s been fun Melrose. I rooted for you harder than I rooted for my own high school when I was a student athlete (Malden, class of ‘90). You did for me exactly what high school sports is supposed to do for its athletes: Made me a part of something positive and taught me a lot in the four year process.