Author: Jimmy Sullivan

NOTE: This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in November 2020.

A new era is afoot in Queens, and it’s a moment that Mets fans have been eagerly awaiting for many years.

Hedge fund magnate Steve Cohen, the inspiration for Bobby Axelrod’s character on “Billions,” has been approved by MLB owners and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to purchase the Mets for $2.475 billion. The purchase gives the Mets the opportunity to compete for free agents in a way they have not in the past decade or so, but this doesn’t necessarily mean they need to do so right off the bat.

This offseason will be like no other in baseball. Revenues will be pinched perhaps like never before, with teams focusing on their bottom line after having lost a year of fans in the ballpark. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, who recently let the Dodgers play a baseball game despite having an inconclusive, and later positive, COVID-19 test, has already said that playing a full season without fans in 2021 isn’t viable, but it remains to be seen to what extent teams are comfortable with putting fans in the ballpark.

Point being, teams won’t be spending very much this offseason. That puts the Mets in an advantageous position to spend, as Cohen is the richest owner in baseball with a higher net worth than the next three richest owners combined. That being said, spending shouldn’t necessarily be a mandate this offseason.

For one thing, the Mets’ most dire need for spending is the front office infrastructure to help the team succeed long-term. Major League Baseball has undergone drastic changes in analytics, but the Mets have been far behind, only recently beefing up their analytics department with the 2018 hire of Adam Guttridge, the team’s assistant general manager of systematic development.

However, the team’s previous owners, the Wilpon family, were no fans of analytics. As of last year, the Mets had the second-smallest analytics department in the sport, which is embarrassing for a team that plays in the largest media market in the country. First and foremost, Cohen should make sure this is remedied, and it seems as though he has this singular focus: He reportedly plans to invest heavily in software and hiring behind the scenes, and one estimate says he could lose up to $400 million in his first two years running the team. Cohen is also expected to enlist Sandy Alderson, the Mets’ former general manager and one of the game’s most respected minds, as the team’s president. Alderson would likely have a general manager and president of baseball operations under him, which would make for a well-staffed front office. 

Last week in this space, my colleague Colin Loughran made the argument that now is the time for the Mets to break the piggy bank and make a big free-agent splash, whether that be in the form of Trevor Bauer, J.T. Realmuto or making a trade for Cleveland shortstop Francisco Lindor. The argument is a compelling one; the Mets have talent on their roster, and one or two more big moves could put the team in a position to win a World Series. That being said, it’s an argument with which I slightly disagree.

The idea that the Mets must make a big move this offseason could get in the way of putting good infrastructure in place. It seems as though Cohen’s mindset is to make sure the team has a solid front office, and one report has even compared the potential composition of the Mets front office to the “East Coast Dodgers.” On the other hand, a hard-headed attempt to get Realmuto or Bauer without the blessing of the front office could actually backfire on the organization. Former Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane said it best: “The day you say you have to do something, you’re screwed. Because you’re going to make a bad deal. You can always recover from the player you didn’t sign. You may never recover from the player you signed at the wrong price.”

So we’ll see what the Mets do. I’m not against the team going out and spending big money this offseason, but I sincerely hope the processes in doing so are correct. With Alderson in place and Cohen’s money putting the Mets in the conversation for free agents, you have to think the franchise is heading in the right direction. 

That being said, whether or not this offseason is the one where the Mets open their purse may not matter. Our long, national nightmare is over. Steve Cohen is in control.

NOTE: This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in November of 2020.

A member of the Fordham Men’s Basketball program has tested positive for COVID-19 and all team workouts are suspended for the next two weeks. The individual has not been identified.

The individual tested positive over the weekend, and the entire team is now in quarantine for the next two weeks. According to the school, they will be tested on a regular basis during this time.

According to Fordham Athletics, this positive test is the first in the Fordham athletic department since the school began its testing protocols in August. Contact tracing is being performed currently to see who may have had close contact with the person who tested positive.

The Fordham men’s basketball team is scheduled to open its season at home on Nov. 25 against Iona College.

NOTE: This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in October 2020. Written with Helen Stevenson.

Weeks away from the general election, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden appeared in competing town halls at the same time on Thursday night. The nominees were initially supposed to appear in a singular event, but President Trump declined to participate in a virtual capacity after recovering from COVID-19. Biden’s campaign then planned a town hall on ABC News, and days later, Trump’s campaign scheduled an event with NBC News. 

Trump’s town hall was led by NBC moderator Savannah Guthrie in Miami, Florida with questions from prospective voters. He defended his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, denied the times he failed to denounce white supremacists and said he would commit to a peaceful transition of power if he finds it to be “an honest election.”

Vice President Joe Biden’s town hall, moderated by George Stephanopoulos on ABC Network, discussed his plans for the economy, the United States’ handling of the coronavirus, police reform and the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. In the 90-minute forum, held in Pennsylvania, Biden answered questions from a series of voters across the political spectrum, ranging from Republican to Democrat to undecided. 

Olivia Morri, FCRH ’21, president of the Fordham College Republicans, said she and other executives of the club are not currently making statements or offering opinions on the 2020 presidential election.

Claire McDonnell, FCRH ’21, president of the Fordham College Democrats, said she was impressed with Biden’s performance.

“I thought Biden performed well in the town hall,” she said. “He was able to keep his responses pretty policy-focused and answer the questions in a meaningful way. I wouldn’t say all of his responses were perfect, but he was able to connect well with the audience members and come away with a good performance.”

Among other notable moments, Biden expressed regret over his 1994 crime bill, which has since been blamed for increasing incarceration rates among minority communities for non-violent offenses. 

Biden also offered his clearest stance to date on the issue of court-packing, a subject that has come to the forefront amid Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s impending confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying that he would make his position known before election day “depending on how [the Senate] handle[s] this.”

He also said that he would try to make a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine mandatory for all citizens, but he also added that it would be difficult to enforce this.

At Trump’s town hall in Miami, one of the most notable answers was regarding the QAnon conspiracy theory, which claims that President Trump is battling a “Deep State” child sex trafficking ring run by Democrats.

“I know nothing about QAnon. I do know that they are very much against pedophilia,” he said. “I’ll tell you what I do know about: I know about antifa, and I know about the radical left.”

Trump also responded to several concerns about his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and why he had not acted earlier to respond. He said his decision to restrict travel from China in January aimed to mitigate the spread of the virus, and said he did not want to “panic” the country. When asked why he does not encourage his supporters to wear masks, he said he supported mask-wearing but questioned its effectiveness.

Trump and Guthrie’s interactions often became contentious throughout the night, as the moderator expressed quick questions and pushed for direct answers. After the town hall, Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said Ms. Guthrie acted as a “debate opponent and a Joe Biden surrogate.”

McDonnell said Biden’s town hall provided a marked contrast from the president’s, where Biden was able to dive into policy initiatives his administration could take if he were elected.

“I think it’s incredibly important for Biden to provide a contrast with Trump,” McDonnell said. “One of the most constructive parts of Biden’s town hall was its overall tone of the night, between Biden and the moderator [George Stephanopoulos] as well as the audience.”

McDonell also noted the town hall was a welcome change from the first debate, where Trump frequently interrupted Biden.

“Especially in comparison with the first debate, I found Biden’s town hall to be quite informative and focused on his policy proposals,” she said. “He was unclear when talking about his opinion on packing the courts and on his climate plan, but overall I think he was pretty clear on his platform.”

The final presidential debate before the General Election will be Thursday, Oct. 22 in Nashville, Tennessee. 

NOTE: This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in October 2020.

Like many other programs across the country, Fordham Women’s Soccer has been adversely affected by the COVID-19pandemic. No games, modified practices and a season pushed to the spring have left the Rams in a tough spot at a time in which they would usually be playing games. 

But the team is not using this time to feel sorry for itself. Quite the opposite is true.

“The leadership group did an excellent job of staying connected outside of what we were asking from a coaching staff perspective,” head coach Jessica Clinton said. Clinton credited the sophomores with sending motivational quotes, the juniors with keeping different groups on the team connected, including incoming freshmen, and the seniors for helping organize the team. 

“I don’t think we would be as optimistic now, talking about coaching and being back on the field with this group, if we didn’t feel like they were as connected or if they didn’t do the work,” Clinton says.

Players and coaches for Fordham Women’s Soccer have been impressed with both the leadership on the team and the responsibility individual players have shown in using this time as an opportunity to grow as a squad. That isn’t just the returning players, either; this year’s Fordham women’s soccer team includes a large freshman class of eight newcomers. Milan Bornstein, a senior midfielder who started 17 of 20 games for the Rams last season, echoed that sentiment.

“People have been great, coming in, being leaders and showing us what they can do,” she said. 

Junior Marissa Stanco, whose game-winning goal in the final regular-season game of 2019 sent the Rams to the Atlantic 10 tournament, knew the team would carry the right mindset into these unprecedented times.

“Honestly, it was no surprise to me that we were ready to pick up right where we left off,” she said. “I think the seniors these past couple of weeks have been really great and helping out the younger players a lot, as much as they need to, to get them ready. But it was honestly no surprise to me that we wanted to pick up right where we left off and really get right back into the swing of things.”

Junior centerback Claudia Cuicani, who started every game last year, agreed.

“I’m honestly so impressed with our team, especially the upperclassmen, because now it’s us working together,” she said. “Because when we couldn’t have coaches’ practices, we had captains’ practice, and everyone just kind of stepped up and took a leadership role in leading the team. So I think everyone did a really good job taking that place.”

The team is currently in its third full week of being together and back at practice. Initially, the team had spent eight hours per week at practice, far below what the team would be doing under normal circumstances. However, as of this week, the team is able to practice for up to 20 hours per week, albeit in a modified format due to COVID-19 guidelines. Coaches are also allowed to oversee the practices. 

Senior midfielder Saige Bingman, who scored two goals last season, said things are starting to feel a little bit more like usual, even if there are still no games.

“It definitely feels more normal now, and it’s good to just be out there and have a normal schedule with soccer and lift and the meetings,” she said. “Despite the situation, I think we’re making the most of it.”

This development, which will allow for more practice time and more time for players to spend together, is making players like junior midfielder Jenna Devine elated.

“I’m so excited,” she said. “I actually can’t even put it into words. I was talking to one of my coaches last week, and I was like, ‘I sound like I’m 12 when I say this, but soccer makes me so happy,’ and to be back out with the girls is just a feeling that we lost for a while, so to have it back is just so amazing, so awesome.”

“It was a lonely quarantine, lonely summer, working out alone is definitely way tougher,” Bornstein said. “So having your teammates with you to work out with and just being able to play games that you can play with over two people is so exciting.”

In addition to staying ready for the season whenever it starts, members of the team are also taking up other important initiatives. Devine leads a subgroup of female athletes for Fordham Connect, which seeks to help student-athletes at Fordham with different unique experiences they face. The president of the group is junior goalkeeper Maggie Grossman, who said that Fordham Connect’s efforts have so far been a success.

“A lot of athletes have been participating and people have expressed that it has been really beneficial for them,” she said. “It has given us a way to touch base with athletes in other sports on how they are doing during this trying time, which is everything we wanted.” She also said that these times allowed members on the team to create relationships with each other that they may not have previously, especially in the team’s efforts to address social injustices off the field.

In addition to the complicated task of preparing for a spring season with no start date in sight — the Atlantic 10 has not yet offered a specific timeline for the start of the spring season — the women’s soccer team is also bringing in two new assistant coaches. Eleri Earnshaw and Kathy Prescott joined the program after having spent time at LIU and Penn, respectively. Earnshaw joined the team in the winter, while Prescott was brought in over the summer.

“If you have an opportunity to meet with them or talk with them, from my perspective, I didn’t really have to try hard to bring them into the fold, just based off of their personalities,” Clinton said. “But I think also our team made it really easy. They’re a really open, honest, inclusive group.”

Whenever the season gets started, the team is excited to see what it can accomplish. Out of the 16 players who started at least one game last year, 11 will return this coming season. The team’s schedule is shifted, but its priorities haven’t changed.

“We took our time to be sad, be disappointed about everything and then we realized, ‘okay, we need to figure out how we can continue to get better,’” junior defender Kendall Dandridge said. “And it might be in different methods, but we still can come out of this stronger than when we came into it.”

Stanco also cited her excitement over having a big freshman class that could help the team in reserve roles.

“We’re always going to need fresh legs, whether it’s the 90th minute or the start of the second half, going into overtime, whatever it is,” she said. “I’m super excited for that. I think that will help us a lot. I think this team could do really big things.”

“All we want is to play,” Bingman says. “So whatever that looks like, if it’s a partial season or a full one, I think we’ve been working so hard since the spring thinking that we’d have a season this fall, so I feel like everyone just feels ready to get out there and play. The work that we’ve been putting in during practice is obviously going to get us there, and everyone just wants to play. We’re so ready.”

NOTE: This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in October 2020.

After this, I’ll have two more Overtime columns to write as part of The Fordham Ram’s editorial staff. This is my 21st Overtime. I can’t lie to you: for whatever reason, I had a hard time coming up with an idea for the column this week. Sometimes, it just happens that way. I didn’t want to be repetitive, but I didn’t know where to go. 

And then, like it was sent from heaven, I was given a nondescript Monday Night Football game that ended with a 30-16 win for the Packers over the hopeless Falcons. I turned that game on as soon as the Yankees closed out their game 1 win over the Rays in the ALDS. Where most people saw a game that was over in the final minutes, I saw an opportunity. 

For those who are unfamiliar, in football, like in other sports, you can make a wager on the outcome of the game. One of the most common forms of betting on football is known as “spread betting,” where you bet on a team to either win by more than a certain amount of points or lose by less than a certain amount. You can bet on other things as well, such as how many yards players will get, which player will score the first points of the game, and so on and so forth. You can also take a swing at an “over/under” bet, where you predict whether or not the total points in a game will be more or less than a particular number.

Now, having explained the gist of sports betting, let’s get back to the Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta was down 14 points to the Packers, with possession of the ball in the final two minutes of the game. Within seconds, I scrambled to look up the spread, which had the Packers favored by seven points. The Falcons’ drive ultimately flamed out in a mix of desperation and futility. The Packers “covered” — those who bet on Green Bay -7 were winners, but the last drive of the game was, as some announcers have coyly said, “significant to some.”

Now, I don’t say this from the point of view as someone who often bets on sports. I do say this, though, as a sports fan who has come to appreciate how mainstream gambling has become within the sports consciousness.

As of a few years ago, point spreads were hardly mentioned on broadcasts. Now, you can easily find point spreads on ESPN’s ticker throughout the day. Broadcasters of games don’t make specific gambling references, but they have become more and more willing to make coy references to it. These include Sean McDonough dropping a stellar “this might be meaningful to some,” Chris Fowler calling an unmemorable Giants-Steelers game in Week 1 and the repeated gambling references of Al Michaels, who once said near the end of a game that was 45-10 with four minutes left, “56.5 is a number a lot of the fans are thinking about right now.”

Gambling has become more accepted in the sports lexicon. Those references, which are still coy but more prevalent in recent years, are a subtle wink and a nod to those who are invested in a game even if the outcome is decided. 

Some in sports look down on betting, while others choose not to partake. But those who look down upon sports betting are behind current trends. 36 states currently either have or are moving towards legal sports betting. Much of this activity came after a 2018 Supreme Court ruling allowed states to set their own rules on sports betting. In the last couple of years, media companies have featured more and more betting content, including an ESPN show called “The Daily Wager” which focuses on betting-related topics.

Fans and broadcasters have embraced sports gambling, and this is a good thing, if for nothing else than to keep some fans engaged if the games have already been decided. When I’m watching a game, I’m usually at least somewhat aware of the point spread; in addition to potentially being a point of conversation later on, it also gives a good point of reference for who should win and who shouldn’t.

So, for one last time, let’s go back to the Atlanta Falcons. As the final seconds ticked down and the Packers “covered” the seven-point spread, ESPN turned to its top anchor, Scott Van Pelt, for postgame coverage. One of the first segments of Van Pelt’s SportsCenter? A portion of the show called “bad beats,” a montage of plays that happen late in games that, while seemingly innocuous to the final outcome, shift the outcome when it comes to the point spread or the over/under.

NOTE: This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in September 2020.

With the NCAA’s recent decision to move its fall championships to the spring, the Atlantic 10 has punted on attempting to conduct a fall season starting in early October. 

When the A-10 announced that it was postponing the start of its 2020 fall season due to high rates of COVID-19 in several of its member states, the conference left the option open to start a fall season in early October if conditions allowed. Between the NCAA’s decision and sustained coronavirus outbreaks in several states where A-10 schools compete, the decision became simple.

With this window of opportunity closed, most of Fordham’s teams — which compete in the A-10 — will have to wait to find out when they are playing again. As of this writing, there are no Fordham sports in action right now, though some teams are holding practices.

This postponement will affect Fordham’s soccer, volleyball, cross country, golf, tennis, rowing and swimming and diving programs, all of whom play competitively in the fall. Back on July 17, Atlantic 10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade outlined what would need to happen — and ultimately didn’t — for the A-10 to come back.

“There would have to be a significant upward trend in [the lowering of] all of the impacts we’re seeing right now,” she said at the time. “It’s a slim opportunity, but we felt like we should keep it on the table.”

NOTE: This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in September 2020.

Jack Roche, GSB ’22, said he just wanted to get tested for COVID-19. He had already gotten two tests at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus during the first two weeks of the fall semester, as everyone attending in-person classes at Fordham has been required to do. But, he wanted one more test on Sept. 16 because he was headed home for the weekend to visit family in Massachusetts and wanted to have peace of mind knowing that he wasn’t spreading the coronavirus to his family at home. 

When he went to the tent outside O’Hare Hall for a test, Roche said he was initially turned away. Soon after, a security guard told him that Fordham’s policy was only to allow students to be tested twice before Sept. 23. After a phone call with Health Services, office manager Barbara Piliero directed him to a free clinic a couple of miles away in the Bronx. Soon after, he received an email from Piliero telling him that Maureen Keown, the director of Health Services at Rose Hill, had permitted him to get a third test.

“A lot of schools have been very transparent on what their plan is,” Roche said. “And it’s kind of frustrating as a Fordham student that I don’t even know the answer if I can get tested when I want to, not even any other precautions they’re taking, just a matter of if I can get tested.”

In the end, Roche got the third test. But the difficulty he found in getting clear answers on testing was not unique. Elizabeth Haywood, FCRH ’22, said she initially had a good experience with getting her first two tests of the semester but ran into complications when she arrived at the tent for her third. Haywood said the university only wanted to let her test again during the next phase of testing, which it is calling “surveillance testing.”

“The last time I got tested [Sept. 1], I was told I could go as many times as I wanted to as long as I waited at least seven days between tests,” she said. “But when I went again on Tuesday [Sept. 15] after waiting two weeks, they said that since I’d already been tested at least twice on campus, I could only be tested again through the surveillance testing or if I had symptoms and felt like I needed to get a test.”

The students’ experience suggests that there is a hole in the testing regime being used by the university. Fordham has all but wrapped up its initial round of testing, aimed at returning students and staff to campus safely, but has not yet moved on to the surveillance phase, which university officials say will be accomplished through random testing of students, faculty and staff.

According to Fordham’s COVID-19 FAQs, “Not every member of the community will necessarily be selected for this ongoing testing,” once the next phase of testing begins.

In an interview with the Ram, Keown said that Fordham was not turning students away if they needed or desired additional testing, even though Roche and Haywood say they were rejected. 

“If [students] have completed their two required tests and several have had more than two tests, we are asking that they come back when the surveillance starts so we can finish up the students and employees who still need their second tests to meet the University requirement,” she said.

Unlike students, faculty are allowed to test every seven days if they so desire, according to the staff at the Fordham COVID-19 testing tent at Rose Hill.

As of Tuesday Sept. 22, Fordham has not communicated further guidelines on the next phase of testing and, specifically, how often students can get tested when the next phase of testing begins. The university has not said if students will only be able to continue to test if they are randomly selected for surveillance testing, or under what circumstances they can continue to test voluntarily.

Marco Valera, Fordham’s COVID-19 coordinator, declined requests for comment. However, Greg Pappas, associate vice president for Student Affairs, indicated that the decision and the timing of the move to random testing are “to be determined.”  Keown had previously indicated that the next phase of testing would start this week. Pappas also said that how often students would be called in for random tests would be determined at another time.

Also, Pappas said that how often the university tests its students is dependent on testing capacity.

“We’re completing session two now, and then we’re gonna move to our next session of testing,” he said. “That session of testing is still to be determined and we’ll try to determine that in the next couple of days, and we determine that through consultation with the Department of Health.”

Pappas has since clarified that this decision will be made in the next week or so, per Department of Health recommendation.

“As we continue to offer on-campus testing throughout the months of October and November, the scope of testing will be determined in consultation with the DOH in the upcoming week or so, especially if we are advised to transition to random testing,” he said.

Pappas said that he and other testing supervisors are still in the process of figuring out if every student has received two tests, but he said that process should be complete by Wednesday. He also said that testing isn’t the only safeguard against COVID-19, even if it’s the most important one.

“The test is only as good as your behavior the minute after you took the test,” Pappas said. “So, at the end of the day, it’s not just testing upon which students and staff should rely. It’s everything — it’s social distancing, it’s PPE-wearing, it’s testing.”

The university’s lack of communication about the testing regime has raised some concern among students and faculty. Garrett Broad, an associate professor in the department of communication and media studies, said he understood Fordham’s judicious approach in communicating information to students because the university was waiting for guidance from New York state on how to proceed. The Ram reached out to Fordham’s outside epidemiologist, Dr. Shannon Magari, for comment, but she did not respond in time for publication.

Broad said he also recognizes that colleges and universities are in a difficult position, with many competing interests between students, parents, faculty and others. 

That being said, he said that Fordham’s delays in getting information out has led to undue speculation and gaps in knowledge on the part of the student body.

“Classic health and risk communication 101 — be present early, be communicative early,” said Broad, who teaches strategic communication. “And I think, in some ways, the university did some really good work there, especially when we initially went online in the spring, communicating throughout the summer. But I also think there are moments where they probably could have been quicker, especially in terms of responding to some of the [concerns voiced] on social media.”

At the time of publication, the university’s dashboard shows there were 16 positive tests at the Rose Hill campus between Sept. 8 and Sept. 21, with the first positive tests appearing on Sept. 17. According to New York State’s higher education testing data, Fordham has had a total of 25 positive tests since Sept. 12. Additionally, the state’s website says that 57 Fordham students are currently in quarantine and another 15 are in isolation — this information is not available on the Fordham portal. No students, faculty or staff have been hospitalized as a result of their positive tests, according to the New York State department of health dashboard for Fordham University.

“I recognize that some of this is a heavy lift and requires some work, but I think in a situation like this, it’s never a bad idea to give more information,” Broad said.

NOTE: This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in September 2020.

This article contains mention of sexual assault and harrassment.

The #MeToo movement didn’t begin after sexual abuse allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein came to light in 2017. It was created in 2006 by Tarana Burke, a Black activist from the Bronx who used #MeToo to help other women who were survivors of sexual assault — a full 11 years before the hashtag gained popularity on social media. Burke has since received her just due in the #MeToo movement, but not everyone associates its beginnings with her.

As such, it’s necessary to examine the unique difficulties Black women face when coming forward against powerful men, and “On the Record,” a recently-released documentary on HBO Max, does just that. (Sidebar: Burke is interviewed in the film.) Their stories do not discount the difficulties white women face as well; instead, the 98-minute documentary examines the added layer of difficulty Black women encounter, specifically due to the color of their skin, and the relationship paradigms that have developed over time with Black men.

The documentary follows the stories of several women who were sexually assaulted by music mogul Russell Simmons, who was commonly referred to as the “godfather of hip-hop” thanks to his discovery of several top artists and his leadership at the renowned rap music label Def Jam Recordings. 

The main character of “On the Record” is Drew Dixon, a young producer who rises to the Artists and Repertoire position at Def Jam in the ’90s. She is a rising star in the industry, having overseen Method Man and Mary J. Blige’s 1995 hit “You’re All I Need” at the age of just 24. However, around this time, Simmons begins aggressively harassing her. The experience leaves her scarred and eventually forces her to leave Def Jam and move on to Arista, where she eventually receives horrible treatment by another powerful Black music executive, L.A. Reid. 

The film, which is heartbreakingly thorough, illuminates the experiences of Dixon and other women with Simmons over the course of his career. What makes the film so brutally effective is how it examines gender and race dynamics: At one point, Dixon recalls watching the Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas hearings as a senior at Stanford and remembers the vitriol many felt towards Hill for coming forward. In one of the more heart-wrenching scenes from the documentary, she repeats several times that she didn’t want to come forward with her abuse stories about Simmons and Reid because she didn’t want something like that to happen to her. As she says near the end of the film, as a survivor, her life is the crime scene.

Another dynamic that is also explored in the film is the “light privilege” Dixon says she and some of the other accusers feel. In one of the most powerful scenes in the film, Dixon, Jenny Lumet and Sil Lai Abrams, three of the 19 women who were known to be sexually assaulted by Simmons, meet with each other after a New York Times exposé uncovered Simmons’ years of improprieties. Abrams brings up the idea that the women are “conventionally attractive” due to their lighter skin complexion, and the fact that their stories were told at all is in itself a privilege. Abrams says every woman’s story deserves to be heard, while Dixon speaks of the obligation she feels to stick her neck out for other Black women, in part because of that “light privilege.” 

The final scenes of the film track Dixon’s current state as of January 2020, with her reflecting on leaving the music industry after being sexually assaulted by L.A. Reid. We’re left to wonder that same question: What would’ve happened if someone like Dixon, who helped churn out hits for Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and Lauryn Hill, had stayed in the music industry? What would she have accomplished if Reid and Simmons didn’t bully her out of it? Even more hauntingly, what did we lose because these two men did?

NOTE: This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in September 2020.

In 2017, former Major League Soccer player turned ESPN soccer analyst Taylor Twellman launched into a rant about the United States men’s soccer team. After a shocking 2-1 loss to Trinidad and Tobago that kicked the U.S. out of the 2018 World Cup, Twellman, in the midst of a hair-raising diatribe on the institutional issues at U.S. Soccer, asked — and several times repeated — a very simple question:

“What are we doing?!”

The year is 2020, and in the sports world, Twellman’s question applies now more than ever.

The coronavirus is closing in on causing 200,000 deaths in the U.S., which has done an objectively terrible job containing the disease. In addition to COVID-19, there are also once-in-a-millennium wildfires ripping through the West Coast, and because of this, air quality in California, Oregon and Washington have plummeted, making it dangerous to go outside. Additionally, the country has faced a reckoning on systemic racism, but not everyone is with the times; a slimmed-down crowd at Arrowhead Stadium booed a pregame “moment of unity” to address these issues before the Texans and Chiefs faced off to start the 2020 NFL season.

It’s a weird world, and it may not be one that necessarily includes sports. But that doesn’t mean leagues aren’t trying to make it work, and in some cases, trying in truly insane ways.

Take college football, for example. Some of its conferences decided that fall sports just weren’t for them in 2020, such as   the Patriot League, which includes Fordham’s football team. A couple of Power 5 conferences — the Big Ten and the PAC-12 — joined the fray in August, deeming football, which features more close contact and transmission than many other sports, unsafe in our current coronavirus climate. 

That didn’t deter Big Ten players and coaches, though, many of whom came out publicly in favor of playing this year. The Big Ten also did itself no favors when it refused to explain its decision in detail publicly; this was in contrast to the PAC-12, which released the findings of its medical advisory committee to the public shortly after making its decision. One of these findings was a high propensity of myocarditis — heart inflammation that could lead to a heart attack or stroke — in athletes who tested positive for the disease.

However, after its chancellors voted 11-3 to postpone the fall sports season until the spring of 2021, it is now voting on a season that the Big ten could start as soon as Oct. 17. The main reason for this reversal is the presence of reliable, rapid testing, a breakthrough that wouldn’t necessarily stop an outbreak but could contain one before it infects half a team as it did at Clemson this summer. 

That said, sports are not devoid of COVID-19-related risks even with rapid testing. The NBA and NHL have succeeded in using safe bubbles this summer and deserve credit for doing so, but Major League Baseball has aimlessly plowed through multiple outbreaks and other disasters. The latest self-induced baseball catastrophe took place in Seattle, where the Mariners and A’s played two games on Monday through a wildfire-induced haze at T-Mobile Park. The play that crystallized the bizarre decision-making that led to these games being played happened in the first game of the doubleheader, when A’s center fielder Ramon Laureano made a spectacular diving catch through smoke while wearing an N95 mask.

In July, when baseball first came back for “summer camp,” Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle plainly laid out the stakes, calling sports “the reward of a functioning society.” Exactly what about our society is functioning right now? The United States has averaged roughly 1,000 deaths from COVID-19 per day since late-July, a full six months into the pandemic. Masks are political. Students in Boston are protesting guidelines that will require them to get the flu vaccine if they want to come back to school. And, worst of all, we can’t go anywhere freely without being concerned about catching a virus that could be fatal.

And yet, MLB and the NFL are plowing ahead without bubbles. Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred says he hopes fans can attend the league championship series and World Series from the league’s playoff bubbles in Arlington and San Diego, and only God knows why, considering this terrible idea would defy the entire point of a protective “bubble.” Moreover, baseball’s “bubble” is also deeply flawed because it will likely include ten different cities when the playoffs start at the end of September. A poorly-timed outbreak could wipe out a series, and possibly the entire endeavor. Even if it wouldn’t, a positive test or a group of them could push the playoffs into November, which baseball has shown a reluctance to do, given the worsening weather and a presidential election that is likely to captivate the nation but unlikely to be decided on Nov. 3. And the Big Ten is plowing along too, with a season starting in just a few weeks despite the risks its unpaid student-athletes will face.

No, I am not against sports being played in 2020. In some cases, we’ve seen it done safely. But, as I’ve said before, we need to ensure games happen safely, and leagues can’t afford to make unforced errors, whether those be allowing fans in stadiums or playing through outbreaks or natural disasters.

So as for Twellman’s question? Well, I don’t know what we’re doing, and I’m not sure it’s good.

NOTE: This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in September 2020.

2020 has been a difficult year for many, and college athletes around the country have been adversely affected with many conferences opting to postpone fall seasons until the spring. Fordham student-athletes are also subject to this, as Fordham Football, which plays in the Patriot League, won’t play until the spring. Neither will most of Fordham’s other sports, as the Atlantic 10 announced in July that it would take similar action. 

In response, a group of Fordham’s student-athletes has come up with a plan to help each other through these difficult times.

Fordham Connect is a group that established itself this summer in order to support the mental health of student-athletes in various ways. The group will hold biweekly meetings in which athletes can discuss various issues that affect them.

Junior Maggie Grossman, a goaltender for the Fordham women’s soccer team, said that the idea first came about her freshman year when Fordham Athletics brought in a speaker who facilitated team-building exercises with Fordham’s student-athletes. This led to people sharing intimate personal experiences of their childhood, and Grossman realized that they hadn’t had a safe space to share those experiences before.

Earlier this year, as COVID-19 spread across the United States and sent college students home across America, and after racial injustice protests around the country following the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Grossman reached out to some friends in the Fordham Athletics community to start a group like Connect, to help Fordham athletes work through these unique challenges.

“I think a big thing, and a thing that drives Connect the most, is just being comfortable with being vulnerable and being comfortable with struggling,” Grossman said. “Because at the end of the day, you could be getting personal records every day in the weight room and performing on the field and you could be coming home and having breakdowns, which I think that the majority of athletes face.”

To help with these unique challenges, Fordham Connect also features three smaller subgroups. Jenna Devine, a junior on the women’s soccer team, will helm the subgroup for female athletes. Jade Dyer-Kennedy, a junior jumper on the Fordham track & field team, will be the executive for the BIPOC subgroup. Jaden Vazquez, a junior linebacker on the Fordham football team, will lead the LGBTQ+ subgroup. Fordham Connect will also create other subgroups if athletes suggest them. Fordham Connect is also getting an assist from Fordham’s Senior Associate Athletic Director, Djenane Paul, who is serving as an advisor to the group.

Devine, the leader of the subgroup for female athletes, wants to help her fellow athletes feel seen and understood. Calling the opportunity to be a Fordham Connect leader one she “couldn’t pass up,” she said it’s important to remember that student-athletes often go through universal experiences.

“The biggest thing I plan on emphasizing to my peers is that all student-athletes share similar experiences that they might not realize so my overall goal is to help show them that they are not alone,” she said. 

Dyer-Kennedy emphasized the importance of the BIPOC subgroup for athletes like her. She said that outside of four or five teammates with whom she could share her experiences of being a Black woman and a Black female athlete at Fordham, she didn’t really have anyone else she could open up to. She wants to help athletes going through similar experiences who may have a harder time finding their own personal support groups.

“Making that safe space, that maybe I didn’t necessarily have with a larger group, that’s what I want to get out of it, and I’m really excited for it,” Dyer-Kennedy said.

Vazquez, who is bisexual and heading up the LGBTQ+ subgroup, has similar aspirations. He came out last year and received ample support from his teammates, but he wants to inspire others to be comfortable with their own identities and feel comfortable with themselves.

“I just want to make people feel comfortable within sports,” he said. “There’s not that many open spaces for LGBTQ athletes to come together and talk.” He also said he hopes the group can help people deal with discrimination they may face.

Currently, group leaders are doing group training with Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) as to how to facilitate meetings and have efficient discussions without getting on tangents that don’t benefit the conversation. 

Since the group went public in August, it has been met with positivity, both inside and outside of the Fordham Athletics community. The need for athletes to support each other through these tough times is critical, and a group like this is necessary even without a global pandemic and the current national situation.

The athletes leading this group realize the importance of what they are doing right now.

“When you create a space for people to talk and people to normalize different things, people feel more accepted, even if it’s not just the LGBT community,” Vazquez said. “I know there are some teams where there might be only one Black athlete, and for an athlete to come into a space with other athletes on different teams would be very helpful, and I think it’s gonna be impactful for a lot of people.”

“For a lot of us, athletics is a large part — multiple hours of the day, multiple hours of the weekend — and our team is our support system,” Dyer-Kennedy said. “So getting us together in that group where, now you know that you have more than your team, you have other athletes, you have people who know what’s going on, to help you out. So I think that’s kind of the big thing, to make that support system, while we don’t know if we’re gonna be practicing and competing and stuff like that.”

Devine says that while the pandemic has halted many team activities, the time has allowed athletes to pause and think about what is important to them.

“I think Fordham Connect couldn’t have been established at a better time,” she said. “It’s hard for all athletes to not be competing due to COVID-19, but this time has allowed us to pause and begin a group dedicated to improving our athletic community.”

“I think it’s even more important to be able to identify the fact that as athletes, yes, we go through certain things that maybe regular students don’t, but you’re not solely defined by whether you can play or not play,” Grossman said.