Watching the streak from the press box

When I first walked into head coach Tony Pierce's office in the fall of 1993, the Oberlin football team had lost one game in a row and was still dealing with the infamous aftermath of a forfeit to Wittenberg the previous season. They had expectations of picking up at least one victory that season. I was merely a fledgling freshman with hopes of broadcasting some football games. Coach Pierce and I discussed the usual subject: football at an institution that was not interested in the pomp and ritual of Saturday afternoons. He spoke about the players' dedication, the few loyal fans, and coaching a team that ESPN called "the worst in the country." At the end of the 1993 season, Pierce quit, taking his 1-19 career record with him. He left a program that was confronted with losing many players to graduation, an administration in flux, and no successor in sight. Football seemed ill.

Oberlin football's storied past is for historians. As good as this team may have been in 1892 (7-0, with a 50-0 win over Ohio St. for good measure) or 1943 (another 7-0 campaign) this is a program that has been 3-6 or 2-7 for half a century. The Northwestern miracle of 1995 would look merely ordinary if Oberlin ever had an eight game turnaround in a single season. This is what is so attractive about Oberlin football for a fan. We are rooting for the ultimate underdog. It brings out the dreamer in all of us. I spent the entire off-season imagining what it would be like to be behind the microphone for The Victory. Football is a passion for its supporters and detractors. That is why the program is always controversial. The Oberlin football team is always in danger of being eliminated. Its supporters defiantly look at tradition and the determination and courage of the players and the controversy subsides. This is the way it has been and this is the way it will be until the team wins or vanishes.

1994 was a season that should have vanished. Coach Pete Peterson inherited a team that had 25 players and was led by a talented but obviously inexperienced freshman quarterback. Peterson had no desire to keep playing the players on both offense and defense but he had no choice. Terry Halter not only led the team in tackles but his constantly dislocated fingers kept making his duties as center difficult. It took a 99-yard fumble return for a score to prevent Oberlin from becoming the first team in modern history to have been held touchdownless for an entire season. Disappointment was a constant for that team. That was undoubtedly the worst team that I ever saw. None of the games were remotely close. The freshman quarterback, James Parker, spent much of his time picking himself off the dirt after another vicious sack. I will always affiliate myself with that team; it is something of which I am very proud.

Much has been written about the abstract ideals of sport and society and I am a believer in all of that. Oberlin football has been a big part of this. The players, the coaches, the fans, and the media all know full well how bad this team has been and how unique this situation is. At most other colleges in the country a 39-game losing streak would be an unmitigated disaster. The local talk shows would call for Pete Peterson's head. Changes in the entire system would be in order. But at Oberlin we support our head coach and the players. No matter how many bad things are said or written about this football team, over the last four years I believe that the players have won the respect and admiration of their peers, both on the Oberlin College campus and off of it. For example, this summer I asked Denver Bronco quarterback John Elway how difficult it would be for him to hold his head high in this situation. He told me that not only would it be an incredible challenge but that it takes a special, strong person to persist through it. As bad as the score may be, Oberlin football players are proud to be Oberlin football players.

There is no doubt, however, that the last four years of Oberlin College football have been trying. As much as the team improves, its competition does too. Having a pep band and vocal fans make the losing a tiny bit easier, but no Oberlin football supporter would like anything more than a win. There may be preaching and ranting about how losing builds character, and that playing the game is what counts but there is no talk in the locker room about character. Many times players have said to me: "We could have won. Those guys were not that good." This team knows it can win. Losing streaks are parasites that never go away. Every team playing Oberlin dreads being the team that snaps the streak. And every loss gets mentioned on Sports-Center.

In the third game of the 1993 season the Yeomen went to the wire before losing at home in the slime to Earlham 16-9. In 1995, the Yeomen were a missed two-point conversion and a stalled drive away from overcoming a 35-0 deficit against Blufton in the fourth quarter. Even Blufton's starters were unable to stop the Yeomen. When Brandon Myers scored the first of those touchdowns (the first touchdown scored at home since 1993) he walked to the stands and gave the ball to a fan as the faithful roared. It is that play, a simple dive up the middle, that stands out as the most poignant moment to me over the last four years. Those games were tantalizing glimpses of glory. Glimpses of what could be. Glimpses of what will be.

Press Box is an opinion column about sports. Senior Jeremy Goldson is sports director for WOBC and has broadcasted Oberlin football and men's basketball for four years.