Soccer team deserves respect
Greg Martin
Fisher Hall
When the best team on campus, by far, returns home after a devastating loss in the final of an NCAA semi final game, the last thing they want to see are the types of headlines that you and your staff printed in The Observer.
This team worked for four long months, from 6 a.m. to midnight, every day, literally. Yet we choose not to see this dedication and inspiration, instead we embellish how badly they performed on the national stage. I think it's ridiculous to exaggerate just how badly the Irish were beaten by Carolina and that appeared to be the single objective of the Monday Observer.
To come to the cafeteria and to see these heart-filled young ladies for the first time after their arrival at ND since the loss was hard enough. The last thing they want is to look through insensitive and embellished subtitles in your paper, have everyone who knows next to nothing about soccer and the game read this article and have it be the lasting impression left on the entire student body.
Why don't we cherish and make visible the wonderful times they had as a team and the overtime and tournament wins? Why don't we say how good each player was all year long and how they individually pushed the team to the semifinal, rather than grade them with extremely below average report cards. Have you all no heart?
These players read the articles, and the way I see it, they took the Irish farther than any other athletes at the University. Why not make our own subtitles, in our own paper to lift up these young ladies and subsequently report on the final game rather than brush our own people to the side. These are the girls we should be proud of — so why is it that everywhere I look all I see is "UNC". Be sensitive and appreciative for God's sake. I think the writers did a terrible job relating to our student body just how big heroes our ND women's soccer team was this year. Not to mention that most of the writers appear to be ignorant and unqualified to report on soccer.
Though it is your job to report on events, why would you enlarge a picture of our senior, Monica Gonzalez, with her head in her hands, devastated. Why not go back a bit and write another article about their victorious year and show pictures of an elated Gonzalez celebrating with her teammates? Those pictures that you've chosen are going to be the last memory of The Observer that our amazing seniors carry with them. If you're going to take the time to rate individual players, which is ultimately what the report card was, why not dedicate an entire page to the accomplishments of these ladies? They've done a lot for our University.
"Still Waiting for Parity?" Is this a joke? Shouldn't it be that at the very least our own Notre Dame people should see us as our best? Where's the pride, compassion and sympathy?
Greg Martin
Fisher Hall
Justin Detter
Zahm Hall
freshmen
Dec. 4, 2000
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, December 5, 2000
