If you’ve never watched a sports movie, well, first I suggest you go and watch a sports movie. If you’ve never watched a sports movie, one of the common tropes in these said movies is the underdog. Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky in “Rocky,” Emma Stone’s Billy Jean in the just-released “Battle of the Sexes” and Sean Austin’s Rudy in “Rudy” all are characters that were expected to lose against their bigger, badder opponents.
In the most iconic sports movie of all time, “High School Musical,” we celebrate the victory of underdogs Troy and Gabriella, newcomers to the world of theater who literally stumbled into the lead roles, dethroning Sharpay and Ryan. Sharpay and Ryan had trained and worked their whole lives in the field in which they were passionate.
So yeah, it’s a little weird that they are the villains for basically being ticked that someone can just stroll in and take their place.
That’s like if I was taking assistant women’s soccer coach Chelsea Frye’s soccer class “” which I did and would recommend “” and in that class Chelsea was like, “Wow Hester, you’re so good at soccer. Let’s have a shootout between you and Julia Camp and the winner gets to be on the team.” Imagine I won and took Julia’s spot. That would be wild, but also impossible.
Anyway, the point is that Julia Camp would have every right to hate me, but I’m not actually sure she is capable of hate.
Where I’m trying “” and failing “” to go here is that the underdogs in movies are the good guys. The dominant powerhouse is the bad guys. The cocky team that always wins is demonized for winning. Winning is the point, though, which makes this a little stupid. Why does winning make you the bad guys? It’s all in perspective.
So my question of the day is something I have asked for years now. Actually I have only been saying, not asking, this since the start of the semester, but still. It’s a pretty good point.
If Division III soccer was a movie, would Trinity be the bad guys?
Honestly, yeah. If SCAC was a movie, Trinity would, for sure, be the bad guys. We would be the Russians in whatever dumb “Miracle” spinoff that features the plucky underdogs of the University of Dallas beating the odds. Which, if that game is secretly part of this whole movie, in my mind titled “Miracle at McGinlay” or “The Crusader’s Countdown,” would explain why it came down to the last minute “” for suspense purposes.
It’s not just soccer, though. Maybe we’re the bad guys in all the sports. Last year we won SCAC conference championships in 11 out of 18 of our varsity sports, which explains why more people at Trinity own a SCAC championship t-shirt than own the Tower Climb t-shirt of any specific year. I didn’t really check the math on that, but just trust me.
Anyway, we’re, like, really good. So maybe they hate cause they ain’t us. Turns out that these stats, along with our long history of just generally kicking butt and taking names, has made us notorious in the world of SCAC sports.
The other day, due to a rained-out tennis match, I had the opportunity to talk to some Austin College tennis players. I did not get anyone’s number.
(I wanted to prove that I could for kicks, but apparently I can’t ’cause I have no game, since I don’t play the game. This is sad. Not the time, Elise.)
But I did get some cool quotes. I asked the players what their impression of Trinity is.
“Y’all are just known for being really good,” said one player.
“But are we the bad guys?” I said.
“I mean, when I think of Trinity, I think crap, we’re screwed,” the player said.
“Yeah,” said another. “It’s basically the dominant powerhouse of the conference.”
When pressed, they did admit that we can come off a little arrogant, but for the most part they seemed to just want to make me smile by telling how great my school is.
I’m not an athlete at Trinity “” I am of course the most dominant athlete that has ever lived, I just don’t play currently “” but I still get really happy when people tell me how great Trinity is at sports.
Trinity athletes play for Trinity and as part of Trinity, and I’m really proud that when they play for my school, they do so with excellence. In conclusion, I will be a big fan of Julia Camp forever and a Tiger until I die.
