Lack of Respect for Fellow Cornellians

I apologize for interrupting my period of inactivity with a rant.

In each of my years at Cornell, I have participated in the fraternity intramural tennis tournament. Having reached the semifinals last year, with the other semifinalists having graduated, I had high hopes for how I might do this year.

We were supposed to have played our second-round matches by this morning. I emailed my opponent, Andrew, from a house we can call JIFI, on Thursday and suggested we play on Monday (yesterday). Andrew replied amicably to say that he would prefer to play on Friday or Sunday, although Monday might work as well. I suggested some times on Sunday, and said I was free all day on Monday and could play then if he had a little time.

Andrew did not reply. I waited three days, and then emailed him again on Sunday to remind him that we needed to play by Tuesday morning, and asked about times he was free on Monday. Andrew said he was not free at all on Monday, and asked if we could play on Tuesday. I reminded him that we needed to send in a result by 9:00am on Tuesday, but suggested that if he really could not play until Tuesday, he should email the intramurals director, Jeremy Hartigan, to ask for an extension.

Andrew informed me that he secured an extension until 9:00am on Wednesday, but did not suggest any times to play. I told him I could play any time Tuesday (today) before 3pm. Andrew replied that he had classes until 4:10 today, and then a meeting at 5, so he did not think he could play.

Having run out of time and options, I suggested to Andrew that we could play at 7am on Wednesday in order to finish by the 9am deadline. Otherwise, I said, he could just default. Andrew responded, "Yea I dont think I'll be able to do that. unfortunately the timing didnt work out."

Frustrated, I emailed Jeremy Hartigan last night to inform him of the situation and ask that I be credited as the winner, since Andrew had not made himself available to play before the deadline. Jeremy replied at 11:30 this morning to say that if we did not get him a result by 2pm today, he would flip a coin to decide who would advance.

At 12:15, when I got out of class, I emailed Andrew to ask him what he wanted to do. I wrote, "I think I've made a pretty reasonable attempt to play, but you just haven't been free at all. I don't want to 'lose' the match because of your schedule." Andrew did not respond, but I found out later that he had emailed Jeremy at 11:45 to tell him to flip the coin because "a mutual time didn't work out."

At 12:45, Jeremy emailed to inform us that he had flipped a coin and that Andrew would advance. Livid, I emailed Jeremy to stress that Andrew had not suggested ONE time he was free to play, that I had done my best to schedule a match, and that it was bullshit that Andrew got to advance. Jeremy responded, in part, "It is not my place to say which player tried or didn’t try to schedule times."

I don't blame Jeremy Hartigan for not wanting to take sides. I blame a fellow Cornellian and sportsman, Andrew, for cowardly refusing to play a tennis match and then stealing a victory because "a mutual time could not be agreed upon." The honorable move would have been to default. I made myself available to play all day Saturday, most of Sunday, all day Monday, and most of Tuesday, and Andrew refused to suggest one time which worked for him. Yet, in the end, it is he who advances and me who loses, without having the fair opportunity to let my skills determine my fate.

It is times such as this which make me ashamed of some of the people I call my fellow Cornellians.