This weekend I ventured into the world of American college sports (as a spectator, obvs). I live less than 5 minutes from the main Brown sports village, so on Friday night a friend and I headed to watch ice hockey. The last time I went to a match was when I lived in Grenoble, so I really am living the Erasmus life take 2!
The match started with the American national anthem, and the first thing I noticed was how many staff were with each team – 5 coaches/managers half of whom were in suits. This made it very entertaining to watch them walk across the ice to their box in smart and undoubtedly very slippery shoes. Brown got off to a slow start, but the pace soon picked up, as did the aggression. By the second period, the referees were speeding over to split up fights!
We had accidentally sat with the supporters for the opposing team (Colgate university) and I’m sure they were very entertained by our lack of understanding of the rules. We got very into it, especially when Brown took the lead (and eventually won). When a Brown athlete scored, the bottom of the scoreboard flashed up with their name, age, hometown and even an official photo. Big cheers also went up for the Brown zamboni during the breaks. As we left I spotted this stuffed Brown bear, which is obviously the mascot for Brown. I hope that I never run into a live one, I had underestimated how large they are!
Saturday evening was time to put all my expert knowledge from the High School Musical trilogy and One Tree Hill into play – basketball time! The women’s team put on a great show, and we even got to see some cheerleaders albeit doing some pretty low key routines. The Cornell team and the Brown team were pretty well matched, and there were two quarters where shots were made during the last one second (something I thought was hugely over-represented in the movies but is actually reasonable!). At the very end, there were three time outs in a row with only 4.5 seconds left to play. Even with all the stopping, they managed to keep it entertaining: with cheerleading, and competitions (my favourite was two children racing to dress up in adult sized basketball outfits and shoes and running from the halfway line to shoot a basket). Again, my lack of basketball expertise did not stop me getting very into it, although I did have to prevent myself from making too many HSM references…
Sunday brought glorious sunshine and 10°C (sorry UK readers) so I went on another public transport adventure to Roger Williams Park. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but it was a green space on the map with a zoo and other activities. I found a very bizarre combination of sports pitches, lakeside walks and buildings that wouldn’t be out of place at a National Trust location. The park was developed in the 1800s (hence the fancy buildings) which meant some planning decisions that would not pass muster in 2020: seals in an open lake (one of which famously escaped to the river), photos of concerts at the bandstand and far too many pleasure boats in the lake enjoying the concert. Nowadays there are a lot of families and dogwalkers enjoying the sun. The swaggy building in the above is a Temple of Music. I’m not sure if it has any purpose, but it’s rather lovely and can be viewed from different aspects during the walk around the adjacent lake.
After a very hectic week recovering from my New York trip, a bad cold and a very intense workshop it was great to sit and enjoy the sun (look Mum, no jumper!) and get some fresh air. I appreciated it even more after below freezing temperatures on Friday when it was cold enough to make your face ache when outside for more than a minute.
Tune in next time for MORE SPORTS (to the great amusement of all my American colleagues), a visit to RISD art and design museum, and a second trip to Newport.
Adventures of a Mathematician 