I’ve spent a lot of time rowing. Not recently, unfortunately, but it was a major focus for a decade or so. So I could smile at these two quotes from the September issue of Rowing News. I don’t even know which article they are from, since I ripped the page out of the magazine solely to remember these lines.
Other than waiting for aliens, it’s hard to imagine many things that provide as little tangible benefit for so much effort as rowing.
…
I can’t remember how many times I’ve heard rowing referred to as a cult.
I think the author should apologize to the cult of Scientology. There aren’t enough rowers to count as a cult!
Seriously… Rowing News was founded in 1994 by my high-school classmate, boatmate, and friend, Chip Davis, as the Independent Rowing News. IRN, as it was known then, published every two weeks and was a real break away from the only other American publication focused on rowing, USRowing, the official publication of the organizing body. Chip has succeeded, incredibly, and Rowing News is now a monthly glossy that still includes its trademark race results and has grown to include stellar photos and a range of articles. If you care about rowing, you should subscribe.
I contributed a few articles in the first year or two, including one savaging USRowing for its treatment of the junior program and a book review of Brad Lewis’s “Wanted: Rowing Coach.” He doesn’t even list that book on his website. While the book didn’t have enough appeal for anyone outside the rowing community to read, I found it interesting for the (small) audience who would recognize the cast of characters to be found on a smaller college crew. Anyway, that was about my last published writing, along with a few hundred-word Almanacs for The Atlantic Monthly… until this vanity press came along! 😉