Q&A

'Prince': Being called a "lightweight" can be considered an insult — at the 'Street,' for example. Is it the same way with the crew teams?

Andrew Baine: That's a good question. There's a little bit of a rivalry. The fat boys and us, we share space in the locker room, and sometimes we'll race out on the water. Actually, one of the heavyweights threw me into a wall the other day and I had to get 11 stitches in my head. He's my pal and all. We actually get along really well. Some of my best friends are guys on the heavyweight team.

P: Has cutting weight turned you on to alternative eating program, like tofu?

AB: I mean, I'm not afraid to eat the tofu every now and then. For me personally, cutting weight is not really a part of the sport. I'm naturally pretty light like that. I'll eat tofu, but mainly I like a good slice of pizza and a bacon omelet from Hoa-gie Haven.

P: Does it ever bother you that all coxswains have to do is sit there and not weigh a lot?

AB: No, it doesn't. It bothers me when they sit there and not weigh a lot and yell stuff, stupid stuff. Don't get me wrong, the coxswains are an important part of the team. If we didn't have them, we'd crash a lot more. We still do crash quite a lot with the coxswains we do have, but we'd crash a lot more without them.

P: Do they ever sing songs like "Row, row, row your boat?"

AB: No, people on the shore sing those songs, and it gets to me. So if anybody who's reading this is one of the people who yells, "Row, row, row your boat" when we go under the bridge or past the finish line, cut it out. We've heard it all before.

P: Crew isn't the kind of sport really little kids get into, like soccer or baseball. Why is that?

AB: I'm not sure. On our team, the heavyweight team and both the women's teams, probably half the people on the varsity teams didn't do it before they got to Princeton. The reason that people don't do it when they're younger, I'm really not sure about that. I saw a little three-year-old rowing this summer. It was a sight to see.

P: You got started in high school, right?

AB: I didn't start in high school. My sister rowed in high school.

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P: Speaking of which, your sister Gillian is in the Roaring 20. Do you have some deal where you see her arch sings if she comes to your meets?

AB: Absolutely. The crew team is a huge supporter of the Roaring 20 and everything they do. The Roaring 20 rocks. They had a smashing debut in Richardson Auditorium three weeks ago. I don't know if you caught it, Ollie, but they were awesome. Of course, part of the deal is that Gillian and her buds on the Roaring 20, they have to be at the finish line cheering for us, too.

P: Would you rather be seen publicly in a crew uni or a wrestling singlet?

AB: They're similar. But I would go with the crew uni. It has slightly more coverage around the back and through the shoulders.

P: What do you guys wear under those things?

AB: (Chuckles.) Nothing, man.

P: What's an "erg"?

AB: When you say "erg," you're talking short for "ergometer," and that's where we spend a good part of the winter. It's the rowing machine. We learn to hate the erg, but we love to hate it.

P: When did it become a verb? Do people say, "I erg well?"

AB: Yes, because I do erg well, actually. It became a verb as soon as it was shortened. It's a good verb. "Let's go erg." "We ergged." It functions with almost anything.

P: "Let's go back to my place and erg?"

AB: Yeah, I've used that one.

P: Nice. Do you think Motley Crue would have a good four-man boat?

AB: Yeah, do they have a coxswain? Let me think. They've got Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee. Who's the singer?

P: Vince Neil. He got fat.

AB: Oh, yeah. They would be pretty good, I think. They would row heavyweight, but they couldn't beat our best heavyweight four. I just know that they've had trouble with rampant drug abuse, and they party a lot. I saw the VH1 special. I don't know if you caught it, but their lifestyle is not conducive to good rowing. Although they get chicks, just like we do.