Pride of Buffalo

Recently, Daily Princetonian senior writer Sofia Mata-Leclerc sat down with junior rowers Steve Coppola and Pat Cotter. They discussed erging, spandex uniforms and unsanitary living conditions.

Daily Princetonian: The rowing teams recently went down to Florida to train. How was it?

Steve Coppola: It was a lot of fun. You guys made it out to the dog track?

Pat Cotter: Yeah, got the dog track. We wanted to bring back a greyhound but we couldn't fit it in the taxi . . .

SC: We didn't actually bet on the puppies because that's against NCAA regulations.

PC: No, we just went and conversed with the locals. It was a good chance to interact with the Tampa community.

SC: The locals were sort of receptive, but at the University of Florida dining hall, they didn't like it too much when one of our teammates set off the fire alarm. He's an engineer so he doesn't read much, so he didn't pay attention to the big sign that said 'Fire Exit — Alarm will sound.'

PC: Maybe we'll go to Vegas next year. I hear they have good water there.

DP: So why dogs?

SC: When you're on a training trip, you get only one afternoon off, and you've got to do something.

PC: We wanted to go to a mission and help orphans, but it was closed or they were on a field trip or something.

DP: How did you get into rowing?

PC: Gunpoint.

SC: Yeah, for you it was gunpoint.

PC: I rowed in high school . . . and I got kicked off the math team, so I figured rowing was the next best thing.

SC: For me, I was just always into water. I sucked at swimming, and I couldn't play basketball —

PC: I can attest to that.

DP: How is crew different from other sports?

PC: It's not a ball sport.

SC: Yeah, in fact since coming to college my coordination has hit record lows. We train a lot for a relatively small amount of time that we're going to be racing.

PC: I would say it's about 40 minutes of actual racing a year.

SC: Yeah, in the spring season I would say there's about 40 minutes.

PC: Yeah, out of countless hours of practice time — it's a good ratio. I would say crew is a good sport for those who like to practice.

DP: How much of rowing is technique and how much is fitness?

PC: Well, I'm a technical stud, so I would say it's about fifty-fifty. You have to find a perfect balance.

SC: Rowing is really easy to learn, but it's really hard to perfect, technique-wise. Like, I could teach you the basics of the rowing strokes in thirty seconds, but I've been doing it for almost seven years, and I'm still not that good technique-wise.

DP: How are you a technical stud?

PC: I have a good feel.

SC: It's almost like a . . . sixth or seventh sense.

PC: I think Joe said I have a very idiosyncratic way about my rowing. I don't know; it's almost like 'the force.'

DP: Who is Joe?

PC: Joe Murtaugh is the men's varsity lightweight coach. He's a quiet, nerdy guy. I think he was a Rhodes scholar.

SC: He's very unassuming unless you get under his skin, in which case . . . be somewhere else.

DP: And how would you describe the men's heavyweight coach?

SC: Curtis [Jordan] or Cujo, as we like to call him, is a stud. Everyone wants to be him. He's the ultimate ladies' man. His girlfriend owns the lingerie store Rouge in town. He's got a nice southern drawl that all the ladies go wild over. That's the reason why so many ex-Princeton rowers are coaches around the league, because they see the amazing lifestyle that Curtis leads, and they want to be Curtis.

DP: How do you get yourself psyched up for a race?

PC: I like to listen to opera music.

SC: There are a lot of different techniques. I know some guys who watch porn.

PC: Some guys to do puzzles or play Jenga.

SC: Some guys like to listen to Enrique — anything that will keep your mind off the torture that you're going to put your body through.

DP: They have ergs in Dillon, and occasionally the commoner will decide to use them. In your mind, do you laugh at them?

SC: I'm not laughing. Normally when I'm treading away on the elliptical, I'm ellipticizing, and I look over and there's the kid with his popped collar trying to erg away, and I just wince. You know what they're doing wrong, and you know how much it hurts, and you're like, 'Wow, if that goes for another twenty minutes, he's going to have no back tomorrow.'

PC: Really, the question that goes through my mind is: Why would anyone choose to erg? It's probably the most evil machine ever invented.

DP: Are there any other differences, aside from weight, between lightweight and heavyweight rowing?

SC: The lightweights are a little more wiry. We do pieces against them, and they like to cheat on cadence.

PC: I would say lightweights are generally a little more graceful, intelligent . . . I would say, on the whole, we're probably better looking.

SC: But we have Tim Dittman.

PC: True, but we also have Rahul Mehra.

SC: Yeah, but the heavyweights do have Tim Dittman, though, so that ruins the credibility that any of the lightweights have because the lightweights do not have anyone prettier than Tim Dittman. The heavyweights have a lot more fun; the lightweights aren't very social.

PC: I think it's more so by choice. We're above such games.

SC: But when a few lightweights have decided they don't want to be anorexic anymore, we welcomed them onto our team with open arms, and they have become cornerstones of the team. They've really gripped on to the heavyweight mentality.

DP: If the men's lightweight first boat and heavyweight first were to compete against each other, who would win?

PC: Well I think there are a lot of factors —

SC: If the wind is blowing just right and the water is a certain temperature, and if the heavyweights row at 28 and the lightweights row at 38 . . . maybe the lightweights will win.

PC: No, I mean, we can compete on a competitive level. It's been done. We do pieces every Wednesday, and we have a few tricks up our sleeve.

SC: Yeah, all the boats in the boathouse go out every Wednesday, and we mix it up and the women's boats race the men's. Everyone mixes it up.

PC: Yeah, the lightweight women are shifty.

SC: Yeah, the heavyweights have a little more mass and a little more momentum, and we're supposed to have a higher top-end speed, but there have been a few occasions where the lightweights have surprised us.

PC: We like to row with impulse, tenacity and impulse.

SC: It's a knife-fight every time we go out there.

DP: So, what do you race in?

PC: A spandex tri-suit.

DP: Like a singlet?

PC: Yeah, but way hotter. I've been told my ass looks like Michelangelo's David.

SC: Our designers have won awards.

PC: It's usually those fashion awards.

SC: Yeah, the ones with the tiger print, those go like crazy up in Paris.

DP: I heard one of you shaved a P into his chest.

SC: I did that awhile ago. Sometimes you get bored and have to do something to ease the monotony, and you sort of improvise.

PC: It actually hasn't grown back the same, although it might look like an R now.

SC: While I actually shaved a P into my chest, one of my teammates tried to do the same and he was looking in the mirror and he got a hot Q.

DP: Are you being serious?

SC: Yeah, and actually me and him aren't allowed to room together anymore because we just do stupid stuff like that.

PC: I would actually like to shave my chest, but the hair goes wide right, and it is my tribute to the Buffalo Bills.

DP: You're both from Buffalo, New York. Did you know each other before coming to Princeton?

PC: Yeah, Steve and I go way back — eight grade.

SC: Yeah, crew camp. Pat was led down to the boat club at gunpoint because the rest of his family rows, so he really had no choice.

DP: If I was going to visit Buffalo, what one thing would I have to see?

SC: There are so many things, you know. You really have to spend a couple days.

PC: I think there's a big tire yard. . . No, but probably Ralph Wilson Stadium — that's where the Bills play. Oh, and probably St. Joseph's Institute — a fine, upstanding educational facility. It has produced wonderful alums.

SC: Yeah, but the Christian brothers have nothing on the Jesuits.

PC: Why'd you have to bring JC into this? Why?

SC: If you're going to see and Institute of Higher Learning, I would go see Canisius High School.

PC: It's a special ed. school.

DP: Do you have any nicknames?

SC: Everyone calls him Patch, and I believe his high school screenname was Schnoz. Didn't you get put on the Jewish OA trip because of that nose?

PC: Yeah, I was the only non-Jew on my trip.

SC: A lot of people call me Little Steve.

DP: What's the strangest injury you've received as a result of rowing?

SC: I've heard of guys getting their testicles get tangled up, and that's never good.

PC: Yeah, nothing like a good testicle injury to bring you down a few notches.

DP: How tall are you?

SC: I'm a grand 6'8". I'm not that tall.

PC: I'm a majestic 5'11 and 7/8".

DP: Pat, I know that your roommates have been impressed with your living habits.

PC: Well, true to my rock-star lifestyle —

SC: The spread of your disease; is that what you'd call it?

PC: I'm concerned with other things than keeping the cleanest room on campus.

SC: He likes to give the rats a habitat.

PC: It's organized chaos.

DP: Best Princeton rowing moment?

SC: My freshman year, our boat was good enough that our alumni organization donated money for us to go compete in England, and our lightweight varsity was also really good. We both went to England to race, and when it came down to the finals it was Princeton A versus Princeton B, so we traveled miles to go do what we do every Wednesday.