I cox for Ann, who strokes the boat,
And sets the tone, and leads the team,
And puts her shirt inside my coat
And locks my eyes in her fierce gleam.
When I’m confused, she sets me straight
And tells me what I’m supposed to do –
“Diana! Hello! What’s the rate?”
“Ann, it’s right on – just like you.”
For Erica, who was a port
And used to be way back in bow,
But she adapted for the sport
And she’s a stern pair starboard now.
She works in perfect sync with Ann
And sets the tone for starboard side
And with Magali’s comments can
Now use her blade to help us glide.
For Krista, who came from volleyball,
Jumped on the erg, and impressed us all.
She came to practice pumped and she got us psyched
And there’s this guy named Dane that she really liked.
You know that she’s pulling really really hard
When her breathing makes you think that she’ll be permanently scarred.
Krista taught us to transition – “Now I’m ready to row” –
So when we got in the boat our minds were ready to go.
For Meghan, whom during basketball
We always asked, “still gonna row?”
And every time, she told us all,
“Guys, I’ll be there, that you know.”
She moves the boat; she comes to fight
With focus, strength, power, and drive,
And thanks to her exceptional height
Our average is above five-five.
For Katie, our Hawaiian, who was always tryin’
And at the end of the season was the one supplyin’
The starboard oar that we would need
If at New Englands, we wanted to succeed.
She tries really hard and she works to improve,
And it’s awesome what she does when she gets in the groove.
All summer she can erg, just think what she can do –
‘Cause she’s lucky enough to have her own Concept II!
For Krystle Bar- Barha- Barha- Barhaghi,
Who made whoever sat behind her rather soggy.
We shared the reputation of being unaware,
That we were always late and we just didn’t care,
But we knew in our hears that it really wasn’t true,
And at the end of the season, we convinced you, too.
And plus, it’s hard for Krystle to be on
Time when she’s meeting with the crown prince of Iran.
For Magali, my fall term philosophy buddy
Who at Myrtle Beach really hated getting muddy
So she stayed in the boat just as long as she could
While sinking in the mud all her teammates stood.
She leaves it all on the erg, nothing to regret
And when she’s done she’s always covered in sweat.
Magali’s goal was to always max out
And that she succeeded, I have no doubt.
For Sheryl, whose name I first knew from math
And as her TA I incurred her wrath
Because I took off points – an excessive reaction,
She thought, just for making a decimal from a fraction.
She joined our team just before Myrtle
And technique – power – spirit – team: she cleared every hurdle.
So while your heart may be a swimmer, I hope that you know
We’re really really glad that you chose to come row.
For Eugenie Du, who in the first race led our crew
In the sense that bow women always do.
But in the weeks to come, when her team was having fun,
Out on the water with the waves and the sun,
Every afternoon she descended to the gloom
Of the Williams College subterranean concrete erg room.
But she didn’t complain; pulled hard and took the pain
So that maybe one day it would help her team gain
And I bet it did.
For Christi, who on the erg was never lazy,
But we didn’t realize she would be this crazy!
She’s Buddhist, sleeps naked, and she has a car,
Unless of course you realize just how gullible you are.
She couldn’t do one pushup, in the fall,
But now she does 16 and impresses us all.
She tells me to relax, shouting all the way from bow,
And I say to her in races, “Let out the b----, now!”
For Kate, who’s great, in or out of the eight;
She put out in the launch as Marsa’s loyal first mate.
The number I’ll remember will be 2:03
‘Cause that always was the number that we wanted to see.
When rowers met, Kate and I would be the odd ones out,
And Kate would always cheer me up, every day, without a doubt.
And so, just for fun, let's do it once again –
For the last time of the season, this is Kate’s power ten.
One… two… three… etc.
I cox for Marsa, who comes from the west,
And when it comes to coaching us, man, she is the best.
She ran with us, she rowed with us, she biked and she swam;
She showed us how to get better with the videocam.
She turned a bunch of runners into a crew
And showed us we could work harder than we thought we could do.
She may have seemed hard, maybe wicked rough,
But that’s the kind of coaching that made us tough.
So… after a month of my voice in your ear
With the mic turned up high so it’s all that you hear,
With a visor that’s red and pants that are green
And the crookedest steering that you’ve ever seen –
A coxswain that sometimes mishears the directions
And sometimes makes calls with mumjumbled inflections –
Well after all this, just what must you think?
With a coxswain like this, you would think that we’d sink!
My notebook is wet and it’s starting to mold
And I can’t seem to do all the things I’ve been told –
I’m supposed to turn towards and instead I turn away;
I forget “oars out” every single day;
And my Neoprene gloves are way back in the van
And I say that I’m doing the best that I can
But though Marsa has told me, she’s tried and she’s tried,
The deck cap’s still hanging out over the side!
But I tell you, it’s coming, I’ll get it, you’ll see,
And someday I’ll be worthy to cox the 3D.
Now my deck cap is on and the top bolts are tight
And though the wind tries to blow us to the right,
My rudder is straight and I cannot complain –
For almost eight minutes, we’ve been in our lane!
So I know I’m forgetful; I know I can’t steer,
But I’d like to be able to cox you next year.
I’ll work really hard; I’ll keep this year in mind,
And I hope and believe and I know that you’ll find
That Justin will not have to be down my throat
And I’ll earn the great honor of ninth in the boat.
So now I am done; now I’ve said lots of stuff,
And the last thing I’ll say, one last time: way enough.
