North Campus/South Campus. The Jesse Philips Recreation Center/The
Conservatory. Practice fields/practice rooms. And, in the middle of it all, may
I present to you senior Steve Lind and his wingspan.
Did you ever think you would be featured in an article called “In
the Locker Room?”
SL: I really don’t care. It’s either
funny or cool. One of those two.
Do you actually use the locker room at the gym?
SL: No. So what? My
house is three doors down from the gym. There is no reason for me to be obsessed
with being in the locker room all the time.
Do you think some people really are obsessed with the locker room?
SL:
I don’t know. I think some people think it’s part of the whole deal.
Like it’s necessary.
Do you consider yourself a jock?
SL: Do I need to consider myself a
jock? Compared to most Oberlin students I think I’m fairly athletic. I
play frisbee with the organists. Actually, I organize organist frisbee. I know
it sounds like a play on words. I play basketball with my math major friends.
And then I play team handball in the team handball class. So I would consider
myself more athletic than many Oberlin students. I also play softball.
Let’s talk about team handball first. How is the team handball
class?
SL: Well, most of the people are pretty uncoordinated. But for
Oberlin, it’s going well. The coach, Christa Champion, is the best ever.
It’s extremely entertaining. I don’t know if we’re doing the
sport the way it’s supposed to be played, but it’s a good time.
Is it popular in the U.S.?
SL: No, most of the people in the class
didn’t know about it.
Now that it’s the end of the semester, would you say you are a team
handball connoisseur?
SL: Back in ’82 I used to be able to throw a
handball a quarter mile. You see those mountains over there? I could throw this
handball over those mountains. I would say I’m at the amateur level.
So you’re flipping through the course catalog and you see team
handball. What prompted you to take it?
SL: I felt this need to do more
sports. I can do these pickup games but I thought it would be nice to have
something absolutely set that I had to go to.
I saw you limping around campus recently. Did you have a rough team
handball class?
SL: That had nothing to do with team handball. My friend Ryan
and I came to play basketball because we both know how to play pretty well. We
went for a rebound and I kind of ended up landing half on him and the other half
on the floor and I sprained my ankle. I’ve actually sprained my ankle
twice already this semester. The other time I was playing frisbee.
Was it the same ankle both times?
SL: No, different ankles. My organ
teacher was really happy about that. His words were, “You have more
injuries than a two-year old.”
So you sacrifice organ playing for intramural athletics.
SL: Well, it
wasn’t really a knowledgeable sacrifice. I would make the same sacrifice
again. I’m definitely not going to live in fear.
Can you play the organ with two sprained ankles?
SL: Not that well.
After a few days, it’s really okay. Right now I’m at full playing
capacity. It’s been three weeks since my last sprained ankle.
Can you tell us about organist frisbee?
SL: Every week I try and get
organists together to play frisbee because most organists don’t end up
playing any sports at all. So I send an e-mail out that usually contains rap
lyrics or something like that, telling the organists to come to this cool social
event that is organist frisbee. There are some organists that have gotten fairly
skilled at frisbee by now.
If the physics majors took on the English majors in basketball, who would
win?
SL: That’s hands down the physics majors. Although physics majors
are really nerdy in general, I think English majors, in general, are,
like...afraid. Fear is worse than nerdiness.
How’s softball?
SL: I’m on a team that’s undefeated
so far. I’m fairly confident we are going to win the championship.
What’s your team name?SL: The Cleveland Steaming Angry Pirates
And is this a physics team?
SL: No. I used to be on the physics team
but the physics team doesn’t exist this year. They recruited some of our
players. Me and another physics major are on this kind of stacked team that
almost won last year. We are really trying to win this year. There is another
team that is stacked as well. We played them once already and won by one. The
Kingston Donkeys.
Do you think this “In The Locker Room” will reach out to the
non-varsity sector of the campus?
SL: If people read it, I think that it is
reaching out. A lot of people probably don’t identify with a lot of the
people who are featured in ITLR because they think the athletes are some
separate crowd.
Steve, this is the third time we’ve tried to meet for the interview.
You stood me up the first two times. What happened?
SL: This guy just showed
up in our panyard today to check out our pans. Ray Holman. He’s been in
the Ohio area. He’s one of the names among names among pan composers. He
showed up in our panyard and I just had to be there.
How did he find your panyard?
SL: I think he’s been there before.
There’s a big steel scene in Ohio. You can say I’m the director of
Oberlin Steel.
Are you?
SL: Yes. With Noah Smit.
Did Oberlin Steel tour this year?
SL: We went to New Orleans over
Spring Break and then missed two days of classes to go to Latrobe, Penn.
Why did Oberlin Steel change its name from the Can Consortium?
SL: We
don’t play cans.
I thought you played cans?
SL: We play pans, not cans.
If you play a pan can’t you play a can?
SL: I mean CAN you play a
can...[cracks up] Pans and cans are different. You don’t cook a grilled
cheese sandwich in a can.
No, Steve. You don’t.