Considering this quite possibly is my last column under the alias Arvinio Hall, rather than discuss issues in the sports world or reiterate my dislike for the Cubs, I'm going to take this opportunity to tell you all a little about the man behind the name.
For the many of you who don't know me, my name is Arvind. I am a senior born and raised in the greater Milwaukee area and for the bulk of my early years I lived in Mequon, Wis. I have two rocking, Hindu parents, a younger brother named Arun who is a freshman here at the UW and a nice four-door car I like to call Rosie. Outside of sports, I'm a huge fan of live music and proudly acknowledge myself as a Phish head.
First things first, I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined that I would have ever become a journalism major or a sports writer for that matter. It is really something that fell into my lap and I could not be more grateful.
With that being said, I have had the honor the past two years to be affiliated in some way, shape or form with The Daily Cardinal sports department. After writing for a little over a year, I received the greatest honor I have ever received (exactly one year ago) by being elected a sports editor for my final full year in college.
These past eight months of my senior year have been unquestionably eight of the best months of my life and because of that, it is really hard to put into words everything that I have done, seen, felt or been a part of this academic year.
I have been all over the Big Ten watching our beloved Badgers compete and, as painful as it was not being able to cheer for the team I grew up loving, it was simply unbelievable to say the least.
On top of living the Badger fan's dream and enjoying every second of it, despite the painful losses in Northwestern, I learned so much about myself and what I really wanted to do with my education.
As my roommates and best friends have witnessed for as long as they have known me, I live for sports and this past year only amplified my desire to go into athletics even more. Getting the chance to have taken several of my good friends on the road with me, I hope they realized the blood, sweat and tears I put into trying to do what I do.
Being a failed athlete in my own right, writing sports has been the perfect fix for a major void in my life left by no longer having the skills to compete and I just hope that I have entertained you readers even to the slightest degree.
As much as I hope to have pleased the readers out there, I can only hope that I pleased my Madison family even more. By Madison family, I am referring to my fellow Cardinalistas who are not only some of the most amazing, intelligent and influential people I have ever met, but more than that, the people that opened their arms up to me and helped me feel like I left my mark on this campus.
Writing has been my outlet in college, and for that reason I am so thankful to not only my predecessors but also my coworkers for making this \job"" as great as it has been.
When I say coworkers that also very much includes the competition at the rival paper on campus. It is safe to say that the underlying hatred between the two papers is firm, however, I'd like to say that that disliking definitely does not consume the sports departments. The competition to be the best has only brought out the best in us which is why in all honesty, I respect their coverage, writing and dedication to covering UW sports.
As you can tell, I've had nothing but good things to say about my experience as an editor, but don't let that fool you. As much as this has been the greatest opportunity I have ever endured, it has also been the most stressful and time-consuming extracurricular activity I could ever imagine.
But regardless of the bad things, the good will always trump.
So from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank everyone for reading what I've wrote this past year. I know I've made my mistakes here and there and said some things you all really did not like, but I think I've done my job in getting you thinking. And again, to my Cardinal folk, you guys will really always be the most influential workers I could ever work beside.
In the end, I apologize to those readers who were looking for something sports-related to read today from me; however, there is a time when everyone has to be a little nostalgic and for me, that time is now.
While I've refrained from using any Phish lyrics in any of my works as a journalist, I think its about time I used one, as corny as it is, to explain how I feel about the Cardinal and my work this past year.
""Waiting for the time when I could finally say, this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way.""
Arvind can be reached for comment at agopalratnam@wisc.edu.
