I love sports. I always have. I’ve been writing sports for more than four years now and I never get tired of it.

While I acknowledge that I have a lot of room for improvement, I would like to think that I do a pretty good job.

With that in mind, I have been a little disturbed by some of the things that I’ve been hearing on campus lately about my beloved sports section. I realize that I can’t please everyone, but at the same time, I tire of hearing complaints that can’t or shouldn’t be remedied. These are the ones that I want to address now.

One of the biggest complaints that I hear from people is the lack of coverage that we give to sports at UCSD. These complaints usually come from the people who are invloved in sports or who have close friends who are. I realize that they want coverage. They should.

My dilemma is that I can’t cover every sport every week. There just isn’t enough room in the section — which, if you’ll notice, isn’t that large — for me to write huge articles on every sport. I try to spread the coverage around. If you’re unhappy with it, let me know. I’ll try to work something out. Don’t just sit and bitch about it to people who can’t do anything about it.

Another complaint that I get, almost as often, is the content of the columns written by Isaac and myself. I say that this complaint comes up often, but that is a little deceiving. It basically comes from a few people over and over. Their main complaint is that the columns don’t focus on UCSD topics. I have even heard one moron go as far as to say that by writing on national events, we are simply regurgitating things that we have already read, implying that we are not true sports writers with ideas of our own. Out of all of the complaints, this one probably bothers me the most.

In case people haven’t been paying attention, a lot of my columns have been about UCSD topics, or at least related to the school. Additionally, there is only so much that we can write about in columns that relates to this school. It gets old to keep harping on attendance at events and school spirit.

Contrary to popular belief, Isaac and myself are big sports fans that do have our own ideas on the national sports scene. The column is a way for us to get these opinions out to the public. I guess what I’m trying to say is: Get over it.

We’re going to write about what inspires us that week. If that topic doesn’t happen to be about UCSD, live with it. The rest of the section is dedicated to on-campus sports.

Other complaints include lack of quotes and a feeling that our writers don’t actually attend the events that they cover. The simple answer to that is that not all of the events are covered with a reporter on the scene.

Obviously, we can’t go to all of the away games, but we also cannot make all of the home games either. While we would like to, we don’t always have people to do it. We’re not professional sports writers. We are students first that have other responsibilities that sometimes supercede that of the paper. In other words, people get busy and can’t always go to the games.

As for the people who do attend the events and still get criticized for writing an article that reads like a press release, I reiterate the fact that they are not professional journalists. For many of them, they have never covered a sporting event before. This whole process is new to them. As a result, they might not ask the right questions to get a myriad of quotes for the article and may have to follow the press release a little closer until they understand how to stretch a single event into a full article.

All I’m asking of you, as readers, is to be patient with them. Don’t immediately assume that they aren’t doing their job. I can assure you that they are working hard and doing very well.

If I have left any complaints out, I urge you to come up to the Guardian office and talk to me or Isaac about them. We would love to hear what you have to say.

What I don’t want you doing is going to one of the writers, or even another editor on the paper, and complaining to them about your problem and criticizing our work. If you have beef, bring it to me.

For those of you who love to sit out there and bash the sports section (I know there are many of you out there), I would be willing to bet that 90 percent of you couldn’t do a better job if your life depended on it. Want to prove me wrong? I invite you to apply. Too scared to? Shut your mouth.

Because I said so.