If you are like me, on several occasions during the school year you may find yourself with one hand turning the pages of a textbook while the other is flipping channels on the television. You've reasoned with yourself that you can balance your focus between the screen and your lap because you've put the sound on mute, but you soon realize that, as a Brandeis student, there's only so much anxiety you can take, since the midterm season has started. Like me, you probably have huge bags under your eyes, but you cannot help it.Because after witnessing a fantastic play or experiencing a historic moment on ESPN, you realize you are transfixed with the sports networks. For you, like for me, being a Boston sports fan is exhausting, because we are more passionate than any other fan base in America!

Take last week, on a day that we won't talk about. The end-all-be-all moment for the Red Sox was absolutely riveting. The day after the Red Sox's elimination, students and professors alike were bustling with criticisms in classrooms, spending either the beginning or end of class discussing their disappointment and disgust for their defeaters, the Tampa Bay Rays. This isn't the first instance when classes and schoolwork conflicted with an engrossing Boston sports game. It's quite common, in fact. For example, Joe Ruvido '10 admitted to me that he watched a Red Sox-Yankees game in the Shapiro Campus Center with a 15-page paper due the next day, forcing him to pull an all-nighter. Similarly, Alex Neystat '10 and Jocelyn Dorfman '10 both confessed that their assignments that were due the next day interfered with their game-watching abilities. Surely the Red Sox's defeat cannot deter the vigor of the Boston sports fan, but now that they are eliminated, how is a Sox fan supposed to cope with the void that an assignment will never be able to fill?

Perhaps he could try watching the NHL's Boston Bruins or the NFL's New England Patriots. Both teams are relative underdogs in the Boston sports scene ever since Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady's injury and the Bruins' opening-game flop, but both are still fascinating teams to watch. More importantly, as Boston sports history notes, many of our underdog teams have pulled miraculous wins. Many predictions of failure have wound up as Boston sports successes, and conversely, many sure-bet predictions of success have ended in failure. So how is a fan to be absolutely sure that his or her favorite Boston team will win? The only way to do it is to watch the game.

The Boston Celtics, known underdogs for years since Larry Bird's retirement in 1992, are a great turnaround example. Many predictors and sportscasters alike were stating as fact that despite the presence of stars Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen during the playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers would beat the Celtics in the finals. Their star, Kobe Bryant, is too good, they said. Lakers point guard Derek Fisher is better than Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo. Lakers secondary star, forward Pau Gasol, has good jump shots.

Ultimately, I think the Celtics' 39-point victory in the sixth game of the series, the one that sealed the franchise's 17th championship banner, settled all those remarks. But during the Eastern Conference playoffs, you had to watch each match because the Celtics didn't make their much-anticipated win look easy. They came close to losing each of their three series, first against the Atlanta Hawks, then the Cleveland Cavaliers and finally the Detroit Pistons.

Luckily, those games happened close to summer break, so the stack of books on my lap was thinning down. But I am not alone in believing that the priority of watching Boston sports teams making history is above reading history (I'll still get around to it, I promise).

Therefore, to help fellow Brandeisians and professors sleep better at night, I dream of a day when professors and students alike arrange their schedules so as not to interfere with these games. In this vision, the complimentary Brandeis planners we get at the beginning of the year could also include reminders of key Boston sports games so that midterms aren't scheduled near or on these crucial dates. In addition, it would be nice if there were a three or four-day period of coping time for big losses and celebratory time after big victories. Even those unfortunates who are dispassionate about sports in general and who do not share in the ache and near cardiac-arrest moments would not object to these compromises and instead take part in the benefits. To those folks, please, don't hold back. A celebratory "Woo-hoo, Boston!" is always welcome in our eyes.

All jokes aside, I've neglected to mention the equally riveting games of our own Brandeis athletes. I strongly recommend watching and supporting your peers here as well. We Boston sports fans may be cheerleaders for the Boston sports teams, but no matter how many professional Boston sports games you may watch, Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek is not your friend. So take note of the great athleticism right on campus!

To those that don't understand, realize that it's really a remarkable feat that many of us can juggle sitting and watching a game while completing the arduous task of studying. For those that do, I'll be able to recognize you by the number of paper coffee cups next to your sky-high stack of books in the library. Don't worry. I'll probably be sitting there too.