Sunday will be a long day for the rowing teams — rowers will wake up before dawn, load into buses, drive four hours to the Princeton Chase race in Princeton, N.J., then load the buses and head home. Previous visits to the Princeton Chase included an overnight stay at a hotel in Princeton, but economic conditions necessitate reductions in varsity team travel, among many other areas.

The e-mail was short: “Josh, me and you need to have a little chat. No problems, just want to talk.”

So, one night in Nov. 2005, I took a phone call. The voice on the other end was Chris Mascaro ’06, and he was offering me the opportunity of a lifetime.

What if you had the opportunity to go to every Cornell athletics event for free, home and away; receive an all-access pass and the best seats in the house to every event; meet and talk with all the players and coaches; befriend the staff and administration in and out of Athletics, at Cornell and other schools; chat with famous media personalities, coaches and athletes from around the country, in college, professional sports and beyond?

Would you take it?