Home and Guest. Two very important statistics on any scoreboard. They are always the most prominently displayed and easiest to understand. Yet on this Saturday afternoon, the Home and Guest were the most equivocal signs up there. Didn’t we all call this home at one time or another? Such is the nature of the annual men’s water polo Alumni Game, where old heroes and young challengers engage in a battle of time and pride.

Trash talking usually abounds at these events and today was no exception as both benches were very vocal from far ranging issues concerning recent grad Dusty Baker’s weight to Coach Gary Troyer’s famous carne asada. Contrasting the exuberance down by the pool, the stands were no man’s land. My only company for the first period was a stoic praying mantis perched on the railing in front of me. It didn’t move the whole game. It may have been dead.

The lack of fan support is somewhat justifiable, it being the Alumni Game, which does not count towards any records or standings. Still, I thought the return of Dusty Baker ‘01 would have at least stirred curiosity in some of the remaining Cock Explosion (his former band) fans. It appears now that former Cock Explosion member and current Wash drummer Dean Matt Taylor took more than his drumset with him when the band broke up.

The alums got off to a hot start and opened with a 4-0 lead that they never relinquished. After four periods of light-hearted play, the alums proved that they’re not over the hill yet by posting 15 goals to Pomona’s 8. Captain Luke Johnson ‘02 scored four goals for Pomona-Pitzer, however, the offense appears to still be a work in progress.

"Our offense is dead," exclaimed Johnson during a timeout. Even coach Jim Armstrong didn’t seem to know what the Sagehen offense was up to. "What is that? Is it a lob? You never lob on a 6 on 5!" he yelled to Tom Krebs ‘04 during one unfortunate sequence.

To Pomona-Pitzer’s credit, Ben Komer ‘02 and Ben Speicher ‘03, two key players this season, sat out the game to nurse minor injuries. Speicher leads the team in scoring this season with 19 goals through the first 6 games.

Watching Speicher and the rest of his teammates on the P-P bench, scantily clad in matching suits, brought to mind not just a good porn film featuring mutant dolphins who roam the earth in search of human love, but also of the passage of time and the transitory nature of the college experience.

No one will forget the impact of Dusty Baker and stories of his endowment any time soon, but it is not we who have the fickle memories. The nature of college is rather ephemeral and constantly moving. It gives each of us four years and makes few exceptions.

It’s not that Pomona is a cold-hearted monster that violently kicks us out at the end, it is simply that Pomona is a faceless, efficient, machine of knowledge that generates a batch of products each year which are individually very different but are wholly the same.

The machine is built without the capacity for subjective memory. Those that can remember us are just products themselves who will soon be sold as well. It is only the building, the infrastructure, parts of the machine, that can vouch for our existence; but these stoic and silent, will never speak up.

As I watched the players glide seamlessly through the water and tussle for the ball, I realized that essentially it is not the ball they are battling for, nor is it each other who they are contesting against. The real fight is against the machine, and the purpose is not about pride, but about having a home.

A home is what Pomona is for us now, but a home is what it will not be when we graduate. Remember returning to high school after graduation? There were many smiles and meaningless banter from those students and teachers who hadn’t left yet, but the feeling of being welcome and at home was gone.

High school is a four-year machine as well that leaves us with a fine package of knowledge and experiences, but with the words "Don’t Look Back," stamped boldly across the top.

Our water polo alumns won the game but it is we - the current products of Pomona -who remain until after the pool closes and all the carne asada as been eaten.

It is not just water that they swim through, but a pool of nostalgia, a clingy substance that can at first feel comfortable and familiar but will become all-consuming and drown a man once he stops swimming.

Such is life; the machine will win this game for it does not get slowed up by human sentiment. However, it is the human sentiment that allowed one afternoon for Hens (young and old) to get together and enjoy delicious carne asada at the same table and truly enjoy each other’s company. The respect for one another was summed during the post game cheer: "Beat CMC! Hens Rock!" yelled the alums together. "Old Hens rock!" responded the current Hens in unison.