During their college years the oarsmen put in terribly long hours, often showing up at the boathouse at 6:00am for pre-class practices. Both physically and psychologically, they were separated from their classmates. Events that seemed earth-shattering to them - for example, who was demoted from the varsity to the junior varsity - went almost unnoticed by the rest of the students. In many ways they were like combat veterans coming back from a small, bitter and distant war, able to talk only to other veterans.

David Halberstam "The Amateurs"