Just about every media outlet, from international newspapers to niche blogs, is having a field day writing about the so-called hard-hitting effects of Harvard’s budget cuts—no omelets for students, no cookies for faculty, and of course, no more free sweatsuits for all athletes.

Some accounts delve deeply into the effects on education and university life as a whole, while others simply dissect the notion of privilege for the fun of it.

We get it. The sharp economic downturn barely scratches the surface of the Harvard bubble when you compare it to “real” problems.

Let’s go back to athletics for a minute, as this subset of the greater Harvard population seems to be one of the most impacted. Changes that inconvenience all of us are of particular significance to athletes.

Of course, no hot breakfast means reduced protein without going Rocky style on the hard-boiled eggs, and revised shuttle schedules make the trip across the chilly Charles more treacherous.

But since the well-known heather gray DHAs are so coveted and symbolic around campus, they seem to be getting most of the attention.

However, just as they have with FAS, budget cuts have hit the entire athletics department, not just the sweater order form. What else is going on across the river?

For one, there is a pecking order within our 41 varsity sports programs. Our high-profile programs aren’t going anywhere, but they are certainly noticing visible changes.

“A few of us are definitely being affected by these cuts,” said senior Crimson running back Cheng Ho. “There’s no more hot breakfast, and a few of our guys lost a lot of weight because of that.”

Behind closed doors, members of the administration remain busy determining which areas the cuts will manifest themselves in. The Department of Athletics administrative staff, rightfully, seems exasperated when yet another obnoxious journalist (me) calls with prodding, budget-related inquiries.

Through carefully-crafted questions that were designed to derive valuable information from responses such as “no,” “I don’t know,” and “we can’t answer that,” I was able to get somewhere.

Though teams of all sizes have endured reduced travel budgets, the Athletic Department confirmed that one important aspect of team sports has remained largely intact—the schedules. For the most part, teams aren’t foregoing good competition to save dollars. It hasn’t come to that.

Unfortunately, the same is not entirely true for individual sports. Programs such as women’s tennis are sending less players to individual competitions than they used to.

We have to be able to take some sizable losses. Budget cuts have hit athletic departments hard across the country, and we don’t have it as bad as some. Schools are experiencing hikes in ticket prices, changes in facilities and fields, and most importantly, large-scale layoffs and salary reductions.

I came across a blog called Ultimate Sports Insider (www.ultimatesportsinsider.com) which outlines budget cuts in various athletic programs nationwide. It is run by Michael Cross, who is Executive Associate Director of Athletics at Princeton.