UConn dominates Div. I basketball, Tufts has upper hand in intramurals

Over the last few days, the University of Connecticut has managed to win both the Men's and Women's NCAA Division I Basketball titles. Each squad was forced to beat the best of the best, the top teams in the country. Duke, Tennessee, and Georgia Tech all fell victim to the Huskies.

However, one school in particular has retained its perfect, unbeaten record against UConn: the Tufts University Jumbos. The Huskies dodged the Jumbos this season, refusing to take the court against our starting five. This fact will no doubt forever tarnish UConn's "national" title claims. Like Barry Bonds' rejection of steroid testing, the Huskies will now be left with an asterisk next to their achievements.

UConn's faux pas raises an important question: in what other areas does Tufts rival its NESCAC and national collegiate rivals? In any such debate, intramural sports must be discussed at length.

This spring season, Jumbo squads will compete for intramural fame and fortune in flag football, tennis, volleyball, soccer, basketball, field hockey, and, of course, badminton; a veritable horde of competitive teams. How, then, do the intramural programs at other schools compare to our own?

First of all we must look at our pitiful NESCAC rivals. Wesleyan, competing in UConn's shadow, doesn't offer its athletes teams in flag football or field hockey. Our snowy neighbor to the north, Bowdoin, only offers its students softball, squash and basketball. Advantage: Tufts.

"We don't have time to play sports," says Bowdoin freshman Samuel Donovan. "We're too busy hunting and preparing for the bitter winter months."

Clearly, our NESCAC "rivals" do not present an adequate challenge to our intramural dominance. We must extend our view. Locally there are a number of schools whose intramural programs may be comparable.

At Harvard, the intramural program boasts teams in many of our same sports, as well as hockey, ultimate frisbee, and table tennis. Brown, situated in the important state of Rhode Island, also has teams in those areas, adding a horseshoes squad.

Yale manages to field teams in billiards and golf, as well. Yet while these programs are impressive, do not forget perhaps the most essential aspect of any intramural competition: the mascot. None of these schools present a mascot that even challenges our jumbo elephant; Jumbo would easily stomp out both a Brown Bear and a Yale Bulldog, while Harvard's Crimson is a meager color, not an animal. Advantage: Tufts.

"We try our best, but ultimately we know we're just fooling ourselves; Tufts is the Tiger Woods of intramural competition," admits Brown University sophomore Julia Rappaport.

Again, our search for a suitable competitor must be widened. State schools, boasting student populations around ten times the size of Tufts, offer a significant challenge. Ohio State offers a litany of sports, including walleyball, sand volleyball, dodge ball, and bench press. At Arizona State, one can compete on teams in John Madden football, water polo, and floor hockey. At Six Flags Amusement Park... excuse me; at Florida State teams contend in Go-Cart racing, mini-golf, and street hockey. Finally at devious UConn teams compete in just about every sport imaginable; from pie eating races to wiffleball.

Although these schools seem to hold a competitive edge over Tufts in the scope of their intramural competition, there may be a hidden variable. Some charge that state schools, desperate to overtake the Jumbo juggernaut, have begun recruiting intramural athletes from around the country with elaborate recruiting parties.

"Florida State flew me down," explains sophomore three on three basketball stud Michael Ott. "They took me and some guys out to dinner and ordered us all the bread and complimentary beverages we could handle. But I told them, 'I'm all Jumbo.'"

Advantage: Push.

Try as they might, Tufts University's intramural program cannot be ignored or bought away with souvenir cups. Our student athletes are here to stay. The Huskies had better cherish their latest varsity championships because if the playing field is evened and Tufts is allowed to compete against other schools in intramurals, it will be the Jumbos all over the headlines, not the Huskies.