What a week! Between March Madness, tennis upsets and of course, the ever popular NHL, who could sit still for more than two seconds?
An absence of the column last week persuaded me to write four analyses, rather than the usual three, in this edition of "Errors, Big Mistakes and Calamities."
Can they get any worse? The Boston Bruins, who just a few weeks ago seemed locked into the NHL playoff picture, are in danger of pulling off a New York Mets-caliber collapse. On Saturday night, the Bruins, who have won two of their last 10 games, managed a shootout loss to their rival Montreal Canadiens. The defeat marked the Hub of Hockey's 11th straight loss to the boys from north of the border. While we'll see how things shape up in the final weeks of the NHL season, like it or not, losing 11 straight to one team is nothing less than a pathetic calamity.
Fed, meet Fish. And now, to the lords of the court. Roger Federer's name has always placed high among modern tennis greats. At Indian Wells, Calif. on Saturday, however, Federer exposed his weaknesses by falling to a tough opponent.
Andy Roddick? Lleyton Hewitt? Billie Jean King? If you guessed any of these names, you clearly didn't remember the hottest name in tennis today: Mardy Fish, an American currently ranked 98th.
Fish downed Federer in straight sets, proving that even the seemingly invincible are, in fact, capable of losing a tennis match. Because Federer seems to have proven himself over the years, I'll only saddle him with an error.
Too much MSG. Those of you who know me well understand that I wouldn't ordinarily call out the New York Rangers on a mishap. However, a certain report on the Broadway Blueshirts' fans and organization this week leaves me no other option. The story goes that a large number of Rangers fans engage in a specific homophobic chant to coincide with the exhibition of one awkwardly dancing fan shown on the JumboTron toward the conclusion of home games. Many fans have taken offense to the repetitions of "Homo Larry" that flood the arena, and it's even reported that a select number of supporters cancelled their longtime season ticket subscriptions to protest.
Madison Square Garden, the mega-corporation that owns the team and everything having to do with it, ultimately gets the blame for this fiasco. The image of the Rangers shouldn't be that of drunk, obnoxious and homophobic New York fans, and MSG should do more to stop this calamity of a custom before it's too late.
They're not professional for a reason. It's always nice to see Coach K and Duke fall sooner rather than later, and this year, the Blue Devils graced us all with an especially poor three-point shooting exhibition and an early egress in the second round at the hands of West Virginia. My rating: It's Duke, and while they always should do better, they normally don't - so it's a big mistake, folks.
Georgetown put the all-too-soon finishing touches on an otherwise spectacular season yesterday afternoon with a second round loss to Davidson College. My rating: Because the Hoyas managed to blow a generous lead in the second half to a team seemingly well below them, we have our first real March Madness calamity.
Jeremy Strauss is a sophomore majoring in environmental studies. He can be reached at Jeremy.Strauss@tufts.edu.
