227 - Number of consecutive starts, including playoffs, made by Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. Manning, 35, had started every game of his professional career, but he will miss the Colts' season opener against the Houston Texans due to his slow recovery from neck surgery in May. Manning has been the one constant on an otherwise annually changing team that has achieved 11 playoff appearances, two AFC Championships and one Super Bowl victory during his tenure.
6 - The national ranking of the Tufts women's field hockey team as it enters the fall season. Despite losing all-time leading scorer and two-time Player of the Year Tamara Brown (LA '11), the team, led by senior co-captains defender Taylor Dyer and midfielder Lindsay Griffith, heads into the start of the season prepared for its first NESCAC opponent, Middlebury. The Panthers knocked Tufts out of the NCAA tournament last spring in a hard-fought 3-2 game.
15 - The Arizona Diamondbacks' magic number at the time of publication. Arizona has been the Cinderella story of the 2011 MLB season and now sits on the verge of clinching the NL West. By doing so, they would eliminate the defending world champion San Francisco Giants. Arizona has been the beneficiary of young players hitting their stride this season. Justin Upton is hitting .297 with 27 home runs, while Ian Kennedy is 18-4 with a 2.96 ERA.
17 - Number of years that former head coach Bill Samko led the Tufts football program before stepping down last December, making room for new head coach Jay Civetti. Samko had a combined record of 57-79 with the Jumbos, navigating Tufts through a dismal 1-7 campaign this past fall. Civetti first joined the Tufts football program in 2008 as an assistant coach. He previously worked for North Carolina State and Boston College.
57-2 - Match record of Novak Djokovic as he awaits his quarterfinal tilt with Janko Tipsarevic at the U.S. Open. Djokovic already has two grand slam titles this year with wins at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and remains on pace to eclipse John McEnroe's 27-year-old record of match winning percentage in a single season. McEnroe finished that year 82-3, so even a single loss would end Djokovic's chance at history.
8 - Number of games the men's soccer team led in 2010. Despite being able to consistently get ahead, the team only managed a 5-8-2 record. While that was good enough to earn them a spot in the NESCAC Championship for the first time since 2008, their poor seed led to a quarterfinal exit at the hands of Trinity. Holding leads will be a focal point for the Jumbos this fall.
