Columns

Columns

Moments ‘til Madness: The battle of conferences

By Owen Short | October 13

With the season just weeks away, I created my rankings of the Power-6 conferences for the 2023-24 college basketball season. 6. Pac-12As most would expect, the Pac-12 found itself at the bottom of my rankings. Although none of the conference realignments will affect this season, the conference was already struggling mightily, finishing with just two teams in the top 40 of the 2023 KenPom rankings.

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Columns

The Hard Count: Brock Purdy and the 49ers distinguish themselves from the top of NFC

By Reece Christian | October 13

In October 2022, the San Francisco 49ers traded four mid-round draft picks for dual-threat running back Christian McCaffrey. A year later, and that trade seems like more and more of a bargain. The Niners destroyed NFC rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, 42–10 on Sunday Night Football, as McCaffrey notched his 14th straight game with at least one touchdown (including four in one game a week ago).

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Columns

In the Crease: NHL standings predictions

By Zachary Gerson | October 13

The Boston Bruins are in a vastly different position to start off this season than they were last. The retirement of legendary centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci leaves Boston with a gaping hole at the center position, where they clearly lack NHL-caliber center depth. Pavel Zacha, the team’s new first-line center, is a solid player, but not an adequate replacement.

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Columns

Extra Innings: Baseball isn’t fair

By Henry Blickenstaff | October 12

The Miami Marlins made the playoffs this year. The San Diego Padres did not. The story could end there, and you’d probably walk away thinking the Marlins were a better team than the Padres. But you’d be mistaken.

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Column

Ukraine at War: The war-torn worlds of Ukraine and Israel in crisis

By Mariia Kudina | October 12

The Ukrainian media has been publishing in-depth coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas, as well as “end-of-the-day” summaries of key events of the last 24 hours. Some Ukrainian newspapers have been doing similar synopses of the main episodes of the war Russia has led against Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion. To state the obvious, observing two deadly wars happening simultaneously is unbelievable and heartbreaking.

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Columns

A Jumbo’s Journey: My very first Duo Mobile push

By Ben Rachel | October 12

There are probably a plethora of questions: Why is a freshman writing a column titled “A Jumbo’s Journey”? What is this column, and why is it being published by the prestigious, apparently seventh-best college newspaper, The Tufts Daily? As I sit here in the darkness and loneliness of mysingle room, I understand that I can’t answer all of your questions just yet. Instead, I hope to give an overview of who I am and what this column will be.

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Columns

Confessions of a Cooking Fanatic: Double or nothing

By Elizabeth Foster | October 11

I find it hard to justify the time I’ve spent cooking if the food I’ve cooked cannot be spread out over multiple meals. This usually means doubling a recipe, or doubling the protein component and scaling everything else to preference.

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Column

MisCONceptions: Peace in our times?

By Trent Bunker, Nicholas Rishi, João Ribeiro, Katherine Brown and Nicholas Femia | October 11

This past weekend, we saw more violence in the Middle East. Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group that receives support from the Iranian government, fired thousands of missiles over the border of the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory, killing hundreds and injuring thousands. Israel has declared a state of war after the attacks.

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Columns

The Step Back: The perfect NBA award predictions

By Sam Dieringer | October 10

We’ve made it y’all. The leaves are turning, Halloween is in the air and NBA basketball is almost back. As we approach tip off on Oct. 24, here are my official awards picks, dark horses and NBA Finals picks. Let’s see how wrong I am in six months.

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Column

Antisemitism Broken Down: Weaponization of the label ‘antisemitism’ hurts Jews and Palestinians

By Ben Choucroun | October 5

On Sept. 2, 50 neo-Nazis marched through the suburbs of Orlando, Fla., waving flags adorned with swastikas. In recent months, dozens of synagogues have been targeted with bomb threats and “swatting” calls. Canada’s parliament recently gave a standing ovation to a veteran of ...

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Columns

The Power of the Pen: What did Reagan do?

By Odessa Gaines | October 5

While the writers strike of this year has recently come to an end, the actors are still on the picket lines fighting for better pay and protections from big studios. The constant fight in the entertainment industry for actors’ fair treatment has gone on for decades — all the way back to the ...

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Columns

Extra Innings: 2023 postseason power rankings

By Henry Blickenstaff | October 5

The 2023 playoffs are here, and it’s time to rank all 12 teams that qualified, from the bluebloods to the pretenders. 12. Miami Marlins (84–77) The Marlins set a record this year — by having the worst run differential of any playoff team in MLB history at -56. Let’s face it, this team got stupidly lucky this year, and anything other than a first round exit would be a huge surprise.

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Columns

Confessions of a Cooking Fanatic: Introduction

By Elizabeth Foster | October 4

I pride myself on cooking good food. I tell this to my family when I return from college and take over cooking a few dinners a week — tripling everything to account for my “lax-bro” brother and STILL having leftovers. I tell this to my manager when, during my corporate girl summer, he asked if my lunch was homemade (it was). I tell this to myself when I question if my grocery bill could be (should be) any lower for the week.

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Column

Ramaswamy and the young Republican vote

By Trent Bunker, Nicholas Rishi, João Ribeiro and Katherine Brown | October 4

Watching Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy perform Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” (2002) in Iowa was a sight to be seen. Opinions on it varied. To outsiders, it might be seen as a candidate trying to fit in. To Eminem, it was the first and last time he wanted to see Ramaswamy performing his song. To me, Ramaswamy’s “shady” performance was an attempt at capturing a unicorn of sorts — that is, the young vote for the GOP.

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Columns

Sports and Society: You can't trade your best player

By Oliver Fox | October 3

I don’t think it should be allowed for a team to trade their best player unless it is approved by a popular vote of all fans. I’m not kidding around.This idea came to me when the entire baseball world was discussing if the Los Angeles Angels should or shouldn’t trade Shohei Ohtani, potentially the greatest player of the generation and one of the most multi talented athletes in the history of humanity.

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Column

The Policy Perspective: The pathway to affordable housing

By Keshav Srikant | October 2

As sophomores settle in at Tufts, many are already thinking about off-campus housing for next year. This happens for a reason: Housing in the Medford and Somerville area has gotten increasingly expensive, while still being difficult to find. There is no doubt that Tufts University and its students play some role in this, but this trend isn’t just occurring in Medford and Somerville — it’s occurring in many cities across the country.

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Columns

Extra Innings: The tragedy of Stephen Strasburg

By Henry Blickenstaff | September 29

For his career, Stephen Strasburg boasts a 3.24 ERA, 1.096 WHIP and a 4.37 strikeout to walk ratio. He became a Nationals hero in 2019 when he went 5–0 with a 1.98 ERA in the postseason, leading the Nats to their first championship in franchise history and earning World Series MVP honors along the way. And yet, Strasburg’s career is one of the most tragic stories in recent baseball memory.

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Columns

Moments ‘til Madness: Predicting the unpredictable

By Owen Short | September 28

Just like in every preseason, the speculation around which team could be raising the trophy in 2024 is non-stop. The University of Kansas, the consensus pick for the No. 1 team for 2023–24, took advantage of the transfer portal after winning the Big 12 title last year.

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Columns

The Power of the Pen: The strike comes to an end

By Odessa Gaines | September 28

As of Wednesday, Sept. 27, the Writers Guild of America has officially ended their nearly five-month strike against big studios. Most employed writers returned to work later that day. The decision to end the strike came from an agreement made between the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. This agreement includes negotiations about payments, staffing, streaming terms and AI use for the next three years — until May 1, 2026. Final negotiations took place over five days with the CEOs of Disney, Warner Bros. and Netflix all in attendance.

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Column

Ukraine at War: Navigating daily challenges and massive disasters

By Mariia Kudina | September 28

To better introduce intricate software as a solution tool, one of my professors asked the class to name a problem we encounter in our daily lives. My first thought was, “There is a war in my country.” I stayed silent for that part of the class, as a simple solution for this kind of problem does not exist. We talked about ways to free up space on iPhones and moved on to learning the program further.

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