Two weeks into the season, we are starting to see some very interesting storylines develop. With most teams having about four games under their belts, the rankings have expectedly been shaken up. Although there weren’t as many high-level matchups as I would have liked, there has been no shortage of news in the sport. These are the headlines that most stood out to me.
The general consensus around the hockey community is that by Thanksgiving, each team starts to get a sense of who they are. Some teams might see themselves as strong contenders, some might be feeling pressure to up their game and others might be ready to commit to a rebuild. Either way, Thanksgiving is the first chance for hockey fans to get a sense of the standings for the season and how teams are feeling. In this edition of “In the Crease,” we will take a look at the aspects of the standings that stand out the most thus far.
In a game packed with excitement, Tufts football ended its season with a winning record of 7–2 coming out of their most recent senior day win against Middlebury on Saturday. At the start of the game, Middlebury won the coin toss and deferred to Tufts, letting them receive the ball first.
On Saturday, Cousens Gymnasium buzzed with anticipation for the match Tufts volleyball had been preparing for all season. The Jumbos secured the No. 3 seed in the NESCAC Tournament with a regular season conference record of 7–3. Because they had beaten Wesleyan University and lost to Middlebury College, they sat between the two teams in the standings, despite all three teams having the same record. They bested Williams College 3–1 about a month before this playoff match, but in the end, they came up short when it mattered most in the NESCAC Tournament, falling 2–3 in a true battle.
On Saturday, No. 2 seed Tufts women’s soccer competed in the NESCAC semifinals versus No. 4 seed Amherst College in Middletown, Connecticut. The Jumbos earlier in the season had come away with a 2–1 win against the Mammoths. Going into the game, Tufts held a 13–2–1 record while Amherst held a 10–1–5 record.
Turkish talent has dazzled European clubs with its brilliance for over a decade. From La Liga veteran Arda Turan, a key member of Atlético Madrid’s 2014 title-winning side, to Nuri Şahin, the former Borussia Dortmund star who now manages the club, to Hakan Çalhanoglu, who continues to spearhead Simone Inzaghi’s Inter Milan, Türkiye is a talent factory on an upward trajectory on both domestic and international fronts. Its leading clubs, Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, have rich histories. Its latest and possibly most promising icon is Real Madrid’s 19-year-old Arda Güler. With Madrid facing a mid-season crisis, the spotlight could shine brighter than ever on the boy from Altingad.
Content warning: This article contains mentions of abuse.This weekend, I stumbled across a copy of Jessica Bendinger’s original script for the 2006 gymnastics classic “Stick It.” First, if you read my column and haven’t seen this movie, go watch it. While the first version of the script follows the same basic plot, the final movie tells almost a completely different story.
When the Los Angeles Lakers signed JJ Redick as their new head coach, many decried the signing, pointing to his lack of NBA coaching experience as an indicator of his coming ineptitude. Although head coaching experience is usually a pretty good criterion for a new head coaching hire, the Lakers’ front office was hiring amidst a fiasco of their own creation. The Lakers’ head coaching job has become a bucking bronco that seemingly throws its riders into the mud. However, I think Redick is capable of taming this incompetent beast.
Between her 2021 NESCAC Rookie of the Year award, two Rawlings Gold Gloves and now a top 30 honoree for the NCAA Woman of the Year award, Tufts graduate student Sophia DiCocco’s resume seems to grow limitlessly as she enters her fifth year as a Jumbo.
Following a bumpy first half of the season, Tufts football has really hit its stride. After starting 2–2 on the season, Tufts has advanced 6–2 with a decisive win at Colby College on Saturday. They now head into a home matchup against 6–2 Middlebury College.
In the quarterfinals of the NESCAC tournament on Saturday, men’s soccer lost to Bowdoin College on penalty kicks after fighting to come back from a Bowdoin goal in the first half. Regulation and overtime finished in a 1–1 tie, with Bowdoin advancing 4–3 on penalty kicks.
I don’t claim to be a lifelong Formula One fan; I only started watching this season, though I have seen all six seasons of “ Formula 1: Drive to Survive” and countless YouTube videos on Ayrton Senna. I never saw Lewis Hamilton claim any of his seven world titles, and I think I was playing video games during the infamous Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021.
Tufts field hockey, ranked No. 3 in the NESCAC, beat No. 6 Amherst in a nail-biting 2–1 quarterfinal victory on Saturday to advance to the conference semifinals. After a 1–1 draw in regulation time, the game remained undecided after two periods of overtime. During shootouts, the Jumbos won 3–0, their second shootout victory in a row.
After waiting about eight months for the first tipoff of the college men’s basketball season, we have finally made it. Although opening day doesn’t typically offer many competitive, high-level matchups, there were still some surprisingly consequential results and upsets. Most notably, No. 6 Gonzaga blew the brakes off of No. 8 Baylor, winning by 38 points.
The other week, In the Crease took a look at the teams with the most surprising starts to the season. This week, we will take a look at the teams with the most disappointing first few weeks. These are teams that are playing below the expectations that were set for them at the beginning of the season.
Look back at Tufts volleyball’s 3–0 victory over Endicott College as the Jumbos head into the postseason. In their penultimate regular season match on Oct. 30, Tufts swept Endicott in three sets, 26–24, 25–20 and 25–14. Tufts, the No. 3 seed in the NESCAC tournament, faces Williams College at home this Friday at 6 p.m.
The Tufts women’s soccer team stepped onto Bello Field on Saturday for their first game of the NESCAC playoffs, a quarterfinal matchup against No. 7 seed Hamilton College. The Jumbos were the No. 2 seed. Earlier in the season, the Jumbos played the Continentals to a 2–2 tie. Going into the game, Tufts held a 12–2–1 record while Hamilton held a 6–6–3 record.
A lot has changed since 1910. There have been two world wars and six moon landings. Wawa has expanded into the Midwest. However, some constants have remained, including within the executive branch. Since former President William Howard Taft in 1910, every president has thrown out a first pitch at an MLB game, though former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden did so before taking office. Nonetheless, this merging of two American institutions deserves a closer look as America selects its next leader. Thus, I present the definitive top 10 American presidents’ first pitches.
Undoubtedly, the largest question on voters’ minds as they head to the booths this November is who would win in a golf match between Republican candidate former President Donald Trump or President Joe Biden. Conversation around the topic rose to such a fervor that it was argued during the June 27 debate between the two candidates at the time. Trump claimed that he “just won two club championships — not even senior, two regular club championships,” and boasted that he could easily beat Biden in a match. Biden retorted that he would be “happy to play golf” with the former president on the condition that Trump was willing to carry his own bag. Alas, presidential elections are not chosen via golf; most voters are likely unconcerned with who the superior player is, and Biden is no longer the Democratic nominee following the disastrous debate. However, we will nonetheless analyze who would win in a hypothetical match between the two in order to hopefully lighten the mood of a very serious election.
Abraham Lincoln is perhaps the greatest presidential athlete in American history. Even though Dwight Eisenhower was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame and Gerald Ford won two national championships with the Michigan Wolverines football team, Lincoln has a better track record than both of them. Over the course of his 12-year wrestling career, he dominated against his compatriots, reportedly amassing more than 300 victories and losing only once. Unlike Donald Trump, who is a WWE Hall of Famer, Lincoln was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1992, where he is recognized among the greatest wrestlers in history.
