Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers outfielder and reigning National League MVP, recently underwent the most damaging trial of his career. Sure, he escaped punishment, but he'll go into the record books with an indelible asterisk next to his name.
With the All-Star Game and all of its festivities wrapping up this weekend, the second half of the NBA season got under way last night. This is the time when teams make a push for the postseason, and in the Western Conference, that will be no easy feat. Traditionally, the West is the NBA's deeper conference, with between nine and 12 teams typically boasting records around .500 or better and legitimate chances at making the playoffs.
For most people, sailing evokes visions of calm lakes, picturesque days on the ocean and "Wedding Crashers" (2005). But for junior Max Bulger, sailing goes far beyond recreation and even competition — it ventures into the extreme.
The Amherst women's basketball team is in the midst of a remarkable run on par with some of the best ever seen in Div. III sports. In the past few years, the Lord Jeffs have not only established themselves as the perennial team to beat in the NESCAC but have also become the top Div. III team in the nation. In defeating Tufts on Sunday, defending national champion Amherst extended its winning streak to 46 games overall and 63 straight at home while clinching their third straight NESCAC championship and further cementing their position as the class of the conference.
This past weekend, the 23rd−ranked women's squash team traveled across town to Harvard for the Howe Cup National Championships. The Jumbos competed in the Walker C Division — consisting of teams ranked 17th through 24th — and went 1−2 against a trio of NESCAC opponents. The Jumbos were swept in their first−round contest by their NESCAC rival, the No. 18 Lord Jeffs. They recovered nicely in consolation play on Saturday, winning 6−3 against a Camels team that had defeated them twice in the regular season, but then struggled once more on the final day in an 8−1 loss to the Colby Mules.
The women's fencing team took sixth place at the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference (NEIFC) Championships in a pool of 14 teams at Vassar College on Saturday.
The graduation of the heart of the men's lacrosse team's offense left more than a few question marks around the team's chances at a third consecutive appearance in the national championship game. After receiving a controversial No. 3 preseason ranking — a spot shared with Dickinson — Tufts will have to be stellar from day one of the season to stay atop the standings.
The men's indoor track and field team continued its recent surge at the Open New England Championships at Boston University this weekend, posting several stellar performances, including two school records and many national caliber marks. Overall, the Jumbos combined for a 15th place finish among the region's Div. I, II and III schools.
An upset appeared on the horizon at halftime. Minutes later, the opportunity vanished.
The Jumbos thought that they had won.
To other teams in the NESCAC, the impending graduation of senior tri-captain forward James Long may not look like a huge loss for the Jumbos. At 6-foot-5, Long is an undersized post player and has averaged just 4.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game in his four years at Tufts. But ask Tufts fans — or, better yet, ask his teammates — and they will tell you No. 55 is an invaluable asset to the squad.
Tomorrow through Sunday, the men's swimming and diving team will compete at Williams in the annual NESCAC Championships. Williams is in search of its 10th straight conference title, and after the Ephs' 201-93 regular season win over the Jumbos, it appears that Tufts will not be the biggest threat to their hopes. That title will more likely belong to the Amherst Lord Jeffs, who managed a 145-98 victory over the Ephs in January.
How do you win a battle when defeat nears inevitability? Aim for the war.
Since falling 9-0 to Amherst in the first round of the NESCAC tournament, followed by losses to Colby and Conn. College in the consolation round, the women's squash team has come roaring back. The Jumbos, who are ranked 23rd nationally, closed out their regular season as winners of three games in a row. They will look to ride that wave of momentum this weekend at the Howe Cup Team Championships at Harvard.
This year, the NESCAC men's hockey tournament will be entering unchartered territory — there will be no defending champion, since Bowdoin's title was vacated after a violation of institutional policy. Nevertheless, the puck will drop this weekend, and No. 4 Tufts will take on No. 5 Williams at home after its best season in the NESCAC era.
The Chelsea Football Club is in the midst of a serious crisis. For a team that has seen Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich spend more than $750,000,000 on player transfers alone since he bought the club in 2003, Chelsea's performance over the past season and a half has been subpar. With a managerial vacancy to fill, Abramovich paid $17.6 million to F.C. Porto for their 33-year-old superstar Andre Villas-Boas. Villas-Boas, who last season led Porto to a league cup, a first-place league finish and a Europa League championship, was expected to come to Chelsea and bring hardware to the club like his mentor and former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho. Needless to say, this season has not gone according to plan.
If sports teach us anything, it's that no one can hang on to a job forever. No matter how good somebody is for years on end, eventually the time will come when the reality of age sets in and new ideas are needed to move organizations forward. In the English Premier League, two such cases are playing out at almost exactly the same time. Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United and Arsène Wenger of Arsenal, two of the greatest managers of all time, are nearing ages after which they might need to consider stepping away from the game.
