The most dangerous teams in the playoffs in any sport are those that finish the regular season on a high note. And with just one meet left before the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships, the women's fencing team is peaking at the right time.
The NFL lockout that will likely begin on March 4 will not end quickly or gracefully. The owners — or prime evildoers in this saga — all run franchises valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. Even the Detroit Lions, who at 0−16 in 2008 had almost as many problems as Bear Stearns that year, were reportedly valued at $917 million. In this struggle between owners and players, the owners are asking for more money, more games and for the players to sacrifice their bodies even more than they already do. The players want the same deal as that which already exists: The same number of games, plus financial accountability from the owners.
After losing to every higher−ranked opponent they faced this season, the No. 23 Jumbos had one last chance on Sunday to come away with an upset in their match against No. 22 Vassar. Following an impressive 9−0 sweep against No. 29 Northeastern on Thursday, which clinched their place in the C−Division of the upcoming Howe Cup, the team was full of confidence going into Sunday's bout. But it wasn't enough for the Jumbos, as they fell 6−3 to the Brewers.
Most baseball fans spend the long offseason anxiously counting down the days until pitchers and catchers report for spring training in Florida and Arizona. That countdown will end this week, and by the beginning of next week, teams will be busy preparing to knock off the defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants.
The blinking cursor on my laptop screen is taunting me. My column was due hours ago, and ideas have been tossed into the virtual recycle bin, which would be appropriate, except they're never going to get reused for anything worthwhile.
After enduring a two-month-long, 12-game losing streak, the ice hockey team split its final two home games of the season this past weekend at the Malden Forum. The weekend, in many ways symbolic of the entire season, had its ups — the Jumbos broke their losing streak Friday with a dramatic 6-5 win over the University of New England (UNE) — and its downs, as Tufts was then thrashed by Southern Maine 5-1 on Saturday
The men's basketball team has let five halftime leads slip away this season, including conference losses to Trinity, Conn. College and Middlebury. But on Saturday in front of the largest crowd at Cousens Gym this season, the Jumbos flipped the script, turning a four-point halftime deficit against Bates into a 66-62 win on Senior Day.
With posters and banners lining the walls, alumni filling the seats and hundreds of eyes on them, the seniors of the women's basketball team took the court at Cousens Gym Saturday for a NESCAC game one final time.
For the second time this season, the women's track and field team split its squad, competing at the Valentine Invitational at Boston University on Friday and Tufts Invitational III at home on Saturday.
The men's track and field team had a strong showing this weekend, split between Boston University for the Valentine Invitational and the Gantcher Center for the Tufts Invitational III.
Just a week away from the the Div. III New England Championships, the Jumbos will hit the track once more this weekend to hit some final qualifiers and stay sharp.
It will be the end of an era Saturday, as the women's basketball team's seniors — undoubtedly the most successful class in program history — take the court at Cousens Gymnasium for their final home NESCAC game.
The women's track and field team will this weekend compete in its final home meet of the season — the Tufts Invitational III at the Gantcher Center. The invitational will be the last chance for the Jumbos to ready themselves for the postseason, which will begin next week with the Div. III New England meet at MIT.
Serbia's Novak Djokovic raised his arms in jubilation two Sundays ago at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
With only four games left in the season, and having spent the past two months without a win, the hockey team is ready to break the ice on a new kind of streak. Tufts has lost its last 12 games, but this weekend's two home matchups against weak opponents are an opportunity to finally get that elusive victory.
Everybody loves a good Cinderella story.
Now that football season is over, it's time to turn our attention back to basketball. The 2011 NBA season has been one of the most exciting in recent memory.
Stapled to the Amherst men's locker room door, in bold black lettering, a sign reads "NCAA 2011 — every day, every play, no excuses." The motto can be seen on t-shirts and signs across campus. It is recited habitually in team meetings. They are words that the Amherst men's basketball team lives by, serving as a constant reminder of what their goal for this season is, what they're working so hard to reach and, most importantly, that there are no off-days.
In spite of two tough conference losses this past weekend, the men's basketball team is having a pretty darn good season. It has clinched a spot in the NESCAC tournament for the first time since 2007 and has at least some control over which team it will face in the first round.
Any longtime fan of soccer living in the United States knows that it has not always been easy to follow the beautiful game, particularly if your favorite team was not a major club. (I remember the days when Manchester United's game was always shown on television every weekend, but no other teams ever made it on the schedule.) Fox Soccer Channel (FSC), or Fox Sports World as it was then called, was pretty much the only option for fans of international soccer in the United States. Given that FSC had the production quality of a 20th-century shortwave radio broadcast, the American soccer viewer's world was indeed bleak circa 2005.
