Sports

Inside Boston Sports | Jumbo Nation: A look at the mania of local sports at Tufts

    Manic. Traditional. Intense. All words used to describe Boston's sports culture. But what does it mean to become a part of this atmosphere upon arriving in the area? For some, it can be a new annoyance along the lines of going to class; for others, it can develop into a new way to live, on par with breathing.     Like a toxic gas seeping through the cool Boston air into surrounding communities, the area's sports culture becomes infectious, even to the most halfhearted of fans. Sure, some exhibit innate immunity. But for the majority, setting foot in the region means instant exposure.     "Being around Boston sports in 2009 is to be around intelligence and a spirit that is really special," said Professor George Scarlett of the child development department, who moved to New England from Baltimore in 1963. "It's not just another sports town. I'm passionate about the Patriots but am neurotic about baseball and got caught up in Sox fever. I had experienced that city passion before in Baltimore with [Colts quarterback Johnny] Unitas, but gradually got converted when I started living on my own."     With a wave of championships flowing into the city, being a Boston sports fan has become increasingly easy for new students. The Boston Red Sox, for instance, have won two of the last five World Series and could be poised for another run this October.     The New England Patriots, likewise, are owners of three Super Bowl trophies this decade and have accumulated at least nine wins in every season since 2001. In 2007, the squad went 16-0 in the regular season. And with quarterback Tom Brady back from a knee injury, things are looking bright for the city's gridiron stars.     The Boston Celtics, who have won an NBA best 17 titles — including the 2008 championship — and the Boston Bruins, a five-time Stanley Cup-winning franchise, have made winning a way of life. The atmosphere of success can be contagious, especially to Tufts students.     "Once you live in this area, it becomes easier to jump on the bandwagon," said sophomore Jeff Prescott, who grew up in New York Yankee territory Wilton, Conn. "Collectively it's becoming easier and easier to support teams in Boston, because I think its beginning to compete for the sports capital of the nation."     Even for those Tufts students from far away, assimilating into Boston's sports atmosphere comes naturally.     "I feel like Red Sox fans are very accepting," said senior Brenna Heintz, a native of Alaska. "So I came here, where the Boston sports teams are really electrifying, and I got caught up in it. I'm sure that if you're a student who comes from far away and Boston has been losing a lot, you wouldn't be as likely to get caught up in it."     Just as it has no geographical boundaries, devotion in Boston has no age limit. For those accustomed to the city's recent success, like Prescott, or others who grew up watching the Red Sox in the 1940s, like Professor Sol Gittleman, the sports culture refuses to falter at the generational gap, appealing to all residents.     "If you're interested in sports and it's in your DNA, you get the sense that you're in a historic town," said Gittleman, who teaches a course on baseball history. "It's a little bit manic, a little bit crazy in such a small town. People take it extremely seriously."     Yet what attracts fans like Professor Scarlett to Gillette Stadium or Fenway Park is not the banners or the rings, but rather the constant support emanating from the seats in those hallowed grounds.     "What I fell in love with is this tradition," Scarlett said. "It was captured in ‘Fever Pitch,' this license to be nutty and to still have fun. If you keep an open mind and start to see the sports teams in Boston, I think you can still admit and enjoy the fact that there's something special here."     The fact that Boston houses hundreds of thousands of college-age sports fans only adds to the mania.     "College fans are some of the most driven fans because they're young, exuberant and are their own personalities," Jeff Prescott said. "New York is where business happens, not where fun happens. In Boston the fan base is so strong that it fosters a stronger and more tightly-knit community because it's the biggest college city."     Even for the most diehard of fans, Boston sports still offer rich opportunities each day. The consensus advice for any sports fan? Get to Fenway as soon as possible to experience the full effect of what the area has to offer.     "Fenway is one of the two great historic monuments left in pro baseball," Gittleman said. "If you got a sense of history, you'll want to see Fenway Park. You should get consumed, or at least involved, if you come and are interested in sports in general."     "Over the years, I realized that this [tradition] was something deeper than anything," Scarlett added. "Fenway Park is to Boston what Notre Dame is to Paris. It is the cathedral. It's this very positive community that links one generation to another. The tradition is unbelievable."

Inside the NFL | Rookies rising: Are first-years ready to fulfill their potential?

    Every year, several rookies perform at a level well beyond their age and transition smoothly from college to the fast-paced NFL game. Last season, newcomers such as Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons, Joe Flacco  of the Baltimore Ravens, Matt Forte of the Chicago Bears and Steve Slaton of the Houston Texans blazed onto the national stage. With Ryan and Flacco quarterbacking their teams into the playoffs and Forte and Slaton amassing 1,000-yard-rushing seasons, this year's crop of NFL's rookies class will face the weight of some high expectations.     Perhaps the first-year who has gained the most attention has been New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez. Fresh out of the University of Southern California, where he started just one season, Sanchez will take over under center in place of the mercurial, on-again off-again Brett Favre.     Coach Rex Ryan, also a rookie in New York, named Sanchez the starter despite an up-and-down preseason that included an impressive showing against the New York Giants but a shaky performance against the Ravens.     In the aftermath of Ryan's declaration, comparisons between Sanchez and Flacco quickly have become commonplace. Flacco last year became one of just eight rookie quarterbacks in league history to start a playoff game, while Sanchez hopes to follow suit after being handed the reins to the rebuilding Jets. But even though Flacco and Sanchez may seem similar on paper regarding their professional inexperience and strong defensive support, they are miles apart on the field.     Whereas Flacco was blessed with Derrick Mason to throw to, Sanchez has no true go-to receiver. Gone is deep-ball threat Laveranues Coles, leaving opposing defenses to key in on Jerricho Cotchery.     But it's undeniable that Sanchez has the potential to fill in admirably for Favre, as the former showed with a stellar performance in limited playing time against the cross-town Giants. He completed 65 percent of his passes for 149 yards, including a 31-yard touchdown pass to Chansi Stuckey.     Yet, in his opening contests, Sanchez looked more like a quarterback fresh out of college than one focused on leading the Jets to the playoffs. Against the Ravens Sanchez was shaky in the pocket in the face of one of the league's best defenses, throwing one interception in only eight attempts and accumulating a passer rating of 55.7.     When Sanchez takes the field on Sept. 13 at Houston, he will become the first Jets rookie quarterback since 1960 to start the opening game. How he performs remains to be seen, but the expectations are certainly high.     Still, while Sanchez is one of the only quarterbacks in line to make an immediate impact, he is certainly not the lone first-year to generate noise this preseason. Across the country, two running backs are making a storm in their respective West divisions, and the rushing attacks of the Denver Broncos and the Arizona Cardinals hinge squarely on their legs.     Broncos back Knowshon Moreno, a first-round draft pick out of the University of Georgia, recently sprained his MCL, and his status is up in the air for Week One. Denver has a history of turning rookie backs into immediate stars, but with pass-happy rookie coach Josh McDaniels at the helm, Moreno's role remains uncertain.     The hype surrounding Moreno would indicate that he is next in line to become the latest star in the Denver backfield. In just two years at Georgia, he averaged 5.5 yards-per-carry and rumbled for 2,736 yards and 30 touchdowns. That does not even include the aggregate 600-plus yards he accumulated in the receiving game.     Rumors have been circulating that Moreno's injury will hinder him from partaking in the opener, but he certainly possesses the physical tools to be an instant splash in the AFC West upon return.     Meanwhile, the Super Bowl runner-up Arizona Cardinals hope their rookie weapon, running back Chris "Beanie" Wells, will provide the missing ingredient for their potent offense — an established running game. Despite ranking second in the league in passing yardage, the Cardinals placed dead last on the ground, averaging just 73.6 yards per game.     Selected with the 31st overall pick in the 2009 draft out of Ohio State, Wells brings an established résumé to the desert. He rushed for 1,609 yards and 15 touchdowns for the Buckeyes his sophomore year, including a 222-yard burst against Michigan, the most against the Wolverines by any one running back in rivalry history.     But performing in the NFL will be a different story. Like Moreno, Wells has the capability to make it big — he was the only back to run a faster 40-yard-dash than Moreno — and he has shown flashes this preseason. On Aug. 28 in his professional debut against the Green Bay Packers, Wells made a splash, rushing for 46 yards and two scores, including a 20-yard scamper in the second quarter.     Even with Pro Bowlers at quarterback in Kurt Warner and wide receiver in Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, Wells should provide the necessary ground attack to keep opposing defenses from stacking the secondary.     While other first-years, such as Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, are high up on depth charts, the rookies will have a long climb to stardom. But Sanchez, Moreno and Wells all appear poised to make the leap sooner than expected.

Slideshow | Your Boston sports primer

Tufts Sports | ABCs of Tufts Athletics

Ashes: After Jumbo the Elephant's stuffed hide burned in a 1975 fire, his remains were recovered and stored in a peanut butter jar that is kept in Athletic Director Bill Gehling's office. Rubbing the jar before a big game is said to bring good luck. Brown and blue: Our school colors make for some of the ugliest uniforms this side of the Oregon Ducks. Cousens Gym: The 77-year-old facility has charm, old-school appeal and — finally — a regulation-sized court. Recent renovations lengthened the court to 94 feet, allowing Tufts' basketball teams to host NCAA Tournament games as early as this season. DMR: Following a photo-finish victory at last year's indoor track championships, the women's distance medley relay (DMR) team became Tufts' first repeat national champion since Caitlin Murphy (LA '00) won back-to-back 800-meter crowns from 1999-2000. Ellis Oval: The site of the outdoor track and football field is named for Fred "Fish" Ellis (A '29), a four-sport star considered arguably the greatest male athlete in school history. Built in 1894, it is also the oldest sports complex on campus. Field turf: Bello Field's unique playing surface has given Tufts quite a home-field advantage. Including the postseason, the field hockey team is 38-8 all-time at the five-year-old facility. Gantcher Center: Completed in November 1999, the 66,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility houses an indoor track and tennis court. Hamilton Pool: The oldest swimming pool in the NESCAC is the home of Tufts' swimming and diving teams. The facility's poor air quality was blamed for the rash of respiratory illnesses seen on the men's squad last year. Intercollegiate football: Athletics Director Emeritus Rocky Carzo has long contended that Tufts and Harvard squared off in the first U.S. college football game in 1875. The history books, however, cite an 1869 Rutgers-Princeton game, played with a round ball under rugby-style rules, as the birth of intercollegiate football. JumboCast: The student-run webcasting group streams live coverage of several Tufts sporting events over the Internet free of charge. Kraft Field: The home of the men's and women's soccer team bears the name of Patriots owner Bob Kraft, who gave the field as a gift to Tufts in the 1980s. Larry Bird: The Celtics great once filmed a commercial for the defense technologies company Raytheon in Cousens Gym. Malden Forum: The hockey team's home is located roughly 15 minutes away in nearby Malden, Mass. That's right, we have a giant elephant statue on our campus, but not an ice hockey rink. NESCAC: Boasting the Directors' Cup's top three schools, six defending national champions and, of course, your Tufts Jumbos, the NESCAC is perhaps the strongest conference in Div. III. Objective Analysis of Baseball: An Ex-College course on sabermetrics for all the stats geeks out there. President's Marathon Challenge: Started by University President Lawrence Bacow in 2003, the PMC's squad of 200 runners is the largest known collegiate marathon team in the country. Quinsigamond: Located in Worcester, the lake hosts many of the men's and women's crew teams' regattas, including the New England Rowing Championships. Richardson, Bill: The New Mexico governor and one-time presidential hopeful pitched on the baseball team from 1968-1970 and ranks 15th on the program's career strikeouts list. Sailing: Trinity owns squash, Bowdoin had a stranglehold on field hockey in recent years and Williams is tops in just about everything else. But Jumbo fans can always hang their hats on the sailing team, easily the most decorated squad on campus, with 20 national titles since 1976. Tuftonia's Day: Maybe it's not as catchy as "Hail to the Victors," but Tufts' fight song, penned in 1913, is just as timeless. We still don't know what a "tuftonia" is, however. Ultimate frisbee: Thanks to the nationally-competitive E-Men and the Ewo, ultimate is perhaps the most visible club sport at Tufts. Voute Courts: Home to the men's and women's tennis teams by day and health-conscious townies by night. William Gehling: Tufts' Athletics Director since 1999. Gehling has spent a lifetime on the Jumbo sports scene, co-captaining the 1973 men's soccer team to a 10-2 mark before serving as the women's head coach for the first 20 years of its existence as a varsity program. X's and O's: Of the 22 varsity head coaches on campus, seven are Tufts alums, including 26-year coaching veteran John Casey of the baseball team and Mike Daly, who, after playing football and baseball at Tufts, was hired to coach the men's lacrosse team in 1999. Yoga: As if to compound the whole latte-sipping, left-leaning, NPR-listening stereotype, we at Tufts have taken a liking to yoga, among the most popular physical education courses on campus. Zero: The number of NCAA team national championships Tufts has won in its history (the NCAA does not sponsor sailing). That's not to say we haven't come close. Both the women's soccer and field hockey teams have reached the NCAA title game in the last decade, only to lose in one-goal heartbreakers.

Interactive Map | Welcome to the NESCAC

Tufts is a proud member of the NESCAC, which, contrary to popular belief, does not stand for Never Expect Sports Championships At Colby. In fact, the New England Small College Athletic Conference houses some of the most successful teams in all of Div. III, including six 2008-09 national champions — Williams women's tennis and rowing, Trinity squash, Middlebury women's cross country, Amherst women's ice hockey and Bowdoin field hockey — and the top three schools in the Director's Cup — Williams, Middlebury and Amherst. Now when someone asks you why you went to school in the Northeast (because don't lie, it wasn't the weather or the raging parties), you can inform them that Tufts belongs to the country's best Div. III conference. So take a trip through the 10 other schools that share a conference with the Jumbos — institutions you will come to know and hate in your time here. With all the success, we figure that the stands should be filled with more than eight fans.

Men's Track and Field | Engelking and Rotella bring home NESCAC titles

Although two Jumbos brought home individual NESCAC titles at the championship meet on Saturday, the men's track and field team on the whole did not fare as well, missing out on second place by just half a point in part due to a few injuries to key runners. The Jumbos claimed 116 points at Conn. College, while Bates took second with 116.5 and Williams took first with a final score of 158.5 points.

Softball | Still perfect: Softball moves to 34-0 with doubleheader sweep of Endicott

    With the rap music blaring at Spring Fling just down the road on Saturday afternoon, the only thing ludicrous at Spicer Field was the Jumbos' play, as nationally ranked No. 5 Tufts kept its unblemished record intact with two wins over Endicott College, remaining sharp before hosting the conference tournament later this week.     Endicott, who entered the doubleheader as winners of 16 straight games, ran into a stiff Jumbo defense on Senior Day. In the latter contest, an 8-5 Tufts win, Jumbo sophomore hurler Izzie Santone improved to 16-0 on the season, scattering 12 hits over the complete-game effort.     At the plate in the second game, Tufts took advantage of two Endicott errors, pounding out 11 hits. Senior quad-captain Laura Chapman led the assault with three hits and two runs, while classmate Maya Ripecky added a pair of hits and two RBIs. All but one of the hitters in the Jumbos' lineup recorded a hit, as Tufts used four-run innings in both the first and fifth frames to surge ahead.     Senior pitcher Lauren Gelmetti earned the win in the first game, working all seven innings for her 14th win of the year and giving up just one run in Tufts' 4-1 victory. Senior quad-captain Samantha Kuhles and junior Casey Sullivan each had two hits and drove in a pair of runs.     With the two wins, the Jumbos solidified their stranglehold on the New England region and now only have a doubleheader at Brandeis on Tuesday before kicking off the NESCAC Tournament on Friday.

Alex Prewitt | Live from Mudville

One week ago, schools across the commonwealth of Massachusetts and the state of Maine took the day off in honor of Patriots' Day, a civic holiday commemorating the anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Clearly, I'm not a true Bostonian because it took me roughly six days to realize that the holiday wasn't designed to honor what Tom Brady had done on the field and in the Playboy Mansion or anything else relating to Bill Belichick, Randy Moss or the End Zone Militia. But what if all of our holidays were like that? What if our most hallowed of days were transformed into 24-hour celebrations of all things sports? Well ...

Women's tennis | Women's tennis cruises past Bowdoin

    In its last regular season match of the season, the nationally ranked No. 19 women's tennis team put the nationally ranked No. 18 Bowdoin Polar Bears on ice in Sunday's 8-1 drubbing in Brunswick, Maine.     Coming off of its worst showing of the season in last weekend's 7-2 loss to Middlebury, the 8-4 Jumbo squad took an early lead over the Polar Bears, sweeping all three doubles matches — the first time the team has swept in nearly a month. In the closest match of the day at No. 3 doubles, senior Mari Homma and junior Erica Miller, who played as a doubles team for the first time since spring break, defeated their Bowdoin opponents 9-8 (7-5). In No. 1 doubles, the No. 2-ranked doubles team in the Northeast, comprised of junior captain Meghan McCooey and sophomore Julia Browne, easily overcame the Northeast's fourth-ranked doubles tandem of Bowdoin's senior captain Sarah D'Elia and freshman Emily Lombardi, 8-3.     In singles play, Tufts secured wins in all but one faceoff in the No. 6 match. In the No. 1 match, nationally ranked No. 15 singles player Browne faced down the nationally ranked No. 35 singles player D'Elia. Improving to 19-2 on the season, Browne toppled her opponent 7-6 (3), 6-3.      Finishing up a busy month of in-conference matchups, in which the Jumbos have crossed rackets with four top-20 teams, Tufts is well-positioned with the start of the NESCAC Tournament coming up this weekend.

Women's Track and Field | Tufts finishes third behind Williams, Middlebury

Even with personal records being broken and NCAA automatic qualifiers being surpassed, Tufts' spirited challenge of Williams' dominance of NESCAC women's track and field fell a little bit short on Saturday. The Jumbos finished in third place at the NESCAC Championships, racking up 145 points. Williams, with 180 points, captured its 10th straight title, while Middlebury scored 156 points to take second place.

Late-inning heroics help Jumbos earn NESCAC playoff berth with sweep of Colby, advancing conference record to 7-5

With its playoff destiny square in its own hands heading into the final NESCAC series of the season, Tufts continued its streak of timely hitting and offensive prowess, sweeping Colby to earn a berth in the conference tournament.

Women's Lacrosse | Jumbos head to semifinals

Amherst has been a thorn in the women's lacrosse team's side in the past, twice dispatching the Jumbos in past NESCAC first-round encounters. But the top-seeded Jumbos finally had their way Sunday, turning a first-half deficit into a 14-11 victory with one of their best second-half performances of the season to advance to the second round of the NESCAC Tournament for the first time in program history.

Men's Lacrosse | Tufts gets by Colby in tourney opener

The nationally ranked No. 8 men's lacrosse team, seeded No. 3 heading into NESCAC Tournament play, won its first conference tournament game since 2006, advancing past the first round with a 12-8 win over No. 6-seeded Colby yesterday afternoon at Bello Field.

Gideon Jacobs | The Pooch Punter

On Thursday, I went to the first game at the new Yankee Stadium. I walked into the main rotunda of the massive, modernized version of baseball's greatest cathedral, and the first thing I saw was a giant fruit stand. We were 10 minutes from the first pitch, and men and women were circling the giant tables of produce, squeezing pears, smelling mangos and inspecting bananas. Maybe some of them were grabbing a healthy alternative to the ballpark frank. Maybe some thought they'd grab a few quick groceries while at the game. I kept walking.

Men's Lacrosse | Tufts looks to lock up second place with trip to Bowdoin

Fresh off Saturday's 12-9 victory over Connecticut College, the men's lacrosse team will finish its regular season tonight at Bowdoin with seeding for the NESCAC Tournament on the line.

Women's Lacrosse | Top seed will belong to Jumbos with victory over Bowdoin

    The women's lacrosse team has a chance at history squarely in its control.     Heading into tonight's regular-season finale with Bowdoin, the nationally ranked No. 7 Jumbos have the opportunity to do something that no other Tufts squad has ever done: lock up the No. 1 seed in the NESCAC and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. A matchup with the 8-6 overall, 3-5 NESCAC Polar Bears is all that stands in the way.     Tied atop the conference standings with Colby, the Jumbos have posted a 12-1 (7-1 NESCAC) mark this season, going blow for blow with the defending NESCAC champion Mules all season long. But a decisive 13-9 win over Colby on March 14 back in the second week of the season gives the Jumbos the head-to-head edge now, and regardless of Colby's outcome with Bates tonight, a win over the Polar Bears would guarantee the Jumbos first place.     "We're not concerned with stats or records," sophomore midfielder Amanda Roberts said. "We're just focusing on how we're playing now."     "We're treating it like any other game — it's no different," sophomore goaltender Sara Bloom added.     Riding an eight-game winning streak, Tufts certainly has momentum on its side as it takes on the eighth-place Polar Bears. The Jumbos' most recent triumph, a 16-13 road decision over Conn. College Sunday, was not nearly as narrow as the final tally implies. Tufts carried a 16-9 lead into the closing minutes of the contest before the Camels rallied with four unanswered goals in under three minutes to shrink the gap.     Despite the waning-minutes scare, the Jumbos hung on for the win and netted some valuable experience from the game. Registering 34 shots, the Jumbo offense was firing on all cylinders, a theme it hopes to continue through tonight's finale.     "Shot selection is going to be huge," Roberts said. "It's something that [coach Carol Rappoli] has stressed all year. The attack has gotten better at it throughout the season. We're really dynamic and have a lot of options, so we just need to focus on finishing."     The Jumbos, who lead the league in goals, assists, points and shot percentage, have had a full week to fine-tune their game and prepare for their last obstacle of the regular season. But with the success they've witnessed lately, they don't plan on altering much. The fast-paced offense that has overwhelmed opposing defenses all year should serve them well tonight as they look to add to their already-impressive offensive accomplishments, which include outscoring their opponents 193-118 on the season.     "The offense scored 16 goals [against Conn. College], which is great, but we're not doing anything special [to prepare]," Bloom said. "We've practiced a few things that [Bowdoin] does defensively, so we're prepared for that."     Indeed, the psychological aspect of the game will be more important for the Jumbos and is something that they have continually stressed throughout the year.     "With Conn. College, it was a mental thing," senior co-captain Chrissie Attura said. "We underestimated them, and they took advantage of that. We need to focus on playing our game and not faltering at any point."     "It's very mental for us," Roberts added. "Finishing the regular season up strong and starting the postseason strong are very important."     The implications of the Bowdoin game are not lost on the Jumbos, who won't get much rest before they enter the NESCAC Tournament on Sunday. Regardless of tonight's result, they are guaranteed home field advantage through the quarterfinals since they will finish no worse than second in the league. But the prospect of competing throughout the postseason on the friendly confines of Bello Field is a major motivating factor for Tufts tonight.     "Having home-field advantage is key," Attura said. "It's nice not having to travel, and having lots of fans."     Depending on the outcome of a few NESCAC games today, the Jumbos could face a number of different opponents come Sunday. If Tufts clinches the top seed, Wesleyan would be a likely first-round opponent, as the Cardinals just have to beat last-place Conn. College, coupled with a loss by either Bowdoin or Amherst, in order to secure the No. 8 spot. The Jumbos beat the Cardinals 17-6 on March 28.     If Wesleyan loses, then the Jumbos will face Bowdoin, Bates or Amherst, who are all currently tied in the standings with 3-5 conference records. With all four teams in action today, the standings will undergo some serious reshuffling. And with the exception of Bowdoin, Tufts has faced and beaten all of its potential first-round opponents at some point in the current season.     Despite the implications of NESCAC seeding, which could affect its chances at claiming its first-ever conference title and securing an automatic NCAA bid, Tufts refuses to look beyond tonight's battle or approach it differently from any other contest this year.     "It's going to be a very big game," Roberts said. "And before we step off the field, NESCACs is not going to be in our minds."  

Men's Tennis | Engineers outwit Jumbos in last match of the season for tennis team

In Wednesday's match down the Red Line, the 14-2 MIT Engineers threw a wrench in the nationally ranked No. 30 Jumbos' plan to end the regular season on a high note, beating Tufts 6-3.

Men's Track and Field | Jumbos hope to corral Ephs in weekend meet at Conn. College

The men's track and field team will be looking for a little redemption when it heads to the NESCAC Championships at Conn. College tomorrow.

Women's Track and Field | Jumbos look to NESCACs

Only one thing has been lacking in the top tier of NESCAC women's track and field over the past few years: surprises.

Sailing | Bermudez clinches semifinal berth for Tufts in regatta's final race

    Senior skipper Peter Bermudez redefined the concept of performing under pressure at the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association (NEISA) Co-ed Dinghy Championships this past weekend.