Off to its fourth consecutive 2-0 start, the football team takes the gridiron this weekend for its first away contest of the season.
This summer saw an exciting and somewhat nerve-racking development in the world of international hockey. The NHL has been the world's premier league for decades, attracting top-tier talent from across the globe. Other leagues, including the Swedish Elite League and the Russia Super League (RSL), could not compete with the NHL's prestige and high salaries.
The women's tennis team captured the first of its two dual matches of the fall season, trouncing previously-unbeaten MIT 7-2 yesterday evening at Vouté Courts. The marquee matchup was at No. 1 singles, where Jumbo sophomore Julia Browne and Engineer junior Leslie Hansen met in a rematch of Sunday's ITA Regional championship. Like their first meeting, Browne sailed past Hansen, the eighth-ranked singles player in the nation, this time by a 6-1, 6-3 score. Tufts went on to win five of the six singles matches. Freshmen Jen Lavet, Jen LaCara and Nathalie Schiles carried the bottom half of the lineup, each taking straight set victories over their respective MIT opponents. The trio, playing collegiate singles for the first time, combined to lose only 15 games. The most exciting match of the evening was a two-and-a-half-hour marathon at third singles between sophomore Edwina Stewart of Tufts and sophomore Melissa Diskin of MIT. After splitting the first two sets, Stewart and Diskin played deep into a back-and-forth third-set tiebreak. Stewart, who never played higher than fifth singles last season, eventually took the tiebreak, 19-17. Both of Tufts' two setbacks came courtesy of Engineers freshman Anastasia Vishnevetsky. At first doubles, the first-year combined with Hansen to defeat the Jumbos' tandem of Browne and Stewart — who were a perfect 10-0 in doubles play last season — 9-7. Vishnevetsky went on to score the biggest upset of the day, topping junior captain Meghan McCooey 6-3, 6-0 at second singles. See TuftsDaily.com for further coverage.
Having participated in two invitationals already this season at Brandeis and MIT, the undefeated volleyball team will host its own, the fifth annual Tufts Invitational in Cousens Gym this weekend.
Baseball is not a movie script. The team that should win sometimes doesn't. The team that more people are rooting for often comes up short. The good guys can lose, and the bad guys can have the last laugh. It sucks, but it's baseball. It's a game of effort, skill and a ton of luck. But every so often a team comes along and changes this equation. It defies the laws of the "game of inches" and somehow wills itself to victory. When this sort of team appears, you can throw the numbers out the window. You can forget about matchups and coaching. You can ignore all other teams entirely. None of it matters. What matters is that the childlike belief in destiny somehow manifests itself among men — grown men with egos and salaries. You can feel this force in the players and the fans. There's nothing more powerful in sports. It has won improbable championship after improbable championship. It has fueled every great run in the history of competition. I saw it early with the Rays. I was watching a game in August that they were dominating. It was one of those games where they were firing on all cylinders to the point where players were giddy with excitement. The camera flashed to the dugout and panned across the confident grins of Joe Maddon, Evan Longoria, James Shields, Scott Kazmir and the rest, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I turned to my mom and said, "Is there any doubt this team is going to win it all?" My mom, who is a sharp baseball lady, told me I was crazy (she likes the Cubs over the Red Sox in six). But no prediction I have ever made had ever seemed so obvious. They have the "it" — the special, indefinable something that turns a good team into a champion. When you look back on the season, what's the first thing you remember? The Rays. This season and our memories of it belong to them and their magical run. The Rays are a force that has been gaining steam for six months and are now on the verge of climaxing. There is no stopping this team. I know I'm picking against every expert, everywhere. The three favorites to win the series are the Cubs, Angels and Red Sox. ESPN likes the Cubbies. It likes their pitching, the weak National League and old Lou at the helm. But the worldwide leader in sports is wrong. I've never liked Soriano, Dempster or Wood in the playoffs. Zambrano and Harden have to be completely healthy for them to pull this off. Plus, it's just not their year. The Angels are the most complete team in baseball. They have the deepest rotation in the game as well as a solid bullpen. They can put runs up in a hurry, and Mike Scioscia is the best manager in the game. But they are like the valedictorian of your high school, almost too perfect. Their incredible rotation will falter against the big bats of the AL East and also, it's not their year. The Red Sox' postseason fate rests on one man's shoulders every October. It's not about Papi, Pedroia or Papelbon. It's all about Josh Beckett. His health questions are my biggest knock on their chances to repeat. Also, I don't care about Jason Bay; they are significantly weaker without Manny. It's not their year either. It's the Rays' year. It belongs to them and I can feel it. That team that couldn't get any fans to show up to its joke-of-a-dome is about to make history. The Rays are going to go from laughing stock to World Champions in a single season, and it's going to be a marvel to watch. Start writing the books, start crafting the rings and start printing the hats. This story is about to get even better.
With heavy rain earlier in the day, the men's tennis team was able to take advantage of its familiarity with the faster indoor courts at the Gantcher Center to sweep away non-conference foe Babson 9-0 yesterday, advancing its record to 2-0 for the fall.
The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate is closing in on a deal with administrators and members of the Athletics Department to create a club sports advisory board to oversee the recognition and funding of club sports on campus. The groups plan to sit down next week to hammer out the details.
With a midweek victory over a visiting Babson Beaver squad Tuesday on Kraft Field, the women's soccer team kept its perfect record intact, moving to 5-0.
So this is why Brett Favre came back.
In the midst of a dominating fall season to date for Jumbo athletics, one of Tufts' most successful squads in recent years is itching to do its part and continue the pattern of winning.
The story of the National League playoffs starts with an intriguing Chicago Cubs-Los Angeles Dodgers matchup in the Divisional Series. And the story of the Cubs starts with their pitching staff, potentially the deepest in the Senior Circuit.
When you fall down, get right back up again. Make the most out of what you've got. Don't dwell on the past.
So much for a sophomore slump.
Despite failing to advance any player beyond the second round of the singles or doubles brackets, the men's tennis team knows that its participation in the ITA Regional Championships at Williams over the weekend was certainly time well-spent.
The women's cross country team continued its string of strong performances this season, coming in third out of 16 teams at the 41st annual Codfish Bowl in Franklin Park in Boston on Saturday. While originally scheduled to take part in the Conn. College Invitational, the Jumbos had to make last-minute changes on Friday afternoon after the race hosted by the Camels was cancelled due to heavy rain.
Following a schedule change that sent the men's cross country team to a race in Franklin Park in Boston instead of the Conn. College Invitational, junior Jesse Faller continued to show his mettle as one of the top Jumbo runners, winning the Codfish Bowl Saturday.
Tufts athletics continued to dominate with solid play this weekend, which ended in conference accolades for three Jumbo competitors. Sophomore Sarah Nolet was named NESCAC Player of the Week for women's soccer, junior Jesse Faller claimed Performer of the Week honors in men's cross country and sophomore Caitlin Updike earned Player of the Week for volleyball.
Breaking news: The Tampa Bay Rays are really good. Like, a lot better than they were last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, and … you get the idea. It's been the hot-button topic in baseball all year, as the Rays have gone from 66 wins last season to 97 this year and their first playoff berth. As the Rays open their postseason run Thursday afternoon (opponent to be announced), it's given us at the Daily an opportunity to reflect. Here are 10 more of the great turnaround stories in sports history: 10. 1967 Red Sox. In ‘66, the American League standings were a historical anomaly of sorts — the Yankees finished dead last in the 10-team league, with the Red Sox a half-game ahead in ninth. Then came the "Impossible Dream," as Triple Crown winner Carl Yastrzemski led the Sox to the ‘67 World Series. They fell short against Bob Gibson's Cardinals. 9. 2004-05 Suns. Call it the "Nash factor" — the Suns' acquisition of the soon-to-be two-time MVP transformed the franchise right away. The Suns went from a 29-win season to a 62-20 finish, a top seed in the West and an MVP for Nash in his first year in town. As for a Finals berth, though, we're still waiting… 8. 2006 Tigers. In 2003 the Tigers were a horrific 43-119 ... eww. Yet three years later, All-Star outfielder Magglio Ordonez, gritty manager Jim Leyland and Hall of Fame catcher Pudge Rodriguez had all come to town, and the team battled its way to its first AL pennant since 1984. 7. 2007-08 Penguins. Long gone are the days when Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr roamed the ice at the Igloo in the Steel City. After rumblings abounded of moving the franchise to a new city, the 2005 draft shifted the Penguin hockey landscape as they selected "Sid the Kid" Crosby first overall. The team went from the cellar to the top by the 2008 playoffs as they advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals before bowing out to the Red Wings. 6. 1997-98 Spurs. Thanks to perhaps the luckiest roll of a ping-pong ball in NBA history, the Spurs were able to draft a 21-year-old kid named Tim Duncan out of Wake Forest. The result was an immediate 36-win upswing and an NBA title the following season. Talk about a good lottery! David Robinson should have gotten injured more often. 5. 1999 Diamondbacks. The expansion D-Backs burst onto the scene in 1998 with an expectedly crappy 65-97 record. Fast forward to the next fall to find the Arizonans with a sparkling 100-62 mark, and the Big Unit slaying every NL hitter in sight. Despite a tough NLDS loss to the Mets that season, the D-Backs wouldn't be denied as they took home their first World Series victory two years later. 4. 1999 Rams. Once one of the sorriest franchises in the NFL, the Rams made a stunning transformation into the "Greatest Show on Turf" as they rode second-year "Marshall, Marshall, Marshall" Faulk and journeyman quarterback Kurt "Who is this Guy" Warner. After finishing an abysmal 4-12 the season prior, the Rams went to a dominating 13-3 and outlasted the Titans 23-16 in Super Bowl XXXIV. The team swept the season's slate of offensive awards and the offense led the NFL in total yardage and scoring, while the defense limited the opposition to an NFL-low 74.3 yards per game. 3. Jennifer Capriati. After turning professional at age 14, Capriati reached the semifinals at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open and even went on to win the gold medal in Barcelona in 1992. She later put her tennis career on hold and went through personal challenges, including an arrest for marijuana possession, but Capriati would return to the tour and go on to win three major titles and become No. 1 in the world. 2. 1991 Twins and Braves. The classic "worst to first" story — for the first time in World Series history, two teams that had finished last the previous year were vying for October glory. NL MVP Terry Pendleton brought the Braves all the way to an extra-inning Game 7 before Jack Morris legendarily out-dueled John Smoltz, pitching a 10-inning shutout to win it all. 1. 2007-08 Celtics. "What does ‘top of the world' feel like, Kevin?" With the acquisitions of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and a host of supporting cast members, the Celtics engineered the biggest turnaround in NBA history, going from the NBA's second-worst in 2006-07 to a title this June. If that's not an inspiration to cellar-dwellers everywhere, then what is?
