Sports

Top Ten | Summer Sports Breakups

It was the summer of the breakup in the wide world of sports. It seemed that no sport could escape the cold winds of Splitsville, no relationship could weather the slings and arrows of outrageous affairs, and no athlete could live up to his given name.  Here at the Daily, we compiled the 10 best breakups in honor of the summer that was: 10. Alex Rodriguez and Cynthia Rodriguez: After over five years together, A-Rod and C-Rod parted ways in early July amid rumors of a relationship between the Yankee slugger and aging pop star Madonna. While the truth remains murky, it's evident that just the thought of someone born during the Ford Administration cheating with someone who was born while Eisenhower was president proved simply too much for Cynthia to handle. 9. The City of Seattle and the Supersonics: It was a bitter divorce between these two as a group of Oklahoma City investors led by Clay Bennett successfully purchased the Supersonic franchise and whisked it away to the Sooner State. Now aptly named the Oklahoma City National Basketball Association team, all Seattle has to look back on are 41 happy seasons together, including an NBA championship in 1979. 8. Manny Ramirez and the Red Sox: Manny being Manny? After consecutive seasons of dancing around this breakup, the Sox finally cut ties with the slugger after a tumultuous seven-and-a-half seasons together. Our question is about the (World Series) rings: Namely, is Manny obligated to give one or both of them back? 7. Mike and the Mad Dog: One of the most famous sports radio duos Mike Francesa and Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo called it quits after 19 years on air together. With Mike as the more knowledgeable and Mad Dog as the more likable part of the team, these two were a match made in heaven, but their different styles eventually gave way to a sour spring in 2008 and an official split in August. 6. Boston and its underdog status: If you Boston fans thought you could hang onto this one after buying a World Series, a Super Bowl appearance and an NBA Championship all in the same year, think again. 5. Chad Javon Ocho Cinco and his original last name: After flirting with Ocho Cinco as a nickname during the 2006 NFL season, the Bengal WR legally ditched his given name of Johnson in favor of the Ocho Cinco surname just last week. 4. Roger Federer and the Wimbledon title: With five consecutive Wimbledon titles to his name leading up to this year's Championships, many felt that nothing would stop the Fed Express from winning his sixth in July. Alas, Rafael Nadal of Spain had other plans and successfully captured the Swiss' beloved hardware. 3. United States and winning the Olympics gold medals race: China may have smoked the Stars and Stripes in the gold medal count at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, but at least we don't lip sync our national anthem. 2. The Yankees/Red Sox and first place in the AL East: In what was once seemingly an annual guarantee, the Yankees and Red Sox always found their home atop the AL East standings. But after the exorcism of the Devil in central Florida, a "Ray" of sunshine is peering — check that — now pouring through the clouds in Tampa. With less than thirty games left on the slate, it looks like the Rays, not the Yanks or Sawx, will be dancing atop the standings come October. 1. Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers: After a long, illustrious career as the face of the green and gold, Favre made it clear he would not be going back to Lambeau Field this fall. However, after a long summer down on his hunting range in Mississippi, he felt the inkling to return once more to the gridiron. Packers' management, however, along with many of the cheesehead faithful, had already moved on and Favre was left out in the cold. If only the Jets were worth anything more than nine or ten wins.

Top seeds alive and well as Open moves into later rounds

    As the second week of play kicks off for men's singles at the US Open in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., the three favorites of this year's fourth and final major event show no signs of slowing down as they all look to add to their Grand Slam troves.     World and tournament No. 1 seed Rafael Nadal of Spain continued on his quest for his third Grand Slam title of the year and sixth of his career with a four-set victory yesterday over unseeded American Sam Querrey. With the win, Nadal moves on to the quarterfinals, matching his career-best showing at the Open in 2006 when he lost in the quarters to Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.     This time around, the young Spaniard will face unseeded American Mardy Fish, who is making an unprecedented run at this year's Open after posting three straight upset wins over seeded players, including No. 32 Gael Monfils of France yesterday in straight sets. Fish also emerged victorious in straight sets over fellow American and ninth seed James Blake in the third round and knocked off No. 24 Paul-Henri Mathieu the round before.     Nadal's stellar 2008 season ought to dictate a win tomorrow over the streaking Fish, who has advanced to a Grand Slam quarterfinal just once before in his career, but the world's best ought to be wary of the American, as the red-hot underdog could play David to Nadal's Goliath.     Meanwhile,defending champion and No. 2 seed Roger Federer has looked true to form through three rounds of play, not dropping a set en route to his match today against Igor Andreev of Russia, seeded 23rd. While the Swiss, who is on the hunt for his fifth consecutive US Open crown and 13th major title of his career, has played mediocre hard court tennis thus far in 2008, his play at this point in Flushing Meadows appears to reflect a revamped desire to end the Grand Slam season on a winning note.     To his credit, Andreev pulled off a dominating straight set upset of No. 13 Fernando Verdasco in the third round Sunday and has not dropped a set all tournament. That said, it would take a major mental collapse on the part of Federer as defending champion to slip up this early at the Open.     As for Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who is seeded third and remains a legitimate contender along with the aforementioned Federer and Nadal, his tennis has remained relatively honed throughout three rounds of play as well to qualify for the Round of 16. After making short work of Frenchman Arnaud Clement and American qualifier Rob Kendrick in his first two rounds, the Serb surrendered the first set of his Sunday contest against Marin Cilic of Croatia before rebounding to win 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (0).     Awaiting Djokovic today is No. 15 Tommy Robredo of Spain, whose tournament included wins over 2008 Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Sunday's third round and a four-set second round victory over 2000 US Open champion Marat Safin of Russia.     Robredo has once again proven himself a strong early-round performer at Flushing Meadows, as demonstrated by four appearances in the Round of 16 over the last five years. Djokovic, however, boasts a Grand Slam hard court résumé that includes the 2008 Australian Open title and a run to last year's finals at the US Open. If the young Serb can keep his play disciplined, he ought to have little problem advancing to the quarterfinals.     While the bulk of the attention from the media and tennis fans remains steadfastly on Nadal, Federer and Djokovic as the front-runners to capture this year's Open crown, there remain a few other highly seeded players in contention who could catch fire at just the right time and shake up the tournament's focus. Among them are No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, who has made runs to the semis at the Open the last two years, and No. 8 Andy Roddick, who was champion at Flushing Meadows back in 2003 and a runner-up to Federer there in 2006.     Davydenko faces off today against upstart Gilles Müller of Luxembourg, who while playing as a qualifier, has pulled off back-to-back five-set wins after dropping the first two sets in the second and third rounds of the tournament. Roddick's opponent is Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, who is seeded 11th but remains a clay court player at heart and will have trouble overcoming the American on his favorite surface.

After bronze in Athens, redemption is golden for Team USA

As school begins, MLB enters the stretch run

Tufts finishes 15th in final Directors' Cup rankings for 2007-08 year

After finishing the winter season 12th in the United States Sports Academy's Div. III Directors' Cup standings, Tufts slipped to 15th in the year-end rankings released on June 11.An annual competition between Div. III schools to measure the achievements of athletics teams, the Directors' Cup awards points to programs based on rankings and post-season performances.The Jumbos added 183.5 points during the spring season, down from the record 271.5 points notched up during the winter season, to bring the overall tally to 580. Still, the year-end ranking marked a slight improvement from the ‘06-'07 result, when the school finished 16th. Tufts' highest ranking ever came two years ago when the Jumbos attained the sixth overall spot.Tufts earned points for four different squads during the spring: softball, women's tennis, and both women's and men's outdoor track and field. Diver Kendall Swett (LA ‘08), the Daily's reigning female athlete of the year, earned points by winning national championships in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives.The NESCAC was well represented at the top of the Directors' Cup standings, as the conference laid claim to five of the top 25 spots. Williams won the Directors' Cup for the 10th consecutive season with 1120.25 points, 221.25 points ahead of second-place Washington University in St. Louis. The top five included two other NESCAC schools: Amherst (fourth, 815 points) and Middlebury (fifth, 813.5).This fall, Tufts' teams, including last fall's point-earners — the men's cross country, women's soccer and field hockey teams — will try to build upon the program's spring finish and vault the school off to a hot start in pursuit of Directors' Cup glory.

Heavy lies the crown: Nadal grabs top seed from Federer as US Open begins

Ross Marrinson | Welcome to the Jungle

Last week, I watched, for probably the 20th time, "Tommy Boy," starring the late, great Chris Farley. One of the best scenes is just after Richard and Tommy get into a fight outside the Prehistoric Forest diner. After apparently not finding the meat lover's pizza in the trunk, they venture inside to grab some chow. Sitting in awkward silence as 1960s pop star Brenda Lee's "I'm Sorry" plays, Tommy stares goofily at Richard, who obviously feels badly about smacking Tommy in the face with a 2x4. With Lee's chart-topping hit in mind, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to some of the people who I've criticized or bashed over the course of the past year. Here goes: Carlos Gomez, I doubted you. I'm sorry for saying you weren't the next Rickey Henderson. You hit for the cycle on May 7, becoming the first Twins player since Kirby Puckett in 1986 to accomplish the feat. In doing so, you became the third-youngest player in league history to hit for the cycle. The second youngest? Alex Rodriguez. That's right, A-Rod. Saying you weren't Rickey Henderson was an insult. You're on pace for roughly 80 steals, and you can cover the entire outfield. Here's a new defensive scheme: Have Cuddyer and Young cover the lines, and you cover the rest. No ball would reach the wall. No extra-base hits. Torii who? You think Jacoby Ellsbury or Melky Cabrera can do that? Not a chance. You know what that means: division championship. Hell, let's go further. Wait 'til you see 50,000 homer hankies in the stands of the Metrodome! World champions. Screw this 2010 talk. We're going for it in 2008. I suppose I should also apologize to GM Bill Smith. Mr. Smith, I applauded the acquisition of Delmon Young, but I had the audacity to compare you to Kevin McHale after the Johan Santana trade. I said it was the worst trade offer of them all. I said you were over your head, and that this trade was one of the dumbest in franchise history. I also questioned why you were so high on Deolis Guerra, a guy who is probably still in diapers down in single A. None of that matters, though, Mr. Smith. You picked up future Cy Young winner Livan Hernandez. Genius. Johan who? This guy's more than just an innings-eater. He's a shut-down, in-your-face mauler. In a recent game against the Tigers, Miguel Cabrera struck out on a 65-mph curve, and began screaming Spanish obscenities at Livan. Sorry you couldn't figure our guy out, Miguel. You simply got owned. Don't feel badly, though. Livan's been dominating everybody. All thanks to you, Mr. Smith. Keep up the good work. Maybe we can take the training wheels off Deolis' bike soon, too. Let me know. Lastly, for those who read this column even on a somewhat regular basis, you know that I regularly rip the Timberwolves organization for its consistent propensity to make astonishingly boneheaded decisions. That being said, I should apologize to GM Kevin McHale. There are very few people in this world who can singlehandedly bring ecstasy to an entire region - New England - while simultaneously bringing depression and anger to an entirely different region. That takes skill, and I didn't recognize it. For that, I'm sorry. Mr. McHale, if you love basketball and the Wolves as much as you say you do, please recognize your faults - à la Terry Ryan - and retire. You could move to Boston, too. That'd be nice. At least here they'd appreciate you. On a more personal note, since this is the last installment of "Welcome to the Jungle," I want to let you know how much I've loved writing each week. I truly hope you've enjoyed reading it even half as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks so much. Ross Marrinson graduates today with a degree in international relations. He can be reached at Ross.Marrinson@tufts.edu.

After NESCACs, Jumbos shift focus

Ever since the men's track and field team narrowly missed out on a league title at the NESCAC Championships on April 26, the focus has shifted away from team events and toward the individuals. Since the conference meet, the Jumbos have participated in the New England Div. III Championships and the Open New England Championships. "At NESCACs, we really lay out as a team," senior quad-captain Jeremy Arak said. "New Englands happen during the middle of finals, and because it's the week after NESCACs, we can't go full gear. We end up resting a lot of guys, especially from the distance group. New Englands is more of an individual meet, but NESCACs are team-oriented." At New Englands the weekend of May 2-3, several Jumbos witnessed individual success. Sophomore Trevor Donadt placed first in the 400-meter hurdles with his time of 54.36 seconds, more than a second ahead of the next-closest competitor, and also clinched second in the 110-meter. In the high jump, both Arak and junior James Bradley cleared 6 feet, 4.75 inches, but it was Bradley who took the New England title, with Arak coming in second. "I didn't care about coming second to a teammate," Arak said. "I was happy we were able to go first and second." Other highlights included sophomore Ikenna Acholonu's third-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles and senior Joe Brown's hammer hurl of 172 feet, his best of the season. The toss earned Brown just seventh place, but it was well ahead of the NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 168 feet, 10 inches. While the team ultimately came up short of the top prize, Tufts fought hard to win NESCACs the week before. The squad did well in the 110-meter hurdles, as Acholonu won by exactly matching the NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 14.95 seconds, while Donadt and classmate Jared Engelking took second and third place, respectively. Donadt once again repeated his success from New Englands by winning the 400-meter hurdles.

Baseball | Trinity, Amherst losses spell end to Tufts' season

An up-and-down season for the baseball team stayed true to form during the NESCAC Tournament. After defeating West champion Williams in the first round, the Jumbos could do no more damage, dropping their final two games of the double-elimination tournament to end their season at 19-15. On the heels of their victory over the Ephs, the Jumbos faced undefeated Trinity on May 10 looking to secure their third consecutive trip to the conference championship game. But the national No. 3 Bantams, who went on to win the NESCAC championship, were no ordinary opponents, boasting an unbeaten 35-0 mark heading into the contest. "I was just trying to go in and treat it like any regular game and regular team," said freshman Pat O'Donnell, who took the mound for Tufts. "You've got to focus on what you can do and you hope things will go favorably. I just wanted to try to give our team a chance to win the game. Against Trinity, they're going to score runs, so you just have to keep it as low as possible, and that's what I tried to do." O'Donnell did just that, limiting the Bantams to just one run through the first four frames, courtesy of a first-inning sacrifice fly from sophomore first baseman Kent Graham. But Trinity pounded out nine hits and four runs over the next three innings to build a commanding 5-0 lead. That was more than enough for Bantams sophomore starter Jeremiah Bayer, who held the Jumbos scoreless for seven innings and recorded nine strikeouts against just one walk. "Trinity is a great team," senior co-captain Adam Telian said. "We have the potential to beat them, but they've just played great all year." The setback forced Tufts into a do-or-die situation against Amherst on the morning of May 11, with the winner going on to face Trinity in the championship game and the loser headed home. Behind a 5-for-6, three-RBI performance from junior third baseman Brendan Powers, Amherst prevailed 10-7.

Women's Tennis | Valiant effort against No. 9 Wellesley in NCAA Tourney comes up just short

The NCAA Tournament marked the culmination of an already successful season for the women's tennis team, as Tufts qualified for the tourney for the eighth straight year. The Jumbos easily advanced past Roger Williams in the first round before finding themselves on the wrong side of a 5-4 heartbreaker against Wellesley. Tufts went into the second round of the tourney looking to avenge a 7-2 loss to Wellesley on April 18. This time, the Jumbos found themselves in a much tighter match. Tufts fell at first doubles but nabbed a victory at third doubles by a score of 8-3, as freshmen Julia Browne and Edwina Stewart finished off a perfect season as a pair, going 10-0 on the doubles court. "Edwina and Julia played flawless doubles at three," coach Kate Bayard said. With the score tied 1-1, only second doubles remained on the court, as sophomores Erica Miller and Meghan McCooey played in arguably the most exciting doubles match of Tufts' season. The duo was in a hole, down 7-5 in the eight-game pro set, but with the entire team looking on, the Jumbos won four straight games to take a 9-7 victory. "Erica and Meghan played gutsy tennis," Bayard said. "They won it because they trusted their shots at net and played aggressively. They continued to play smart but they went for their shots." "They had a huge win," sophomore co-captain Laura Hoguet said. "After the match everybody was so pumped up, and we had really big momentum to carry into singles." In the April match against Wellesley, Tufts was swept in the three doubles matches and went into singles just two points from a loss. This time around, the result at second doubles gave Tufts the coveted edge entering singles play. Only four singles matches were played at a time due to limited court availability, so Tufts sent out its top four singles players to try to seal the match. McCooey ended her No. 2 singles match first, easily handling her opponent 6-0, 6-1 and giving Tufts a 3-1 lead. Senior co-captain Andrea Cenko was next off, falling at fourth singles and bringing the match score to 3-2. At first singles, Browne defeated the No. 22-ranked woman in Div. III, Wellesley junior Jenna Mezin, putting Tufts just a point from victory with three matches to play.

Softball | Martinez, Eagles deny Jumbos World Series berth

Heading into the NCAA Tournament New England Regional, the softball team appeared to be in good position to contend for its first berth in the College World Series since 2000. On May 4, the Jumbos successfully defended their conference championship with a 10-3 victory over Wesleyan in the NESCAC title game, their sixth win by five runs or more in their last eight games. Four days later, the team carried that momentum into the Providence, R.I. regional bracket, where it had earned the No. 2 seed. That's when Tufts ran into Jennifer Martinez. St. Joseph's record-breaking ace pitcher brought her NCAA-leading 0.47 ERA into two double-elimination tourney contests against the Jumbos and shut them down, downing Tufts 3-0 in eight innings on May 10 and 3-1 later that weekend to end the Jumbos' season shy of a trip to Salem, Va. "She's probably the best pitcher that our team has ever seen," senior co-captain Danielle Lopez said. "We were really disappointed in the fact that we couldn't get past her. It's still kind of shocking to think that our season is over because we had such a great team, and we had such high hopes, but props to her for beating one of the best offensive teams in the nation." After beginning the tournament with a 6-3 win over seventh-seeded Rivier, the Jumbos moved on to their first meeting against Martinez, who entered the game having assembled arguably the most dominant season by any pitcher in the history of Div. III softball: a 30-2 record, 202.1 innings pitched, 17 shutouts and an NCAA-record 465 strikeouts. Against Tufts, the Golden Eagles' senior tri-captain stayed true to form, limiting the Jumbos to just one hit - a bunt single by junior third baseman Samantha Kuhles in the bottom of the first inning - while striking out 15. "She had a very, very effective rise ball, in the zone and out of the zone, and a really great late-breaking curveball," coach Cheryl Milligan said. "We needed to find some ways to eke some runs out against her, but she certainly stymied our ability to do what we're used to doing."

Women's Soccer | Jumbos thwarted again in PKs, end season at NCAAs

Over the past eight seasons, the women's soccer team had played in three penalty-kick decisions and lost just one. In their last three games, the Jumbos have now lost two - both in elimination contests.

Women's soccer | Jumbos face Emmanuel in first-round game

By now, the women's soccer team has a pretty good feel for the other teams around New England. In their 15 games against some of the region's top teams, the Jumbos have beaten four of the top 10 to move themselves to No. 3 in the region.

Women's Soccer | Selection committee gives Jumbos second life

In 2005, the women's soccer team vaulted itself to the top of the league with a 10-game midseason winning streak, only to suffer a double-overtime loss in the NESCAC semifinals to Bates.

Women's Soccer | Jumbos are NCAA-bound despite PK loss to Bowdoin in NESCAC semifinals

The women's soccer team entered its NESCAC semifinal matchup against Bowdoin on Saturday in a role it has assumed regularly in the history of the conference tournament: the favorite. Unfortunately, the Jumbos left in a position that's become equally familiar: the upset victim.

Women's soccer | Tufts looks to secure first NESCAC crown since 2002

To pick up its first NESCAC title since 2002, the women's soccer team will have to win two consecutive games against a pair of New England's top 10 teams - Bowdoin and the victor of a Williams-Middlebury matchup.

Women's soccer | Ephs enter weekend in pursuit of perfection

The Williams women have made soccer look easy this season.

Women's Soccer | Scoring record, coach's milestone add icing to first-round NESCAC victory

The members of the women's soccer team meant business when they dug their cleats into Kraft Field on Sunday for the first round of the NESCAC Tournament. The Jumbos jumped all over the Conn. College Camels to take a 6-0 first round victory, their second win over the Camels in 22 hours.

Women's soccer | Tufts, Amherst both vying for No. 2 seed in NESCAC play

From Sept. 15 to Oct. 9, the women's soccer team rattled off eight straight wins on its way to the top of the NESCAC, priming itself for a postseason run.

Women's Soccer | Tufts goes down 2-0, Ephs clinch regular-season title

Despite suffering an upset loss to conference rival Trinity last Saturday, the women's soccer team still had a chance to take over first place in the NESCAC by beating Williams on Saturday.