Disclaimer: Sophie Wax writes for The Tufts Daily. She was not involved in the writing or editing of this article.
Last weekend saw the 71st annual NBA All-Star Weekend come and go. A new and improved team-skills challenge, a 3-point contest that crowned the first center winner since 2012 and an electrifying All-Star Game made for a great overall weekend. However, one contest stood out clearly from the rest as particularly unexciting, boring and flat-out embarrassing.
Isaac Karp, the Daily's executive sports editor sat down with several of his predecessors to discuss all things sports writing and Tufts' sports culture.
The Tufts women’s basketball team opened up NESCAC Championship play this past weekend with a hard-fought 58–55 quarterfinals win over Wesleyan. Seeded No. 2 in the NESCAC Championship, the Jumbos were awarded a first round bye and were matched up with the No. 7 seeded Cardinals as a result of Wesleyan’s 63–52 win over the No. 10 seed Hamilton two days prior in the first round of the conference tournament. In a game in which neither team led by more than six points, the Jumbos used a combination of strong defense and offensive intensity to grind out the win.
The Tufts men’s swimming and diving team spent Presidents Day weekend at Colby College competing in the 2022 NESCAC Championship Meet. As a team, Tufts finished as runner-up at the meet with a score of 1,577.5 points — well behind meet winners Williams College at 2,086 points but well ahead of third-place finishers Amherst College at 1,069 points.
Ever since LeBron James aired “The Decision” live on ESPN in 2010, the NBA’s structure has been radically changed. The past decade has been defined by a new wave of player empowerment and mobility, whether it’s through strategically timing free agency, mutually working through trades with team general managers or dramatically forcing themselves out of their organizations.
Men’s basketball lost to Trinity in its first game of the NESCAC tournament. The No. 2 seed Jumbos came up short against the No. 7 seed Bantams in an attempt to advance to the NESCAC semifinals.
There’s no mistake. The Olympics are the time to shine for women’s hockey. Beijing 2022 furthered this trend with another classic final between the United States and Canada. After an upsetting American victory in Pyeongchang in 2018, Canada brought back the gold with a 3–2 win on Feb. 16. Superstar forward Marie-Philip Poulin scored two goals and one assist, and 27-year-old netminder Ann-Renée Desbiens backstopped the Canadians with 38 saves. But as fans only get treated to this display once every four years, it prompts the question, should the women’s hockey spectacle be limited to an Olympic sport?
“This was the best season we’ve ever had,” senior co-captain Marco Rodriguez said, reflecting on the Tufts men's squash 2021–22 campaign.
South America’s latest export to the Premier League is Liverpool’s Luis Díaz. The Colombian joins the Reds on a 5 ½ year deal for upwards of 37 million euros from F.C Porto. In his year and a half in Portugal, Díaz won the Primeira Liga and Taça de Portugal, two of the nation's biggest club honors. His 14 goals in the first half of the 2021–22 season still have him ranked second in the Portuguese league, in spite of being gone for weeks. In addition to impactful performances against Manchester City and A.C Milan in the Champions League, Díaz’s strongest display came during the 2021 Copa America. Colombia finished third behind heavyweights Argentina and Brazil as Díaz ended the tournament as joint-top-scorer alongside none other than Lionel Messi.
In the final weekend series of the regular season, Tufts men’s ice hockey played two competitive games, losing Friday night 3–0 to Colby College as well as their Saturday game against Bowdoin College 4–3 in overtime. Entering the weekend, the Jumbos’ record stood at 5–13–2 with a NESCAC record of 5–9–2. The two proceeding games would determine the seeding for the upcoming NESCAC conference championship tournament.
As of my writing this column, the Beijing Winter Olympics have just officially concluded, and China is still committing crimes against humanity.
The men’s and women's track and field teams competed at Boston University’s David Hemery Valentine Invitational, named after the legendary track and field athlete David Hemery, on Friday and Saturday. This was no ordinary collegiate meet: it featured the top high school, college and professional athletes around the country, many of whom broke national records.
A sea of Egyptian red holds its collective breath as midfielder Mohanad Lasheen steps up to the spot. After a slightly stuttered run-up, his shot is saved as Senagalese goalkeeper Edouard Mendy who dives confidently to his right. Now the score reads 3–2 Senegal, and with a chance to win it, a chance to conquer the continent, up steps Senegal’s talisman, Sadio Mané. Time stood still, as did the ball he so gently placed on the penalty spot. A swift glance at the sky, followed by the referee’s whistle, and Mané had scored, striking the ball powerfully past the outstretched glove of Egypt’s goalkeeper Gabaski. As the net bulged, the Lions of Teranga charged the field, engulfing their star player as their tricolor flags waved proudly into the night. Mané had done it, but amid the euphoria, he hadn’t forgotten his Liverpool teammate, Mohamed Salah, as the pair embraced. Mané’s brilliance as a player and a man had led him to glory at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), but his quest for this crown has been a long journey in the making.
It was an up-and-down weekend for the Tufts hockey team: an overtime loss, a commanding victory and a crushing defeat. The weekend’s two losses against Hamilton and a win against Amherst bring Tufts’ record to 5–13–2, with just one weekend remaining in the season.
A quick pass through the neutral zone lands on the stick of Artturi Lehkonen, and he buries it! The Montreal Canadiens are headed to the Stanley Cup Final. That moment was just eight months ago but it seems like a lifetime. Today, the Habs are projected to finish the year with 39 points, a total that would eclipse the 2016–17 Colorado Avalanche for worst in the salary cap era.
Men’s basketball continues its winning streak, collecting three more conference victories this past week. The Jumbos earned a win on the road against Colby 61–53 on Tuesday night and then swept their NESCAC weekend games against Williams 81–66 and Middlebury 81–73. The team’s record now stands at 13–9 overall and 8–2 in the NESCAC, leaving them securely positioned second in the conference heading into playoffs next weekend.
A few years ago, Dele Alli was one of the hottest prospects in world football. Many fans remember his iconic volley against Crystal Palace as he calmly flicked the ball over defender Mile Jedinak, twisted and buried it in the bottom-left corner. That season, Alli was a key part of Spurs’ title challenge, alongside budding stars Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen, as the North London club finished third behind Arsenal and surprise champions Leicester City. Just 20, Alli contributed 10 goals and nine assists in the 2015–16 season and was regarded as a dynamic box-to-box midfielder who could slot in as a second striker and provide attacking overload. Fast forward five years, and the energetic midfielder is a shadow of his former self, leaving many fans wondering, what next?
In an ultra competitive bout, the Tufts women’s swimming and diving team fended off their longtime rival Williams College in the NESCAC Championship over the weekend. Going into Sunday, the final day of competition, Tufts and Williams were set to vie for the win with Williams only leading by 7.5 points. Yet the Jumbos emerged victorious, winning the NESCAC Championship for the first time ever in conference history, with 1809 points to Williams’ 1758.5.
Professional sports in this country can be understood in phases. As more Americans had leisure time in the 1920s, baseball became the public's national pastime and an opportunity for people to distract themselves from the humdrum of the workday. Sports continued to grow along with popular culture and it has become ingrained into the everyday lives of the American public. The greatest moments in sports history have been documented in newspapers, radio shows, television and hall of fame museums. The modern era of sports combines advanced technological innovation with modern medicine to create a product that is of the highest quality. Athletes dominate the market with their shoes, advertisement deals and platforms, sometimes to the extent where they supersede the sport itself. But on that fateful day every February, the biggest spectacle in American sports eclipses everything else.
