On Sunday, Tufts men’s soccer hosted the Stevens Institute of Technology Ducks in the second round of the NCAA Div. III Men’s Soccer Championship. The Ducks advanced to the second round of the tournament with a 1–0 victory over Swarthmore College at Bello Field the day before.
As New England Patriots fans, we truly do not recognize the magnitude of greatness that this franchise has sustained over the past two decades. Since 2000, the team has been to nine Super Bowls and has six Lombardi Trophies; the Patriots have missed the playoffs only four times in that span and have produced some of the greatest seasons in NFL history. Even with Tom Brady's upsetting departure to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Patriots strategically retained most of their core and treated the 2020 season as a retooling year to develop a few young prospects. After drafting quarterback Mac Jones 15th overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, Bill Belichick slowly developed a talented and experienced depth chart. Free agent additions Matt Judon and Hunter Henry excelled in the offseason and only offered more promise for this revamped Patriots team. Now, with seven games remaining in the season, the Patriots sit at 6–4 and one game behind the AFC East-leading Buffalo Bills.
In its first game action in nearly two years, Tufts women’s basketball opened up the 2021–22 season with two victories in the Tyler Tip-Off Tournament at Smith College this past weekend.
Tufts field hockey faced the Middlebury Panthers in the NCAA regional final, also known as the “Elite Eight,” on Sunday. The Jumbos and Panthers fought tooth and nail for the first half; however, Middlebury ultimately pulled off the 2–0 win. This loss ended Tufts' season with a strong 15–5 record.
Football is the most popular sport in the world.
Tufts men’s and women’s cross country continued their excellent stretch of the season in last weekend’s NCAA Regional Championship in Boston, Mass.
Tufts football was victorious in its final game of the season on Nov. 13, defeating Middlebury 34–27. The win marked the fourth in a row for the Jumbos after dropping their first five games of the year. They finished the 2021 season with a record of 4–5, tied for fifth in the NESCAC.
On Oct. 11, former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden resigned after emails he sent to former Washington Football Team executive Bruce Allen containing homophobic, racist, sexist and otherwise vulgar language were leaked.
Despite falling short in NESCAC playoffs this past weekend, Tufts field hockey received an at-large bid and now has its sights set on the National Championship. The Jumbos earned their spot in the second round after a 1–0 win over Rhode Island’s Johnson & Wales University on Wednesday night. Tufts now stands at 14–4 for the season.
As we close out the first half of the NFL season, my thoughts:
With victories over Middlebury on Saturday and Connecticut College on Sunday, the Tufts men’s soccer team claimed the NESCAC tournament title. The championship win marks the Jumbos’ third in the last four seasons.
The volleyball team fell short in the NESCAC tournament this past weekend with a loss in the semifinals to Wesleyan in five sets (25–19, 25–27, 25–18, 19–25, 12–15). Tufts had beat Williams in its first match of the tournament on Friday night (26–24, 25–12, 25–21).
There is plenty of stupidity in the NFL.
For their last home game of the 2021 NESCAC football season, the Jumbos hosted the Colby College Mules on Saturday and pulled out a 26–21 win. After five straight losses to start the season, the Jumbos entered the game with a record of 2–5, having won their last two games at Bowdoin and Hamilton. The Mules entered the game with a record of 3–4, coming off a 10–2 win at Bates.
As I watched the 49ers get shredded by Colt McCoy and James Conner on Sunday, it felt as if I had been watching a poorly coached team. Then I remembered that in the football community, especially on Twitter, it is a cardinal sin to criticize Kyle Shanahan: the revered offensive guru and mastermind. While Shanahan is not on the hot seat in this case, a game like this begs the question of whether NFL teams should blindly pursue the best-looking, most innovative offensive mind that is available in the offseason. While NFL teams are no longer hell-bent on hiring anybody who has shaken hands with Sean McVay, I believe it would be useful to examine the different types of head coaching that exist in the NFL and evaluate the hiring process as a whole.
Tufts cross country spooked its competitors at the NESCAC Championship at Wickham Park in Manchester, Conn., with the women's team finishing second and the men's team finishing fourth on Halloween weekend. The women, who competed in a 6K race, maintained their position from their last NESCAC Championship in 2019, while the men, who ran an 8K race, massively improved from their 2019 eighth-place finish.
Six seasons ago, Brentford F.C. found itself in the third tier of English football. Today, after a 74-year absence from the top flight, the small club from West London is mid-table in the Premier League.
After the departure of legendary wide receiver Julio Jones, there was little doubt that young talent Calvin Ridley would become the undisputed new number one for Atlanta, both quarterback Matt Ryan’s favorite target and a fan favorite among the Falcons faithful.
The Tufts volleyball team's regular season came to a positive end with back-to-back wins against Bates and Colby this past weekend. The wins improved their record to 17–4 overall and 8–2 in NESCAC play.
Ah, the backup quarterback. A position no one pays attention to… until they have to. These next-in-line signal callers are often viewed as overpaid, but this past week illustrated why teams lay out the big bucks for them.
