The Tufts men’s swim and dive teams took on Bowdoin this past weekend, coming out on top 197–90 on the score sheet.
I have an admission to make. Last March, on my WMFO show “AirBall,” I made it quite clear that I did not believe in the Boston Celtics.I argued they were chokers and that their style of basketball wasn’t conducive to crunch-time decision-making. I spat on Jayson Tatum as a leader and clowned Joe Mazzulla’s coaching. I confidently said Kristaps Porziņģis’ injury proneness would leave them with a gaping hole in the center of their roster come playoff time. Every time I watch this godforsaken team, I cannot help but hear these rotten takes ricochet around in my head.
Last weekend delivered two of the most talked-about fight events of 2024. The much-hyped, but unsurprisingly ultimately lackluster, showdown between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul took center stage on Friday night. Then, on Saturday, UFC legend Jon Jones made his long-awaited return to the octagon after 623 days, facing off against Stipe Miocic — widely regarded as the greatest heavyweight in MMA history.
Head coach Kyle Dezotell called it the best season he ever had. The record will say 12–0–6, an undefeated season. But after 110 minutes of enthralling play on the frigid terrain of Bello Field Sunday night, the number in the heads of the 2024 men’s soccer team will be 4–3. That was the score by which they lost the penalty shootout to the Buffalo State University Bengals, ending their NCAA campaign two weeks after their NESCAC title hopes were ended the same way by the Bowdoin College Polar Bears.
The Tufts ice hockey team started their season with split results, showcasing both their strengths, especially their returning offense, and some of the areas for improvement that the team is hoping to clean up this season.
After a hard-fought loss to Bowdoin, the eventual NESCAC winner in last season’s conference quarterfinals, Tufts began this year’s preseason with an away win against Brandeis. A dominant second-quarter display proved key in securing victory in an otherwise tightly contested matchup.
Tufts women’s soccer traveled to William Smith College in Geneva, N.Y. last weekend to compete in the NCAA Division III women’s soccer tournament. In last year’s tournament, Tufts made it to the quarterfinals. On Saturday, they played Rowan University, who had a 13–2–2 record going into the game, in the first round of the tournament. Tufts’ record stood at 13–3–1 prior to the game.
The bull always wins the ride. It’s quite difficult to stay atop the bucking mammal, so in the sport of bull riding, all the judges ask is for participants to remain on the animal for at least eight seconds. Even eight seconds, however, is often too steep a task, and riders are typically thrown onto the dirt floor of the arena before the required time expires. Even after the rider has been jettisoned from the bull, the rodeo doesn’t end. The rider still has to scamper to a safe location, whether inside the arena or out of it, while the rodeo clowns try to divert the bull’s attention and attempt to calm the raging bull.
Two weeks into the season, we are starting to see some very interesting storylines develop. With most teams having about four games under their belts, the rankings have expectedly been shaken up. Although there weren’t as many high-level matchups as I would have liked, there has been no shortage of news in the sport. These are the headlines that most stood out to me.
The general consensus around the hockey community is that by Thanksgiving, each team starts to get a sense of who they are. Some teams might see themselves as strong contenders, some might be feeling pressure to up their game and others might be ready to commit to a rebuild. Either way, Thanksgiving is the first chance for hockey fans to get a sense of the standings for the season and how teams are feeling. In this edition of “In the Crease,” we will take a look at the aspects of the standings that stand out the most thus far.
In a game packed with excitement, Tufts football ended its season with a winning record of 7–2 coming out of their most recent senior day win against Middlebury on Saturday. At the start of the game, Middlebury won the coin toss and deferred to Tufts, letting them receive the ball first.
On Saturday, Cousens Gymnasium buzzed with anticipation for the match Tufts volleyball had been preparing for all season. The Jumbos secured the No. 3 seed in the NESCAC Tournament with a regular season conference record of 7–3. Because they had beaten Wesleyan University and lost to Middlebury College, they sat between the two teams in the standings, despite all three teams having the same record. They bested Williams College 3–1 about a month before this playoff match, but in the end, they came up short when it mattered most in the NESCAC Tournament, falling 2–3 in a true battle.
On Saturday, No. 2 seed Tufts women’s soccer competed in the NESCAC semifinals versus No. 4 seed Amherst College in Middletown, Connecticut. The Jumbos earlier in the season had come away with a 2–1 win against the Mammoths. Going into the game, Tufts held a 13–2–1 record while Amherst held a 10–1–5 record.
Turkish talent has dazzled European clubs with its brilliance for over a decade. From La Liga veteran Arda Turan, a key member of Atlético Madrid’s 2014 title-winning side, to Nuri Şahin, the former Borussia Dortmund star who now manages the club, to Hakan Çalhanoglu, who continues to spearhead Simone Inzaghi’s Inter Milan, Türkiye is a talent factory on an upward trajectory on both domestic and international fronts. Its leading clubs, Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, have rich histories. Its latest and possibly most promising icon is Real Madrid’s 19-year-old Arda Güler. With Madrid facing a mid-season crisis, the spotlight could shine brighter than ever on the boy from Altingad.
Content warning: This article contains mentions of abuse.This weekend, I stumbled across a copy of Jessica Bendinger’s original script for the 2006 gymnastics classic “Stick It.” First, if you read my column and haven’t seen this movie, go watch it. While the first version of the script follows the same basic plot, the final movie tells almost a completely different story.
When the Los Angeles Lakers signed JJ Redick as their new head coach, many decried the signing, pointing to his lack of NBA coaching experience as an indicator of his coming ineptitude. Although head coaching experience is usually a pretty good criterion for a new head coaching hire, the Lakers’ front office was hiring amidst a fiasco of their own creation. The Lakers’ head coaching job has become a bucking bronco that seemingly throws its riders into the mud. However, I think Redick is capable of taming this incompetent beast.
Between her 2021 NESCAC Rookie of the Year award, two Rawlings Gold Gloves and now a top 30 honoree for the NCAA Woman of the Year award, Tufts graduate student Sophia DiCocco’s resume seems to grow limitlessly as she enters her fifth year as a Jumbo.
Following a bumpy first half of the season, Tufts football has really hit its stride. After starting 2–2 on the season, Tufts has advanced 6–2 with a decisive win at Colby College on Saturday. They now head into a home matchup against 6–2 Middlebury College.
In the quarterfinals of the NESCAC tournament on Saturday, men’s soccer lost to Bowdoin College on penalty kicks after fighting to come back from a Bowdoin goal in the first half. Regulation and overtime finished in a 1–1 tie, with Bowdoin advancing 4–3 on penalty kicks.
I don’t claim to be a lifelong Formula One fan; I only started watching this season, though I have seen all six seasons of “ Formula 1: Drive to Survive” and countless YouTube videos on Ayrton Senna. I never saw Lewis Hamilton claim any of his seven world titles, and I think I was playing video games during the infamous Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021.
