Rick Reilly. Some love him. Some hate him. Some really hate him.
But regardless of your feelings toward the ESPN columnist, we’re willing to bet you still have been amused by his #cashtag competitions: Reilly would provide a hashtag (such as #ThinnestSportsBook), and followers would tweet back with clever responses (like “Basketball Practice Drills” by Allen Iverson or “Knowing When to Walk Away” by Brett Favre).
Even after surviving freshman year, sophomores like Jonah Travis, who took to Twitter this week to vent his travel frustrations, have to deal with their share of challenges as well.
It might not be the first year of college, but sophomore year certainly has its fair share of changes.
For one, it’s no longer acceptable to wear those colorful freshman dorm shirts. The phrase “but the rooms are so big” becomes the motto of “quadded” sophomores who are still coping with the harsh realities of Housing Day. And for a select few, that Mark Zuckerberg movie becomes a reference point to tell friends from home what a final club is.
The second year of college also offers a world of possibilities for sophomore athletes. After learning the ropes their freshmen year, it’s now time for them to take on a bigger role.
That is, assuming these sophomores can survive the other changes in their lives. Here are our favorite tweets from some sophomore athletes who seem to be going through a rough time:
This week, like all weeks in Harvard sports, can and will be distinguished from others by a pun: The Linterim is almost over.
The next six days mark the last before NBA training camps begin, meaning that Jeremy Lin ’10 and his Houston Rockets hold their first practices of the season in the Rio Grande Valley on Monday. That will mark Lin’s first chance to officially play with his new teammates after signing with the Rockets on July 14th. Lin, though, has already expressed his comfort with the new city and organization, tweeting this week: “1) people in texas are SO nice. 2) i got a bed. 3) @ChandlerParsons couch was nice. 4) his pantry was even better.”
Given what happened the last time Lin slept on a teammate’s couch, Linsanity 2.0 may be soon arriving in the Houston area.
Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05, though, made sure that the Lin’s upcoming return to action wasn’t the only news in the Crimson alumni athletic circle. Fitzpatrick and his Buffalo Bills made headlines this weekend as they won their first game outside of Buffalo since game one of the 2011 season.
"We won on the road—we got that monkey off our back," said Fitzpatrick after Sunday’s game. "This is a new year and a new team."
Fitzpatrick completed 22 of 35 passes on the day, totaling 208 yards and three touchdowns. This game also marked the second straight week in which Fitzpatrick did not throw an interception.
Meanwhile, Matt Birk ’98 also had a stake in this weekend’s gridiron affairs. His Baltimore Ravens pulled out a last-second victory, 31-30, over the New England Patriots, thanks to a 27-yard field goal by rookie Justin Tucker. The Ravens are now 2-1 on the season.
The Crimson alums in the hockey world, however, saw less action than their NFL counterparts in the last few days due to the NHL lockout. After not talking for a week and a half, the NHL and the NHLPA met on Monday to attempt negotiations, but neither side walked away having made progress. It’s now Day 10 of the lockout and the stalemate continues.
So, for the likes of Louis LeBlanc, formerly ’13, Craig Adams ’99, and Dominic Moore ’03, and Alex Killorn ’12, along with Michael and Alex Biega, ’10 and ’11, respectively, all there is to do for the moment is sit back and watch “Fitzmagic” heave it to the end zone and Linsanity begin once more.
Here’s to a new season filled with pass completions, three pointers, and puns abound.
No NFL teams signed reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year Josue Ortiz '11 following April's NFL draft. Of the Harvard football players from the 2011 team looking to go pro, only former left tackle Kevin Murphy '12—now a member of the Minnesota Vikings’ practice squad—was signed.
While many college students are finding it difficult to obtain jobs in the harsh economic climate, four former Crimson football players had as tough a time trying to find a place in the NFL.
Of the Harvard players on the 2011 Crimson squad who attempted to enter the league—quarterback Collier Winters ’11 and defensive tackle Josue Ortiz ’11, both of whom were fifth-year seniors, linebacker Alex Gedeon ’12, and left tackle Kevin Murphy ’12—only Murphy, who now plays on the practice squad for the Minnesota Vikings, has successfully gone pro.
This week, The Crimson crosses over state lines to drop in on the club tennis team, which was in New York for the USTA-sponsored ‘Battle of the Sections’ tournament this weekend.
Sophomores Tyler Kugel, Tara Jain, KJ Stime, and Mari Georgiadis made the trip along with junior David Miller and seniors Tunc Kiymaz and Jack Dockterman. The young defending champions had their hopes dashed thanks to a costly loss at the hands of Penn State in group play.
After finishing group play in second, Harvard went on to split its silver bracket matches, losing a closely contested 26-22 match to Brown before beating Northeastern, 28-22, en route to a seventh-place finish.
“It was a special experience for us just to play on US Open courts,” said Jain, referring to the National Tennis Center on which all of the weekend’s matches were played.
While the University of Virginia took home the title this year, the Crimson did add some hardware. The squad did its gentlemanly sport proud, taking home the Team Sportsmanship award, as voted on by its competitors.
