The Ides of January brought no relief to Jeremy Lin ’10 and his Houston Rockets team as they lost their fourth game of the week, falling this time to the Los Angeles Clippers, 117-109.

It was a tale of two halves in Tuesday’s contest as Houston controlled both the tempo and the score in the opening 24 minutes and, accordingly, held the lead at the break. But intermission seemed to be a breaking point in the game as only 50 seconds into the third quarter Los Angeles took the lead on a Blake Griffin put-back and never looked back. The Clippers would go on a 25-to-six run in the next 5:39, putting the game to bed long before the end of the third quarter.

“Honestly, I think we just couldn't get a rhythm,” explained Lin in his post-game interview. “[The Clippers] were getting everything but we were not getting any stops. I think we just lacked the ball movement and the energy and the thrust and pace that we played with in the first half.”

While his team struggled, Lin notched the only double-double of the night, putting up 12 points and 10 assists, 40 percent of the Rockets total dimes for the game. Though his efficiency rating was still in the negatives, -12, the Harvard alum was uncharacteristically low in turnovers, recording only one mistake in 35 minutes of playing time.

While the Clippers’ star point guard Chris Paul was out for the second consecutive game due to a bruised kneecap, LA’s backup guard, Eric Bledsoe, tied a team-high of 19 points. Bledsoe was one of four Clipper players to go 100 percent from the charity stripe, a marked contrast from the 56 percent free throw shooting of Lin’s Rockets.

Houston will have a chance to break its losing streak when it heads to Dallas for another intra-conference matchup against the Mavericks. That contest will be the first of a four-game road swing for this Rockets team, on which it will play only one squad boasting a winning percentage higher than .500.

With the spring semester already having begun at Dartmouth but around the corner for the rest of the Ancient Eight, The Crimson takes a look at the fall semester for each athletic program and the season that was in each major sport. Last, and almost definitely least, the Yale Bulldogs.

Football:

After a tumultuous offseason, the Yale football team entered 2012 with a new coach and were picked to finish fifth in the Ivy League. The Bulldogs played their best against the class of the Ancient Eight, defeating the Quakers at home by two touchdowns (the only Ivy League team to defeat Penn in 2012) and putting themselves in a position to win The Game late in the fourth quarter before Crimson running back Treavor Scales scampered for a game-sealing touchdown run late. Running back Tyler Varga, who accounted for 117 yards per game and eight touchdowns on the ground—including a 220 yard, three touchdown effort in a 26-22 loss to Columbia—was named to the FCS All-America squad in December and was the team’s best player. However, while the Bulldogs played up to the level of their higher-quality opponents they also were susceptible to duds against the lower rungs of the Ancient Eight, losing by 39 points to Cornell and by 4 to Columbia, who combined for two wins against non-Yale Ivy League squads.

Women’s Volleyball:

Capturing its third straight Ancient Eight title (second outright), the Yale women’s volleyball team went a perfect 14-0 in conference play, dropping only six sets against the 42 it won. Junior Kendall Polan was named the Ivy League Player of the Year after finishing fifth in the conference in assists per set and tenth in kills per set. She led the team in assists, ranking third in kills, and produced seven triple-doubles (in kills, assists, and digs) during the season. Polan was later named a Division I Honorable Mention All-American.

Men’s Golf:

The Yale men’s golf team has proved to be the surprise of the season so far in the Ancient Eight. The sixth-place squad from last year is up to first, shooting ten shots better as a team (seven better versus par) and senior Brad Kushner and junior Sam Bernstein share the title of best golfer in the Ivy League—averaging an identical 72.43 round score (2.29 versus par). Colin Sheehan’s team has already captured a title on the year, winning the Macdonald Cup on September 30th.

Women’s Golf:

Having improved twelve strokes as a team since last year, the Yale women’s golf team currently stands third in the Ivy League. Two years after capturing seven titles, the Bulldogs have played more tournaments—five—than any other team and are tied for the league lead in wins with one. Although the team has no golfer in the top five, it is a model of consistency with five golfers in the top 20 and seven in the top 30. Number one golfer junior Seo Hee Moon has improved on a sophomore season where she ranked sixth in the Ancient Eight and won one of the eight tournaments she entered, shooting nearly two whole shots better versus par then in 2011-2012.

Girls’ Soccer:

For the 10th time in eleven years, the Yale women’s soccer team finished with a winning record, albeit barely. The Bulldogs finished 8-7-2 overall, 1-4-2 in the Ivy League, and outscored opponents 20-9 in nonconference games before struggling to score against conference competition. Yale netted only six goals in seven conference games, but finished the year with five goals in four games. The Bulldogs were undefeated (2-0-2) in their last four contests and defeated Brown, 1-0, on Senior Night.

Boys’ Soccer:

A year after four wins netted the Yale men’s soccer team a fifth place finish in the Ivy League, the Bulldogs finished with only one win but scored a sixth place finish. The Bulldogs defeated only Penn in their last nine games, coming away with three other ties and six losses in which they did not score a goal. This was a common theme for the Bulldogs, who never lost a game that they scored in. In postseason recognition, Junior Nick Alers was named a first team academic All-American after receiving honorable mention All-Ivy recognition for his play.

Field Hockey:

A year after a last-game loss by the Princeton Tigers opened the door for the Yale field hockey team’s split conference championship, Yale stumbled to a 6-11 season and won only three of seven Ivy League contests. The team lost nine of thirteen after winning two of the first four and suffered shutout losses to BU, Virginia, Syracuse, Cornell, Princeton, Fairfield, and Connecticut. Goalkeeper Emily Cain ranked second in the conference in saves and sixth in save percentage but a distant seventh in goals against. No Bulldog ranked in the top ten in the conference in either assists of goals and its top point scorer, Erica Borgo, finished a distant twenty third in the Ancient Eight.

Today, Google is celebrating the 112th birthday of Frank Zamboni, the Italian-American inventor of the ice -resurfacing machine that bears his name, with an interactive doodle. Zamboni filed a patent for the "Model A Zamboni Ice Resurfacer" in 1949, 51 years after Harvard played its first intercollegiate game versus Brown. While The Crimson does not seem to have the Zamboni's Cambridge debut on record, the ice resurfacer's name has appeared in more than 70 Crimson articles. Many of these references are merely corny figures of speech, such as "Zamboni-sized goose egg," "Zamboni-sized thighs," and "Zamboni of the mind," but the Zamboni has enjoyed a colorful history at Harvard. Here are the top three Zamboni-related Crimson stories to celebrate its creator's birthday:

3. December 5, 1973: Zamboni-induced ditch foreshadows Dartmouth comeback

A Zamboni stalled in the middle of the ice during the second intermission of a closely-contested Harvard-Dartmouth men's hockey game at the Crimson's old home, the Donald C. Watson Rink. In an effort to get the ice resurfacer moving again, the Zamboni driver revved up the engine, which released ice-melting exhaust that created a substantial ditch in the rink. Before the third period's opening faceoff, the two teams agreed to trade sides of the ice 10 minutes into the final frame so that each team defended the defective area of the ice for an equal amount of time. While there is no indication that the ditch affected the game, the Big Green mounted a third period comeback, scoring two unanswered goals to win, 5-4.

2. Jack Kirrane, Zamboni driver and Olympic gold medalist, retires

Jack Kirrane served as the Bright Hockey Center's rink manager for 15 years. Before that, he was the captain of the U.S. Olympic hockey team. Kirrane led Team USA to its first Olympic hockey gold medal at the 1960 Games in Squaw Valley, Calif. The defenseman notably played alongside ‘Miracle On Ice’ coach Herb Brooks, who was cut from the U.S. Olympic roster a week before the 1960 opening ceremonies. Kirrane also served 38 years in the Brookline, Massachusetts Fire Department, and he was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987. But he may be best remembered by Crimson hockey fans as the Zamboni driver.

1. November 5, 2000: Two Zambonis go up in flames

Well, not quite. One of Harvard's Zambonis appeared to catch fire before a Sunday afternoon women's hockey game against Minnesota. Despite a smoky Bright Hockey Center, the game could have started on time, but the Crimson's backup Zamboni also malfunctioned, apparently leaking battery acid or antifreeze onto the ice. After Harvard obtained a replacement Zamboni from the Massachusetts District Commission ice rink, the Crimson and the Gophers were able to play two days later. Unfortunately for Harvard, the Curse of the Zamboni struck again as Minnesota erased an early deficit to win, 3-2.

Its that time of year again…

Yes, it’s the NFL playoffs. But if you kept watching CBS after the Patriots-Texans game, you probably caught a glimpse of the Golden Globes and realized it’s awards season as well. With Argo and Les Mis winning big last night, the SAG Awards less than two weeks away, and the Oscars in sight shortly after the Super Bowl, it’s only fitting that The Back Page sees who brings home the hardware amongst Harvard’s cast and crew.

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