NBA ownership cannot deprive players of their willingness to play the game of basketball. In the midst of a tantalizing waiting game, NBA players have taken it upon themselves to entertain fans.
The trend started early this summer, with high-profile NBA players, such as Kevin Durant, Lebron James and Kobe Bryant popping up in neighborhood gyms and outdoor courts across the country.
It intensified in September when Carmelo Anthony suggested a match up that would feature a rag-tag group billed as “Team Melo” play against “Team Philly” at Penn basketball’s famed home arena, the Palestra. And is set to continue into the prolonged NBA off-season.
Harvard’s sole current NBA representative and Warrior point guard, Jeremy Lin '10 is among the newest batch of players to perform in a hyped exhibition game. The core of the current 2011-12 roster will take on the core of the underdog 2007 Warriors—memorable for the “We Believe” t-shirts plastered all over their home Oracle Arena during a stunning first-round upset of the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks.
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Harvard is hosting this weekend. Football, men’s soccer, men’s water polo, women’s soccer and women’s volleyball are all taking on their opponents at home. Good news, Crimson fans, you don’t have to travel far to see your teams play. And as for our visiting opponents, we like to make you feel welcome too.
Dear Bucknell, Brown, Columbia, Connecticut College, Mercyhurst and St. Francis players: stick around another day. Here are the two major events happening on Harvard’s campus this weekend:
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Harvard lightweight coach Charley Butt, Crimson rower Andrew Campbell, and Radcliffe freshman Lucy Grinalds received nominated for USRowing Fan's Choice Awards on Tuesday. Grinalds is a finalist for the Junior Rower of the Year, Campbell for National Team Rower of the Year, and Butt for Collegiate Coach of the Year.
Butt was nominated following a season in which the Harvard first and second varsity eights went undefeated in the dual season and won Eastern Sprints title. The Crimson 1V finished .02 seconds behind gold medalist Yale at IRAs. Meanwhile, a four composed of 2V rowers and then-sophomore coxswain Alex Saal capped off the team's second-boat success with a national title at the IRA regatta.
While Butt was nominated for his success at Harvard, his national team success was also cited in the brief. Butt helped eight of his rowers compete for their respective national teams this summer, and coached Campbell and Princeton grad Gevvie Stone in the single.
Campbell, meanwhile, is coming off a history-making summer in the lightweight single. Just a year after taking bronze at the Junior World Championships, Campbell finished third at U23 Worlds and took fourth at senior Worlds. The bronze medals at Junior and U23 Worlds stand as the highest U.S. finishes ever in the events, while his fourth place finish at senior Worlds is the highest U.S. finish since 2002. Campbell is currently training in hopes of competing for the US at the 2012 London Olympics in the double.
Of the three nominees currently with Harvard, Grinalds is the only one in the group to have won a World Championship in the past year. In her fourth straight year on the U.S. junior national team, she took gold in the straight four. Grinalds also won the U.S. Junior Nationals in the pair, took bronze at U.S. nationals in the eight, and earned a second place finish in the junior lightweight event at C.R.A.S.H.-B.s. Grinalds competed with the Connecticut Boat Club this summer is currently with the Black and White heavyweight team.
You can vote for Butt here, Campbell here, and Grinalds here.
It was again an up-and-down week for Harvard athletics. And by up-and-down, we mean that the football team was up, and pretty much everyone else was down.
5. Women’s Volleyball (9-6, 2-3 Ivy)
Harvard split its games this week, defeating Brown but losing to Yale in straight sets. The team shouldn’t be too worried—it has more than a month to hone its dog-fighting skills before it faces the Bulldogs again.
Previous Rank: Not Ranked
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In a new weekly feature, The Crimson will be tracking the successes (and potential failures) of some of Harvard’s most successful graduates not to use their Harvard degrees. While a tour through professional sports is not exactly a who’s who of Harvard alumni, a few athletes have taken their game to the next level. From Jeremy Lin to Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Crimson maintains a presence outside of the labs and law offices of the world.
In this edition of “Where Are They Now,” our focus continues to be on Ryan Fitzpatrick '05. Fitzpatrick and the Buffalo Bills played host to Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
Following last weekend’s disappointing three-point loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, the Bills had hoped to recover in their matchup against Philadelphia.
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