Sports Editorials & Features – The Oberlin Review

Alumni Named for Next Generation Heisman Board

December 7, 2018

The John W. Heisman Club’s recently-announced Next Generation Board sets the foundation for a commitment to engaging with and prioritizing the voices of current students and recent grads in athletics. The board, in its creation, consists of recent Oberlin College graduates: 2018 grads Monique Newton, Federico Consuegra, and Jackie McDermott; and 2016 grads Blaise Dolcemaschio and Molly Powers. These five athlete alumni were hand-picked by Associate Vice President for Athletics Advanceme...

Women’s Basketball Gets New Bling

December 7, 2018

Members of the 2018 North Coast Athletic Conference Championship women’s basketball team were honored with a ring ceremony during intermission of the men’s basketball game Wednesday, which followed the Yeowomen’s first conference victory of the season. They beat the Kenyon College Ladies 51–47. The Yeowomen had an exceptional season last year, earning a 21–8 record overall and a 13–3 record in conference play. The team’s two most productive players, senior captains Ale...

Howard Scandal Exposes Homophobia

Alexis Dill, Sports Editor

November 30, 2018

Filed under SPORTS, Sports Editorials & Features

Two weeks after the 2012–13 NBA regular season wrapped up, Jason Collins — at the time, a free agent — sat in front of his TV and took a deep breath, waiting to see himself all over the news. He couldn’t hold it in any longer, and had already told 20 of his family members and closest friends. Now it was time for everyone else to know. Journalist Franz Lidz helped Collins articulate his thoughts and emotions in a first-person story that was minutes away from being published on Sports Illustrated’s website. On that day, April 29, 2013, Collins told the world that he is gay. A year later, after being overlooked by some teams because of all the attention surrounding his announcement, Collins was ...

VAs Host Dodgeball Throwdown

November 30, 2018

College seniors Ify Ezimora and Hannah Rasmussen and College junior Nae McClain — all Village Assistants — hosted the second annual dodgeball tournament for their residents Saturday. McClain organized the tournament last year after receiving input from her Barrows Hall residents that they wanted more events to bring people together and allow them to be active and have fun. Over 50 people attended this year’s event. College junior and Quidditch team member Haley Gee said she appr...

Student-Athletes Shine at Sharing Stages

November 16, 2018

Saturday night in the William and Helen Birenbaum Innovation and Performance Space, I realized what I love most about Oberlin: its tendency to foster creativity and collaboration, and the way people can express their diverse backgrounds, interests, and talents. I am regularly in awe of and inspired by the bright and energetic students on campus. Last weekend, students of the College and the Conservatory, athletes and non-athletes, parents, and administrators came together to celebrate som...

‘Enough’: NBA Players Take a Stand Against Gun Violence

Nathan Carpenter and Alexis Dill

November 16, 2018

Filed under SPORTS, Sports Editorials & Features

As former Miami Heat teammates LeBron James and Dwyane Wade laced up their sneakers and jogged onto the Amway Center basketball court for warm-ups, a 17-year-old boy just 30 minutes northeast of Orlando, in Sanford, FL, put up his hood and stuck a bag of Skittles in his pocket upon leaving a 7-Eleven. At the same time as over seven million people tuned in for the tip-off of the 61st NBA All-Star Game — 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 26, 2012 — Trayvon Martin was pronounced dead. Martin, a Black teenager from Miami Gardens, FL, was visiting his future stepmother with his father the night he was fatally shot in the back by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman. Martin was unarmed and committing no crimes when he...

Women’s Cross Country Secures First Nationals Bid Since 2014

November 16, 2018

A stream of posts hit social media as the women’s cross country team members and supporters learned of the team’s invitation to the NCAA Championships. Shortly after placing third at regionals — the NCAA Great Lakes Championships — the Yeowomen received the unprecedented news that they had received an “at-large” bid for nationals. The team gathered this week for one of the season’s final practices before taking off to Winneconne, WI, to compete at nationals. While just seven a...

Men’s BBall Kicks off the Season, Cali Style

November 11, 2018

Jenkins Rises to Occasion, Leads Yeomen to Victory

November 9, 2018

In the third quarter of Saturday’s football matchup between the Oberlin College Yeomen and the Hiram College Terriers, the crowd gasped as College junior and star quarterback Zach Taylor fell to the ground clutching his leg. Taylor, who had just become Oberlin’s career total yards leader with 7,096 yards a week earlier, broke his fibula and was unable to re-enter the game. In a crunch and desperate to take home the win, the Yeomen put in first-year backup quarterback Tommy Jenkins, who has talent c...

Senior Student-Athletes Must Balance Athletics, Academics, Impending Graduation

Alexis Dill, Sports Editor

November 9, 2018

Filed under Baseball, Basketball, Softball, SPORTS, Sports Editorials & Features

At the conclusion of her junior year, College senior and softball player Emma Downing was unsure if she should apply to the Honors Program in History. She didn’t think she would get in — only seven students were accepted this year — and even if she did, she didn’t know if her schedule would allow for it. Nevertheless, she decided to take the plunge. “There weren’t any other classes I wanted to take, and I wanted to push myself academically and see what I could accomplish,” Downing said. “I knew that coming up with a question and researching it all year to write a 60-page paper would be the hardest thing I’ve ever done academically.” The History and Russian & East European Studies double-major ...

Power Panel Celebrates Women Success

October 12, 2018

In a powerful conclusion to homecoming weekend, nearly 100 athletes from women’s sports teams gathered in the Knowlton Social Space on Sunday morning for a panel featuring three former Yeowomen. Organized by the John W. Heisman Club, the panel was designed to showcase how athletics and their Oberlin educations have impacted their lives post-graduation. The necessity of a panel like this at the start of the school year, when so many women student-athletes at Oberlin are evaluating t...

Remembering an Oberlin Legend: Joe Johnson

October 12, 2018

Oberlin alumni crowded the Knowlton Athletics Complex Saturday for the homecoming tailgate and football matchup between the Yeomen and the DePauw University Tigers. At halftime, the Heisman Club celebrated its 40th anniversary by honoring select teams and athletes of the past, including all football alumni. I hadn’t been at the game for more than five minutes when one of the former football players — a man I didn’t recognize — approached me. Rich Johnson, OC ’88, saw the l...