Alex McNicoll, Sports Editor
December 1, 2017
Filed under SPORTS, Sports Editorials & Features
New York sports fans found a novel way of honoring their athletes off the field last month, as the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Knick’s Kristaps Porzingis received write-in votes for mayor of New York City in November’s election. Judge, the Rookie of the Year who came in second place for American League MVP; and Porzingis, the Latvian-born phenom averaging 27 points a game this year, were not the first — and certainly won’t be the last — athletes to earn this sort of appreciation from fans. Instead, their write-ins indicate how athletes play multifaceted roles in fans’ lives beyond in the sports themselves.
Fresh off a Boston Red Sox world series win, World Series MVP David Ortiz came in third place...
December 1, 2017
Gwennie Gardiner wears a ribbon in every single one of her soccer games. It’s for good luck. However, she probably didn’t need it when she scored her fourth goal of the game at the 22:30 mark of Oberlin’s 8–0 dismantling of the Geneva College Golden Tornadoes on her way to the program’s first United Soccer Coaches’ National Player of the Week award in September.
She has long since traded her ribbon for a Yeowomen’s Soccer sweatshirt after playing her last game on Oct. 28. Of course...
Julie Schreiber, Sports Editor
November 17, 2017
Filed under SPORTS, Sports Editorials & Features
Last week, it was Harvey Weinstein. This week, it was Roy Moore. Yesterday, it was Al Franken. Throughout the past few weeks, it seems as if almost every accomplished, coveted, and powerful man in America’s public eye has been revealed as a sexual predator, demonstrating how much of the politics and culture we consume in our everyday lives are covertly tainted by manipulation, violation, and abuse. The outrage and shock of each new individual’s exposure as a sexual assailant is both natural and justified, but the recent surge in enraged responses implies that the issue of sexual assault perpetrated by professional men behind closed doors is an unprecedented problem. As we continue calling out the Harvey Weinsteins an...
Julie Schreiber, Sports Editor
November 10, 2017
Filed under SPORTS, Sports Editorials & Features
During game three of the 2017 World Series, Houston Astros’ first baseman Yuli Gurriel made a racist gesture in the dugout after hitting a homerun off of Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish, a native of Japan. The camera displayed Gurriel pulling his eyes back and mouthing the term “chinito” to a teammate, a slang term for “little Chinese boy.” Gurriel — who later apologized and tipped his helmet to Darvish in game seven of the series — didn’t face immediate punishment from the MLB, but eventually was suspended for the first five games of the 2018 baseball season and will have to undergo mandatory sensitivity training before playing again. While Gurriel should have been reprimanded more severely, the...
Alex McNicoll, Sports Editor
November 3, 2017
Filed under SPORTS, Sports Editorials & Features
Just over two weeks into the NBA season, the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers are already sure to face off in a championship rematch — their fourth straight Finals duel — and once again take all of the suspense out of the league. The 82-game season may not be exciting, but the MVP race has historically added drama to the regular season. Last year was one of the tightest MVP races in history. Russell Westbrook, James Harden, LeBron James, and Kawhi Leonard all had MVP-worthy seasons, and Westbrook ultimately came away with the award after becoming the second player ever to average a triple-double over the course of a season. This year, the race is shaping up to be just as good, with the usual suspect...
Julie Schreiber, Sports Editor
October 27, 2017
Filed under SPORTS, Sports Editorials & Features
Oberlin’s second installment of a workshop series sponsored by the StudiOC Sports, Culture, and Society course cluster took place Monday, in an attempt to advance the ongoing conversation about the social gap between athletes and non-athletes that divides the campus. Monday’s workshop, entitled “Hate Sports? We Want to Hear About It” and organized by English Professor Yago Colás, aimed to build off the foundation laid by the first workshop, which took place Sept. 25.
Between this week’s and September’s workshops, the panel format changed. While last month’s workshop featured a panel discussion of four Oberlin varsity coaches — facilitated by Colás himself — Monday’s workshop was instead designed t...
Julie Schreiber, Sports Editor
October 6, 2017
Filed under SPORTS, Sports Editorials & Features
Lindsey Vonn, the most decorated professional female skier in history, faces the toughest challenge in her legendary 15-year career this fall. In addition to preparing for the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Vonn recently issued her third official proposal to the International Ski Federation, known as the FIS, to race against men.
While Vonn’s 2012 and 2017 bids were denied, the ski federation is meeting her last push with significantly less resistance.
She said in an interview with Refinery29 that she first seized on the idea to race against men during her 2011 training.
“All my training times were right there with the best male skier in the World Cup,” she said. “And I thought...
Alex McNicoll, Sports Editor
September 29, 2017
Filed under SPORTS, Sports Editorials & Features
Just three weeks into the Fantasy Football regular season, nearly all expert pre-draft predictions are absolutely meaningless and most teams look like a dumpster fire. David Johnson, the consensus number-one overall pick this August, injured his wrist in week two, rendering him useless for half the season, and the supposed Chicago Bears stud starting running back Jordan Howard has all but lost his starting job to fourth round rookie Tarik Cohen. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg in all of the mayhem that is Fantasy Football.
Now may seem like a good time to just mail it in for the rest of the season — I’m considering doing it in one of my three leagues — but don’t give up yet. If there’s two certai...
Alex McNicoll, Sports Editor
September 29, 2017
Filed under SPORTS, Sports Editorials & Features
Before the start of the San Francisco 49ers’ first preseason game of 2016 against the Houston Texans, second-string quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided to stay on the bench. Most people did not notice, as he was far enough down in the depth-chart that he did not even suit up for the game. However, it was the start of his now-infamous national anthem protest that has the whole league kneeling, and somehow, the more people that partake, the further away the protest gets from its original goal.
It was not until his third preseason game last year, on Aug. 26, that people began to notice that he was sitting for the anthem. When asked about it after the game, he said he sat because of police brutality and the oppression of...
Alex McNicoll, Sports Editor
September 22, 2017
Filed under SPORTS, Sports Editorials & Features
The College of Wooster’s Clayton Geib, a senior Chemistry major, All-Conference lineman, and two-time North Coast Athletic Conference Academic Honor Roll member, passed away this past Monday. The 21-yearold native of London, Ohio, walked off the field during Saturday’s football game against Ohio Wesleyan University claiming he did not feel well. According to 10TV.com, he started cramping and hyperventilating in the locker room before being rushed to the hospital — by Sunday, he had no brain activity. An official cause of death has not been reported at this time.
In wake of the tragedy, The College of Wooster will put “72,” Geib’s number, in the end zone for him and has set up a support center for his te...
Julie Schreiber, Sports Editor
September 22, 2017
Filed under SPORTS, Sports Editorials & Features
The 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea are just months away, and it remains to be seen whether athletes from team Russia will be allowed to compete.
As the February start date approaches, many Russian athletes are still caught in the crossfire of a major years-long doping scandal that involved both the usage of performance-enhancing drugs and the tampering with of urine samples for drug tests. Although final decisions from the International Olympic Committee remain to be delivered, it is in the best interests of the IOC to ban all of the Russian team from the 2018 Olympics in order to preserve the standards and integrity of the Olympic Games.
The issue of Russian doping first came to light after...
Alex McNicoll, Sports Editor
September 15, 2017
Filed under SPORTS, Sports Editorials & Features
The Golden State Warriors inked yet another eight-figure contract this week that will completely reshape the NBA. Instead of adding another MVP to their roster, however, the reigning world champions signed a deal to let Rakuten, a major Japanese tech company, advertise on their jerseys. The three-year, $60-million agreement is the latest and largest in the NBA’s decision to let teams put ads on their jerseys. This move by the NBA shows how corporate sponsorships are taking yet another step in defining the way we experience sports.
Rakuten is not new to the sports world, as it signed a similar contract with soccer powerhouse FC Barcelona last November. Its soccer deal was much more lucrative, totaling at $262 million...
