Alexis Dill, Sports Editor
April 6, 2018
The men’s and women’s tennis teams and softball team were welcomed to Amway Center two weeks ago to catch an Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers game and meet fellow Obie Jeff Weltman, OC ’87, president of basketball operations for Orlando. As the former Oberlin basketball player reminisced about sitting in Wilder Bowl with his buddies in the springtime, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the opportunities our athletics department continuously provides its student-athletes.
Just two days before the game, Eastern Michigan University announced it will cut four sports at the conclusion of the semester: men’s swimming and diving, wrestling, women’s tennis, and softball. The reduction will affect 58 ma...
Julia Peterson, Arts & Culture Editor
March 30, 2018
I do not look intimidating. I know that. As a young woman, people who claim to look out for my best interests often choose to preemptively categorize me as a target and demand that I behave accordingly. I shouldn’t wear that shirt because it’s too provocative. I shouldn’t walk alone outside after dark, even if the route is familiar, because there might be threats lurking in the night. I shouldn’t post that opinion online, because we all know about the reactions women draw when they write controversial pieces on the internet.
But even though I do not look intimidating, I am hardly as defenseless as people first assume. When I decide to go against this sort of well-meaning advice, it is not because I am unaware ...
Alexis Dill, Sports Editor
March 9, 2018
A couple hundred of college football’s most talented players travel to Indianapolis each offseason to dazzle scouts and spectators with their athleticism and skills at the NFL Scouting Combine. This year, future franchise quarterbacks Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen, former Heisman winners Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson, and Penn State standout Saquon Barkley — recently touted as the best running back prospect since Adrian Peterson — all impressed, but none of them were the focus of attention. Instead, University of Central Florida linebacker Shaquem Griffin dominated the headlines.
The 6-foot-1-inch, 227-pound 22-year-old, who was a late invite to the combine, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.38 seconds Sunday, the bes...
Alexis Dill, Sports Editor
February 23, 2018
Imagine being one of the most awe-inspiring and charitable basketball players to ever hit the hardwood, winning three NBA championships, earning 14 straight All-Star nods, and donating over $40 million to send more than 1,100 students to college tuition-free — just to be told to stick to sports because you expressed your political views.
Fox News Host Laura Ingraham disparaged LeBron James last Thursday after taking offense to an UNINTERRUPTED video featuring James, Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant, and SportsCenter anchor Cari Champion. In it, James commented, “The number-one job in America, the appointed person, is someone who don’t understand the people. And really don’t give a f**k about the people....
Alex McNicoll, Sports Editor
February 16, 2018
The Vegas Golden Knights scored four third-period goals Tuesday, erasing a 2–1 deficit against the Chicago Blackhawks on their way to a 5–2 victory in their brand-new T-Mobile Arena. The win gave the Golden Knights the second-highest point total in the NHL with 78. As an expansion team comprised of the other 30 NHL teams’ castaways, the Golden Knights have already shattered expectations for their inaugural season and look like serious contenders for the Stanley Cup. With just 25 games left in the regular season, Vegas has already proven to be the most successful first-year expansion franchise throughout the history of not just hockey, but basketball, baseball, and football as well.
Vegas put their odds of their...
Alexis Dill, Sports Editor
February 9, 2018
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced Jan. 29 that Cleveland baseball will stop sporting the Chief Wahoo logo on uniforms after the 2018 season. The cartoon caricature, first featured on players’ caps and jersey sleeves in 1948, has sparked controversy since the 1970s.
The statement, which read, “the logo is no longer appropriate for on-field use in Major League Baseball,” appeared to have split baseball fans and others into two categories: “racists” bummed by the news and “soft liberals” offended by the fact that the logo ever existed in the first place.
Neither side is more correct than the other, and being able to understand and appreciate both sides of an argument is a skill that most of us need...
Julie Schreiber, Sports Editor
December 8, 2017
The International Olympic Committee officially announced Tuesday that it would ban Russia from the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. This decision was the highly anticipated response to a years-long investigation of a Russian state-sponsored doping program to enhance the performance of Russian athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Come the start of the games in February, there will be no sight of the Russian flag, no sound of the Russian national anthem, and no Team Russia marching together at the opening ceremony. However, there will still be an opportunity for Russian athletes to participate. Any Russian competitor who can prove themselves clean and unaffiliated with the dopi...
Alex McNicoll, Sports Editor
December 1, 2017
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
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
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
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...
