Most are probably under the impression that Cornell is locked in some sort of traumatic stupor these days. It’s certainly been a rough semester for the students on Ithaca’s East Hill. Even looking past the awful, tragic deaths that have plagued the campus of late, Cornellians have had a rough time of it — especially in the court of pubic opinion, where they have suffered a rash of unfavorable media attention. Also, effing Andy Bernard.

Still, amidst all the badness, there’s at least been one unequivocal bright spot: the men’s varsity basketball team, who just received their third NCAA Tournament bid in as many years. The 12th-seeded Big Red are poised to face off against the Eastern region’s number five seed — the Temple University Owls — in Jacksonville this Friday. This to cap off a historic season that saw Cornell become the first Ivy League team to crack the national rankings in over a decade.

What’s been the secret to the Red’s success?

Read the rest of this entry »

How the mighty have fallen. The Cornell basketball team, which was previously unbeaten, was trounced by Penn, 79-64, last night at the Palestra. This game was a David vs. Goliath matchup, as Penn entered the game with a 3-15 record (2-2 Ivy), but the Quakers took a one-point lead into halftime and never looked back. Junior Jack Eggleston (pictured) led all scorers with 24 points and sophomore Zack Rosen chipped in with 22 of his own. Big Red seniors Louis Dale and Ryan Wittman each had 16 points and senior Jeff Foote contributed a double-double in the losing effort.

The Big Red rose to No. 22 in the ESPN/USA Today rankings this week, but will likely fall out of the top 25 with the loss. Tomorrow night Penn will try to earn a weekend sweep as it takes on Columbia. There will be no rest for the weary Big Red, as they must travel to Princeton to take on the only remaining undefeated team in the Ivy League.

Sonia Dara, H’12, graces the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue this year — posing in a glamorous paisley bikini and, if you’re looking at her jewelry, nice jewelry I guess.

“I converted to an economics degree [...] that would allow me, if I wanted to, to integrate modeling [the fashion kind, not the observing-graphs kind] into it,” the academically inclined Dara says in the video available at SI’s site, in which she dances with a sari and poses with “local women” in traditional garb. Too bad Dara didn’t go to Columbia and thus hasn’t heard of Edward Said! He would have THINGS to SAY.

Facebook espionage after the jump!

Read the rest of this entry »

This coming Friday marks that rare event when you break out your interest in figure skating for the first time in four years and cross your fingers that the Jamaican bobsled team will actually take home the gold. You’ll obviously be doing all of this because, as NBC has making it clear with those 5 rings in the corner of everything they air, it’s the 2010 Winter Olympics. Surprisingly, though, Ivy Leaguers may find some brethren to support.

While the wickedly helpful Ivies in China blog does not appear to be returning for the Vancouver trip, we’ve done our best to gather the stats on who, if anybody (hello, Columbia, Penn and Princeton?) the Ivies will be sending to the games.

Dartmouth wins the gold (see what we did there?) with ties to nine athletes: from biathlon competitors (Laura Spector ’10 and Sara Studebaker ’07), skiers (Tucker Murphy ’04, Patrick Biggs ’06, Ben Koons ’08, Andrew Weibrecht ’09 and Tommy Ford ’12) and ice hockey players (Gillian Apps ’06 and Cherie Piper ’06) headed to Canada –– So when they’re not fighting to for the right to binge drink, it seems that the Big Green is cultivating Olympians, which is apparently no huge surprise since

Dartmouth has sent representatives to every winter Olympics since the Games’ founding in 1924.

The Harvard Crimson took the Ivy silver with ties to five females who may potentially be going head to head against one another as the women are divided by their home countries of the U.S. (Angela Ruggiero ’04, Julie Chu ’07 and Caitlin Cahow ’08) and Canada (Jennifer Botterill ’03 and Sarah Vaillancourt ’09) to battle it out in the hockey arena.

Cornell held down the bronze with three links to athletes who will all be representing different countries. There’s one woman (Rebecca Johnston ‘12) joining the Ivy ranks for Canada’s ice hockey team, one male (Douglas Murray ‘03) representing Sweden in ice hockey and one male (Jamie Moriarty ‘03) bobsledding for the gold, although he used to dawn the Big Red as a football player.

Yale and Brown each boast one Olympic bound alum (Natalie Babony ’06 and Becky Kellar ’97, respectively) with the Yalie rostered to play for Slovakia and the Brown grad adding to the Ivy saturation of Team Canada’s ice hockey line up.

As for Columbia, Penn and Princeton: the interwebs lack the typical bragging rights about sending any of you up to Vancouver… so we’ll just have to assume you’re hoping for better luck in 2014? Or maybe that you’ve just sent your admissions officers up there to hunt out some stellar Class of 2014 crop?

About fourteen months ago, Colin Cloherty was reveling in the Ivy League Championship that he and his teammates at Brown secured with a lopsided 41-10 victory over Columbia. Today, the 22-year-old tight end is looking to earn another ring, this time with the Indianapolis Colts as they compete against the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl.

Cloherty did not get picked in the NFL draft—no surprise there—but was signed by the Colts soon after. He spent most of the season on the practice squad, but was bumped up to the active roster prior to the Colts’ Week 16 game against the Bills. Since the Colts had had their run at a perfect season the week prior, many of their starters saw limited playing time in a snowy game against the Bills. There, Cloherty played for the first time, recording one catch for two yards. He was declared inactive for the Colts’ first two playoff games, but remains on the 53-man roster for the big game tonight.

If you’re a fan of Ivy League football, you should remember Cloherty as being the quietest receiving threat—but a threat nonetheless—on that high-octane Brown offense of ’08. Though he played third fiddle to standout receivers Buddy Farnham and Bobby Sewall, he was easily the best tight end in the Ancient Eight. In his senior season, Cloherty made 40 catches for 418—both tops among league tight ends—and caught three touchdowns.

If you’re not a fan of Ivy League football, you’re probably wondering how in the hell an Ivy League football player is playing in the NFL, let alone the Super Bowl. You may be dismayed to hear it, but there are actually nine former Ivy Leaguers—Cloherty included—who are currently in the NFL, three of which already have Super Bowl rings. Zak DeOssie (Brown) and Kevin Boothe (Cornell) were members of the Giants when they won the Super Bowl XLII and Sean Morey (Brown) played for the Steelers when they beat the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL and currently is on the Cardinals.

Of the remaining five former Ivy Leaguers who are in the NFL, four hail from Harvard and one is from Princeton. Ryan Fitzpatrick (Bills), Matt Birk (Ravens), Desmond Bryant (Raiders), and Chris Pizzotti (Packers) represent the Crimson while Dennis Norman (Chargers) is the lone Tiger in the NFL.

Whether or not Cloherty plays tonight, he represents one of the few football success stories that have come from the Ancient Eight in recent history. In case you’re wondering, Cloherty wears #46 — keep a lookout.

Our sports analyst Matt Velazquez tells us what’s up in the NCAA, where an Ivy League team, somehow, got nationally ranked.

With unbeaten Ivy records and impressive nonconference wins, Cornell and Harvard were set for a clash of the titans this past Saturday at Newman Arena in Ithaca—or so we thought. What actually happened was an assertion of dominance from the two-time defending Ivy champion Big Red, as it drubbed the Crimson, 86-50, in front of a sell-out crowd.

All five of Cornell’s starters scored in double digits, led by center Jeff Foote who contributed 16 points and fell just one rebound shy of a double-double. Probably more impressive, though, was that the Big Red defense held the Crimson to just 50 points while forcing 25 turnovers. Harvard standout guard Jeremy Lin was the lone bright spot for the Crimson as he turned in 19 points, but outside of Lin, the Crimson shot just 25.9 percent.

In decimating Harvard—the only other team legitimately expected to challenge the Big Red for the Ivy League title—Cornell made a statement not just to the league, but the college hoops world as a whole. After beating Alabama, Davidson, St. John’s and UMass and narrowly falling to No. 1 Kansas in its nonconference schedule, Cornell had built up a strong RPI (Relative Power Index) going into its game against Harvard.

By winning in such dominant fashion the Big Red’s RPI rose to the 33rd-best in the country and effectively vaulted them to greater national recognition. In this week’s ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, the Big Red earned its first ranking in 59 years entering the poll at No. 25. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Coaches Poll, it is made up by a panel of 31 Division I coaches who decide on the top 25 teams in the country. Cornell received 53 points, edging out Mississippi (52 points) for the final ranked spot for this week.

The last Ivy League team to be ranked in a national poll was Princeton during the 1997-1998 season. That year, the Tigers finished ranked No. 8 in the AP Poll and No. 16 in USA Today/NABC Poll. Currently, the Big Red is not ranked in the AP top 25, as it sits on the outside at No. 27.

Despite the fact that the Ivy season is still very young and there remains another unbeaten team in the league (Princeton), it seems like a foregone conclusion that the Big Red will reach the NCAA Tournament for the third successive year. Through four league games, Cornell’s average margin of victory is 29.25 points. Put simply, this team is scary good.

Yup. Tune in Tuesday when our sports columnist will cover the implications of the win and Cornell’s potential ranking for March Madness.

• Penn: The Ivy league’s application pool rises, the DP reports, with Penn up 17 percent because “just like hot cars and cool clothes, college popularity inevitably waxes and wanes.” Is Penn hot or cool?
• Yale: With Yale’s slight drop in applications, the YDN concludes that, as in golf, the lower number is best. (Perhaps this logic explains the new admissions video.)
• Dartmouth: The winner of Fox Sports Net’s reality show “The Ride,” intends to get real foxy at Dartmouth next fall.
• Columbia: The Lions get more varsity blues—“Squash is an international sport and a natural fit for a university that is committed to diversity and globalization.” And some wonder why Columbia isn’t known for its athletics!
• Harvard: Former Crimson captain plays for Spain’s American football league—Liga Nacional de Futbol Americano—and tackles Spanish culture. “Naps are huge here.”
• Cornell: This headline says it all, “Prof Does the Tangerine Tango With New Plant.” In his defense, the old plant has been looking wilted lately.

Time notes that it’s unusual that any Harvard hoops star getting national attention is particularly rare. But Jeremy Lin is doubly a special case.

There’s a chance Lin might take Harvard to the NCAA tournament! (Time, wisely, makes no guarantees.) We’ll leave it to the magazine to crunch numbers, as we thought Yao Ming’s arrival on the scene meant a critical mass of Asian basketball stars was coming soon:

Fewer than 0.5% of men’s Division 1 basketball players are Asian-American. Sure, the occasional giant from China, like Yao Ming, has played in the NBA. But in the U.S., basketball stars are African Americans first, Caucasians second, and Asians … somewhere far down the line.

The magazine also lists some impressive stats — for an Ivy or a Big Ten school! Lin has 18.1 points per game on average, Harvard’s top record. Somewhat troubling, though, is the ethnic taunting that Lin has faced:

I’ve heard it at most of the Ivies if not all of them.

…Lin tells the reporter which, um, doesn’t surprise us). He seems very calm about it though — which possibly can be credited to his Christianity. (Apparently, he wants to be a pastor post-grad.) An uncynical Ivy League student?! That’s rarer than an — oh, wait.

After the jump: Jeremy Lin’s impressive dunk (or lay-up?) against Santa Clara.

Read the rest of this entry »

Even over holiday break, sport marches on in the Ivy League — and not just for those of us skiing at Aspen (we lost our invitation this year, otherwise we’d be there with you all!).

The Pennsylvanian reports that three seniors have been reinstated to the wrestling team after an arrest subsequent to an “October 3 incident” that the Pennsylvanian is too genteel to disclose. We’re not! Nor was the Hartford Examiner, which reported that the three wrestlers had been arrested for aggravated assault and reckless endangerment and that they might well be “among Penn’s best matmen.” Their suspension had been for “violation of departmental policy,” an issue settled just in time for the Southern Scuffle tourney.

How lucky that, as the Pennsylvanian implies, the wrestlers’ most recent court appearance was moved up so that their case could be dismissed in time for the tournament. So many things we’ll never understand about wrestling! And we saw the Mickey Rourke movie, even.

After the jump, deep analysis and a video of Mickey Rourke shopping for lesbians.

Read the rest of this entry »