Big Sports Weekend

This is one of those weekends where there simply isn't enough time to do everything:
tonight, the Harvard men's basketball team hosted Bryant, for the first time ever. Bryant is only in its second year in Division I, so I didn't think they would be able to put up much of a fight (but my niece and I admired two players in particular, Papa Lo from Sengal (a transfer from UMass) and Claybrin McMath from Australia)). Bryant hung with the Crimson early but then Harvard pulled away and eventually won 77-51. It was nice to see our new freshmen getting off the bench and into the game at the end. However, I was sorry to read earlier in the

When the basketball game ended, we dashed over to Bright Rink to catch the last ten minutes of the Harvard-St. Lawrence hockey game. St. Lawrence has a lot of Boston alumni and always has a sizable crowd of fans. Tonight they really had something to cheer about as their goalie apparently was amazing, and they won 3-2, although godlike freshman Louis LeBlanc had a great shot near the end we hoped would go in to tie it up. Saturday night, the Harvard hockey team is at home against Clarkson, and urgently needs to turn around its early season woes.

Tomorrow, of course, is the Harvard-Yale game. The Game is simply not as much fun in New Haven (except for the time I met Paul Wylie - I remain convinced that my good wishes resulted in Olympic Silver for him a few months later) plus my niece is performing in a local production of The Wizard of Oz, my younger nephews are in town, and I have several motions to draft for work. However, when you read stories like this one about senior Derrick Barker (written by the talented daughter of Cynthia and Mike McClintock) it makes you wish the Ivy League were eligible for post season play so that more people would know about our talented players.

Finally, on Sunday, the men's soccer team has a first round NCAA matchup against Monmouth (known primarily for its pretty location in NJ - no, that is not an oxymoron - and because my former department head George's children went there) at 1:00 in Allston. Monmouth has a great team this year - who knew?

What a terrible sports weekend!

Friday:

Harvard men lose to Brown in hockey AND basketball!

Saturday:

Harvard hockey loses second game to Brown and is eliminated from ECACs! Is this *because* my parents went to Aruba on Tuesday or were they simply spared the misery of watching?

Harvard basketball beats Yale (good) but I wasn't there (bad) and because of losing on Friday, we finish below .500 which is very annoying.

Women's hockey upset by RPI! That is more surprising to me than the men's hockey team losing.

Newton North boys basketball loses to archrival Brockton (after beating Durfee last week!).

Sunday:

Celtics lose (and Rondo is injured so Marbury started (boo) - no, it wasn't Marbury v. Madison, I like that Marbury).

Bruins lose to Rangers (Not very vested in the NHL this year but it's part of a big slump, a pity when they were doing so well).

Duke plays one good half, then runs out of steam in the second half, losing to the Tarheels. Now we have to play BC again (if they beat UVA in the first round of the ACC tournament).

(It wasn't a good weekend for Granny either. She fell last week, went to the emergency room, although didn't spend the night, and has been in great pain ever since.)

Red Sox:

Opening day is less than a month away!

Vote for Alex Biega for Hobey Baker!

The Hobey Baker Award is the Heisman for college hockey, and Alex is my father's favorite Harvard player. You can vote for him (or your own favorite) here.