Author Archives: Karan Arakotaram

What a year. When my editors asked me if I wanted to write one final sports column, I immediately agreed, even though I didn’t know what I was going to write about. Or whether I wanted to write at all. At the beginning of the year, before I had ever written a column, I had »

To the prefrosh: Yale will change what you think you know about sports. You’ll discover sports you never knew existed and you’ll watch sports that you thought disappeared in the Middle Ages. But if you’re like me and you’re from the South, you’ll also wonder why football is no longer a religion. You’ll get frustrated »

The things that matter the most in life are the things entirely out of your control, like your parents, your height and your gender. And your residential college. Seriously. Think about how much that supposedly random sorting process has affected your experience at Yale. And think about how much your years at Yale are going »

I was having a hard time deciding what to write about this week, so I asked two of my friends during dinner what they wanted to read about. I told them that I usually try to write about topics that casual sports fans — and even non-sports fans — would enjoy reading about (e.g., broken »

The NBA dunk contest is relevant again. After a miserable stretch that saw the likes of Harold Miner, Isaiah Rider and Fred Jones take home the trophy (seriously, Fred Jones?!), the dunk contest has finally regained some of its old glory. The stars are pulling out all the stops — everything from phone booths to »

I turned 21 on Monday. When I was a kid, I always daydreamed that year 21 would be my last hurrah — my final year of college basketball before I declared for the NBA draft. Unfortunately, 5-foot-4-inch South Asian point guards aren’t exactly professional basketball material. So instead of getting ready for the draft and »

I’m a hypocrite. For the past three years, I’ve constantly complained about the lack of pride in Yale athletics. I couldn’t believe that people would rather study on a Saturday afternoon than go to a football game. I hated that the Yale Symphony Orchestra’s Halloween show was a bigger deal than the Yale-Harvard basketball game. »

The Arizona Cardinals are in the Super Bowl. This is the same team that hasn’t hosted a playoff game since 1947. The losingest franchise in NFL history. The league’s biggest running joke outside of Detroit. And now, they’re in the Super Bowl. What a perfect ending to one of the most unpredictable seasons in NFL »

Schadenfreude. Defined as “delight in another person’s misfortune.” It’s the only thing keeping me going. After an absolutely miserable year as a sports fan — my Cowboys, Sooners and Bulldogs all lost their biggest games to their biggest rivals — my only comfort is seeing Boston sports fans suffer, too. Last year, Boston almost pulled »

1. Defense wins championships. The last time Yale won the Ivy League title, the Bulldog defense dominated a dangerous Crimson offense. The Elis limited Harvard to just 218 yards, shutting down future NFL running back Clifton Dawson. That aggressive Yale defense forced four turnovers, including an interception by then-sophomore Larry Abare ’10 to end the »

From September until January, the NBA is a forgotten mistress. College football and the NFL — the demanding wives — take up the typical sports fan’s time. Despite all its cries for attention, the NBA gets ignored until after the NCAA and the NFL have moved on. It’s not fair, but it’s the way it »

2007 YALE 27, PRINCETON 6 It’s not often that a 27-6 victory can be considered an escape. Although the Bulldogs left Princeton Stadium last season with their perfect season still intact, they were outplayed in nearly every facet of the game. The Tigers held a 25-13 advantage in first downs and limited running back Mike »