Updated: Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 4:42pm
There is no joy in Mudville, for the Mighty Casey has struck out. Forget Shakespeare: Perhaps the greatest modern tragedy could be the story of Casey at the Bat. The Mudville Nine make a miraculous comeback, with two struggling hitters reaching base to bring the team superstar, Casey, to the plate with the opportunity to win the game. Spoiling the ending: Casey whiffs...
We’re at the end of the year, and I’m at the end of my time in this space. I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to write here and for the responses I received from readers all year. In this final column, I want to answer two readers who took the time to share their thoughts with me. In November I wrote a column about poker. I didn’t mean the column to be too...
This has been a tough year for Yale. In trying times, sports are enjoyable entertainment and valuable diversions. And the lighter side of sports is even more refreshing when relief is so welcome. This year alone has seen death threats that forced a student off campus, several tragic car accidents, multiple instances of offensive graffiti on campus and an art project that...
New York Plunges into Civil War. Montreal Avoids Riot. Miami Protects Most Valuable Asset. It seems that those damn kids are hogging all the headlines again. Yankees Universe is on the brink of implosion as fans of the Evil Empire are engaged in a struggle between the Joba-Chamberlain-Needs-to-Start faction and the Leave-the-Kid-Alone brigade. This 22-year-old phenom may...
See the Pope at second base! No joke, the Yankee Stadium crowd and millions watching on TV will get to see his Holiness take the infield this Sunday. But he’s not displacing the second baseman — he’s celebrating Mass. The Pontiff is doing the ballpark tour I’ve always wanted to do. The next week he’ll head to our nation’s capital and celebrate Mass in...
With the world scheduled to arrive in Beijing for the Olympics in a few months, China’s abuses of human rights cannot go ignored. Other countries and their citizens must figure out how to voice concerns about the host country, and we at Yale should raise questions about the University’s friendship with China in the run-up to the Olympics. As the Olympic torch...
To celebrate a second World Championship in four years, the Boston Red Sox summoned Beantown’s heroes to Fenway Park: Bill Russell, Bobby Orr and Tedy Bruschi. They also summoned the goat. Not the Chicago Cubs’ Billy Goat who curses them. “The Goat” who became synonymous with the Red Sox’ Curse of the Bambino. The living embodiment of the Babe Ruth trade. The...
As Yale accepted another class of students this week, I thought back to when I was an applicant, and to my college essay. I remembered again that I’m here thanks to 500 words I wrote about baseball statistics. In my essay, I detailed how my appreciation for statistical analysis had helped me grow and what statistics had taught me about the world. I began the essay with...
It’s been going on for months and months and a clear winner has yet to emerge. The public looks on with great intrigue; new developments surface daily, with supporters on all sides lavishing praise upon their candidate, while poking holes in the cases of opponents. Some point to a laundry list of accomplishments, some their consistency, some their judgment and some...
My governor resigned over spring break after The New York Times revealed that he had slept with a prostitute. Within days, his replacement admitted to affairs and cocaine use. Although the scandal shocked the political world and dominated the news for a week, I remembered that political scandals are rarely as scandalous as those in the sports world. We’re amazed when...
