Sports

• Running Club: A Step in a New Direction

  Sports October 20, 2009 at 2:16 pm Comments are Disabled

  Ryan Dempsey, Staff Writer If you are a student interested in running with others, now you can. One of the newer club teams at George Mason University is the Mason Runners’ Club. The runner’s club was founded in spring 2008 by juniors Nadar Hussein and Blake Silver and officially became a Mason club team the following fall semester. “The only way students were able to competitively run on campus was by being a part of the NCAA division I varsity team,” said Silver. “We wanted something more accessible for students to be apart of and that’s why we formed the club.” Practices are held at the track behind the Field House every weekday except Thursday. Athletes on the team range from complete beginners to very experienced runners and the team welcomes new runners to join year-round. There are currently 60 members on the team, half of which are active members. To be an active member of the club, a runner has to attend just one practice per week. So far this season, the team has competed in two races. The first event was the Maymont Invitational in Richmond Va., where the team competed against many teams including University of Virginia’s […]

   

• The Dance Begins: The NBA Season Will be Filled with Highs and Lows, but Nothing Unexpected

  Sports October 20, 2009 at 2:15 pm Comments are Disabled

  John Powell, Asst. Sports Editor It’s that time of year again. People are once again ready for the whistles of corrupt referees, the yelling of corrupt coaches and the self-centered play of the stars of the court. With the preseason starting up, the National Basketball Association looks to rectify its broken past with the new season. “We did in fact tweak the language on traveling in this year’s book,” commented NBA Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Stu Jackson on a rule change. For a variety of reasons, mostly because players keep getting away with it, anyone can now take two steps without a traveling call. Now the NBA has finally made some changes to better their sport, second only to the replay rules that have already overturned wins and losses after the post-game celebration. In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics look to add another championship to the 17 they have already earned and the Wizards look to have a breakout year. The Orlando Magic had a great year, winning the championship out of the third seed, but Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis probably cannot put together a good playoff run twice in a row. The Cleveland Cavaliers look […]

   

• In My Own Words: Back to the RAC, Part II

  Sports October 20, 2009 at 2:11 pm Comments are Disabled

  Fernanda Bartels, Staff Writer We started the month of October on the right note. On the first weekend, we played our first home conference games. It was a tough weekend, but it felt amazing to play our conference games in our new gym. With our new gym, our sense of “protection” of home court increased. We are starting a history for the RAC and we want to start it right. We played the VCU Rams and the William & Mary Tribe, ranked second and third in the CAA respectively. We were able to pull off the victory against the Rams in five sets on Friday, but we did not have the same luck against the Tribe on Saturday. In our conference, everyone plays at a similar level. Anyone can beat anyone on any given day. For example, the Hofstra Pride, ranked seventh, took a set against the Delaware Blue Hens, the undefeated conference leader. When it comes down to winning, details such as having home court advantage, having the momentum of the game or having a crowd cheering for you makes the difference. For that reason, I personally would like to thank the crowd for showing up at the Friday […]

   

• Mason’s Own Fall Classic: Mason Fall Sports Teams Experience Highs and Lows of the 2009 Season

  Sports October 6, 2009 at 2:18 pm Comments are Disabled

  Brian T. Chan, Sports Editor Women’s Cross Country The women’s cross country team matched the men’s team with a sixth-place finish at the James Madison University Open Invitational. The team averaged a time of 21:39.70, whereas both Duke Blue Devils’ teams won the meet. Junior Samantha Fickel ranked 31st overall, crossing the finish line at 20:42.30. Three sophomores also placed in the top 100. Karlyn Lockie and Kailyn Lockie finished in 84th and 90th, respectively, while Elizabeth Smith inched past a Delaware Blue Hens runner by one second for 100th place. The team also competed in the Lou Onesty Invitational, where freshman Rochelle Sceats placed fifth in 18:46.90. Under the Scope: Fickel, Mason’s top runner last year, enters this season with high hopes again. Last season, she was only one of two Mason runners to participate in the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships. In addition to her 31st-place finish at the JMU Open Invitational, Fickel finished in 16th place at the Lou Onesty Invitational. Men’s Cross Country The men’s cross country team opened their 2009 campaign at the James Madison University Open Invitational at the New Market Battlefield last month. Mason took sixth place among the nine competing schools. Senior James […]

   

• Mission Accomplished: Men’s Soccer Dethrones National Champions

  Sports October 6, 2009 at 2:12 pm Comments are Disabled

  John Powell, Asst. Sports Editor The George Mason University men’s soccer team came into the game against the Maryland Terrapins with little to prove. Maryland was ranked third in the nation and needed to prove their season after a loss to their rival, the North Carolina Tar Heels. In the second round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament, the Mason Patriots lost 2-0 to Maryland. The appearance was the farthest the Patriots went into the postseason since 1996, and the loss snapped an eight-game winning streak. The Terrapins went on to win the national championship by defeating North Carolina. Mason came out of the gate with their usual high-energy offense and even though the ball possession was fairly even, junior forward Victor Freeman shocked the Terrapins. Freeman charged the goal and, staring down Maryland sophomore goalkeeper Zac MacMath, deposited the ball into the right corner. “We’ve been playing better lately. I think the second half of Longwood got us off on the right foot. We’d been very lethargic up to that game,” said Head Coach Greg Andrulis of his team’s potent high-energy offense. Maryland continued their comparatively slow level of play during the first half of the game. However, Mason stayed […]

   

• Act V: Mason Dodges Past the Rams

  Sports October 6, 2009 at 2:11 pm Comments are Disabled

  Brian T. Chan, Sports Editor Sophomore outside hitter Noelle Fanella fell one dig short of a double-double in last year’s loss to the VCU Rams in Richmond, but she still had a solid 11-kill performance. On Friday night, Fanella topped last year’s performance with a career-high 18 kills as she helped the women’s volleyball team (13-5, 2-1) win its conference home opener against the Rams (12-6, 1-1) in a five-set thriller (25-21, 25-27, 25-23, 21-25, 15-11). Mason returned to the RAC after playing its last 10 games on the road and opened conference play with a 1-1 record. The team opened the first set with an 8-3 lead and played at ease before taking the first game, 25-21. The Rams came as close as three points when they cut the lead to 24-21, but Mason was able to hold on as middle blockers and opposite hitters, senior Laura Turner and junior Holly Goode, recorded a set-ending block. “[Winning the first set] was very important because we knew VCU was going to have a very good team, so we wanted to try to set the pace early,” said Head Coach Pat Kendrick. The team again gained the early advantage by taking […]

   

• Sports at a Glance

  Sports October 6, 2009 at 2:09 pm Comments are Disabled

  Ryan Dempsey, Broadside Correspondent Chicago out of Olympic Host Contention: On Friday, Chicago, the third-largest city in the U.S. was removed in the first round of voting for a potential 2016 Summer Olympics host city. Many people thought that Chicago and Rio de Janeiro were the two lone standing favorites to host the event, but instead, Chicago was eliminated. The U.S. was the first of the four finalists to make its presentations, with some of the speakers stiff and seemingly nervous. “It’s not about the words,” Chicago Mayor Richard Daley stated. “It’s about the heart and the soul.” But despite the soul put into the presentation, voters for the International Olympic Committee did not feel the same way. A large part of the way the voting took place could be because Chicago is largely unknown oversees. Another view could be based on President Barack Obama’s brevity when talking to IOC members. The short stopover was “too business-like,” Former IOC member Kai Holm said. “It can be that some IOC members see it as a lack of respect.” According to Reuters, “White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Obama’s appearance before the IOC was not enough to overcome ‘politics inside that […]

   

• Point/Counterpoint: The One-Named Wonder

  Sports October 6, 2009 at 2:08 pm 1 comment

  John Powell, Asst. Sports Editor Ichiro: a name that symbolizes a legacy. Ichiro Suzuki embodies the game that has gained international acclaim. He is the best player on the field and off the field. In Japan, the ballplayer won his first batting title at age 20. He was named the league’s most valuable player at the age of 21. He then followed that feat by gaining five more batting crowns in Japan. In 1994, partly because of the hype he was creating, his manager, Akira Ogi changed the name on the uniform from “Suzuki” to “Ichiro.” He was introduced as a Mariner in the 2001 season, leading the team to a record-tying 116 wins out of 162 total games. Ichiro won the batting title with an average of .350, amassing 242 hits. He was named rookie of the year and MVP. First, we look at his hitting statistics. He stands alone as the only player to have nine, that’s right, nine 200-hit seasons, beating our Hall-of-Famer Willie Keeler, who held the record at eight seasons. The man reached 2,000 hits faster than everyone except Hall-of-Famer Al Simmons, missing the record by only 13 games. This is after he has compiled […]

   

• Point/Counterpoint: The Paradox of Ichiro’s Batting Average

  Sports October 6, 2009 at 2:07 pm Comments are Disabled

  Brian T. Chan, Sports Editor There is only one player who would round first base and run towards center field after hitting a walk-off single. Anticipating a mob chasing him, Ichiro Suzuki of the Seattle Mariners unsuccessfully escapes from Mike Sweeney and a beer can in a 14-inning marathon against the Chicago White Sox. Ichiro always electrifies the sport with his unique and unorthodox presence, but for him to be considered one of the top baseball players in his generation, Ichiro would have to outperform his counterparts in his own league, which he certainly does not. As a 21-year-old in 2001, Albert Pujols debuted with the St. Louis Cardinals and won the National League Rookie of the Year award and finished second in the MVP voting. At the same time, the Japanese invasion reached a whole new level in Major League Baseball with Ichiro’s emergence in the Pacific Northwest. As a 28-year-old rookie, Ichiro took home the American League Rookie of the Year and AL MVP award. In just his fourth season in the major leagues, Ichiro not only won the batting title with a .372 batting average, but he set the single-season record with 262 hits to provide a […]

   

• In My Own Words: The Positive Mindset

  Sports October 6, 2009 at 2:06 pm Comments are Disabled

  Fernanda Bartels, Staff Writer Lately, our team has been talking a lot about positive attitude. On the volleyball court, positive attitude is a state of mind where you feel motivated and confident in your skills and your teammates. It also includes believing, thinking about the best outcome and never letting your guard down. Positive attitude can be considered a way of life too. It is like wearing a “positive lens,” where you see every event from a positive perspective. For the context, let us think about positive attitudes on the court. In a volleyball game, whether you want it or not, the opponent is going to score points. It is the nature of the game. Think about it: without the mistakes, no one would ever score. Consider for an instant that the opponent scoring a point is the concept of a negative situation. How would you deal with it? How do you recover from a negative situation? Also, do not forget to consider that when playing volleyball, you only have control of the actions that happen on your side of the court. It can be a very frustrating game if you do not have control of your mind. When a […]