On February 6, the New York Knicks won two consecutive games for the first time since early January. After only sixteen minutes of play in his first two weeks as a player with the Knicks, followed by his rampant success in tonight’s game and the last, Jeremy Lin ’10 has created quite the buzz in the basketball world. “I definitely couldn’t have imagined this,” the former Harvard player said after scoring a career-high 28 points and handing out eight assists in his first NBA start, a 99-88 win over the Jazz.

What’s awesome about this entire story is not just that Lin is a fellow Harvardian, but the amount of work and heart the NBA player has put into getting to this stage of his career. Lin was cut by two different teams in the pre-season, and received only scant playing opportunities at the beginning of the regular season with the Knicks. His teammates believed in him, though. As Knicks center Tyler Chandler said, “We’ve been saying that [Lin] has talent in practice, but we didn’t know if it would translate in the game…He’s obviously showing all of us that he can.”

#swag

I think it’s safe to say no matter what team we hold our allegiances to in the NBA, most of us here at Harvard are rooting for you, Jeremy.

While some of you toil for major conglomerates at minimum wage and most others work the coffee machine for no wage at all, I’ve been devoting my summer evenings watching Roland Garros – one of the four major professional tennis tournaments of the year taking place in Paris, France. You can’t beat bright orange clay court and matching bright green towels glaring at you for five hours. And lots of athletes attired in even stranger combinations of colors. So read on for my Guide to the French Open 2011 - Men’s Singles (because one can only watch so much TV before being yelled at by one’s Tiger Mom).

The Trivalry

1. Rafael Nadal – The Pit Bull

- What he’s famous for:The 25-year old Spaniard is the defending champion and current world No. 1 tennis player. Nadal’s rise to the top was as meteoric as it was spectacular. He turned pro at 15, beat Federer, the then world No. 1, for the first time at 17, and never looked back. He’s won all four major tennis tournaments, a gold medal at the Summer Olympics, and at Roland Garros alone he’s been crowned five times. Watch Nadal roam the court like a pit bull on steroid, while his opponent breaks a bucket of sweat in exhaustion and exasperation. It’s fun.

- What he’s infamous for: the permanent wedgie, made very in-your-face by the constant close-up camera shots of his Capri pants which cannot be any tighter. It’s tempting to imagine that Nadal’s constant tugging of his pants behind his ass might be a tactic to distract the opponent. Nadal also has a particularly “flamboyant” dressing style. He’s almost always in sleeveless tops of super bright colors, such as orange, and then pair that with, say, green pants. You can practically see him from Mars. Or the nosebleed section of the stadium, which actually is helpful.

He’s so rich that he basically owns a Spanish soccer team, Mallorca. He’s an avid soccer fan and was one of only six non-staff people allowed into the locker room of Spain’s national soccer team after it won the World Cup in 2010. He’s also the new face of Armani underwear. (Hence the picture on the left.) I’ll give you a few moments to regroup. Methinks he should just ditch the hideously colored clothes and go the way nature intends it!

He might be going bald very soon though, so enjoy the pretty while it lasts.

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After reps from the University of Miami flew up to Boston to try to get Crimson Basketball’s Coach Tommy Amkar to ‘take his talents to Miami,’ he has ultimately decided that he’s sticking with the Crimson. ESPN reports that, “in just four years at Harvard, Amaker, a former Duke star, has led the Crimson to their top two winningest seasons and two postseason appearances.”

When asked for comment, Amkar remarked: “I am appreciative of and flattered by the interest shown in me by other fine universities, but I am proud and honored to represent Harvard…I look forward to continuing my efforts to teach, lead and serve at this great institution.”

While some basked in the sun on the beach of some tropical paradise or lounged on the couch in front of Jersey Shore reruns, spring sport athletes were getting off to the start of their seasons and getting important preseason and out-of conference games under their belt. Many had the luxury of competing in warm arenas such as California, Georgia, and Texas, and were able to get a little taste of the weather they wished they could compete in year-round. In addition, some winter sport athletes kept their seasons going with trips to NCAA tournaments, and many gathered honors at these events.

Post-Season Athletics

Men’s Basketball

After a heartbreaking loss to Princeton for sole possession of the Ivy League Championship, Harvard men’s basketball sought to continue their season in the NIT tournament on March 15th, but fell to Oklahoma State in the first round. Losing 54-71, it was no close contest, but the men’s team did finish with league recognition of Keith Wright, Kyle Casey, and Christian Webster.

Wrestling

Harvard wrestling had two members go on the the NCAA Championships at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA March 17-19th. Steven Keith wrangled out one win in the 125 pound weight class before his series was cut-short. Keith finishes his sophomore campaign with a 23-17 overall record and a 1-2 mark at his second NCAA Championships. While Keith’s run for All-America honors ended before arriving at his goal, Walter Peppelman managed a seventh place match and won All-America honors as Harvard’s 25th All-American wrestler–the 17th in the last 7 years. Another impressive point to add to Peppelman’s accomplishments from the tournament is that he was the only wrestler in the tournament that managed to turn No. 1 seed of Boise State, Adam Hall, for backpoints twice in a single match.

Click for the full Spring Sports update

Casey led the Crimson to their first Ivy League championship in team history. Picture from gocrimson.com.

With its victory over Princeton tonight, 79-67, Harvard clinched at least a share of the Ivy League.  Harvard finishes their season at 23-5 and a 12-2 Ivy League record.  They remained undefeated at home, going 14-0 in Lavietes Pavilion.  Princeton now has an Ivy League record of 11-2, with one game remaining at Penn on Tuesday.  If Penn wins, Harvard will win the Ivy League outright and secure a berth in the NCAA Tournament, March Madness.  If Princeton pulls off the road win, the Crimson and the Tigers will be named Ivy League co-champions and would play a game (believed to be next Friday at Yale) for the spot in March Madness.

Kyle Casey led the team tonight with 24 points including one nasty dunk with about 16 minutes to play to put Harvard up 47-42.  The rowdy student section chanted his name when he fouled out, minutes before they stormed the court in celebration.

Update: If necessary, the Princeton-Harvard playoff game will be Saturday, March 12 at 4 p.m. at Yale.  That game would be broadcast on ESPN3.  Likewise, the upcoming Princeton-Penn game which will determine if a playoff game is necessary will be available on ESPN3.  If Princeton wins, the Ivy League will announce ticket information for the playoff game on Wednesday morning.  Presumably, once the Ivy League allots tickets to Harvard and Princeton, Harvard Athletics will provide information regarding student tickets.

Laurent Rivard led the Crimson with 23 points. Photo from GoCrimson.com

The Harvard basketball team started 2011 off the right way with a 78-69 upset victory over Boston College.  This marked the third year in a row that Harvard has defeated the Boston area rivals.  With these three straight upsets and a 9-0 record against Massachusetts teams over the last two seasons, one could certainly make a case that Harvard has been playing the best college basketball in the state.

Unlike the last two years, Harvard pulled off this victory without previous seasons’ superstar, Jeremy Lin.  The hero of this upset was Laurent Rivard, a highly touted freshman recruit from Quebec.  He led both teams in scoring with 23 points. Various Crimson players have stepped up this season, making this team a strong candidate for best in the Ivy League.

Unlike every other Division I league (of course, we had to be different), the Ivy League has no playoffs, so the league champion is the team with the best regular season conference record.  That league champion, of course, secures a spot in the NCAA Tournament, “March Madness.”  Cornell has won the Ivy League three seasons in a row, including last year, when they had a remarkable run to the Sweet 16, but after losing their coach (to Boston College, as coincidence will have it) and  four of their five starters, they look hard-pressed to repeat.  Instead, Harvard and Princeton look like the two favorites to end up on top of the league for 2011.

The Crimson have looked strong through non-conference play, posting a 10-3 record including a 7-0 record at home.  Harvard has its first Ivy League game this Saturday at Dartmouth.  They then have a final non-conference game at George Washington before returning to Cambridge to kick conference play into full force with a 2:00 p.m. home game on January 22, against Dartmouth again, in Lavietes Pavilion, when much of the student body will be arriving back on campus.

Leave it to the Fox Sports Network to measure the Harvard-Yale rivalry where it matters the most: in the Geek department. Investigating the Harvard-Yale tailgate, a reporter pitted some Crimson fans against the Bulldogs in a mission to find out which team could out-geek the other.

The video is a follow-up of last year’s popular debut attempt, appropriately titled “Geeks Gone Wild,” featuring some fresh faces including a first-year member of the Expressions Dance Company who surely knows how to dougie, and a Varsity Squash player who uses words like “alternate reality” to explain the ending of Lost.

SPOILER ALERT! (Not that it matters to anyone) Harvard won the Geek-Off by a landslide, and we’re a little ashamed to admit that this victory tastes somewhat sweeter than the one on the football field. Granted, we also had one too many sips of Four Loko to understand what was going on down there as fully masked players fought over a tiny ball. (Seriously, what is the point of watching a game with hot athletes if you can’t even see their faces?)

However, we must say that last year’s video was slightly more entertaining, featuring an out-of-the-world Math geek whose familiarity with Pi made us proud, French geeks (they’re European!), and half-naked Currierites jumping up and down.

Check out the new Geeks Gone Wild II video here: We beat Yale at everything.