Senioritis and college basketball

Im going to start this column by making a few assumptions. First, the majority of those people reading this column are either in college, or have at the very least graduated high school. My next assumption is that since many of them have graduated high school, a large percentage of my readers know about the disease known as senioritis. This being my second senior yearnot in college folks, one in high school, one in college, thats a total of twoI consider myself an expert on the topic.

Why I Love College Basketball

It is an exciting time of year to be a sports fan, and not just because Im rolling through the playoffs in my Xbox season. The last month brought us the return of both hockey and basketball, the hot stove league is warming up, and were half way through the football season and heading towards the playoffs. The BCS debates are beginning their annual take over of the sports page as the college football regular season has only a few more weeks before it gives way to bowl season. If the mainstream sports arent your thing, last weekend saw the Los Angeles Galaxy win the MLS Cup and the NASCAR Chase for the Cup is in full swing. All of this is good, but the reason it is great to be a sports fan? The greatest of all sports, college basketball, is about to begin.

ON YOUR MARKS: Friedman part of Brady's bunch

When the defending NFL champion New England Patriots took the field last night, officially starting the NFL season, they were led by quarterback Tom Brady, a graduate of the University of Michigan. Brady is the most recent U of M alum who has found success in the NFL, but the first in this succession of players is also fresh in the minds of football fans. Benny Friedman, the original great quarterback, was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio this summer, and while like Brady he played his collegiate ball in Ann Arbor, around Waltham, he is best known as athletic director and former head coach of the now defunct Brandeis University football team.

ON YOUR MARKS: March Madness at Brandeis: Basketball or Books?

Im going to let you in on a little secret. Brandeis University does not have a Division I college basketball team. Our womens team has been great the last couple of years, by ECAC standards. Our mens team is a couple steps behind, but theyve had some big victories over the years. Still, basketball at Brandeis will never be what it is on Tobacco Road in North Carolina.

ON YOUR MARKS: Get interrupted and watch PTI

The best aspect of writing a column for a campus newspaper is that you know who is going to read it. My good friends will sit down and read an article with my picture near it. Professors involved in the journalism program will likely read the campus publications. My parents and close relatives will probably find themselves perusing The Hoots website to see what it is that I have to say. And of course the few people on campus who have an interest in sports may happen upon my column, bringing my total readership to nearly 25. It is those few people with an interest in sports that I am attempting to reach with the following column I feel that if they take my advice they will be doing themselves a large favor.

ON YOUR MARKS: Will work for food: The plight of the pro-Athlete

Being that were in college, we students are never really sure where our next meal is coming from. That statement should actually be amended;

personally, I always know where my next meal is coming from, because I am beyond anal-retentive and plan these things in advance. Most of us are broke, and the ones that arent probably have better things to spend their money on than food.

ON YOUR MARKS: A system, not a superstar

I have lived nearly my whole life in Connecticut. I love everything it has to offer. The seasons are magnificent, New York and Boston are close enough that traveling to either is easy and in general I find it to be a great area of the country to be brought up. My biggest problem with Connecticut is the lack of professional sports. I lived my early childhood with the Hartford Whalers of the NHL, but they were always somewhere between mediocre and unbearable. I adopted my favorite teams from anywhere I could. The Boston Red Sox and Celtics were easy choices because of geographic proximity, and looking to my roots I became a fan of the Buffalo Sabers and Bills (I was born, and lived the first two years of my life of which I remember nothing, in Buffalo).

On Your Marks: Even pro athletes cannot escape Residence Life

If youre a Brandeis student, the following situation is probably very familiar. Late February or early March you find everyone is crowding around the mail room, eyeing each person as they open a white envelope, to see either great satisfaction or intense sorrow overtake their face. Thats right, Im talking about the housing lottery.

Brandeis students in different world than young pro athletes

This past winter break, two people who play important roles in my life celebrated their twentieth birthdays. The individuals could not be more different, one a student, the other an athlete. One is female;

the other is male. One is my girlfriend;

the other is Cleveland Cavaliers guard/forward LeBron James. The player weve heard about being the second coming of Michael Jordan, the savior of the National Basketball Association, celebrated just his twentieth birthday this past December. LeBron James is merely the most extraordinary example of a college-aged professional athlete;

there are a plethora of cases similar to his, leaving people such as my girlfriend, and the rest of the Brandeis student body, wondering how weve fallen so far behind.