A Tiger Talk Farewell

After a great run, the Tiger Talk boys bid farewell as they head off to different coasts to start their lives in the real world. Josh (center) and Jake (right) pose above with Tigers’ catcher Brent Wunner (left) just after graduation.

As they say, all good things must come to an end. And, well, Tiger Talk has finally reached its end…at least for now.

After walking the stage to graduate and taking some time off to celebrate, the T-Talk boys have bid their adieus and gone their separate ways: Jake has returned home to Culver City, while I’m back in Massachusetts for the summer to work. Surely it won’t be the last time we’re together, but as Oxy grads looking to find our way in the real world on opposite coasts, it most likely means the end of our participation in the podcast and the blog.

Admittedly, Tiger Talk slowed a bit this semester– my posts were sporadic and we never actually got around to editing or posting much of our recorded video content– but in the end, I still believe we can confidently look back on all we’ve done and say that it’s been a success. Our goal in creating this site, our YouTube feed, Facebook page, and Twitter account was to bring Oxy athletics and Tiger athletes closer to the fans: we wanted the experience to be more personal, more honest, more enjoyable. And by in large, I think we accomplished that: with the podcast, we gave you live interviews; with the blog, we gave you some insight; and with our special features and segments, hopefully we gave you a little bit of entertainment, too.

Sure, it wasn’t perfect (just look at any of my early interviews or articles if you need proof of that). But it was still a great learning experience for both me and Jake, and we hope that you all had as much fun along the way as we did.

Will this be the end of Tiger Talk forever? We honestly don’t know. We’ve talked about potentially turning it over to a returning Oxy student next year, letting Jake keep things going from afar, and just stopping it completely, but no decision has been made for sure. Whatever the outcome, though, I will always be proud of all that we’ve done here on Tiger Talk, and especially thankful to everyone who has given us their support along the way.

If they’re right that all good things must come to an end, then so be it; however, I am sure that in some way this won’t be the last of Oxy Tiger Talk forever.

As they also say: the end is only the beginning. So long for now…

The Best Tiger Talk Picture Ever?

Pedro Aldape sent this one over to me a couple days ago. It’s of my last-ditch effort to take down Jake in our sumo wrestling match at the Oxy Relay for Life event in March. Probably the funniest picture of us ever. Check it out:

Even though it might look impressive, my aerial attack proved ineffective as Jake successfully evaded me in the last round of our famed sumo match. The end result: I hit the ground, bounced, then rolled to a shameful defeat.

 

Speech, Speech, Speech!

Looking nervous while speaking at the Senior Athletic Banquet

I got a couple of requests via email from people wanting me to post my speech from the Oxy Senior Athletic Banquet a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask anyone to take a video when I went up to the podium, so here it is in text form. Enjoy!

Today, I want to tell you about what it means to me to be a Tiger.

A few weeks ago, a couple of my teammates and I drove down to Whittier to watch the last women’s water polo game of the year. It was a Sunday– the day after our season had ended and the day of our annual Tigers baseball luncheon. Because the banquet was scheduled to begin just two hours after the opening whistle of the water polo game, we knew we’d be cutting it close, so we put on our “country club casual” best and sped down there as quickly as we could.

When we got there and walked onto the pool deck, we looked totally out of place: Three guys wearing collared shirts, kakis, and dress shoes standing amidst a swarm of Tiger fans covered head to toe in orange and black face paint, t-shirts, shorts, and knee-high socks must have stuck out like a sore thumb to those standing on the other side. But it wasn’t an issue, because as soon as the Oxy fans saw us, they made us feel right at home, welcoming us to sit with them and even offering to paint our faces with Tiger stripes, whiskers, or whatever else we could think of (I think I looked pretty sweet with my claw marks that I got).

When the game began, we joined in on the Tiger fans’ cheers, jumping up to clap, yell, and stomp our feet on the metal bleachers in a collective rumble of excitement whenever an Oxy player would steal the ball, make a big save, or score a goal. And when we left at halftime with Oxy leading CMS, the fans all waved goodbye, thanked us for coming out, and reminded me to wash off my face paint before walking into the baseball luncheon.

We hurried back to campus to arrive just in time for dinner to be served, walking in right as everyone had returned to their seats with their meals. And as I stood there at the gate to the Anderson Field outfield, seeing all of my coaches, teammates, teammates’ families, and friends all sitting together, sharing a steak dinner on a beautiful California Sunday afternoon, I couldn’t help but think to myself: this is it. This is what it means to be a Tiger.

Now I’ll admit, my qualifications for speaking before you all today are a little shaky. I was never an All-American, never All-SCIAC, never even a permanent starter for my baseball team. But my path to get here was a little different, and I think it helped me to realize what the Oxy athletic experience is all about. It’s all about being a part of a family. I’ll tell you another story.

So my first day of freshman orientation was my first day ever on campus; I had never come to visit, never been to Los Angeles, and never even really seen Oxy on a postcard. But on that first day, I walked into the Sports Information Director’s office, introduced myself to her, and asked if she had any jobs available because I’ve always loved sports and wanted to find a way to involve myself in them on campus. She told me that the college was looking for an announcer to call the soccer and football games that semester, and that if I wanted to do that, she’d be happy to have me aboard. Thinking to myself, ya sure, I like hearing my own voice, I decided to try it out. And a week later I was in the Patterson Field press box announcing the starting lineups for the first Oxy football game of the season.

I’ll admit: It wasn’t my best go-around. I mispronounced a couple of the names and even yelled “touchdown” when Oxy had actually committed a safety, but the whole time, the staff in the booth was there to support me, reminding me of who made a tackle, or how many yards the Tigers needed for a first down, or even what quarter it was and how much time was left.

I’ll never forget the moment after that game when Miss Hoffman came over to me, shook my hand, and told me how good I sounded. I was trembling with fear the entire game and thought I’d totally butchered it and that I would never announce again, but there she was, the Athletic Director of an NCAA institution, complementing me, a random freshman, on what I just thought had been a complete and utter disaster. It was uplifting; I felt supported– like what I did had truly mattered.

Over the next three years of my college career, I would discover that this is the norm with Oxy athletics: that people really do care about you and are there to welcome you and support you, just like in a family.

From Coach Wet spending countless hours in the cages with me trying to fix my swing or Brent catching bullpens with me all fall so I could will myself to become a pitcher

…to Taylor and Mr. Sweet helping me four days a week for two months to rehab my knee after surgery last spring

…to Mike and Allison in sports information getting the equipment and space for Jake Blodgett and I to air a weekly podcast called Tiger Talk this year

…I’ve felt supported by everyone I’ve come in contact with during my time as a Tiger.

And to me, that’s what it’s all about– That’s what being a Tiger means.

It’s not about how many hits I had or how many games my team won.

It’s about the camaraderie, it’s about the friendships, it’s about showing up at a water polo game in dress clothes and being welcomed by the Oxy fans with face paint and a place to stand and cheer. It’s about sitting down for a Sunday steak dinner on the Anderson Field grass with my coaches and friends.

We’ve spent our whole lives training to be athletes, to get to this point. And now, suddenly, it’s over. But one thing that will stick with us always are the relationships we’ve developed throughout our time at Oxy. We’re all Tigers. Now and forever.

Enough is Enough

Even though Throck beat me to it, I will not be denied one last rant about the SCIAC. First of all I want to congratulate the members of the Oxy water-polo team that were named to the all-conference teams. Being recognized with a spot on either the first team or second team is truly an honor to be proud of. So congrats Nanea Fujiyama, Rachel Adeleye, and Tessa Bailey-Findley. That said, these teams that were selected are an absolute joke. There is no doubt in my mind that Annie Oxborough-Yankus had a great year, and she did so for the best team in the conference. However, the fact that she was named Athlete of the Year just doesn’t make any sense. The only stat available for any Pomona-Pitzer player is goals scored, which suggests to me that this is the biggest factor in determining a player’s performance, at least for the Sagehens. Oxborough Yankus had a very nice season with 61 goals, but that doesn’t even put her as the top scorer on her team (freshmen Alyssa Woodward had 79). Nanea Fujiyama and Jaime Nippert both had absurdly impressive seasons. Fujiyama had 85 goals, 40 assists, and 60 steals; all with other teams basing their defense around stopping her. Nippert one-upped Nanea with 91 goals, 52 assists, and 64 steals. How is it that one of these women did not get named Athlete of the Year makes me wonder exactly what goes on when these teams are selected.

My disappointment in these selections continues with the snubbing of Jill Stein of Redlands and Tessa Bailey-Findley from the 1st team. I know I just said that being named to the second team was an honor, but to undervalue the effort of these two is unacceptable. Stein’s offensive year was solid, as she racked up 59 goals and 33 assists, but it was her defense that was what sets her apart. She had 111 and steals, 32 more than any other player in either Div. I or Div. III. Bailey Findley ended the year with numbers comparable to any of the top players in the nation: 74 goals, 28 assists, and 64 steals. Again I pose the question, what is going?

Ok, I think I’m done…no wait…why wasn’t Corrine Casey put on a team? I don’t know if she should definitely have been put on a team, but someone has to at least raise the question. What Corrine brings to a team is not as visible on a stat sheet as some other players. She’s a scrappy player who provides energy and leadership to her team. Statistically, though she only had 31 goals and 32 steals she was toward the top of the conference with 53 assists.

So how do these errors happen, I mean the coaches voting on these selections have all the information available to them right? They have seen everyone in the conference play, and have detailed statistics to look over don’t they? I doubt it. Finding the statistics that I have listed above were quite difficult to find. In fact, the stats were so difficult to find that I almost believe that a Watergate style cover-up is taking place.

My suspicions of a “Polo-gate” first began when I went to the thesciac.org (at least the conference managed to call dibs on sciac.org…oops). The conference website does not have any water-polo statistics. Strange…maybe all the water-polo stats are on some other website, like this NCAA Water Polo Stats website. Well, they sort of are, except this site does not have stats for Pomona, Whittier, La Verne, Cal Lu, Cal Tech, and it does not even have CMS listed as a school. Again very convenient for the SCIAC.

Even individual team websites seemed to be in on the conspiracy. Cal Lu and Cal-Tech put up a pdf of their stats, but they did not have any players that were rated questionably highly. As I said before, Pomona-Pitzer only has goals scored listed on their website which makes judging their players very difficult. going purely by goals scored Bailey-Findley or Jill Stein should have clearly made the first team over Perri Hopkins who only had 35 goals. This also shows that Corrine Casey could have been named to one of these teams despite her lower number of goals scored. Whittier only mentions the statistics of Katrina Thoreson, their 2nd-team All-SCIAC player, who herself made a strong case for first team honors with 71 goals, 24 assists, and 63 steals. Laverne, and CMS do not have any statistics on any website that I have found, so it’s hard to imagine Candace Filippelli having a better season than Bailey-Findley, Stein, or Thoreson yet she made the 1st-team.

If it took me hours to figure all of this out do you really think that everyone making these selections had all the information they needed to make the right decisions. While Polo-gate may not go down as one of the biggest conspiracies of all time, I think that it’s still something to consider. Way to blow it SCIAC.

Tiger Talk Gets Ready to Graduate

Well, the time has come. Classes are over, the underclassmen are gone from campus, and we’re just two days away from walking across the Greek Bowl stage to grab our diplomas and say sayonara to college life.

It’s sad, really, but in a way it’s also been pretty cool. This week has been all about us: we’ve had dinners, we’ve had dances, we’ve gotten free Occidental license plate holders— and this afternoon, we even got to hold our own in a water balloon fight against President Veitch after graduation rehearsal.

It all certainly has been special. And while I’m sure the next two days will fly by, there’s no doubt that we’ll keep having fun– whether we get to throw water balloons at Oxy administrators or not.

Tiger Talk is not at the end yet, but we’re getting there very, very quickly, and clearly I’m starting to get nostalgic. Just two more days until these two college athletes become college graduates. That’s pretty crazy.

Monday Morning Quarterback: Second Team?

If there’s one thing I’m known for amongst my group of friends, is that I like to complain about sports. Not debate, not brag, but complain. Why? Because there’s just so much to whine about, and because it’s just kind of fun.

My fantasy baseball team‘s current standing (10th of 12)? Sucks.

That pitch that Brett Lawrie got called out on the other night? Freakin’ absurd.

The fact that I always have to guard 6’1″ and 215 lbs Casey Harms in pickup basketball even though I’m 5’8″ on a good day and was forced to quit playing rec league when I was a kid because I was so bad? Total crap.

But this week on MMQ, I’m moving my usually-off-the-blog rants onto the Tiger Talk public forum because I am just so damn frustrated with the SCIAC for its baseball and women’s water polo All-Conference selections.

Why are Pedro Aldape and Tessa Bailey-Findley only second-team all-conference, and where is Brent Wunner on the baseball list?

Let’s start with baseball.

Pedro Aldape deserved better than second team all conference this year. Photo by Lisa Gilliand

As had been well-documented throughout the season, this was a great year for the Diamond Tigers. 23 wins in total, a .643 winning percentage in conference, and a late playoff push– this was truly a breakout year for a team that many expected to finish towards the bottom of the conference standings. And leading the charge on the field was none other than young Pedro Aldape: an unassuming 6-foot-tall junior from Sherman Oaks with a heart of gold and ridiculously quick hands at the plate. The kid had a monster year: a .390 average, 53 hits, 10 double, 8 home runs, 45 RBIs, and even 6 stolen bases just because. He finished in the top six in the league in four categories (including second in home runs and RBIs) after having missed six games entirely with a thumb injury. He was the offensive heart and soul of this team, and certainly All-SCIAC material.

But second team? Come on. I know that Pomona-Pitzer’s James Campbell had the lock down at the first team 1B position (Campbell one-upped Aldape in nearly every category), but was CalTech’s Brian Penserini really a better option at DH? I mean, sure the kid hit .430 and it’s nice to give the hapless Beavers a little recognition every now and then, but Aldape was significantly better in nearly every other category: he collected 13 more hits, 6 more home runs, 26 more RBIs, and 39 more total bases. And, more significantly, he did it against other teams’ Friday guys, not a bunch of misfit relievers like myself who CalTech rarely teed off on (ya, I’ll wear that insult for this argument). So my conclusion here is that these two should be switched: Aldape should have been placed on the first team as DH, while Penserini should have been voted onto the second where there are no positions.

The All-SCIAC list was also missing Tiger catcher Brent Wunner.

To that point, Brent Wunner also deserved a nod to the second team. If you look at the all-conference roster, you’ll notice that there are four shortstops on that list: Claremont’s Brian Gose, La Verne’s George Hanna, Redlands’ Chase Tucker, and Oxy’s Logan Allen. Now, I understand why Tucker and Allen were selected (Chase hit .304 with 31 RBIs and 17 stolen bases, while Logy Bear finished at .325 with 3 home runs, 28 RBIs and 24 steals), but Gose and Hanna are suspect. Just look at the numbers: In 45 more at-bats, Gose only hit .15 points higher than Wunner, only had one more extra base hit, only had two more stolen bases, and finished with 4 fewer RBIs than the Tiger’s catcher. Similarly, while Hanna collected 8 more extra base hits and 10 more RBIs than Brent, he finished with a lower average (.278), lower OBP (.375 vs. .402), and the same amount of steals–and had 63 more opportunities to go to bat. Plus, none of this takes into account that Wunner was perhaps the best defensive catcher in the league. Other teams just did not want to run on him: he allowed only 22 steals on the season, the majority of which came when notoriously slow-to-the-plate lefty Tyler Eyrich was pitching (including in the March 23rd game against Cal Lu when the Kingsmen stole 7 bags in a double-steal clinic against Eyrich), and did a phenomenal job of blocking– allowing only six past balls all year. So, yes, Wunner, Gose, and Hanna finished the season with very similar stat lines, but I still think Brent should have gotten the nod here because of his defense.

Ok, and now onto water polo.

Tessa Bailey-Findley (2) had a huge year both on offense and defense. Image from Occidental Water Polo

It’s harder to argue this one because not all water polo teams keep stats, but I’m going to try it anyway. Tessa Bailey-Findley deserves a first-team bid, not a second. Why? Because  the girl absolutely shut down her competition on defense, and had one of the best offensive years in all of college water polo.

Now, it’s difficult to quantify defensive ability; I mean, you can’t just look at the numbers and say, “wow, this girl shut down the girls she was guarding all year.” But by most accounts and by the fact that she finished 6th in all of college water polo in steals and set an Oxy record in that category, I think it’s safe to say that she was a defensive force in the SCIAC this season. Furthermore, Tessa also produced on offense: her 74 goals ranked second on the team, third in conference, and 7th in all of the nation (Division I and Division III reported stats) and her 102 points put her at 8th in the country. So second team material? I think she was a little better than that. Should have been first team, without a question.

Admittedly, I’m not exactly sure how the SCIAC picks its all-conference teams. I asked around in the athletics department and some said the SIDs get to influence the results, and others said it’s just all the coaches. But what I do know is that the selectors messed up. Pedro, Brent, and Tessa all got screwed, and I don’t like it.

Moving Up in the World

Klout is the new swag.

In case you’re behind the times (like I was until this morning when I first read about it in Wired Magazine), klout is a measure of the amount of influence a person or group holds in the digital world based on their level of connectedness. It takes into account how many Twitter and Facebook followers they have, how many times their blog and YouTube pages have been accessed, how many pictures they’ve uploaded to Flickr, how many check-ins they’ve amassed on FourSquare, and a number of other factors. It’s essentially a barometer for one’s marketing and political reach– a measure of how important someone or some company is to the ever evolving, ever expanding frontier known commonly as the great World Wide Web.

Why do I bring all of this up? Because this afternoon, our klout score got a huge boost.

As usual, Jake was productively procrastinating (is that a thing?) from his school work by trying to spread the Tiger Talk name across cyberspace and Twitter. Because President Obama and Oxy student/Hannah Montana co-star Emily Osment refused to recognize our existence, Jake turned to a lesser-known but equally awesome former Tiger named Rider Strong for a retweet. Here’s what he got:

Now, most of you probably don’t get why a retweet and shout out from some guy dressed as a hippie is awesome. But do you know who that guy is?

The cast of the unforgettable 1990s sitcom “Boy Meets World.” Rider Strong aka “Shawn Hunter” is the one wearing stripes on the left. Image from neontommy.com

It’s Shawn Hunter from Boy Meets World! Yes, the Shawn Hunter. As in Cory’s best friend who often wears horizontal stripes. As in the one who’s sort of a badass and sometimes almost makes bad decisions before others talk some sense into him. As in the kid who sets up eventual soul-mates  Cory and Topanga, leaves his drunkard father to live with the ever-so-suave Mr. Turner, and eventually moves with the gang to New York in the show’s finale. Shawn Freakin’ Hunter!

And not only did he retweet us. He responded! With a joke about Oxy! How awesome is that?

So forget the fact that we only have 47 Facebook followers, that our most popular YouTube video only has 92 views, or that the leading search term that brings people to our blog is “sad tiger” (“tiger in snow” follows in a close second, for those who were wondering). Today, Rider Strong mentioned Tiger Talk on Twitter, and that’s pretty damn cool.

Oh ya, and our klout score rose from 2 to 14. I’d say that means we’re moving up in the world.

I can’t wait to see who retweets us next.

Finally I Don’t Have to Be Angry

It’s been a great last few days for Occidental Lacrosse, as both the SCIAC and the NCAA have finally decided to give the Tigers a little respect. Yesterday we found out that 6 members of the team were selected to either the 1st or 2nd all-conference teams. Attacker Tori Larson (Denver), midfielder Sarah Kessler (Portland, Ore.) and defender Charlotte Bromley (Watertown, Conn.) made the first team. Attacker Lauren Wemple (Needham, Mass.), midfielder Rebecca Belding (Burlingame) and defender Kristen Feinberg (Haverford, Penn.) made the second team. As per usual Oxy SID Mike Wells has put together more information about these selections in a more eloquent way than I could, so I’ll direct you to his congratulatory press release.

Even more important than the recognition these individuals received, today the amazing improvement this team has shown from last year to this year was rewarded with an at-large bid to the NCAA Div. III tournament. I am a little bit disappointed that I have to praise the NCAA for making such an insightful decision instead of getting to write about how much I hate how they favor the East Coast, but my elation for Women’s Lax far outweighs this disappointment. The Tigers will be taking on fellow SCIAC member, the University of Redlands Bulldogs, this Wednesday May 9th, at Farquhar Fields in Redlands at 7:00 pm. To speculate on the Tigers road to a potential championship here’s a link to the full tournament bracket. If you can make it all the way out to Redlands to support your Tigers I’m sure they would love some extra fans, but if not be sure to checkout either oxyathletics.com for live stats, and hopefully a live feed of the game.

You Don’t Want to Be in the Library Anyway

Random gun shots, rapidly moving objects, periodic cheering, a voice booming over a loud speaker… sounds like a perfect environment to get some finals studying in this Saturday. Here at Tiger Talk we fully understand the pressures of Oxy’s rigorous finals schedule, but we also have an obligation to try to get people to go out and support Oxy athletics. The Oxy Invite will be taking place all-day Saturday on Bill Henry Track in Jack Kemp Stadium, and going to check out an event or two probably won’t effect your grades too much. Maybe, the background extra stimuli described above could even be help studying.At the very least though if you are walking by the Market Place or are taking a study break to go work out, why not take a look at the event, yell some encouragement for Oxy, or shout an expletive at a rival school’s team.

For those of you who do not know a lot about track and field (join the club), and are still on the fence about whether or not you should head out to the track I think you should know that these athletes go through rigorous training at the beginning of their season so that they can taper off to have their best performances at the end of the season. With this being the last meet for the Tigers before the National Championships, everyone should be at their best. With performances at the SCIAC championships like Cole Williams first place in the 800m, Claire Larson missing her third straight 800m title by just 1 second, and a host of talented Oxy distance runners like Tara Saxena and Sierra Walker posting personal bests in the 3000m steeplechase their should be plenty of action to check out.

A Toast to the Fan

No doubt about it, people love their tigers. No, I’m not talking about the kind of people who dress their babies as tigers because it’s cute or even those that paint their dogs like tigers because they think it’s the safest and next best thing– I’m talking about those Tiger fans who show up to every game, and every event because they love their Oxy Tiger athletes.

I’m talking about Oxywood.

I’m talking about those awesome women’s water polo fans who go the extra mile with facepaint.

I’m talking about the students who dress up, dress down, and do whatever else it takes to show their team that they’re behind them all the way.

So here’s to you crazy Tiger fans for all of your dedication. It’s been a pleasure to write for you, announce for you, and play for you, and both Jake and I are truly grateful for all of your support.