Biggest Game of the Year?

This Saturday night at 6:00 pm your Occidental Volleyball team will be taking on the Cal Lutheran Regals in a rematch of last year’s SCIAC Championship Tournament finalists. This will be Oxy’s biggest test of the season so far, and taking down CLU could set the tone for an even greater season than the Tiger’s playoff run last year. With this game having so much at stake, and it being the first home volleyball game of the season I think that it’s only fitting that we pack Rush to support the team. You can’t ask for a better way to start your saturday night than watching the two of the best teams in the country square off, and the opportunity to yell at Cal Lutheran parents. See you out there.

Mascot Matchups: Here We Go Again

It just wouldn’t be Tiger Talk without Mascot Matchups. For those new to the blog let me explain what we are doing here. The winner of the majority of college football games can be decided based on a hypothetical battle between the school’s mascots. Each week Tiger Talk will attempt to pick the winners of the games of each member of the SCIAC. So without further delay, let’s get started.

 

 

Cal Lutheran Kingsmen vs. Pacific Lutheran Lutes

This will be a bloody battle of two teams that tried to find a clever way around just calling themselves the knights. I can’t see much difference between the Lutes and the Kingsmen, so I am going to have to give the nod to Pac Lu with the battle taking place in Washington.

Final Score: Cal Lu 23, Pac Lu 31

Menlo College Oaks vs. Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens

Two of the least threatening mascots in all of college football, a chicken and a tree. Poor Cecil the Sagehen can try whatever he wants, but he is not going to do more than chip the bark off of that tree. Then again the Oak isn’t going to do much to Cecil, unless one of its branches happens to fall and knock our fine feathered friend out. After hours of pecking at the Oak Cecil will probably pass out from exhaustion giving the tree the victory by default.

Final Score: Menlo 42, Pomona 14

Whitworth Pirates vs. Whittier Poets

Regardless of how you emphasize the “wh” of these schools names it’s pretty obvious who’s going to win this one. Even with an eye patch, a peg leg, and an annoying parrot on his shoulder, I’m still putting my money on the guy with the cannon.

Final Score: Whitworth 50, Whittier 7

Redlands Bulldogs vs. North Central Cardinals (Ill.)

Who cares. Here’s a picture of a bulldog.

Final Score: Redlands 37, North Central 27

 

 

 

 

Lewis and Clark Pioneers vs. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags

I’ve got to imagine that along their journey to the Pacific Northwest that Lewis and Clark must have run into a stag or two that they eventually made into their dinner, and I have to believe that this will be the case here as well.

Final Score: Lewis and Clark 17, CMS 10

Puget Sound Loggers vs. Chapman Panthers

Loggers are physically fit and equipped with axes and chainsaws, but that is not going to help them against a panther. A stealthy and quick predator with razor sharp teeth and claws, the panther will make short work of any amount of loggers. Have you ever met a logger that survived a fight with a panther? Me neither.

Final Score: Puget Sound 6, Chapman 52

Pacific (Oregon) Boxers vs. Occidental Tigers

I would have loved to come up with some sort of elaborate scenario of a brutal fight between these two animals, but in the animal kingdom the Tiger is just far superior in fighting ability to any dog. Even if we take liberties with Pacific’s mascot and have a world class boxer try to fight the tiger, the outcome would still be Floyd Mayweather taking a trip to the hospital.

Final Score: Pacific 13, Oxy 21

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.

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.

All Good Things Come Must Come to an End

Unfortunately, the lady Tiger’s water polo season has come to an end, as Oxy came up just short this weekend in their SCIAC tournament semi-final game against Redlands 7-6. It’s a tough way to go out, but the road had to end sometime. It may not seem like it now, but the Tigers did have a very good season, and I’m sure that the team’s efforts will be recognized when the All-SCIAC teams are selected. Not to mention the fact that the future looks extremely bright for this team. But, I’m sure know one wants to look a the silver lining of this cloud just yet, I know I’m still bummed that I don’t have anymore mascot matchups to write, so I’ll just wait until the all-conference announcements come out to reflect on all that the Tigers accomplished.

Mascot Matchups: Road to the ‘Ship

Any chance you’re going to be in Whittier this weekend? Probably not, but if you are then you will have the chance to see some great water polo action, as the Oxy Tigers will be destroying teams on their way to a SCIAC tournament Championship. There first victim will be the La Verne Leopards. Check out the full schedule of the weekends events here.

Oxy Tigers vs. La Verne Leopards

I’ve been pretty good about not breaking out the Obama card in any of these battles, but this time I just can’t resist. When you look at the notable alumni for the University of La Verne, the most recognizable name is probably Ross Matthews, known as Ross the Intern on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and when you look at Oxy’s most notable alumni (even though he transferred so it shouldn’t really count) you see Barack Obama. So I ask that you take a look at both of these video clips, and decided who you would pick to win in a fight?

Oxy 9,000,000ish, Laverne 6 +/-

The Good, The Bad, The Legislative Bodies of College Athletics

Congratulations are in order for Oxy Jr. Deshun McCoy as he was named to the All-SCIAC 2nd team for the third straight year after posting 15.5 points per game and 7.1 rebounds per game. At the same time though, I want to reiterate my disdain for the all conference team selection process. Why wasn’t Deshun put on the 1st team All-SCIAC? I do not want to take anything away from those players that made the team over McCoy, but at the same time if you look at the statistics it’s pretty clear that he is deserving of a spot on the first team. I already expressed my displeasure with the SCIAC volleyball all conference teams, and I think that the suggestions that I made to fix that process are still very applicable here.

While I’m giving praise and voicing disdain, I believe that the Tigers Women’s Basketball team deserves some congratulations on their fantastic Conference Championship season. Now, I would like to express my disgust at the NCAA selection committee for not awarding Oxy with an at large bid for the Division III championship tournament. The only SCIAC team in the tournament will be the conference tournament champion Cal Lutheran Regals. It just seems to me that if you have a better record then many of the teams who did make it into the tournament bracket (22-4) and you dominate your conference (13-1), apart from the conference tournament, that you should get a chance to play for the title. But what do I know?

Monday Morning Quarterback: Spring Semester, Week 2

Sitting in the Marketplace this afternoon with my computer and a bowl of Cocoa Krispies cereal drafting up this week’s edition of Monday Morning Quarterback, I realized something: I write too much. Maybe it was the fact that I looked down to the bottom of the screen and saw the word count meter read four-digits or maybe it was Jake standing over my shoulder telling me that no one wants to read my eight-paragraph post about Oxy sports, but something tells me that my last MMQB was just way too long. So, to fix that, I’m going to follow Jake’s lead and write less…in list form…with more pictures.

Here is my list (in no particular order) of awesome things that happened this weekend in relation to Tiger athletics:

1. 

   Caroline Chang's record-setting 200 yard backstroke time is certainly awesome enough to make the list

   Oxy swimmer Caroline Chang set a school record in the 200 yard backstroke on Saturday against Pomona-Pitzer with a time of 2:10.57– over a second faster than the previous mark. While the Tigers ultimately fell to the Sagehens on the day, Chang’s record time is still pretty awesome, and therefore makes the list.

2. 

   Victor Munoz loading up to hit one over the fence

   Freshman pitcher Joe Kling picked up his second win in as many tries on Saturday against the Whitworth Pirates, the only game the Oxy baseball team won in last weekend’s three game set. I do not have a picture of Joe from the weekend, so instead am including one of catcher Victor Munoz, who hit his first home run on a swing that was…yes, awesome.

3. The women’s basketball team won a couple of games the past weekend, crushing Cal Tech 74-40 on Saturday before sneaking by Chapman in double overtime 63-61 on Super Bowl Sunday. With the victories, the Lady Tigers sit atop the SCIAC at 9-1 in conference and 18-3 overall. In my book, that qualifies as awesome.
4. Sticking with women’s basketball, Annika Awbrey and Crystal Goodwin both posted career highs in scoring during the team’s game against Cal Tech. For the record,  Awbrey finished with 15 and Goodwin with 12. Double awesome.
5. 

   What's Shane looking at? Could it be the women's water polo team in their intrasquad last weekend?

   While the women’s water polo season doesn’t officially start until this coming Saturday, the team did play their annual alumni game last weekend in front of exactly one fan: my roommate Shane. Props to him for being the first to support the team in its quest to return to– and this time hopefully win– the national championship. His dedication is quite awesome.

6. To that point, the women’s water polo team is now one week closer to opening their highly anticipated season with games against Azusa Pacific and Cal State San Bernardino. I know Jake’s excited: he’s dedicating this semester’s Mascot Match-Ups entirely to the spring season’s most aquatic Tiger athletes (no offense, baseball team). Me? I’m just as happy as Jake is, which is why the fact that we now no longer have to wait to see women’s water polo play makes the list. Their season should be…awesome.
7. Turning back to the hardwood, the men’s basketball team beat Cal Tech last weekend 62-54 on the road, thus successfully silencing the critics who were still skeptical of the Tigers after last year’s loss to the Beavers. Per usual, Deshun McCoy led Oxy in scoring with 15 points. Putting to rest the “Cal Tech beat Oxy” talks: awesome.
8. 

   The Tigers baseball team made its presence known at the Oxy-Cal Tech men's basketball game

   And finally, not to be forgotten is the effort of the members of the Occidental baseball team, who traveled to Cal Tech to cheer on the Tigers basketball team as they took down the Beavers. At several times, the baseball team challenged the Cal Tech fans with chants of “O-O-O-to the X” and “Defense.” The room buzzed with nothing short of a playoff atmosphere. Particularly impressive, too, were the signs created for the event by the baseball team: outfielder Joey Massari drew a Tiger devouring a Beaver, pitcher Tyler Steimel held a “Math Sucks” sign which garnered a number of cheers from visiting fans, while Tiger Talk’s own Jake Blodgett held one reading “ESPN” with two arrows pointing downward. The whole spectacle was truly awesome. Below are the few pictures I was able to gather (sorry for the quality– they were all taken with a cell phone):

For a Cal Tech basketball game, there sure was a heavy turnout. So many fans were there that the Tigers baseball team had to stand against the wall behind the Oxy bench

The baseball team huddles together to plan their next cheer during a timeout

Oddly enough, the "Math Sucks" poster elicited a few cheers from Beaver fans, including one from a Cal Tech professor who came over and said to the Tigers baseball team: "I even teach math and I hate it"

Jake and Kevin Ozaki show off two of the posters brought to the game by the Oxy baseball team

So, there it is: the highlights of the weekend in list form with pictures. And it all comes in well below the 1000 word mark. Yep, I think writing less just might be better.

Do you like the list format? Tell us what you think by leaving us a note in the comment section.