Media coverage of black quarterbacks, take two

The comment was wrong. McNabb is an unquestionably talented quarterback and team leader, and he does not get special media treatment. Philly, with the exception of New York, is the city known to be toughest on its players. McNabb was booed on draft day and through much of his first season. His throwing accuracy has long been the subject of scrutiny. McNabb is a terrific quarterback who occasionally struggles with imprecision. None of this has anything to do with his skin color. The reason I rai

South Side dominance tainted by iffy umpiring

First, was the call correct? It’s not entirely clear. The sequence has been replayed and dissected a thousand times. Some contend that the videotape shows that Paul trapped the ball against the dirt. This view supports Eddings’ call. Most of the media, though, holds the opposite opinion-that the video shows Paul catching Kelvim Escobar’s pitch cleanly; the ball never touched the dirt. Since the replay has not produced a consensus, we have to ask a different question. If it is unclear whether the

Annual Autumn drama shaping up in AL East

In the mayhem over the last week, long-term perspective was sacrificed in favor of constant monitoring of the current standings. No one should forget that the Yankees’ presence in the playoffs is in itself remarkable considering where they stood two weeks ago, and even more so considering how things looked four months ago. Indeed, the Yanks sat four full games out of first place on Sept. 11. They managed not just to make the playoffs but to win the division by rattling off 16 wins in their last

Major league drama afoot in AL stretch run

The Sox could, therefore, potentially play in a Yankee-free postseason. Or, in an even more intriguing scenario, the Yankees could overtake the Sox, and Cleveland could steal the wild card and a playoff berth from Boston. The question is, though, what would the AL playoffs mean without both the Yankees and the Sox? The Yankees’ ALCS collapse highlighted the Sox’ 2004 triumph as much as Boston’s actual World Series victory, and, conversely, the Yankees love to roll over the Sox en route to a Worl

Pennington drops the ball­­, literally, in opener

This is the classic example of inconsistency between score and actual game flow. In 90 percent of such cases, the teams fought more evenly than the score suggests. Rare are the other 10 percent, the games where one team walloped the other, where one team’s execution was so obviously superior and its preparation more thorough than the other’s, where the final score does not do justice to the severity of the beatdown one team levied on the other. Sunday’s auspicious Jets season opener against the

No Pratt, Morrow or Babbling; weird isn't it?

Good ideas This summer has witnessed no shortage of activity on the professional sports front. The NHL Players Association and the owners finally resolved their salary cap dispute, and hockey will return to a full schedule this fall. To increase hockey’s entertainment value, the NHL will institute a major rules overhaul-shootouts will decide tie games; offensive zones will be extended to provide more space on power plays; two-line passes will be permitted to open up the neutral zone; and strict

Five College News Brief: Mt. Holyoke study supports SAT-optional policy, suggests that admission tes

The study, which the college is citing as a vindication of its four-year old policy, was funded by a $290,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation. In making the SAT optional, Mt. Holyoke “committed to casting a wider net for applicants with strong academic potential and exceptional talent who may have been previously discouraged from applying because of their performance on the SAT,” according to the site. College officials say that the study reaffirms its claim that the SAT has limited value as a

Runway bolsters Relief Campaign's donation to WHO

For about a half-hour, student models from the College, Smith and Mt. Holyoke Colleges and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass) showed off clothes and garments that had been shipped from countries in Asia and Africa. Designs were principally Indonesian, Thai, Indian, Sri Lankan, Vietnamese and Chinese. Professional models from New York City were also hired for the event, though they did not participate in the actual modeling. Female models wore dresses and male models wore shirts

College accepts 128 students early decision

The 128 admitted students had an average SAT I verbal score of 714 and an average math score of 719. The College admitted an equal number of men and women–64 of each sex. Twenty-two accepted students are children of alumni. Dean of Admissions Tom Parker said that one of the College’s major goals-yielding more African-American students-has succeeded thus far. Parker said that more African-American students were accepted early decision this year than for the class of 2008. Nine African-American s