The lead-up to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, which begin today in Beijing, has been marked by controversy. Widespread opposition to the policies of the Chinese government inflamed demonstrations that disrupted the international legs of the Olympic torch’s journey last spring. Internet censorship, although slightly relaxed from a week earlier, continues to be a point of argument for the media covering the events.

The Olympics, however, have long held the power to transcend politics and allow athletes from all over the world to come together in peaceful competition. As the spotlight now shifts from controversy surrounding the host nation to the competitions themselves, the summer games show the potential for historic performances from the world’s greatest athletes.

Hosting the Olympics is the source of immense national pride for China, and top Chinese athletes such as sprinter Liu Xiang and diver Guo Jingjing are under immense pressure to succeed. Guo, the defending three-meter springboard gold medalist, and her teammates carry perhaps the greatest potential to showcase the strength of Chinese athletics. There has been wide speculation that the Chinese divers could sweep all eight gold medals in diving, a feat they came close to in 2004 with six.

Track and field events have been with the modern Olympics since their inception and have always been a major focus of attention at the games. No event attracts more attention than the 100-meter dash. This year, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is heading to the Olympics having set a new world record in the 100-meter of 9.72 seconds in May. Running against Bolt is American Tyson Gay, who finished in a time of 9.68 seconds at the Olympic trials. Because of a strong tailwind, this time was not recognized as an official record, but it is the fastest anyone has ever covered a hectometer on foot.

Another notable pair of track and field athletes are Iraqi sprinter Dana Hussein Abdul-Razzaq and discus thrower Haidar Nasir. Iraq was prepared to send a team of seven athletes to the 2008 games, but late last month the International Olympic Committee banned Iraq because of the dissolution and reappointment of the country’s National Olympic Committee last May. The IOC eventually agreed to lift the ban, but not until after the deadline for non-track and field events had passed, leaving Iraq with only two eligible athletes. However, the International Rowing Federation also allowed Iraqi scullers Hamzah Hussein and Haidar Nozad their place in the competition. After an exceptionally difficult road to the games, these athletes have the chance to bring pride and unity to their long-suffering nation.

In the swimming events, the biggest story is the same as it was four years ago: Michael Phelps and his quest to break fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz’s all-time record for the most gold medals in a single Olympiad. Spitz won seven golds at the 1972 games in Munich, a record Phelps nearly matched in 2004 when he left Athens with a total of six gold and two bronze medals.

One swimmer who has already made Olympic history is South African Natalie du Toit, who became the first athlete ever to qualify for both the Olympic and Paralympic teams in the same year. Du Toit, whose left leg was amputated at the knee in 2001, is the first amputee to compete at the Olympics since 1904.

United States basketball had long been dominant at the Olympics, but after a disappointing third-place finish by the 2004 incarnation of “The Dream Team,” the 2008 squad has been labeled “The Redeem Team.” Featuring NBA stars like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Kobe Bryant, the U.S. team went undefeated in its pre-games exhibition schedule, narrowly defeating Australia in their final pre-Beijing game on Tuesday.

The flower-shaped Beijing Olympic Tennis Center could be the stage for a rematch of last month’s unforgettable Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. After defeating the five-time Wimbledon champion, Nadal will replace Federer as the world's top ranked player in two weeks, a title Federer has held since 2004.

Lastly, for the first time in 104 years, three siblings will be competing together on the U.S. Olympic team. Two-time Taekwondo gold medalist Steven Lopez is joined this year by his younger brother and sister, Mark and Diana. All three Lopez siblings have won world championships and are strong medal contenders in Beijing. Rounding out the Lopez family’s dominance of the U.S. team is coach and older brother Jean.

All of these athletes are now gathering in one place as the world’s premiere sporting event begins again. Their stories are just a few of the hundreds soon to have their next chapter written in Beijing.

On July 28, and after an 11-hour battle from Dover, England to Cap Griz Nez, France, Clara S. Bennett ’10 joined an elite group by swimming across the English Channel. Bennett became the third MIT student-athlete to successfully complete the grueling, 21-mile swim.

Beginning her journey at 5:57 a.m., Bennett enjoyed good weather conditions and low tides, although the water temperature hovered around 62°F for most of the swim. Despite a slow start, the physics major settled into a nice rhythm three hours in and fought off shoulder pain and exhaustion en route to an immensely inspiring accomplishment.

“I didn’t have any nerves prior to jumping in and surprisingly I felt good while finishing,” said Bennett. “The first few hours were definitely the toughest. After three hours, there was no concern about making it, just a matter of how.”

Overcoming the mental grind is a critical component in crossing the English Channel, and Bennett’s intense preparation enabled her to conquer the circuit. Bennett completed a six-hour swim in 60° water to qualify for the attempt. One of her open-water training swims included battling five-foot waves and a 25-knot head wind off the Boston shore. To prepare her body for the physical and mental test, Bennett’s daily workout routine covered four hours per day and included lots of dry-land exercises, yoga, and kickboxing.

“The only time I was ever really worried was about a month ago,” confided Bennett. “I was experiencing fatigue after all of the lifting, Pilates, and other dry-land exercises while a previous injury to my shoulder led to some doubts.”

It definitely helped that Bennett wasn’t alone, as she trained with friend and former club teammate, Mallory Mead. A recent graduate of Western Kentucky University, Mead made the swim across the Channel two days earlier.

“Mallory and I joked that we got most of the bad weather out of the way on our training trips, and I definitely have to give her the credit for planting the seed to make this swim,” Bennett said.

For a detailed recap of Bennett’s journey and the events leading up to her swim, visit Bennett and Mead’s blog at http://swimmingthechannel.blogspot.com/.

Sonia Raman, who has served as an assistant coach at Wellesley College for the past six years, has been named head coach of MIT women’s basketball, as announced by Director of Athletics Julie Soriero.

In addition to serving as the 12th head coach in the history of MIT women’s basketball, Raman will fill a key role as the Assistant Director of Compliance. A highly-regarded and dynamic young coach, Raman is also a lawyer, who has spent the last seven years in compliance for the United States Department of Labor and Fidelity Investments.

“The commitment Sonia has to the game of basketball and to the coaching profession is obvious,” said Soriero. “She has a solid background in teaching, recruiting and player development. Sonia is ready to take the next step and lead her own program and we are excited that the program she leads will be MIT.”

As a top assistant at Wellesley, Raman had been responsible for opponent scouting, including MIT, which competes against Wellesley as part of the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference. Her in-depth knowledge of NEWMAC will serve as a strong asset as the Engineers look to build upon last year’s success. The team reached the quarterfinals of the NEWMAC Tournament after compiling a 12-13 regular season record, its best in five years.

“I am very excited for the opportunity to coach the women’s basketball team at MIT,” said Raman. “I have tremendous respect for the MIT student-athletes from my time as an opponent in the NEWMAC. I can’t wait to get started as we strive towards excellence together.”

Prior to Wellesley, Raman spent two years as an assistant coach at Tufts University, where she also played while serving as team captain. Coaching at various camps across New England for the last 16 years, Raman was the head coach of high school, collegiate, and post-collegiate all-stars from 2000–2005 in the Bay State Games.

Sport and society are often linked, whether by a fan’s comparison between a game-winning goal and real-life heroics or a journalist’s association between performance-enhancing drugs and rampant dishonesty in American politics. Such comparisons are primed for aggrandizement: caught up in the moment, we often forget that the realm of sports does not always equal the realm of the real world. Based on its name alone, the traveling Baseball as America exhibit seems likely to fall under this category of distorted reality.

However, a closer look at the exhibit, currently on display at Boston’s Museum of Science, reveals that the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has largely avoided this trap. The creators have pieced together the history and development of a sport and related its context to history in just a subset of items from Cooperstown. Though the exhibit uses baseball as a barometer for the national culture, it focuses on baseball and America’s complex co-evolution instead of making superficial comparisons.

Admirably, the exhibit does not attempt to gloss over the uglier sides of American history: it covers commercialization and racial, gender, and ethnic stereotypes in as much depth as it covers memorable World Series and individual achievements. As the exhibit proclaims, “It is this controversial history and changing face that make baseball an effective emblem of America. Look to baseball and you will see our ideals and our injustices, our triumphs and our struggles.”

The shining moment of the exhibit, however, lies in something far less prominent than Curt Schilling’s bloody sock. (For the record, it really doesn’t look like it was smeared with ketchup.) The label of this memento reads, “Shoebox of baseball cards thrown away by your mother.” The appeal of the Baseball as America exhibit hinges on the idea that baseball mirrors American life — not just its professional achievements, but also the everyday items and memories that connect millions of people.

Similarly moving is the display on 9/11 that immediately greets visitors upon entry. Accompanying a promotional baseball found at Ground Zero by New York City firefighter Vin Mavaro is Mavaro’s letter to the CEO of Trade Web, the company that manufactured the baseball: “Being a baseball fan, coach and player, this item has become a symbol of hope for me.” For me, this pairing is even more poignant than Curt Schilling’s cap from the 2001 World Series, adorned with a New York Police Department shield. A lesser exhibit might have included only the professional baseball connection to 9/11 and missed how powerful the average person’s relationship to baseball can be.

Of course, there are the usual suspects: the panel devoted to Babe Ruth, the Jackie Robinson display, the Black Sox scandal from 1919. Other interesting tidbits are the Strat-O-Matic, the precursor to fantasy baseball; several items belonging to Moe Berg, the major-league catcher who was also an American spy; and a picture of the Ichi Roll, a sushi roll at Seattle’s Safeco Field named for All-Star outfielder Ichiro Suzuki.

For those interested in the technological side of baseball, the “Invention and Ingenuity” placard discusses the Navier-Stokes equation in relation to the way pitches rotate, a prelude to displays of equipment and communications advances. Regarding the curve ball, former Harvard president Charles Eliot gave us this ironic gem: “I understand that a curve ball is thrown with a deliberate attempt to deceive. Surely this is not an ability we should want to foster at Harvard.”

Additionally, there is a section devoted just to the Red Sox. A good portion of these items represented the players taking the field in Fenway today. I’m not sure if this is in light of their two titles since 2004 and the requisite mention (and resolution) of the 86-year curse, or perhaps a feature that the curators tweak every time the exhibit changes cities to reflect the history of the team closest to that city. If it’s the latter, I’m even more impressed at the way the exhibit involves the casual regional fan.

That’s not the only personal touch, either. The exhibit encourages fans to upload their own baseball “stories” to its database. Additionally, when your party enters the exhibit you pass by “home plate,” and have your picture taken for a collection of your own — for $20.

Perhaps the Museum took a lesson from the “Enterprise and Opportunity” section. But in a few years, maybe your pictures or ticket stubs from the exhibit will lie next to the Ted Williams-endorsed fishing rod and tackle.

The Baseball as America exhibit will stay in Boston’s Museum of Science until Sept. 1, 2008. Admission is $21 per adult.

Praveen Pamidimukkala ’08, Doria M. Holbrook ’08, and Julia C. Zimmerman ’09 earned College Sports Information Directors Association/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America accolades in the competitive at-large division to give the Engineers eight national plaudits for the 2007–08 academic year. Pamidimukkala received the first honor in the history of the men’s volleyball program, while Holbrook collected her third straight award as a member of the women’s swimming and diving team. Zimmerman was also a repeat selection for the women’s gymnastics team.

Pamidimukkala was MIT’s lone representative on the men’s at-large squad as he was voted to the Third Team. The only player in the program’s history to earn American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America accolades, he earned Second Team recognition during his sophomore and senior seasons. A Northeast Collegiate Volleyball Association All-Conference First Team pick, Pamidimukkala was named the NECVA New England Division Player of the Year and received All-Division First Team honors. The senior closed his career as MIT’s all-time leader in kills (1,949), aces in a season (48), career aces (151), and career solo blocks (69).

Holbrook was awarded First Team honors, making her the third person in MIT’s history to earn three consecutive awards in a single sport. Previously a Second and Third Team selection, she has captured three out of the four accolades for the women’s swimming and diving team. Holbrook is a two-time national champion, an eight-time All-America recipient, and the winner of three New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference Diver of the Year accolades. She established an NCAA open record in three-meter diving at the 2008 NEWMAC Championships and holds NEWMAC open and championship records in one- and three-meter diving. Holbrook has collected five NEWMAC crowns and was the only Division III athlete to qualify for the 2008 U.S. National Spring Diving Championships.

Zimmerman made her second straight appearance on the First Team and was one of six athletes to have a perfect grade point average. She notched First Team All-America performances on the beam, vault, floor, and all-around at the National Collegiate Gymnastics Association National Championship, which raised her career total to nine All-America accolades. A two-time national champion, Zimmerman holds Institute records in four out of five events.

MIT’s Theater on Ice team competed at the Thirteenth Annual International Theater on Ice competition, held at the Gordon H. Paquette Arena in Burlington, Vt. on June 28. The team placed fifth out of five teams in the Adult Choreographic Exercise category in its first season of existence.

The theme of the team’s two-minute, thirty-second program was Creative Evolution, set to the Philadelphia Orchestra’s performance of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” from Walt Disney’s Fantasia. Their performance was described as follows: “Come join us as we explore the circle of life, evolving from single cells to full grown animals, growing and changing as we cycle through the circle of life with every generation.”

Choreographic exercise themes change each year. The required elements for choreographic exercise in 2007–08 were a theme of growth, choreographic process of repetition, and slow gestures. Adult team members must be aged 18 or older as of July 1, 2007, and must have passed at least one U.S. Figure Skating test. Teams must have between eight and 30 members.

MIT Theater on Ice’s team members were Diane M. Brancazio ’90, Diana S. Cheng ’04, Jane Codman (staff), Saja A. Fakhraldeen ’09, Kachina C. Gosselin ’10, Brianne M. Holmbeck ’08, Patricia Lee (spouse of an MIT alumnus), and Jingyi “Cynthia” Tang ’09.

The team began rehearsing at Johnson Rink in November 2007, performed in the MIT Exhibition in March 2008, and competed at the North Shore Open in Reading, Mass. in May 2008 in preparation for the international competition. Students Victoria Lee ’10, Annie Ouyang ’11, David M. Wentzlaff G, and Helen You ’09 participated as part of the team during the academic school year, but were unable to attend this event. Coaches and choreographers were Wellesley College student Anne Goldberg, Jessica A. Eisenstein ’05, and Aubrey L. Samost ’10.

A video recording of the performance will be broadcast on www.icenetwork.com, a sponsor of U.S. Figure Skating.

A gift from the parents of an MIT student-athlete will change the landscape for outdoor competition in the Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation. Bob and Eveline Roberts, whose daughter, Julia N. Roberts ’10, is a midfielder on the women’s soccer team, have pledged $2 million for the installation of synthetic grass turf in Henry G. Steinbrenner ’27 Stadium.

“The generosity of the Roberts family in support of the installation of a new surface and upgrade to our outdoor facilities cannot be overstated,” said DAPER Department Head and Director of Athletics Julie Soriero. “Our students and student-athletes can proudly practice and compete in a first-rate facility. This is a transformational gift that benefits the entire MIT community. We are truly grateful and excited about seeing this project completed for our teams competing in the fall of 2008.”

President Susan Hockfield also thanked the Roberts for their gift. “This much-needed upgrade is an important Institutional priority, but we could not have begun to take action without the Roberts’ thoughtful generosity,” Hockfield said. “Simply put, this gift will transform our campus and community, and will inspire our alumni and friends to help us provide our exceptional students with resources that are commensurate with their potential as future leaders.”

In addition to the installation of grass turf, the Roberts’ gift could also spark the next phase of the Steinbrenner Stadium renovation which includes lighting, seating, and a new press box.

MIT sailing master and coach Fran Charles received the prestigious Graham Hall Award for outstanding service by a college sailing professional this past week at the 2008 Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association/Gill National Championship. As the recipient of this coveted honor, Charles was inducted into the Intercollegiate Sailing Hall of Fame.

According to the ICSA Web site, the award description is as follows: “Recognizing organizers, administrators, advisors, or coaches who have served the best interests of college sailing at the club/team, conference, or national level; one or two honorees per year.”

As coach and sailing master for the Engineers’ perennially-ranked intercollegiate program since 1991, Charles has coached at the highest levels of competition. He is also an extremely skilled principal race officer and an impartial judge and umpire at the national and international levels. He imparts knowledge to everyone and has influenced many generations of sailors to play by the rules, respect the competition, and think outside the box.

During Charles’ tenure as coach, MIT sailors have twice won the Hobbs Trophy for ICSA Sportsman of the Year and have earned seven All-America honors. He has successfully run numerous Atlantic Coast, New England, National Dinghy, and Team Race title events, as well as dozens of high-quality races for all skill levels.

Serving as the fourth sailing master in the history of the Institute, Charles is responsible for coordinating the most extensive collegiate recreational sailing program in the country. MIT’s sailing pavilion teaches more than 1,400 people annually how to sail. Not only is MIT proud to be the host of more collegiate regattas than any other school in the country, under Charles’ leadership the Institute also hosts countless events for the local community.

A frequent umpire at the National Team Race Championship Hinman Trophy as well as College Nationals and the International Sailing Federation World Championships, Charles was the recipient of the U.S. Sailing Gay Lynn Award for most devoted service to the sport of team racing. In April he was designated U.S. Sailing’s “Sailor of the Week.”

On Saturday, June 7 the MIT men’s lightweight crew team finished eighth at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championships.

Racing in record high temperatures in Camden, New Jersey, the team rowed against top competitors Cornell, Navy, Dartmouth, and Fordham, which took the top four places at the Championships.

In the Petite Final, the eighth-seeded Engineers finished 3.8 seconds behind winner Columbia over 2,000 meters. MIT had faced Columbia earlier in the season at the Geiger Cup and finished 3.3 seconds behind.

“We are developing the skills and horsepower to row with the best,” Head Coach Ted Benford said. “We have really come a long way and we learned a lot again today. I think next year’s varsity got a good look at where we need to be to succeed on the national stage.”

MIT last competed in the IRA National Championships in 2002, when the team finished 10th.

Heat 1

1. Cornell, 5:49.3

2. Navy, 5:51.6

3. Dartmouth, 5:52.2

4. Fordham, 6:02.1

5. MIT, 6:02.7

Petite Final

1. Columbia, 5:54.1

2. MIT, 5:57.8

3. Fordham, 6:01.8

—Rosa Cao

Praise The Basketball Gods, for you have smiled on us this June, most likely because Red Auerbach has joined your ranks. You have treated us to an incredible Lakers vs. Celtics matchup that has nearly lived up to the hype. (I say nearly because it’s not clear that even a Game Seven triple-overtime buzzer-beater fadeaway jumper could justify this amount of coverage.)

This series has evoked fuzzy memories of Magic and Larry Legend, Rambis and McHale, Worthy and Parish. Showtime vs. The Big Three. Memories we thought were long gone.

Twenty years later, we have a rekindled rivalry with a new cast of characters: the Celtics’ “Big Three” vs. “Kobe … and those other guys.”

These two teams have been analyzed and dissected in every possible way. Stories have run on every tidbit that might turn the tide from one side to another. No stone has been left unturned, except one. Drum roll, please — I shall now upturn it.

Who wins the battle of the nicknames?

This might seem trivial, but it’s not. Having credible nicknames is key to being taken seriously as a championship contender. Just ask the 2006 Mavericks. Did we really expect a team led by the “Big German” and coached by the “Little General” to win a championship against “The Flash” and “The Big Diesel?” That’s right, I didn’t think so.

Let’s see how the starting five of this year’s Lakers and Celtics stack up.

I assume D-fish stands for dogfish, which isn’t very pleasant, but neither was that time D-fish nuked the Spurs back in 2004. As for Rondo, the naming isn’t quite complete. In most cases, an utterance of Rondo is usually followed by, “Oh crap, please don’t do what I think you’re about to do.” This is occasionally followed by, “YESSSSSSS,” but more consistently followed by an audible groan.

Considering that Doc Rivers forgets Rondo’s name during the long stretches when he inexplicably leaves Sam Cassell in the game, the edge has to go to D-fish.

Advantage: Lakers.

Thanks to Jeff Van Gundy’s numerous and horrific mispronunciations, Vujacic has become a nickname in itself. Bonus points are awarded for the View-ja-sic pronunciation.

For those of you not paying attention in the ’90s, Ray Allen’s nickname derives from his appearance in the Spike Lee project He Got Game. Unfortunately for Allen, “Jesus” lost track of his game somewhere around the start of the playoffs and is only now coming back from wandering the desert. Still, this is Vooooo-ya-chik we’re talking about.

Advantage: Celtics

In a strange twist of fate, Pierce’s “nom de guerre” was given by none other than the Big Diesel back in 2001. Who knew this innocuous gesture of admiration would come back to bite the Lakers and give Kobe more reason to revile Shaq?

As for Kobe, the nickname is somewhat auxiliary, as most of the greatest players of our time are simply known by a single name. Jordan, Bird, Magic, Kareem, etc. … For Kobe, it’s simply Kobe, as in, “Uh-oh, Kobe has the ball.”

The Truth, of course, is that Paul Pierce is tougher than all of the Lakers combined.

Advantage: Celtics

In the PF match up, nicknames are hard to come by. Odom doesn’t have a go-to nickname. In the past, he has been referred to as “Lo,” “The Goods,” or just “Lamar.” After that incident back in 2001, we can only hope that Odom has stayed away from “The Goods.” For now we’ll just assume that Phil Jackson calls him “The Guy Who I Wish Was Scotty Pippen.”

On the flip side, if there were ever a player too intense for something so superficial as a “nickname,” it’d be Kevin Garnett. This is why he goes by KG. It’s more economical, concise, and easy to scream at an opponent’s face after a nasty dunk. Quick digression: at a Celtics game earlier this season, after Rondo made a particularly nifty layup and fell to the ground, Kevin Garnett refused to help him up, and instead kept screaming at him and giving him high fives. That’s KG for you.

To return, Kevin Garnett does not need a nickname, just like he doesn’t need to shoot anything but turnaround fadeaways in the fourth quarter. Sigh. KG, you are six-foot-twenty and being guarded by Ronny Turiaf. Please attack the basket.

Alas, without any compelling nicknames at this position, we’ll have to call it a draw.

Advantage: None.

The centers in this series are quite enigmatic, and their nicknames say about as much. During any given game, Perkins has the ability to “Perk” up and drop twenty and ten. Unfortunately, I’ve also seen him confuse his hands for tennis racquets.

Pau’s nickname comes from the fact that when he’s on fire, everyone gets a “Free Meal.” I’ve never seen him called this, but then again, I’ve also never seen him box out. So I guess it balances out.

Win goes to the “Perk,” if only as a consolation prize for the lackluster applause he received coming back from injury in Game One. Sorry, “Perk,” but unlike Pierce, the Celtics won’t live or die depending on your performance. And by sorry, I mean, thank goodness.

Advantage: Celtics.

Doctor Glenn “Doc” Rivers received his PhD in psychology from Marquette University and is now conducting postdoctoral research on the ability of coaching decisions to cause emotional torment and long -lasting psychological pain. Notable experiments have included repeatedly benching and unbenching Rajon Rondo, playing Sam Cassell, and forgetting what a “rotation” is.

Phil “Zen Master” Jackson took an alternate approach in his study of psychology. And by alternate, I mean a Largely Surreal Daily Regimen of Study. His unorthodox approaches have included thinking NBA players want to learn about Buddhism and comparing former Sacramento Kings Coach Rick Adelman to Hitler. Nonetheless, he has nine rings, so who’re we to question his genius?

Advantage: Lakers

For a final tally, the Celtics win 3-2. An impressive win, considering the Celtics didn’t even have to play the “Big Baby” card.

Next week: Scalabrine vs. Mihm. Who takes the twelfth-man throw down?

Until then, “Beat LA! Beat LA!”

The MIT Cycling Team won the 2008 Division II National Championship at the USA Cycling Collegiate Championships help in Fort Collins, Colo. on May 11. The MIT team seized an early lead in the opening event, the team time trial, and built their advantage throughout the weekend to take a surprise victory.

The MIT women’s team time trial (TTT) team of Martha W. Buckley G, Yuri Matsumoto G, Zuzana Trnovcova ‘09, and Sonya J. Cates G entered the competition solidly positioned as the best team in the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference, having won four of five team time trial events during the season, including the ECCC championships.

At nationals, though, stiff competition from west coast schools and the particular course made victory for the team tough. While hills were a strong suit of the team, the course was almost completely flat and windy out-and-back. Despite these challenges, the team used their drafting skills to stay together in the strong tailwind on the way out and powered through the headwind on the way back.

After the race, Cates described it as “blaringly fast,” and she was right. MIT’s time of 29 minutes, 51 seconds for the 19.2 kilometer course was good enough to take the win by eight seconds.

The men’s TTT team of Jason A. Sears G, Eric M. Edlund G, Seth S. Behrends G, and G. Issao Fujiwara G began the race ready to take vengeance on their competitors. Despite top three finishes in every race during the ECCC season, including two wins, the team finished fourth at the conference championships, less than four seconds out of second place.

The men’s team would not let the same thing happen again at nationals. They finished in 25 minutes, 10 seconds to earn fourth among a host of strong competitors and first among ECCC schools.

The women’s win in the TTT along with the men’s fourth place finish put MIT solidly in first place in the team standings entering Saturday’s road race. The race course featured a 500 foot climb in the first mile of the race, followed by a combination of flat, windy sections and rollers.

The women’s team, which includes several of the best climbers in the ECCC conference, knew that this course was going to play to their advantage and planned to break up the pack on the first climb. The race went exactly as planned. Buckley was the first rider up the first hill and formed what would be the winning break along with four other riders. Matsumoto and Cates were members of the first and second chase groups. All three of these riders finished in the top 20, with Buckley, Matsumoto, and Cates taking third, 10th, and 19th, respectively.

The dynamics of the men’s road race played out much differently, with several breaks forming early in the race only to be reeled back in by the pack. Edlund played a dominant role in the race, leading a number of attacks and going with several breaks, which were unable to stay ahead of the pack.

Despite using valuable energy early in the race and being unable to make it on to the winning break, Edlund finished with the first main pack in 13th, only one minute behind the leaders. Fujiwara placed 57th.

With these strong finishes, the Engineers were still leading in the team standings heading into Sunday’s flat, fast, and technical criterium race. Despite a number of attempts at breaks, the women’s pack remained together for the entire 60-minute race. Matsumoto unleashed her devastating sprint to finish 6th. Buckley came in two spots behind her in 8th, and Cates finished only a few seconds behind the day’s race leaders in 27th.

The 75–minute men’s race played out much differently, with a break forming halfway through the race and gaining almost a lap over the rest of the field. Sears, a veteran of many collegiate cycling championships on road and track, made sure he was part of this key breakaway group. Using his stellar cornering and drafting skills, Sears was able to stay on the break and still have energy left for a sprint at the end.

Sears sprinted to an outstanding fourth place finish, beating his own seventh place from last year’s nationals criterium. Edlund, Fujiwara, and Behrends all finished in the main pack, taking 43rd, 49th, and 54th, respectively. When the points were tallied, MIT had ended its stunning weekend with 395 points, beating Dartmouth University’s 364 points to take first place among Division II schools across the country.

Individually Buckley finished fourth, Matsumoto eighth, and Cates 25th in the women’s omnium, while Edlund came in 22nd among the men’s racers.

MIT’s victory at Nationals concludes a successful collegiate cycling season. Two weeks earlier, the team claimed its third consecutive Division II ECCC victory. Along with the team omnium, Matsumoto claimed the Division II individual omnium in the women’s A category. Buckley finished the season in second in the women’s A category, Trnovcova placed second in women’s B, and Fujiwara finished second in men’s B. The team saw 25 first place finishes and more than 150 top 10 finishes during the nine-week long season.

Donning the Cardinal and Gray for the last time, Aline Thomas ’08 and Omari Stephens ’08 (also a Tech senior editor) accounted for all of MIT’s scoring at the pinnacle event in Division III track and field, the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Hosted at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh from May 22–24, the pair earned All-American accolades.

Thomas, who finished eighth in the second flight of the shot put with a throw of 42’0.75”, finished sixth in the hammer. She demolished her existing school record in the hammer by nearly three feet, as she finished second in the second flight with a mark of 170’5”.

Stephens led a great effort for MIT in the pole vault. While Gregory D. Tao ’10 earned valuable experience en route to his 10th-place finish on the leader board, Stephens cleared the same height in fewer attempts to earn eighth and a spot on the All-America team. Both competitors cleared 14’11.5”.

Emily Hwang ’09 finished 15th overall in the vault on the women’s side with a leap of 11’4.5”. Stephen A. Morton ’10 competed in the long jump, finishing 10th with a mark of 22’3”.

What's the easiest way to have more fun than you ever thought possible while watching sports in Boston? Start cheering against the Boston teams. Seriously.

Go into Fenway Park, wait for the Sox to screw up, stand up, and start clapping as loud as you can.

Go into a sports bar, wait for the Yankees or whoever the Sox are playing to hit a home run, and let out a short shout.

You'll certainly draw attention, and you may draw shouts. But as you soon realize, the more jeering from Sox fans, the better.

I came to Boston four years ago indifferent about Boston sports teams. Back in the fall of 2004, I felt the excitement as the Red Sox won four straight against the Yankees, joined in the riots when they won the Series, and celebrated the end of one of the most storied curses in sports.

But then I had to deal with the aftermath. An entire city of people, obsessed with this team. People who had never seen a baseball game in their life were wearing Red Sox hats. There was an expectation for success and a complete lack of humility that was entirely unappealing as a long-time baseball fan.

This feeling extended beyond baseball too, with the Super Bowl winning Patriots. And that's when I realized that I could have so much more fun here. Here are steps to follow to optimize your enjoyment:

1. Find a place with real fans. If you can't get into the stadium, try a local sports bar.

2. Don't reveal your resentment towards the Boston team right away. Start out being the quiet guy who doesn't like to cheer, flying under the radar.

3. When something good happens for the Sox, make note of the die-hard fans around you. These are the guys who you know will be drunk by the fifth inning.

4. When there's a positive for the Sox's opposition, even if it's just a faint glimmer of hope, let out a single clap. Loud enough for everyone to hear, but not sustained enough to get them looking where it came from.

5. Wait for something big to happen against the Sox, and then stand up and clap, cheer, or do whatever you want to celebrate. Keep going until you get at least one shout back from that die-hard fan that you know you're upsetting.

6. Gauge the sobriety of the die-hard fans. Like most things in this world, the danger you're in can be represented by a normal distribution, so try your best to stay in the tails (where the people around you have either had very little or very much to drink).

7. Hope Boston loses. If they do, you can bask in glory with those few other people around you on your side. It usually won't work out in your favor (such as the last World Series), but when it does, it's worth it (such as the last Super Bowl).

Retirement.

Even seeing the word in print bewilders me.

Given that today a quarter of the MIT undergraduate population is graduating, retirement discussions may seem a bit out of place. Regardless of the path seniors have chosen for their next act, graduation is typically a time of new beginnings, not finite endings. So why am I pondering retirement at the ripe old age of 20?

It’s not because I’m having my first mid-life (quarter-life?) crisis, and it’s not because I have creaky knees. It’s because the world’s best women’s tennis player, Justine Henin, issued a retirement announcement “effective immediately” on May 14. It’s because golfer Annika Sorenstam gave her career’s-end notice a day prior.

Normally, hearing that an athlete has retired affects me for a day or so. I may Google the player’s achievements and team affiliations. If it’s a player I particularly liked, I’ll mourn the loss of pass-catching abilities or dazzling serves for a little while, and then move on with my life.

However, the recent set of retirements has had a lasting effect. Why do Henin and Sorenstam’s goodbyes give me so much pause? Probably because 25-year-old Henin is just five years older than I am and just a few years older than those graduating today. Sorenstam is a comparatively ancient 37, but still quite young by AARP standards. I know graduate students older than Henin who have barely begun their academic careers as researchers, professors, or both. It is difficult to think about leaving a profession just a few years into it.

To be fair, this is not a completely unexpected result because athletics generally have a shorter shelf life than academics. In contrast, though, there are the Brett Favres and Julio Lugos of the world, who compete past what we consider their primes. This leaves us with an interesting dichotomy: At what point does a person reach the Goldilocks standard for retirement — not too early, not too late, but just right?

We alternately lauded and castigated Favre for leaving the Green Bay Packers hanging as he experienced his yearly “Should I retire?” discussion. Lauded him for his courage and age-defying skills, castigated him for playing a young man’s position and repeatedly leaving his team hanging. But his desire to play kept burning, and though the results weren’t always stellar, he stood by his decision to continue competing. He was rewarded in 2007 with a stellar supporting cast, culminating with the National Football Conference championship game. Before the 2007 season, though, the naysayers said that he had already overstayed his welcome. If the Packers had been closer to Humpty Dumpty than a Cinderella story, wouldn’t we all have belittled Favre for refusing to let go?

We watched Jerome Bettis win Super Bowl XL with the Pittsburgh Steelers in February of 2006, fulfilling his goal of winning of a championship before retiring. We called it a feel-good story, a celebration of his dedication and perseverance. We feted his decision to go out on top, rather than stick around and sink into mediocrity.

Likewise, we cheered as David Robinson finished his farewell tour, the 2002–2003 National Basketball Association season, with a second championship. We said it was a fitting way for a classy player to finish his career. But if they hadn’t won championships and had been part of a sub-.500 team, would we have said that they deserved better? What if “better” was simply the result from last year? Would we expect them to play another year, just to erase the bitter taste of an unsuccessful season?

We watched Tiki Barber make a stunning retirement announcement in February 2007 and were confused by his choice. We couldn’t decide if we should applaud his decision to leave the game without lasting physical damage, or boo his call to leave the game without a team championship. We thought that it would be hard for Tiki to last on the sidelines while his twin brother Ronde continued to suit up on Sundays. But what if he had stayed with the Giants another year, enough to grab a Super Bowl ring in February 2008? Would we then have accepted his decision to retire as reasonable?

In the past few weeks, I have read commentaries about how Henin and Sorenstam’s early retirements are the result of a gendered society; of the increasing difficulty to keep up with stronger, taller, younger versions of themselves; of the weighty expectations they faced daily. With all due respect, however, retirement is more of a personal, psychological, and physical decision than any one of these phenomenons. Both Henin and Sorenstam dealt with serious injuries and illnesses, and those take their toll on both the athlete and the person behind the gritty confidence. At some point, battling both your opponent and your own self-doubt, mental fatigue, and physical pain is no longer worth it.

It’s a lesson to other athletes — and the rest of society — that Henin, Sorenstam, Bettis, Robinson, and Barber chose to leave when the sport ceased being fun or worthwhile for them. After all, that is the prevailing reason that people everywhere leave their jobs when they have mid-life crises: They simply don’t enjoy the work anymore. And for athletes who have basically been professionals-in-training since the age of seven, particularly in golf and tennis, retiring at 25 means they’ve invested 18 solid years into their work.

The take-home message is that these pro athletes left the game precisely when they were ready, confident that they had finished reaping the benefits of the sport, and sure that one more title or another million dollars was not worth the sacrifice of travel, long hours, and loneliness. Standing across the court or green from someone who takes unabashed joy in pounding a backhand or sinking a putt, knowing that showing the same emotion or passion would be nothing more than an act, would be devastating.

Sure, we may bemoan the fact that we can’t watch such athletes rule the courts and fields anymore. But it’s better to remember them as they were at or near the top of their games — dominant, steely, powerful — than to remember watered-down, injured, disinterested shadows of players who didn’t know when to say goodbye. Given the choice, I would rather a player sacrifice a few years of good results than slip into mediocrity because she wouldn’t admit her skills were declining or her passion was gone. Growing accustomed to quarterfinal finishes instead of tournament victories is a steep and unwelcome learning curve for both spectator and player.

Of course, there’s always the Michael Jordan retirement for those who are on the fence: Retirement is not a binding or irreversible decision. Besides, spectators always root for a comeback.

The MIT sailing team finished sixth this week in the ICSA/Gill Coed Dinghy National Championship. Senior co-captains John M. “Jack” Field ’08 and Julie C. Arsenault ’08 sailed in the B division boat, while Brooks L. Reed ’09 was the skipper for the A division boat with Elizabeth A. Hass ’10 on crew. Gabriel B. Cira ’08 also crewed with

Brooks a few times during the competition.

Competing for over three days in Newport, R.I., the team got off to a great start, finishing the first day in fourth out of the field of 18. Despite a few rough finishes at the start of the second day, the team began to build momentum. As friends and family cheered from the nearby Fort Adams State Park, MIT ended the second day in sixth place.

Field and Arsenault, who had a string of five straight top-six finishes during the second day, won the 18th and final race of the competition. The duo finished fourth overall in the B division with a score of 137.

Reed and Hass also performed well in the A division, concluding the championships in 12th place overall with 175.

Georgetown University won the national championship with a total score of 238, followed by Boston College, St. Mary’s College, Roger Williams University, and Connecticut College. MIT’s score of 312 placed the team comfortably in sixth place among the very competitive field. The competition was hosted by New York Yacht Club, Brown University, and Salve Regina University.