Perhaps it is just the advertisements. There is nothing quite like sharing a bag of Doritos while an ad for the pre-dipped tortilla chip fills the big flat screen small campus-lounge screen. I was satisfied, especially since this ad was my personal favorite last year (be sure to check it out in HD!):

You can check out more ads with this sweet feature from Hulu:

Yet I am torn over the diversity of Super Bowl watching parties. Don’t get me wrong, I still engage in them and plan to host my own this Sunday, but there is something sacred, ritualistic, and uniquely satisfying about yelling at my TV with true fans alone every Saturday and Sunday in the fall and early winter that is only completed by the stark contrast of my roommate’s watching “So You Think You Can Dance” and listening to atrocious 80’s R&B. Super Bowl Sunday brings an entirely different atmosphere, and I am not quite sure I like it.

This odd day in sports got me thinking: everyone loves the Super Bowl, but is that a good thing for hardcore sports fan like myself? Should I like that I get to watch the game with a big, excited audience, even if that audience might not understand or care about the game? Do I have the right to enjoy the most important day of the sports year without the casual and less than casual fans defiling my holy day? I don’t expect Super Bowl XLIV to be much of a game, so as Peyton Manning and the Colts steamroll the new “America’s Team,” the New Orleans Saints, I urge you to ponder whether this American tradition is a good thing (feel free to add yours below!). Here are some of my thoughts on the issue:

Pros

• That special someone of yours might actually listen to your rant on whether both feet were inbounds or whether the NFL should change to the college rules. This is probably the only time, so embrace it.
• There’s nothing like a room full of people, split on the team they are cheering for, jeering each other about a topic they know little to nothing about. It’s like your very own US Congress.
• Super Bowl watching parties are like potlucks, and the less the people care about football, the more likely they are to have actually made their contribution. Homemade cookies go a very long way to making anything bearable.
• The illusion of interest. I love thinking, even if it is just for a day, that people around here actually care about sports.

Cons

• The boisterous audience during play which hushes only on a break to commercials. Really? I mean I understand that the commercials are funny, but at least during the GoDaddy.com ad, let me talk about what just happened during the game — we all know no one is trying to listen to that ad anyway.
• With such a big crowd, the networks feel obligated to have some absurd, usually bad, and sometimes raunchy half time show instead of actually breaking down the game. Must they always pander to the lowest common denominator? They should reward the true fan for a dedicated season of watching and have a full halftime of analysis.
• Snack free-riders
• “No. The tight pants are not to show off their muscular legs.”
• It’s all a lie. Next September I will be watching my Florida Gators and Dallas Cowboys alone.

But even after weighing the pros and cons, there’s still glory to be had by at least one person after the game is over — check out the poll below:

Editor’s Note: This sports column is a regular feature from “The Nightcap” crew, a group of 5Cers who air a weekly radio talk-show on KSPC. You can listen in online at KSPC.org (click “Hear us Online via Live365”) every Monday from 8-10 PM.

Andrew Cosentino (CMC JR) was named to the All-SCIAC first team for the second straight year. Photo Credit: Gary Stephenson.

Women’s Volleyball
A young team, graduating only one senior (Jamie Matusiak (CMC)) finished a rocky season at 14-15 overall and tied for 5th in SCIAC competition with a 6-8 conference record. Allie Macy (CMC JR) OH and Taylor Jones (CMC FR) S were named to the All-SCIAC second team.

Women’s Soccer
One of the most dominant seasons in Athena’s soccer included a nine-game winning streak, an undefeated SCIAC campaign, and a second straight SCIAC tournament title before falling in the round of 32 of the NCAA tournament. Laura Hagen (CMC SR) was selected as SCIAC Player of the Year, leading the league in assists, and 2nd in goals scored.  First Team All-SCIAC selections included goalie Camila Friedman-Gerlicz (CMC SR), defender Stefanie Chan (CMC JR) and midfielder Nicole Sady-Kennedy (CMC SR). Defender Courtney Funk (SCR SR), midfielder Kirsten McAfee (HMC JR), forward Giselle Galanto (CMC SR) and utility player Julia Nishioka (CMC SO) were named to the Second team.  We finished 16-3-2 overall and 10-0-2 in SCIAC play.

Men’s Soccer
After a fourth place finish in the regular season, the Stags knocked off top seed Pomona and second seed Redlands to qualify for the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2000. They continued their magic run in the NCAAs, winning at Santa Cruz before falling in the round of 32 to Whitworth.  Goalie Ryan Fahey (CMC SR), defender Tomislav Zbozinek (CMC SR), midfielder Michael Nguyentat (CMC JR), and forward Harrison Doyle (CMC FR) were named to the All-SCIAC first team. Midfielder David Taylor (CMC FR) was a Second Team All-SCIAC selection.  We finished 12-8-2 overall and 8-5-1 against SCIAC foes.

Football
After a 2-0 start, including the seniors’ first victory over regional rival Puget Sound, the Stags went into a mid-season funk, losing four of their next five games. However, strong performances by the defense, QB Pat Rooney (CMC SO) and DJ Lillard (CMC SR) helped the team win their final two games, clinching a winning season and retaining the Peace Pipe. First team SCIAC selections were running back DJ Lillard, linebacker Dan Picciotto, (CMC SR), and defensive back Brock Olson (CMC SR). Offensive tackle Matt Pautler, (CMC JR) and defensive lineman Rory Baird, JR, (CMC JR) were named to the second team. The Stags finished 5-4 overall and an even 3-3 in SCIAC play.

Men’s Cross Country
The men finished a strong season in 15^th at NCAAs after winning the West Region and SCIAC titles. All-Region honors for the men included Kramer Straube (HMC JR) 4^th, Brian Kopczynski (CMC JR), Florian Scheulen (HMC SR), Brian Sutter (CMC FR), Georgi Dinolov (HMC JR) and Matt Kurtis (HMC SR). First Team All-SCIAC selections were Straube, Kopczynski Kris Brown (CMC JR), and Sutter. Second Team All-SCIAC selections for the Stags were Scheulen, Kurtis, Dinolov, and Dillon Ayers (HMC JR).

Women’s Cross Country
The women finished 22^nd at NCAAs, besting conference rivals Redlands and Occidental in their final two meets, after finishing behind these two in the SCIAC championships   Jennifer Tavé (SCR SO) finished 27^th to become the first Athena All-American runner since 2005, also earning First team All-SCIAC honors and All-Region honors. All-Region honors for the women also included, Julia Rigby (SCR SO), and Breanna Deutsch (SCR SO). Rigby and Ashley Scott (CMC JR) were named to the All-SCIAC second team.

Men’s Tennis
Robert Erani (CMC SO) won the West Regional tournament and finished in 3rd place at the ITA nationals to earn All-American honors for the first time in his  budding career.

Jennifer Tavé (SO SCR) is the first Athena All-American since 2005.
Photo Credit: Carl Rossi '84

Leading the Stags was Brian Kopczynski (CMC JR) in 53rd, followed closely by Kramer Straube (HMC JR) in 55th. Also scoring for the Stags were Brian Sutter (FR CMC) in 138th, Florian Scheulen (HMC SR) in 150th and Matt Cummins (HMC JR) in 167th.

Scoring for the Athenas after Tavé in 22nd, were Julia Rigby (SO SCR) in 48th, Breanna Deutsch, (SO SCR) in 104th, Lauren Wyatt (FR SCR) in 150th, and Ashley Scott (JR CMC) in 163rd.

The future looks bright for both teams, with only one graduating member in the top five for the Stags, and none for the Athenas. 32 teams competed in each race, with 276 runners in the men’s field and 279 in the women’s.

The men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the NCAA West Region Meet across the street at Pomona. The Stags took first place honors as the only team with three runners (Kramer Straube (HMC JR) 4^th, Brian Kopczynski (CMC JR) 6^th, Florian Scheulen (HMC SR) 9^th in the top 10. This was the first West Region victory since 2001 for the Stags, and qualifies the team for NCAAs. The women finished a promising 3rd, rebounding from a disappointing performance at SCIACs by finishing ahead of 1st place Occidental and 2nd place Pomona-Pitzer, and qualifying for NCAAs. Jennifer Tavé (SCR SO) 2^nd, Julia Rigby (SCR SO) 11^th anchored the Athenas as they have all season. The D3 NCAA championships are being hosted by Baldwin-Wallace College in Cleveland, OH this Saturday, November 21. The men will look to improve on their 30th place finish from last year, and the women on their 20th place finish.

The men’s Water Polo team competed in the SCIAC tournament at home and had two big upsets before falling in the final. After a 10-8 victory over 4th seeded Cal Lutheran, the aquatic Stags drew the number one ranked team in division 3 in Whittier in the semi-finals. After falling behind 2-0 in the first quarter, the men rebounded to tie the score 3-all at the half. The back and forth game saw the Stags continue to jump ahead of the Poets, but it seemed as if Whittier had an answer for everything. However, after Whittier scored to tie the game at 5-5 in the fourth quarter, Greg Sanford (CMC JR) put the Stags up 6-5 on the ensuing possession. Whittier then brought the house on the Stags defense, not wanting to lose their undefeated season. The men held strong, shutting down the Poets, including a 6 on 5 advantage in the waning moments of the game, giving themselves a SCIAC final birth. Unfortunately the Cinderella run ended for the Stags in the finals, dropping a 4-2 tilt to Redlands in the SCIAC final.

Dan Picciotto and Brock Olson celebrate their win over Pomona-Pitzer. Photo credit: Gary Stephenson

In the Peace Pipe game, the Stags drew first blood on a 23 yd scramble by Patrick Rooney (CMC SO), but P-P responded, scoring twice to put the Sagehens up 14-7. At the end of the second half, the Stags drove 51 yards in two minutes, capped by a D.J. Lillard (CMC SR) Touchdown run, but the PAT was blocked, giving P-P a 14-13 advantage at halftime. After a pep talk by their coach, and and a pumped up 5c dance company performance, the Stags came back strong, with Mikey Hirokawa (CMC SR) catching a 39 yard TD pass after three consecutive P-P drives ended by interceptions, 2 by Brock Olson (CMC SR), and 1 by Dan Picciotto (CMC SR). After a two point conversion, the Stags went back up 21-14. P-P responded on their next posession to tie the game at 21, but Mikey Hirokawa returned a kickoff 73 yards to the P-P 3 yard line, and Nick Marineau (CMC SR) caught a Pat Rooney pass for the final score of the game. P-P threatened on their final drive, but could not get past the CMS defense. The Stags won the peace pipe for the third year in a row and finished with their first winning season since 2003 at (5-4, 3-3 SCIAC).

Olivia Sylvester (CMC FR) showed her strength as a multi-faceted midfielder.

After an undefeated SCIAC campaign, the women’s soccer team had high hopes for the NCAA tournament, where they had advanced to the round of 16 last year. The Athenas also faced the Banana Slugs but, as a higher seed than the men, had home-field advantage. Despite an early goal by the Slugs in the 6th minute, the Athenas showed composure as Julia Nishioka (CMC SO) tallied the equalizer off a Laura Hagen (CMC JR) pass just 8 minutes later. Camila Friedman-Gerlicz (CMC SR) was outstanding, stopping 11 shots on goal, and the defense held strong, continuing to give the Athenas chances on offense. Finally in the 63rd minute, SCIAC player of the year Laura Hagen (CMC JR) found the back of the net for the game-winner, as the defense clamped down to put the women into the round of 32 against Hardin-Simmons. Against the Hardin-Simmons Cowgirls, the Athenas again found themselves in a battle. The Athenas warded off the Cowgirl attack, including an 8-0 advantage in corner kicks in the first half, until the 44th minute, when Hardin-Simmons finally snuck one past Friedman-Gerlicz. The Athenas answered quickly in the second half, as Lizzie Van Buskirk (CMC JR) tied the game, but two goals within three minutes by the cowgirls was too much for CMS, and the Athenas’ season ended in a 3-1 defeat.

1. Mark Teixeira & Brian Hoffstein: The Yankees first baseman bares a striking resemblance to Stag infielder Brian Hoffstein (’12).

2. Alex Rodriguez & Jordan Rosenberg: Not only do A. Rod and J. Ros look alike, but they also both play third base.  Rosenberg (’12), however, has not been involved in a steroid scandal while playing for CMS baseball.

3. Johnny Damon & Moose Halpern: Damon was one of the top performers in this World Series with a .364 batting average.  And when he’s clean-shaven, he also happens to look a lot like Stag catcher Moose Halpern (’10).

Post your agreements, disagreements, and suggestions for more lookalikes in the comments.

The fourth seeded Stags began the tournament vs. top seed Pomona-Pitzer on Wednesday afternoon. In the first half, the only true scoring chance for either side was when Tomislav Zbozinek CM ’10 put a free kick off of the cross bar, and so the opening period ended in a draw. In the second half, the Stags continued to keep the pressure on the Sagecock defense, eventually leading to a scramble in front of the net, leading to an Eric Bean CM ‘12 header, putting the Stags up 1-0. The Stags didn’t look back, adding another late goal, clinching the victory and a spot in the SCIAC finals vs. Redlands.

All-SCIAC keeper Camila Friedman-Gerlicz CM '10 has continued her postseason success. Photo Credit: Gary Stephenson

Against Redlands, the Stags again came out after a scoreless first half and took a 1-0 lead off of a Harrison Doyle CM ‘13 goal a couple minutes into the second period. The Bulldogs answered seven minutes later off of a rebound, and the game stayed even until the 87th minute. Off an Ian Anderson CM ‘11 corner, David Taylor CM ‘13 controlled the ball and put it in the back of the net for the game-winner, breaking Redlands’ eight year SCIAC championship streak in the process.

The top seeded women, after an undefeated regular season in SCIAC, hosted the fourth seeded Cal Lutheran Regals in their semi-final matchup. Although the women could not seem to put together a true offensive threat in the first half, the Regals struggled more against the tough Athena defense. In the second half, Lizzie Van Buskirk CM ‘11 put the Athenas up 1-0 off a pass from Laura Hagen CM ‘11. The defense held strong after the first goal, and Julia Raney CM ‘13 added some insurance in the 69th minute to give the women a 2-0 victory.

In the finals, the Athenas hosted the Occidental Tigers. After a Laura Hagen goal (her team leading 13th of the season) in the 13th minute, the Athenas clung to their 1-0 lead for the rest of the game. Camila Friedman-Gerlicz CM ‘10 made a huge save in the final minute, stopping a potential equalizer and its rebound to preserve the victory and give the Athenas their second consecutive SCIAC tournament championship.

The Athenas will host UC Santa Cruz, a team they beat 3-2 at home two weeks ago, at 11 am on Saturday on Pritzlaff field. Their bracket can be found here.

The Stags will travel to Santa Cruz to also take on the Banana Slugs for an 11 am match on Saturday. The two teams played to a 1-1 draw in Claremont a month ago. The men’s bracket is available here.

The Forum: How big is the regular season SCIAC championship for the team compared to being the fourth place team last year?

Keri Sanchez: I think you always want to host [the SCIAC tournament], I think home-field advantage in any sport is big, except so far with the women’s tournament, the first seed hasn’t won, so we are looking to be the first team to do that.

The Forum: Who do you see as the biggest competition in the SCIAC tournament?

KS: I think once you get to the tournament, any of the four teams can win. Redlands always plays us tough, we beat them in overtime away and had a good win over them at home, but Cal Lutheran tied us, and Oxy will be fired up to come after us. I think any time you play a team for a third time, it is tough to win.

The Forum: Which players would you consider the leaders of the team?

KS: I think we have a few, All of the seniors (Camila Friedman-Gerlicz, Giselle Galanto, Kelsey Rose, Nicole Sady-Kennedy, Courtney Funk), as well as Laura Hagen, our leading scorer, and Kirsten McAfee and Stefanie Chan have been strong all year as well. What is nice is that our team is so deep, and so some games it is different people stepping up, but our older players are definitely exhibiting the leadership needed to win the big games.

The Forum: What is your team’s X-factor?

KS: I don’t think we have a person that is our X-factor, our X-factor is our bench. When we sub in, we are as strong or stronger than when we started, so we get to keep putting in fresh bodies that are equally talented. So it’s not the same person every time, its different people, but overall our X-factor is our depth.

The Forum: How much of a role will experience play, as your team won the SCIAC tournament last year and made it to the round of 16 at NCAAs?

KS: I think that is huge, if you look at any of the top teams in the NCAA tournament, they are usually there consistently. I think the more experience that you have in big games, the better chance your team has to win, because a playoff game has a different sensation.

The Forum: Who is the top competition in the West outside of SCIAC?

KS: Puget Sound is always tough, leading the Northwest Conference, as are Trinity and Hardin-Simmons, and independent schools Chapman and UC Santa Cruz. Its always interesting because we are so spread out, and when the NCAA is trying to match up teams regionally, we [the west] tend to have some problems in getting teams in.

The Forum: Do you think your experience as a highly successful college player helps you when coaching?

KS: It always helps to coach players when you have been in their situation, and I know what they are feeling and what they are going through, I had a great college coach through those times, so I hope that my experience is bringing them a little bit of knowledge. I think it does help, but it is all about whether you can get your word across to your players.

The Forum: What do you see as the biggest games of the season so far?

I think our two come from behind wins, one of them over Redlands, and overcoming a lull in scoring, we had couple of ties, a loss to Chapman and had a close win over Oxy, which were some bumps in our road. But you always want to see how a team handles those moments, and it was really nice to see the team come through those times and find a way to tie and win games that we may have lost in the past.

The Forum: What do you see as the keys to repeating as SCIAC champions?

You know there is the famous quote “offense wins games, defense wins championships,” and the defense was a huge factor in us being able to go as far as we did last year. That is one of the things we are trying to work on is our Goals Against Average, and overall we have been doing a better job and we hope to continue that into the playoffs.

Robbie Erani CM '12 clinching the ITA West Region title. Photo Credit: Jen Rosenthal

The Forum: What is the secret to winning the West Region?
Robbie Erani: It’s all about the luck of the draw and being mentally prepared.

The Forum: What is the deal with your lucky facial hair?
RE: A few of us on the tennis team decided that the left side of our face did not deserve facial hair, while the right side did and it seemed to treat the players who did it well.

The Forum: Best Stags tennis moment?
RE: Watching captain Larry Wang beat Conrad Olson in a third set tiebreaker to clinch the match vs. then No. 4 Middlebury last season.

The Forum: What are your goals for the spring season?
RE: Win the Division III team national championship.

The Forum: What would you say is your greatest training mechanism?
RE: Dominoes Pizza on Sunday nights.

The Forum: Why is it okay for fans to scream as a batter tries to hit a 100 mph fastball but when tennis players are in the middle of the point, fans have to be quiet?
RE: Tennis is more a mental sport than baseball, in that every shot, every play, every movement, counts toward the end result more than baseball.

The Forum: Favorite non-tennis Stag/Athena team and Athlete to cheer for?
RE: Women’s Rugby and Jason Toney CM ‘11.

The Forum: Favorite Male Tennis Player?
RE: Janko Tipsaravic.

The Forum: Favorite Female Tennis Player?
RE: Caroline Wozniaki.

The Forum: Favorite Video Game?
RE: Ken Griffey Baseball ‘96 on Nintendo 64.

The Forum: Biggest Fear?
RE: Sharks, I still refuse to swim in the ocean.

The Forum: Who is your Role Model?
Mike Sutton.

The Forum: If you weren’t a tennis player what would you be?
A bum.