Credit: Trexler

Senior Nick Littman won the road race and took fourth in the Time trial to become the 2009 Category 3 Tour of walla walla champion. The tour was split into four legs; a time trial, two road races and Saturday night’s criterium under the Walla Walla lights.

Coming off a year away from the team while abroad, Littman has been invaluable in Whitman’s solid performances so far this season.

Littman and the other Whitman riders have surged to a huge lead in conference points and the team’s strong finish in the Tour of Walla Walla only strengthened that stance.

The Whitman baseball team will finish their season this weekend, May 1-2, with a four-game series against the University of Puget Sound.

This will be the final weekend for six seniors: pitchers Pete Stadmeyer and Trygve Madsen, first-baseman Matt Morris-Rosenfeld, outfielder Dan White, outfielder/pitcher Calvin Davis and reliever Chris Faidley.

Stadmeyer, Madsen, Morris-Rosenfeld and White are four-year veterans, while Davis is finishing his third year on the team and Faidley his rookie season.

With such a large proportional representation, the seniors have an unequivocal presence on the team; come next season, their absence will be easily apparent.

“I’m going to miss the seniors a lot when they graduate,” said first-year Peter Olson, a pitcher on the team.

The Missionaries will play a double-header of nine-inning games on Friday, May 1 and a double-header of seven-inning games on Saturday, May 2. On Friday, the first game will begin at noon, while Saturday’s first games starts at 11 a.m.

“The team is trying to end the season right,” Olson said. The season has been a difficult one; the team has a season record of 3-30 and 2-25 in conference.

“I would love to go out with some final wins,” said sophomore Erik Korsmo. “It would be a great way to show [the seniors] off and give them a final thanks.”

When the team played UPS in a game during their preseason, they lost with a close score of 9-8. The Missionaries had overcome a 7-4 deficit to lead the Loggers in the fifth inning with a score of 8-7, but they could not hold on to the lead and ended up giving up the winning run in the eighth inning. While Whitman out-hit UPS 19-10, they left a total of 11 runners stranded.

The team is feeling good about the weekend and is confident about this time’s matchup with UPS, who is currently in sixth place in the conference with a record of 9-18 and an overall record of 12-23.

“UPS is a good team, but they’re a little young,” said Korsmo, adding that they had some key players graduate last year. “It’s a big advantage that we got to see their pitching earlier in the year so we know what to expect.”

The Missionaries have been improving their pitching and their hitting since their last game with UPS, according to Korsmo. However, he expressed concern at the recent injury of one of the team’s top pitchers, junior Blaine Mercado.

“We have been plagued by injuries all year long,” Olson said. “I think we may have a chance to finally get healthy this weekend and have fun.”

The annual Triathlon, run by Whitman College’s varsity swim team, offers students the chance to compete and exercise to help raise money for the swim team.

“It’s a really important event because we need extra support to travel outside the region in the winter, but it’s also a really fun event for students,” said swim coach Jennifer Bloome.

The event is really “user-friendly” according to Bloome, because the event’s courses are relatively short, with a 10k cycling course, 500-yard swim and 5k run.

“There’s not the really big intimidation factor, unlike larger triathlons,” said Bloome. “Students end up running with professors and enjoying the community. It’s just a really great way to have fun and get motivated to be healthy.”

The Triathlon also brings students closer to the town via the small businesses helping support the event.

“It’s a really fun community event,” said Bloome. “A lot of the downtown businesses such as Hot Poop, Big Cheese Pizza, The Patisserie, Pete’s Ski Shop and Sweet Basil are donating to the event. We don’t have big corporate checks… we’re really local.”

The Triathlon entry is $30 for individuals and $45 for a team and takes place Saturday, May 2. Students can register at the Baker Fergusson Fitness Center before or at the event.

The Student Health Advisory Council (SHAC) also put on a Fun Run to raise money for the Doctors Without Borders Program.
“We have been hosting this race for a few years now and all the profits this year are going to the program,” said Vice President of SHAC Fritz Siegert. “It’s a great program that funds and coordinates excursion trips for physicians to third world countries to practice medicine in areas where health care is lacking or practically nonexistent.”

The yearly event consists of a 5k and 10k course that runs the same course as the Triathlon.

“The run was really great,” said Seigert. “We had a lot of alumni show up. We found one alumni there who has been running it [the FunRun] for over 20 years.”

The event took place on Saturday, April 25 and raised over $300, all of which was donated to Doctors Without Borders.

The men’s basketball team is putting on a campus-wide 3-on-3 Tournament Saturday, May 2 to raise money for the team and let Whitman students participate in a non-varsity basketball program.

“We are hoping this tournament will help fill the gap in the intramural’s program that resulted in the Sherwood renovation,” said men’s basketball Assistant Coach Matt Airy. “Essentially we wanted to give Whitman students a day to get out and play some basketball with friends in an organized setting.”

The tournament consists of three divisions: competitive, recreational and women’s. All teams (except women’s) can be co-ed and are guaranteed a three game minimum.

Team rosters consist of a maximum size of four players. Varsity players are eligible to participate at a maximum of one per team. The cost per team is $50.

Whether you’d rather shoot hoops with friends or run against a professor, these programs offer non-varsity students the chance to participate in these important events for a good cause.

Junior Kendi Thomas dominated the Northwest Conference Championships, as did her entire team. Thomas won the road race individually and then led Whitman in a two through five finish in the conference final criterium.

Her fast finishes pushed her past her nearest competitors and reclaimed the conference leaders jersey. Thomas’ name will be called to the starting line as one of the conference leaders when the team travels to nationals on the weekend of May 9-10.

The recent success comes after Thomas finished third in the women’s Pro 1, 2 criterium at last weekend’s Tour of Walla Walla. The Pro 1, 2 category was comprised, as its name implies, of several professional racers competing against college students like Thomas.

Credit: Calkin

Andy: Ask anybody what’s the first thing they think of when they hear of London, and I bet you nobody will say American football. Yet NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and other league officials have targeted London as the key to globalizing the sport.

These efforts have had little consequence for the league up until now as only two regular season games have been held in London over the past two years. However, soon one of those games might be the Super Bowl.

Nothing is official yet, and the sites of the next three Super Bowls have already been announced, but league officials have discussed the process London would have to go through to make a bid to host the Super Bowl.

Considering that the last two regular season games held in London sold out and brought in a hefty profit for the league, it’s clear what the league is after with a move to one of the biggest markets in the world. However, the Super Bowl is now a two-week event with several events happening outside the stadium before the actual game. The league counts on active participation in these events for revenue and it’s uncertain whether Londoners would have sustained interest in American football for two whole weeks. Two years ago the league constructed a giant animatronic statue of Jason Taylor of the Miami Dolphins and few people showed up to see it. I’m sure the league would have no problem selling tickets to the game or commercial space on television, but every other aspect of the game would suffer.

In general, the league’s desire for globalization is understandable. They’re the most popular sport in America and they want more money. Ultimately, the move to London is a move for more money and is another example of corporate America imposing on foreign territory. It’s laughable to say that American football is an international game when the NY Times found that only 4 percent of NFL players in 2007 were foreign born. That’s horrible in comparison to the 20 percent of foreign-born players that make up NBA rosters, and the 29 percent in Major League Baseball. Even if Londoners show up to a Super Bowl there’s no way for them to forge a personal connection to the sport that would last beyond the one day spectacle and the league’s efforts would have cost an American city the hundreds of millions of dollars that comes with hosting the event.

Billy: The British or any international audience may need more than one Super Bowl to sustain an interest in American football, but winning loyal fans should not be the NFL’s goal in bringing the Super Bowl to London. The league does not need to go for a touchdown on first down, so to speak. Televising the game around the world globalizes the sport and peaks some interest in it (at least for a day) because  it gives fans a closer look at the sport, so the actual game itself will draw even greater interest. The sellouts suggest the regular season games in London successfully attracted potential customers for the NFL. By bringing Londoners the Super Bowl, the league is rewarding them with a new and improved product.

I agree that Londoners would likely ignore all the festivities that take place two weeks before the Super Bowl, but the NFL doesn’t have to pick up the Super Bowl and plop it down in London the way it is in the United States. Rather, it can modify the festivities to fit a less-informed audience, such as by hosting more activities that educate London about the sport. Goodell could even hand out bracelets that spread NFL awareness. The league should not mind sacrificing the revenue of all those festivities once in favor of building a solid fan base that will provide it with even more money in the long run. Anyway, depriving rich Americans of the game just once wouldn’t hurt that bad. It’s not like Andy Taylor has the money to take Opie down to the Super Bowl when it rolls into Mayberry one Sunday afternoon.

Lastly, the league will likely attract more international players once it has built a solid fan base in foreign countries, such as the United Kingdom. The NFL is really the only vehicle for football to spread to foreign markets. Sports such as basketball and baseball lend themselves well to recreational pick-up games. You only need a ball and a basket to play basketball, and there are relatively few rules required at the recreational level. You can even still shoot baskets if you’re lonely and have no friends. In contrast, if you don’t have enough players and don’t know all the rules (because you’ve never seen the sport on TV), you’re probably not going to play any pick-up football. While the NBA can promote basketball across the world, the NFL has to first teach football to the world.

The final decision comes after two student forums discussing the proposal and the review of a counter-proposal that members of the ski team, parents and alumni drafted in an attempt to cut costs while maintaining the team’s varsity status. The counter-proposal was reviewed in a smaller meeting between two skiers, a parent, alumnus, President Bridges and the Board of Trustees chair on Monday, April 13. The trustees were originally scheduled to make their final decision on Monday, April 6, but that meeting was delayed so the ski team’s counter-proposal could be reviewed.

First-year Alpine skier Torey Anderson had mixed feelings on the administration’s attempt to address the team’s counter-proposal.

“I’m glad they [extended their deadline] because that showed they took careful consideration into this, but I think that there were still areas left untouched that could have led to a compromise,” said Anderson. “If they had tried to contact us more and get our feedback instead of just reading the proposals and making their decision off of that then some compromise could have been reached.”

Bridges addressed the ski teams efforts in his letter.

“The trustees and I admire the dedication that students, their parents and alumni skiers have exhibited over the last two months in working thoughtfully to consider, discuss and assist in shaping the future of our ski program,” Bridges wrote in his letter to the Whitman student body.

The new plan cuts the ski teams combined budget from 240,000 dollars to 40,000 dollars. Bridges mentions in his letter that more than 60 percent of the funds will address instructional salary needs, while the rest is added to other varsity sports teams’ national travel budgets.

As part of the transition, Alpine head coach Tom Olson and Nordic head coach Calisa Shouweiler will be let go. Their contracts expire July 1, 2009, at which point they will no longer be employed by the college.

Both President Bridges and Athletic Director Dean Snider believe the ski programs will continue their previous success  in United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USCSA) competition. The Nordic women’s ski team placed second, while the men finished third at the USCSA national championships March 3-7.