The Commissioner's Cup: BU's Big Ass Chain

I was recently alerted that this is T-Pain's big ass chain. BU can't share anything like this, but it can share the Commissioner's Cup for the fourth straight year and sixth time in the last seven. Unfortunately, I don't believe the Cup can be worn as a chain.

It goes without saying that Terrier athletics were awesome this year. There isn't really a better way to describe the domination across almost all sports, both men's and women's. When other schools saw 'BU' on their schedules they knew it wasn't going to be a cakewalk an they knew they were going up against a potential champion.

I can't describe how fun it was to be a Terrier fan this season. I can't thank the athletes enough for giving me something to cheer for game in, game out. I can promise that if I were up in Maine and had to endure the abortion of a year the Black Bears had this past season across all sports, I probably wouldn't be pushing freshmen to attend sporting events at orientations.

It's been said, but being a Terrier is good right now. I can only hope my last year as an undergrad is the fifth straight year as Commissioner's Cup champions.

One of These Things Is Not Like the Others

These are the America East Scholar-Athletes from BU for the past year:

Seniors Andrea Walkonen of the women's indoor track and field team, Andre Watson of the men's swimming and diving team, Matt Wolff of the men's basketball team and junior Emily Munday of the women's swimming and diving team.

I say one of them is not like the other:

Matt Wolff's not smiling!

Cheer up, Matt. You're a scholar athlete, holding down a nice job at a local drinking establishment, and your father just recently became a (probable) millionaire.

Waiting For Schedules Is Frustrating

I've been waiting for the men's ice hockey schedule for a while. For whatever reason I have this thought in my head that it would be released to the public on June 16th. That didn't happen and still hasn't happened.

Instead there's just been rumor upon rumor without anything officially confirming BU's participation in the Winter Classic at Fenway. As much as I want to I just can't trust The Delaware County Daily Times, especially since Mike Lynch hasn't said, "it's going down."

If this does happen the competition and variety of venues the hockey team will play in will be groundbreaking. The schedule would consist of MSG, Fenway, TD BankNorth, Agganis, and all the other Hockey East schools.

BU is supposed to open the season with Notre Dame and raise the banner, then get a visit from Michigan, ontop or Red Hot Hockey in New York and then possibly an outdoor game. I don't see how it could get any better coming off of a National Championship year. What makes all of this more inticing is that none of the games on the BU schedule seem like they're going to be that far from Beantown.

However, "Judgement Day" (schedule release day) hasn't come yet and I can't drool and stare at the schedule.

What I can drool and stare at are the fall sports schedules which have all been released in the last couple of weeks:

Men's Soccer:
9/1 @ UMass
9/5 @ UConn
9/7 vs. Providence
9/11 @ Harvard
9/13 vs. St. John's
9/18 vs. BC
9/20 @ Columbia
9/23 vs. Holy Cross
9/26 @ Rhode Island
9/30 @ Brown
10/3 vs. Stony Brook
10/7 vs. UNH
10/10 @ Hartford
10/16 @ Binghamton
10/21 vs. UMBC
10/24 vs. Adelphi
10/28 @ UVM
10/31 @ Albany

Women's Soccer:
8/27 vs. Rhode Island
8/30 vs. UMass
9/2 @ BC
9/4 @ Loyola
9/6 @ WVU
9/11 @ UConn
9/13 vs. PSU (@ UConn)
9/18 @ Northeastern
9/20 vs. Harvard
9/24 vs. Dartmouth
9/27 vs. Binghamton
10/1 @ UNH
10/4 @ Maine
10/8 vs. Vermont
10/11 @ Albany
10/15 @ Stony Brook
10/18 vs. Hartford
10/21 vs. Bryant
10/25 vs. UMBC

Field Hockey:
8/28 @ Northwestern
8/29 vs. Maryland (@ Northwestern)
9/4 @ UMass
9/6 vs. Iowa (@ UMass)
9/12 vs. BC
9/13 vs. Northeastern
9/19 vs. Sacred Heart
9/20 @ Dartmouth
9/25 @ Virginia
9/27 @ Old Dominion
10/3 vs. Vermont
10/4 vs. Duke (@ BC)
10/10 @ Fairfield
10/14 @ Harvard
10/17 vs. UNH
10/21 @ UConn
10/24 vs. Albany
10/30 vs. Providence
11/1 @ Maine

Okay, so we have all these - the usual Terrier Tailgate, with the women's soccer team this time, a couple of TV games, tailgating for field hockey, which will be the new tailgating for football, and then what we know about the men's basketball schedule: an away game at UConn and the Puerto Rico tournament. I know where I'll be on my birthday (November 20th).

Factor in all these potential thrillers that the hockey team may be partaking in and you're looking at one of the most interesting and exciting years in recent Terrier athletic history.

Why is it only the beginning of June? It's such torture waiting for the year to come.

John Curry Got His

It's so hard for me to think about BU hockey and not think about Johnny Curry. He was the goalie my freshman year and in my eyes the best player on that team. I thought he was the only reason that BU team made it to the NCAA tournament in 2007.

So It makes me happy on the year that BU won a National Championship Johnny Curry got one too, but on a (somewhat) bigger level - the Stanley Cup.

Even though it's with the Penguins, I'm still happy for him. He was a part of the team's season and he was involved in all the celebrations, much like Adam Morrison was with the Lakers. Enjoy it Johnny, everyone's happy for you!

Coming Soon

Doesn't This Feel Right?

So with Brian Strait's jump to the pro's Kevin Shattenkirk becomes the hockey team's captain, leaving room for new assistants:
Meet one half of the new Boston University assistant captains:

ERIC GRYBA

The first thing I thought of when I saw this pictures was this epic scene with Ben Stiller from Tropic Thunder:

Those are pandas and the similarities between the two pictures are frightening.

Somehow, with Gryba being named an assistant I feel like this is some sort of personal, life success. I can't even explain why.

The other "A" next year will be Nick "I'm Bananas For" Bonino.

Oh, happy day.

America: Leading Exporter of 3-Pointers

Dear Italy,

You got a whole-lotta 3-poiners coming your way.

- America


I don't even know if 3-pointers exist in women's bball in Italy, but if they do, boy, are Umana Reyer Venezia lucky in signing the best 3-point shooter in BU women's basketball history. Dini finished the season as the country's leading 3-point shooter, hitting 3.3 3's per game. Some lucky Italians will get to see her showcase her skills for an entire contract year. Congrats, Dini - I'll miss your 3-balls. That sounds awfully strange, but there's no denying it's true. Best of luck!

Women's Lax Blogging

I guess that all the recruiting/selling various goods/doing whatever they could to get my and your money finally paid off, because according to GoTerriers.com, the women's lax team was indeed in Australia and played some lacrosse. I think the real reason they were there, other than to partayyyyyyy, was to blog about their lives in order to give meaning to mine. Certrain members of the team wrote more than others, but here are the highlights with some commentary:

May 31: Xan Weitzel '10

G'Day From Australia!:

"After the long flight we were finally in Australia and made our way through customs, but don't worry, we still had another flight to get on. By this time I had no ankle bones and was very antsy."

I'm still trying to figure out what Xan means when she says she had no ankle bones.

June 4: Annie Stookesberry '12

Greetings from Down Under!

"Seven of us rented bikes for a few hours and rode up into North Head National Park where the steep vertical climb yielded a breathtaking view of the skyscrapers of Sydney across the harbor. Erica Baumgartner, who hadn't been on a bike for 10 years, even decided to make the trek into the park for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Rachel Collins and I made a great team on a tandem bike, and I can say that it is something I will not soon forget."

I'm thinking/hoping a surrey was involved in this adventure.

June 3: Brittany Vieira '12

Surfing!

"The most picturesque and cliche thing happened as well. Some girls were out past the breakers sitting Big Kahuna style on their boards, and a rainbow appeared on the horizon. A RAINBOW! How perfect and cliche. Amazing. I was sitting there waiting for the meaning of life to pop up but it simply did not happen. Maybe next time we surf? Ha."

At least give it a ha-ha or lol, Brittany.


Now I sit and wait for the pictures to appear on Facebook.

GREAT JOB!

Maybe it's his boyish good looks, maybe it's his subtle charm, or maybe it's the fact that he's just about everywhere (still waiting on Facebook though), because Coach Chambers broke the news himself that JOB will be returning to BU next year. I'm sure parts of the reason for coming back were the 'Great JOB' sign seen at the AE tournament, and my harsh criticisms, and, really, Chambers.


JOB dismissed the coach and the program, really:

“Coach Chambers explained to me what he wanted to do at BU the next few years and his vision for how this program will develop, what type of system we’ll run and how he saw me fitting into it,” O’Brien said of his meeting with Chambers. “I had this conversation, but my mind had already been set and there wasn’t too much he could say to sway me.”

But you can't give up on Chambers. He's never given up on himself and certainly didn't give up on Jake. I have to think Coach had a least some part in Jake's return.

I'm EXTREMELY happy Jake's going to be back next year. I'm sure the team is too, because this Terrier team quickly became (in my mind at least) the team to beat in the AEC (for yet another year).

Coach Chambers <3 Technology

New men's basketball coach Pat Chambers is really expanding his horizons and I love it. He's getting his name out there in almost every way possible. I can't stop reading/watching/borderline stalking what he's doing on his Twitter and his new blog. Keep up the good work, coach.

(Chambers Vision is sooooo cool)