Kevin Friedenberg

No money, no problems: More Division III perks

After reading a Rick Reilly column on ESPN.com comparing the life of USC’s star freshman quarterback Matt Barkley with that of another USC freshman student, I began to reflect about my own experienc…

On the U(nsuccessful)FL

The modern NFL has clearly dominated the world of professional football in my lifetime.

Yet with the coming of the 2009 NFL season comes the beginning of the newest professional football offshoot, th…

Keeping your head in the game

If there is a single trend that I have to applaud professional sports for following in the past few years, it is the constant upgrading of protective athletic headwear.

It’s no secret that the force o…

Michael Vick returns to NFL amidst controversy

There’s no doubt that the sports scene of this past weekend was dominated by the NFL’s opening games. So much off-season preparation, so much hype — all of it was put to the test this Sunday and Mon…

Kevin F. goes eye-to-eye

I’ll set the scene for my latest revelation in the sports world. I had just watched Celtics guard Ray Allen (later the hero of Game Two) go up for a jump ball against Chicago Bulls center Brad Miller …

An old Bruins fan reflects on his tenure with hockey

I haven’t written a whole lot about the NHL in recent years for a few reasons, the main one being the lack of popularity of professional hockey among the campus body.

However, my hometown’s Boston B…

March Mildness: Are expected outcomes unexpected?

Something isn’t right in the sports world right now. It reminds me of the moment in countless movies when the heroes know that they are about to get ambushed and say something cliché like, “It’s quiet…

An inquisitive sports dabbler squeezes into squash

You may or may not recall that earlier this year I touched upon my budding relationships with different sports. At the time, I neglected to mention that aside from bowling, I was also experimenting wi…

Struggling economy takes toll on sports industry

Everywhere you look, the state of the country’s economy is weighing heavily on people’s minds. The country looks like a mess financially, with no immediate end in sight. In addition to Wall Street tak…

Fitzgerald one for the ages

The 2008-2009 NFL season culminated on Sunday with one of the most exciting Super Bowls that I have ever seen. Though several moments of the big game itself were definitive of the playoffs (read: Sant…

'Thief' a big risk

Somewhere in Lewiston, Maine, there is a thrift store endowed with a surplus of Starbury apparel. Largely unfamiliar with this brand until my friend arrived home with a $7 pair of Starbury shoes and t…

The sporting season

The cold air cuts through you like a knife. Breathing hard from the last play, you realize you need this third-down stop more than ever. Your team is down a score and the opposition is at midfield, ne…

Running: terrifying but necessary

If you recall my previous column you will remember that I wrote about something that I love: bowling. Subsequently I feel like it is only fair that this week I write about something I hate terribly: r…

Bowling: for serious athletes who like the fast-lane

Recently I fell in love with a new hobby, bowling. For those of you who have never been bowling, or in my case have only gone candlepin bowling (apparently a New England phenomenon), you have to try t…

Cincinatti Reds have a secret weapon: Owings

Every now and then you hear about some superior athlete. Usually they dominate their respective sports in historic fashions: think Michael Phelps and Jim Brown. Aside from those who acquire tremendous…

Wipe those tears away

There was one thing that many of you took time to point out or remind me of this past week: Tom Brady has a wrecked knee and won’t be taking my ever-formidable Patriots to the promised land in 2008-20…

Golden opportunity

As a sports fan I experienced something this summer for the first time: watching the Olympics. Though finished for more than a week, the Beijing Olympics provided me the opportunity to cheer for a cou…

Watching the greenbacks circle the drain

I see all kinds of headlines throughout the year when big name athletes sign gargantuan, record-breaking contracts seemingly worth more than many developing nations’ GDPs.

Though I could probably de…

Basketball gets second win of season over Diplomats

The men’s basketball team split its games this week, one a drubbing and one a conference victory. One can argue that the Garnet took home the one that mattered more with a 73-64 win over visiting Fran…

Badminton starts strong

The Swarthmore College badminton team powered through its first competition of the season this past Saturday at Bryn Mawr College. The Garnet placed first in the Mid-Atlantic Juniors Conference Badmin…

Men's basketball falls to undefeated Johns Hopkins

The season got off to a rickety start for the men’s basketball team (1-4, 0-1 CC), which dropped its first two games in the Equinox Classic before being able to rebound and snag a victory against Arca…

Weller, Mullarkey earn their places in 4 x Donut history

Saturday, Nov. 17 was a date well marked on the calendars of Swarthmore cross country and track and field athletes alike, for it was the date of the first of their three postseason traditions of the y…

Warmothers compete at Delaware

Last week, Swarthmore’s women’s Ultimate Frisbee team stuck out the weather to reach the semifinals at a tournament at the University of Delaware. The Warmothers made their presence felt on the first …

Previewing an action-packed winter season: Badminton

Though many of the experienced players from last year’s Swarthmore badminton team have graduated, a core group of returning players may be able to keep the Garnet in the hunt for the lead in the Phila…

Winter teams turn up the heat: Men's Basketball

The men’s basketball team at Swarthmore boasts something that few intercollegiate programs can claim to have: a program that returns all five starting players from the previous season. This stacked li…

Swim teams sweep first conference meet

The Swarthmore men’s and women’s swim teams have started out their seasons in tremendous fashion, both starting 2-0 (1-0 CC) with wins over Widener and McDaniel.

The men took control of the scorec…

Coleman, Barlow pace fencing club

Though not everyone has heard of the fencing club at Swarthmore College, it has indeed been around for many years. Recently, however, the club has taken off as more and more people have become interes…

F & M hockey steals win from Swat seniors

High noon at Clothier Field on Saturday, Oct. 28, marked the final game of the season for the Swarthmore field hockey team (9-8, 4-6 CC), and subsequently the team’s Senior Day. Before the contest aga…

Garnet fall in key CC matches

Swarthmore’s field hockey team (9-7, 4-5 CC) started off its October break in style with a 2-1 overtime win over Centennial Conference foe McDaniel (9-7, 6-2 CC) on Oct. 14. The Garnet struck gold ear…

Field hockey falls in consecutive conference games

The women of the Swarthmore field hockey team (8-5, 3-3 CC) wanted nothing more Tuesday night than to slay the Centennial Conference giant that is Ursinus College (11-2, 7-0 CC). Though the Garnet ult…

Swat field hockey nets two big victories

The Garnet Field Hockey team (8-3, 3-1 Centennial Conference) faced off on Tuesday night against Johns Hopkins (6-5 overall, 2-1 CC), who came into the game ranked 19th in the country. Swarthmore open…

Field hockey stumbles in 2-1 loss to Gettysburg

On a muggy Saturday afternoon at Clothier Field, the Swarthmore field hockey team got its first taste of Centennial Conference play against the 18th-ranked Gettysburg Bullets. Since both teams were ma…

Holiday giving for fans

Well, that time of the year is back, and let me tell you, you better watch out and you better not cry and you best not pout and I’ll tell you why: because there are always tons of great gifts for ever…

The numbers, they confuse me

No one’s ever accused me of being a real whiz with numbers. Growing up to be a great statistician was never really one of my life goals. Maybe this is the reason why I constantly want to slam my head …

Pats, Sox, BC -- Boston sports spit hot fire

The end of October break came with one significant sports epiphany for me this year: it’s great to be a Boston fan. Maybe I didn’t realize how well Boston teams were playing for the last month, having…

Ouma: A shining star for a hurting sport

There’s no denying the fact that the sport of boxing is not what it used to be. Though the blood and the beatings still occur, the matchups and the magic are all but lost in a sport that is struggling…

Another day, another pro sports scandal

Nowadays I can’t even go to the ESPN Web site (http://www.espn.go.com) without seeing some breaking news of one scandal or another slathered everywhere. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like si…

'Tis the season for some college pigskin

While moving back to school I could sense something in the air, something palpable like the smell in front of Sharples, but different somehow. Then it hit me like a gorilla with a hockey skate: colleg…

Summer picks

Since the semester is almost over and Swarthmore is almost ready to unleash us all back into the world, I figure I would leave with some things to look out for in the sporting world during those long …

The Kevin curse

I’d be willing to bet that a fair share of you out there have heard of the Curse of the Bambino, or at least the Curse of King Tut’s Tomb. I know that if I asked you about the Kevin Friedenberg Sports…

NFL draft preview

When I think about the month of April, and where I am currently, a single lonely tear slides down my cheek. This will be the first year in a few that I am not able to watch the NFL Draft. Some of you …

Football returns to campus after seven-year hiatus

Football fans, get ready for some gridiron madness coming at you next fall! The Sunday Showdown has come back to campus! Swarthmore College has decided to reinstate the football program, which it unce…

30-second hoops

It is March, and therefore there is madness of the basketball variety.

March Madness gives me the opportunity to watch basketball, the way I want to watch it. There are no annoying TV timeouts or loat…

Badminton third at regionals

Last weekend, the Swarthmore badminton team hosted the annual Northeast Collegiate regional tournament. However, they didn’t come just to compete; they came to win. Out of a field of nine teams, inclu…

Mo' money, mo' problems: The trouble with athletes today

What would you do with your money if you were a pro athlete? Would you donate it to charity? Would you build a hospital for sick children in your impoverished hometown neighborhood? Or would you spend…

Haverford slays Garnet in OT

The members of the men’s basketball team did everything in their power and gave all the effort they could, but in the end, postseason play loomed just out of their reach. The Garnet began its final we…

European football hooligans give us something to laugh at

They have something over there across the pond in Europe, something dangerous, something terrifying, something … hilarious. It is known as football hooliganism, and the mindset of the people who parta…

Green Terror no scare for surging Garnet

The men’s basketball team kept their playoff hopes alive by securing another late season win against McDaniel on Saturday. The Garnet (10-11, 7-7 CC) now brings itself one step closer to grabbing a pl…

How to celebrate that TD in style

You saw it last week: Reggie Bush did a flip into the end zone after an 88-yard touchdown reception, trailing an index finger at the defensive backs struggling to save some dignity and run down the el…

Playoffs in sight for men's basketball

Two wins, two big wins. That’s what the men’s basketball team got this week while playing a schedule that from this point on contains only conference opponents. The Garnet defeated both Dickinson Coll…

Kurman, Johnson beat buzzers for basketball victories

With a 2-6 overall record heading into the winter break, the men’s basketball team (7-10, 4-6 CC) knew that something had to change. Whatever the obstacle may have been, the team was able to overcome …

NHL not to be overlooked

Hockey will always hold a soft spot in my heart. Being raised in the “Hub of Hockey” and playing the sport for over a decade has branded a special feeling for the game that can’t be removed from me. N…

Major League dreams, bush league swing

The other day I heard the story of Billy Crystal playing a one-day contract with the Yankees and hitting leadoff. He hung tough for a strong at-bat before striking out. That doesn’t sound too bad, esp…

Tiger continuing to turn our heads

Golf was never really something that appealed to me whenever I would be flipping through channels. Too boring, too quiet, too slow. I simply could never bring myself to watch any golf on TV, other tha…

Real life Rocky

Every now and then you see a real American sports story. It’s something that makes you glad to be a sports fan, something more American than hitting long balls with HGH: rooting for the underdog. Wh…

Mascot matters

Ever have one of your buddies ask you what your school’s mascot is? What do you tell them? The Garnet Tide? The Phoenix? Does anyone ever think about the potential implications of Swarthmore having th…

Tough break for men's b-ball

The momentum that had carried the men’s basketball squad through its two recent wins took a hit on Saturday, when Ursinus narrowly trumped Swarthmore by a mere 3 points.

It seemed like a comeback wa…

Super focused

As most of you out there probably don’t want to admit, we are indeed back at school for the semester, but more importantly the Patriots have made the Super Bowl. Many of you may be thinking, “Well I c…