Smile Design Every Other Week
The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon
The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon
Smile Design Every Other Week
The University of Chicago’s Independent Student Newspaper since 1892

Chicago Maroon
Stories and content by Jake Grubman

Cubbies’ heartbreak cuts party short

By Jake Grubman / October 7, 2008
I went into Saturday night optimistic for a couple of reasons. One, I was going to a party that, based on the looks of things, seemed like it could earn the prefix “killer.” Two, the Cubs had Rich Harden on the hill, a guy I had great confidence would shut down the Dodgers’ bats. I should have known..

The U of C: where athletics don’t come to die

By Jake Grubman / September 22, 2008
Last year around this time, I was a U of C newcomer playing pick-up basketball at Ratner when I started making some small talk with what looked to be a ninth-year student, a grizzled veteran of the core curriculum, a resident of the deepest, darkest shadows of the Reg.

U of C Hall of Fame announces new inductees

By Jake Grubman / June 3, 2008
Jay Berwanger and Amos Alonzo Stagg’s company at the University of Chicago Athletics Hall of Fame just got bigger. The University announced its sixth induction class on Friday, introducing eight new members to the Hall of Fame, honoring both national champions of the past and recent standouts. John Brooks (Ph.B. ’33) won the NCAA long...

A ping-pong fix-all

By Jake Grubman / May 23, 2008
So much depends upon a white ping-pong ball. Tuesday night's draft lottery saw the ever-objective ping-pong balls bounce Chicago's way, and on June 26, the Bulls will welcome the top pick in the NBA Draft to the Windy City.

A ping-pong fix-all

By Jake Grubman / May 23, 2008
So much depends upon a white ping-pong ball. Tuesday night's draft lottery saw the ever-objective ping-pong balls bounce Chicago's way, and on June 26, the Bulls will welcome the top pick in the NBA Draft to the Windy City.

Maroons hang on for late inning win

By Jake Grubman / May 13, 2008
[img id=”80606″ align=”alignleft”] When fourth-year designated hitter Dominik Meyer dug into the batter’s box in the eighth inning of Friday’s game against Illinois Tech, the odds were stacked against him. Chicago trailed by a run and late-inning surges had been few and far between for the team this season. The Maroons hadn’t overcome a deficit...

Sports Shorts 5/9/08: Maroons grab conference, regional honors

By Jake Grubman / May 9, 2008
With the Maroons’ seasons all but over, three spring squads piled up honors this week. The softball team has chalked up two more all-region team selections for Chicago, bringing this year’s total to eight as third-year shortstop Jen Jacobson and second-year outfielder/pitcher Kathleen Duffy were selected to the All–Great Lakes Region Team Tuesday. Jacobson closed...

Hainje’s time defined by clutch shot

By Jake Grubman / May 5, 2008
Fourth-year Nate Hainje has hit thousands of jump shots in his life. So when he takes the pass from second-year guard Jake Pancratz and settles in just beyond the arc at the top of the key, everyone knows that this one is going in. Hainje comes from a basketball family. His cousins play, and he...

Perennial powers stop men’s tennis at UAAs

By Jake Grubman / April 28, 2008
Men’s tennis headed into the weekend looking for first-class tickets to upset city for their first UAA title, but matches against higher-ranked Wash U and Carnegie proved too much for the young Maroons. Having played just two matches in the past month, 21st-ranked Chicago started with a strong 6–3 victory over NYU (8–9) but stumbled...

Home not so sweet for slumping baseball

By Jake Grubman / April 25, 2008
The baseball team’s strong start in Arizona seems farther away than Phoenix after a string of three losses to sub-.500 teams has left the Maroons looking for answers with eight games remaining this season. A 12–7 loss to North Central (16–16) Wednesday night dropped the Maroons to 6–9 on the year after a 10–2 loss...

Nothing beats a game in the bleachers, even with the obstructed view

By Jake Grubman / April 25, 2008
The confines of Wrigley Field hardly seem friendly these days. Fans brawl for foul balls off the bat of hot-hitting center fielder Felix Pie like they’re five-ounce nuggets of gold. Arguing with visiting fans can get dangerous when every other person has a beer in his hand and another three in his stomach. In short,...

Peaking women’s tennis set for conferences

By Jake Grubman / April 18, 2008
Marissa Lin’s knee picked a bad time to swell, but the rest of the women’s tennis team has picked a good time to be on top of their game, with Chicago heading into its most important tournament to date. Hobbled by second-year first singles player Lin’s absence the last two matches, the Maroons (9–7) currently...

Canceled matchups leave baseball in slump

By Jake Grubman / April 14, 2008
The baseball team will have to wait another day to break out of their recent slump. Sunday’s matchup with Kalamazoo (6–8) was postponed due to a shift in Kalamazoo’s weekend schedule. The home matchup against a losing team could have been a prime chance for the South Siders to break out of a bad streak....

Better fear “Jake-son Pollack”

By Jake Grubman / April 10, 2008
My better is hopefully competitive with your better. You think you can beat me? Bring it on. You may or may not have what it takes. My first step is probably slower than your first step. But my second step could be slightly faster than your second step. My crossover will make you wish you...

Baseball leads off season in Japan

By Jake Grubman / April 4, 2008
More than seven decades sonce their last meeting, the University of Chicago and Waseda University of Japan have renewed the international rivalry that began in 1910. The Maroons (4–3) embarked on a four-day tour of Japan over spring break, playing a three-game exhibition series against Waseda at the Hiroshima City Stadium, the Osaka Dome, and...

Men’s hoops falls in first round

By Jake Grubman / March 10, 2008
For the first five minutes of Friday night’s 67–53 loss to UW–Stevens Point in the first round of the NCAA D-III tournament, the men’s basketball team looked like champions. On the heels of a victory over Wash U that gave the program its sixth UAA title, the Maroons (18–8) looked hungry for a national championship,...

Men’s hoops riding momentum

By Jake Grubman / March 6, 2008
Men’s basketball head coach Mike McGrath has been here before. Saturday’s 74–66 victory over Wash U (19–6, 10–4 UAA) won the Maroons (18–7, 11–3) their best regular season record since 2001 and their fourth NCAA D-III tournament spot in the last nine seasons. For McGrath, however, the bid was not as certain as the numbers...

Basketball success ruins Chicago cliché

By Jake Grubman / March 6, 2008
It’s years like this that ruin things for the majority of the University of the Chicago student body. I’ll preface this by saying that Chicago has to be one of the only places on the face of this planet that takes pride in its monotony. Last year around this time, as I was weighing my...

Women’s hoops chases crown

By Jake Grubman / February 29, 2008
[img id=”80374″ align=”alignleft”] Women’s basketball heads into the weekend looking to bump Wash U’s name from the UAA mantle and top spot that it has called home for the past 10 years. Chicago hosts the Bears Saturday in an outright title game that will decide whether the crown returns to Wash U (18–6, 10–3), 18-time...

Cramps cut down men’s tennis star Will Zhang

By Jake Grubman / February 26, 2008
There are times when the numbers don’t come close to telling the full story. This weekend was just such an occasion for men’s tennis. The box score shows a 2–1 weekend for the Maroons, who defeated Ohio Wesleyan 5–0 and Wabash 7–2 Saturday before a 5–2 loss to UW–Green Bay Sunday. But what some members...

Water polo rises from pickups to tourneys

By Jake Grubman / February 21, 2008
Third-year Cyrus Shirzadi has come a long way from the pool in his friend’s backyard in Barrington, IL. What started out as tossing the ball back and forth in seventh grade soon became a four-year high school career, and now Shirzadi finds himself spearheading the sixth-best D-III club water polo team in the nation. He...

Fresh off high rankings, track edged out at IW invite

By Jake Grubman / February 12, 2008
After stumbling out of the gates at their first meets back in January, men’s and women’s track have raced to the top of DIII, with the women recently ranking fourth and the men sitting in the sixth spot. Saturday’s Illinois Wesleyan Invite pitted the Maroons against Augustana’s second-ranked men’s team along with Wesleyan’s second-ranked women....

Women’s tennis routs D-I foe

By Jake Grubman / January 29, 2008
When women’s tennis took the courts against Chicago State Saturday, the squad hadn’t played an official match in over 104 days. Opening the season against a D-I opponent was a tall order, but the Maroons stepped up to meet the challenge. “We get a number of weeks off in October, November, December,” third-year captain Vindya...

Women’s basketball set to greet UAA

By Jake Grubman / January 18, 2008
There’s good news and there’s bad news for women’s basketball as it continues into conference play. The bad news: The UAA looks to be much tighter and much tougher for the 25th-ranked South Siders. The good news: An 0–1 start means very little in a league where the team hierarchy is far from decided. “There’s...

Men’s track season preview

By Jake Grubman / January 11, 2008
THE RECAP: Heading into the UAA championship last season, head coach Chris Hall and the Maroons saw themselves in the midst of a tight four-way race for the conference crown, but a close fourth-place finish left Chicago eager to climb the ranks in the 2008 season. “I don’t think we accomplished everything we had hoped...

Challenged by other fans, team loyalty just gets harder in college

By Jake Grubman / November 27, 2007
November 10 was my birthday. The Chicago Bulls were playing the Toronto Raptors. Toronto point guard Juan Dixon started running out the clock. Toronto 101–Chicago 71. It had to be the worst game in Chicago Bulls history that I’ve ever witnessed. Well, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. I should probably start at the beginning....

Split decisions mark men’s basketball’s debut

By Jake Grubman / November 20, 2007
This weekend’s Midway Classic had the Maroons looking to start the regular season strong at their home tournament, but the event would prove to be only halfway classic for its defending champions. Finishing second overall, the Maroons (1–1) overwhelmed Lake Forest 70–59 Saturday night but stumbled offensively in the second half of Sunday, losing 63–58...

Football runs its way to season-ending win

By Jake Grubman / November 13, 2007
In the class of 2008’s final performance on Stagg Field, the Maroons played as close to a perfect game as they have this season. Zero punts, 576 total yards, 23 first downs, and a 51–6 victory over Eureka College had Chicago and its 15 graduating seniors holding their heads a little bit higher in the...

Women’s basketball at a glance

By Jake Grubman / November 9, 2007
The Recap Youth was the story last season for the Maroons, who featured four first-years to complement the scoring of current fourth-year guard Nofi Mojidi and the leadership of guard Korry Schwanz (A.B. ’07). The Maroons exploded onto the season, starting with a 16–0 record including five conference wins. The second half, however, proved troublesome...

Already crippled, volleyball adds to injury list in home loss

By Jake Grubman / October 25, 2007
The Maroons have suffered a litany of injuries this season, but Wednesday night’s loss to Illinois Tech left Chicago speculating on what could be its most painful injury of the year. With the Scarlet Hawks (24–10) leading 18­–13 in the third game, second-year middle hitter Diandra Bucciarelli rose for one of her 32 attacks of...

Offense back in big way for women’s soccer

By Jake Grubman / October 16, 2007
For an offense that has fallen off track for the past month, Sunday’s scoring surge could be exactly what Chicago needs as it reaches the home stretch. The Maroons (7–3–3, 1–1–2 UAA) limped to the east coast this weekend with one win in three weeks. Over a span of six games, the injury-marred South Siders...
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