The Tufts Daily - Friday, September 19, 2020

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Friday, September 18, 2020

Former US presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg discusses current politics, upcoming election

ANN MARIE BURKE / THE TUFTS DAILY

A screen capture from the Tisch College Distinguished Speaker Series: Pete Buttigieg event on Sept. 16 is pictured.

by Sarah Sandlow News Editor

Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Ind. and a former U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate, addressed the Tufts community in a webinar held on Sept. 16., as part of the Tisch College Distinguished Speaker Series for fall 2020. University President Anthony Monaco shared opening remarks and

Dean Alan Solomont (A’70) moderated the event.

Solomont, dean of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, began the conversation by asking Buttigieg about how his college experience fueled his interest in politics and eventually led him to run for elected office.

Buttigieg responded that, prior to the event, he answered questions from Tufts students, and related this to how his interest in politics evolved.

“[Hearing students’ questions] puts me in a little bit of a nostalgic frame of mind thinking about what it was like occasionally having the chance to ask questions as a student of practitioners, and having that chance I think helped nourish my own interest in politics and government,” Buttigieg said.

He added that, in college, he was convinced that his generation was underestimating the importance of political engagement.

Solomont then asked Buttigieg the reason behind his decision to run for president of the United States, and to what he attributed his appeal as a candidate.

“I think precisely that because we didn’t emerge from Washington or … an established political circle, I think it gave us a sense of being unconstrained by some of the patterns that have worn pretty thin with Americans and with voters inside my party,” Buttigieg said.

He believed he could use his experience as mayor to have Washington D.C. operate more like a well-run U.S. city or town, and break from the old norm, as the country had similarly expected after President Donald Trump’s election.

Buttigieg added that there were many Americans interested in a new generation stepping forward. see BUTTIGIEG, page 2

Professor Daniel Gillion discusses significance of protests in Constitution Day event

by Liza Harris News Editor

Platt Presidential Distinguished Professor of Political Science Daniel Gillion from the University of Pennsylvania spoke to the Tufts community yesterday about the power of protests in American democracy. Gillion also spoke about the relevance of the recent Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests and his expectations for the 2020 election.

Gillion said in his talk that protests serve as a vehicle of communication for the loud minority to talk to non-protesting voters at home, whom he described as the silent majority.

“The loud minority is speaking to the silent majority, the individuals at home. They communicate with one another.

They inform each other of the issues of the day. When individuals go vote, they have to consider what’s going on in America, and they use protests to make these decisions,” Gillion said.

Following Gillion’s initial presentation of his research, Jeffrey Berry, a professor of political science at Tufts, asked Gillion a series of questions about the BLM protests over the summer.

Gillion shared his optimism for the trajectory of racial equality in America, saying that the receptions to protests over racism have been new.

“Individuals have been influenced by the BLM movement.

People are talking more about ways to achieve … racial equity … [and] we see individuals donating money to [historically Black colleges and universities].

That trajectory might lose a little steam [in the short term] but it’s a different path than what was happening 20 or 30 years ago,” Gillion said.

Berry also asked Gillion if the call to “defund the police” was a strategic error on the part of the BLM movement, as conservatives have stoked fear among those wondering what cities without police will look like. In response, Gillion explained that the call to defund the police

encompasses many different calls for police reform.

“Some people say we should get rid of police altogether.

The notion ‘defund the police’ is really about changing the infrastructure of the police.

It’s about reforming, reallocating, and reshaping the police department. For many, that’s what ‘defund the police’ is about,” Gillion said.

Gillion told listeners that he expects major electoral and political change in November.

“Protests are the canaries in the coal mines that warn of future political and electoral change. I think we’re going to see major change in 2020 and a major wave, and that wave is probably going to be blue,” he said to Berry.

Gillion cited previous protests leading up to the 2018 midterm elections as evidence of protests foretelling change.

For example, women’s marches took place all over the country shortly before there was a seat change in the House of Representatives in 2018.

He also told Berry that he expects conservative protests to take place if Biden wins in November.

“If Biden gets into office, I expect there to be protests and there should be protests. I see protests as part of the democratic process,” Gillion said.

He acknowledged that many celebrities and professional athletes have spoken out against racism and he believes that it will positively influence younger generations.

“It’s having a major impact.

It becomes the hip thing to do,” Gillion said. “Younger generations are saying to themselves, ‘If Jay-Z and Beyoncé are out here doing this, what can I do?’ Because inequality works no matter what stage of the financial ladder you reach as a Black man or woman in this nation.”

After Berry’s questioning, students had the opportunity to submit questions that Deborah Schildkraut, a professor in Tufts’ political science department, asked Gillion.

ARTS / page 4

FEATURES / page 3

SPORTS / back

According to Professor Malcolm Turvey, the show must go on

Sam Sommers expresses importance of social psychology during pandemic

In empty stadiums, professional sports leagues push on

The event, co-hosted by the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, the political science department, the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences and the Office of the President, acted as a celebration of Constitution Day. “We are thrilled to partner with the Political Science Department on a conversation that is so critical, especially as this country is grappling with a long overdue reckoning on racial injustice,” Program Administrator at Tisch College Jessica Byrnes wrote in an email to the Daily. “Protest is an important tool in the civic action toolkit.”

Gillion encouraged young people to engage politically in a form with which they feel comfortable. He acknowledged that many people may not be comfortable protesting while the coronavirus continues to spread, but said it is still important to participate in some way, such as voting.

“If all else fails, go vote. Make sure you engage in that political process,” Gillion said.

NEWS

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FEATURES

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ARTS & POP CULTURE

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FUN & GAMES

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OPINION

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SPORTS

BACK

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THE TUFTS DAILY | News | Friday, September 18, 2020

THE TUFTS DAILY Alex Viveros Editor in Chief

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Buttigieg highlights importance of poll workers, youth participation BUTTIGIEG

continued from page 1 Solomont noted that members of Buttigieg’s campaign team were very respectful and easily accessible. He underlined that this was a great reflection of the candidate.

Solomont also expressed that people are becoming more anxious about the upcoming election and asked Buttigieg to share his own thoughts and concerns as November approaches.

“I’m worried about efforts of voter suppression, I’m worried about foreign misinformation, I’m worried about one simple and actually solvable problem, which is a potential shortage of poll workers,” Buttigieg said.

He voiced his concerns about potential attacks on legitimate election results and indicated that the public should be prepared for a delay in obtaining the final results of the election.

Buttigieg and Solomont also emphasized the importance of young people working at the polls for the upcoming election, explaining that it is a way for them to make a difference and relate to other young voters.

When asked about what inspires people’s attraction to Trump’s candidacy, Buttigieg responded that there is a sense among constituents that Trump consistently engages with the public.

Buttigieg also underlined that there is a need to confront and overcome the racial anxieties exacerbated by Trump and his campaign.

To conclude the discussion, Solomont mentioned that20 years ago, as a student, Buttigieg could have been a member of a similar audience, listening to an inspiring leader. He then asked Buttigieg to address the audience of mostly students and prompted him to share a message about participating in democracy, keeping in mind its responsibilities and opportunities. “[Students] didn’t ask to be coming of age into a nearly cat-

astrophic economic free fall, a moment of confrontation with our country’s inability to live the truth that Black lives matter … let alone a once-in-a-century public health crisis. That’s all obviously daunting,” Buttigieg said.

He indicated that students have the power to influence the long-term future of the country.

“This is one of those moments … that will be studied about and written about for generations,” Buttigieg said. “[This] will, in turn, set up how American life and perhaps global life will unfold for the balance of our lifetimes. No pressure, but the stakes couldn’t be higher.”

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Features

3 Friday, September 18, 2020

You Gotta Know: Sam Sommers

by Madeleine Aitken Deputy News Editor

Sam Sommers has made a name for himself as a passionate and experienced professor and researcher in the psychology department at Tufts, and was named department chair last year. But he didn’t always know this was the path he would go down.

“I went to college to be an English and Spanish major, I didn’t know anything about psychology,” Sommers said.

He developed his interest for the subject in an introductory course early in his college career.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say it’s the course that changed my life as a student,” Sommers said.

Sommers has taught Tufts’ own introductory psychology course for many semesters. Although he’s not teaching it this fall, Sommers said Introduction to Psychology is his favorite class to teach. It’s often students’ first foray into psychology or, even more generally, into the social sciences, and he said he loves being able to share it with them.

“It’s an opportunity to introduce, for the very first time, people to this way of thinking and this scientific approach,” Sommers said. “Teaching that course, introducing students to the field is really exciting.”

In general, Sommers enjoys teaching psychology because of its relevance to everyone.

“It’s the science of everyday life. So we’re talking about issues related to why you’re having trouble sleeping during the current crisis, or why it is that your friends act one way when they’re in a group and a different way when they’re by themselves,” Sommers said.

Sommers has been teaching at Tufts for 18 years. He said he was initially drawn to Tufts because it has the feeling of a small liberal arts college with the resources of a large research university.

“To me, Tufts combines the best of both academic worlds,” Sommers said.

This desire for the best of both worlds came from Sommers’ own path of educa-

COURTESY SAM SOMMERS

Professor of Psychology Sam Sommers is pictured. tion. He was an undergraduate at Williams College, a small liberal arts college in western Massachusetts, and obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, a large research university. He described Tufts as a happy medium that has elements from both of the schools he attended.

“It’s always, for me, sort of hit the sweet spot of being the best of both of those worlds,” Sommers said.

Even though this year presents unprecedented challenges due to the pandemic, Sommers is looking forward to beginning his 18th year at Tufts, albeit in a new environment.

“I’m excited to be back in whatever way it is that we’re back,” Sommers said.

As chair of the psychology department, Sommers has administrative responsibilities in addition to teaching. He shared his excitement for new programming the department has set up this year, includ-

ing a talk from Chryl Laird, a researcher at Bowdoin College who studies issues related to African American voting identity, and a new series in the spring on the psychology of anti-racism.

Beyond his work leading the department, Sommers is also teaching two courses this semester: Social Psychology and The Science of Coping, a special topics course on the science of dealing with COVID19, co-taught by psychology Professor Lisa Shin.

“I get to come to work every day and have conversations about interesting issues with interesting people and that’s supposed to be work, that’s supposed to be a job. That’s pretty cool, that’s a great job,” Sommers said.

Sommers has confidence in Tufts’ COVID-19 plan, but he recognizes that the regulations Tufts has set up for the semester present difficulties to students and faculty alike in college communities.

“It used to be easy to be a community … at Tufts, you just walked out of your door. And so now we actually have to be more proactive about that, we have to try to connect with each other,” Sommers said. “It takes effort and it takes initiative and I think that’s the biggest challenge for us.”

However, he commended Tufts students, and our greater generation, for our flexibility in this unprecedented moment.

“Don’t let anyone tell you that today’s kids are lazy or are anti-social or have no sense of responsibility,” Sommers said.

“Give yourselves a pat on the back for being resilient enough to even just get here, and now to continue with what we’re doing.”

The Class of 2024 is proving especially resilient as it makes a major life adjustment in an extremely difficult time. As a word of advice, Sommers urges first-years to take full advantage of their college experiences, as it can be a unique opportunity to try new things and reach new individuals.

“Do something on a regular basis that’s outside of your comfort zone,” Sommers said.

TRASHING ONE EGG WASTES 55 GALLONS OF WATER

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ARTS & POP CULTURE

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Friday, September 18, 2020

Professor Malcolm Turvey keeps film department from yelling ‘cut’

by Drew Weisberg Assistant Arts Editor

Despite the massive challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruption to learning at Tufts, Professor Malcolm Turvey, director of the Film and Media Studies program and occupant of the Sol Gittleman Professorship in Film and Media Studies, is confident that some degree of normalcy will prevail. “We are continuing to offer pretty much all the courses we normally do,” said Turvey in an email to the Daily. “[S]ome will be fully remote, some in person and some a combination of the two.”

Take for instance Turvey’s own class, FMS 20 or “Art of the Moving Image.” He teaches the course in person but also broadcasts the lecture on the streaming service Echo360. Turvey divided the class into two sections and teaches one half of the class in person on Mondays and the other half on Wednesdays.

Recitations are conducted twice a month over Zoom. Despite this, Turvey remains adamant that in-person classes remain the “bedrock of our liberal arts education,” reiterating that professors “are all anxious to get back to the in-person teaching.”

Despite this, Turvey sees the pandemic as a sort of double-edged sword, bringing a few benefits in the meantime.

“I think the pandemic has taught all of us the virtues, as well as the limitations, of online, remote learning,” Turvey said.

“There are some things that work very well online that we may continue to do in the future even when the pandemic hopefully recedes.”

This isn’t to say that the department’s plans will work without error as many of the department’s filmmaking courses, such as FMS 138, “Advanced Filmmaking,” pose interesting challenges when gathering actors and crew in person is all but impossible.

“We have had to alter the way we teach filmmaking in order to meet safety requirements such as social distancing,” Turvey said on the matter.

“Filmmaking is a very handson, collaborative endeavor, so keeping people away from each other will be a challenge. But our filmmaking faculty have planned in detail about how to do this, and I am sure we will all be experimenting with our teaching methods in the first few weeks of the semester.”

“We also hope to organize some online, virtual events such as screenings and discussions,” Turvey added.

The current events calendar on the Tufts Film and Media Studies website is empty, apart from a

NICOLE GARAY / THE TUFTS DAILY

The lobby of Barnum Hall is pictured on Sept. 15. message that reads: “Stay tuned for upcoming fall 2020 events!”

The schedule under “Calendar,” however, is still quite active and is filled with Zoombased office hours with members of the department, such as Professor Khary Jones, director of undergraduate studies, and Leslie Goldberg, the department’s internship administrator.

“There are still internships out there, even though most are remote,” Turvey noted. “I would recommend contacting Leslie

Goldberg, our internship director, about internship possibilities.”

As film internships keep moving forward, so too does the film curriculum as a whole. “[O]ur courses in filmmaking, PR and marketing, journalism, and so on are all still being offered,” Turvey mentioned.

It would seem that despite adversity, the Film and Media Studies program continues to push forward, helmed by a director who aims to balance both student safety and the con-

tinuation of what he considers to be the liberal arts experience.

In this instance, Turvey is much like a director of the films he teaches, aiming to execute his vision for the programming and keep students engaged. His vision for the department going forward has been altered but not derailed, and Turvey remains undiscouraged as he continues to chart a course for everyone, from his students in Art of the Moving Image to his department as a whole.

No Suits discusses ‘SEX’ — their newest EP

by Geoff Tobia Jr. Arts Editor

Back in the doldrums of summer quarantine, the Daily had the opportunity to interview No Suits, a music group you may not have heard of, but you should know. Self-described as a blend of “hip-hop, funk and alternative with live instrumentation,” their sound draws on those of artists like Still Woozy, Pink Floyd and Kota the Friend, an eclectic but effective mix.

“Sue” — the driving single off their recent, sophomore extended play (EP), “SEX”(2020) — perfectly showcases this conglomeration of sound.

At the time of the interview, the group was composed of four friends: Ed Hill, Saj Sanghvi, Reed Hallums and Max Pierro.

On July 27, No Suits announced via Instagram that Hill was moving on from the band. It was an emotional farewell, but the band expressed how grateful they were for their time with him. “We’ll

VIA SPOTIFY

The album cover of “SEX” (2020) by No Suits is pictured.

always be best friends,” the caption ended.

The seeds that grew into No Suits were planted quite a while ago.

“Max and I have known each other since kindergarten so we’ve been friends since then,” Sanghvi said in an interview with the Daily. “We started making music in high school, making … rap music and stuff, and then when Max went to college — he went to Cal Lutheran University — and met Reed and Edward and that’s … when we formed No Suits as a whole.”

The name “No Suits” evokes quite an anti-corporate feel, both in aesthetic and musical context.

Pierro explained that this was not intentional, but it could not feel any more right.

“The story from that one actually … I was working at Whole Foods back in San Diego,” Pierro said. “I linked up with my female co-worker… she was like, ‘Yeah, I … rap,’ so she rapped on a track and one of the bars in the rap was ‘no suits, no trends’ and we were like, ‘Oh, that’s pretty fire’… I feel like a lot more when we were coming up three years ago in the electronic music scene, … everyone was doing the exact same thing, everyone was going down this stream and we were like, ‘Let’s go where it feels right for us.’”

“SEX” doesn’t sound like the stream everyone is going down,

nor is it the “exact same thing” everyone was doing.

“Our first EP was called ‘Virgin,’ because, you know, it was our first time, and ‘SEX’ kinda signifies our growth … the music’s gotten a little deeper,” Hallums said about the significance of the EP title.

The story behind the music video of “Sue” is quite interesting, as Sanghvi tells it. “[The] story behind the ‘Sue’ video is pretty fun,” Sanghvi said “Basically we put out ‘Sue’ and we didn’t have a plan for the music video but this random fan hit us up on Instagram, and she was like, ‘Hey, I love your song, if you guys end up making a music video, I’d love to be Sue.’ And we kinda just winged the concept on the fly, and we had her send us a demo video of her being Sue … and we were just like, ‘Alright, great!’”

“SEX” features some wellknown rappers, including Abhi the Nomad and Kota the Friend on “Sugar” and “Boat to Bermuda,” respectively. No Suits walked through what the recording process was like with these established artists. The group met Abhi in college, taking a class together and becoming friends with him. Reed spoke about the recording processes with Abhi.

“We sent [Abhi a text saying] ‘still miss you’ and just told him,

‘Yo, give me a hard-hitting blues rap song,’” Hallums said. “And then we played a show with him, I think in October of 2019, and then a couple months after he sent us the verse, and we were like ‘Oh … this is fire.’ With Kota [the Friend], we just reached out to his manager. We played with him and opened for him at the Troubadour…”

Interestingly enough, No Suits’ creative output has grown during this tumultuous moment of quarantine.

“We had a mini-tour planned that got canceled once everything hit, and we were super bummed about that, but it’s been useful because we’ve been able to write more songs,” Hallums said.

The Daily then asked, when quarantine opens up, where in the world the band would like to travel to and perform.

“Brazil … they love our [stuff] out there … they’re always hitting us up, always sending us messages … they seem like pretty chill people,” Hallums said.

The future of No Suits looks very bright, there’s no doubt about that. Their latest EP, “SEX,” has a fresh array of genre-blending songs, which stays true to their fun and uplifting attitude as a group. The band teased a new release and music video on their Instagram, due to drop next month.

Friday, September 18, 2020 | Fun & Games | THE TUFTS DAILY

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F un & G a m e s Fun & Games

SUDOKU

LATE NIGHT AT THE DAILY Alex: “I HATE Canada.”

LINDA C. BLACK ASTROLOGY

Virgo (Aug. 23–Sept. 22) You can make extra cash. Favor action over words, which can get tangled.

Use what you’ve kept hidden.

Find a lucrative market niche.

SEARCHING FOR HEADLINES...

Difficulty Level: Working in Hodge past 5PM

Wednesday’s Solution

Wednesday’s Solution

CROSSWORD

The “It’s Not Like I’m Drunk” Cocktail 2 oz. tequila 1 oz. triple sec 1/2 ounce lime juice Salt 1 too many 1 automobile 1 missed red light 1 false sense of security 1 lowered reaction time Combine ingredients. Shake.

Have another. And another.

Never underestimate ‘just a few.’

Buzzed driving is drunk driving.

5

6 Friday, September 18, 2020

Opinion

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EDITORIAL

Remote students must continue to be supported as they navigate academic, social challenges As the majority of Tufts students adjust back to campus life in hopes of reclaiming a normal academic experience, those taking classes remotely face their own unique challenges. In the past six months, Tufts has made notable strides to accommodate remote and hybrid learners, including developing online learning technology and platforms, allowing students to elect the Exceptional Pass/Fail option for their fall courses and accepting community college transfer credits. Despite these efforts, discrepancies in the quality of education accessed by in-person and remote students inevitably remain; remote students cannot access the same resources, collaborative experiences or social connections as their in-person peers. As Tufts grapples with this new hybrid reality, it is crucial that administrators and professors alike continue to actively support remote

students by instituting flexible academic policies and finding innovative alternatives to in-person learning.

As we experienced last spring, learning from home presents a variety of challenges for students, ranging from varying time zones to unstable internet connection to a lack of a consistent workplace. In contrast to last semester, however, remote students will face these challenges alone while many of their peers are on campus.

Without this shared experience, taking classes from home can be particularly isolating and mentally taxing.

This rift between in-person and remote experiences is widened by disparities in accessing academic resources.

Students attending remotely, though provided with online alternatives, cannot take advantage of certain critical learning opportunities found only in hands-on activities.

Without access to interdisciplinary spaces on campus such as Tufts’ computer labs, libraries and studio spaces, remote students will not have the same technology for research or participation in classes. Such differences disproportionately affect students taking classes that prioritize in-person attendance, such as engineering, laboratory science or SMFA classes.

Furthermore, remote students do not have the same opportunities to collaborate in person with their peers to complete group projects or homework.

As a result, remote students may have more trouble keeping up with assignments and understanding course material than students on campus.

To bridge disparities between in-person and remote experiences, Tufts faculty members must continue their trend of flexibility and empathy toward remote students by being sensitive

to their varying circumstances. For students living outside of the Eastern time zone, professors should make every effort to offer recorded lectures, flexible starting times for exams, freely available online course materials and alternative office hours.

Professors should also work to foster hybrid channels of collaboration and student engagement, such as Canvas discussions, collaboration on Google documents or asynchronous group projects.

Just as connection in classrooms is limited for remote students, so is the ability to develop social relationships. Without the ability to see friends, attend in-person club meetings or play sports, remote students will not have access to the same social outlets or de-stressors, leading to potential feelings of isolation and anxiety. Tufts should facilitate community building and social connection by

developing online platforms where students can connect outside of class and find a sense of community. Student organizations must also be sure to give all remote students an equal opportunity to join their clubs and participate in on-campus meetings and initiatives. Maintaining these connections will be vital to laying the framework for resilience and revitalization for semesters to come.

To stay true to its promise to “deliver the high-quality academic programs and services that students and their families expect from a Tufts education,” Tufts must continually guarantee that remote students’ qualities of education are not jeopardized by their decisions to attend remotely. In this moment of separation and unprecedented change, it is more important than ever to cultivate community and inclusivity, both on and off campus.

CARTOON

BY JUJU ZWEIBACH The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community.

The content of letters, advertisements, signed columns, cartoons and graphics does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Tufts Daily editorial board.

EDITORIALS Editorials represent the position of The Tufts Daily. Individual editors are not necessarily responsible for, or in agreement with, the policies and editorials of The Tufts Daily.

OP-EDS The Op-Ed section of The Tufts Daily, an open forum for campus editorial commentary, is printed Monday through Thursday. The Daily welcomes submissions from all members of the Tufts community; the opinions expressed in the Op-Ed section do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Daily itself. Opinion articles on campus, national and international issues should be 600 to 1,200 words in length and submitted to opinion@tuftsdaily.com. The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, space and length. All material is subject to editorial discretion and is not guaranteed to appear in the Daily. Authors must submit their telephone numbers and day-of availability for editing questions.

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Sports Aiden Herrod The Turf Monster

A fan’s perspective on sports during a pandemic

A

pandemic approaches month seven. A contentious, divisive presidential election looms. The entire West Coast burns from wildfires brought on by climate change. And the San Francisco Giants ignore it all, jogging onto the grassy field of Oracle Park to play catch under an orange sky that resembles their own uniforms more than an actual sky.

In true stubborn American fashion, the four major sports leagues push on into an uncertain fall.

Much like watching your friend petition for a 25-semester-hour

Friday, September 18, 2020 | Sports | THE TUFTS DAILY unit semester or go way in over their head with clubs and extracurriculars, we only watch with a dizzying blend of concern and optimism. For better or for worse, the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL are playing in a pandemic.

We as fans needed this. No one can deny that. When sports shut down in the immediate wake of COVID-19 landing in America, we were all too frantic to really mourn that loss. But as weeks turned into months relegated to isolation and stay-at-home orders, the warmth and excitement of playoff basketball and summer baseball became desperately needed. Now the distraction and entertainment have returned in a way we could never have envisioned back during the rosy times of January and February 2020.

Baseball came first, and has likely been the messiest and most controversial. It was certainly cathartic to watch sports again, and the chaos of a 60-game season is a playful exercise. But I sorely missed the atmosphere

that comes from packed stadiums. I see baseball as a chance to experience a slice of your city, where each stadium brings the best of your city’s weather, food, people and traditions. I would give anything to enjoy a crab sandwich on a bright sunny day at Oracle Park in San Francisco. Pair this absence with the underlying threads of labor disputes and constant positive COVID-19 results forcing teams into exhausting doubleheaders, and baseball has taken on a tainted nature. I ask you to look no further than the Washington Nationals and New York Yankees game on opening night, which saw hope in the form of Dr. Anthony Fauci throwing out the first pitch, clashing with a haunting omen in a rainstorm that cut it short.

The NBA is doing right what baseball is doing wrong. They’re deep into a riveting 2020 playoffs, and the basketball has been every bit as good as advertised. I see the social justice efforts of the league and the players as a pos-

itive step forward. I watched the boycotts and cheered for the players doing something truly impactful with their platform, laying a further groundwork for change and progress within the NBA and sports as a whole. And the bubble has worked wonders, proving that enough drive from a sports league can keep the show going regardless of the circumstances.

I’m grabbing the popcorn for the semifinals, which both feature some very unlikely contenders that provide pure entertainment, night in and night out.

The final sport that really catches my attention is football, which seems to blend aspects from both the MLB and NBA reopenings. Safe and thorough COVID-19 precautions, without an actual bubble. Letting in a few fans, only to see them boo the NFL’s first attempt at a gesture toward the social justice movements. A mixed bag for my favorite American sport to watch.

Many in the football audience are certainly not ready for today’s

7

social climate, and I hope that the advocacy by players in the NBA will push them toward the light. Aside from this confused attitude for the league as a whole, I love the on-field product of the NFL, which has taken Week 1 as a chance to shake off some rust. I’m more worried about an outbreak in this league, but I expect the owners to push onward in a similar bullish manner to the MLB’s ownership.

Ultimately, we the fans have what we want. We have sports to watch, with all the escapism and drama we could ask for. It’s going to be a chaotic year, and I surely can’t expect the fall to continue as planned. But for the time being, I find a lot of comfort in knowing I can put on any number of games every night, and get away from the challenges of 2020 for a few hours.

Aiden Herrod is a junior studying film and media studies. Aiden can be reached at aiden.herrod@tufts.edu

8 Friday, September 18, 2020

Sports

tuftsdaily.com

4 major leagues return to sports in the age of the pandemic

by Arnav Sacheti

Assistant Sports Editor

When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down live sports back in March, uncertainty loomed about how and in what capacity they would return. Six months later, fans are finally back on their couches fervently cheering for their favorite squads. Due to virus-spreading concerns, however, stadiums and arenas around the world lack one defining element: fans in the stands. Nonetheless, leagues have not given up, and so far, sports fans have been blessed with some of the most exciting play in recent memory.

Both professional basketball and hockey have been finishing out their 2019–20 seasons since late July in a “bubble” format.

The NBA invited the 22 best teams out of 30 to a sports complex near Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. “It kind of feels like when I was back in high school where you have everything together,” Orlando Magic guard Evan Fournier said in an interview with ESPN. “You have where we stay at, our rooms, then we have the lunch area, dinner and the practice facility is like right there. Everything is close. There’s a little bit of that Olympic Village kind of a feeling.”

While the players are reminded of their childhood

days through this experience, the outcomes of the NBA bubble have also been nothing short of ones we would expect from a child playing a basketball video game.

Two of the presumptive favorites to win the NBA championship, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Clippers, have surprisingly been knocked out of the second round by upstarts in the Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets, respectively. One of the other remaining favorites, the Lebron James-led Los Angeles Lakers, appear to have a clear path to the championship, but anything can happen.

The NHL boasted two separate bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton for its best East and West teams, respectively.

Currently, the four remaining semifinalists are the Las Vegas Golden Knights, Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Islanders, who are all in Edmonton to play for the coveted Stanley Cup. According to Stars interim coach Rick Bowness, the bubbles have been mentally challenging, especially since there is no freedom of movement. He cites the monotony of playing and going back to the hotel, which is walking distance from the arena, as obstacles that may not seem significant on the surface, but is certainly testing the mental toughness of all those involved.

While players in bubbles struggle with these issues, professional football and baseball both opted out of a bubble plan and instead are hosting games inside normal team arenas, albeit with limited fans for the NFL and no fans for the MLB. Although a bubble environment would have been safer for containing COVID-19, there were two reasons why the leagues elected not to go with that option. First, both MLB and the NFL were starting their seasons, not finishing the end of them like the NBA and NHL, so the amount of time and money needed to spend on potential MLB and NFL bubbles would have been significantly higher.

Secondly, the number of people involved in NFL and MLB teams is extremely large, so it would have been much harder to control the virus even in a closed environment.

MLB, which normally starts its season in March and ends with the World Series in October, fast-tracked its schedule in order to start in July while ending when it normally does.

The risk that MLB took by not instituting a bubble initially looked like it wasn’t going to pay off. Outbreaks from the Miami Marlins and other teams caused the league to reassess its plans.

However, after postponing some games, the season

has gone on, and as of now, positive tests are few and far between. In addition, the playoffs, which will start at the end of this month, will be played in a bubble, which bodes well for virus safety.

The NFL kicked off its season last Thursday, and while COVID-19 concerns remain real due to the fact that teams are still traveling to play across the country, the league seems to be doing well. According to Dr. Allen Sills, who is the NFL’s chief medical officer, everybody who is involved with the league, including players and staff, are required to wear a tracking device at all times to be able to assess risks in distancing behaviors and detect how the virus may potentially be spread.

Tracking will allow potential safety issues from travel to be spotted quickly. In addition, the NFL is also one of the few leagues in which some teams have a limited fan presence in their arenas. These procedures may be able to help detect whether having fans indeed has a significant impact on the spread of COVID-19. This could be a case for leagues who are eagerly looking to bring back fans soon.

Fortunately, these complex logistical concerns do not apply as much to individual sports such as tennis and golf, where the numbers of people

involved are far lower. Both the U.S. Open in New York and the PGA Championship in San Francisco were able to operate almost normally, with the exception of no fans. However, this seeming normality has not stopped there from being unique outcomes.

Novak Djokovic, who was the clear favorite to win the U.S. Open especially after many of the top players dropped due to injury or COVID-19 concerns, was unexpectedly booted from the tournament after he accidentally hit a ball in frustration that struck a line judge in the throat. That set up a clear path to the title for many who were desperate for their first Grand Slam. The one who wanted it the most was Austria’s Dominic Thiem who beat Germany’s Alexander Zverev in a thrilling five-set match. In the PGA Championship, 23-year old American Colin Morikawa beat out household golf names such as Jason Day, Bubba Watson and Tiger Woods, to win his first major title.

During the long months when us sports fans were deprived, all we asked for was some semblance of a game or team to root for. We haven’t just gotten that, but we have a return of the excitement of sports that we get to savor. We should be beyond grateful. Long live the spirit of competition!

finals. The Los Angeles Lakers, led by Lebron James, are waiting to play the Nuggets on Friday, who overcame two 3–1 deficits during these NBA playoffs. The Nuggets are the first team to conquer a 3–1 deficit twice in the same playoffs in the 74-year history of the NBA. Jamal Murray had an impressive Game 7, in which he scored 40 points on 15 for 26 shooting and made six 3-pointers.

Nikola Jokic had a triple double with 16 points, 22 rebounds and 13 assists. This dynamic duo scored over 56 points, which was 50% of the points for the Nuggets, as they stunned the Clippers and won by 15 points.

Paul George and Kawhi Leonard both had abysmal performances and are to be held accountable for the embarrassing loss. George has not played well during these playoffs and has been given the nickname “Pandemic P” for his poor performances. George shot a pathetic two for 11 from beyond the 3-point line and had five turnovers in the game.

He missed two simple layups, missed wide open 3-pointers and was not making defensive plays either. George’s box plus/ minus (BPM), which estimates a player’s contribution to the team while on the court, was

-20, indicating that he was actually hindering the team’s performance.

Leonard is also equally to be blamed, as he shot only six for 22 from the field. Leonard missed his signature shots like the mid-range jump shot and the pull-up jump shot and had a -21 BPM. In the post-game interview, Lou Williams, George and coach Doc Rivers said that the team’s poor chemistry was the reason for its early knockout in the 2020 playoffs.

“We came up short. We did have championship expectations. We had the talent to do it.

I don’t think we had the chemistry to do it and it showed,” Williams said.

George also referred to the same issue and said, “First year together … we can’t even say we want to change our roster; we like what we got. We’ve been saying it all year: just chemistry, being together. The more we’re together, the better we will be.

It’s year one, year one.”

As the Nuggets advance to the Western Conference finals, Jamal Murray tells the Lakers, “They gotta worry about us.”

Lakers versus Nuggets is going to be an interesting series as the unguardable Jokic meets the 17-year veteran, Lebron James.

Heat, Nuggets excel in NBA bubble

by Sharan Bhansali Contributing Writer

Miami Heat defeat the Boston Celtics 117–114 to take a 1–0 lead The Boston Celtics were down 116–114 against the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals, as Jayson Tatum’s game-tying dunk got blocked by the 6-foot9 center, Bam Adebayo, with 3.7 seconds left in overtime.

The Celtics had no fouls to give, but they fouled Adebayo with 2.5 seconds on the clock and he headed to the free-throw line. Adebayo knocked down the free throw to put the Heat up three.

Marcus Smart heaved a long pass to Tatum who was behind the 3-point line. Tatum fumbled but got the shot up in time — but the ball rimmed out and the Heat won Game 1.

Goran Dragić, the crafty point guard for the Miami Heat, led his team in scoring with 29 points on 11 for 19 shooting.

Jimmy Butler, who has been a key part of the Heat’s stellar playoff performance in winning nine of their 10 playoff games in 2020, hit two clutch shots in the fourth quarter and ended the game with 20 points on seven for 14 shooting. The

Heat had five of their key players — Goran Dragić, Jae Crowder, Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro — score over 10 points and contribute to their overtime win against the Celtics.

The Miami Heat are known to be one of the best shooting teams this season. They scored 16 3-pointers against the Celtics and Crowder — who has been working on his shooting form — contributed five three’s single-handedly.

The Heat shot a casual 44% from beyond the arc as their best 3-point shooter, Duncan Robinson, struggled to find the bottom of the net.

Tatum ended the game with 30 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and three steals. He was the second-youngest player in NBA history to achieve 25-plus points, 10-plus rebounds and 5-plus assists in a Game 7, the youngest player being the late Kobe Bryant, Tatum’s idol and hero.

Smart has been phenomenal for the Celtics, making great defensive plays, improving his scoring from beyond the 3-point line, saving the ball from going out of bounds, chasing down opponents for dramatic blocks, and energizing the rest of the Celtics team. In Game 1, Smart knocked down six 3-pointers

and ended the night with 26 points.

Gordon Hayward suffered a Grade 3 ankle sprain in the Celtics’ first round against the Philadelphia 76ers. At the time, he was expected to miss approximately four weeks of play.

Although it has been a month since the injury, Hayward has not returned yet.

Celtics coach Brad Stevens is optimistic that Hayward will play in the Eastern Conference finals. “I think he’ll be back at some point in that series, but I don’t know when,” Stevens said after the team’s win against the Toronto Raptors. The Celtics have gone 14–6 without Hayward during the regular season, as he missed 13 games early in the season after breaking a bone in his hand.

If Game 1 is any indication of how the series is going to pan out, the viewers are in for a treat. Both teams are great on the offensive and defensive end, so it is going to be a dog fight to proceed to the NBA Finals.

The Denver Nuggets overcome another 3–1 deficit Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic had dominant performances in Game 7 against the Los Angeles Clippers and helped the Denver Nuggets advance to the NBA Western Conference