Jon Kamran

“Hippies. They’re everywhere. They wanna save the earth, but all they do is smoke pot and smell bad.”
—Eric Cartman

There's an old saying that journalism is the fourth branch of government. It deals in opinions and fact, influencing the public view of the other three. But to fit neatly into the checks and balances system that defines government, journalism must have its own limitation.

At the end of last season after the final game at Harvard, Joe Jones didn't say much. Columbia had dropped their last three contests, and he could hardly take in the loss, let alone reflect on an entire season. Seniors who had just played their last game looked back on four years of losing seasons with sadness.

When Columbia men's basketball travels to Yale and Brown this weekend, the Lions will find themselves in a familiar position, as underdogs hoping to upset a Yale team in the thick of the Ivy League championship race.

It was their first chance in 11 years, their best opportunity at an elusive sweep of one of the Ivy League's two powerhouses. But when a 1-6 Princeton team provided Columbia men's basketball with chance after chance to win at Jadwin Gymnasium for the first time since 1995, the Lions let each opportunity slip away.

John Baumann is the best player on the Columbia men's basketball team. This is not an opinion-it is a fact, determined by analyzing his performance in the young Ivy season through a statistic known as the player efficiency rating.

Before the beginning of every Ivy basketball season, each team makes a public goal of winning a league championship. Since no school outside of Princeton or Penn has won a championship outright in almost 20 years, the goal is rarely realistic. At the beginning of the season, coming off a four-win Ivy season, head coach Joe Jones made the goal once again.

After the Columbia men's basketball team's last two losses against Cornell, head coach Joe Jones explained his team's offensive struggle as part of a learning process.

For most of Saturday afternoon's game, Columbia men's basketball looked like it would avoid the late mistakes that caused its defeat against Cornell. The offense was playing better, but not perfectly. Columbia's defense was limiting the Big Red's chances, and with a little under four minutes left, they held a seven-point lead.

Down by two with a little over 40 seconds left, Columbia's final play was drawn up for Justin Armstrong. That it would go to him was a poorly kept secret as time and time again the junior swingman has won games for Columbia with his late heroics.

This time his jump shot came up short, but Columbia was given one last chance.

On Friday night, the Columbia men's basketball team was at its best, taking care of a Princeton team that led the nation in defensive efficiency on the way to a 64-56 win. The following night against Penn, the Lions were unable to recapture any of the offense that characterized the first game, splitting the opening weekend of Ivy play with a 69-43 loss.

The eight Ivy League athletic directors will convene to discuss the possible addition of a postseason basketball tournament at the league's annual winter meeting in New York City today.

The Ivy League is currently the only Division I conference to not have a tournament, giving its automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament to the team with the best conference record.

Last season, Columbia's men's basketball team made a habit of squeaking by teams in nonconference games. Its first five wins were all by a margin of less than five points. This season, it's been a different story as the Lions have been able to separate themselves in close games and take control.

In preseason play, it's rare to see games as a fair indication of the future. But when Columbia men's basketball plays tonight against Wagner College, a team that they lost to by 12 points last season, the Lions should get an early preview of where they stand among Ivy teams.

Two free throws by Brett Loscalzo ended a late push by Sacred Heart, giving Columbia men's basketball a 76-71 win on Saturday night. Back in the comforts of Levien Gymnasium, the Lions snapped a two-game losing skid behind 16 points from John Baumann and Niko Scott, moving to 5-3 on the season.

According to a report published in the Norwich Bulletin, all eight Ivy League athletic directors are scheduled to meet this Thursday in New York to discuss the creation of a postseason basketball tournament.
The league appointed an ad hoc committee before the season to research a potential change.

According to a report published in the Norwich Bulletin, all eight Ivy League athletic directors are scheduled to meet this Thursday in New York to discuss the creation of a postseason basketball tournament.

The league appointed an ad hoc committee before the season to research a potential change.

Before the season started, Columbia men's basketball head coach Joe Jones made no secret of his high expectations for center Ben Nwachukwu.

"Early on in practice, John [Baumann] and Ben just dominated practice," Jones said. "It was incredible. Both guys were playing together at a very high level with a lot of energy, and I thought right there, I was really excited about what could be this year.

Even as talk grows of Joe Jones' original recruits maturing, his lineups keep getting younger.

Against two athletic teams, with injuries limiting his rotation, the men's basketball head coach is once again giving freshmen a chance to play.

"I think we're going to have a long bench," Jones said.

The leader of the corner was a student wearing a kilt, with his face painted in blue and white. He had a belt tied around his chest, with a pouch hanging over it, worn brown leather boots, and a mesh blue-and-white bandana hanging down from under a Duke hat.

It was his first Ivy League victory.

In the fall of 2003, at the start of his first full year as Columbia men's basketball head coach, Joe Jones was taking on Penn in a match that few expected him to win.

The former Villanova head recruiter was trying to bring players to a program that had finished 2-25 the year before without a league win.

It was the most winnable league game of the season.

At home on Saturday against an 0-5 team, that should have been evident to everyone in Wien Stadium, and most of all to Columbia's players. But the same offensive problems that have limited the team all season, coupled with some sloppy play, made it likely that this Ivy season will be no improvement over the last.

About six months ago, Uche Osadebe's coaches approached him with a strange request. Coming off his best season, with an all-Ivy honorable mention on the defensive line, Osadebe was asked by head coach Norries Wilson to switch to the offensive side.

It was spring training and injuries and graduation that had left the team thin across the front, so it seemed natural to take an athlete like Osadebe and try to translate his skills to left guard.

When Bob Shoop set his schedule for this season, he must have had an inkling he'd be fighting to save his job-he was just a year too late.

While the former head coach never saw the benefits of four straight games at home-including three very winnable nonconference games-new head coach Norries Wilson should.

A free speech advocacy group called for the immediate reinstatement of the Columbia men's ice hockey club Wednesday, as Athletic Department officials agreed to meet with representatives of the team this coming Monday.

For the second time in as many weeks, Columbia Athletics' new online feature, SideLion pass, experienced technical difficulties.

This time, the Athletic Department plans on providing subscribers with additional benefits due to the issues surrounding the past two weeks' broadcasts.

After a week of doubt over the status of the Columbia Men's Ice Hockey Club, the team's future beyond the next three months has only become more unclear.

The ruling to suspend the team until Jan. 16, 2007 will effectively end its 2006-2007 season and threaten its status within the American Collegiate Hockey Association, undoing several years of improvements to the club.

Columbia doesn't have many traditions in its sports history. Certainly, there are few that are points of pride-a couple of great players sprinkled in, a fledgling hall of fame to honor them, and an impressive streak (of losing).

But they do have one that is wholly unique.

If you believe the schedule, Columbia's basketball season usually begins in mid-November, with a home tournament against lower-level competition. But for most fans, the season usually starts in mid-January, when games begin to have real implications, with an NCAA tournament berth and league championship on the line.

Heading into the season, men's basketball head coach Joe Jones knew that he was in for an up-and-down ride with a very young team. After a promising start, the season ended as yet another in a string of bottom-of the-Ivy-League finishes. The Lions finished the year at 4-10, tied with Cornell for last place in the league.