Sports

FUTURE: Senior Stephen Stege thinks his way through a sport that he calls “90 percent mental.”

The UC Irvine men’s basketball program recently experienced two crucial separations. Junior forward Eric Wise walked out on the family, metaphorically serving Head Coach Russell Turner with divorce papers. Losing freshman center Maxime Chupin and UCI stings in a different way; the promising Chupin has not played a single minute in an Anteater uniform in his college career.

GOLF: Lalita Patipaksiri will travel to Asia and compete with the NCAA All-Star Team.

ARC: Club and recreational sports can inspire camaraderie for those who miss being on a team.

Physical education was the best and worst class I took in middle and high school. On one hand, I figured, “Are you kidding me? I get an easy A for playing basketball, softball, dodgeball, flag football and I get to watch ‘Remember The Titans’ over-and-over again when inclement weather strikes.”

NOPE: The NCAA rejects center Maxime Chupin’s bid to play at UCI; he will return to France this summer.

CORTNEY: The senior water polo player hopes to end her career with a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

PLAYOFFS: UCI swept Hawaii in the opening round of the MPSF tournament; they now travel to No. 1 USC.

HOME: Reyes beat UCD twice with suicide squeezes and Hillman crushed a walkoff homer against USD.

The sports world devoured me when I was in the sixth grade. Despite watching Tony Siragusa knock Rich Gannon out of the 2001 AFC championship game and having a bitter taste in my mouth because the Oakland Raiders lost, I became engrossed with football. From that point on my love affair with sports only grew stronger as I began watching basketball, baseball and just about anything shown on television during the Olympics.

WISDOM: Sean Madigan is the last remaining Anteater from the 2007 College World Series team.

SETTER: Senior Anthony Spittle will attempt to follow in his brothers’ footsteps, win one for the family.