After the being struck by the biggest earthquake in recorded history, Japan attempts to clean up. The biggest hurdle right now? The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. The plant was hit hard by the earthquake and has since experienced two explosions, leaving many people worried about a nuclear meltdown that could kill over 10,000 people. People are being evacuated from the power plants, as well as coastlines. And this is only one of the many problems Japan is facing. Not only are thousands stranded without power or water, but with the state of emergency many survivors have over-stocked on food, leaving thousands of others without anything and still waiting for relief.

Apple had a successful weekend with the launch of the new iPad. The iPad2 sold out within hours of being released to the public. Analysts are estimating 400,000 to 600,000 were sold over the past three days, many of which were bought by new users. The iPad 2 is said to be thinner, lighter and much more powerful than it’s predecessor. It also features a camera that is located on the front and back, which is designed to take pictures as well as video conference. Many experts are saying that the iPad2 will continue to fly off the shelves with the price and technology it offers. Once again, Apple products dominate the market. Read More »

Our hats go off to the UConn women’s basketball team for winning their 89th consecutive game! This latest win makes these talented ladies the winningest team in NCAA basketball history, topping the 88-game winning streak set in the 1970s by the UCLA men’s basketball team.

It’s important to recognize an achievement this major, yet these girls are kicking butt, stealing records and getting very little media attention for it. This wining streak started a full two years ago and it’s taken that long to get any sort of national attention.

Celtics coach Doc Rivers says:

“…If it was the UConn men’s program, we would be talking about it every day, and that’s part of it. What [the UConn women are] doing is extraordinary and amazing.”

We agree, still, even after the team’s tremendous accomplishment, no one is talking about how the team is dripping with talented athletes, but rather how it is nothing like men’s basketball and shouldn’t be compared to it. Many sports writers feel that women’s basketball is far inferior to men’s basketball, asking whether the female team should even be compared to the UCLA men’s basketball team. They go on about how men and women are very different “just like apples and oranges” and blah blah blah, pointing out the differences between men’s and women’s basketball to make their point: Read More »

It’s no secret that Harry Potter and his fantastical friends have taken the Muggle-world by storm. As we anxiously await the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, it’s not tough to lose hours daydreaming of charging through the brick wall to Platform 9 ¾, hopping on the Hogwarts express, and challenging evil with a wand in hand.

The world of Harry Potter isn’t real, we often remind ourselves. Or, is it? With the advent of International Quidditch Association, an organization that promotes both athleticism and a love of all things HP, over 25 American universities get to take the text of the Harry Potter series and bring it to life in their everyday sport.

With the IQA World Cup happening this weekend in New York (yes, it’s a real thing), CollegeCandy caught up with Jared Roher, captain of the New York regional team, and learned about the quirks of college Quidditch, how to find the best brooms available, and where to sip on a tasty mug of Butterbeer. Read More »

[It's pretty obvious that the average CollegeCandy reader has some very strong opinions. Opinions that she likes to share with everyone on the site. Sometimes with mean words. We love a strong woman (unless she happens to be charging at us with her fists raised), so we thought we'd give her a real forum to discuss her thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Every Friday I'll be featuring a hot topic (like is photoshopping wrong!) and leaving it up to you, the readers, to duke it out. So, read it and get your debate on in the comments section below!]

Recently Kye Allums became the first publicly transgendered student-athlete in NCAA history to play as a male identifying player on the George Washington University women’s basketball team. It’s a big step for transgendered athletes everywhere and first off I have to say kudos to him. Still, with any kind of groundbreaking change like this, some questions arise, and it’s time to weigh in.

The big, obvious question, of course, is where does Allums belong in the sexually segregated world of college basketball? Though he hasn’t yet undergone gender reassignment, Allums does plan to have the surgery over the summer before returning for his senior season. He has no plans to take testosterone, and therefore won’t have any hormonal advantage over the other players on the women’s team, so it seems as though it shouldn’t be an issue. But on a very base level one has to wonder how things are going to be affected. Obviously it would be unfair to expect Allums to play on the men’s team, because of the physiological differences including the lower testosterone levels, but at the same time, he is essentially a man playing on the women’s team.

What do we do with that? Where does that leave the lines that have been set up by the sport’s governing body? Read More »

After weeks of nail biting games, on-the-buzzer wins, bracket disappointment (I was losing to my 11-year-old cousin before the Elite 8 even started) and a lot of weeknight drinking, the NCAA National Championship game is finally here. Which means one more night of intense beer drinking while my guy friends talk sh*t to each other. Until fantasy baseball season starts….

I’m really excited for tonight’s game, partly because I love watching giant 18-year-olds run up and down a court and partly because I don’t have to deal with those annoying MSU people throwing their awesome basketball team’s record back in my face. I get it – Michigan’s basketball team didn’t make it. Can we move on now? Read More »

I’m a resolution maker. I think January 1 is a great time to stop, think about the things you want to do better for yourself, and start the improvement process. And while I’ve set a few for myself this year (thanks to that post-holiday trip to the scale), what I’m most excited for are the resolutions I’ve set for my relationship.

Matt and I have made it through our first whole calendar year together and we have a lot to look back on and think about. Seeing where we went wrong and discussing what we can do to make it better in the new year can help our relationship (pssst. this can help yours, too!) become strong and help us become more aware of each other. Now that we both know each other better than anyone else in this world, we should have a better sense of what we should and can do to make our relationship even better.

So here are just a few little things I will be working on in my relationship in 2010. No relationship is perfect – perhaps a few of these will help you and yours. Read More »

Welcome back to The Rival Rundown! If you’ve always wanted to give props to your school on CC, now’s your chance! Shoot us an email explaining what’s awesome and unique about your school (or what stinks about Rival U) at rivalrundown [at] collegecandy.com!

This week we deviate from our typical Rival Rundown in two ways. First, we’ll be covering a (women’s!) basketball rivalry, as the athletic calendar moves into a new season. Second, this rivalry–between the University of Connecticut and the University of Tennessee–has been canceled! Though lauded by Sports Illustrated as one of the most intense rivalries in any sport this decade, in 2007, officials at Tennessee mysteriously elected not to renew their contract to schedule any further seasonal games against UConn.  What makes this rivalry, apart from its shocking termination, unique? Read on to find out!

Quick Facts

UConn: Public land-grant research institution in Storrs, CT with 17,000 undergraduates. Founded in 1881.
Tennessee: Public research institution in Knoxville, TN with 21,000 undergraduates. Founded in 1794.

1. Women’s Basketball Record

UConn: 13-9
Tennessee: 9-13

Three credits to: UConn Read More »

Welcome back to The Rival Rundown! If you’ve always wanted to give props to your school on CC, now’s your chance! Shoot us an email explaining what’s awesome and unique about your school (or what stinks about Rival U) at rivalrundown@collegecandy.com!

This week we hit up the West Coast as we examine the two hottest schools in Los Angeles- the University of Southern California and the University of California- Los Angeles. Amidst the beautiful SoCal climate and a city rife with movie sets and superstars, private USC and public UCLA compete to find out which is most elite in the City of Angels.

1. Superior Sport

USC – The Trojans are known as “the football school” and have been awarded the NCAA national title in football eleven times, including back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004.  They are perennially ranked in the Top 10 football programs in the BCS by ESPN, USA Today, and other publications. And Trojans have taken home the Heisman Trophy seven times.
UCLA - Meanwhile, the Bruins are known as powerhouses in basketball–also earning eleven NCAA titles. Seven of these championships were won consecutively, from 1967-1973.  UCLA is also the all-time leader in total NCAA national titles across all sports.

Meanwhile, the Lexus Gauntlet is an annual all-sports competition between the two schools sponsored by Lexus. Points are awarded for every victory (particularly in head-to-head match ups)  in NCAA-sanctioned competitions, with the school with the most points declared as the winner. (There is also a separate Lexus Gauntlet awarded to the winner of the Stanford-Berkeley rivalry.)  In the eight years of Lexus Gauntlet tradition, USC has walked away with five titles.

Three credits to: TIE.  The two schools pulled a draw in NCAA titles in their respective predominant sport.  On the one hand, the Lexus Gauntlet record gives the Trojans the edge, but UCLA also has the most NCAA titles of any school. Too close to call!! Read More »

It’s Sweet Sixteen time, baby! And you know in this case there are no birthday cakes, cute presents, or super spoiled kids living it up on MTV.

We’re talking hardcore, fast and furious, make it or break it time.

Only 16 teams left. And only 8 spots remain to be filled in the Elite Eight. Who will make it? I give you my predictions below, after watching the action-packed first two rounds of the tourney.

First of all, we can finally settle the debate on which conference is the best this year, and possibly even in history. For the first time in the history of the NCAA tournament, five teams from one league advanced to the Sweet 16. The Big East is home to Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Villanova, all of which made the cut and will play in the regional semifinals on Thursday and Friday.

The ACC, which was the other conference in the debate, only has two of its members left, although they are reputably two of the best college teams and have one of the biggest rivalries in sports history: UNC and Duke. (Sidenote: dark blue is wayyy better than that gross baby blue color. Eww.)

Anyway, do you remember last year when, surprisingly, all four #1′s made it to the Final Four? Well, this year marks the first time all the 1-, 2-, and 3-seeds are in the Sweet Sixteen. Looks like Cinderella is going to be hard to find this year.

But what a great first two rounds it’s been. Read More »

And so it begins. After 11 long, tortuous, pain-staking months of waiting… the Big Dance is finally here.

Once you get past the fact that the NCAA Selection Committee made the mistake of not including some of the best teams that could have been this year’s Cinderella (Arizona State instead of St. Mary’s? come on), the board actually came up with a pretty good draw. And for the next 2 weeks, I will be fully immersing myself in the insanity and awesomeness that is the most exciting sporting event of the year: March Madness.

The best conference in the country (and maybe in history) is hands-down the Big East. 3 out of the 4 number 1 seeds are from the Big East: UConn, Louisville, and Pitt. Even Barack Obama believes in the dominance of this conference, since his bracket that he filled out on Wednesday (live on ESPN! what a cool prez) shows it filling half of his Elite Eight. Although Obama didn’t have our lovely school in his Final Four, Coach K isn’t worried. Read More »