Christmas Time in the City

Boston, Mass. — It's warm, it's sunny, and you've probably worn shorts sometime in the last week. But despite the mind-bloggling weather, 'tis the season in Boston.

On Thursday, December 1, the 70th Annual Boston Common Tree Lighting kicked-off the official beginning of the holiday season. Thousands of city-dwellers and visitors flocked downtown to watch as Mayor Menino lit the beautiful tree amidst an explosion of fireworks and sparklers.

At 7:58pm, the tree was lit.
Photo Credit: DGuides.Com

"It's such an awesome event," said Boston University student Katrina Bossotti, 19. "I've only been in Boston for two years but I've come down to watch both times. The music, the lights... It just get's me excited for the winter. I'll definitely be coming as long as I stay in the city."

The event started at 5:30pm with the opening of Frog Pond, the city's central ice skating rink. The real show began on stage at 6:00pm with vocal performances by New Kids on the Block Joey McIntyre, American Idol finalist Siobhan Magnus, the Radio City Rockettes, Rockapella, the Boston Ballet, the Boston Children’s Choir, MAGIC 106.7’s Nancy Quill and Mike Addams, and saxophonist Grace Kelly.

For many spectators, the performances were more of an allure than the lighting itself.

"I came just to see Joey McIntyre," said Boston resident Angela Simmons, 23. "The other singers were great but I just needed to see [McIntyre] up close. I used to listen to New Kids on the Block every day."

Hot cider was a popular purchase for many spectators.

While jolly Christmas tunes played from the ornament-adorned stage, a sea of children and adults flooded the Commons from every entrance. Local vendors rushed to the scene to offer hot chocolate, winter hats, light up toys and more.

"We make a decent amount of money each year, " said Craig Jonas, 34, who ran an apparel stand including animal hats and furry toys. "It's a good time and people are generally pretty excited about everything."

When the final tune reverberated into the night, Mayor Menino took the stage to thank guests for attending the night's activities. Then, without further ado, the tree lit up as small-scale fireworks erupted from near-by.

The crowd cheered in excitement and finally, the tree stood tall and vibrant.

Take a peek at the variety of decorations Boston 
has to offer in our special holiday slideshow

A Bit of History

The 2011 Boston Christmas tree is a 50-foot Balsmic fur donated by Ken and Donna Spinney of Nova Scotia. Boston has received each of its annual trees from the Canadian region as part of a special agreement relating to the devastating Halifax Explosion.

On December 6, 1917, an accident off the coast of Nova Scotia killed more than 1,000 people and injured thousands more. "The explosion was the cause of the S.S. Mont Blanc, a French cargo ship loaded with explosives, which collided with a Norwegian ship in the Halifax Harbor. Boston was among the immediate respondents, sending trains filled with emergency personnel north in order to offer aid. The annual donation is a traditional 'thank you' for that help." (Boston.About.Com)

And be sure to go behind the scenes with Kedzie Teller to take a peek at Macy's decorations as they refused to be part of our coverage.

Looking Forward

After this weekend's ATP Championships, all regular season tennis has come to an end. The year-end victors have been crowned and it's time for the tennis world's stars to hang up their rackets for some much deserved rest.

But as the athletes settle down, Tennis.com must rev up. For the next two months news will be minimal and the website's writers must find a way to keep readers interested until the start of next year's season. What's a better way to do that than to look to the future?

Is it already time for French Open tickets?

Tennis.com has begun what will become a steady flow of  predictions and player analyses for 2012. Will Djokovic rekindle the fire that earned him a record breaking 2011? Will Wozniacki finally win her maiden slam? (lol). And what will come of the Williams sisters?

While I enjoy speculation, I'm hoping the seasoned editors of Tennis.com have something new up their sleeves. It's fun to read what Bodo and Tignor think will happen to the tennis world giants, but all the writing really becomes is hearsay and editorial banter.

Instead of looking forward, I'd like some more looking back. Not necessarily on 2011, because we've been hammered with highlights for 11 months now, but what about comparisons of this season to the past? What about some classic highlights from the days of Sampras or Graf? Mix it up, keep me on my toes, and make me want to check the website more than once a week.

If not, I'll get my tennis fix from twitter. The players have proven to be pretty funny lately.

Middlebury College Leaves Quidditch World Spellbound

Randall Island, NYC — For a moment it looked as though the mighty had fallen, and then, like magic, order was restored at the 5th annual Quidditch World Cup.

On a cold and windy November weekend, 94 teams competed in pursuit of the International Quidditch League's ultimate title: World Cup champions. With representation from the United States, Canada, Finland, Iceland and New Zealand, the tournament boasted some of the highest-quality matches seen since the sport's creation seven years ago. Surely, then, it seemed certain that someone would topple the dominant reign of 4-time World Cup champions, Middlebury College.

But in quidditch, certainty does not exist.

For two full days, the Randall Island sports complex in New York City became home to nine fields of quaffle-throwing, bludger-beating, snitch-catching chaos. Thousands of spectators flooded into the facilities to witness what soon became the largest quidditch tournament ever held. Saturday's action included round robin matches between pre-selected pools of five teams. Once each team had faced each of the others in its group, seeds were generated for Sunday's knock-out style bracket and those who did not make the top 32 were sent packing.

[For a full list of Quidditch rules and regulation, check the IQA Official Rulebook]

When Middlebury College was upset by no-name newcomer, University of Michigan, in their second round-robin match, buzz about the team's apparent vulnerability ripped across the tournament grounds like wildfire. It was clear that Middlebury could no longer earn a top seed going into Sunday's matches, and powerhouse squads began vying for the number one spot, seeking high point differentials to set them apart.

Click for a slideshow of
off-the-pitch events!

Entering the second day of competition, the desire for a newly crowned World Cup champion generated some of the most physical, fast-paced and high-emotion matches the tournament could have ever expected. Regional tournament winners such as Kansas University (Mid-West champions) and University of Miami (Southern champions) looked like strong candidates, clean sweeping their opponents by large margins.

Northeast regional champions, Boston University, appeared threatening as well, finishing their first five matches with a +500 point differential, including a 110-0 shutout against world no.16, Chestnut Hill. The Terrier's success was bitter-sweet, however, as their no.4 seed set up a round-of-sixteeen clash against Middlebury—a match dubbed "an early-round championship" by tournament officials.

BU players look on as they trounce Lafayette 120-10.

As BU and Middlebury took to the pitch, a sea of spectators rushed to witness what looked to be an upset in the making. BU's superb beating and hard tackling kept the Middlebury chasers at bay, while their speed and long range shooting earned them an early 40-10 lead. The Panthers were not to be out-shined, however, beginning to connect on set plays and fighting back to a 40-30 deficit. It was the snitch, however, that decided the game. The moment the snitch returned to the field, Middlebury quickly launched for the game-ending catch, stunning the Terriers who had re-established field dominance and looked to be in control of the match. The final score was a 60-40 victory for Middlebury—a victory which would foreshadow the rest of the tournament's outcome.

Despite valiant efforts from UCLA and Texas A&M in the quarter and semifinals (both of whom had leads against Middlebury at some point in their matches), the Panthers proved that a close game in quidditch will always come down to the snitch catch, moving on to the championship game for the fifth straight year.

(Photo via InternationalQuidditch.Org)

The final match was held in Icahn Stadium—a 5,000 seat venue where Usain Bolt broke the 200m sprinting world record in 2009. Beneath a starless night sky and the brilliance of Icahn's lights, Middlebury had only one more obstacle to overcome: the University of Florida. Just as in their three previous matches, Middlebury faced fierce competition on the field. UF's chasers and beaters matched Middlebury on every level, scoring and beating with finely-tuned skill, but, like before, it was Middlebury who excelled in seeking. Just as UF took a 20 point lead, the Panthers' seeker caught the snitch and ended the game 80-70.

Once again, Middlebury College has hoisted the World Cup trophy. Once again, they will remain the top ranked team. But for once, the path was not so easy.

With a year to train, teams around the globe will dream of their next chance at glory—their next chance to make history. Middlebury finally lost a game, after-all, so who's to say they can't lose the title?

Go behind the scenes and see why these young athletes love to play quidditch:

JO540 Video Diary

Another BUQ Video (not by me)

World Cup V Intimidator from VicKelman on Vimeo.

Tennis.com On the Go

With the increase of smartphone use, it's important for news and entertainment sites to have functional mobile pages. I am happy to say that Tennis.com has kept up with the times and did this one right.

While blackberry users like myself might want to smash their heads against walls waiting for pages to load, people accessing the mobile site will be extremely happy. The overall smooth look and user-friendly feel of Tennis.com's mobile page is above what you might have expected for a website whose homepage is overwhelmingly packed. With a quick click of your phone you can read the week's biggest feature articles or the day's minute-by-minute AP headlines.

My favorite feature? Mobile live scores. About 90% of people who use Tennis.com use it to check scores as they're happening (okay I'm making that number up, but you get it) so a mobile version of the live scoreboard is really what makes the page stand out. Kudos.

One thing I would like to see on the mobile version is access to photos and videos. So far, I haven't quite figured out if those are accessible. Maybe it's me, or maybe it's my blackberry... but still, I want to see something other than text!

JO540 Video Project (BUQ vs Tufts)

I apologize in advance for any clutter on the audio, specifically during the first interview. BUT I think you'll really enjoy this.

Keep an eye out to http://www.youtube.com/BUQuidditch also as we upload a few projects we've been working on.