While recovering from knee surgery may have required Jeremy Lin ’10 to sit out the NBA playoffs, all is not lost for the Harvard alum this summer.

According to a report by NBC ProBasketballTalk’s Kurt Helin, Lin was named to the USA Select team, a group of about thirteen guys who scrimmage and work against the actual Olympic team during the latter’s training.

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The Harvard softball team completed one of its group goals Friday by claiming a second straight title. But that wasn’t the only accomplishment achieved by the squad this year. Two weeks prior to the team’s triumph over Penn, in a 10-0 victory over Holy Cross, Senior Mari Zumbro came in and played catcher for a perfect seventh inning. It was the ninth position she had played for the Crimson, completing her tour around the diamond.

“We had that on our radar screen,” Harvard coach Jenny Allard said. “That’s something she brought to our attention at end of her junior year. She had played seven out of the nine positions, and the two positions left were second base and catcher. We put her in at second base against Yale, and at Holy Cross we put her in at catcher.”

During the final stages of the quest, the team was becoming as excited as Zumbro about completing the challenge.

“We want to help them achieve their goals,” Allard said. “The team was supportive. We’ve never had anyone ever do that.”

Moving around the diamond isn’t new for Zumbro, as she’s basically been preparing for her role as a super utilitywoman her whole life.

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Despite New York Knicks fans’ recent hopes that Jeremy Lin ’10 would pull a Willis Reed, surprising the basketball world by coming back from a severe injury and willing his team to victory, it was announced on Tuesday that Lin will not play in his team’s first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat.

Following the Knicks’ practice, interim head coach Mike Woodson spoke to the media about Lin’s unavailability.

''Speaking with medical and Jeremy, he will not play in this series,'' Woodson said. “He’s just not physically ready to play.”

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The Harvard Men’s Basketball team is traveling to Italy in mid-August for some summer competition.  The Crimson will be playing in Rome, Pisa and Venice.  There is a fan package being offered that also includes opportunities to sightsee between games in Florence and Lake Como.

As the saying goes, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”  So, Harvard players and fans alike should come prepared to wholeheartedly embrace the Italian culture. The Crimson players should not have any trouble carbo-loading before game days. And, instead of filling the typical Gatorade sport bottles on the Harvard bench with water, why not drink Chianti, the traditional red wine of Tuscany?

While basketball sneakers are practical, they are not fashionable across the Atlantic.  Perhaps players and spectators should exchange them in their suitcases for Superga sneakers, the multi-colored Italian brand of shoes that is ubiquitous across Europe.

With a little bit of luck from a coin tossed into the Trevi Fountain, we should expect great success for Harvard this summer. And, hopefully, the team will return with ample photographs of various players “holding up” the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  That is the only reason people go there, right?

It’s finals week, and that means something different for everyone at Harvard.  For most, finals week leads to hours of time lost in Lamont Library Penitentiary.  If you’re reading this, chances are high that this is part of that study break that was supposed to be five minutes.  Don’t be ashamed, we’ve all been there.

But when you have something better to do than read a blog about Harvard sports, we strongly suggest taking a look at Twitter.  The frustration, stress, and joy of the end of the academic year have brought some of the finest Tweets of the year.

After sorting through a thousand “Can’t believe it’s my last (insert sentimental thing about Harvard)”-Tweets, we picked out some of our favorites from a couple of freshman athletes.

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