More gripping than highlight reels
By MIKE MILIARD | March 25, 2008
![beaverFever[1]inside](http://cache.thephoenix.com/secure/uploadedImages/The_Phoenix/Movies/Reviews/beaverFever[1]inside.jpg "beaverFever[1]inside")
Go Beavers! |
“A lot of times, when we lose a game, it’s based on five, six minutes where we just can’t get anything going,” says Yang Hai, shrimpy guard for the California Institute of Technology basketball team. Five or six minutes. Every single game. For two decades. The Caltech Beavers — named, natch, after “nature’s engineers” — have suffered more than 240 consecutive conference losses. A streak of 21 years. After one drubbing, the scoreboard read 127-32. “To lose by 60 points, on average? It sounds impossible,” says Coach Roy Dow. “It’s not.” Rick Greenwald’s documentary flashes a wry wit and inventive graphic flair, but the best part is its subjects: the affable geeks, loaded with coursework in particle physics and theoretical math, yet still giving each game their all, and Coach Dow, unfailingly energetic in the face of absurd odds. Who needs March Madness? The final moments here are more gripping than some highlight reels. 85 Minutes | Kendall Square
Related:
Crossword: ''Pig out'', Win tickets to Grizzly Bear, The Heart of the Game, More 
- Crossword: ''Pig out''
External appearances count.
- Win tickets to Grizzly Bear
Text the word GRIZZLY to 22122*, and you will be entered into a random drawing to win yourself and a pal a pair of tickets to see Grizzly Bear on August 14 at the MFA.
- The Heart of the Game
Ward Serrill’s hoop dream is a slam dunk from the heart. Watch the trailer for The Heart of the Game (QuickTime)
- Student athletes gone wild
It was a bad week for heavily recruited high-school sports prospects, as hotshots around the country were busted in an eerily congruent series of assault arrests.
- Sports blotter: June 2, 2006
In what may be the highest-profile Crips murder case since the Snoop Dogg “Murder Was the Case” incident, a Los Angeles high-school football star on his way to a full ride at Oregon was implicated last week in an investigation that reads like a Sociology 101 lesson in Crips hierarchies.
- Shelter
Short-order cook Zack skateboards, surfs, babysits, and dreams of attending Caltech to be an artist.
- Year of the Pig
In Chinese astrology, 2007 is the Year of the Pig. To celebrate the swine, we’re counting down the top 20 oinkers of all time.
- Ballspuck: Where's the hate?
I think Portland sports fans should get their hate on. And who should we hate? The answer is easy and plausible: we should hate Manchester, New Hampshire.
- Wild, Wild West
Former Celtic Delonte West has long been known as a clutch shooter, but he's apparently taking that reputation a little too literally.
- Dance, monkey: Renata Tutko
I’m just doing stand-up to try and get noticed for my other skills.
- RIPTA drones thrown under the bus
Beautiful! The people responsible for the longstanding mishandling of RIPTA have earned their brownie points, but little else.
- Less
Topics:
Reviews
, Sports, California Institute of Technology, Basketball
