If the Shoutbox is any indicator, people are interesting in seeing Wesleyan’s popularity play out through history. Google’s new Ngram Viewer shows trends of how often a phrase has occurred over time in a certain corpus (e.g. American English, English Fiction, Russian) of texts. They’ve yet to scan every book ever, but they want to.
Wesleyan does pretty well, especially in recent times. Here’s how often “Wesleyan University” appears in “English”:
The main attraction, of course, is homecoming. Usually, the focus when Wesleyan is the opponent is on the festivities, rather than the game, which is in most years a foregone conclusion. This year is a different story. First, the Ephs will be looking for redemption after last year’s loss vs. Amherst, their first homecoming non-win (and hence, first time they haven’t enjoyed The Walk) since 1995 (!). Second, a potential NESCAC title is on the line — if Williams wins Saturday, they are guaranteed the title with a win vs. Amherst (and if Amherst loses to Trinity, they are guaranteed a share of the title even with a loss vs. Amherst). Third, and most intriguingly, is of course the return of former Eph head coach Mike Whalen, assistant coach Dan Dicenzo ’00, and quarterback Matt Coyne ’12. Needless to say, there will be no shortage of motivation for either side, in this one. Williams will be looking to show Whalen, Dicenzo, and Coyne just how big a mistake they made leaving the friendly confines of the purple valley. Coyne and Dicenzo, on the other hand, will be aiming to prove that, perhaps, their talents were not sufficiently appreciated in Williamstown. And a solid 4-2 Wesleyan squad will also receive plenty of help from Shea Dwyer ’10 (he’s a grad student), who is leading the nation in rushing. Looking to slow Dwyer down will be an Eph defense led by local legend Dylan Schultz ’11. Of course, all of the public pre-game talk from both sides will surely claim that this is “just another game,” among other sports cliches. It isn’t. Watch the game, for free, here.
Men’s soccer was stunned by Wesleyan last weekend, and is waiting to hear if it will receive an NCAA bid to continue its season.
