On July 11, the Boston Red Sox were on the clock with the 20th pick of the 2026 MLB Draft. Jake Bruml PO ’15, Boston’s director of amateur scouting, already knew the name he was about to call, and he knew how it would look.
Jake Creelan
The Art of the Story: Chris Ballard’s path from Claremont to Sports Illustrated
The year was 1996. Chris Ballard PO ’95, freshly graduated from Pomona College, had decided on a different path than many of his peers: to write a guidebook on pickup basketball across the country. Flipping through his phone book, he mailed pitch letters to as many agents as he could find, and got only one response.
Keeping score all year: The case for a Sixth Street Cup
Imagine Michigan Quarterback Bryce Underwood in a lab with the Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith just two days after a game. Anywhere else, most would call that absurd and even fight-worthy. In Claremont, that is just a normal Monday. This is because Claremont has something those rivalries cannot match: We live, study, and party with the opposing side. A rivalry that runs from classrooms to courts all year long deserves a restructured trophy that does too: a year-long Sixth Street Cup.
Seminars and scoreboards: David Goldblatt
Pitzer professor David Goldblatt is obsessed with football (soccer). After finishing his undergraduate years at Cambridge University, a young Goldblatt visited a place he hadn’t been since his childhood — a football stadium. This was the spark that ignited his multi-decade tango with the sport, not as a professional athlete but as an author and journalist examining its hidden political and sociological impact.
Pomona-Pitzer welcomes Dr. Danielle Lynch as new athletics director
Pomona-Pitzer welcomed its new athletic director, Dr. Danielle Lynch, on April 1 as she left her previous post at Haverford College. Lynch brings over 20 years of administrative experience in Division III athletics, which impressed Brent Carbajal, interim vice president for academic affairs and dean of Pomona.
Seminars and scoreboards: Economics of sports
Few economics electives are as popular as Economics of Sports at Pomona College. This spring, Professor Marisa Cameron, an avid football fan herself, is teaching two sections of the upper-division elective. From using data analytics to calculate player value to learning the history of free agency, students like Tara Kamshad PO ’28 use sports as an accessible gateway to the world of economics.
Seminars and scoreboards: Sports and politics
Every semester, the Claremont Colleges advertise nearly 2,700 courses across dozens of disciplines. This semester, course selections offer a whopping six sports courses taught by four different instructors across three colleges. In Jake Creelan’s PO ’29 new column, Seminars and Scoreboards, he dissects the contents of each course with the course’s instructors and students. First on the list is Sports and Politics taught by Tom Le of Pomona College.
Reloaded, the Claremont Cougars are ready to compete
A group of cougars is called a range. The Claremont Cougars, the 5C men’s club lacrosse team, embodies that word. From seasoned veterans who turned down collegiate offers to novices who picked up a lacrosse stick for the first time, the team offers a diversity of skill levels, united by a desire to win.
Let’s disc-uss the Braineaters, ultimate frisbee aiming for nationals
In Claremont, few club teams do it like the Braineaters. From an intense spring travel schedule to a camaraderie recognized by every team member, the ultimate frisbee club returns for its 47th year (chirp chirp!) on campus, going back to 1979. Seniors like Johnny Russell CM ’26 help carry the team’s traditions, one of which is assigning nicknames
Biggest Game of the Year, 5C style
On Sunday, Feb. 8, millions of Americans, including many in Claremont, will tune in to the most widely watched American sporting event of the year: Super Bowl LX. This year’s contest is a rematch of eleven years ago, when the New England Patriots dramatically defeated the Seattle Seahawks in the last drive of the game. This year, the Patriots can mark the beginning of a new era, or the Seahawks can look to reclaim the Lombardi Trophy for the first time in 12 years.