Oh yeah, that’s what a modern sports center should look like

Bwog found out from a tipster today that football coach Pete Mangurian recently updated his Facebook page with some photos of the new Campbell Sports Center.

Before we get too indignant over the opulence and extravagance, the old sports center was by all accounts a depressing shithole, and the new one can be used by all Columbia Athletics teams, not just football. The new center was designed by Steven Holl, a Columbia professor around the concept of “points on the ground, lines in space,” which sounds…cool.

Apparently locals around Baker think it’s a blight on the neighborhood landscape of “sedate Art Deco and Tudor-style apartment buildings.”  Bwog just hopes that the dramatic change in environment will cause an equally dramatic change in our Lions’ athletic abilities…

Here are the photos, with captions from Pete Mangurian’s page, plus two extras:

Jump for the gallery.

Congratulations!

Robert Lefkowitz, CC’62 and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons ’66, won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry yesterday with Brian K. Kobilka for their hard work studying G-protein coupled receptors.

According to the Associated Press, “about half of all medications act on these receptors, including beta blockers and antihistamines, so learning about them will help scientists to come up with better drugs. The human body has about 1,000 kinds of such receptors, structures on the surface of cells, which let the body respond to a wide variety of chemical signals, like adrenaline. Some receptors are in the nose, tongue and eyes, and let us sense smells, tastes and light.”

Lefkowitz’s reaction to the news was excitement, surprise, and dismay at having to postpone a scheduled haircut. (CNN)

Our newest Nobel Laureate via Wikimedia Commons

Columbia Invitational MVP Atlanta Moye-McLaren goes for the kill

Read on for more Columbia Athletics news and results from the week.

Volleyball (5-4):

Results:

Columbia Invitational
Colgate 3-1 (W)
Rhode Island 3-0 (W)
Hofstra 3-2 (W)

Overview: Volleyball opened their home season this weekend as they hosted Colgate, Rhode Island, and Hofstra in Levien for the Columbia Invitational. The Lion’s faced Colgate in their first match of the weekend on Friday, where strong blocking made the difference in the four-set contest. After winning the first two sets 25-18, 25-20, Columbia dropped the third set despite an emphatic kill from junior Savannah Fletcher to tie the score at 24-24. The Raiders took the next two points and the set 26-24, before falling to the Lions 25-19 in the fourth. Columbia outblocked Colgate 28 to 5 in the win.

The Lions carried the momentum from Friday’s win into Saturday as they swept Rhode Island in three straight sets. After mounting a commanding two set lead, Columbia struggled to finish off the Rams in the third, narrowly scraping by with a 28-26 win. Later in the day, the Lions faced Hofstra for a back-and-forth five-set battle to close out the tournament. The Hofstra Pride came out strong in the first set, recording 19 kills to Columbia’s seven and winning the opening set 25-19. The Pride continued to put pressure on the Lions in the second set, but Columbia broke ahead late in the set to a 24-20 lead before closing it out, 25-21. The third set went to the Lions, but the Pride came charging back in the fourth, opening with four unanswered points at taking the set 25-19. The fifth set was as competitive and nail-bitingly close as the rest of the game, but Columbia pulled ahead with three consecutive points to jump to a 10-7 lead before finishing the Pride off, 15-12.

Freshman Atlanta Moye-McLaren was named MVP of the tournament, who posted double-doubles against Rhode Island and Hofstra with 10 kills and 13 digs in each. Moye-McLaren was joined by Fletcher and senior Megan Gaughn on the All-Tournament team.

Up Next: The Lions open their Ivy League season next Saturday (9/22) against Cornell at 2 pm in Levien Gymnasium

Read more about the Lions after the jump.