Are You Ready for Some Football?

It's 53 degrees and slightly overcast, a fine day for the Green-White scrimmage. Check back late this afternoon for a wrapup of the day's action. (It won't be up as early as I would like because getting hold of Coach Teevens will likely be impossible until after the post-scrimmage barbecue, and because I'll be the only one keeping stats at the game. It takes time to compile those numbers ;-) ... Otherwise it's a quiet Saturday. Columbia has released its 27-player incoming class and has the leader in the clubhouse for best new name in the Ivy League: 6-foot-2, 200 pound quarterback Millicent Olawale of Long Beach, Calif.. First runnerup: 6-2, 310 Moose Veldman of Mesa, Ariz.. I'm just guessing here, but I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest Moose wasn't his given name. Still, it would have been kind of cool to have a Moose at Dartmouth. An aside: A few years ago Dartmouth baseball had a player whose first name was Yale. I always thought he would have been a nice fit in New Haven. ... Casey Cramer sat out a Carolina Panthers minicamp due to "injury." I haven't spoken to Casey recently, but my guess is he's taking it slow after his offseason shoulder surgery. ... Jay Fiedler hasn't always been a fan favorite, but the folks who run Dawgbones.com seem to like him as a potential backup QB for the Browns, writing: "The Browns need to sign a veteran free agent and 2 names jump out immediately, Kerry Collins and Jay Fiedler." ...

A couple of thoughts on last night's posting that tailback Chad Gaudet won't be able to play this year as a result of the knee injury he suffered on his first carry last fall. I've been watching Dartmouth football for 20 years and I had Chad pegged to do great things for the Big Green. Before last year I predicted he had a shot to graduate as Dartmouth's all-time rushing leader if he could stay healthy. When he broke into the lineup midway through his freshman year, the entire team picked up and I thought he would be a lynchpin of the Dartmouth football renaissance. He's got a tough road ahead and all you can do is wish him luck in his bid to return a year from now.