Lyons Enjoys Second Year in NFL Europe

It's no secret that some days it's a bit of a stretch finding material to keep the Blog going. Thankfully, this isn't one of those days.

First, the Manchester Union Leader catches up with former Dartmouth head coach John Lyons for a look at his two years as an assistant coach in NFL Europe. Judging by the following quote, it sounds as if JL wouldn't mind heading back to Europe next spring:

"I want to go back to the school and sit down with the headmaster, Mike Schafer, and figure out what I'm going to. He didn't stand in my way when I wanted to come over here. We'll see what happens next year. I'd like to win a World Bowl (championship) ring."

Prompted by the Steelers' signing of free agent rookie tight end Jon Dekker of Princeton, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review takes a look at Ivy Leaguers and the NFL. I might debate the idea that Columbia's Marcellus Wiley is reponsible for the "modern-day Ivy League revival" but the story is well worth reading. (Although it mentions Jay Fiedler, Carolina fullback Casey Cramer is not mentioned.)

I'd be remiss if I didn't post a link to a Penn State football story that has at least some relevance as Dartmouth starts to rebuild its football tradition. From a story in today's Philadelphia Inquirer:

"Applications for all (Penn State) campuses are up by 12.3 percent compared to this same time last year," (university President Graham) Spanier told the board, which met that March 17 in a conference room atop Pittsburgh's Omni William Penn Hotel.

"Undergraduate applications are up 13.2 percent. Graduate applications are up 11.7 percent. This is a record-setting year for us in both areas."

Someone then asked Spanier to explain the dramatic increase.

"It probably didn't hurt," he said, "that we ranked third in the nation in football."

According to the Penn State's manager of trademark licensing, "licensees reported a first-quarter increase of more than 40 percent compared with the same period last year." I plead innocent. Yes, my kids spent a few dollars on things blue and white when we were out there (I have a new hat and sweatshirt as well) but that wasn't in the first quarter ;-). Look for the trend to continue strongly in the second quarter.

If you aren't too lacrossed-out yet, the Daily D has a couple of stories on the women's national championship game. There's a game story here and a sidebar here.