A Chance Encounter

No word yet on early decision recruits. For football, at least. ... The kids and I went to see the Manchester Monarchs AHL team last night and stopped by a sporting goods store across the street from the arena. I was asking one of the sales people about bamboo baseball bats. (That's right, bamboo! What is this world coming to?) Anyway, I told him about a professor at Thayer School of Engineering I wrote about who helped develop a composite bat. The sales person asked if I had anything to do with Dartmouth and then told me he got his letter of acceptance Friday. Turns out he's a discus thrower (and a big one). He was recruited by Yale and Duke but decided to apply early decision to Dartmouth. I don't know how good he is, but he was a genuinely nice kid. And big. Might make a nice tight end ;-) ...

Jared Turcotte, the Sports Illustrated Maine player of the year who has expressed an interest in Dartmouth, is the subject of a column in the Lewiston newspaper. Excerpts from the column about his chances at what in some ways is the Heisman of Maine high school football:

Fitzpatrick Trophy XXXVI will make the transition from motivational tool to mantelpiece next month, and the only logical conclusion is that Jared Turcotte of Lewiston will take the handoff and run into Maine high school football immortality with a landslide victory.

And I guess that's what worries me.

We're talking about a young man who rushed for more than 200 yards per game, who holds down a 93 average, who had a hand in 24 touchdowns and 113 tackles, who looks adults in the eye and treats them with the respect and dignity that defines the rest of his daily life.

The Daily Dartmouth has an update on college President Jim Wright promising North Dakota that its hockey team will be treated the way a guest should be treated at this year's holiday tournament. The story includes this:

Wright said he plans to review the College's policy on competing with teams that have Native American mascots. He said (Athletic Director Josie) Harper, coaches, and an athletics committee of faculty members will likely be asked to make recommendations on the issue in January, although Wright noted that there may not be any policy shifts and formal plans for such a review have not yet been organized.

Brown All-American linebacker Zak DeOssie has been chosen for the Hula Bowl, which will be broadcast nationally on Jan. 8. ...

A Sports Illustrated On Campus column headlined Campus Chronicles Greatest Hits, The weirdest and wackiest stories of the year, mentions Harvard twice and Penn once.

A Los Angeles Times column headlined Can a university be nationally ranked in both football and academics? Not if it's Stanford both applauds and takes a shot at the Ivy League:

The Ivy League schools solved this dilemma by opting out of the tainted system. Though the Ivies have a storied football history, the league lost its membership in Division I in 1981 in a dispute with the NCAA over TV revenues, and administrators decided not to appeal. It was a principled move, even if Yale might now have a tough time taking on the Oaks Christian High School team. Conversely, some football powerhouses — USC comes to mind — have seen a decided improvement in their academic reputations even while winning national championships.