Lots to write about today including another recruit uncovered by a subscriber. I'd mentioned his interest earlier, but now you can officially add Charles Bay, a 6-foot-3, 237-pound defensive end from Wheeler High in Marietta, Ga., to the class. For a link to a mention of Bay coming to Hanover in the Atlanta Journal Constitution click here. The story includes this interesting bit:
Bay had scholarship offers from William & Mary and Elon, "but Dartmouth got him all the money, about $48,000 a year; they got him every penny (in academic and needs-based scholarship money),” (coach Paul) Lombardo said. “He wanted to go there real bad.”Bay was chosen for the Georgia all-star game (link to roster). ... For the Wheeler website announcing his "signing" with Dartmouth University (sic), click here. If you scroll the photos from left to right you'll find a picture of Charles and his dad. ... I found a reproduction of a grainy photo of Charles and his family and coach on signing day yesterday afternoon, but the web site is so s-l-o-w on my computer that I can't pull it up and confirm it's where I think it is without blowing half a day. So you're gonna have to take my word for it that it's there ;-) ...
Nothing firm in the news yet, but a message board poster reports that University of New Hampshire coach Sean McDonnell said at the team's annual banquet this week that the school will be installing FieldTurf prior to next season. If it's true, Dartmouth will have seven games on turf next year (five at home along with Harvard and New Hampshire). Only Brown, Holy Cross and Yale will be on the real stuff. The UNH coach is also said to have announced that wide receiver David Ball's No. 3 is being retired. (If that's true, don't look for Ricky Santos' No. 2 after next fall.)
In other news (and other sports) Harvard fired longtime men's basketball coach Frank Sullivan yesterday. While the news wasn't a big surprise, it was a big disappointment. Frank is one of the true gentlemen I dealt with in more than 15 years at the newspaper (and several years since). I saw him only a couple of times a year but each time it was like meeting up with an old friend. He'll be missed.
Speaking of basketball, a subscriber shared this link to an inspirational Providence Journal story about Brown basketball captain Marcus Becker. Written by the superb Bill Reynolds, the story details Becker's long trip from a rural southern town to the Ivy League. It's worth the time to call it up. ...
The Cornell Sun has a piece about the installation of FieldTurf at the school's Hoy baseball field. I don't recall the story making any mention of something I had a hard time visualizing when I first heard about FieldTurf on the diamond: The only dirt on the field is around home plate and the pitcher's mound. The basepaths and traditional infield dirt areas between first and third are all dirt-colored FieldTurf. The foul lines are white FieldTurf. Now I've got to admit, I was a little skeptical about how it would look but in the photos at least, it seems to work. Check out this Cornell photo gallery of the new field.
For what it's worth, I saw a New Hampshire Fisher Cats (AA) minor league game at Manchester's Gill Stadium before their new park opened and left with a couple of impressions about baseball on FieldTurf. First, the ball bounces true, or as true as a fan could tell without getting out there and running the ball down himself (or herself ;-). No more AstroTurf triples where the ball bounces over the centerfielder's head. Second, it was bizarre to see "rooster tails" of black pellets trailing hard-hit bouncing balls. I imagine that's what a traditional baseball game looked like to Timothy Leary during his heyday. ...
And finally, we came across some photos of a certain Hanover High School freshman winning her heat in the mile down at Harvard a few weeks ago. I asked her last night if it would be OK to post a link or two up here and she smiled and said sure. So in case you are curious, check out this picture (lapping a runner on a curve) and this one leaving a Sacred Heart University runner behind.
Oh yeah, and in case you are interested, it was 9-below zero when I walked the kids out to the bus stop at 7:15 this morning. The wind chill was 35-below. ... It's supposed to get really cold in a couple of days.
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