Football Dreams

I was looking for a picture for another reason and found this shot of a certain Hanover kid who is away at overnight camp for two weeks and thought you'd enjoy it. The football was a gift from Buddy Teevens that meant so much to him that he had it with him in bed, along with his stuffed dog, when he fell asleep one night last fall.

Three Dartmouth opponents are in the College Sporting News Top-25 poll and another is in the "receiving votes" category. New Hampshire is No. 5, Yale No. 18 and Princeton No. 25. Harvard also got recognition in the voting.

1. Appalachian State
2. Montana
3. North Dakota State
4. Youngstown State
5. New Hampshire
6. James Madison
7. Northern Iowa
8. Massachusetts
9. Illinois State
10. McNeese State
11. Furman
12. Southern Illinois
13. Portland State
14. Cal Poly
15. Wofford
16. Tennessee-Martin
17. Sam Houston State
18. Yale
19. Hampton
20. Eastern Illinois
21. Lehigh
22. South Dakota State
23. Montana State
24. Delaware
25. Princeton

Also receiving votes (in order): Towson, Maine, South Carolina State, UC
Davis, Liberty, Lafayette, San Diego, Alabama A&M, Coastal Carolina,
Harvard, Villanova.

Green Alert Take: The scary part is that four Dartmouth opponents were recognized in the poll and that doesn't include Penn and Colgate. Since 1998 the Big Green is a combined 1-16 against the two teams. While they might not be vintage teams this fall (although they may be) those are terrific programs and figured to be very, very difficult games. Tough schedule? I'd say.

The 2007 Dartmouth ticket guide is out. Find a PDF file of it here.

For Dartmouth, the Harvard game is very special. For Harvard, to quote the eminent football fan Borat, "Not so much." Don't get me wrong. Harvard has a thing for Dartmouth. It's just that Dartmouth isn't Yale or Princeton. ... Doing what I do (and have done for a long time) I've never had a chance to see Harvard-Yale, and I'd like to. I've never seen Lafayette-Lehigh, and I'd like to. The third game that I'd love to see one day is Amherst-Williams. To get a sense of that storied Division III rivalry, check out this ESPN.com column.

Excerpts from a Dartmouth college release headlined, "Dartmouth raises $159 million as annual fund breaks all-time giving record:"

Broad participation by College and graduate school alumni and friends and strong support for the goals of the Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience accounted for the results, which kept pace with last year's record $160.3 million in gifts. ... Eighty percent of the Dartmouth Class of 2007 made donations to the College, breaking the participation record held by the Class of 2006, which stood at 73 percent. ... The Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience, the largest fund-raising effort in Dartmouth history, has raised $877.3 million as of June 30. This is 67.2 percent of the $1.3 billion goal, realized over 66.7 percent of the campaign timeline

The Daily Dartmouth has a story about next month's Fieldstock, a "three-day-long event which will include chariot races, athletic competitions and an outdoor concert." ... Fieldstock is a replacement for the late and lamented Tubestock, the Connecticut River bacchanalia that was the brainchild of a former roommate of mine.

Congratulations go out to Dartmouth men's golf coach Rich Parker, who won the New Hampshire Open yesterday. I staffed the pro event when he won it in 1986 and '87. ... I also covered Rich's appearance in the U.S. Open at Medinah, outside of Chicago. ... Whether he tries or not is yet to be determined, but I know people in the golf world who think Parker, 48, could make a splash on the Champions Tour (nee Seniors Tour) in another year or two. One thing is for certain: The eminently quotable Lebanon native would be an enormous hit with the media. I mean, enormous. ...

Finally, tragedy is not something this blog is about and I debated including this, but some of you may know Dr. William Petit '78. Today's Daily Dartmouth has a story about his family being murdered and him badly hurt in a Connecticut home invasion. His daughter, Hayley, was to have been a freshman this fall.