More Roster Changes

The last of the snow is being moved around Friday to encourage melting. I didn't get to ask Buddy Teevens about this during a brief meeting yesterday, but I was told he was out there with a shovel earlier in the day. Hands-on isn't too strong a word for the Dartmouth coach. In the background, a few bottom-heavy (and blue) linemen are getting ready for action. (As always, you can click on these photos to super-size them.)
Those of you who have been visiting here for a while know about Moose Mountain where the, ahem, home office of Green Alert resides. This is the gorgeous view we had yesterday morning out to the ski trails of Killington Mountain, about 55 miles away. The scene is always interesting this time of year when the ski trails really contrast with the rest of the mountains. Seven and a half miles below us, hidden by folds in the hills, are Hanover and Memorial Field.

If you are keeping score, there are a few more changes on the Dartmouth roster for the spring. Switch rising senior Steve Hunt from corner to tailback, the position he played when he came in. Classmate Jack D'Angelo should be moved from defensive end to defensive tackle. The spring roster does not include wide receivers Zach Cable and Chris Collado (both injured last year), wideout Zach O'Donnell and fullback Eric Shuster.

Also, after eight seasons at Dartmouth, running backs coach Adam Hollis is leaving the program, Buddy Teevens confirmed yesterday.

For a look at the Yale team as it kicks off spring practice, click here. ... Speaking of Connecticut schools, Central Connecticut, one of those Football Championship Series (FCS or I-AA) teams that the Ivies wouldn't have given the time of day a decade ago, will be cashing a check for an estimated $225,000 for playing at Western Michigan next Sept., according to the Hartford Courant. Last year the Blue Devils played at -- and won at -- FCS powerhouse Georgia Southern, taking home $70,000 for their troubles.

A game like Western Michigan is a win-win-win-win for Central Connecticut. First, there's the check. Second, the team will get exposure (ie. recruiting clout) from the contest. Next, playing up against a I-A (oops BCS) team is the kind of challenge almost every good player wants. And finally, it's not like they are playing Nebraska. While winning will be hard, a victory in Kalamazoo wouldn't be a sign of the Apocalypse. ... Seeing programs like Central Connecticut, Albany and Stony Brook passing by the Ivies is another reminder of how times have changed. First it was Connecticut -- even before it went I-A. Then Central Connecticut. Can Sacred Heart be far behind? (Hint: Not for long, perhaps.)

There's an interesting column in the Tuscaloosa News about the college football Hall of Fame ballot. In making a point, the writer says of this year's ballot:

There’s a player from Dartmouth, New Mexico State, Wyoming, even Troy from Division I-AA, but none from the Crimson Tide.

That player, of course, is Reggie Williams.

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“Only those who risk going too far can possibly find how far one can go.”

T.S. Elliot

Quote on the board in Dartmouth football's Bennett Lounge

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Weights And Measures

I had a chance to glance at some new weights being listed for offensive linemen in the past few days and it seems as if things are going in the right direction. (Keep in mind the weights could have been off a bit last year, so some of these changes might not be quite as dramatic as they appear). Either way, guys who were a little light have added tonnage; guys who might have had a few extra ellbees have trimmed down a bit. Among the changes listed:

• Senior guard Jared Dowdakin from 265 to 286
• Senior tackle Ben Goeke from 265 to 293
• Senior guard/center Taylor Layman from 260 to 276
• Junior tackle Alex Rapp from 245 to 264
• Junior center Dustin Adkins from 302 to 291
• Sophomore tackle Jonathan Summers from 315 to 296
• Junior guard Eddie Tabasky from 300 to 297

Missed this one yesterday. The Columbia Spectator has an interesting story about Columbia players looking to continue their careers overseas. Not in NFL Europe, but on clubs across the pond. Dartmouth has had several players do that in the past, in Finland and France that I can recall. ... The story highlighted a web site that players have used to contact teams. It's an interesting concept. Check it out here. ...

A visit to the football office yesterday revealed that the players were privy to a fashion show in which all combinations of uniform colors were modeled: green shirts and green pants, green shirts and white pants, white shirts and green pants, white shirts and white pants. (I don't think I missed any ;-). Apparently in an informal vote the green-and-green look was well received. ...

The last areas of snow on Memorial Field have been flattened to allow the sun to take care of business. Three large pieces of football equipment popped up on the turf yesterday, hinting of what's to come. ... Which reminds me ... I saw my first robin down in the valley yesterday. When you've seen a robin, can spring football be far behind?

Video Of An Opponent's Recruits Posted

A year ago Dartmouth football posted video of its incoming recruits for the first time. I expect the same will be done for the incoming class once it is finalized and I'll link to it here. In the meantime, if you want a sneak peak at some of the players Dartmouth could face in its opener against Colgate, click here to see the Raiders' incoming freshmen. (And do check out the very first one, a quarterback. I've got just one word for him: contain.) ...

At Dartmouth's other central New York rival, Cornell quarterback Nathan Ford is batting cleanup for the Big Red baseball team. He's seeing time both at third base and catcher according to this story in the Cornell Sun.

It's point-counterpoint with opinion pieces on athletes and athletics in Columbia publications. This piece takes issue with last week's column critical of athletics both for style and content. From this latest effort:

Simply put, what came out of The Eye was not only disrespectful to the work of athletes at this school but a betrayal of the high standards of journalism at Columbia. Here's hoping that the magazine learns from its mistakes.

Still down at Columbia, Jake Novak of the Roar Lions Roar blog writes about the signing of quarterback Jeff Otis with the Oakland Raiders and wonders how a team that had three teammates under NFL contract (Otis, Wade Fletcher and Michael Quarshie) could have struggled so much on the field. His answer takes just one syllable and five letters: depth. (Or lack thereof.)

The great sportswriter Red Smith once opined that writing a column wasn't all that difficult. He said something like, all you have to do is slit your wrist and bleed into the keyboard. I'm here to tell you he was right. There were times when I was at the newspaper and there are times these days when I'm agonizing over freelance stories that it feels that way. Which is why I can only hope Penn basketball player Steve Danley had to struggle over his blog columns in the New York Times. It's bad enough that they are so well done for someone still in college. But if he didn't bleed over them life's just not fair. Find his latest well-crafted posting here.

A Dartmouth news release popped up on my screen yesterday announcing the following:

The College will host and co-sponsor two debates among the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Both events will be simulcast and streamed online by MSNBC and NECN and broadcast live by New Hampshire Public Radio, all of which are co-sponsoring the event. The 90-minute debates will be moderated by Tim Russert, NBC's Washington Bureau Chief and host of "Meet the Press."

Given New Hamsphire's primary position, that's hardly unusual. Now check out the lede to the same story by the Cornell Sun:

Dartmouth University will host two presidential primary debates ...

Argh! I can understand someone at, say, Cornell College in Iowa making the university/college mistake. But someone in Ithaca? ... Speaking of Cornell College, I always wonder how grads of that school respond when they are on a job interview and are asked if they know so-and-so from Cornell University. Reminds me of a friend who went to the University of Hartford. When girls would ask him where he went to school he'd answer HARtFORD, de-emphasizing the "t" and softening the "f" into something of a "v." If they heard Harvard instead of Hartford, it wasn't his fault. Not entirely, at least. ;-). But at some point, to quote Ricky Ricardo, he probably had some "splainin' to do."

And finally: You won't read many juicy eligibility issue stories quite like this one in the Daily Pennsylvanian. A Dartmouth coach gets a mention, by the way.

Defending Ivy Co-Champions Back On field

Missed this one but Princeton was scheduled to start spring football practice yesterday according to this story in the school paper. ...

I also missed this opinion piece in the Daily Dartmouth from before spring break. While not as pointed as the piece in the recent Columbia Spectator, the Daily Dartmouth opinion piece did include this:

Perhaps I am wrong, but it seems like athletic teams are the only groups with the privilege to submit a list of recruits to the admissions office. The English department cannot recruit creative writers nor can the studio art department have any influence over attracting budding architects. And yet, it could very reasonably be argued that these departments want top talent just as much as athletic teams do.

The Dallas Observer has a nice story about former Princeton quarterback Jason Garrett, now the offensive coordinator and possibly head coach-in-waiting for the Cowboys. The story is headlined: "Red Bull; Familiar freckled face will give Cowboys offense wiiiings." From the story:

As an undersized pro with an Ivy League pedigree, heavy on brains and extremely economical with brawn, Garrett bounced between teams and leagues like the rest of us alternate beer and CSI

Former Columbia quarterback Jeff Otis has signed with the Oakland Raiders according to this note. ... IvySport.com, the Ivy League clothing company, now has a link up to the trailer and information on the upcoming Ivy football documentary, For Love And Honor. The trailer appears to load a good deal faster than the earlier version, so you might want to check it out.

Brown's Zak DeOssie appears to be climbing draft boards as the big day approaches later this month. This draftnik for the San Francisco 49ers writes: "Zak DeOssie ... is one of my favorite "sleeper" linebackers in the draft." ... NFL.com has DeOssie ranked fifth among inside linebackers. From the NFL.com site:

Positives: Size (6-4-plus, 250 pounds), strength, speed, and considerable intelligence.

While DeOssie is moving up in the draft, UNH wide receiver David Ball may be moving down or out, and he's got some strong opinions about that in this story. ... What's interesting in the story is that another UNH wide receiver tested out significantly faster than Ball with a markedly better vertical when the NFL scouts were in town. But he didn't have a great year. That presents an intriguing dilemma. Do you grade the kid with the better workout numbers higher or the kid who has produced on the field higher? Ball makes a point in the story: No passes were thrown during the workout. Having watched David Ball for four years, it's clear he's got something that you can't measure. ... DenverBroncos.com profiles the record-setting receiver who tied Jerry Rice's TD mark on Memorial Field last fall. ... Ball isn't the only Vermont native getting a look by NFL scouts as a UNH teammate is also gaining attention as this story notes.

In light of a search for a new head basketball coach at Harvard, today's Boston Globe has a story about the school having 41 varsity sports and no black head coaches.

Call It A Split Decision

I'd have to call this a split decision. Vanilla Penn Stater that I am, I'm not a huge fan of the green pants, but I can live with them if they are worn with white shirts. The green-on-green look is too much for me. With white pants being added to the Dartmouth "wardrobe" next fall, it will be interesting to see how the mix-and-match approach turns out.

This week's poll question goes back to a discussion I had with Buddy Teevens recently about livening up the game-day atmosphere at Memorial Field. He had some music at the Green & White game last spring and it was well received. Neither one of us has a sense of how that would go over on Saturday afternoons in the fall although I've got a hunch I'll share next week when the poll ends.

My big thing, as many of you know, would be to replace the pregame heavy metal/rap songs with traditional college fight songs. I don't think they'd offend anyone, but the heavy metal/rap stuff is a little tough on some ears (mine included).

Tale Of A Former Quarterback

The Wichita Eagle has a story about Eddie Lucas '04, who is expected to play third base this season for the Wichita Wranglers, the Kansas City Royals' AA team in the Texas League. From the story:

When he was in high school in Port Orange, Fla., the last thing he expected was to have a professional athletic career of any kind. When he signed with Dartmouth, it was because it was the best school that allowed him to play both football and baseball.

And his preferred sport? Football. He was recruited as a quarterback and walked on to the baseball team.

Lucas is a case of bad timing that worked out great. Caught in an apparent logjam at quarterback heading into the 2001 season, Lucas opted to give up football in hopes of a career as a pro baseball player. When a spate of injuries decimated the quarterbacks that fall, Lucas would in all likelihood have become the starter. But if he had any disappointment about that, it disappeared when he was drafted by the Royals in the eighth round of the 2004 draft. The former Dartmouth shortstop batted .281 at High-A High Desert last year with 66 RBI's and 19 stolen bases.

Add another heavyweight rower to the Dartmouth receiving corps. One year after 6-foot-5 Zack Cable decided to give football and wide receiver a shot, fellow oarsman Zach Wenner is following the same route. Wenner, who will be a sophomore in the fall, is 6-4, 210 from Chevy Chase, Md., and St. Alban's School. Like Cable, he's listed as a wide receiver. Cable, by the way, missed the entire season a year ago with a foot injury before undergoing offseason foot surgery.

PR Leap has an announcement about For Love & Honor, the upcoming documentary on Ivy League football. The film, according to the announcement:

"... shows how irreplaceable lessons in discipline, perseverance, and teamwork continue to be taught on the Ivy League gridirons. No other American sport has a richer history or has helped train a greater number of national leaders."

In a few weeks NFL coaches, scouts and administrators will hunker down in their "war rooms" to plot and carry out their draft strategies. I have new respect for that process after a 2 1/2-hour thrash last night helping to set up Hanover's three Little League major and four Little League minor baseball teams. The goal is to make them as even as possible, and that is hard enough. But the ongoing debate about whether a talented 10-year-old who takes the game seriously should be on the majors while a less-talented 12-year-old who will be overmatched and doesn't seem all the excited about playing belongs in the minors went on for quite some time. In the light of day I'm more convinced than ever that the 10-year-old belongs in the majors.

Movie Magic

From the NFL Network listings for tonight:

6 p.m. -- NFL Films Presents
Explore the depth of the NFL Films archive with unique perspectives on football's greatest heroes and personalities as well as its history, humanity and humor. Tonight's episode: Movie Magic; stories include: Reel Sports, Brian Mann, Vince Tringali.

That would be former Dartmouth quarterback Brian Mann '02, who parlayed his career with the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena League into appearances in a number of football movies (and commercials) including the remake of The Longest Yard and Invinceable. Largely responsible for bringing Mann's story to NFL films is Greg Smith '02, who competed with Mann for the Dartmouth quarterback slot and now works for NFL Films in his hometown. (We don't get NFL Network so if you happen to see the show and want to send along a thought or two about it, feel free.) ...

The Columbia Spectator has an opinion piece spun out of last week's magazine story about the role of athletics at schools such as Columbia. This latest piece includes this:

The recruitment practiced by Columbia and other American universities leads to a great disparity in the quality of students. In 2000, the director of admissions at Dartmouth College wrote, in a letter to the President of Swarthmore College, "sadly football, and the culture that surrounds it, is antithetical to the academic mission of colleges such as ours." His opinion is unfortunate and true.

And it includes this:

Athletic recruitment has no place at a school which claims to put academic achievement first.

A subscriber who reads the Boston Globe a lot more carefully than I do found this in yesterday's edition:

NFL teams are allowed to host up to 30 out-of-town prospects at their facility leading up to the draft, and the Bears think highly enough of Harvard running back Clifton Dawson that they've allotted one of their visits for him, according to his agent, Kristen Kuliga.

The mention goes on to note of Dawson: "The Scarborough, Ontario, native, who attended Northwestern before transferring to Harvard, is the Ivy League record-holder for career rushing yards (4,841) and rushing touchdowns (60)."

How's your bracket? I mentioned some time back an NCAA Tournament pool I entered where the idea is to pick five teams you think might have a chance to make the Final Four and you earn their seed points if they make it. Most points wins. Trying a different approach this year, I took a number of longer seeds, figuring that one George Mason-type in the Final Four would have been enough. The bad news is none of my "longshots" made it to the Final Four. The worse news: In our regular family pool I nailed the Final Four perfectly and I wasn't smart enough to carry those teams over to the other pool.

And finally this: Those of you who have followed the blog since last year know that I helped coach a certain now-7th-grade catcher's Little League team to the Connecticut Valley Little League championship last spring. He's moved up to 90-foot bases this year (good luck making that throw to second) but I'm staying around to coach Little League again. Well, last Friday night we had tryouts for the minors and yours truly threw every single pitch during the tryouts. I've been throwing some with the kids for a few weeks so it wasn't my arm that took a beating. It was my back. I'd guess I threw 250 pitches, and that was no problem. Bending over time and again to pick up the balls rolled back to me was. Only this morning is my back feeling better. Ouch.

Sunday Morning Quarterback

First, a little quarterback news from a recent meeting with Coach Buddy Teevens.

Josh Cohen, the starter for the second half of his freshman season, will be back at Dartmouth this spring after missing two school terms, including last fall. The strong-armed, 6-foot-5 Cohen completed 137-of-234 passes (58.5 percent) for 1,529 yards, eight touchdowns and 12 interceptions as a freshman. ... Mike Fritz, who lost two years to hand injuries and then enjoyed a terrific season last fall in his only year as starter, has elected not to pursue a fifth year of eligibility. Fritz completed 162-of-233 passes (61.6 percent) for 1,838 yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions last year. He also led the Big Green with 410 yards rushing.

With Cohen back and Fritz graduating, Dartmouth is expected to have four quarterbacks when spring practice begins three weeks from Monday: Cohen, rising senior Tom Bennewitz (6-0, 180) and rising sophomores Max Heiges (6-3, 205) and Alex Jenny (5-11, 170).

Bennewitz won the starting job coming out of camp last fall before being hurt late in the Colgate game. With Fritz coming in and playing well, Bennewitz was unable to regain the starting job once he was healthy again. An elusive runner with a good touch downfield, he completed 14-of-24 passes (58.3 percent) for 102 yards, one interception and no touchdowns while appearing in two games.

Heiges was 25-for-49 (51 percent) with four touchdown passes and two interceptions with the junior varsity last fall. He passed for 421 yards and had an efficiency rating of 141.97. Jenny was 37-for-65 (56.9 percent) with four touchdowns and four interceptions with the jayvees. He passed for 536 yards and had an efficiency rating of 134.19. Heiges averaged 8.59 yards per attempt while Jenny averaged 8.25.

Expected to join the quarterback derby in late August will be a pair of freshmen: 6-5 Will Deevy of Colorado's Kent Denver School and 6-1 Tim McManus of St. Thomas Academy in Minnesota.

Junior Chad Gaudet, who hopes to return to football next fall after missing two seasons at tailback with a knee injury, led Dartmouth with six ground balls and was 2-for-2 on faceoffs yesterday as the Big Green outlasted Brown, 9-8, in the longest lacrosse game in school history. The contest went four overtimes.

The folks at Penn get a little testy sometimes when their school is confused with Penn State. (Being a Nittany Lion product, I have a hard time understanding that ;-) but I digress.) This story from the Mississippi Press is an example of the kind of thing that gets under those Quaker skins:

Scout hut remodeling gets Ivy League touch
PASCAGOULA -- Spring breakers from Pennsylvania State University in search of warm weather got way more than they bargained for upon arriving in Pascagoula.

The story ends with this quote:

"We could not have renovated this 100-year-old building without their help. I'm now a huge Penn State fan."

Having read the story, I still don't know if it was a group from Philadelphia or a group from State College that went south to help but I'm glad the Nittany Lions got a few more fans out of the deal.

And finally on this Sunday morning: That certain Hanover High School freshman finished third among all women at the Shamrock Shuffle 5-K race in nearby Lebanon yesterday, winning her age group in 21:06. She was 29th among all men and women in the field of 190-plus finishers.

Mud Season Football Talk

Our road on Moose Mountain gives a clue that mud season has arrived. It's getting a little soft, but it's nothing like it was a few years ago when our four-wheel drive was stuck in mud up to the body of the car and we had to be towed home -- from a mile down the road. For two days that spring not a vehicle could go up and down our road, even town trucks. We couldn't get to work and the kids couldn't go to school, much to their chagrin. (Not.)

I was at Borders yesterday and while flipping through Street & Smith's draft issue I found that Brown linebacker Zack DeOssie is listed among the top-10 linebackers. I can't remember if that was for inside or outside linebackers because a Patriots.com report has me confused. It said he is an inside linebacker but is projected as an outside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme. Either way, this story has him as potentially a fourth-round pick. In case you are wondering, the NFL Draft is April 28-29.

DeOssie was joined by Harvard tailback Clifton Dawson and a bunch of Massachusetts-area players this week in a well-attended pro day at Boston College as reported by the Boston Globe. There's a story in the Boston Herald on the pro-day as well. The lede of the Herald story amuses me: "Boston College is known as O-Line U because of its penchant for producing NFL linemen ..." Hmm. And BC is known as O-Line U by whom? Nebraska has slipped in that regard, but if anyone is "known as O-Line U," its the Cornhuskers not BC. Take it from a graduate of Linebacker-U (and you know who that is). ...

Still on the subject of the draft, a subscriber sent along this link to a mention of New Hampshire's David Ball that is less than optimistic about his chances. Writes the Sports Illustrated columnist: "The record setting I-AA receiver ran poorly and was unable to break 4.7. Most surprisingly, a high jumper on the New Hampshire track team, Ball was only able to reach 33 inches in the vertical jump."

A Newsday story on Stony Brook football joining the Big South perfectly characterizes Athletic Director Jim Fiore, a mover-and-shaker who was formerly an administrator at Dartmouth: "He knows where he wants to go and may have the perfect blend of ambition and impatience to make it work."

And finally this ... that certain Hanover High School freshman learned yesterday she made the cut for the school's varsity softball team (and will be a teammate of Cassie Hodgson, daughter of Dartmouth offensive coordinator Mike, who is headed to UMaine on a softball scholarship next year).

Given that the certain freshman played shortstop and centerfield with the boys baseball team last year it wasn't a huge surprise. But when tryouts are just a week long and indoors you never know. She's determined to return to baseball this summer in league that will allow her to play on a boys team, which is not allowed by the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association. ... After a terrific indoor track season, she's continuing to train with the track team whenever possible. This morning she's practicing with softball -- including the team's first "distance" run -- and then heading over to Lebanon to compete in a 5-K postponed by last week's snow.

Ahead Of Schedule

In pictures shot Thursday, March 22, Floren Varsity House is taking shape. This view shows the building towering above Red Rolfe baseball field. Note that the snow on the infield dirt has been snowblown to enhance melting with temperatures hitting the 50's for several days in a row.
This is the south end of Floren. While the building is ahead of schedule, work on the rows of grandstand that will be added to the top of the east stands has not been started, nor has construction started on the extension to the south end of the stands that will make them match the west stands in length.The north end of Floren shows the entrance to the new building. (Click on photos to enlarge)

The Columbia Spectator' The Eye has a magazine piece called "Ivy League Hustle; Columbia student-athletes tell all." It's an interesting story with athletes (and a professor) whose names have been changed -- or abbreviated -- so they could speak candidly about how athletes and athletics fit in at Columbia. For anyone who has read The Game of Life or Chris Lincoln's Playing the Game (Green Alert Q&A with Chris), there's nothing groundbreaking here but it's still a provocative story. It's just unfortunate the writer couldn't find sources to go on the record.

Cornell releases its spring football practice schedule along with an in-depth look at next year's team (sans incoming freshman) here. As a side note, It's always a little jarring if you've been around for a while to read - and write - about spring football in the Ivy League. It wasn't all that long ago that the Ivies had one day of spring practice. It was used mainly to assess fitness, run a few drills and fit uniforms and equipment for the next fall.

For a PDF file of the Holy Cross football prospectus, click here.

Catch This

A relatively slow day is a good time to check out this video of Andrew Hall's catch in the 2003 upset of Harvard. This is from the broadcast of the game by the YES Network. What the video doesn't show is that the play came on the heels of an official "sacking" Charlie Rittgers. The Dartmouth quarterback was scrambling for time while he looked downfield and one of the striped shirts blindsided him and knocked him to the ground for what would have been a costly loss if not for this play.

Speaking of quarterbacks -- past and possibly future -- a couple of them are in the news today. Jay Fiedler gets a mention in the Atlanta Journal Constitution as one of the veteran free agents the team might want to consider as a replacement for backup Matt Schaub. ... While there's still a missing name -- or two -- from this year's recruiting class, a name for next year has already popped up and it's another quarterback. Tyler Porco is a three-year starter for Pennsylvania's Peters Township. According to this story, Dartmouth Princeton, Colorado, Iowa and Vanderbilt have begun to court him. He's listed at 6-3, 210 and also plays linebacker.

Jake Novak has taken an exhaustive look at Columbia's personnel heading into spring football at his Roar Lions Roar blog.

Dan Shula And The 'Canes

The Palm Beach Post writes about former Dartmouth quarterback Dan Shula taking a graduate assistant position with the Miami Hurricanes. Shula, who was a GA under his uncle Mike at Alabama last year, will work with the Miami O-line.

A Princeton Basketball Stunner

Before anything football, a basketball shocker. Princeton coach Joe Scott, a former Tiger captain and architect of the Air Force Academy renaissance, is leaving Old Nassau after three years to take over the struggling program at Denver, hardly a plum job. From a Trenton Times column:

The day he was introduced as head coach, taking over a team that had won the league under Thompson, and returned all five starters, he proclaimed his goal was to get the Tigers back into the top 20.

Three years later, he was losing to Dartmouth, twice.

Hard to tell whether Joe Scott or Dartmouth takes the bigger hit with that shot. ... I'm reminded of something a Dartmouth basketball coach once told me when I said something about how much easier it must be to coach at a place like Princeton, where you are almost guaranteed an Ivy League championship half the time. He wasn't so sure. He said to imagine what it's like coaching at a place where regardless of your record, if you don't win the championship the season is considered a failure.

I guess we don't have to imagine anymore.

Princeton doesn't seem likely to go "out of the family" to hire its new coach, but former Dartmouth assistant Mike Maker might be someone Princeton Athletic Director Gary Walters (a former Dartmouth basketball coach) should consider. Maker coached a version of the "Princeton system," under Dave Faucher at Dartmouth for many years. When he left, it was to be an assistant at Samford, which has had success running an even purer version of the Pete Carril system. He's now at West Virginia, which has been acclaimed for its version of the Princeton system. Beyond that, "Makes" is the kind of people person who would be able to heal some of the open wounds in New Jersey.

The Harvard Crimson has a story today about the eating habits of football linemen. (I wish I could post the hilarious story I wrote for the newspaper several years ago about how Dartmouth O-linemen eat, but the paper wouldn't look kindly upon it.) The Crimson story includes this amusing bit:

(Junior lineman Tom) Rodger recalls his brother, former Crimson lineman Will Rodger ’05, saying “I go into Annenberg, and sit there and eat until I sweat. That’s when I know I’m done.”

To get a sense of who the Dartmouth football team will see on the other side of the field for the next few years -- barring a schedule change -- check out this announcement of the Holy Cross recruiting class. It would be a surprise if a few of the names on the list weren't Dartmouth recruiting targets at one point in the process.

Old friend Jim Fiore, the forward-looking athletic director at Stony Brook, has the Seawolves joining the Big South conference for football according to this release. While the geographical part of it is a little curious (SBU will be playing games at places like Coastal Carolina, Charleston Southern and VMI) it's clearly a step up for Stony Brook. There was talk that Albany would also join the league, but that may just have been a rumor.

Degree Without Debt

Dartmouth has occasionally been in recruiting battles with Davidson College, the fine national liberal arts school in North Carolina and the sense here is that the Ivy League school has won more than it lost in those skirmishes. That may not be the case in the future. From the News & Observer:

"Davidson College will eliminate loans from its financial-aid packages, enabling those students to graduate without debt, college officials announced Monday.

"The move, expected to cost Davidson $3.5 million a year, follows the lead of some Ivy League universities but is apparently a first among the nation's prominent liberal arts colleges."

Tuition, room and board at Davidson this year is $38,784. From the Davidson release:

Last spring the college was able to cap loans at $3,000 per year. Prior to that, loans could total as much as $19,000 during a student’s four-year enrollment at Davidson.

In case you are wondering, Dartmouth and Davidson played a home-and-home football series in 1987 and '88. Dartmouth won the first game, 38-7, and followed with a 24-3 win the next fall. Davidson was a charter member of the Patriot League.

Today's Valley News has a story about tailback Chad Gaudet's long battle back from a devastating knee injury suffered on the first play of the opening game two years ago against Colgate. Gaudet, who had the "top bit of tibia just below the knee" sheared off according to the story, is back playing lacrosse for the Big Green. Regarding a possible return to football as a senior next fall, Gaudet told the newspaper, "The doctor's not against it ... but he's like, it might not be in your best interest. That being said, I was recruited to play football here. I'd love to get back out there."

Gaudet went on to say that for as much as he wants to play, "I don't want to just be an attraction. ... I want to be a contributor. I don't think I could settle for anything less."

One more note on sports (of sorts): A regular reader sent along a link to an enterprise called TicketReserve. If I'm reading it right, the business allows you to buy and sell ticket futures against the chance that your team makes it to the BCS championship game, the Final Four, the Super Bowl, etc.. Jack Kemp is on the board of directors.

Outside of sports, there's a provocative opinion piece in a number of newspapers this morning dealing with "a study that finds a consistent pattern of Ivy League and other elite colleges and universities boosting their black student populations by enrolling large numbers of immigrants from Africa, the West Indies and Latin America." That piece can be found here.

Bring On a Hoop Tournament

I don't always agree with how these polls turn out, but I'm on board with this one. Having either Penn or Princeton represent the Ivy League in the NCAA Tournament for 19 consecutive years and 37 of the past 39 years simply does not make for a healthy conference. The time has come to try something new to breathe life into what has become a stale league. Give a tournament a five-year try and see how it goes.

Big Lu Hits An Interesting Note

Former offensive lineman Lucius Alexander is one of the founders of Entertonement, the ringtone provider blogged in today's first post. To read a little more about the endeavor and see a picture of the guy they call Big Lu, check out this Daily Dartmouth story.

The Fighting Artichokes

Just one more note on mascots-slash-nicknames because this is too, um, delicious not to mention. To the right I present Fighting Artie, mascot for the Scottsdale Community College Fighting Artichokes. And yes, there is a Fighting Artichokes football team. From a release last fall: "The 2006 Artichoke football team finished the season on a positive note with a 21-14 victory over Eastern Arizona. The win gave Scottsdale a 6-4 overall record and 6-2 mark in the WSFL. It also propelled the 'Chokes back into the NJCAA top-20."

Regular readers of this space may recall that while I recognize the utility of the cell phone, I don't own one and really don't want to. (In the interest of complete disclosure, we bought one last summer before leaving on our cross country trip in the '84 VW camper. When the prepaid card - which cost more than the phone - ran out, the phone ended up in a pile of junk somewhere never to be seen or heard from again.)

But I digress. A subscriber sent along a link to the Entertonement site that bills itself as having, "Over 100,000 of the greatest quotes and sounds for use on MySpace or as free ringtones!" Fittingly for an endeavor that has Dartmouth roots, there are 15 ringtones pertaining to Dartmouth including Dartmouth's In Town Again, Dartmouth Touchdown Song, Dartmouth Fight Song, Glory to Dartmouth (with or without vocals). Most are songs but there's also Michael Wilbon of ESPN's PTI ranting about Keggy the Keg as well as a handful of other Dartmouth-related bits from ESPN. ...

Here's the Keggy the Keg mention:


The Manchester Union Leader has a UNH notes column today that includes a few thoughts about the new coaching flow chart in Durham (and where John Perry fits on it). It mentions that 15 NFL teams have expressed interest in tomorrow's Pro Day featuring wide receivers David Ball and Aaron Brown, guard Tucker Peterson and defensive back Corey Graham.

Mascot Mania

Keggy, the unofficial mascot created by Dartmouth students, gets a little love and a picture in this entertaining (and tremendously taste-challenged) list of The Worst NCAA D-I College Mascots. According to the site, the mascots were "judged on a variety of criteria, such as ugliness, randomness of mascot choice, cheapness of costume, and the all-important creepiness factor."

A Harvard mascot I have to admit I've never noticed ranks as the third-worst in the nation according to this poll. Also, take a good look at the Stanford tree that is called the worst in the nation. True story: For a short time Dartmouth dressed someone up in a not altogether dissimilar costume. I don't remember it having eyes (it may have) but I've seen the costume.

I'm thinking if someone had sent this site a picture of the inflatable Dartmouth Moose that got banned after too many complaints a few years ago it might have made this list. ...

I'm with the folks who nominated Meackie, the MEAC creation, as the worst mascot. (Scroll down the left side of the page linked above to see it.)

Speaking of the MEAC, did you ever wonder what happened to Charles Harris, the onetime MEAC commissioner whose resume issues cost him the job as Dartmouth athletic director? (Josie Harper was introduced after Harris' introductory press conference was called off.) A subscriber emailed that he's now the athletic director at Averett College in Danville, Va. You can find his bio here.

The Dartmouth men's ice hockey team dropped the consolation game of the ECACHL playoffs in Albany to St. Lawrence, 5-3. ... The men's lacrosse team, meanwhile, had the luck of the Irish on its side as it defeated No. 16 Notre Dame at home in a game delayed three hours while snow was being removed from the field. I remember covering a Dartmouth-Notre Dame lacrosse game back when the lax team used to play on Memorial Field and wrote a lede about the Big Green claiming a victory over the Irish on the gridiron.

We're headed to the Barre Aud today to see the Vermont Frost Heaves play in the ABA playoffs. The Frost Heaves are owned by Sports Illustrated writer Alex Wolff, an old friend. Several things you might find interesting:

• A frost heave is a bump in the road that swells up every year in the same place. Bright orange signs are erected to warn drivers about the bumps. Many flatlanders have been heard to ask, "What's a frost heave?" shortly before their cars go airborne.
• The Aud is the Barre Auditorium, a legendary hole-in-the-wall (capacity around 1,300) where the Vermont state high school basketball championships are played for all but the largest schools. It's the goal of every Vermont high school player in these parts to one day play in the Aud. It's a pretty cheesey place and I love it.
  
• Alex Wolff and I were on the Today Show together back in the day. I still have the tape of me out there with Bryant Gumbel. (Ask me about it sometime.)

And finally, welcome to spring on Moose Mountain where a game of 21 yesterday between a certain couple of kids might have heated up ... but it certainly didn't heat up the blacktop ...

Need A Little Inspiration?

Running, lifting and conditioning for the football season when the first game is still 182 days away can be a drag. Sometimes a little inspiration might be helpful. If so, check out this page. Or click here.

The Dartmouth men's ice hockey team has had incredibly tough luck in the ECACHL Tournament in recent years and it continued last night as the Big Green dropped a 5-4 decision to Clarkson over in Albany on a goal with 41 seconds remaining. From the Dartmouth sports information release: "The Big Green still has a chance for its first NCAA bid in 26 years as they will square off with St. Lawrence tomorrow at 4:30 in the consolation game. There are still a number of things that could happen for Dartmouth to get an at-large bid into the national tournament." The Valley News story this morning is a good deal less optimistic, saying Dartmouth's chances are "on life support."

Speaking of hockey, I've had several people ask if I have a list of recruits for the men's team. I haven't seen anything official, but if you click here you'll find a list of 11 players who are expected to be heading to Hanover including 6-1, 180 Jimmy Gaudet, who will be joining older brother Joey Gaudet (a freshman this year) and dad Bob Gaudet, who happens to be the Big Green head coach. Can't be many Division I coaches in any sport who have two sons playing for them concurrently.

How does your bracket look this morning? I'm in a pool where you pick five teams you think might advance to the Final Four and earn the number of points of their seed if they make it. (Hint: I'm rooting hard for Winthrop these days ;-)

We got about 10 inches of snow up here on the mountain last night and the storm appears to be finished. A certain Hanover 7th grader noted we had the "Valentine's Day Blizzard," and a nice snowstorm on St. Patrick's Day. Now he can't wait for Easter. ... The Shamrock Shuffle, in which his sister was going to run for the third year in a row, has been postponed for a week. ...

FieldTurf On Tap At UNH

I finally saw a copy of Monday's Manchester Union Leader, which had a story that wasn't carried on the web about upgrades at the University of New Hampshire football field where Dartmouth will play Sept. 22. From the story: "The plan is to put the field -- similar to what the University of Massachusetts and Dartmouth College and the New England Patriots installed last year -- out to bid shortly and ideally have the work completed by the time the football returns for training camp in August."

The work is the result of a $1 million gift from Ed Fish, a former football and hockey player at the school.

Athletic Director Marty Scarano is calling this "Phase One," part of his vision of a "multi-purpose facility in Cowell Stadium at what could be a cost of more than $30 million."

Another New Hampshire paper is carrying a story today about former Dartmouth offensive coordinator John Perry returning to UNH as associate head coach. ...

One that got away: Patrick Snow, a 6-1, 285 offensive lineman from Houston and Clear Lake High -- alma mater of quarterback Mike Fritz '06 -- chose Navy over Dartmouth and Illinois State according to this story.

Former Brown wide receiver Sean Morey has left the Pittsburgh Steelers to sign with the Arizona Cardinals (story). Morey led the Steelers with 21 tackles last season. Why Arizona? From a story on the Pittsburgh Live site: "Morey will reunite with former Steelers coaches Ken Whisenhunt (head coach), Russ Grimm (assistant head coach/offensive line) and Kevin Spencer (special teams) in Arizona." Don't be surprised if Morey and former Arizona linebacker Zack Walz '98, who were a year apart in the Ivy League, touch base in Glendale.

This showed up on a football coaching site. If it's been noted elsewhere, I missed it. Bill Irwin, offensive line coach at Western New England College will be Columbia's new tight ends coach. It makes sense. Irwin was a three-year starter for Connecticut, where Columbia coach Norries Wilson was on the staff. Irwin played on the 2004 Motor City Bowl champion team and was a candidate for the Rimington Trophy as the country's top center.

Harvard's bubble was worth every cent according to the Crimson.

Princeton men's basketball coach Joe Scott is coming under heavy fire after his third season at his alma mater resulted in the Tigers finishing last in the Ivy League for the first time ever. From today's Princetonian:

"Frankly, the man's been nothing short of a disaster for Princeton basketball," WPRB basketball commentator Robert Glasgow '07 said.

Glasgow is a member of the facebook.com group "Fire Joe Scott," which boasted 87 members at the time of publishing. The group is the brainchild of Aaron Prince '07, who is also a second baseman on the baseball team. Prince declined to comment for this article due to his affiliation with the baseball team.

Wow. A varsity athlete on one team that critical of the coach of another. ...

And finally, how about this for timing? My wife has teaching a seminar at The Balsams in northern New Hampshire for three days. One of the reasons they hold this event there is because in addition to being a "grand hotel," it's a ski resort. And that helps bring in attendees for the seminar. Well, she didn't get a chance to ski Wednesday. Yesterday they had so much rain they actually shut down the mountain. Today she finishes up and heads home without ever having taken the skis off the car. And tonight? They are calling for upwards of 15 inches of snow around here.

Speaking of The Balsams, if you are coming for a visit and have an extra day or two, it's a remarkable place, a page torn from another era. If you want to be pampered, check it out. From their web site: "High in New Hampshire's White Mountains and deep in the Great North Woods, The BALSAMS Grand Resort Hotel truly is a world unto itself."

UNH Calls On An Old Friend

From the Feb. 9 blog: "It will be interesting to see if New Hampshire makes a run at former Dartmouth offensive coordinator John Perry should UNH assistant Chip Kelly go to Oregon."

Got that one right ;-). New Hampshire yesterday named Perry Associate Head Coach and Quarterback Coach as reported in the Manchester Union Leader. ... The UNH release is here. John Perry was the innovative offensive coordinator at Dartmouth from 2000 to 2004.

The Union Leader also has a story about Dartmouth assistant Jarrail Jackson signing on to play with the Manchester Wolves of Arena Football League 2. That's the same team that signed former Dartmouth fullback Charles Ganske.

Today's Boston Globe has a nice piece on the Dartmouth ski team and the class it showed after winning the NCAA championship. Tony Chamberlain deserves a pat on the back for the story and a lash or two for referring to Dartmouth in the lede of his story as Dartmouth University. Maybe it was a copy editor. Hopefully it was a copy editor. Tony's been around too long and covered too many Dartmouth events (including a few football games) to make that mistake. From the story:

What a healthy contrast to the hysteria that surrounds so many sports in this country. Here are athletes, every bit as accomplished as the college basketball players in Gainesville, Fla., the football players in Columbus, Ohio, catching a quick bite with their parents before heading back to campus to ice their knees and dig into the books.

A subscriber points us to the front page of the Austin American Statesman, which had a photo and story about The Band of Heathens, featuring former linebacker Gordy Quist '02, on yesterday's front page. The lede to the story:

Originally conceived as a loosely-knit collective showcasing four of Austins best up-and-coming artists, The Band Of Heathens is quickly becoming one of the most exciting new acts in American Music.

The Heathens' web site is here. Gordy's home page with samples of his music can be found here.

On A Couple Of NFL Hopefuls

The Harvard Crimson has a story about the NFL hopes of tailback Clifton Dawson. According to the story he returned four kickoffs for 107 yards in the Texas vs. the Nation all-star game last month. I tried to dig up his rushing/receiving stats for that game in the week after it took place to no avail. I even emailed a writer who covered the game but he never got back to me; professional courtesy must have ended when I left the newspaper ;-). Whatever.

Harvard coach Tim Murphy feels pretty strongly that there's a place in the NFL for the Canadian. He told the Crimson:

"Clifton will make it in the NFL, period. He has the speed, toughness, attitude and blocking ability ..."

Speaking of NFL hopefuls, check out this video of former defensive end Anthony "Knuckles" Gargiulo '06, who has had several looks since deciding to give the pro game a shot (he's No. 91 coming off the end):

Green Alert Take: It's easy to forget just how good Gargiulo was. This is a pretty good reminder.

A subscriber sent along this New York Times link to another story about mental health problems among former NFL players. Excerpts from the disturbing story:

John Mackey and Ralph Wenzel were both on the San Diego Chargers in 1972, but have no memory of playing together.

They played together on the 1972 Chargers, even blocking on the same offensive line, but neither has any memory of it. Neither remembers playing for the Chargers at all.

Even after spending two hours together, and being reintroduced several times, neither man knew the other’s name.

Go West Young Men?

Matt Dougherty has a Sports Network column about football conference adjustments that could ultimately create new scheduling opportunities for Ivy League schools. Dougherty opines: "Cal Poly and UC Davis - Good luck finding games. As it stands now, the Mustangs and Aggies will only have two conference games in 2008. ..." And he notes: "Both teams have more road games than home games this year, and the trend will likely continue." ... Hmm. I wonder if we know a school that might be able to help their cause. ...

Former Harvard star Chris Eitzmann, who played for the Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots and is now at the Tuck School, is featured in this Bloomberg.com piece that begins: "Wall Street recruiters can be as aggressive as professional football players ..."

Penn has a new offensive coordinator, Bill Schmitz, who was last in the Ivy League at Columbia back in 1979-80. He had most recently been tight ends and running backs coach for the University of Alabama-Birmingham. ... The Quakers also released their spring football practice schedule.

Brown linebacker Zak DeOssie, who opened eyes at the NFL Combine, is going to take part in the Boston College Pro Day on March 21 according to this Brown release.

Columbia's Diane Murphy is one of two recipients of the national General Robert R. Neyland Outstanding Athletic Director Award for excellence in football according to a Columbia release. I'm not sure exactly how much it means but whatever it means, it's good for Columbia football. ...

And finally this: A subscriber sent a link to one of the funniest things you'll read in the New York Times all year. Click here to read what Penn starting forward Steve Danley, a Rhodes Scholarship finalist, has to say about Ivy League basketball and the NCAA Tournament. He tells of a plot hatched by the Penn players to get writers to include a particular phrase in their stories, about star guard Ibby Jaaber's "marinara sauce" quote (which made me laugh when I read it somewhere) and he offers a hilarious bit about trash talking against a Dartmouth freshman. This is top-notch stuff, the ensuing comments from readers aside. There's another Danley entry here. ... Danley's bio can be found here.

And finally this II: The Dartmouth women's basketball team drew Seton Hall in the opening round of the WNIT. Two kids up here on Moose Mountain had hoped to catch the game but I'm not quite sure we're heading to South Orange, N.J., on a school night. ;-)

Poll Favors Moose But Is It A Good Idea?

The week-long poll on a nickname/mascot that closed today surprised me. Before I share my vote, here are what I see as the positives and negatives of each nickname on the ballot.

BackPackers
Positives: Fitting for a school with an outdoor tradition, the Appalachian Trail running through campus and freshman trips ... Original ... Can be shortened to Packers ... Color green works with Packers ... Easy mascot costume.
Negative: Opposing bands would have a field day with this one.

Green Machine
Positives: Minimal change ... Original in NCAA ranks at least ... Like the others, non-sexist and non-violent. ... Again, an easy mascot costume requiring no imagination.
Negatives: Barring a "Transformers" logo, not much marketing interest ... Doesn't relate to Dartmouth other than Green. ... It's so PC as to be transparent.

Moose
Positives: Original in the NCAA ranks ... Does pertain to the area ... Easy mascot ... Support over the years might make it "electable" ... Good for marketing ... Hey, it's an animal.
Negatives: Think Bullwinkle ... When they started a moose hunt in New Hampshire a few years back, critics said it was about as much of a sport as pulling up along a fence and shooting a cow. What does that tell you? ... Underwhelming support among high-ranking football people in the past.

North Stars
Positives: Fits the area. ... Original to NCAA ranks ... Can be shortened to Stars, which fits headlines and has a nice double-entendre ... Shouldn't offend anyone ... Easy logo possibilities.
Negatives: And the mascot would be what? Some goofball in a yellow foam suit trying not to fall over? ... Animals are better for marketing purposes.

River Runners
Positives: Pertains to an area often explored by river ... The Ledyard Canoe Club and annual trip down the Connecticut are staples of the college ... works with freshman trips, etc. ... Shouldn't offend. ... Original to NCAA.
Negatives: Not terribly inspiring ... Shortened to "Dartmouth Runners" might be confusing ... The West Virginia Mountaineer runs around with a musket. The River Runner mascot will defend Dartmouth's honor by what, whacking you over the head with a paddle?

TrailBlazers
Positives: Works with Outing Club and Applachian Trail ... Shortens nicely to Blazers ... Relatively original ... Easy logo ... PC enough for most everyone.
Negatives: Critics might say it's an NBA ripoff ... Some people already think Dartmouth is in the middle of nowhere ... Animals work better, remember. ... Not much marketing promise.

Green Alert Take: I was originally a big advocate of BackPackers because it works on two levels as an outdoor/hiking concept and the group up in Green Bay. But the critics make a valid point with the band suggestion. ... Moose is certainly original, but it's kind of hard to get over the Bullwinkle image. (We have a silly little book in our downstairs bathroom called Uses For Mooses and if you ever looked through it you might have second thoughts about naming a team after one of these fellas.) Beyond that, as a writer who agonizes over subject-verb agreement, I am SO tired of referring to the Dartmouth Big Green as an "it" instead of "they." Do you have any idea how many times I have rewritten paragraphs over the years to avoid having 3-4-5 "its" stack up on each other?

In the end, I'm full-speed-ahead for Dartmouth North Stars. The logo possibilities are endless and easy. Heck, even I could come up with one. There would be terrific marketing possibilities. It certainly fits the northernmost Ivy League school and in fact works on a number of levels. Headline writers could shorten the name to Stars. And as a bonus, it's plural!

You choose:
"The Dartmouth North Stars claimed their first Ivy League title since 1996 with a win over Princeton in the 2007 season finale on Memorial Field."

or

"The Dartmouth Moose claimed its first Ivy League title since 1996 with a win over Princeton in the 2007 season finale on Memorial Field."

I suppose it sounds pretty good either way, huh?

Green Alert Take II: Moose. Yeti. Salty Dogs. Lorax. Timberwolves. Eleazars. They've all had supporters in the past and have gone nowhere because (and this is just my considered opinion) no one with the power to make it happen was willing to step up and take the hit. The time has come, Dartmouth. The Indian isn't coming back so pick a nickname by whatever means necessary (executive fiat if need be) and make it happen. Some people will be angry, a few people will be very angry and 2-3-4 years later everything will settle down and you'll have a nickname that's something other than a large color. ... I've told this story before but I was interviewing a football player for the Lehigh Mountain Hawks once and asked him if he heard much criticism from alumni about the nickname. The kid looked at me like I was crazy. Turns out, he'd never even heard of the Lehigh Engineers. There was quite a hullabaloo down there when the introduced the Mountain Hawk, but it seems most people got over it and nobody died because of it.

Shuffling Recruit Positions

Started filling out your brackets yet?

It's a seriously quiet day on the Dartmouth football front. You might want to click on this House Resolution of the 117th Session of the South Carolina General Assembly and scroll down a bit to see a pretty neat honor for incoming Dartmouth linebacker recruit Carter Scott. ...

As we try to sort out recruits and where they may play at Dartmouth, this story says Hinsdale Central (Illinois) recruit Steve Morris, "is slated to play defensive back in college." Last week's Green Alert posting had him listed with the running backs, a position he also played in high school. ... This Washington Post piece lists Washington, D.C., running back/linebacker/kicker Pat Scorah as a linebacker recruit for Dartmouth, so shift him from running back as well. ... And finally, Tim McManus, who helped quarterback his Minnesota high school team to the state finals, will probably get his first look at defensive back according to a reliable source. ...

What else? I'm happy to report no cars were overturned or burned in Hanover over the weekend in celebration of the ski team's national championship. ... The women's basketball team learns its WNIT opponent tonight or early tomorrow. It could be Bucknell or Iona. ... The men's hockey team, meanwhile, will play Clarkson in the the ECACHL semifinals Friday in Albany.

With temperatures in the mid-40's over the weekend, the basketball hoop came out of winter hibernation in our garage. It took lots of chipping and shoveling, but the driveway now has a relatively cleared 3-point arc. There are 3- to 5-foot sloped piles of snow behind it which very nicely deliver airballs back to the shooter. We could be getting more snow up here on Moose Mountain at week's end, so stay tuned. A certain Hanover 7th grader, by the way, was shooting hoops at 6:55 this morning before the bus came.

And finally, captains' practices started for softball at 6 this morning. It will be interesting to hear the thoughts later today of a certain Hanover High freshman who is making a very reluctant transition from playing shortstop and centerfield on the boys baseball team to playing softball. Unfortunately, in New Hampshire (unlike Vermont) you can't compete in two sports in a season, so while she's continuing to train in the afternoon with the track team, she won't be allowed to run in any meets. She'll instead run road races, beginning Saturday with the 5K Shamrock Shuffle in nearby Lebanon.

One more note: Voting in the Green Alert mascot/nickname poll will end later today and a new question will be posted. Be sure to check back.

Any Given Sunday

Dartmouth freshman defensive back Niles Murphy made this video. It is set to some of the soundtrack dialogue from the movie Any Given Sunday. As Niles warns, the language is a little rough. That said, it's worth a look. If you are curious, here are some of the quotes from the movie.

Remember how we reported some time back that Derham Cato had signed with the Toronto Argonauts? Find his bio page on the Argos' site here.

Dartmouth's NCAA championship on the slopes gets play from the Boston Globe, from the Manchester Union Leader and from the Daily Dartmouth.

Is Dartmouth President Jim Wright thinking retirement? Maybe, but not right now according to this Bloomberg report uncovered by Joe Malchow in Joe's Dartblog.

Skiers Win NCAA Title

From the Dartmouth web site:

BARTLETT, NH ­ Good things come to those who wait.

After a 31 year NCAA team title drought, Dartmouth won the 2007 NCAA Men's and Women's Skiing Championships here Saturday, marking the first NCAA team title for the College since 1976.

For the full story, click here.

Dartmouth Ski Team On Cusp Of Rare NCAA Championship

Barring a meltdown (pun intended) the Dartmouth Ski Team should capture the national title today at Attitash today when the slalom caps the NCAA Championships. The Manchester Union Leader quotes Denver coach Wolf Wallendorf:

"I think they can be pretty happy for (today) and ski the slalom. We'll see, if someone crashes, you never know. At least we're still in contention for first, but it will be rough."

The NCAA story (credited to host UNH) can be found here and the Dartmouth generated story is here.

While the ski team is looking to clinch the title, the Dartmouth women's ice hockey team is in the NCAA quarterfinals today against Boston College and is primed for another appearance in the Frozen Four and still another bid at a national title.

Coming after last spring's appearance in the national championship game by the Dartmouth women's lacrosse team, this latest flurry of title aspirations sent me off to do a little research and here's what I found:

Dartmouth has won three previous NCAA championships in skiing (1958 and 1976) and in golf (1921). That got me wondering about official NCAA championships by other Ivy schools. Here's that breakdown, courtesy of the NCAA:

Yale: 27
Men's championships: 25
golf 21
swimming & diving 4
Women's championships: 2
fencing: 2

Princeton : 22
Men's championships: 19
fencing: 1
golf: 12
lacrosse: 6
Women's championships: 3
lacrosse: 3

Columbia-Barnard: 13
Men's championships: 11
fencing: 11
Coed championships:
fencing: 2

Harvard: 10
Men's championships: 7
golf: 6
ice hockey: 1
Women's championships: 2
lacrosse: 1
rowing: 1
Coed championships: 1
fencing: 1

Cornell: 5
Men's championships: 5
lacrosse: 3
ice hockey: 2

Brown: 4
Women's championships: 4
rowing: 4

Pennsylvania: 4
Men's championships: 3
fencing: 3
Women's championships: 1
fencing 1:

I also got a little curious about how many schools sponsor the sports in which Dartmouth has been challenging of late for Division I national championships. Here are the number of schools sponsoring varsity teams in Division I by sport according to the NCAA (ranked from most to least):

MEN
Basketball 326
Cross Country 297
Golf 287
Baseball 284
Track, Outdoor 262
Tennis 259
Track, Indoor 241
Football 234
(I-FBS 118)
(I-FCS 116)
Soccer 196
Swimming 139
Wrestling 89
Ice Hockey 58
Lacrosse 57
Rowing 30
Volleyball 22
Water Polo 21
Fencing 20
Gymnastics 17
Skiing 13
Rifle 5
Bowling 1

WOMEN
Basketball 325
Cross Country 322
Volleyball 315
Tennis 306
Track, Outdoor 302
Soccer 301
Track, Indoor 290
Softball 269
Golf 231
Swimming 190
Rowing 86
Lacrosse 81
Field Hockey 78
Gymnastics 65
Ice Hockey 33
Water Polo 31
Bowling 28
Fencing 26
Skiing 14
Rifle 11

MIXED
Rifle 17
Fencing 1

Former Dartmouth fullback Charles Ganske and current Dartmouth receivers coach Jarrail Jackson get a mention in this story about training camp opening for the Manchester Wolves of af2.

In more football news (really basketball news if the truth be told) Jay Fiedler may be bringing a CBA franchise to Kentucky. Read about it here.

Speaking Of Schedules ...

Occasionally I'll take a snoop around the reconfigured Dartmouth athletics web site and find stuff that I never noticed was there. One thing I discovered the other day was the football schedule through 2011. It was hardly a surprise to see Colgate, UNH and Holy Cross listed as the three non-conference games each year. I think it would be a major surprise if the schedule isn't changed in the next year or two at most, but you never know. ...

There were loud rumbles a month or so ago about talks to line up a Dartmouth-Montana game. That fell through and the Griz will instead give Albany a payday. There was no rumble -- at least none that I could hear -- about a Dartmouth-Drake University game but this message board suggests it was discussed. I'm not sure how true the rumor is and I'm less sure how interesting the game would be. If I'm reading the post right, the game would have been played at Soldier Field. Playing anyone at Chicago's Soldier Field would be pretty cool. If there's a Soldier Field in Des Moines -- to trot out well-worn phrase made famous by the noted philosopher Borat -- "Not so much." ... Drake plays in the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League. To learn a little more about the Drake program, click here.

Speaking of fields and potential new opponents, check out these pictures of the new stadium at Cal Poly. That stadium really couldn't be anywhere but California, could it? San Luis Obispo is a great town and if I get a vote, put me down for a trip out there.

On the subject of Cal Poly, the Mustangs are holding their spring football game Sunday. For those of us who woke up to 13 degrees below zero this morning that's encouraging.

***

Changing gears ... Can you guess what state had the highest percentage of I-A (sic) recruits (per population) this year? Nope. Not Florida.

Believe it or not, it was Hawaii, according to this site. The Maine-New Hampshire-Vermont tri-state area, by the way, had a total of two recruits, both from New Hampshire. Texas led the way with 389 recruits followed by Florida with 325 and California with 320.

The six New England states had a combined 23 recruits or four fewer than that noted football factory Utah had by its lonesome. Any wonder why Dartmouth coaches have to rack up the frequent flier miles on the recruiting trail?

Reggie Williams On Hall Ballot

The National Football Foundation (NFF) announced today the names of 75 players and 8 coaches who comprise the 2007 Football Bowl Subdivision Ballot for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Among the names from the NFF release as quoted in this newspaper story: Dartmouth linebacker Reggie Williams. Harvard's Pat McInally and Yale's Dick Jauron are also on the list along with a Who's Who that includes Troy Aikman, Randy Cross, Randall Cunningham, Sam "Bam" Cunningham, Eric Dickerson, Doug Flutie, Kirk Gibson, Art Monk, Deion Sanders, Lawrence Taylor and Thurman Thomas to name just a few.

Dartmouth, Cornell and Princeton were in the running for a quarterback who will instead play for Army according to this story. Jimmy Reitter went to Brooke High, the alma mater of Dartmouth freshman lineman Evan Nogay.

Rob Talley's hometown paper on Staten Island covers the former Dartmouth assistant's hiring as head football coach at Division II Stonehill. If you read to the end there's a surprise: He's already hired an offensive line coach and it's Bill Polin, who worked the the tight ends and defensive line at Dartmouth from 2001-03 and was most recently at Hofstra. For a small PDF file with Bill's bio and a pic, click here.

The fastest man in the Ivy League, as judged by the 60-meter dash at the indoor Heps, is Brown junior wide receiver Paul Raymond as this Daily Herald story reports.

When all is said and done, Jay Fiedler may have to share the spotlight as the most accomplished competitor from his Oceanside High School homeroom. I am not making this up: A classmate who played minor league baseball in the Cleveland Indians' organization will pitch for one of the six teams in the inaugural Israel Baseball League this spring. His claim to fame, however, might be this: He is ranked 12th in the IFOCE, which to the uninitiated is the International Federation of Competitive Eating. He and Jay get a mention in Israel Insider, Israel's daily newsmagazine.

Add Another Linebacker

I just emailed the subscriber who sent me a link to another recruit and told him I'd blog it tomorrow. But when you find a name you haven't previously come across it's a little like Dec. 24 and awfully hard to wait. So ...

Add Washington D.C., linebacker Alex Johns of Gonzaga to the list of commits. Johns is 6-foot-3, 215 pounds and also played defensive end. His decision to attend Dartmouth was reported on the DC SportsFan.com site -- among other places that I missed ;-). The same site named him to its first DCSportsFan.com 2006 All-Conference Team. You can find a few particulars about him on this "cache" of the Rivals Stanford recruiting site. ...

Here's what the DC Sports Fan site said about him in its preseason capsule of the Gonzaga team:

Johns is a huge part of Gonzaga’s defense. A returning starter, Johns is being recruited by a number of colleges from the Ivy League, the Patriot League, and the Atlantic 10. He made a big name for himself this summer in the Nike Combine and Coach Lucas called him a ‘mainstay’ on defense. He should also see time at tight end.

A Different Way To Look At Recruits

UPDATED March 8 to include Buddy Benaderet and John O'Sullivan
UPDATED 1:30 p.m. to add linebacker Alex Johns ...

This is going to be tricky -- listing the 21 recruits whose names have appeared in the "mainstream" press by position rather than alphabetical order. They are listed at the position they seem to be most noted for last fall.

Clearly, a good number of the players that follow are being recruited for different positions. Linebackers with frames that can hold more weight often move down to defensive end or even the interior line. Sometimes they become fullbacks. Smaller LB's end up in the secondary. Running backs end up in the secondary as do wide receivers. Quarterbacks sometimes move to wide receiver or the secondary. Linemen switch from offense to defense and defense to offense.

So, please don't read too much into the way these athletes are broken down. It's simply a different way of looking at them. Come spring when head coach Buddy Teevens can comment publicly on the class we'll have a better idea of who will play where, although even that can change before they report in August.

OFFENSIVE LINE
Will Montgomery (The Woodlands College Park, The Woodlands, Texas, ) 6-6, 265
John O'Sullivan (Calhoun H.S., Merrick, N.Y.) 6-5, 235
Shane Peterlin (Brophy, Phoenix, Ariz.) 6-3, 275
Alex Wodka (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) 6-3, 285

WIDE RECEIVER/TIGHT END
Kevin Gallagher (Hun School, Belle Mead, N.J.)
Robbie Kratttiger, (Norman North, Norman, Okla. ) 5-11, 185
Tim Vanderet (Homestead H.S., Cupertino, Calif.), 6-5, 195

RUNNING BACK
TJ Cameron (Greenwich, Greenwich, Conn.) 5-11, 200
Steve Morris (Hinsdale Central, Ill.) , 6-0, 175
Pat Scorah (St. John's College High, Washington, D.C.) 5-8, 196
Joseph Zimring (Mary-Institute Country Day, St. Louis) 6-0, 215

QUARTERBACK
Will Deevy (Kent Denver, Colo.) 6-5, 210
Tim McManus (St. Thomas Academy) 6-1, 181

DEFENSIVE LINE
Lane Shipley (Steamboat Springs H.S., Steamboat Springs, Colo.), 6-2, 245
Charles Bay (Wheeler, Marietta, Ga.) 6-3, 237
Buddy Benaderet (Palo Alto, Calif., Palo Alto) 6-3, 230
Michael Cummings (Deerfield Academy, Mass.) 6-5, 240

LINEBACKER
Tyler Green (Middlesex School, Mass.) 6-4, 255
Spencer Hood (Carlsbad, Calif.), 6-3, 230
Chase Jensen (Bishop's School, La Jolla, Calif.)
Alex Johns (Gonzaga, Washington, D.C.) 6-3, 215
Chance Robbins, (Jenks, Jenks, Okla.) 6-0, 195
Carter Scott (Hammond, S.C.), , 6-1, 210

SPECIAL TEAMS
Matthew Kelly (Tampa Catholic, Fla.), 6-2, 180

I think there's a handful more names out there that I haven't been able to root out ... yet. Thanks to subscribers who have helped with links to the last few recruits who have surfaced.

As noted earlier this week, the mascot issue is once again heating up (don't forget to vote ;-). Today's Daily Dartmouth suggests a novel solution: Name the teams the Dartmouth Mascots. ... A somewhat tongue-in-cheek roundtable discussion also takes on the topic. ... This alumni letter writer isn't giving the Dartmoose any love. ... As long as we are talking about moose, check out the Manitoba Moose hockey team's mascot. ... A subscriber sent along his suggestion for a nickname: the Dartmouth Pioneers. Interestingly, the Utica College Pioneers use Trax the Moose as their mascot. ... And check out the Halifax Mooseheads hockey logo.

Back in the football world, former Dartmouth assistant Roger Hughes is being honored after leading the Princeton football team to a share of the Ivy League title last fall. He will receive something called the Johnny Vaught Head Coach award at the All-American Football Foundation's 83rd Banquet of Champions. ... Today's Cornell Sun has a paean to Brown linebacker Zak DeOssie based on his performance at the NFL Combine. Nothing much new in the piece. ... UNH receiver David Ball's number 3 has indeed been retired as noted in this Burlington (Vt.) Free Press story but still no confirmation that FieldTurf will be installed on the New Hampshire football field by next fall. ... Colgate has released it's 29-name recruiting class. Interestingly, almost half of the players coming to Hamilton, N.Y., hail from Florida (7) and Georgia (7). Dartmouth linebacker Andrew Dete will see some familiar faces in the opener because no fewer than three fellow Marist School grads will be playing for the Raiders next year.

And finally, what would the day be like if I didn't mention how cold it got up here on, ahem, Moose Mountain? On the morning news they reported 23 degrees below zero in Lebanon. It's usually significantly colder up here so imagine my disappointment when it was just 13.7 degrees below zero. Bummer.