Bowl This And Bowl That

For the second year in a row someone up here on Moose Mountain was in contention in our annual bowl game contest. Last year it was that certain Hanover middle schooler, who did all kinds of research and had a shot at the top spot until the final game. This year it was his mother, who prefers to wing it rather than sweat the details. She had a shot at second in the pool heading into last night's Sugar Bowl, but needed a Hawai'i win to have a chance. Oh well.

As for me? My chosen nickname in the game each year is "L-7 Loser," and I certainly lived up to it this year.

Speaking of bowl games, a couple of players who might have been in the Ivy League but chose instead to play college football on the big stage had a chance to show their stuff yesterday. Most prominent was USC's Garrett Green. From a story carried in the Chicago Tribune:

PASADENA, Calif. - Garrett Green could have been a Harvard man. Instead he became something of a Rose Bowl hero.

With USC leading 7-0 in the first quarter, Trojans quarterback John David Booty fired a pass behind the line of scrimmage to Green, who then chucked it across the field to an open Desmond Reed.

From the story:

Green enjoyed a stellar career at Notre Dame High School north of Los Angeles in Chatsworth, Calif. His top options: Walk on at USC or play quarterback in the Ivy League.

And then there's this from the Austin American-Statesman about Virginia receiver Staton Jobe, a former teammate of Dartmouth's Matt Dornak at Westlake High who caught two passes and recovered a fumble in yesterday's Gator Bowl game against Texas Tech:

Jobe is a redshirt freshman who has gone from walk-on to starter after Division I-A recruiters all but ignored him following a 10-touchdown senior season at Westlake High. He could have been the big man on an Ivy League campus or stood tall at Army, Air Force or the small schools that showed interest, but Jobe wanted to play for a big-time program.

Still on the subject of bowls, a former Dartmouth assistant athletic director is quoted in a New York Times story about NCAA rules change that forced players to keep up their academic standing to play in bowl games. From the Times:

Carolyn Campbell-McGovern, who sits on the N.C.A.A. Management Council and is also a senior associate director for the Ivy League, said many players who did not plan to complete their degrees could have paid little attention in the classroom during their final year. Now, however, the N.C.A.A. rules governing postseason eligibility are designed to ensure athletes meet their academic requirements, regardless of their class.

One more on the subject of bowls. Writing in the Star-Telegram, the well-regarded Wendell Barnhouse explains why FCS schools -- nee I-AA -- have it figured out and why the current bowl situation in the FBS -- nee I-A -- is a farce. His column begins this way:

Attention, college football fans: You have been and are being duped. Fooled. Bamboozled. Deceived.

And finally ... the snow stopped during the night, much to the chagrin of a couple of kids up here on Moose Mountain who hoped to extend their Christmas vacation by another day. After the past two storms we now have 23 inches of standing snow in our front yard. Not quite the 54 inches we had a few years ago (when our deck collapsed under the weight of the snow), but a good start.