Headed For Hawai'i

I shot a bunch of pictures of the Christmas tree on the green a couple of weeks ago. When I went outside this morning it was nine below zero and the snow was squeaking under my feet and it reminded me of the pictures I'd forgotten to post. The statute of limitations is probably nearing on holiday photos so I thought I'd better hurry and share this one of the very nice decorations of the Hanover Inn. It would make a nice card, don't you think?

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Two Ivy Leaguers are headed to the Hula Bowl, to be played on Jan. 12, in Honolulu. Chosen for the game were Yale defensive lineman Brandt Hollander and Brown wide receiver Paul Raymond. Find a story here.

It looks as if Casey Cramer is going to see some action for the Tennessee Titans this weekend after teammate Bo Scaife suffered a lacerated liver in the last game. From a Times Free Press story: "Ben Troupe and Casey Cramer could see the bulk of the playing time in Scaife's stead." Cramer has had a tough year, battling injuries early in the season, returning to see a little action and then spending most of the second half of the season on the inactive list.

Dave Coulson over at the Sports Network does a nice job of pointing out the advantages the FCS playoff system has over the BCS in this column. He writes:

Had FCS chosen this route, we would have watched Northern Iowa match up with either McNeese State, or Montana for the championship. One of these three undefeated teams would have been steamed about how it had been denied even a shot at the title.

Two-time national champion Appalachian State wouldn't have even gotten the chance to defend its crown, and No. 13-ranked Delaware wouldn't have been mentioned as a possible title-game participant.

I'm not about to disagree. That said, what he doesn't write, of course, was that the FCS championship game ended up being a clunker.

Michele Hernández, the former Dartmouth admissions officer who has become a college admissions guru for many seeking to get into the nation's elite colleges and universities, is widely quoted in this Wall Street Journal article. From the story:

A high-school student who gets good grades, serves as student body president and plays varsity football may be a remarkable person, but to an admissions officer his excellence may look rather conventional and diffuse. Better to cultivate a particular skill or enthusiasm. The ideal admissions-candidate is thus a prize-winning gymnast, a fluent reader of both Greek and Latin, a math champion, a successful entrepreneur or a violin virtuoso (all, ideally, with working-class parents, of course). And remember, Ms. Hernández warns, "passion cannot be faked."