January Thaw

The legendary January Thaw has arrived, right on schedule. It seems more often than not that the Thaw coincides with the Dartmouth Relays, and so it is this year. The temperature this morning was 46 degrees and it could be in the 50's today.

I suppose the warmer temperature is good news for the candidates in the New Hampshire primary. I know it's good news for the Dartmouth lacrosse teams. While I was on campus yesterday I saw the women's team working out on Memorial Field in shorts and T-shirts. They'd be well-advised not to get used to that because the temperature could be 15 below or there could be two feet of snow in a week. But to quote those old WWII movies, "Smoke 'em if you've got 'em."

Speaking of this weekend's Dartmouth Relays, Big Green football coach Buddy Teevens has signed up to run the 1500 meters in the Master's division Friday afternoon. (On a side note, a certain Hanover High sophomore is running the two-mile Saturday morning.)

I tossed a new countdown widget up on the desktop of my Mac today. You'll be glad to know there are 256 days until the opener at Colgate. ...

The Daily Dartmouth had a story Monday spun out of the early decision admission process. Nothing about football in the story -- skiing, lacrosse and women's ice hockey are mentioned -- but it is worth a look. The story is kind of awkward at the start because it opens with a look at (and comments from) a skier who was turned down for early admission.

Last night's national championship game was something less than riveting. The only question was whether or not the quarterback from Harvard would get in. Huh? Read the story.

There's a decent roundup of Dartmouth quarterback Jay Fielder's career in an announcement about an appearance he's making at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Football Coaches Clinic in Suffern, N.Y.

There's been concern about the future of football at Northeastern University in Boston. Right now it appears safe according to NU athletic director Peter Roby '79, a classmate and friend of Buddy Teevens. Check out a brief story in the Boston Herald.