Memorial Field Grandstand Note

A badly kept secret finally went public today.

A story in the Rutland Herald reports that the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl high school all-star football game played annually at Dartmouth's Memorial Field will have to be relocated in 2009. The reason: Memorial Field will be under construction again.

The paper reports that the home grandstand (completed in 1923) is going to be replaced. A couple of details not included in the story that can now be revealed: Tentative plans call for the historic outside brick wall of the stadium to be retained while the rest of the west side of the grandstand to be gutted. Taking down the grandstand will also mean a new press box, which has to be elevator-serviced to meet ADA requirements.

Sophomore safety Peter Pidermann had a terrific season last fall after moving into the lineup following Ian Wilson's injury. He finished fifth on the team with 47 tackles, returned an interception 70 yards for a touchdown and blocked a punt that Zech Glaize ran in for a touchdown. The winner of the Doten Award as the sophomore on defense who made significant contributions to the team did all that on a lingering foot injury that became more painful as the season went on. He had surgery for the problem earlier this month and is expected to be running again by the end of the month.

With the BCS national championship game on tap tonight, the Washington Post has a story asking whether the FCS/I-AA playoff model would work at the college game's highest level. As a good story should, this one offers up the pros and cons of the playoff concept. The story repeats this Dec. 2005 prepared statement from Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany:

"If, as some of our critics have charged, college football has strayed too far from the original model envisioned for amateur athletics in the academic tradition, then we hardly hasten a return to that model by expanding the Division I-A post-season to a multi-game, NFL-style playoff format."

Although Penn State wasn't in the Big Ten while I was there, I guess I've got a little Big Ten blood in me. And still I find that statement hilarious and worthy of the Ivy League presidents. ...

Also from the story is this quote from Charlie Cobb, athletic director at Appalachian State, about the feasibility of the BCS schools having a full playoff:

"It's doable. People always ask me which system I would choose because of my experience (as the North Carolina State athletic director for seven years). I prefer the playoff system. There are good arguments for the bowls, but (the academic) argument is sort of nonsense."

The College Sporting News has a posting about FCS/I-AA players in the NFL. The names/numbers are drawn from season-ending rosters, which is strange, because there are players listed who did not play this year, but it's still worth taking a look at. Here are the number of players listed as being from each FCS conference:

38 Colonial
28 Gateway
23 Big Sky
23 Mid-Eastern
20 Southwestern
16 IVY
15 Southern
14 Southland
12 Great West
11 Ohio Valley
6 Big South
6 Northeast
5 Patriot
2 Independent
1 Metro Atlantic

Harvard grad Matt Birk has made the Pro Bowl as a center with the Minnesota Vikings for the sixth time. (link)

Speaking of the NFL, if you were looking for Tennessee's No. 48 on the field during yesterday's playoff game against San Diego and didn't find him, you weren't the only one. The reason you didn't see Dartmouth grad Casey Cramer is because he was on the "inactive" list, as he has been for most of the second half of the season. Reports in the Tennessee media that he was likely to see a good deal of action because of injuries were off the mark.

By the way, here's Casey Cramer's bio on Wikipedia.

A final note: Thank goodness the New Hampshire primary is upon us. Unless you live in the state (or perhaps in Iowa) you can't imagine the number of phone calls we've been getting regarding the primary. Enough is enough is too much.