Dismissed Or Dissed?

Today's New York Times has a piece with Jeff Orleans, the executive director of the Ivy League who has announced he will be stepping down after one more year. From the story:

He dismissed talk of a conference basketball tournament and said the sacrifices required to upgrade Ivy football were simply not worth it.

I certainly hope the "dismissed talk," is simply an unfortunate choice of words by the writer. I would like to think Jeff Orleans is more sensitive to both sides of the issue than that makes him sound.

A quote from the story taken on its own and out of context, "... (T)he sacrifices required to upgrade Ivy football were simply not worth it," sounds much more inflammatory than perhaps intended. The quote was followed by this qualifier:

“What it would take to look like the Big Ten means scholarships, changes in our admissions standards and changes in scheduling,” he said. “The jump from what we do to being like the Big Ten is huge, and I don’t think we’re ever going to start down that road."

Orleans also told the Times:

"People view us as caring about national athletics and paying our dues, whether it’s designing the N.C.A.A.’s academic standards, or helping to run the baseball committee.”

It's always a dangerous proposition offering your opinion on how other people see you. Orleans is right, of course. Some people do think of the Ivy League that way. But at the same time, there are a lot of others across the country who think of the Ivy League as being so far out of step with today's college athletics – the good as well as the bad – that the league and its opinions are irrelevant.

The Brown Daily Herald also offers a look at Jeff Orleans.

The New York Daily News has a story about the men's basketball program at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The team finished 0-29 this year, the worst record by any team in NCAA Division I history. Ivy League and Patriot League followers might find the following quote from the school's athletic director Lenny Kaplan interesting in light of the school's move from Division II to Division I (italics are mine):

"Division II are mostly private liberal arts colleges, smaller and not research-based," Kaplan said. "Our goal is to be a nationally recognized research college. You've got to get your name out there, and the most cost effective way is through athletics."

I got a note about former quarterback Dan Shula the other day and went off in search of his bio as he begins his second year as a graduate assistant coach for the Miami Hurricanes. This is what I found. Apparently even the big schools don't always update their web sites as frequently as they might ;–). ... Speaking of alumni, he played baseball not football at Dartmouth, but former Big Green infielder Matt Klentak has landed a prime front-office position with the Baltimore Orioles as this Washington Post story notes.

And finally, another two-hour delay for Hanover school kids today. It's hard to tell just how much snow we got, but a couple of indications: One more snowstorm like this and I fear we are are going to have to foot the bill for a front-end loader to come in and move the mounds of snow alongside our driveway back. It's closing in on us fast and the piles are way, way too big to push back. ... And that metal roof we had installed last fall? It's dumped so much snow in front of our family room that you need to stand on a chair to see out the window. One more storm like this and the window may be blocked entirely.