Football Players Swinging Sticks

Sophomore wide receiver/slash/lacrosse middie Ian Ferrell scored his first collegiate goal yesterday as Dartmouth improved to 3-2 with a 16-8 victory at Presbyterian in South Carolina. Senior Chad Gaudet, the former Big Green tailback, had an assist in the game. Dartmouth basketball guard Robby Pride, Ferrell's former high school teammate in Colorado, squeezed off a shot and collected two ground balls in his first game after finishing up on the hardwood.

Incoming placekicker Foley Schmidt helped his St. Thomas Academy ice hockey team to a 5-1 win in the Minnesota Class A state championship game. Schmidt, a top soccer player when he was younger and the starting quarterback for St. Thomas last fall, is pictured with teammates in this photo.

The Chronicle of Higher Education has a story headlined "Athletes at U. of Michigan 'Steered' to Certain Professors and Majors, Study Finds," that is tracking an Ann Arbor News series. Nothing tremendously surprising in the Chronicle story, but a "comment," posted by a reader caught my eye. It read:

Stanford, USC as well as the Ivy League schools pass players along and have special degrees, classes etc… for athletes.

That had me snickering until I thought about a Sun-Sentinel Q&A last week with former Harvard hockey player Noah Welch, now skating for the Florida Panthers. This from the Q&A:

Q: What were your hardest class and the class you liked most?

A: “Hardest was science. I failed it twice. It was called “Environmental Risks and Disasters.” And we had problem sets every week. I’m not a math guy and there was a lot of math involved. The problem sets were brutal, and I used to copy them. I got caught a couple of times. The second time I definitely had a failing grade, but they kind of pushed me through. I was a senior at the time, so I think they kind of felt bad for me, only senior in the school taking the class.

Not very good PR for Harvard or Ivy League athletics coming on the heels of the "Tommy Amaker Affair."