Spring Practice Schedule

March 10 Q&A with Chris Lincoln, author of Playing the Game

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Dartmouth spring football practice schedule
All practices are at 4:45 p.m., unless otherwise noted. (Schedule subject to change)

Monday, April 14
Tuesday, April 15
Thursday, April 17
Friday, April 18

Monday, April 21
Wednesday, April 23
Friday, April 25
Saturday, April 26–10 a.m.

Monday, April 28
Wednesday, April 30
Friday, May 2
Saturday, May 3–Spring Game at 11 a.m.

The New York Times had an eye-opening story yesterday about athletic scholarships and the surprise in store for parents who drive their kids to earn a "free ride." The story included this:

Excluding the glamour sports of football and basketball, the average N.C.A.A. athletic scholarship is nowhere near a full ride, amounting to $8,707. In sports like baseball or track and field, the number is routinely as low as $2,000. Even when football and basketball are included, the average is $10,409. Tuition and room and board for N.C.A.A. institutions often cost between $20,000 and $50,000 a year.

The story brought about this response from a Green Alert blog regular:

The advantages of going Ivy are so obvious. I believe the Ivies need to raise the quality of their football because the only reason we're not getting the best recruits is that they want to play good football and don't want to compete at "the Ivy level." Our financial aid packages and the education are much superior, it's the quality of the football that holds us back. In sports such as hockey, soccer and lacrosse, we compete for, and frequently land, the best talent because the Ivy level of play is very high. Football needs to address this problem. The caliber of play is limiting the pool of recruits--it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Speaking of which ... Columbia will be the next Ivy domino to fall in the great financial aid reform movement of 2008. From today's Spectator:

In the wake of similar reforms by other Ivy League schools, Columbia will announce a package of broad financial-aid policy enhancements Tuesday morning, Spectator has learned.

The NYT series continued with a story about baseball's tryout scholarships.

The graduation speaker at Hamilton College this year will be a former Dartmouth football player. But not just any former Big Green gridder. From a Hamilton release:

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and conservationist Henry M. Paulson Jr. will deliver the Commencement address at Hamilton College on Sunday, May 25, at 10:30 a.m. in the Margaret Bundy Scott Field House. ...

... He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1968, with a major in English, from Dartmouth College, where he was named to All Ivy and All East teams in football. Paulson received an M.B.A. from Harvard in 1970.

And finally regarding the Ivy League women's basketball tri-champions ... Dartmouth lost a draw of state quarters and will play Harvard Friday night with the winner taking on Cornell (which won the draw) for the Ivy League's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

I note this because the Dartmouth-Harvard game will be played Friday night at 7 at Columbia's Levien Gym, with the winner advancing to play Sunday after noon at 2, also in New York City.

When I heard which three teams would be in the playoff I thought for a second and a light bulb came on: Albany! They will hold the playoff in Albany! That sent me scurrying to my mileage guide where I found Albany to be 164 miles from Boston and 169 from Ithaca. Hanover is the closest at 140 miles, although anyone who has ridden Route 4 to the Northway knows that the two-lane over the mountains would make this an even trip for all three teams. (For comparison, my Rand McNally & Company Standard Highway Mileage Guide lists the NYC trip as 208 miles from Boston, 220 from Ithaca and 265 from Hanover.)

Held in Albany, a bunch of people from the Upper Valley would no doubt make the trip after school let out on Friday. I can also imagine more than a few Ithacans jumping on 88 for the game as well. And it's pretty much a straight shot from Boston on the Mass Pike.

Instead, fans are being asked to drive into New York City on a Friday night and then to scramble for parking to see the game.

Dartmouth is coordinating a "fan bus," leaving at 12:30 Friday– a school day. I know one family of four – ours – who vetoed that possibility right away despite wanting to go to the game.

Look, pulling together a three-way playoff isn't easy. I understand that. And using Columbia and tapping its sports information people for help makes some sense on short notice.

But the reality is, there was plenty of time for other arrangements to be made. Some of us were talking about the possibility of a three-way playoff three weeks ago.

And the game did not have to be played in an Ivy League gym. When Princeton and Penn have had men's playoffs, they've held them at Lehigh.

There are plenty of colleges in the Albany area that might have been willing to host the game. Truth be told, a good-sized high school gym would do just fine and would make for a much more intimate environment than Columbia's Levien Gym, which doesn't figure to attract much of a crowd.

What's done is done, but in this instance, the easy way of doing things was the wrong way. That's my opinion, anyway.