Cannon Fodder

I shot this picture yesterday afternoon between games of the Dartmouth baseball doubleheader. Can you figure out what it is? Apparently no one else could for a long time.

Sitting out of sight, tucked deep under the home grandstand at Memorial Field and hidden behind a wall of vertical planking, it was long thought to be an old wagon or piece of abandoned groundskeeping equipment. Turns out it is the remains of a World War I ammunition carriage, apparently taken from southern Vermont as a prank some 40-odd years ago and surreptitiously deposited in the bowels of the stadium. The barrel of the cannon is thought to be buried nearby. According to WPTZ, a TV station out of Burlington, Vt./Plattsburgh, N.Y., one of the people responsible for the prank came clean shortly before he died, sharing the story with someone who then passed the information off a Hanover policeman.

Find the WPTZ story on the station web page here. (You can find a link to a video of the news report on the same page.)

Not all the pitching and catching yesterday was taking place on Red Rolfe Field ...
Sophomore QB Alex Jenny, who completed 32-of-62 passes for 484 yards and five touchdowns last fall, was among the Dartmouth players who took part in informal throwing drills (sans coaches) on Memorial Field yesterday. Official spring practice beings Monday.

In case you are wondering, the temporary fence is in place because lacrosse practices and games have been held on Memorial Field this spring while FieldTurf is being installed at lacrosse's Scully-Fahey Field.
It's Year One A.R. (After Ricky) across the state in Durham. The Manchester Union Leader writes about the start of UNH spring football and the search to replace starting quarterback Ricky Santos, the most decorated player in school history.

The other morning one of the kids came rushing in and told me to look at the daily calendar they have that lists birthdays of prominent national sports figures. Lo and behold, the list for Saturday, April 5 read:

• Doggie Julian b. 1901
• Doug Favell b. 1945
• Rennie Stennett b. 1951
• Brad Van Pelt b. 1951
• Ike Hilliard b. 1976

Julian, of course, was the legendary Dartmouth men's basketball coach.

I bring this up after reading about Brown men's basketball coach Craig Robinson bolting for Oregon State after just two years in Providence. Now, it's hard to knock Barack's brother-in-law for heading west. He's getting a reported $750,000 for taking over the Beavers and is said to have an agreement worth more than $5 million over six years. I don't think he was making quite that kind of coin at Brown.

The Providence Journal's Bill Reynolds wrote a column when it became clear that Robinson was being courted by OSU. Reynolds opined: "Robinson is a star on the rise, and he’s simply too good and Brown basketball is too small to keep him at Brown very long. That’s just the way it is."

In the old days, a famed coach like Doggie Julian might come to the Ivies from the NBA (although admittedly the "association" wasn't yet what it would become). These days? It's two years and see ya if they are any good.