Speaking Of Quarterbacks

From left to right, freshman quarterback Will Deevy, freshman QB Tim McManus and sophomore signalcaller Alex Jenny get instruction from coach Buddy Teevens as the first week of Dartmouth spring football begins. Sophomore quarterback/punter Max Heiges was off taking long snaps.

Speaking of quarterbacks, one of the stars of Princeton's spring game last weekend was a two-year defensive back switched to quarterback. Find the story in the Daily Princetonian.

The Yale Daily has a nice story about a couple of standout juniors in New Haven with one on the gridiron and one on the diamond. Most of us know about tailback Mike McLeod, but the background on NCAA batting champion Ryan Lavarnway – who has a whopping 13 home runs this year – is timely with the Elis coming to Hanover for a critical pair of doubleheaders this weekend.

Also out of the Yale Daily is a column headlined Either go big, Bulldogs, or just go home that will get you thinking. If you are an Ivy League football fan (or Ivy sports fan) it will likely anger you, although you might agree with the conclusion. A few excerpts:

Any Eli, especially he who ventures to Commons after 7 p.m. or to Toad’s on a Wednesday night, can see there is a real cultural rift between our mediocre varsity athletes and non-athletes at Yale.

... (O)ne cannot forget that we also admit recruited athletes who are, for the most part, of a substandard academic caliber and more likely to be apathetic toward collegiate academia.

We watch admissions videos of smiling students intelligently questioning professors, but in reality, we witness the disruption of large lectures by disrespectful athletes who are barely surviving gut classes.

If that guy in section who didn’t do his reading because he was doing wind sprints must stay, he might as well be running a 4.3 40 and taking us to a national championship! If that means setting up special tutoring programs to help athletes who are struggling academically, so be it. The financial benefits will vastly outweigh the costs. Furthermore, we have a tangible model to emulate: If the Harvard of the West can do it, why not us? Look out, Stanford — what kind of mascot is a tree, anyway? Final Four, here we come!

The gist of the column, if I read it right, is that if you are going to make allowances for athletes you should at least enjoy some real success and the accompanying benefits.

This story says former Dartmouth All-American and current Tennessee Titan Casey Cramer was scheduled to be signing autographs for game four of the Western Conference Quarterfinals between the Nashville Predators and the Detroit Red Wings. It doesn't surprise me at all. Casey's a hockey fan and it means a free ticket, right Case? ;-)

Dartmouth football is off today and will be back on Memorial Field Thursday and Friday. Me? I'll be in State College, Pa., for my annual trip to Penn State for the Blue & White game with that certain Hanover High sophomore and her 8th grade brother.

Working every last Saturday in the fall since long before the kids were born, I almost never have a chance to watch a game with the kids, who are rabid sports fans, big football fans and (surprise ;-) pretty devoted Penn State fans. Our trip is a chance for the three of us to spend some quality time together and for my ever-patient wife to have a break from her, ahem, three children.

We'll be staying at a campground in Bellefonte, Pa., about 10 minutes away from Beaver Stadium, which last year drew 71,000 for the spring game. There's a midway Friday night that I'll bring the kids to, and we'll take in a PSU baseball game at the Penn State/New York-Penn League stadium right next door to the football stadium. We'll visit the College Diner for sticky buns, shoot a few pictures at the Lion Shrine and get a Peachy Paterno at the Creamery. Last year we hiked Mt. Nittany but I've got something else in store this year.

We're heading out at about 4 a.m. tomorrow (at the request of the kids) to maximize our time in what the kids remind me is "My Pennsylvania." We will roll back into the Upper Valley around dinner on Sunday. The temperature in Happy Valley is supposed to be around 70 degrees in the afternoons and the low 40's at night, which is just fine with me, since we'll be in a tent.

If the wi-fi is working at the campground, I'll keep the blog going with posts from our tent while the kids are sleeping in, or while they are fishing in the campground pond. Last year I had another set or two of eyes on Memorial Field letting me know who stepped up at Dartmouth practice while I was away. If I get an email or two of that sort this year, I'll share those opinions.

Either way, I'll catch you up on those practices in Monday's Green Alert Premium report and be with you through the rest of spring ball and for every last practice and game from late August through the end of the season.