TV Comes Calling?

Got an email from an alum who works for a large media outlet yesterday noting that one Dartmouth football road game has tentatively been moved to a 4 p.m. start for TV purposes. I'd heard about the possibility elsewhere and was told it was hush-hush, so I'm between the dog and the fire hydrant on sharing too much information about this one. Suffice it to say that, barring one of the schools or the Ivy League having a problem with it, Dartmouth will be playing a rare late-afternoon road game this fall.

I'm sure that's good news for Dartmouth fans around the country. I'm equally sure it's not good news for me. I've tried whenever possible the past three years to make most road trips in one day to keep expenses down. Unfortunately, a 4 p.m., game will mean I probably won't get to writing until 8. Because I always do two stories after a Saturday game, that could keep me going until 11 p.m. or so, which is simply too late to start home. Without giving away any secrets, it will take me at least 5 hours to make the nearest road trip this fall in my trusty '93 Mitsubishi Expo, so it looks like an overnight is in the cards. I'll have the details for you when the deal is officially struck.

Spotted a note in Chuck Burton's Lehigh Football Nation blog about the new turf initiative at the Patriot League school's Goodman Stadium. I bring it up because turf, in this instance, means the real thing. That's right. Grass.

Given a choice, count me as one who would rather have grass than FieldTurf – when it is practical. Unfortunately, real grass in the fall is a problem in northern New England and FieldTurf is clearly the better choice.

Having been on the grass at Penn State's Beaver Stadium in late April and having seen how capably it handled a virtual monsoon during a spring pregame two years ago, I think the technology that has been brought to real grass can make it workable in a location like Pennsylvania. Read the story on the Lehigh project here.

I just emailed my old editor at the local daily with a timely news tip I found in the Providence Journal. I wrote him that the owner of the Boston Celtics will apparently be in Hanover today. Turns out Steve Lewinstein, a real estate developer, is a Dartmouth grad who is celebrating his 45th reunion before flying to LA for game four against the Lakers.

That's about it for now. I'll be heading back up to Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee, Vt., shortly for round two of the 54-hole Vermont Open. Yesterday was a good day in my role as media coordinator with the CBS TV affiliate in Burlington coming down for a live remote and three daily newspapers on site. Several others picked up the story I wrote and others still ran the agate on their scoreboard pages. I can remember being the only media member at the tournament many years so that was a terrific turnout.

It could be a long day: the forecast is for violent thunderstorms late this afternoon with hail that might be "the size of golf balls." Wonder what the rules of golf say about hitting a hail stone instead of your ball?