Free!

Good news for fans attending Dartmouth football games at Memorial Field this year. For the first time, game programs will be given away free on Saturday afternoons. That's right. Free. Gratis. And no, they won't be cut-down versions of the old programs but instead the same award-winning publications you've always enjoyed. Smart move by the athletic department.

As noted yesterday, Dartmouth's first practice is next Wednesday at 3:45 p.m. In case you were wondering, the first double session day will be Tuesday, Sept. 2. Green Alert Premium will have full reports after each session.

While the Big Green countdown is at 6 days, other schools are already reporting. Cornell, of course, is already in camp. The Ithaca Journal had a story about the start of the Big Red preseason and also a Q&A about what needs to happen this year for Cornell to contend.

In anticipation of Thursday's start of camp for the Lions, the Columbia website has a detailed look at prospects for the team.

Yale players report today and kick off practice tomorrow as this Yale website reports.

The Brown website writes about the Bears opening camp Saturday with great expectations.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Harvard quarterback now with the Cincinnati Bengals, is the subject of this Bengals.com story. Two things jump out. First, Harvard coach Tim Murphy tells of the day he "saw Fitzpatrick knock out two Dartmouth defensive backs with his running style on plays he says 'are legendary around here.' "

Selective amnesia, I suppose, because I honestly don't remember two D-backs getting knocked out.

The story also includes this from Murphy on Fitzpatrick:

From his first day as a freshman to the day he graduated, he never lost a competitive sprint; ever. And he's a 4.7 guy. Look, it's not the SEC but we've got guys that can run. We've got cornerbacks running a lot faster than that and a guy like Clifton Dawson (the Ivy's all-time rusher). But he just never let anybody beat him.

That has a familiar ring. I like to tell pretty much the same story about another quarterback who made it to the NFL. I don't know if Jay Fiedler won every sideline-to-sideline sprint, but he won – or was barely nosed out in – most of them and while he was fast, he wasn't the fastest guy on his team either. Just watching him run those things at the end of a long practice you knew what kind of competitor he was. Those runs at the end of practice are something I always learn from, and I'm not the only one. ...

It's high school preview time and out in Illinois 6-3, 205-pound Dartmouth-bound linebacker Tom Patek (link) is pictured in a photo captioned this way:

Carmel Catholic's Tom Patek will be lining up at linebacker this fall. Earlier this summer, he made a verbal commitment to play football at Dartmouth University.

Speaking of high school football, that certain Hanover High freshman-to-be who is going through his first-ever double-sessions has been slipping into sleep each night on the couch watching the Olympics. He's black-and-blue all over but seems to be feeling good about his decision to play football instead of golf. ... That junior-to-be is thoroughly enjoying cross country. Joining yesterday's training were three June grads, one heading to Stanford where she will run on scholarship, one running this fall at Brown and another who will run at Middlebury. Impressive. The XC schedule came out and it includes an appearance at the Manhattan Invitational down in New York. Unfortunately, it's not the morning of the Columbia game ;-)