Over at the Roar Lions Roar blog, Jake Novak has a look back at the 1983 Dartmouth-Columbia game played at Giants Stadium. Hard as it seems to believe now, I was at that game and saw the Big Green's Craig Saltzgaber boot a 32-yard field goal on the final play of the game to force a 17-17 tie. Columbia would go on to lose its next 44 games.
After reading Jake's recap I went back (not for the first time) to check the attendance at that game. It was 6,064 in a 76,000 seat stadium. That triggered a thought: I know Dartmouth football attendance has changed over the past 25 years, but how much? Although 1983 was a little atypical – Dartmouth played at Army that fall – the numbers are revealing.
1983 Dartmouth Attendance
Princeton 10,022
at Army 36,637
Holy Cross 10,753
William & Mary 8,294
at Harvard 22,724
Cornell 13,547
at Yale 22,007
at Columbia 6,064
Brown 8,483
at Penn 28,416
2007 Dartmouth Attendance
Colgate 5,115
at UNH 9,560
Penn 5,929
at Yale 24,237
at Holy Cross 5,607
Columbia 8,720
at Harvard 11,005
Cornell 3,711
at Brown 5,119
Princeton 4,017
1983 Total: 158,464
2007 Total: 83,020
Lowest 1983 attendance at Memorial Field: 8,294 vs. William&Mary
Highest 2007 attendance at Memorial Field: 8,720 vs. Columbia (Homecoming)
From a Tennessean story out of a Titans practice:
Josh Miller surprised the field goal coverage unit by throwing a pass to Casey Cramer in the flat.Now, when I read that I was wondering for just a second if a barb was being thrown at the former Dartmouth tight end in addition to the football. To be honest, he hasn't exactly been a pass-catching machine in the NFL. But I thought that was probably a little harsh for a practice report and found, through the wonders of Google, that Josh Miller is a punter. (You thought I knew that already, didn't you? Sorry. ;-)
A Daily Pennsylvanian sports blogger had this to say after the Ivy League media poll picked the Penn football team to finish in the middle of the pack this fall:
The fourth-place ranking means absolutely nothing; there are simply too many unknowns to make any accurate predictions. I wouldn’t be shocked if the Quakers put themselves in position to win the league, but I wouldn’t be shocked if they got taken down by Columbia, either.I'm not giving away any state secrets, but suffice it to say Penn's APT (the Green Alert point formula for ranking Ivy League teams this fall) was quite a surprise. Find out why tomorrow when the Penn preview will be posted on Green Alert premium. On tap today: the Harvard preview (although not until I finish a freelance magazine story on a young man who makes ski movies). ...
Our farewell trip to Yankee Stadium yesterday went well. We left at 5 a.m., and got back home at 10:30 p.m. It was a long day, but a good day. Thanks to the regular reader who recommended taking the 4 subway train from the north Bronx. It was absolutely the best way to get in. Free on-street parking in a safe neighborhood at Woodlawn just one block from the station, which was easy to find.
We sat in the upper deck (at least that's what they used to call it) after paying $55 apiece to a broker for $25 tickets. (Believe it or not, that was a good price.) That upper deck in Yankee Stadium continues to be a really terrific seat, by the way.
It was hot, but we saw the Yankees hit four home runs including a grand slam and an A-bomb, so there were lots of fireworks.
In case you are wondering, a bottle of water at the game cost $4.75! I got a soda and then filled the bottle twice from the fountain (the bubbler in New Englandese). Why people would spend that kind of money for water I haven't a clue. Then again, they were spending $8.50 and $9.50 for a can of beer!
You didn't ask, but if I were the commissioner I'd make a new rule in baseball: No fan is allowed to wear a shirt with the name of a player on the back who is younger than he/she is.
Speaking of which, it was interesting that you could get a rough idea of the age of individual fans by what name they had on their back. A few rows in front of us there were kids with shirts saying Jeter and Rodriguez. A few seats away, a fellow with a braided goatee wearing a Mattingly shirt, clearly from his high school days. Over a bit more there was a guy with a Mantle shirt and I knew we could have been in grammar school together. I have no idea what to say about the fellow with the Ruth shirt ;-)
And finally, today starts the second week of double sessions for that certain Hanover High freshman to be. It will be interesting to see how his excitement level holds up. After Saturday's single session he played a round of golf and I'm sure he was reflecting on his choice of football over high school golf after that. He is, by the way, a slam dunk as the smallest player on the football team. ... The junior to be has her first official cross country practice (is that the right word?) today. As she was heading out the door I told her to respect the kids on the team who helped them finished No. 4 in the nation last fall, but to remember the words of my late friend, Jeff Julian, who was the first Vermonter ever to play on the PGA Tour: "Believe you belong."
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