A Familiar Face

When the Dartmouth football team kicks off against Yale Saturday at 12:30 p.m., a familiar face will be in the booth for the live New England Sports Network (NESN) TV broadcast and no, it won't be Adam Sandler. Doing color commentary alongside play-by-play announcer Eric Frede will be former Dartmouth quarterback Brian Mann '02 (far right alongside Sandler) the stand-in for Sandler in the movie The Longest Yard.

Mann, who played four years with the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League, has worked in the business world since retiring from pro football but also has done a little broadcasting. He's slated to be the sideline reporter for the Harvard-Lehigh game next week. Mann set the Dartmouth single-season passing mark with 2,913 yards in 2002 and is second on the Big Green career chart with 5,912 yards. He holds three of the six most prolific passing games in Dartmouth history. The Patriot-Ledger had a story about his movie career several years ago. Find his Wikipedia entry here.

On the subject of this week's game against Yale, the Dartmouth football parents will be selling Green Rally Towels at the game for $2 apiece to build spirit and enthusiasm, so keep your eyes out for them.

The Daily Pennsylvanian follows up its weekend coverage with a story about the headaches the Penn defensive front gave Dartmouth and quarterback Alex Jenny. Find that story here. ... The DP also has an Ivy notebook that reminds us about Yale star running back Mike McLeod – who will be in Hanover Saturday – "rolling" his ankle in last week's OT win against Holy Cross. ... Find the original reference to McLeod's ankle issue in the Yale Daily News. From that story:

Following the first Holy Cross scoring drive in the fourth — a 24-play, 91-yard series — the Bulldogs were unable to run the clock out with Mike McLeod ’09 sidelined after rolling an ankle, an injury head coach Jack Siedlecki has confirmed is not serious.

Speaking of the Big Green's next opponent, Yale linebacker Bobby Abare is a College Sporting News National All-Star after another big game. He had two interceptions (returning one for a touchdown) and 10 tackles against the Crusaders.

The Sports Network rankings have Yale No. 38 in the nation. Here's how TSN sees Dartmouth's 2008 opponents:
4. UNH
32. Harvard
35. Cornell
38. Yale
49. Princeton
50. Colgate
52. Brown

The FCS Coaches Poll is out and just three Dartmouth opponents received votes:
4. UNH
35. Harvard
37. Cornell

Dartmouth will get its final look at Mike McLeod this week. In the opener the Big Green got its final Saturday afternoon look at Colgate's Jordan Scott. A story in Syracuse.com nicely headlined The Workhorse of Hamilton, suggests the next time we see Scott it might be on a Sunday afternoon – or Monday night. By the way, Scott is currently at 5,287 rushing yards in his career. By way of comparison, that's more than 3,000 yards over the Dartmouth career rushing record of 2,252 set by Al Rosier '91. Scott and for 1,875 yards last fall, which would be second on the all-time Dartmouth career list ahead of the 1,812 yards of David Clark '90, No. 2 on the Big Green ledger.

In other sports news, Mike Slive '62, commissioner of the SEC and a former Dartmouth athletic administrator, is chair of the NCAA men's basketball selection committee this year. ESPN.com's Andy Katz has a story about him. Here's a remarkable coincidence: Slive is the third NCAA chair in a row with roots in Hanover. He was preceded by Tom O'Connor, the AD at George Mason and a former Dartmouth head basketball coach. O'Connor succeeded Gary Walters, the Princeton AD and another former Dartmouth head basketball coach.

Dartmouth, as you probably know, is part of helmet project studying the effects of football related head impacts on brain function. But football isn't the only sport where athletes are at risk. Dara Ely of the Dartmouth sports information office has the dramatic story of former Big Green soccer player Matt Carroll, whose career was ended when he was hit in the temple by a kicked soccer ball. Ely writes:

Wracked with memory loss and blinding headaches, Carroll spent the next week and a half at Dartmouth’s infirmary, Dick’s House, while doctors kept a close watch over him. His coaches and teammates kept a concerned eye on him, and Cook recalls the team making constant visits, since Carroll would forget they had been there as soon as they left.

The story notes that Carroll, a serious New York Giants fan, still has no recollection of the team winning the Super Bowl last year. He's stayed close to the program as a student-coach and despite four weeks of missed classes and amnesia that made studying difficult, is on track to graduate with his class.

Remember that 70-room boutique on the drawing board for Hanover? (It will be built behind the Hanover post office shipping dock.) Find an artist's rendition at the bottom of this page.