Monday, February 02, 2009

Just Super

Not a bad Super Bowl, huh? Certainly better than the commercials this year, with the possible exception of – at least in one family's opinion – the Doritos ads.

Did you know that Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin might have been an Ivy Leaguer? The New York Times had a story about him last week that said: "He was a wisp of a high school wide receiver, but he was also quietly stowing recruiting letters from Ivy League programs." Tomlin ended up at William and Mary.

Speaking of "would-be" Ivy Leaguers, a Detroit News story about a kicker who chose Michigan State offers insight into the thinking of a talented player who is "squeezed" between the certainty of a scholarship and the uncertainty of admission to an Ivy school. From the story:
(Kevin) Muma was being recruited by Princeton, Harvard and Brown. In fact, his first two letters of interest came from Princeton and Harvard. Muma has a 3.5 grade-point average and scored a 26 on the ACT. That test result was from early fall and he was told by the Ivy League schools, he needed a score of 28 or higher to be accepted. He re-took the test and scored a 29.

"I thought then that they would be able to take me right away," he said. "But the process was moving slowly. I needed to make a decision."

Muma couldn't wait any longer. With signing day approaching he committed to MSU on Jan. 19.
Signing day is Wednesday.

Columnists for the Daily Dartmouth offer a few thought about "what changes could positively benefit Dartmouth athletics," here and here. Encouraging tailgating at football games is one of the suggestions, a new nickname/mascot is another and improvement to the school's athletic website is a third. Those are all fine ideas, but as one administrator said to me recently, the single factor that is most important (and isn't mentioned in the columns) is ... winning.

Dartmouth and Hanover get "props" in a Boston Globe column headlined, "College towns are catalogs of fun things to do." In addition to Hanover, the writer offers a look at Brunswick, Maine (Bowdoin), Middlebury, Vt., and Williamstown, Mass. (Williams). We might be hitting one or two of those towns later this month when we begin the college tour process.

And finally, that certain Hanover High junior took the lead at the bell and won the 1,000 meters at a qualifiers-only race at the University of New Hampshire yesterday, setting a PR by about five seconds in the process. One week after her disappointing run at UNH, her relief was tangible. Next on tap will be the state championships this weekend at Leverone.

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