Countdown Is At One

Spring practice starts tomorrow afternoon and the AccuWeather forecast is calling for a high of 52 degrees, "mostly sunny, breezy and warmer." ... If you are planning to be at spring practice and watch from Memorial Field's home stands, forget about it. For now at least. ... Crews are removing the aluminum benches and cleaning/patching the concrete beneath them. Repair work is being done on the walkway at the bottom of the stands. Both stairs into the stands are blocked off. ... Remember, the stands had been slated for demolition and replacement before the project was deferred due to the economic downturn.

Check Green Alert premium tomorrow and for the next three weeks for continued in-depth coverage of spring football.

Stick the name of Heritage High quarterback Mitch Griebel of Littleton, Colo., in a file somewhere and see if the junior heads to Dartmouth or another of the Ivies in another year. From PrepColorado.com: "Along with the Mountain West and Big 12 looks, Ivy League schools Princeton, Dartmouth, Harvard and Brown have shown interest in Griebel." Here's a Q&A with him from a year ago where he mentions Dartmouth and Princeton.

With about 3 1/2 minutes left in last night's NCAA hockey championship game, I wandered through our family room and found that certain mother of those certain Hanover High kids watching the end of the contest. She said something about Boston University being two goals down and I said something about how I couldn't believe they pulled the goalie with that much time left. Shows what I know. The Terriers scored twice in the final minute to tie the game and then won it in overtime. If you didn't see it, you wouldn't believe it. In fact, I did see it and still don't believe it. Find a Boston Globe story about what "simply had to be the greatest college hockey game ever played," here.

It's 29 degrees and windy with an occasional snowflake flying by the window up here on the mountain. It's supposed to warm up to 44 degrees by gametime today when Dartmouth faces Brown in another showdown of the Ivy League's top baseball teams so far this "spring." Should be fun.