Big Surprise – Not

Dartmouth has been picked last in yet another preseason football poll. The Sporting News ranking goes like this:

1. Harvard
2. Penn
3. Yale
4. Brown
5. Princeton
6. Columbia
7. Cornell
8. Dartmouth

Green Alert Take: Given the graduation of record-setting tailback Mike McLeod and standout linebacker Bobby Abare, the coaching change and questions about how the quarterback situation will be resolved with the addition of a high-profile transfer, Yale gets more love in this poll than I would have expected. ... As for Dartmouth, when you are coming off an 0-10 season, you graduate your top rusher, three of your top four receivers and your three top tacklers, you are going to be picked last unless Tim Tebow transfers in with a couple of his buddies. Don't take it personally.

Today's Daily Dartmouth has four "Looking back," columns introduced this way: "Former and current editors, columnists and reporters of The Dartmouth Sports section from the Class of 2009 were asked to reflect on their experience with Dartmouth sports during the last four years." It's sad, but understandable I suppose, that football gets nary a mention. Then again, neither do basketball and baseball.

Speaking of basketball, freshman hoopsters David Rufful and Josh Riddle have a YouTube rap video that as of 8:45 this morning had been viewed more than 107,500 times. From today's Daily Dartmouth:

“The Young Con Anthem” ... was intended to spread the views of the Young Conservatives, a group started by Rufful and Riddle with “a devout mission to spread the love and logic surrounding true conservatism,” according the organization’s web site.

I can't say that the "art form," does much for me (perhaps I'm showing my age) but the production values are suprisingly good and clearly Rufful and Riddle are getting their message out.

And finally, it dropped to 31 degrees overnight and there was frost on the deck when I went out this morning. I'm hopeful the vegetable plants I put out yesterday will be OK. I'm reminded of the year we planted a vegetable garden and had frost both in the first week of June and the last week of August. July was the only month without a frost.

Not surprisingly, at that certain Hanover High junior's final softball game yesterday people were bundled up like you wouldn't believe. It was a reminder of just how silly the visiting team's shorts and sleeveless uniform "tops" are in Northern New England. Ridiculous unis or not, it was another tough day for the home team with that certain junior getting her team's only hit, scoring its only run and reaching base all three times.

On the ride home we spotted a pretty good-sized black bear in the woods alongside a house not far from here. Poor thing must have been wondering if it jumped the gun coming out of hibernation ;-)