Yale Scoops Up Second Transfer

Yale's second FBS transfer has been revealed to be an offensive lineman from UCLA. From the New Haven Register's Portal 31 blog:

Time will tell what impact Gabriel Fernandez will have on the Yale offensive line but figured I would pass on the fact that one of the worst-kept secrets out there is finally a done deal.

I heard from his father last night that he is going to enroll at Yale and look to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Frank, a first-team All-Ivy selection for Harvard back in 2006.

While the 6-foot, 273-pound Fernandez' name has been floating around another message board for a while, this is the first mainstream media confirmation that he is indeed coming to Yale. Find his UCLA bio here.

Fernandez will become not just the second FBS/BCS transfer to transfer to Yale this year, but the second whose brother played for the über-rival Harvard Crimson. Patrick Witt, a quarterback who might have been the Nebraska starter this fall, is the brother of former Harvad QB Jeff Witt. (For an earlier blog posting on Patrick Witt and some interesting Yale FBS transfer history, click here.)

Still no official word on the FBS safety-linebacker said to be transferring to Penn.

The Seattle Times has a story about former NFL quarterback and politician Jack Kemp that touches on his relationship with son Jeff, the former Dartmouth and NFL QB. Nice Father's Day story.

I stumbled on an ESPN.com story about cheering among students at college football games and wasn't at all surprised to find Penn State ranked No. 1, largely on the strength of its White Out. (When I was at PSU I seem to recall cheering was optional. Times have changed ;-) Anyway, buried in the story was this:

Cheers range from the cleverly profane (Furman University's "F-U all the time!") to the not-so-cleverly juvenile: a Dartmouth band member waves a sock and asks, "Whose socks?" Of course, the students reply: "Yale's socks!" (Say it three times fast, and you'll get it.)

I seem to remember the chant was, "Whose socks are these?" but perhaps that was just a variation on the theme. (One time when those certain two Hanover High kids were much younger we caught one of them holding up a sock and chanting, "Whose socks are these?" without even the slightest clue that the answer wasn't really, "Harvard's socks."

Interesting column in The Atlantic about perceptions of and within the Ivy League around the country and in the West. With that certain Hanover High senior-to-be mulling over a number of top schools in the East, it's certainly food for thought.

Dartmouth outfielder Nick Santomauro, drafted in the 10th round by the New York Mets after being named the Ivy League Player of the Year, has signed and is on the roster of the Brooklyn Cyclones. Find his bio here. There's a story in the Brooklyn Eagle daily here that includes this:

Santomauro ... should emerge as a staple in the Brooklyn lineup after earning Ivy League Player of the Year Honors and leading the Big Green to the NCAA Regionals for the first time in 22 years.

The junior slugger batted .377 with eight homers and 37 RBIs as a junior before the Mets leaped in and snatched him in Round 10 — considerably earlier than most expected the New Jersey native to land.

Santomauro will return to Northern New England July 20, 21 and 22 when the Cyclones visit the Vermont Lake Monsters up in Burlington.

Happy Father's Day!