Tackling the Olympics

While some of his teammates are in Barcelona and others are in New Zealand this winter, Dartmouth defensive lineman Lane Shipley has gone in a different direction. After studying in Rome last winter, the former nationally ranked skier is in British Columbia working for NBC Sports and helping out with coverage of the Alpine events.

First, a little background copped straight out of his official football profile in the Dartmouth media guide:

... was No. 1-ranked J-III (13-14) downhill ski racer in the U.S. … invited to the U.S. Ski Team development camp and the U.S. Olympic Training Center … twice represented the U.S. in the 25-nation Whistler Cup international youth ski championship ...

These days, of course, the Steamboat Springs, Colo., product would be quite a sight on the slopes at 6-foot-2 and a listed 260 pounds.

Shipley is joined at the Olympic Winter Games by no fewer than nine Dartmouth students. Among them are a few of his old friends, including Tommy Ford '12.

Shipley writes:

Back when I was a competitive skier, I roomed with Tommy when we were 14 or 15 when we were both representing the US at an international kids race held, coincidently, in Whistler B.C. I would eventually hang up the skis a couple years later and pursue football instead, but, interestingly enough, we would both end up at Dartmouth, me playing football of course and he skiing (though he has yet to ski for the Big Green since he is still on the US Ski Team and isn't on the traditional D Plan like most students).

At that same Whistler event Shipley and Ford skied with another current Dartmouth student, Eric Schlobohm, a former Big Green skier who traded the planks for a racquet as a member of the Dartmouth tennis team.

Scanning the Olympic materials, Shipley came across still another familiar name from that Whistler Cup competition: Nolan Kasper, who has deferred admission to Dartmouth.

As Shipley succinctly put it:

Four guys skiing together when we were 14 and 15 and all end up at Dartmouth ... and all taking different paths to get there. Pretty neat.

As long as the subject du jour is winter sports, if you want to know something about courage and the importance of team, check out a freelance story I wrote on a Dartmouth women's hockey goalie. It starts this way:

As a little girl in Alberta, senior goaltender Sarah Kennedy used to snuggle up and nap in her dad's enormous goalie pads.

"I know it really sounds disgusting," the Dartmouth senior from Jasper says with a faraway look, "but I thought it was really comfortable."

The sour smell of seasoned hockey equipment aside, the image of the pint-sized Kennedy curled up on her daddy's pads is a sweet one. The smile that crosses her face as she shares the memory speaks to why she continues to love a game that hasn't always loved her back.

And still on hockey. It's almost always easier covering the local team as a writer because you know the players, the coaches and the history of the team. Gotta admit though, writing about Union overcoming a 4-0 first-period deficit to defeat the Dartmouth men's hockey team, 5-4, last night for the Albany Times Union was lot easier than writing that gamer from the Dartmouth perspective.

Now that I think of it, I covered Penn's game at Dartmouth in men's basketball for the Philadelphia Daily News last week and the Quakers made that a little easier for me by posting a (slight) upset.

If this keeps up I'm going to be on the watch-list for the ticket-takers at Dartmouth events.

And finally, for a live view of the snow sculpture on the nearly snowless Green, check out the view from the Baker Tower webcam.