More on the FB Playoff Ban

Princeton's TigerBlog takes a look at the ban on Ivy League football teams going to the FCS playoffs. He writes:

The argument that it's hypocritical for teams in every other sport to play in the NCAA tournament while football sits at home doesn't work for TB, because it's obvious that that's the case. It's not something that anyone looking at the situation couldn't help but notice, because it's completely apparent.

We'll agree to disagree on this one. Just because those of us who follow Ivy League football know the ban is hypocritical doesn't mean everyone knows it. I think the more influential people who become aware and take up the cause (think: high-profile media types) the better. I don't think that's a drum anyone should stop beating just because some of us know the tune.

TigerBlog writes:

TigerBlog has always thought that the league can be progressive in any area it wants except for two - not offering athletic scholarships and no postseason for football - because those two points were what the entire league was founded on.

Postseason football at the time of the founding of the Ivies meant bowl games, period. When the Ivy League went I-AA someone should have stressed to the Ivy presidents that the ban on postseason play (read: bowl games) was no longer needed because it was essentially banning something the Ivies, now by NCAA decree, were no longer eligible for.

If the presidents had accepted that at the time they wouldn't be in the Catch-22 they are in now. I honestly think (at least hope) every Ivy president recognizes how unfair the ban is. But I also think they don't want to be the ones on whose watch the ban is lifted. You didn't ask me, but if you did I'd tell you I believe the refusal to act is a face-saving measure for the presidents.

Oh, and by the way, Princeton men's basketball lost last night at St. Louis in the College Basketball Invitational. If the Tigers had won, they would have next played a best-of-three series. Keep in mind that one justification for no playoffs is that extending the football season would be a detriment to the studies of those student-athletes.

Former Dartmouth wide receiver Ian Ferrell scored a goal for the Big Green lacrosse team in a 15-3 loss to No. 7 Duke earlier this week. Interestingly, Jon Livadas scored a goal for the Blue Devils. Livadas was a Dartmouth captain last year and is using his "medical redshirt" season at Duke. Find his Dartmouth bio here, and his Duke bio here.

Because the Ivy League does not allow athletes with an extra year left to compete as graduate students it's not unusual for former Ivy athletes to finish their careers at other schools. I wrote a lengthy story about that when I was still at the paper and what jumped out at me was the unhappiness those athletes had at being referred to as "transfers" in media guides and on rosters. To a person, they said they enjoyed their time at Dartmouth and were disappointed that the publications might lead people to think otherwise.

Dartmouth has had runners end up at Villanova and Stanford, a soccer player at George Washington, former tailback Chad Gaudet play lax at Virginia last year and skiers compete for Colorado to name a few. Penn had a football player end up at Wagner and Columbia had a quarterback play Division II football for a year. A former Dartmouth quarterback may follow that route next fall. (More on that if/when it happens.)

The Yale Daily News has a story about the three Bulldogs holding a pro day in New Haven.

From a Sun-Chronicle story about the UMass-UNH football game that will be played at Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots:

Attendance at the football game is expected to be 17,000, with a heavy presence of alumni, which is expected to make for a more mature crowd. Alcohol will be served. The stadium organization plans to notify ticketholders that underage drinking is "an arrestable offense" strictly enforced in Foxboro, the stadium advisory committee wrote in its report supporting the football game.

Even if they get 17,000, they will be lost in the 68,756-seat stadium.

The AP has a nice story about Cornell playing tonight in the Sweet 16 of the men's NCAA Tournament. The story says Khaliq Grant, the former Big Red player who made a miraculous recovery from a practice injury that threatened to leave him paralyzed, may be at the game. It also talks about how the success on the hardwood has given a campus dealing with the tragedy of suicide something else on which to focus.

The Cornell Sun writes about the tragedies in Ithaca:

The University is constructing temporary fencing on several bridges around campus this week after three Cornell students are suspected to have died by suicide in Fall Creek Gorge in the past month. Security guards, who have been posted on bridges since Mar. 12, will remain in place until at least Apr. 2.

Harvard is starting to offer lectures and "largely free access to educational materials" on iTunesU according to the Harvard Crimson.

And finally, decisions went in the mail from a couple of colleges yesterday destined for our PO Box. Another will be available online at 9 tonight. Among others, that certain Hanover High senior is awaiting news from two Ivies, three "Little Ivies," and two Patriot League schools. Keep your fingers crossed.