From CSNPhilly.com about the Penn-Dartmouth game:
“This is supposedly their year,” Penn senior defensive back Matt Hamscher said. “I think each individual here at Penn is looking forward to going up there and showing them it’s not their year and that it’s our year for the third straight year.”And ...
“There’s a bunch of talk that they’re trying to make this some kind of monumental Super Bowl for them,” Hamscher said. “For us, it’s just the start of the playoffs, where every game matters.”OK, two points.
First, that quote is very, very reminiscent of the one Penn's Greg Van Roten gave yesterday. ("It's like it's the game of the century up there. I heard it's really hyped up. They're saying this is the year for them to beat Penn. We feel a little disrespected, and we will play with a chip on our shoulders and with energy.")
I could be wrong (and often am) but it sure sounds like we have a pretty good idea what the pep talk has been all about this week in Philly. I like and respect him, but if you were looking real close when Hamscher and Van Roten were talking you might have been able to see coach Al Bagnoli's lips moving.
Here's the second thing. Apparently another theme in Philadelphia this fall is that the Ivy League season is the "playoffs." Sorry fellas, it's not. Maybe if you say it enough you'll believe it but don't expect the rest of us to bite.
Calling these the playoffs is as bogus as the Ivy League basketball people calling their regular season "The 14-Game Tournament." It's not. The Ivy League doesn't have a tournament.
These are not the football playoffs. The Ivy League doesn't go to the playoffs and to portray the regular season as the playoffs is to concede the fight to allow Ivy teams to go on. Nice try but that's a fail.
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Philly.com has a capsule on the Dartmouth-Penn game.•
Nate Solder, 6-foot-8, 319-pound New England Patriots offensive tackle, talks with ESPN about being recruited to play basketball for Dartmouth:“The head coach had been at Colorado as an assistant. He recruited the Colorado area and he had seen me, and wanted me to come out there because I had the grades. Ultimately, I wouldn’t have been able to afford it because they don’t give athletic scholarships.”
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According to AccuWeather.com the forecast for Hanover tonight is showers at 6, cloudy at 7, rain at 8 and 9 with the temperature around 54. Weather.com lists the chance of precipitation throughout tonight's game at 60 percent. Nice to know the weather is improving. Honestly. The forecast was much worse a day or two ago.•
I was in town this morning dropping a Certain Hanover High Senior off 
at the high school for another go-around with the SATs and I couldn't help but notice all the mobile construction lights parked outside Memorial Field. It's nice of Dartmouth to provide the lighting but to be honest, when I left the Hanover High football game last night and walked the block and a half to my car without benefit of mobile lighting I never once felt unsafe, or walked into a mailbox or a tree. Come to think of it, that's never been the case after all the basketball games and hockey games and soccer matches I've been to. Still, kudos to Dartmouth for looking after its fans.•
And finally, congratulations to That Certain Hanover High Senior for earning a spot on the Hanover golf team for Thursday's state championships. He and a teammate had the same average in their matches this fall and whichever of the two shot the best round yesterday would play at states. TCHHS was five strokes lower than his classmate to earn the right to go to states.•
A reminder that because the Dartmouth-Penn is a night game (and a TV game, which will make it even later) there will be just one story tonight on BGA Premium. And it will be late.The usual game-day sidebar will appear tomorrow along with a notes column.
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