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Available for order before May 1 is a one-of-a-kind copper mug/tankard celebrating Dartmouth football's 2019 Ivy League championship season. The two-sided tankards are valuable for $37 plus taxes and shipping, with personalization available for an additional charge below the Dartmouth football logo.
For more information or two order one of the souvenir tankards, CLICK HERE. (Note: If a minimum threshold of orders is not met refunds will be given. Orders will be shipped by mid-May.)
Editor's Note: BGA is providing this posting as a service and is not involved in producing or selling the mugs.
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Ivy League football lost one of its titans with the passing of onetime Columbia lineman Brian Dennehy at age 81. (LINK)
Dennehy, an honorable mention All-Ivy League selection whose first movie role was as a football player in the Burt Reynolds flick Semi-Tough, later served as narrator of the 2008 movie, 8: Ivy League Football & America.
Editor's Note: A writer friend who teamed up with Dennehy on three Jack Reed TV moviesalways spoke very highly of the actor as a wonderful person as did Eric Greenberg Anjou, who directed and produced the Ivy League movie.
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An op-ed in the Daily Princetonian written by athletes who asked for anonymity because of fear of reprisals takes issue with Princeton's decision to not allow the school's senior spring athletes to compete next spring. From the piece (LINK):We do not just question the reasoning behind the Princeton’s decision. We also feel that senior spring-sport student-athletes have been let down by the University administration throughout this process. Nearly every student at Princeton is passionate about an extracurricular — and no extracurricular is governed to the same extent that we are through the NCAA. We are uniquely restricted in how much time we can spend on the sport we love, what we’re allowed to post on social networking sites, and how we interact with the media. Even our names and likenesses do not fully belong to us.
The NCAA is not perfect. But their March 30 decision gave us the chance to be treated like every other undergraduate: allowed to return to our schools and our extracurriculars for another on-campus season if we wanted. Princeton has taken away that choice. A senior in an orchestra, a club sport, or a theater group could decide tomorrow that they wanted a last chance to participate in their activity. They could freely withdraw from Princeton for the semester and return next year. Only we — spring-sport student-athletes — do not have that opportunity.
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A quote from the President's press conference yesterday (LINK):"Our normal is if you have 100,000 people in an Alabama football game or 110,000 to be exact, we want 110,000 people there. We want every seat occupied. Normal is not going to be where you have a game with 50,000 people."
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From Sports Illustrated (LINK):On Thursday, the NCAA announced that all Division 1 coaches would have more virtual connections with their respective teams starting on April 20 through May 31.
The Division 1 Council Committee Coordination Committee voted that coaches and teams of all sports could have up to eight hours a week of film review, chalk talks, and team meetings.
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While the grad transfer exodus has been much more marked among Ivy League basketball teams than football teams, it might only be a matter of time. STATS has a piece about how the relaxation of transfer rules and the adoption of the grad transfer angle has affected the FCS. From the story (LINK):The grad transfer rule has been noticeable on the FBS level since quarterback Russell Wilson's move from North Carolina State to Wisconsin in 2011, but the impact in the FCS didn't reach prominence until Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams' grad transfer to Oregon five years ago.
At the time, former Montana State coach Rob Ash, who coached against Adams in the Big Sky Conference, questioned whether the rule would allow FBS programs to treat the FCS as a "farm system or Triple-A ballclub."
Some now believe it's become college football free agency.
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A story by Allen Lessels of the UNH Insider Report under the headline Mac Is Back brought a smile. From the story about the return to the sidelines of New Hampshire football coach Sean McDonnell after a battle with bladder cancer (LINK):He's been an integral part of the program – and certainly the entire UNH athletic department - for more than 45 years since arriving as a freshman from upstate New York in the mid-1970s, starting for three years in the defensive backfield and later returning as an assistant coach under Bill Bowes before taking over as head coach from his mentor in 1999.
McDonnell in many ways is the face of UNH athletics. He's the coach who attends more games and stops in on more practices of team's other than his own.
"He's genuine and sincere and the athletes know it," said director of athletics Marty Scarano. "The women athletes love him as much as the male athletes. I've seen him go in the weight room when, say, the field hockey team is working out and he'll say something to get them going and they get the biggest kick out him."And here's the kicker:
As for McDonnell, he's eager to return to practice on the field and start his 21st season as head coach – granted a year late.
Yes, Mac is back.
Now he just needs his team back with him.
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From a school press release out of Boston (LINK):Northeastern becomes the first DI school in the New England area to add Esports as a varsity program. The Huskies will add four teams in Overwatch, League of Legends, Rocket League and Hearthstone.Green Alert Take: I've said it before and I'll say it again. Video games are video games. They are not sports. If I'm a former Northeastern athlete and some kid sitting in front of a monitor staring at a screen earns a varsity letter I'm putting mine up for sale on eBay.
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If you would like to do something a little more physically challenging than play Madden and make a difference at the same time, a trio of Hanover sisters have pulled together a fundraiser to help the Center for Disaster Philanthropy called the Sweat2Support virtual run. It is taking place Sunday ("anywhere and everywhere") and it would be pretty cool to see a few Dartmouth football players' names on the list of runners making their training pay off in more ways than one.From a Valley News story explaining the effort:
“In all of our free time at home, we wanted to figure out a way to give back and do something positive, because it’s a relative luxury to be healthy and safe at home,” Sophia Lubrano said. “We organized a virtual run where you can run any length you want — 5K, 10K, a half marathon or beyond — and instead of gathering on race day, we’ll run at the same time and share it on social media to bring people together and create a community.”From the Sweat2Support website:
Anyone can participate for a $10 fee, which will go towards the CDP ...and for which you will receive a bib and entry into the "race" of your choosing. Payments can be made on this GoFundMe page, or via venmo to (@amelialubrano).
- We’ll all do it together (appropriately distanced from one another), on April 19th @ 12:00pm ET, and we’ll ask that you share a photo or video from your run with us, whether it’s via Instagram, Facebook or email. Please use the hashtags #crushcovid and #positivetracks.And . . .
All money will be going to the COVID-19 Response Fund launched by the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP). This fund supports preparedness, containment, response and recovery activities for those affected and for the responders.As of 9:30 this morning the effort had raised $16,454.
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EXTRA POINTWhen I picked up the mail yesterday there were a couple of responses to the donations button I tossed up on BGA Daily earlier this week. To be sure, I've taken a pretty good hit with a big project eliminated because of the pandemic and don't be mistaken, your generosity absolutely helps. But even more so, when I hear from you via email or snail mail, whether there's an accompanying note or not, I kind of feel like THIS and that means so very much. Thank you!
