A reminder that the Ivy League football media day will be streamed tomorrow on X (or as I like to call it Xwitter) starting at 11 a.m. HERE.
The Dartmouth segment will feature Jack Ford interviewing head coach Sammy McCorkle, safety Harrison Keith and defensive end Joshua Johnson.
The full schedule:
Welcome (11-11:10 a.m.)
Brown (11:10-11:30)
Columbia (11:30-11:50)
Cornell (11:50 a.m.-12:10)
Dartmouth (12:10-12:30)
Harvard (12:30-12:50)
Penn (12:50-1:10)
Princeton (1:10-1:30)
Yale (1:30-1:50)
Green Alert Take: Here's hoping we can all get Xwitter live going.
Green Alert Take II: As someone whose last name begins near the end of the alphabet, I always appreciated teachers who would occasionally reverse the order when calling out names for various reasons. It would be just fine on occasion if the Ivy League some years went from Yale to Princeton, Penn, Harvard, Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia and Brown. ;-)
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Here's some good news for you, and some bad news.
The good:
If your TV provider is Comcast, Xfinity, Cox, DIRECTV or a long list of others (including YouTubeTV, which we have), you do not have to subscribe to ESPN+ this year to watch Ivy League football. All of those providers include ESPN Unlimited in their offerings. Per the network (LINK):
"Unlimited subscribers have access to all ESPN networks and ESPN+, with sports like NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, tennis and golf majors, WWE, SEC, ACC, and Big 12 football and basketball, postseason coverage from the NFL, NBA, WNBA, NHL, MLB, College Football Playoff, and more, as well as studio shows like SportsCenter, First Take, and College GameDay."
So what's the bad news, you ask?
Unless there's something I'm missing, you need to have the ESPN app on your smart TV. And I can promise you, if you've had an ESPN+ or Disney account in the past, or the email address/username for your TV provider account is different than for your old account, you may have to jump through all kinds of hoops to get the streaming app to work. I managed it a few days ago but I have to admit it took a lot of help from ChatGPT and a lot of patience.
And then it took a little more patience – despite being able to a little ESPN+ late in the week – to get it going again.
Last night I saw the New Hampshire-Massachusetts Little League game was on ESPN+ and when I clicked through I was brought to a "sign up" screen yet again. But wait! I'd already signed in, right?
I eventually got it working again by signing in on my laptop and then relaying an activation code to the TV that confirmed I already had an active account. Per AI, I've been told that shouldn't be an issue going forward barring app updates, but we'll see.
Green Alert Take: This is excellent news for Ivy League football fans like me who would subscribe to ESPN+ for the football season, make three monthly payments, and then quit the service. But all I can say is good luck getting it going. And you probably don't want to ask ME for help. ;-)
Green Alert Take II: Here's a confession. While scrolling through ESPN+ I actually watched the kids portion of the Slippery Stairs competition and found it kind of fun.
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Former Dartmouth captain Daniel Haughton '26, was presented with the program's Manners Makyth Man Award after his senior season was cut short last fall with a ruptured Achilles. He showed again why he was a fitting recipient of my favorite Dartmouth postseason award during his interview with someone who did not even realize he had grad transferred to Furman:
Haughton: Last year I was so just obsessed with having a big year, my senior year, with trying to go to the league or trying to go to the portal and get to go somewhere big and get paid. I kind of lost sight of what the true meaning is, and that's just playing the sport that you've been playing your whole life, that you love to play.
Haughton It spooked a lot of coaches and other programs were like, we like your tape, but you're coming off an Achilles and that's going to be tough for us to really manage giving you an offer or giving you any sort of money, especially when you're coming off that injury. So for me the portal was really slow for a while. I had some tough moments in it.I really thought I wasn't going to be able to play anywhere else. Probably thought my career was just going to be done with the injury, just not getting the interest that I wanted. But later down the line Furman and then Charleston Southern both reached out.They're both in South Carolina. I'm from North Carolina, so they're closer to home.
On going to Furman:
Haughton: I'm pretty happy to be back down south. I know it gets really hot, but I was fed up with the cold of at Dartmouth. I couldn't deal with it anymore. So I'm happy to be down south.
On Ivy League football:
Haughton: It's really good football, honestly. Every team, top to bottom, has great players. The guys get after it. It's a little bit underrated. Speaking to my new teammates, they're like, "How is it? What is it like?" And I'm like, just because it's Ivy League and they're smart players, smart guys, don't think that it's sweet. The football there is really good.
He also speaks glowingly of book recommended by former teammate Sean Williams that has helped him overcome doubt: The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey.
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Speaking of wide receivers, a current Ivy League WR was the "Best No. 19" In HERO's countdown to the FCS opener. From the site (LINK):
The best returning No. 19 is Harvard WR Brady Blackburn
-2026 Junior
-6’0” 180 lbs
-2025: 38 catches, 732 yards, 5 TDs, 19.3 AVG/C
-2025 All-Ivy League 2nd Team
Ivy Leaguers honored as the best player wearing their number to date:
96: Yale DT Jaylin Tate
86: Cornell TE Ryder Kurtz
85: Columbia WR Titus Evans
77: Harvard OL Spencer Doan
75: Penn OL Luke Sacchetti
71: Harvard OL Thomas O'Brien
64: Princeton OL Barrett Eddlemon
37: Penn S Ty Cortes
35: Harvard LB Sean Line
29: Harvard K Kieran Corr
27: Princeton CB Evan Haynie
24: Dartmouth S Harrison Keith
19: Harvard WR Brady Blackburn
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Yesterday was the annual West Newbury Summer Festival and now that it's over and Mrs. BGA has wrapped up her responsibilities with the event, we'll be able to celebrate our anniversary with our annual dinner on the water tonight, one day late. ;-)
And because what would a parade in a Hallmark-type locale be without an old red pickup truck?
