Penn and Harvard, Harvard and Penn

No real surprise in the BGA readership poll asking which of the Ivy League teams not named Dartmouth should be favored to win the title this fall. If you've read the Green Alert Premium previews, it's clear why Penn and Harvard are the favorites in virtually all the preseason polls.

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The Ivy League preseason kicked off yesterday in Ithaca as Cornell hit the field for the first time.

Every year a few people dash off emails wondering why it is that Cornell is allowed to start practice before Dartmouth, and suggesting it gives the Big Red an advantage.

Put simply, Cornell starts practice ahead of Dartmouth because it starts classes before Dartmouth. Cornell classes begin Aug. 25. Dartmouth doesn't start until Sept. 22.

The bottom line is both schools will hold the same number of practices. They will just be distributed differently.

Dartmouth will hold five double-session practices. Cornell will not hold any because it is prohibited for the first five days by NCAA decree. Then, with the start of classes next week it would be impossible.

The question: Who has the actual advantage? Cornell because it is practicing over a longer period of time? Or Dartmouth, because there are no distractions (read: classes) through the entire preseason and it's virtually all football, all the time?

Vote in the poll over there on the left.

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In case you are wondering, non-league opponents Bucknell started practice on Aug. 7, and Holy Cross about the same time. (No word on Sacred Heart yet.) Yale kicks off Friday and the other Ivies all start about the same time.

Dartmouth's first on-field practice is slated for one week from today and the first of the every-other-day double sessions on Aug. 30. (The NCAA does not allow double sessions on consecutive days.)

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Speaking of Week Two opponent Sacred Heart, the Pioneers game the week before they head up to Dartmouth against St. Francis will be broadcast on Fox College Sports, the Connecticut Sports Network and WATM-ABC 23 in Western Pennsylvania according to this release. Just a guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if a recording of that game finds its way to Hanover ;-)

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Philadelphia Inquirer Daily Magazine has a story about the new Penn fitness center and varsity strength and performance center. The facility arms race heats up yet again.

The Columbia Spectator has a video look at the Columbia sports scene that it reports was done by a "prefrosh."

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How long will it take students to stop saying "Thayer," and refer to the dining hall as the "Class of 1953 Commons?" A while, you can be sure.

I hadn't realized until I read this story that Thayer hadn't been renovated since 1976. To put that in perspective, 1976 is when the New York Giants opened their stadium in the Meadowlands. That would be the last Giants Stadium, which was demolished in the spring.