Bubbles and More

Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim was a hit at Dartmouth Idol 2010 and he was back in 2011. These still were taken from the Dartmouth Idol 2011 video.
President Kim tried his hand at a little rapping.
The Prez even had a solo.

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With two-time defending champion Penn opening spring practice last night the Daily Pennsylvanian blog asks five questions the rest of the Ivy League will be wondering about:

1. Who will anchor the offensive line?
2. How will the sophomore defensive backs respond to increased playing time?
3. How will Bagnoli use QBs Billy Ragone and Ryan Becker?
4. Will the quarterbacks even have reliable targets to throw to?
5. Who will be the kicker?

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Almost lost in the video detailing progress at the 24-acre Penn Park project at the University of Pennsylvania are a couple of mentions of a seasonal air structure that will allow field teams to run drills during the winter months. Seasonal air structure is college speak for what the rest of us would call a bubble.

Granted, they've had more snow in Philly this year than most years, but it's still kind of hard to believe the Ivy League's southernmost outpost is getting the jump on all the Ivy schools not named Harvard (see below) with the addition of a bubble. Add the bubble to the 18,500-square foot Weiss Pavilion (Daily Pennsylvanian story with video) tucked in behind the arches of Franklin Field and it's clear they mean business in West Philadelphia.

Green Alert Take: It really is amazing that an urban campus has been able to carve out a 24-acre parcel of land for fields, courts and green space adjacent to campus. That would be hard, if not impossible, to do here in the New Hampshire woods.

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In case you are wondering exactly what a seasonal air structure looks like, here's a look at Harvard's bubble, installed during the winter over the Harvard Stadium field. This picture and the next two were taken from a Harvard football facilities video.This is what the bubble looks like inside. When I walked into it last winter it was hard to believe I was actually in Harvard Stadium.
The Harvard bubble is in addition to the Crimson's Palmer Dixon Strength and Conditioning Center that includes a 12-lane, 40-yard indoor running surface.

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Harvard basketball was manhandled by Oklahoma State last night in the first round of the NIT.

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Speaking of basketball, despite losing arguably her best player to an ACL at the holidays, former Dartmouth standout and assistant coach Courtney Banghart '00 guided the Princeton women's team (24-4) to its second Ivy League championship in a row and a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Princeton will face No. 5 Georgetown Sunday afternoon.

Longtime Dartmouth assistant Mike Maker has the Williams men's hoop team (29-2) back in the Division III Final Four for the second year in a row. The national co-Coach of the Year last winter has a three-year, 76-13 record (.854) entering the Final Four, which begins with a game against The College of Wooster Friday night. Middlebury will play St. Thomas (Minnesota) in the other semi. Williams dropped last year's national championship game to Wisconsin Stevens Point.

"Makes" is profiled in this Californian.com story.

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By the way, March Madness isn't just about Division I. Fast forward through the video This is Our House to about the 2:35 mark and watch the next couple of minutes to see what it was like in Williamstown, Mass., last week. Granted, it was the NCAA Tournament and the game was against archrival Amherst, but wow.