A Couple Of Classics*

The course is still covered by snow but it's not too early to start thinking about the annual Dartmouth Football Golf Classic,* which is slated for Saturday, June 14, on campus at Hanover Country Club.

Reunion classes in town will be 1973, '74, '75, '84, '89, '03, '04, '05 and '09.

If you are interested in helping out with one of the Classic* sponsorships or providing auction or raffle prizes, contact Curt Oberg '78.

To view or download a PDF copy of the Classic* golf flyer with information on sponsorship opportunities or to sign up and play, CLICK HERE.

* Um, it's not really a Classic. It's more of a fun afternoon and evening ;-)

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With a week and a day until the start of spring football, here's a look back at how the 2013 season ended as reported on Big Green Alert Premium hours after the win over Princeton on Nov. 23. (Be sure to visit BGA Premium after each spring practice for a full report.)

Dartmouth States Its Case

HANOVER – Dartmouth football is back.

Although that elusive 18th Ivy League championship eluded the Big Green by inches this fall, the 28-24 win Saturday over a 19th-ranked Princeton team that ruined the Tigers’ hopes for the second perfect conference season in school history told the story.

Paced by a hard-hitting defense that held the nation’s second-highest scoring offense to a season-low point total, and a 239-yard, three-touchdown effort on the ground, Dartmouth denied Princeton the outright Ivy League title and forced the Tigers to share the trophy with Harvard, an easy winner over Yale earlier in the day.

A game that began under blue skies and finished with a blanket of snow on Memorial Field saw the Big Green improve to 6-4 overall and 5-2 in the Ivy League, the best conference record since 1997. Princeton, which had won eight consecutive games and topped 50 points in five of them, finished 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the conference.

“I told the guys, this was a statement game,” a hoarse coach Buddy Teevens said afterward. “It wasn’t the championship game (but) I believed we were a championship-caliber team. There were some things we didn’t do in (earlier losses) but it was a championship-environment. That’s how we prepared. I told them straight up, ‘You are going to send a message.’ ”

Dominick Pierre ran for 112 yards and one touchdown and quarterback Dalyn Williams slithered his way to 57 yards (82 before sacks and lost yardage) and two touchdowns for the Big Green. Princeton quarterback Quinn Epperly, who was completing a whopping 71.8 percent of his passes coming into the half, slipped below the 50 percent mark (26-for-53 with an interception) in a loss that clearly hurt.

Asked if the sting of the loss would go away with time given how far Princeton had come from a 1-9 season two years ago, Epperly didn’t even let the questioner finish before saying, “No.”

Caraun Reid, Princeton’s 305-pound defensive lineman who had three sacks and four tackles for loss, was equally dismayed with having to share the Ivy League trophy.

“It’s not what we wanted to do,” he said. “But we have to live with it.”

Princeton has made a habit of coming from behind this fall and Dartmouth made sure the Tigers would have to do it again by jumping out to a 21-0 lead by the early minutes of the second quarter.

After the Big Green went three-and-out on its first possession, Evan Chrustic and Cody Fulleton dropped Epperly for a 14-yard loss before a 28-yard punt into the wind set Dartmouth up at midfield. Pierre then set the tone for the game by battering Princeton with consecutive carries of 12, 35 and two yards before crashing over left tackle from the 1 for a 7-0 lead.

Dartmouth made it 14-0 before the Tigers  managed their second first down.

Facing a third-and-six at his own 44, Williams lofted a pass toward Bo Patterson down the right sideline. Dartmouth’s big-play receiver, who was strapped up because of a shoulder separation suffered just Thursday, got behind the Princeton corner and outraced safety Matt Arends for a 56-yard score.

The Big Green stretched its lead to 21-0 on its first possession of the second quarter as Princeton coach Bob Surace gambled on fourth-and-three at the Dartmouth 17 and Chrustic batted a pass at the line to end the threat.

A 41-yard burst on first down by Kyle Bramble – aided by a Patterson block – got the ball back across midfield and on his third carry of the drive from the 5, Williams started up the middle, darted left and ran in against the grain for the score.

Although Princeton was down three touchdowns, a team that trailed Brown, 17-0, only to roar back for a 39-17 win didn’t figure to panic. And a team that was down against Penn, 16-0, before coming win 38-26, didn’t.

A 75-yard drive capped by a five-yard Epperly touchdown pass got the Tigers on the board with 4:43 left in the second quarter. After Dartmouth went three-and-out to give the ball back to Princeton, the Tigers drove 65 yards in 12 plays, making it 21-14 at the half on Epperly’s one-yard run with 10 seconds to play.

Teevens’ message to his team during the break was to stay the course.

“Just relax fellas,” he told his players. “You are a better football team. Physically, do what we do, and they did. Earlier times guys would panic or get too excited about something. It’s a long game. As we said, ’30 hard, that’s what we need to do. Give 30-hard minutes of football.’ ”

After going three-and-out on the first possession of the second half, Princeton knotted the score on its second series, driving 73 yards in 14 plays, the last a 30-yard Epperly pass to Matt Costello.

With momentum on the Princeton side, Surace rolled the dice on the Tigers’ next possession, going for it on fourth-and-one at his own 44 only to see AJ Zuttah stonewall the 220-pound Epperly for no gain.

It took just four plays for Dartmouth to make the roll of the dice hurt as Williams hit Robbie Anthony for 16 yards and Pierre rushed twice for 11. Then, on first down at the 17, Williams kept up the middle, found open space to the left and dove for the pylon just ahead of would-be tackler Anthony Gaffney. 

With Alex Gakenheimer’s fourth extra point, Dartmouth had a 28-21 lead.

The Big Green defense made the lead hold up with a fourth-quarter stand that would have made the legendary 1970 team proud.

After Princeton got a first down at the 2 midway through the final period, Michael Runger (15 tackles) broke up Epperly’s first-down pass. On second down it was Elliot Kastner stopping Epperly at the 1. On third down it was Bronson Green stopping Epperly short, only to have a false-start penalty reset third down at the 6. This time it was a tip in the end zone and near interception that saved the day.

Facing a fourth-and-six, Surace sent in Nolan Bieck to kick a 23-yard field goal that drew the Tigers within four with 6:36 left. The Princeton coach made the decision to kick knowing that, with a strong wind in Dartmouth’s face, the Tigers would get excellent field position and have a chance for the go-ahead or winning score if their defense held.

But Dartmouth senior Chase Womack spoiled those plans by picking the perfect time to reel off the Big Green’s best kickoff return of the season. His 36-yard burst set Dartmouth up at the 39. While the home team could not manage a first down, Ben Kepley’s 36-yard punt into the wind and a fair catch turned the field around, forcing Princeton to start at its 23 with 5:36 on the clock.

After the Tigers made it into Dartmouth territory, Chrustic batted away another pass at the line, bringing up a fourth-and-seven from the Big Green 47. With 4:22 left, Surace opted for the punt and the field position game.

A Patterson fair catch on the 10, and the wind and snow blowing in Williams’ face made the Princeton decision to kick look smart. But Williams quickly got the Big Green out of jail by running for 37 yards on first down. It wasn’t until a 22-yard Brian Grove carry on a third-and-six pitch and three Princeton timeouts later that the Tigers finally got the ball back at their 24.

But with no timeouts, just 45 seconds remaining and snow so heavy that Epperly admitted he couldn’t see the signal from the sideline on one play, Princeton was going nowhere.

A Garrett Waggoner interception at the Dartmouth 37 on third-and-10 left the Big Green needing just one snap in victory formation to finish off arguably its biggest win in 16 years, a victory that came a week after a big win over Brown and just days after Teevens learned he would be back as coach next fall.

“It’s special, and it’s special for the players,” Teevens said. “It has been a good week. I am excited, relieved and I am certainly appreciative to have an opportunity to come back with guys like this. We have a number graduating. We have an awful lot of guys coming back that have played a lot of football. But with the culture that we have developed and formed, there is a toughness to these guys. There is a resilience. The last two games we could have gone either way against two pretty good opponents and we won two football games.

“There was never any doubt. We are past that point. We had to confront that years ago. And the guys believe they’re going to go out (and win). I told a bunch of people, and I’m not like this, I expected to win today.”

Because they did, the message was written in the snow on Memorial Field.

The Big Green is indeed back.

Sunday Quick Hits

Check out Dartmouth football's official video from Pro Day.

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Click to enlarge this Dartmouth press guide page from 1991.

Don Farnham, an undergraduate assistant  coach at Maine under Buddy Teevens and then a member of Teevens' first Dartmouth staff for four years, has stepped down from his position as head football coach at Brewer High School in Maine. LINK

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Sadly, Holy Cross is one of the last schools around to do a spring practice prospectus. You can find the new one here. The Crusaders have seven starters back on what could be a dynamic offense with the return of dual-threat quarterback Peter Pujals and Gabe Guild, a whippet-quick tailback Dartmouth did not see last year because of injury. Three offensive linemen are back. Five starters return on the defensive side.

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Spring football has kicked off at Yale and Portal 31 is suggesting that after a year acclimating to the Ivy League, Clemson transfer Morgan Roberts might have the inside track on the starting quarterback job. LINK

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The New York Post is following Cornell quarterback Jeff Mathews' quest to make an NFL roster and today's story includes a few thoughts on him from draft guru Mel Kiper. LINK

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Business Insider has a story headlined, This May Be The Helmet That Solves Football's Concussion Crisis. Dartmouth gets a mention for its use of the HIT System. LINK

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Harvard has released a statement that basketball coach Tommy Amaker will remain with the Crimson. There had been speculation he might move across town to Boston College, a move I couldn't see happening. People used to say that when John Wooden was at UCLA he didn't recruit so much as select. (Think about it.) Amaker has that same ability at Harvard right now with regard to Ivy League recruits. At Boston College it would hardly be the case. He's smart enough to know he would be chasing Duke and North Carolina right up until the day he got his pink slip.

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This has nothing to do with football or sports, but it's a fun exercise. Answer a series of easy language usage/pronunciation questions and a New York Times quiz will probably do a good job of pinpointing where you grew up. It nailed me within 25 miles or so and Mrs. BGA even closer. LINK

Checking Out Dartmouth Pro Day

Here's some video I shot yesterday of Garrett Waggoner and Dominick Pierre at Dartmouth's Pro Day with a lowly iPod Touch. (You should be able to click the box next to the YouTube logo to make it full screen and it will hold up.)

A couple of things to note. First, I only got Pierre's second vertical where he tries to match his first jump. Second, Waggoner felt something in his leg on his 40 and passed on other drills to make sure he's ready to go in Detroit in three weeks or so.

That out of the way, here are a few numbers from the Pro Day.

Pierre was measured at about 5-10 1/2 and 215 pounds. Waggoner at 6-0 1/2 and 218 pounds.

Waggoner ran the 40 just once, clocking 4.54 on one watch and 4.51 on another, with a 1.53 best over 10 yards. His vertical was 39 1/2 inches (he did 43 at the NFL Regional Combine in Tampa), his long jump was 10-2, and he did 25 reps of the 225-pound bench.

Pierre ran 4.62 and 4.69 in the 40 with a 1.63 best over 10 yards, had a 30 1/2 vertical, a 9-11 long jump and did 18 reps in the bench. His 3-cone was 7.17, 20 shuttle 4.38 and 60 shuttle 11.98.

Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens, who threw passes to Pierre as well as UNH products Brian McNally (a late cut of the Washington Redskins last summer) and Manny Asam, had this to say after the Pro Day:

"It was good for the guys who came out to see two of their former teammates getting this kind of attention. It’s our goal to have at least one or two guys every year with this kind of opportunity. 

"I think both of them did a good job. Dominick came back this winter and has been working hard with (strength coach) Dave Jenkerson, who has been doing a good job with him. Garrett has been working hard back home and it shows.

"They will definitely be viewed. The numbers they are putting up are very respectable. Garrett is on the high-end with his vertical jump and explosiveness and so forth. Both have run very well in the 40. 

 "Garrett is big enough that he could be a hybrid outside linebacker, but he’s also fast and quick enough that he could also be a safety. He will gain some attention. 

"Running back is a wanted position. Dom is tough and physical and catches the ball very well, which is important at the next level. That’s been a thing that has caught people’s eyes. 

"They will be seriously considered. It’s just a question of who else is out there. It’s about the right place at the right time. 

"Probably a free-agent situation. Sometimes those are even better than a late-round draft choice. You do a little bit of homework and figure out who needs what, who has been aging and who has been injured and you go with that team. 

"There are a lot of qualified, talented people around the country but these are very, very intelligent guys. They are good decision-makers who aren’t going to be problem children for anybody and that carries a lot of weight.

"One of the nice things for us in talking with (the NFL scouts) is they all independently had really nice things to say about our facilities. They said they are some of the best they've seen."

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All of the Pro Day running drills were conducted inside Leverone Field House. Memorial Field has been partially cleared but it's still not ready for the start of spring football, which is slated to kick off one week from Tuesday.

Teevens on spring practice:

"We are looking forward to it, is long as the field is ready. The facilities people are doing a great job. . . . There’s a lot of snow out there and they have had to clear four different fields. How they are doing it, I don’t know. But it looks like we will probably be able to stay on schedule. We just need a little bit of sun and some weather cooperation and we will be good to go.

"We are in mat drills right now and I've been very impressed with the conditioning the kids have shown. Of the kids that were overseas, some of them lagged a little bit. A couple of guys doing internships are a little bit behind, but not appreciably so. And then the guys that were on campus, Dave Jenkerson has done a real nice job with them.

"So far so good. We want to keep them healthy. That’s a goal through mat drills." 

Memorial Field Friday (click to enlarge)

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Just a day or so after learning he had made the Miami Marlins Opening Day roster, former Dartmouth quarterback Eddie Lucas was hit by a pitch and broke his left hand. He is expected to miss four to six weeks. Find a story on the Marlins' website.

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Dartmouth product Kyle Hendicks' final outing with the Chicago Cubs was a good one but he will start the season in Triple-A. Read the last of his diaries on ESPN MLB where he write about being sent down here.

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Princeton and Dartmouth are No. 1 and No. 2 in the nation on Forbes magazine's The Grateful Graduates Index 2014, regarding alums giving back to their school. LINK

From the piece: "10 Yr Median Private Donation Per Student: $27,464," (with 44 percent participation).

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Thanks to a friend of BGA for sharing a link to a story about how the move to unionize football players at Northwestern could lead to unionizing graduate students. That, in turn, could mean "The Days of the Brown U. Ruling Are Numbered." Check out the story in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Pro Day At Dartmouth

Barring weather complications (of course we are getting a "wintry mix" up here on the mountain) this is Pro Day in Hanover for safety Garrett Waggoner and tailback Dominick Pierre, a couple of Dartmouth's first-team All-Ivy League selections.

For Waggoner, it will be another chance to show his stuff after a solid performance at an NFL Regional Pro Day in Tampa that resulted in an invitation to the NFL Super Regional Combine in Detroit on April 12-13. LINK

For Pierre, today is an opportunity to fill in some of the blanks on the page put together by the agency representing him:

For more on Pierre including a Q&A from this page, click here.

Pierre's agents represent big- and small-school prospects. 

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The Jaguars, Bill, Raiders and Colts turned out for Cornell quarterback Jeff Mathews' Pro Day in Ithaca yesterday. Find video of his workout and interviews with Mathews and coach David Archer here. The Ithaca Journal also has a story mentioning that Mathews worked out for the Cardinals on Monday.

From the Journal:

Alan Herman, Mathews’ agent from New York-based Sportstars, Inc., was pleased with his client’s performance. 

“I thought it was what we had wanted,” said Herman, who also represents former Cornell offensive tackle J.C. Tretter, now with the Green Bay Packers. “It was a really strong day, he has a terrific arm — a pro arm — and he showed it today.”

Also from the Journal:

Herman said Mathews compares favorably to recent Ivy quarterbacks Jay Fiedler (Dartmouth) and Ryan Fitzpatrick (Harvard) in terms of raw ability. “We know (Mathews) is smart,” he said, “and the bottom line is, he’s as good or better in terms of his arm as Fiedler or Fitzpatrick or those guys. He has what it takes to be successful.” 

Green Alert Take: Having seen them both, the agent is correct. Mathews' arm doesn't have to take a back seat to either Fiedler or Fitzpatrick. The advantage those two had is they were both adept at making plays with their feet.

Tre Minor, a linebacker/defensive end also took part in Cornell's Pro Day.

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Former Dartmouth junior varsity quarterback Ed Lucas, who gave up a shot football to concentrate on baseball, will be on the Florida Marlins' roster as a utility player on Opening Day. Lucas, who hit .256 with four homers and 28 RBIs after making his big league debut last year, batted .339 this spring. LINK

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Dartmouth has accepted 11.5 percent of applicants for the Class of 2018. Only Cornell (14 percent) accepted applicants at a higher rate in the Ivy League. Dartmouth accepted a record-low 9.4 percent two years ago and 10 percent last year. The Dartmouth has a story.

To Be (Unionized), Or Not To Be, That Is The Question

From ESPN:

In a potentially game-changing moment for college athletics, the Chicago district of the National Labor Relations Board ruled on Wednesday that Northwestern football players qualify as employees of the university and can unionize.

And within that story:

(Former Northwestern quarterback Kain) Colter told the hearing that players' performance on the field was more important to Northwestern than their in-class performance, saying, "You fulfill the football requirement and, if you can, you fit in academics." Asked why Northwestern gave him a scholarship of $75,000 a year, he responded: "To play football. To perform an athletic service."

This column points out the elephant in the room.

Reaction from around the country.

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If the above depresses you, read this story about how a college football player/engineering student whose father was fighting cancer started Uplifting Athletes.

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Back to depressing. UMass will play two more years of football in the Mid-American Conference and then? The Boston Herald has a story about a football program whose move to the FBS hasn't exactly been a success story.

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Football's Brendan Johnson, Josh Winslow, Dana Barbaro and AJ Dettorre

with Phil Hanlon at the President's Dinner earlier this week.

Meeting up during San Jose State's baseball practice at Washington

State were former Dartmouth baseball assistant Nick Enriquez

and former football assistant JJ Jackson. Nick is now

at San Jose State and JJ is at Washington State.

Memorial Field Math

The Dartmouth reports on the plan to replace the home stands at Memorial Field at the conclusion of the coming season. The second sentence in this blurb from the story rings particularly true:

When recruits decide which college to attend and play for, they look at the stadium, the weight rooms and overall athletic facilities, wide receiver Victor Williams ’16 said. He added, however, that he believes students will be more attracted to wins during the season than to new stands.

From the story:

"The new stands will add 262 seats with backs, but the total seat capacity will be reduced, for a total of 4,788 seats."

The current capacity of the home stands is 7,100 according to the college website. Using that figure, there will be a loss of 2,312 seats, leaving Memorial Field's permanent seating capacity at 10,688 (based on the commonly used figure of 13,000 since renovation of the visiting stands).

With the temporary end-zone seating included the capacity would be 12,688.

Find the college's early March release on the renovation project here.

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From a CNN story:

Northwestern University's president emeritus said that if the players on its football team are successful at forming a union, he could see the prestigious private institution giving up Division I football.

The Ivy League is referenced further down in the story:

Bienen . . . said a win for the players could lead private institutions with high academic standards -- he specifically cited Duke and Stanford -- to abandon the current model in order to preserve academic integrity. 

He compared it to the pullback of the Ivy League schools decades ago, when the Ivy League conference decided to opt out of postseason play and to end athletic scholarships, preserving the emphasis on academics for the players. 

"In the 1950s, the Ivies had some of the highest-ranked football teams in the country. The Princeton teams were ranked in the top 5 or 10 at that time. They continue periodically to have ranked basketball teams, but they've given up a certain kind of model of sports," he said, adding that "under certain conditions" the same could happen at other private elite universities that "continue to play big time sports." 

Jerry Price, senior associate athletic director at Princeton, said that change for the Ivy League allowed those schools to maintain academic integrity in the sports where, at other schools, academics can often be compromised in the name of the game. 

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Columbia completed spring practice on March 15 and head coach Pete Mangurian has an update here. No mention of any players by name. Dartmouth begins practice on April 8.

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Cornell quarterback Jeff Mathews will highlight a Pro Day at the school tomorrow. "At least 20" NFL teams are expected to test and watch the Ivy League's all-time passing leader as well as several others according to this story.

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The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association presents a Program of the Year Award and with the completion of the indoor season the organization recently updated its standing. The Dartmouth women are currently ranked fifth, and are in some pretty heady company. The standings through winter:

1. Oregon
2. Stanford
3. Arkansas
4. Georgetown
5. Dartmouth6. Iowa State
7. Villanova
8. Michigan
9. Penn State
10. Michigan State

New Penn AD Has Dartmouth Connections

The new athletic director at Penn will be Grace Calhoun, who served as an administrator in the Dartmouth athletic department while husband Jason was both the coach of the Big Green men's golf team and head pro at Hanover Country Club for three years. From the Loyola website:

From 2002-2005, Calhoun served as an associate athletics director at Dartmouth College where she oversaw compliance, governance, academic support and student development initiatives and coordinated major projects.

A Brown graduate with a Ph.D. from the University of Florida, Calhoun most recently served as athletic director at Loyola of Chicago where Jason Calhoun coached the women's golf team. She also served as associate executive director of the Patriot League from 1998 until 2002.

Read the Penn release here and the Daily Pennsylvanian story here. There's also a DP column here and a transcription of her entire introductory press conference on the DP blog.

A scan of the Ivy League basketball messageboard revealed the usual sniping about Calhoun's hiring along with this, which will make some people in Hanover grimace:

I didn't bother looking at her Dartmouth years since Dartmouth is Dartmouth, but here are the men's basketball records for her years in Indiana & Loyola . . .

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A Dartmouth sophomore rues the lack of fan support for Big Green teams in an opinion piece in today's  issue of The Dartmouth. He writes:

Over break someone asked me, “If you could change one thing about Dartmouth, what would that be?” I thought about the various possibilities: get rid of x-hours, put air conditioning in the dorms, renovate West Gym, et cetera. But ultimately, I realized that if I could change one thing, I would want to improve the lackluster student sections at sporting events. In my opinion (this is an opinion piece after all), support at sporting events, especially at games against other Ivy League schools, indicates school spirit, and whenever I sat in the silent, practically empty stands at basketball games this winter, I was thoroughly unimpressed. 

And this . . .

Just because we are not in the Big Ten or the Big East does not mean that we also can’t have large groups of students packing the gym, wearing body paint, making posters and heckling other teams’ players. Yes, this is a time commitment, but it is a fun one. Game day could be a big deal here, too. Tailgating and sports games could replace — or complement — a night out at the frats. We could have just as much, if not more, fun as a unified fan section than we might have on a Friday night on Webster Avenue. Packing the stands would still be something new and different, especially for those less involved in Greek life.

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A hike through the snow to the top of Moose Mountain yesterday provided both a nice view at the top and a surprise at Dartmouth's cabin in the woods near the bottom of the trail.

The view from South Peak of Moose Mountain yesterday. (Click to enlarge)

How much snow is left on the mountain? In the photo at left
only the lid of the full-sized trash can used for ashes at Dartmouth's
Class of '66 cabin is visible. At right, a close-up of the can.

Moving On

Kevin Lewis, defensive line coach at Dartmouth for the past two years, is moving on to William &

Mary, where he will coach the same position. Find his new W&M bio here. From that bio:

Last fall, he helped the Big Green establish itself as one of the country’s top defensive units as it ranked ninth nationally in scoring defense and 22nd in scoring defense (sic). During his first season at Dartmouth, the squad ranked 33rd nationally against the run, which represented an improvement from 104th the previous season.

The move returns Lewis to Virginia, where he graduated from high school and starred at Virginia Tech. He also coached at the University of Richmond.

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Three former Dartmouth football players and a name familiar to longtime Dartmouth football fans have given rugby a shot this spring.

Senior Robbie Anthony, who had 16 catches for 131 yards and one touchdown last fall, is no stranger to rugby. Before transferring to Dartmouth he was an All-Atlantic Coast Rugby League second-team wing at Clemson in 2011 in his first season playing the sport.

Former junior varsity running back Pedro Robinson and defensive lineman Zach Fowler are playing rugby as juniors. Also giving the sport a shot is Curt Oberg, a sophomore. His uncle of the same name was the third-leading rusher in Dartmouth history when he graduated in 1978. Curt Oberg ran for 1,693 yards and 11 touchdowns for the Big Green. His son – and the younger Curt's cousin – Eric is a sophomore running back for Dartmouth who saw time with the jayvees this year in his first season on the gridiron.

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An interesting thought from a regular reader. With Harvard, Brown, Columbia, Yale and Princeton playing in some type postseason men's basketball tournaments, is it time for the ADs and presidents to revisit the idea of allowing football to go to the NCAA playoffs? Or perhaps add an 11th game like the rest of the free world?

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Kudos to the Dartmouth baseball team which yesterday posted a 3-2 win over No. 18 Kansas. Scoring the winning run was wide receiver/outfielder Bo Patterson who walked on a full-count pitch in the 10th, stole second and then beat the throw home on a single to right.

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Completed our visit to Happy Valley by going to yesterday's NCAA women's basketball tournament game at the Bryce Jordan Center. We saw Penn State slip past Wichita State but had to leave before the second game to get home before midnight.

Click photos to enlarge. Try clicking again to supersize. (Not sure how it works
on a PC but Mac users can click once, move the cursor off the photo and then click it again.)

On Saturday afternoon we caught a Penn State doubleheader sweep of Bucknell. Click to photo for a better look at the stadium. The stands actually run relatively parallel to the third-base line but the "panorama" function of my iPod camera bends the picture. To the right of the scoreboard is Mt. Nittany, which gives the Lions their first name ;-)

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It was 1.8 degrees below zero here on Moose Mountain last night . . . 

A Familiar Face

Still in Happy Valley and will catch the Nittany Lion women's basketball team in the NCAA Tournament before we make the 9-hour drive back to snow country.

This won't be our first NCAA women's tournament game. It you watch the video below, at the 31-second mark you will see a girl holding up sign that says Make Some Noise at a Dartmouth NCAA game at the University of Connecticut. That young girl is now a Certain Dartmouth '14. Behind her is best friend from when she was a toddler, a senior now at Carleton College. The two served for several years as Dartmouth ballgirls.

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Watched Penn State baseball sweep a doubleheader with Bucknell yesterday. Somehow a weekend in Happy Valley doesn't seem all that different from a weekend in the Upper Valley . . . except for the lack of snow.

News, Notes And Nits

Ball State head coach and former Dartmouth assistant Pete Lembo is a hot commodity in the coaching world and the Muncie, Ind., school is doing what it can to try to keep him around a little longer. The Indy Star reports he's received enough of a raise to make him the second-best paid coach in the MAC. They also tagged on a new title. Read the story here.

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The Princeton Football blog catches up with Chuck Dibilio, who ran for more yards than any Ivy League freshman ever only to suffer a stroke that he now concedes has likely ended his career.

From the story:

“He had a massive, massive stroke,” said Dr. Coyle Ronco.   “Most people die from the stroke he had, so it’s an amazing outcome to have almost zero residual effects.  

“Over time he will get to the point he understands this is the right decision.  It’s just been difficult for him to accept the loss of the sport he loves.”

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From the Ivy League website:

Ivy League men's basketball is in the midst of its greatest postseason run in its 58-year history with four wins in its first five postseason games. League teams have showcased a flare for the dramatics with an upset victory by Harvard in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, last-second thrillers by Columbia and Yale in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) and a one-point road win by Princeton in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI).

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. Kudos to the schools that have posted wins in the alphabet soup tournaments, but when Harvard makes it to the Final Four a la Penn in 1979 and Princeton in 1965 we'll talk.

Harvard, by the way, takes on Michigan State tonight at 8:40 on TNT.

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Caught the Penn State softball loss to Purdue last night. While the mercury (silicon?) hit 60 degrees during the afternoon, it got downright cold during the game. Kudos to Penn State for putting four propane space heaters on the concourse above the stands. They drew fans like a light bulb draws moths.

We'll be at the PSU baseball doubleheader this afternoon weather permitting and then will take That Certain Soph to the Nittany Lion Inn for his birthday dinner. The Inn would fit in quite nicely on the Dartmouth campus, by the way. Check out the pictures.

Spring?

Heading out to Happy Valley at 0-Dark-30 this morning to celebrate That Certain Nittany Lion's birthday. The regular blog will return tomorrow ("Internet be willing"). While you wait . . . a peek at how spring is treating us up here on Moose Mountain after six more inches on Wednesday night. ;-)

The driveway piles are going to be here for a while.
(Click to enlarge and click again to supersize)

Our "sun" room is now the "snow" room with the snow that has
slid off the roof totally blocking the view and pressing on the doors. 

This is out the windows at the front of the house. The picture is
deceiving because the snow is just 18 inches of snow from the window.

Catching Up With Cato

Missed this earlier . . .

A web arm of the Charlotte Observer featured a story earlier this month about Davidson's hiring of former Dartmouth defensive tackle and assistant coach Derham Cato to coach offensive line and tight ends.

From the story:

“Our goal is to put up a fence around the state for the elite academic kids,” Cato continued. “We want to keep those kids that we’re losing to Ivy league schools in this area. Playing at Dartmouth, and beginning my coaching career there, I understand what it takes to get young men here that can also handle the academics.” 

Find Cato's Davidson bio here.

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Not much more to the story but The Tennessean writes about Dartmouth recruit Ben Hagaman of Franklin, Tenn., getting together with a couple of other Ivy recruits from that part of the state so they would know each other in advance of their college careers. The lede of the story:

A meeting of some brilliant minds took place last week when three former high school football players from Williamson County got together to talk about their future.

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I don't do it every day this time of year but I occasionally visit Ivy League football websites to see if there's anything new to pass along. It's gotten really tricky at most schools the last few years because rotating stories and pictures make it impossible to tell what's new without clicking through a whole cycle. Very annoying.

Anyway, visiting the Cornell pages I found something perhaps of note on the updated 2014 roster (sans freshmen), and also discovered something silly.

First, the silly.

NFL prospect Jeff Mathews had the lowest pass completion percentage on the Cornell roster last year, hitting 228-of-360 of his passes (63.3 percent) for 2,953 yards, with 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions Rising junior James Few was 15-for-19 (78.9 percent) for 193 yards and two TDs without an interception while rising soph Robert Sanborn was 3-for-3 for 49 yards. Heck, even punter Chris Fraser had a better completion rate than Mathews with 2-for-2 for 21 yards.

What was of note on the roster was the absence of 6-foot-5, 221-pound quarterback Sam Wood. Not that I usually notice such things, but for some reason his name rang a bell (think about it, folks), plus I'd heard he could be the frontrunner to replace Mathews next fall. Might be an oversight or he might be taking the spring off in anticipation of a fifth fall given that he missed all but one game of his freshman season. From his 2012 bio:

An excellent developmental quarterback behind Jeff Mathews, Wood will have a chance to compete for the backup spot and eventually become the Cornell signal-caller.

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Dartmouth football fans who listen to games on the Internet or watch the streaming broadcast have been lucky to have veteran New Hampshire broadcaster Dick Lutsk calling the games the past several years and no doubt look forward to hearing him again this fall.

Turns out, he's not the star of the family. That honor belongs to his son, Steve Lutsk, a personal trainer in Los Angeles. The younger Lutsk was scheduled to be on The Hallmark Channel's Home & Family Show today exercising with "muscle ropes."

Dartmouth football players know all about those things. Check out the Lutsk Training video on rope exercises and his Lutsk Training website.

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Kudos to Abbey D'Agostino for being named the USTFCCCA 2014 Women's Division I Indoor National Track Athlete of the Year for the second year in a row, to the Dartmouth softball team for winning at San Diego, and to the Big Green baseball team for a 10-3 win over a good Nebraska-Omaha team at Kansas University.

Wide receiver/outfielder Bo Patterson had two hits and two RBIs in a seven-run seventh inning that lifted Dartmouth to the win. Patterson finished with three hits and three ribbies.

Here are pictures of the baseball team on the field at Kansas and enjoying a meal at KU (thanks for the photo):

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And the beat goes on. Six more inches of snow last night.

Watch And Listen

Former Dartmouth and NFL great Reggie Williams is interviewed by onetime Big Green quarterback Brian Mann during the Fox Sports broadcast of this year's Yale game. Both Reggie and Brian do an excellent job:

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The interview has been posted on the new Dartmouth Sports YouTube channel, described in this  release. The Dartmouth Sports YouTube channel may be accessed here.

The channel also features a video I'd never seen before of Dartmouth players Dean Bakes '14, Peter Calvanelli '13, Joe Dowdell '13, Bronson Green '13, John Higgins, '14 and Tom Patek '13 bicycling 100 miles a couple of years ago in the annual Prouty fundraiser:

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Among those at this game yesterday was a Certain Nittany Lion Sophomore who was wearing a Penn State windbreaker over a Dartmouth sweatshirt and had a chance to catch up with lanky freshman Jesse Brown, another Hanover product who switched from baseball to lacrosse and now plays for the Big Green.

Legacies

Stumbled across an engrossing SB Nation story from last fall about a third-team AP All-American defensive tackle and All-Big Ten selection who is the adopted son of onetime Dartmouth defensive back Eric Hageman '90. The lengthy story about NFL prospect Ra'Shede Hageman, a 6-foot-6, 310-pound senior at Minnesota, begins this way:

He was born on fourth-and-long. Mom drank when she was pregnant with him. Traded sex for drugs while he was in diapers. State authorities dragged him out of a crack house closet when he was 4 years old. Threw Mom in prison. Dad? Dead before the kid met him.

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Speaking of alumni offspring who got away, all-state tight end Brian O'Neill of Salesianum School in Wilmington, Del., is headed to the University of Pittsburgh on a football scholarship. The 6-7, 250-pound O'Neill's athleticism was on display this winter when he was named the Delaware Boys Player of the Year after leading Salesianum to its first state DIAA basketball championship.

O'Neill's father Brendan was a running back on the 1970 and '71 Dartmouth teams that went a combined 17-1. His three-yard run provided the only touchdown in the epic 1970 showdown at Yale Bowl that saw the Big Green beat nationally ranked Yale, 10-0, in a battle of undefeated and nationally ranked teams played in front of a crowd topping 60,000. Brendan O'Neill is now the head public defender for the state of Delaware. John Carney '78, an All-Ivy corner for the Big Green and now a U.S. Congressman from Delaware, is an uncle of the Pitt tight end-to-be.

By the way, Sports Illustrated's SI Vault has a story spun out of the 1970 game here.

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As long as we're on the subject of talented legacy athletes, completing his ice hockey career at Yale last week was 6-2, 207 defenseman Gus Young, son of Kevin Young '77, linebacker and captain of the '76 team and a football, wrestling and lacrosse standout at Dartmouth. Uncle Wayne Young '72 – the longtime voice of Dartmouth football and now baseball – played with Brendan O'Neill in the legendary '70 Yale game and captained the Big Green a year later.

Gus Young, who helped Yale to the NCAA Championship a year ago, was a Colorado Avalanche draft choice. Find a story about Young and his senior classmates here. His brother Seamus, by the way, was a standout skater at Princeton who went on to play in the ECHL.

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Speaking of legacies, there's a tough and talented 6-7 high school junior sitting on Big Ten and ACC scholarship offers who has very, very close ties to the Big Green. The really scary news, though, is that in November he took an unofficial visit to . . . wait for it . . . Harvard. That said, he's been on the Dartmouth campus many times.

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Perhaps the most high-profile athletic legacies who got away in recent years are Super Bowl quarterback Russell Wilson, son of Harry '77, and Atlanta Braves outfielder Jason Heyward, whose parents Eugene and Laura (Benjamin) are both grads. Eugene Heyward '81 was a three-year basketball letterwinner for Dartmouth.

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The Sports Network has a column headlined, 25 FCS names to know for the NFL draft. Not surprisingly, the Ivy Leaguers featured at Cornell quarterback Jeff Mathews and Princeton defensive tackle Caraun Reid.

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PennLive had a great quote from new Penn State football coach James Franklin on the first day of spring practice:

"There is no walking on the field ever. I told them the first day if you don't know where you're supposed to go or what you're doing when the horn blows, then sprint in a circle until you figure it out."

Greetings From Florida

Click to enlarge

Stealing a little warm-weather time before the start of spring football, Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens was at his retreat in Florida over the weekend and welcomed the Big Green women's lacrosse team for a visit. Standing alongside Teevens in the back row is longtime coach Amy Patton, whose team will face No. 4 Florida tomorrow tomorrow night in Gainesville.

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This is pretty funny stuff. Penn State wide receivers coach Josh Gattis, who played in the NFL after graduating from Wake Forest, told his fellow coaches he could still run a sub-4.8 40 without even stretching . . . and the staff decided to take him up on it. There are some humorous comments by former Cornell quarterback Ricky Rahne, the Nittany Lion quarterback coach, and particularly Bob Shoop, the former Yale standout and Columbia head coach, who is the PSU defensive coordinator. He shows his sense of humor particularly in the final scene.

Curious what happened? Watch the video.



By the way, what sent me scurrying to watch the video was this teaser headline from a link on Football Scoop: "How fast would your WRs coach run the 40?"

I have absolutely no doubt that most Dartmouth football players who read this will look at that headline and wonder about their wide receivers coach, who ran routes in the NFL as well. One or two might actually try to tease coach Cortez Hankton into giving it a go. Good luck with that ;-)

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For those of you who think an Ivy League basketball conference tournament wouldn't draw much interest, consider this. Talking with That Certain '14, she told me over the weekend that she was absolutely riveted to the broadcast of the Albany-Stony Brook America East championship game before a packed house. She couldn't have named a play on either team but said she couldn't turn away from the dramatic winner-take-all showdown for a ticket to March Madness.

Ivy League basketball teams? Just watching.

In The Presence Of History

As expected, the snow sliding off the roof has just about
sealed off our sun room. And no, that's not Moose Mountain.

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If it isn't always easy to recognize history while it is being made, I think this is one time when we can all agree about what we are seeing. At the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Albuquerque last night, Dartmouth's Abbey D'Agostino won the 3,000 to become the first collegiate woman ever to repeat as the 5,000 and 3,000 national champion. With her senior spring season still to go, D'Agostino now has won seven NCAA championships, more than any athlete in Ivy League history. No other Ancient Eight athlete in any sport has won more than four national titles.

Dartmouth's Megan Krumpoch, who helped the distance medley relay to eighth on Friday night,  finished sixth in the 800 as Dartmouth tied Stanford for sixth in the final women's team standings:

1. Oregon
2. Texas
3. Georgia
3. Florida
5. Texas A&M
6. Arkansas
7. Dartmouth
7. Stanford
9. Kentucky
10. Mississippi State
10. South Dakota

On the men's side, senior Will Geoghegan placed fifth in the mile, joining D'Agostino and Krumpoch as an All-American.

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The Dartmouth men's ice hockey season came to a close last night with a 4-2 loss to Union in the ECAC quarterfinals. Union swept the two-game series.

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We all know these things are seriously flawed so we ignore them a good amount of the time only to shine the line on them when they are to our advantage, right? That being the case . . .

Lookee here what is called the best college town in America:

Not to throw stones or anything, but anyone who publishes a list like this that doesn't include Ithaca or State College, Pa., might want to check those two towns out. And when Waltham, Mass., is ranked ahead of Cambridge – and way, way ahead of Chapel Hill – there's something rotten in Denmark.

Behind The Scenes

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Dartmouth's Abbey D'Agostino won her SIXTH national championship at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Albuquerque last night, using a strong finish to break from the pack and capture the 5,000. She goes for No. 7 tonight at 9:55 p.m. Eastern in the 3,000. She has already become one of the most decorated runners in NCAA history. Check out this interview with her following a race that saw a runner from Michigan jump out to an absolutely huge lead only to be reeled in by D'Agostino and the pack.

Last year D'Agostino became just the third woman ever to double in the 3,000 and 5,000. Tonight she can become the only woman ever to do it twice.

D'Agostino's National Titles

Guess who was on the "splash" page for Flotrack's
coverage with coach Mark Coogan interviewed.

2012 – Outdoor 5,000
2013 – Indoor 5,000
2013 – Indoor 3,000
2013 – Outdoor 5,000
2013 – Cross XC
2014 – Indoor 5,000

The women's distance medley team, which ran without D'Agostino (who helped it qualify for NCAA's) earned All-America status with an eighth-place finish and Megan Krumpoch, who ran on the DMR, earlier advanced to the finals of the 800.

On the men's side, senior Will Geoghegan advanced to the finals in the mile while teammate Steve Mangan missed moving on by a fraction of a second. During the mile the ESPN announcers lauded the depth of the Big Green distance corps, essentially saying it compared to two of the best of all time, including on group from Oregon.

All Set For Gillette

A former Columbia guy is going to have a former Dartmouth standout working for him after graduation this spring.

The Columbia grad? Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots.

The former Dartmouth standout? All-Ivy League linebacker Bronson Green.

The Big Green senior has been hired as the Business and Stadium Operations Coordinator for the Kraft Sports Group at Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots. In addition to working the Pats' training camp, Green will help run concert events, University of Massachusetts football and other events at the Foxboro facility.

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Garrett Waggoner, one of the clear standouts of the NFL Regional pro day in Tampa (link) has earned an invitation to the NFL Super Regional Combine in Detroit on the weekend of April 12-13. He's continuing to train at D1 in Tampa, which helped him grow his vertical to 43 inches, better than any player at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.

Waggoner, who earned first-team All-Ivy League recognition last fall as a fifth-year senior while finishing up his studies, is expected to be back on campus in two weeks for Dartmouth's Pro Day, tentatively scheduled for March 28. No word yet on who else might work out but All-Ivy tailback Dominick Pierre is among others who have expressed interest in giving the pro game a shot in the past.

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The Sports Network has a story about Pro Days spun out of Princeton where defensive tackle Caraun Reid was one of three Tigers to show their stuff yesterday morning. Find a story, results chart and video on the Princeton website here.

Brown's Pro Day featured four players including sprint champion John Spooney. Check out the video and you'll see the Brown players did not get cheated in the weight room ;-)

Harvard's Pro Day featured no fewer than eight seniors, one recent grad and a whopping 15 NFL scouts watching not just the Harvard players but others from the Boston area as well.

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Joe Moglia, the onetime Dartmouth defensive assistant-turned CEO-turned Coastal Carolina head coach has a new role at the school. He will also serve as "chair of athletics." Find a story here.

From a story on Carolina Live:

The University press release describes Moglia's new role as "working with (interim Athletic Director Matt) Hogue to develop a thorough review of all aspects of the athletics program.  "I believe that this is critical in establishing an athletic roadmap that will take us well into the future. Undoubtedly, Joe's experience and knowledge in these areas will be an invaluable asset," (CCU President David) DeCenzo said. 

"In the same manner that we coach our players to stand on their own two feet and accept accountability for their actions, that leadership principle will be at the core of developing this next era of CCU Athletics," said Moglia. "I am appreciative of President DeCenzo's offer and ready to contribute toward our new athletic structure."

Snow Foolin'

Kudos to the weather folks because they got this one right. We were on the border of the area expected to get 12-18 inches of new snow and we've gotten a good 16 inches – and it's still coming down. This is a view of our deck through our sunroom (ha!) doors.

Several years ago we spent a little extra and put a standing-seam roof on the house. As a result, the snow slides off very nicely. There's a chance this door will be completely blocked when the last of the snow comes roaring down. (Note to self: Take the screen doors down next year.)

For the record, we have 22 inches of standing snow right now in our front yard. It's 6 degrees outside now and could hit 10 below tonight.

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Eddie Lucas '04, a onetime Dartmouth jayvee quarterback who gave up football to pursue a pro baseball career, is the subject of an MLB story about his dogged pursuit of a roster spot in the big leagues. Lucas finally made it to the show last year with the Miami Marlins, batting .256 in 94 games with four homers and 28 runs batted in. The former Big Green shortstop made 61 appearances at third base and saw time at first in 25 games, second in 20, shortstop in six and even played one in game left field. And get this: He might some day catch and inning or two.

From the story:

Lucas -- the first former Dartmouth College player to make the Majors since Mike Remlinger (1991-2006) and Mark Johnson (1995-2002) -- has been putting more time in at shortstop this spring to round out his utility resume. So far, the Marlins have liked what they have seen from him. 

"He's got a lot of value for us and he's having a great spring -- and that's just talking defense," said (Marlins Manager Mike) Redmond. "He gave us some great at-bats last year and got some big hits for us. You're talking about a guy who spent a ton of time in Minor Leagues grinding it out. And for him to get an opportunity last year -- coming to the big leagues for the first time -- he made the most of his opportunity."

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By many accounts, Yale football has enjoyed a terrific recruiting year. Could the Bulldogs have a secret formula for attracting talent to New Haven? A Tweet from the Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year would lead you to believe so. Check the Tweet out on Portal 31.

Aw, what the heck. I'll save you the time. The quarterback wrote: "Had a Great Phone call with Coach Reno from Yale. I have been officially Offered a Scholarship to Yale University."

Scholarships! That's the secret ;-)

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One of the most heart-warming sports stories of the year will make you smile. Do yourself a favor and read this one about "Coach Black" from CBS Sports' Gregg Doyel. You will be sharing the link with friends and telling them to make sure they read it. Promise.

Ivy League Primer On TSN

The Sports Network's spring primer series has made its way around to the Ivy League and the photo accompanying the posting is of Dartmouth quarterback Dalyn Williams. The caption to the picture: "Dartmouth quarterback Dalyn Williams posted the fourth-most total yards in a Big Green season last year."

The intro to the piece:

That Penn-Harvard logjam atop the Ivy League football race may finally be showing cracks.  

The Penn-Princeton monopoly in men's basketball fell apart, so why not football?
Harvard still earned a share of the 2013 title, so it's not as though the standings are being turned upside down. But Princeton earned the other share of the title and could grab the favorite's role this season.  

Penn has some holes to fill this year, like Harvard. Meanwhile, Dartmouth returns a lot of talent, Yale was young last season and earned a big win by traveling across the country to beat Cal Poly of the Big Sky Conference, and Brown has been third-best to Harvard and Penn for some time as well. 

Regarding Dartmouth in 2014, there are brief thoughts on replacing Dominick Pierre at running back, Will McNamara stepping up at linebacker and the placekicking.

There's no breaking news but decent nuggets on all of the teams in the league.

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Find an interesting story and video with Harvard quarterback Conner Hempel talking about how his former position coach Joel Lamb helped him deal with doubts after he began his career as the Crimson's sixth-team quarterback. The story is on the SportsLeader website, which bills itself as, "a virtue-based mentoring and motivation program for coaches."

As a junior last fall, Hempel completed 66 percent of his passes (third-best in Harvard history), was third in the Ivies in passing yards per game and efficiency and ran for 259 yards while winning All-Ivy honorable mention recognition.

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In case you were wondering, the Penn women's basketball team ended Princeton's run of Ivy League titles at four last night with an 80-64 victory in a winner-take-all game at Jadwin Gymnasium. From the go-figure department, Princeton had won the first meeting of the teams in a run-away, 84-53, at the Palestra.

It was a difficult year for the Dartmouth women's basketball team but the Big Green can take some small consolation in knowing that it joined Princeton as the only Ivy League team to beat the champions. Dartmouth defeated the Quakers in Hanover on Feb. 22, 53-50. Penn finished the year winning 14 of its last 15 games with the lone loss at Leede Arena.

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The snow has started in the Upper Valley and some forecasts suggest we could get 12-18 inches here on the mountain. The snow could be heavy and the wind is supposed to really pick up tonight. If there's no blog tomorrow it will be because we've lost power.

Memorial Field Update

Here's the official news from Dartmouth on the Memorial Field home grandstand project: LINK

From the release:

The project will feature wider aisles and concourses, handrails, modern rest rooms, a premium chairback section on the 50-yard line, and accessible seating on three levels connected by an elevator.  The new press box will also be accessible by elevator, and will include upgraded technology for video streaming, television and radio broadcasts, and video scoreboard operation.

More Big News

I don't often miss big news (I hope) but I fanned on this one until a trusty emailer alerted me to something around lunchtime today, ironically while I was in the shadows of Memorial Field.

Buried in a story about decisions by the Dartmouth trustees in Sunday's local paper was this (italics are mine):

"The Trustees also OK'd Dartmouth's 2015 fiscal year operating budget of $1 billion, and approved a capital budget of $54 million to pay for projects including replacement of the West stands at Memorial Field and renovation of Alumni Gym."

Memorial Field's home stands had been a week away from coming down at the conclusion of the 2008 season when the economic downturn stopped the project cold. Find a story about that here. (For more about the postponement of the project, including photos, check out the Dartmo site.)

The mention in Sunday's newspaper doesn't give a timeframe for the upcoming work, but given that the original timetable for replacing the stands required demolition at season's end in order to play on Memorial Field the next fall, the educated guess here is that work will begin soon after the coming season ends, with the goal of having the new stands ready for the start of the 2015 season.

UPDATE: Dartmouth's release confirms the stands are slated to be in use for the 2015 campaign.

The project, as explained five years ago, included preserving the 91-year-old arched brick stadium facade while replacing everything behind it.

Here's a look at that facade in a wonderful painting by Hanover artist Doug Henry:

Here's a plaque on the stadium wall that is a reminder why preserving the facade is so important:

And here's a look at the West Stands during one of the recent efforts at cleaning them up. The picture is probably a bit unfair, but suffice it to say that apart from whatever structural and ADA shortcomings the stands have, they also have a very tired, Eastern bloc look:

The need for something to be done was widely recognized. This is from an October story in the local daily:

“I’m in meetings all the time where the west stands come up and everyone’s eyes glaze over, because no one has the money,” (Dartmouth Athletic Director Harry) Sheehy said. “But my sense is that in the next year or two, we’re going to get to a critical point and the institution is going to have to do something. 

“I said to (new Dartmouth President) Phil (Hanlon) the first time I met him in my office that there are two possible embarrassments for you out there. One is the west stands and the other is the bridge at the (Hanover Country Club)."

Here are the stands on a better day:

Thinking back about the project, I recall hearing that wide aisles to accommodate much-needed railings, wider walkways, expanded handicapped seating in different areas of the stands and an elevator to a new press box will contribute to what I thought was a surprising drop in the capacity for the home stands. Memorial Field currently seats 13,000.

Stay tuned for more.

Just Watching . . .

The Princeton and Penn women's basketball teams will play their season-finale tonight with the bid to the NCAA Tournament going to the winner. Here's an unintentionally ironic line from the Ivy League release about the game:

The only thing more compelling than a 14-Game Tournament is a one-game tournament.

So true.

More from the release:

It is just the second time in Ivy League history that the season finale is also a one game tournament for the Ivy title . . .

One game with so much on the line is pretty rare according to the Ivy League release. Of course, while it's almost unheard of in the Ivy League, it's rare nowhere else.

Every single league in the country comes down to one final game, every single year, EXCEPT the Ivy League.

It's called a postseason tournament.

Writing about the Princeton-Penn game, old friend (and staunch advocate of the current system) Tiger Blog says, "It figures to be quite an event. Winner-take-all usually is."

Absolutely true, TB. There's unmatched drama when everything is on the line in a one-bid league like the Ivy. Or the MAAC. 

I watched Manhattan and Iona play for the MAAC bid last night on ESPN2 and while I couldn't name a single player on either team, I couldn't take my eyes off it. Now imagine if I had a rooting interest.

More importantly, imagine how much more thrilling that nationally televised game was for the players than if they learned they heard they won the title while busing home from a game with a week to go in the season. When that happens do they get off the bus in Cambridge or Princeton and go inside the darkened gym to cut down the nets with the custodian looking on?

One game for all the marbles, as the Ancient Eight release said, is "more compelling than a 14-Game Tournament."

Indeed.

Consider the Ivy League hoisted on its own petard.

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In case you are curious what all the fuss is all about, the Patriot League men's championship game is on CBS Sports Network tomorrow night at 7:30 featuring No. 1 seed Boston University playing host to No. 2 seed American. Tune in to see what Ivy League players and fans are missing. Go ahead. I dare you.

Editor's Note: Regarding the Ivy League concern that a postseason tournament devalues the regular season, consider this from the PL release after the semifinals of a tournament structured to make the regular season meaningful:

BU's win coupled with American's victory means higher seeds are 46-2 in the Patriot League semifinals, and home teams are 27-3 overall and 19-1 in the last 10 years.

Unfortunately, Ivy League basketball teams – like Ivy football teams when the NCAA playoffs start – will be just watching.

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Columbia has joined Penn in starting spring football already and is practicing outside. Here's a photo. Dartmouth doesn't begin until April 8, which is a good thing. We're in line for another foot or so of snow tonight.

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Nice story on the Patriot League website about former Lafayette linebacker and special teams player Sam Stuart, who stumbled across a football team practicing while in China for graduate school and ending up coaching the Beijing Cyclones.