The Athletic may have given us a hint at what the Ivy League will reveal in Wednesday's announcement about fall 2020 sports. A few outtakes from the subscription publication (italics are mine):
Multiple football coaches in the Ivy League told The Athletic over the weekend that they expect Wednesday’s announcement to be that the league is moving all fall sports, including football, to spring 2021.And . . .
College athletic administrators throughout Division I told The Athletic that they expect a cascading effect following the Ivy League’s decision, adding that it essentially will give other FCS leagues — such as the Patriot League, to start — cover to make similar decisions.And . . .
“My suspicion is that the majority of presidents in the FBS are uncomfortable with the notion of playing football this fall but for various reasons don’t want to be the first to step out and say that,” (a) Power 5 administrator told The Athletic.
“So, more than anything else, (the Ivy League) decision provides the cover they need. I expect it’ll be a big domino.”Green Alert Take: This is absolutely the way I’ve been reading it from the start. I don't think the Ivy League can shift just one sport. If you move football you have to move soccer (which is more of a contact sport than people realize) and women's volleyball, which is indoors in the fall. If you don't move the others you leave them on an unsafe island and you may be liable.
Green Alert Take II: All that said, I'm not sure there are enough fields, locker rooms, trainers, administrators, sports information personnel and more to handle two full seasons of sports in one season.
Green Alert Take III: Keep in mind, if all sports are eliminated this fall it wouldn't be a precedent. That was set last spring.
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Collegiate Consulting, whose website says it “enables athletic departments and conferences to increase revenue, create efficiencies and maximize operations to succeed and prosper in a diverse climate,” isn't taking it that far.Someone at Collegiate Consulting wrote on the company Twitter account, "I believe there will not be any non-Power 5 out-of-conference FB games this season."
Collegiate is the organization that did the Division I transition feasibility report for the University of New Haven, the Division II school that is Dartmouth football's first out-of-conference game this fall.
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Add Tufts to the list of high-academic NESCAC schools to cancel fall sports.
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This is a little self-serving but . . .A story in the Toledo Blade, noting that newspapers lost 51 percent of their reporters since 2008, points out the struggles schools outside of the Power 5 have getting solid media coverage of their athletic programs. (LINK)
From the story:
"Some stuff is going to get left behind, and unfortunately, coverage of the MAC is probably suffering because these papers see their truly local sports — high schools — as being more important than the colleges," said Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism at the University of Kentucky.And . . .
"You shouldn't have to depend on a university's public relations arm for information about the university and its sports programs," Cross said. "You need independent journalism to do that. As these beats shrivel up, that's something people ought to think about."Green Alert Take: The local Valley News, which once seemed all-but impervious to economic hard times because Dartmouth, Dartmouth-Hitchcock and the VA hospital were the major employers, has let go all of its sports staff except the editor. What that means for Dartmouth football coverage in the coming season – whenever that is – remains to be seen. If there's football there will be BGA Premium and if you'd like to make sure, feel free to click on that button over there to the right that says Donation. (I warned you this was a little self-serving.)
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Dan Piening '00, a onetime Dartmouth linebacker out of the famed program at Moeller High School in Cincinnati, has posted video of the entire 1998 Dartmouth-Yale Homecoming game from Hanover. While the Bulldogs fashioned a 419-164 advantage in total yards, the Big Green won the game, 22-19, with quarterback Mike Coffey tossing two touchdown passes and running 14 yards for another. Yale drove to the Dartmouth five with two seconds remaining but couldn't get off a field goal attempt before time ran outHere's the first quarter:
Watch the third quarter HERE.
Watch the fourth quarter HERE.
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EXTRA POINTWe have a clock radio that beams the current time onto our bedroom ceiling in large, red letters. This morning I woke up for a few minutes and the light on the ceiling read – 3:18.
That's a time that has long brought a smile. Make that 3:18 p.m.
My junior high school and high school were in connected buildings and dismissal for the six years I spent there was, you guessed it, 3:18. Not 3:15 or 3:20 but for some reason 3:18.
I honestly can't say for certain what the tardy time was in the morning – it might have been 8:06 – because I was never late. (As an aside, I never missed a day of school over those six years either).
Thinking of 3:18 reminds me that we had a tone, not a bell, that went over the speakers throughout the school to signal the end of the day. In my grade there was a girl named Lois who could impersonate that sound perfectly. She never tried it when our regular eighth-period teachers were there, but if we had a substitute Lois would make the sound a minute or two before 3:18 and the entire class would empty into the hall while the sub gathered up her (or his) things. I don't think she ever got caught. It was always great when you found out Lois was in your eighth-period class!
