Strange Times

With no clear idea what is going to happen regarding fall and winter sports, Dartmouth athletes are starting to hedge their bets. Today's Dartmouth has a story (LINK) about basketball forward Aaryn Rai's hope to return to the Big Green but choosing to enter the transfer portal just in case. Now Dartmouth defensive lineman Seth Simmer, who would have been a fifth-year senior this fall, is exploring graduate transfer options per his highlight video:

 

Green Alert Take: If the Ivy League really does hold off until early January to make any pronouncements about fall and winter sports in 2020-21 there could be a tidal wave of other Ancient Eight seniors entering the portal . . . and there should be. Just in case.

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While Dartmouth's reign as an Ivy League football champion does not yet appear to have an end date, it's different for the Tampa Bay Lightning, which won the Stanley Cup last night while you were watching Patrick Mahomes show everyone he is the best quarterback in the NFL.

Believe it or not, the Lightning's Stanley Cup campaign began with the season-opener one year ago Saturday. Even with the start of the next season pushed back, Tampa Bay won't have much time to celebrate. Barring a change, training camp will begin two weeks to the day after the election.

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From the Dartmouth sports publicity office (LINK):

The Dartmouth football team debuted The Woods Watch Party — their weekly streaming of past games with commentary from those who participated — back on Sept. 19, and now some of the other Big Green’s fall sports are getting in on the action.

For the next nine Wednesday evenings, Big Green fans can tune into the Dartmouth Sports YouTube Channel for “Big Green Classic” to relive an exciting Dartmouth game from a fall sport. These broadcasts will not only include the action from each contest, but also players that participated in those games along with the program’s coach, all Zooming in to provide insight into the plays on the field, the strategies that went into each game and their Dartmouth experience as a whole.

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You read here a few weeks ago about how high school football was going to be played this year in Vermont. The Octopus Athletics site covered a game and offered up a few observations on how the "one-hand" touch season is playing out (LINK):

There were only seven players on a side and the only padding they wore was their helmets. 

Running plays were not allowed, the quarterback was considered “sacked” if he held the ball longer than four seconds and there were no kickoffs or punts, though extra-point attempts were kosher. 

The biggest difference, however? The fact that linemen played but didn’t play on the line. Instead, they acted as defensive backs and receivers, tight ends and linebackers. That model, used during the first and third quarters . . .

Green Alert Take: I guess it's better than nothing, right? Right?

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EXTRA POINT

Several times during last night's NFL game I headed outside to look for the Northern Lights, which were expected to make a rare appearance in Vermont and across the Upper Valley. (LINK)

While the overcast that was predicted held off, so did the Northern Lights. I tried to convince myself several times that there was some color in the sky, but I'll freely admit that was just wishful thinking.

I'm pretty good at willing myself to wake without an alarm during the night and at 2 a.m. I headed to the window for another look. There was a little more overcast, and the sky was lighter than I expected, but still no blues and greens dancing in the night.

The experts say that weather permitting the Northern Lights will be visible in these parts tonight, but this time I'm going to sleep in. There's a 60 percent chance of rain at sunset and it only goes up from there. The TV talking heads predict a gully-washer and that's pretty much guaranteed to rain out this chance to see the Northern Lights. Maybe next time ;-)