It's A Big (Green) Week

Barring a change or something unexpected, Dartmouth is slated to start its official spring practice this week, with the first session slated for 10 a.m. Saturday.

Weather depending the 12 sessions allowed by Ivy League rule will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5 p.m., and at 10 Saturday mornings. (Come to think of it, the weather might not play a role in the scheduling if they are going to use the new Green House indoor practice facility ;-)

Nothing official has been finalized regarding the media observing practice but I'm hopeful that, being fully vaccinated and more than three weeks out from my second shot, I'll be allowed some kind of socially distanced access. If so, coverage will be available on BGA Premium after each session.

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Speaking of spring football, a change to Dartmouth's venerable "D-Plan" could have an impact on the Big Green in the future.

From a story in The Dartmouth (LINK):

Under the new rules, students must take one leave term during a fall or spring term of their sophomore, junior or senior years, can fulfill their sophomore summer requirement through abroad or transfer programs and can live in-residence for two terms of their senior year instead of three without petitioning for an exemption to the senior year residency requirement.

Given that football players will not want to miss a fall, and may  want to enjoy a final, relaxed and glorious Hanover spring on campus as seniors they would have to be off-campus for one spring and therefore miss the off-season practice. There is, however, this possible "out," as noted in The D:

“Under the new D-Plan policy, students with exceptional circumstances will still have the option to submit a petition for change in enrollment,” (interim registrar Eric) Parsons wrote.

Green Alert Take: What Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens thinks about the policy change and how it may or may not impact his program is one of the notes you can expect to read on BGA Premium this spring.

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Dartmouth has had almost 70 players recognized since the the National Football Foundation founded the Hampshire Honor Society. The NFFF's Hampshire Honor Society website explains that it "is comprised of college football players from all divisions of play who each maintained a cumulative 3.2 GPA or better throughout their college careers. An elite group of 912 players from 258 schools qualified for membership in 2021, the Society's 15th year. The initiative has now honored 13,079 student-athletes since its inception."

DARTMOUTH'S HAMPSHIRE SOCIETY SELECTIONS:

Year	P	Name
2007	TE QB WR	Don Bly Mike Fritz Ryan Fuselier
2008	OL TE OL	Taylor Layman Brett Lowe Tim Wheeler
2009	LB P	Andrew Dete Brian Scullin
2010	QB	Alex Jenny
2011	PK OL WR	Donald Kephart Will Montgomery Tanner Scott
2012	FS TE DB LB WR PK	Joey Casey John Gallagher Chad Hollis Luke Hussey Tim McManus Foley Schmidt
2013	DT TE OL LB	Mick Davis Justin Foley Patrick Lahey Garrett Wymore
2014	WR TE NB TE LB CB	Robbie Anthony Dean Bakes Mike Banaciski Cole Marcoux Michael Runger Chase Womack
2015	FS PK OL	Stephen Dazzo Riley Lyons Ben Spiritos
2016	RB C WR	Kyle Bramble Jacob Flores Ryan McManus
2017	NB PK S	Lucas Bavaro Alex Gakenheimer Charlie Miller
2018	S DL DL OL QB LB DL TE TE PK RB	Colin Boit Brennan Cascarano Jeremiah Douchee Ben Hagaman Jack Heneghan Jimmy Knight Charlie Pontarelli Cam Poole Cameron Skaff David Smith Ryder Stone
2019	OL LB WR TE K/H WR DL NB RB	Phil Berton David Emanuels Drew Hunnicutt J.J. Jefferies Jack Katzman Scott Lloyd Jimmy McHugh Kyran McKinney-Crudden Matthew Shearin
2020	OL P OL QB WR DL QB OL LB	Tanner Aiono Davis Brief Ben Culmer Jared Gerbino Brandon Hester Niko Lalos Jake Pallotta Anders Peterson Jack Traynor
2021	LB WR DL	Ross Andreasik Kellen Love Jackson Yost

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The first weekend of spring competition for Dartmouth teams wrapped up yesterday and while the results might seem surprising, perhaps they shouldn't.

With roughly half of the Dartmouth student body on campus for the spring quarter and limited overlap between players who participated in winter drills and those opening the season, the Big Green lacrosse teams figured to face an uphill battle yesterday against undefeated Division III Tufts squads. Dartmouth dropped both games to the Jumbos with the women losing, 11-5, and the men falling, 15-9.

Find the women's story HERE and the men's story HERE.

Green Alert Take: Because these and other spring competitions are official NCAA events it's probably not kosher to do so but it just seems as if results in this unusual season shouldn't count in the all-time Dartmouth records and series records. No, they aren't exhibition games by the letter of the law but that's exactly what they are in practical terms.

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EXTRA POINT
I was reminded by a couple of readers that I should have mentioned after watching The Godfather for the first time that Al Pacino's fictional character Michael Corleone attended Dartmouth before dropping out to enlist in the Marines after Pearl Harbor. (LINK)

Michael's wife Kay, who grew up in Hanover, is described as meeting Michael in 1945 while she was attending Dartmouth, which would have been a good trick given that Dartmouth did not go co-ed until 1972.

How did author Mario Puzo end up choosing Dartmouth for Michael's college? From a 2018 story in Dartmouth Alumni Magazine (LINK):

Though Puzo grew up in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen, thanks to the Fresh Air Fund, every summer from the ages of 9 to 15 he spent two weeks in the Hanover area living with a middle-aged couple.

As for those of you who raved about The Godfather Part II, I suppose I'll watch it at some point but until then I'll take your word for it ;-)

And if I'm in no hurry to watch Part II, I'll take your word for it and avoid Part III altogether.

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Last but certainly not least, a very Happy Birthday to That Certain Dartmouth '14! Hope you are all recovered from yesterday's 12-mile run!