Video Archive From (The ;-) Annapolis. The Real One.

Kinda wish I had stumbled across this shaky video on Easter Sunday. Watch and scroll down to see why.

Dartmouth didn't fare very well in its last game against Navy, suffering a 45-0 defeat on Oct. 4, 1986. The Midshipmen took a 7-0 lead through one quarter, built the difference to 24-0 at that the half and then cruised home to the easy win. (I was at the game in my role as the assistant director of sports information at Dartmouth at the time and [think] I took the photo below, although I can't say for sure ;-)

While the Big Green didn't have much fun in front of a crowd of 31,543 sophomore wide receiver Craig Morton was clearly the best player in the game. All the 6-foot, 170-pound speedster did was catch nine passes for 191 yards – including 184 in the first half alone – on a day in which Navy piled up a 623-280 advantage in total offense. Morton, who would go on to earn an invitation to the NFL Combine and then play in NFL Europe, had catches of 55 and 47 yards in his big first half.

Morton finished his sophomore season with 44 catches for 1,063 yards and 10 touchdowns, averaging a ming-boggling 24.2 yards per catch. To put his average gain that fall in perspective, here's how his yards-per-catch that fall stacks up against a bunched next four in that category in Dartmouth history (minimum 600 yards receiving):

1)  24.2 Craig Morton, 1986 (44 catches, 1,063 yards, 10 TDs)

2)  19.5 Zach Ellis, 1996 (32-623-4 TDs)

3)  18.8 Jack Daly, 1984 (55-1,034-8  TDs)

4)  18.6 Brian Evans, 2007 (34-631, 7 TDs)

5)  18.2 Matt Brzica, 1992 (53-965, 8 TDs)

Craig Morton makes a catch against Navy.

So why would it have been fun to post the Navy video on Easter Sunday? Because Easter is such a special day for Morton, a lead pastor (along with his wife Karen) of a church in nearby West Lebanon. (LINK)

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From a story headlined, College athletic directors concerned name, image or likeness changes will skew competitive balance (LINK). Italics are mine:

In an Associated Press survey of Division I athletic directors, nearly 73% said allowing athletes to be compensated for NIL use will decrease the number of schools that have a chance to be competitive in college sports. Nearly 28% said many fewer schools would be competitive.

"NIL will be a game changer for all," one respondent said. "Many will get out of college athletics as this is not what they signed up for. Schools should resist NIL and go Ivy (League) non-scholarship model. I do not see why NIL is good for all."

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Today's reason why spring football is bizarre:

There are two game weeks left before the NCAA announces the field for the FCS playoffs on April 18. New Hampshire has played one game to date.

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Headline for column in The Dartmouth spun out of the decision to hold graduation on Memorial Field – but without guests (LINK):

Commencement Without Compassion

Dartmouth’s decision to exclude friends and families from in-person Commencement in June represents hasty and cold-hearted decision-making 

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If you think moving graduation to the 11,000-seat football stadium and not allowing guests is questionable, how about this? Among the activities that may replace Green Key, canceled for the second year in a row, are, and this is a direct quote from The D (LINK):

“Barn Babies,” a miniature petting zoo that in years past has been held outside Collis; and “Glaze It!,” an event where students can make pottery while munching on donuts.

Discuss among yourselves.

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EXTRA POINT
That Certain Nittany Lion '16 came by for a socially distanced birthday dinner/Easter weekend (with one fully vaccinated parent and one getting his second shot tomorrow) and the two of us who were not cooking grabbed a 9-iron, a wedge, a few Titleists and four orange football pylons and headed out to the yard to have a little fun on an afternoon when the temperature almost hit 50 degrees.

With the field part of our property cut down last fall and not yet sprouting up we could hit balls and actually find them (which is seldom the case when I play, even on a groomed course ;-).

The pylons were placed strategically around our property and a hole was considered over when a shot stopped rolling within a club length of a pylon. If you hit the pylon on the fly you subtracted one shot from your total.

With TCNL '16 a low single-digit handicap when he was helping the Penn State club golf team to nationals in North Carolina and me being closer to, well, a triple-digit handicap we played an eight-hole match instead of stroke play so it would be more competitive. It didn't matter. It was "dormie" after four holes and only got worse from there.

In case you were wondering (which I was), thanks to Google maps' satellite view our longest hole yesterday was 130 yards. If there's a rematch before the field grows up there's room for a 175-yard hole and maybe, just maybe, I can get lucky and win that one. Or not.