Sunday, April 10, 2022

One Week In

In Tuesday's BGA Premium report about the first spring practice of the year Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens talked about what he considers the biggest challenge the team faces on the offensive side of the ball – the line. Wrapping up the third practice of the spring yesterday, he addressed what he considers the biggest challenge the team has defensively – linebacker. To read those stories on BGA Premium, CLICK HERE.

Asked how the first three of the allowable 12 spring practices went, Teevens had this to say:

"The guys came back having done a wonderful job in terms of cardio fitness. The players who were on campus we monitored closely, and the guys who were off site did a very good job as well, so we didn't have any catch-up. The recall and pick-up has been exceptional to date, and we've been able to add things as we go.

"One week in there has been some A&I because of the weather patterns. Going inside at 6:30 Thursday morning was a little bit of a challenge because we only did a little bit of that in the fall. But it was a good chance for our coaches to get back on track in terms of spatial awareness, how we fit different things in, and I thought they did a phenomenal job. That was very, very productive as opposed to being out in pouring rain with wet balls and so forth. As a teaching environment it was exceptional. And then today we a did a nice job, so overall I'd say the first week has been very, very productive for us."

Thursday's "inside"practice was at the new indoor practice facility, which I like to call The Green House. Here's a picture I shot from the Thursday session in the only permanent indoor facility of its kind in the Ivy League:







And in case you are wondering, the photograph does not do justice to how high the roof towers over the playing surface. 

For a little better look at the Green House, here's a video put together by Dartmouth advancement:

Field Level: Graham Indoor Practice Facility from Dartmouth Advancement on Vimeo.

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The local daily has a story about the Dartmouth men's lacrosse team breaking its own record for consecutive Ivy League losses when it dropped its 32nd conference game in a row. The best news was in the notes at the end of the story (LINK):

“One of three Dartmouth-Hitchcock physicians working the game was former Big Green football star Timmy McManus, who recently celebrated the birth of his first child.”

The first of the three McManus brothers (and one sister) who wore the Dartmouth green, Tim '11 was an All-Ivy League wide receiver and three-time captain.

Green Alert Take: Did you catch that? I'll repeat. Three-time captain.

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The Denver Post includes several quotes from Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens in a story about new Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett. It was Teevens who gave Hackett his first full-time job at Stanford. He begins his first offseason program with the team on Monday. (LINK)

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The South Florida Sun Sentinel has a story under the headline, What’s their most memorable game? Van Gundy, Bratton, Shula explain. Given that David Shula is Dartmouth's wide receivers coach I clicked through to find this quote from the former Big Green wide receiver and Miami Dolphins' quarterback/receivers coach in 1985 (LINK):

“The Monday night game against the Bears in 1985. The Orange Bowl was just electric. Even in pregame, 70 minutes before kickoff, there were big cheers just for Uwe Von Schamann as he was practicing field goals. If they went through, the crowd was going wild. That night, that whole night, was one like I’ve never seen before. It gives me chills just thinking about it — look, I have goose pimples. See them on my arm? That was a special night.”

That sent me scrambling to recall what was so special about the game and I found a story reminding me of this (LINK):

The Chicago Bears entered Week 13 of the 1985 season 12-0 and looking to go undefeated. An 8-4 Miami Dolphins ended that thought. 

The Dolphins won the game, 38-24, to hand the eventual Super Bowl champions their only loss in an 18-1 season.

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Yale has "announced" its 2022 schedule with this Tweet:

Green Alert Take: I've been around the block a couple of times and had seen Yale's schedule previously but even I had to go to the actual schedule link HERE to be sure who the Bulldogs were playing on Oct. 1 and who they were playing on Oct. 15. Can't be many teams facing two opponents nicknamed the Bison. Turns out they have Howard on the first and Bucknell on the 15th. And between those two opponents? Dartmouth, and that's no bull.

Oh yeah, and I've italicized one word in the lede of a Football Scoop story that probably wouldn't be used if the story was about one of five other Ivy League schools (LINK):

Prestigious Ivy League institution Yale University has dipped into the Southeastern Conference to find the Bulldogs’ new director of football operations.

That would be Austin Van Poucke, who arrives in New Haven after five years at Arkansas. 

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EXTRA POINT
When I pulled my EV into a gas station in Hanover (for a soft drink not gas of course ;-) after practice yesterday, I spotted this sign that had me thinking about azaleas, pine straw and signature $1.50 pimento cheese sandwiches (although I never ate one).

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