Wednesday, August 07, 2024

Ram Tough

UFL Board has a story about former Dartmouth standout Matt Kaskey '19 getting another shot with the Rams HERE. 

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The Ivy league has announced it will be holding its virtual media day on Monday beginning at 11 a.m.. 

Per the Ivy League release the Dartmouth portion, featuring head coach Sammy McCorkle, quarterback Jackson Proctor and linebacker Braden Mullen is scheduled for 12:05-12:25. The event can be streamed by the public HERE.

Green Alert Take: While the public can view the event, it cannot participate. To be brutally honest, screening questions submitted by the public wouldn't be a bad idea because ever since going to the virtual format it's largely been crickets when the host asks for questions during some school segments, including Dartmouth's.

Green Alert Take II: Back when the Ivy League held a true media day at Yale Golf Course it was a total pain to get down there and yet I never missed one. The opportunity to rotate from one coach to another, looking each one in the eye and asking questions, was invaluable. I got a good feel for the coaches and they got to know me, something that came in handy when I would call them before writing advance stories about their games against Dartmouth. I know at least some coaches complained about traveling for the in-person media days and I can tell you I complained about them as well, but for the media they were invaluable and I miss them.

Green Alert Take III: One of my "go-to" questions with the coaches, which I pitched unsuccessfully to a virtual media day moderator in the past was: "Please share what you see as the biggest positional strengths and biggest positional challenges for your team this fall and please, please, please name names." I sure wish the moderator would consider that as a universal question this year so we can get some real information this year instead of the usual, "They love the game, they are working hard, we're excited for the season, blah, blah, blah."

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From Dartmouth athletics social media:

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The photo spread of the east stands at Memorial Field earlier this week brought a number of emails and a discussion of the top crowds to see the Big Green play at the facility before it was down-sized. Here's a list of the top-10 crowds, keeping in mind that attendance figures might have been a little, uh, dubious some years. Huge thanks to former Dartmouth SID Jack DeGange, whose digging helped fill in the gaps in an earlier list:

1) 21,530 – Oct. 26, 1974 (L Harvard 17-15)

2) 20,819 – Nov. 13, 1971 (W Cornell. 24-4)

3) 20,400 – Oct. 18, 1980 (W Harvard 30-12)

4) 20,349 – Oct. 30 1971 (W Yale 17-15)

5) 20,336 – Oct. 16, 1976 (L Harvard 17-10)

6) 20,306 – Oct. 10, 1970 (W Princeton  38-0)

7) 20,080 – Oct. 20, 1984 (L Harvard  21-7)

8) 19,635 – Oct 12, 1968 (L Princeton 34-7)

8) 17,600 – Oct. 9, 1971 (W Penn 19-3)

10t) 17,500 – Oct. 11, 1969 (W Penn 41-0)

10t) 17,500 – Oct. 14, 1978 (W Yale 10-3)

A few notes:

The 1974 Harvard  game was the Crimson's first visit to Hanover since 1955 ... The '71 game against Cornell featured Heisman runner-up Ed Marinaro and was broadcast on ABC ... The '71 Yale game marked the Bulldogs' first trip to Hanover since 1884 ... Dartmouth was 7-4 in the top-10 (actually 11) attendance games ... opponent appearances in the top-10: Harvard 4, Yale, Princeton, Penn 2 each, Ed Marinaro 1 ... five of the games were between 1968 and 1971 ... the most recent game on the list was 40 years ago.

And finally . . .

Last year's best-attended game at Memorial Field: 4,188 against Columbia on Oct. 21. The home attendance average was 3,153.

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Headline in a Yahoo sports story out of Boulder: Colorado DE coach Vincent Dancy calls Shane Cokes a 'natural leader.' From the story about the second-year grad transfer out of Dartmouth (LINK):

"Shane is very important," Dancy said. "He's a natural leader. He does everything right. As he go, we go. He understands that. We just want him to lead this unit. Like I say, man, we play as one, and when one makes a play, that's all of us making a play. As long as we got Shane and he's doing what he's supposed to do, and that's the number one thing, is leading this group, then we're going to be fine."

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No players are named, but a story headlined Butler Football Welcomes 12 Transfers in 2024 Roster Finalization mentions that in 2024 the Bulldogs will have "10 transfers, including players from Ball State, Dartmouth, and Illinois State." (LINK)

The Big Green transfer, of course, is quarterback Nick Howard, who used up his Ivy League eligibility last fall. Find Howard's bio and see him wearing a No. 2 Butler uniform HERE.

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With so little media attention these days, Ivy League fans were glad to see Jake Novak posting on his always informative Roar Lions blog yesterday for the first time after a lengthy hiatus HERE.

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EXTRA POINT
I expected a little more from a story with the headline Five Ways Hiking Is Good for You but as someone who tries to go up, down and around our nearby mountain for at least an hour just about every day, I'm not about to disagree with its conclusions. Find the story HERE.
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