Hey Mr. Weather Man...

As the boys hit the field at Wien Stadium today I can report that it is 80 degrees here in Midtown Manhattan with no hummidity... thank goodness.

Of course, that gets me thinking about how bad the weather was at most of our home games... actually all but one of our home games, last season.

It rained against Marist in week 2.

It rained hard against Yale in week 7.

It was overcast and rained a bit against Harvard in week 8.

It was overcast and a little wet against Brown in week 10.

Only Homecoming versus Penn gave us nice weather throughout, and well... we lost that one by a lot.

The funny thing about the Baker Field Athletics Complex is it tends to accentuate what the general weather conditions are on any given day. So if it's a nice day elsewhere in New York, it tends to be downright glorious at Baker Field. But if it's gloomy, well it seems worse up there.

My money is on better weather this time around. And that should mean better attendance as well, which is always the goal.


Game of the Day (Day 30)

November 14, 1998

Columbia 22 Cornell 10

Speaking of the weather, I'm often asked by people from California and the Deep South just how cold it gets at Columbia football games.

I don't know if global warming has anything to do with it, (I'm not even sure I buy that alarmist stuff), but I can count on one hand just how many times I've been very cold at a Columbia home game and still have a few fingers left over.

But it was a chilly day in late 1998 when the Lions returned home to face the Cornell Big Red.

It felt a lot colder after a sloppy first quarter left the Lions trailing 10-0 and searching for answers. Luckily two-way star Chris Tillotson had plenty of them as he led the Lions to victory.

First he caught a key 20-yard pass to set up a short field goal and then made a nice 12-yard punt return to help Columbia pick up another chip shot FG to make it 10-6 at the half.

Then Tillotson really took over.

Early in the third quarter, he grabbed a fumble by Cornell's Justin Bush on a hop and dashed 70 yards for a touchdown and a 13-10 lead.

Tillotson was just getting warmed up. He began another Columbia drive with a 17-yard gain on a reverse, and that eventually led to Kravitz's third field goal to make it 16-10.

Tillotson didn't do it ALL by himself. Kirby Mack did pull off a splendid 48-yard TD run for the final points of the game.

It was also a decent game for freshman Johnathan Reese, who had 70 yards on 10 carries.

But Tillotson still wasn't finished.

After that Mack TD, Cornell mounted a drive that looked good until Tillotson forced Big Red receiver Joe Splendorio to fumble and Lion linebacker Kevin Wright recovered.

Minutes later, Tillotson truly iced the game with his second interception of the contest.

Tillotson finished the year as a first-team All-Ivy free safety, but Columbia fans knew he was a force on offense as well.