Ideas from Erik

Erik Greenberg Anjou has written and produced several films

Last spring, I had the honor of seeing a special screening of 8: Ivy League Football and America.

Seeing the film led to some thoughts I had about the future of the league.

Now, the co-producer of the film, Erik Greenberg Anjou would like to respond to some of those thoughts.

Here's what Erik had to say:

"I think you smacked the nail right on the head re: several reasons why Ivy football isn't producing the enthusiasm it ought to. And you also speak to the importance of why football should remain popular.

But there are other reasons for the Ivy game's relative state of listlessness as well, of course. Title IX, the internationalization of the student body, the exponential growth of alternative activities - both on campus and off, sports-oriented and not - to funnel off attention.

Ultimately, something becomes critical because it's infused with the critical mass of the culture at large. When Ivy football was biggest, it was receiving the most emphasis, both on campus and off. Now, the D-1 programs with the most financial resources, profit margin and notoriety dominate the national football culture. The Ivies - since the "Ivy League" became a league - have decided, literally, that they don't want to play that commercial game. Ironically, it was the very moment itself when the league became official (there was no Ivy League prior to the '50's, just Ivy League schools) that the Ivy League football programs began their eventual march to inter and intra-cultural obsolesence.

Should this march be reversed? Absolutely! How to do it? Many answers, and hopefully some of my comments will instigate a larger discussion that leads to action.

1. A change of tune from the Ivy presidents,

2. Participation in NCAA post-season play,

3. Persistent and local lobbying by organizations and mouthpieces such as the Ivy Football Association,

4. Adamant and strident repudiations of further efforts by the schools to place further deleterious restrictions on recruiting and practice time, and

5. An internal movement from within the programs themselves to create leaders, leadership, visibility and heightened community participation and awareness from the players.

There was a reason why in the glory days the Ivy League football hero was a cultural icon. He was a charismatic, high achieving intellectually active man of action. He kicked ass on the football field, but was socially engaged. He was the president of a fraternity or singing group or academic organization. The leadership he displayed on the field was a metaphor for and precursor to what he achieved off of it.

So, we must develop not just football players, or scholar-athletes, but men who will take charge of and interact with and stimulate the culture at large. Create the next generations of George Shultz's and Hank Paulson's. Have the young men interact with communities outside of the college itself.

At Middlebury, my alma mater, the hockey squad specifically (they've won at least 6-7 NCAA national championships over the last 10-12 years) are heroes not just because they are extraordinary student-athletes but because they are engaged participants in and citizens of the larger Middlebury community. They volunteer at food banks or literacy programs or the ambulance squad. They just don't build legends on the field so to speak, but memories and legacies off it.

And this is the final and perhaps most important way that Ivy League football will be re-birthed. To make sure that football isn't just the game played on the field - but it actively represents the same critical values of teamwork as well as individual excellence, controlled aggression, community awareness and nurturing, and the unrelenting quest for self and squad's amelioration embodying the very best of what our country was, is, and can always be."


Game of the Day (Day 42)

September 25, 1932

Columbia 51 Middlebury 0


Well, how could I resist choosing a Columbia game against Middlebury when former Middlebury player Erik Greenberg Anjou just had the floor for the post above?

Columbia played Middlebury six times before the small college from Vermont finally had enough after this 1932 contest. The Lions won all six games, and only the 1923 game was close.

This was the season opening contest at Baker Field for a Columbia team toiling under Lou Little in the coach's thrid season on Morningside Heights. The 1931, '32 and '33 teams went a combined 22-3-2, and rarely gave up more than 6 or 7 points per game.

12,000 fans showed up to see the Lions take control early. It was a breakthrough game for future Rose Bowl star Cliff Montgomery, who eased the Columbia fans' fears about the team after the graduation of Ralph Hewitt.

Montgomery scored three touchdowns, two in the first quarter, as Columbia outgained Middlebury in rushing yards 238 to 17. Montgomery also threw a 40-yard TD pass to Red Matal. The Lions made 12 first downs to Middlebury's one and only a few missed extra points slightly tarnished a game with eight Columbia touchdowns.

After this win, the Lions won their next six before finishing the season with a 7-6 loss to Brown and 0-0 tie against Syracuse.

But the die was cast with stars like Montgomery learning the Lou Little way.