The Omens & 100 Days to Go!
I'm all about the "Omens" today.
Good omens that is.
First off, we have the news that Versus is going to televise three Ivy football games this fall.
They are:
1) Penn at Princeton on Nov. 6th
2) Brown at Dartmouth on Nov. 13th
3) Yale at Harvard on Nov. 20th
Versus says it may televise more games, but I wouldn't hold my breath. That means Columbia and Cornell are shut out, at least so far.
Why is this a good omen?
Because more often than not, the teams the media overlook end up doing really well in the end.
I remember the huge news ABC made in 1981 when it decided not to put either the Jets or the Giants on any Monday Night Football games that season.
The result?
Both the Jets and the Giants had surprisingly strong years with the Giants making the playoffs for the first time since 1963 and the Jets getting into the postseason for the first time since 1969.
Of course, the full "Yale on Yes" package hasn't been announced and I have a feeling the Columbia Yale game in New Haven on Oct. 30th will be included.
Here's the second good omen: The Chicago Blackhawks.
The Hawks won their first Stanley Cup in 49 years last night.
49 years ago was 1961.
1961 was the last year Columbia won the Ivy Title.
Need I say more?
In other News...
Marty as a Colt
The great Marty Domres '69 will be the Columbia honoree at The Ivy Football Association Dinner this coming January.
The other honorees are:
AUGUSTUS A. WHITE, III, M.D., PhD.
Distinguished Orthopaedic Spine Surgeon and Author
Decorated Vietnam War Veteran
Brown ‘57
PETE GOGOLAK
Original College and Pro Soccer-Style Placekicker
Executive R.R. Donnelly Financial
Cornell ‘64
MURRY BOWDEN
NFF College Hall of Fame
Co-Founder, The Hanover Company
Dartmouth ‘71
JOSEPH O'DONNELL
Founder, Boston Culinary Group
Founder and Chairman, The Joey Fund
Harvard ‘67
CHUCK BEDNARIK
NFL Hall of Fame
Decorated WWII Veteran
Pennsylvania ‘49
DENNIS J. KELLER
Founder of DeVry, Inc.
Trustee, Princeton University
Princeton ‘63
HENRY G. HIGDON
Founder, Higdon Partners
Leading Executive Search Consultant
Yale ‘63
More information on the dinner will be released as we get closer to the January 27th dinner date.
But you can see a video of the 2009 dinner here.
100 Day Countdown!!!
Today marks that day when we finally start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for our endless Ivy football offseason.
It's just 100 days before we kick things off at home vs. Fordham on Sept. 18th.
In 2008, I marked the 100 days before the season started by spotlighting 100 of the greatest games in Columbia history.
Last summer, I looked at 100 great players from Columbia's past and present.
This year, I'd like to focus on the many interesting gems I've culled from my ongoing Columbia high school football feeder list. This has been a tough, but rewarding research project that I hope will give Lions fans some insights on the past and strategies for the future of the program.
To start, I'd like to take a state-by-state look at the feeder schools beginning with Alabama.
I'd LIKE to start with Alabama, but it's not easy.
That's because the greatest Columbia players from Alabama high schools have yet to show themselves.
The yield from Alabama hasn't been that great so far in Columbia history.
7 players have been successfully recruited from 'Bama. They are:
Benjamin Russell HS (Alexander City, AL)
Rick Haynes ‘92
Cleburne County HS (Heflin, AL)
Will Payne ‘96
Demopolis Academy (Demopolis, AL)
Mike Compton ‘91
Fort Dale-South Butler Academy (Greenville, AL)
Chris Watson ‘99
George Washington Carver HS (Montgomery, AL)
Brett Pouncey ‘88
Montgomery Academy (Montgomery, AL)
John Ellis ‘03
Spain Park HS (Hoover, AL)
Zach Olinger ‘14
Young Mr. Olinger has a wide open shot at becoming the best Alabama product to play at Columbia. I'm sure we're all wishing him the best of luck.
posted by Jake @ 11:11:00 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
What's with Versus and especially YES, the NEW YORK Yankee station?
I hope your omen is correct and they'll regret omitting the Lions, who should play some exciting games this season.
Jake, I thought that Spencer Ramsey, one of the co-captains of the 1970 Football Team, was from Alabama. Ramsey, a defensive end, was an outstanding pass rusher.
Makes no sense to me to omit Columbia and Cornell. The Lions have the most exciting young quarterback in the Ivy League in Sean Brackett, and Cornell has a new head football coach and a huge alumni base. However, you have to understand that much of the local college sports media coverage in the New York Metropolitan Area makes little sense and decisions of this type are usually made by members of an "old boys network" of sports editors and producers who know very little about college sports , in general, and the Ivy League, in particular. I would assume that somone in the Columbia Sports Information Office is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the Lions get their fair share of media coverage. That's the person who would know why Versus is omitting the Lions and the Big Red.
Spencer "Ray" Ramsey was indeed from Alabama... but he went to the Mount Hermon School for high school.
Spencer Ramsey was a very good defensive end for the Lions in the late 1960's. He was very quick into the backfield and had a knack for disrupting plays before they got started. He made some memorable plays. Zac Olinger sounds like he has good speed, but Ramsey was very fast.
Versus makes its decisions on its own, the schools get little to no input. Also, Yale pays to get itself on YES... I forgot to mention that today but I have explained that before.
Nice vid of game action showing recruit Zach Olinger in battle of two 5-0 top-ranked Alabama teams.
http://www.maxpreps.com/local/team/videos.aspx?schoolid=7425f644-63c3-4f07-9766-b2a1b26fc12a&ssid=f11d21e3-d9ab-4c9b-974b-ff4fcfed5c76&videoid=FE01EF84-9542-4CF1-9526-9510914F73B2
More on Olinger -- his Spain Park team's colors listed as Columbia Blue and Black (now 'bout that!) Team finished 11th in state of Alabama.
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