The Devils You Know

Now Here are Some Happy Seniors!

Today’s Big Green Alert Blog says Dartmouth will, (unofficially), have 35 seniors on the roster this coming fall.

That has to be a record for Ivy League history… but I don’t know how anyone could 100% confirm that.

Having that many seniors will definitely be a boost for the Big Green overall, but it’s certainly not a magic bullet.

Columbia had the most returning seniors in the Ivies last season and came in 6th.

Cornell had the most seniors back in 2008 and came in 7th.

But both last year’s Lions and the ’08 Big Red did do very well in their non-conference games. That tells me that having good experience is a super advantage against teams that are not so familiar with your senior players in the first place. But it can tend to backfire against the Ivy teams that already know these players very well.

Plus, those non-conference games are early in the season when the younger players don’t tend to be as ready to go as the vets.

So, I expect Dartmouth to go 3-0 against the non-Ivies again this year based on all those seniors and the fact that the team is generally better anyway.

The real key to winning in the Ivies is having a strong nucleus of junior players.

Juniors will certainly be the key to Columbia’s season, as a number of them will have to step up into effective starting roles for the varsity.

Kraft League Update

The Robert Kraft-backed Israeli football league just wrapped up its fourth season with the championship game going to the Judean Rebels 32-30 at Kraft Stadium. (I foolishly bet my money on the Judean People’s Front).

The above linked story focuses on the encouraging teamwork between Israeli and Palestinian players in the league, shattering two stereotypes about the region and the sport at the same time.

I’ve already written about how one young star from this Israeli league will be joining the Ivies this fall, (unfortunately for Harvard, not Columbia), but hopefully more stars from the Holy Land will be on the way in the coming years.

Be Ready to Join!!!

A draft letter is about to go out respectfully asking the administration to honor our Columbia student armed forces veterans at halftime of a football game this fall.

I hope 100% of the readers here will agree to sign that letter and make a positive out of an incident that has to be the low point of my life as a Columbia alumnus.