31 More Days of Winter

The Spring Countdown Begins!


I don't care what the groundhog and the weatherman say, we can put a definitive start date for spring by looking at the Columbia spring practice schedule. It all starts on March 26. There are still 208 days until we kick off the 2009 season, but the 31 days until spring practice seem like they might fly by.

The on-the-field practices at Wien Stadium are being labeled as open to the public in a mailing many football supporters, including myself, received this weekend. That is a great development for those of us who want to shake off the winter blues and see our team in action without having to wait another seven months.

It also occurred to me that opening up spring practice to the fans will make me and this blog more obsolete, and that is a WELCOME development for a guy with two daughters who needs to prepare for their teenage years when I am certain to become completely obsolete in every way! Seriously, the more the merrier.

OY VOY

There's been some talk on the VOY Ivy Sports blog about how our site somehow overhypes the incoming recruits. I will admit to getting excited when I learn and confirm the names of our future players, but I can't remember ever writing anything about how any incoming player was a sure thing or a world beater.

And I don't apologize one bit for giving these kids some recognition. These are teenagers who have been able to successfully avoid all those terrible influences teens face and have excelled on the field and in the classroom well enough to become eligible for the Ivies. What's the ratio of stories about badly-behaving teens to high-achieving teens in the news media? 10:1? 100:1? I could only hope that my kids succeed so well so early in life. No, this does not make the football recruits heroes or saints, but they deserve at least as much ink and "cyberspace" as the kids who commit crimes or get pregnant at 15.


BBall Developments

The men's basketball squad had a tough loss Saturday night, losing a nine-point second half lead and falling to Yale after a nice win Friday night against Brown. But I am taking the optimist's side of this story again as we have to remember this is a very young team that was picked to finish sixth in the Ivies. As of now, the Lions are tied for second with four games to play. Still not too shabby.

The women are also 6-4 in the Ivies and have come on strong as of late. Their future looks bright as well.