Kinkikali

The Levee was Dry

The Pat’s are humbled.  Kurt Warner is retired.  And Brett Farve has taken his last hit.  Like a water logged phoenix, New Orleans has come back from a very bad date with Katrina.  True Indianapolis has been weathering tough times.  But being underwater financially is far different from being underwater like the folks of the bayou.  I give my cheers to the Saints.  So many greats in helmets came from the bayou.  Now it is time for victory of the Superbowl variety to come to the Saint’s crowd.

Patriot’s Game

This past decade the Patriots regularly ground opponents into dust with cold efficiency.  Team after team were left in shock.  Then came the Superbowl superflub.  Afterward Tom Brady got whacked.  Now the Patriots are just another team.

The truth is worse.

Last night the Ravens  ripped the Patriots apart.  Much was attributed to the quality of the Ravens who played sharp and “to win”.  The Patriots played like lamed octopi. Tom “Throwaway” Brady had some great receptions–to the Ravens.  The defense was clownish.  Why the Patriots were not in the game “to win” is strictly Belichek’s responsibility. 

Most incredibly you got booed by your fans.  That is bad, real bad.  When you lose your fans–sitting in the deep cold—you have truly “lost”.  Enjoy your season off, back amongst the mere mortals.

D-Lightful

The economy may be in the toilet.  The wars oversees wallow like a mammoth in a tar pit.  And winter is coming.  But on a bright note  Dartmouth football has won it second game this season.  The win against Columbia was no fluke.  Dartmouth slugged out Cornell 20-17 in an OT grudge match. Boo-ya Boys in Green.  Talk about getting your gear in gear.  Even with no more wins you have broken the grip of last season.  Congrats for being back amongst the winning.  Enjoy your Thanksgiving.

D-Day…A Long Time Coming

Out of the mist, amidst rain and darkness, Dartmouth struck back.  I got the game online, downpours plagued the playing field.  Interceptions and a solid relentless running game drove Dartmouth forward. Columbia choked and struggled and fell before Dartmouth.  Dartmouth got off to a rousing and invincible start 14-0 in the first quarter.  Everyone was stunned.  Dartmouth ahead, solidly ahead.  The amazement grew as the D’s defense kept Columbia at bay.  Oh Columbia went up and down the field gaining yardage, but failing to score.  Apparently Columbia is afraid of its own kicking potential (Columbia football may want to see a shrink about this–odd and a bit freaky).  That’s ok, Dartmouth had its own ghost to exorcise.  And when Columbia did put 6 points on the board Dartmouth hardly noticed.  In the fourth Dartmouth put up another 14.  Nothing was stopping Dartmouth this day.  Dartmouth did get a penalty for excessive celebrating–but again Dartmouth was unstoppable.  The Green tasted victory.  And Teevens probably slept soundly for the first time in two years.

Cheers to you Green, for getting your defense in shape, for running the ball, for turning a perfectly miserable weather day to a Homecoming Hootenanny.

You made the break–clean and beautiful. Watchout Harvard.

Dartmouth Doldrums

Yeah it hurts, hurts bad.  Take the pain.  We, the fans and followers, get the pain.  But the gain is still pretty trifling.  What I and a good number of frustrated folks are looking for is a win.  Just one.  Don’t stress for two.  Just break the cycle of endless losses.  Yes you nabbed 14 points in the 4th quarter against Holy Cross. A nice comeback, except Holy Cross had 34 points at the end of the 3rd quarter.  Nope you will have to do better and I mean better.  Saturday comes Columbia, at Memorial Field.

Columbia is the kind of opponent Dartmouth football should be happy about.  Columbia is known for hitting the books not hitting the backfield.

But Dartmouth is fighting against a terrible record and a worse reputation.  Despite home field advantage (homecoming no less), the weather (as of Tuesday) looks to be cold and wet.  Of course foul weather may be the wild card to swing the numbers one way or the other and perhaps be the great nullifier.

Even a nailbiter game would be a solid step forward.  But time and the appropriate media outlet will tell the story as the weather seems to preclude a trip to the Upper Valley this Saturday.

Dartmouth A Go-go

Please, please, please pull out a win Dartmouth Football.  I write this after your last routing (outing does not seem to capture your road games) with Yale. Against UNH, you were doomed.  But Yale? No matter.  As we speak you are crunching it out with Holy Cross—UNH with a prayer wheel.  How I shudder with anticipation.  Another beautiful fall day.  But Holy Cross has not the cross to bear on the field.  They are 4-1 and the 1 was a close one.

Please turn a win, another downer before Homecoming will make many an alum mournful of the rest of the season.  Again go man to man defense and do the running game with a short and quick tossing game IF the Holy Cross defense seems shaky.

Big Green: Written Off, Again

Big Green football took to the field again on Saturday, October 3rd in Hanover.  The rain fell in buckets equally on both struggling teams.  Dartmouth, after last week’s beating from UNH, had higher hopes against Penn.  Penn, more of an equal match against Dartmouth brought the great equalizer rain with it as well as Versus network for some televised coverage.

Green got off to a pitiful start, blowing a punt into a full scale conversion for Penn.  But Dartmouth, despite foul weather and a feisty opponent, fought hard, very hard.  Dartmouth offense was showing spirit and spunk.  The defense has remained anemic and only added to Penn’s injured list.  There was some questionable (game changing) officiating including a helmeting call that smelled of a simple accident.  Happily Dartmouth seemed charged by the game.  Offensively, Dartmouth had its air game played with greater precision—and that despite wet, uncooperative footballs and slippery fields.

Penn pulled a win, a close win.  Dartmouth could have won, but still has too many hexes in its closet. Short passes and a reliable running offense are needed.  And defensively, Dartmouth needs a firmer squad.

Colgate Squeezes Past Dartmouth

I am not much of a team sportsman.  I like watching, not playing.  Having gone to Dartmouth football games since I was a wee one (mid-1960s),  I never tired of the fall sky, the fresh air and the roar of the game.  Never mind I went to UNH, Dartmouth was (and is) a part of fall in NH.  Of course most of the old guard has passed on or moved so I found myself alone on Saturday the 19th, 2009.

2008 was a terrible year for Dartmouth football.  They could not win a game.  And in the case of UNH v. Dartmouth it was team manslaughter.  Coach Buddy Teevens decided at the end of last season to make his players have an “on season” focus off season.  This meant more time in the workout room and little things that mean a lot come kickoff.

Then comes home and season opener.  The day is pure fall beautiful: sunny and warm with a light cooling northwest wind.  The Colgate crowd has arrived and Dartmouth’s president Kim is in the stands.  Let’s rock.

From the outset Dartmouth showed some mettle.  In a seesaw battle Colgate and Dartmouth scrambled (and fumbled) for the ball.  Dartmouth took a blocked field goal to a two point conversion.  But outside of a solid defense in the first half, Dartmouth offense was sporadic, especially the always iffy throwing game.

Come the second half, Dartmouth’s offense, despite sweat and effort, moped along, unable to best Colgate’s efforts.  In defense, Dartmouth crumbled like a cookie. Colgate did manage some deep aerial penetration which Dartmouth cold not match.

And yet Dartmouth’s place kicking game was fantastic, easily outdoing Colgate.  Unfortunately building a game plan on field goals, extra points, and punts is hardly realistic.

Happily, despite getting smashed 34-15, Dartmouth football was batter than last year.  Of course going from an “F” game to a “D” to “D+” game is relative.  Colgate played a clumsy “C” to “C+” game; enough to take down Dartmouth, but not more than a starting point.

Next week Dartmouth faces UNH.  By all accounts (and recent history)  one may think that the meeting will be a Davy and Goliath affair.  Even the Masters of Realm (Patriots during a Superbowl) can have bad days.  At least Dartmouth (and Teevens) are showing improvement and potential.

My advice: work on your running game offensively and defensively take on UNH’s breakthrough aerial offense.

Finally, there was a factor in this last game that neither Dartmouth nor Colgate could control—officiating.  As clumsy and unccordinated the game playing was, the officiating looked, to eyes in the stands, equally, if not more, distracted and discombobulated.  Not that the officals did not call fouls, delays of game, etc.  But it seemed they missed (overlooked?) a whole gameful of such things.  I don’t think better officiating would have helped Dartmouth.  Both Dartmouth and Colgate made plenty of errors.  But the season is still young and everyone is getting back into their groove.  For Dartmouth that means NOW.