we’ll take it.

seems like years since allgame has piped up.  the long humid summer left us speechless and saddened by the early retirement of  the three best of this year’s three year old thoroughbred class (i’ll have another, union rags and bodemeister) all of which left the competitive oval because of injury.  the simultaneous tumble of the mets from their early season perch as feisty overachievers to the valley of the shadow of their abysmally anemic second half performance as the can’t win one at citifielders compounded our funk.   happily, the basketball pre-season has returned with entertainment hard by spuyten duyvil and we bring glad tidings.

this past saturday we traveled uptown where, beneath late summer, lower hudson valley skies so richly blue as to be platonic representations of the lions’ uniforms, columbia held off the swift and always wily red foxes of marist for a welcome, if less than titanic, opening day 10 – 9 win.  the lively crowd of almost 4,000 watched a desultory first half effort from both teams that sent the visitors to the locker room with a 3 – 0 lead .  taking the second half kickoff, the lions started to roll out quarterback sean brackett from the pocket and efficiently moved down field for a quick td and a lead the locals would never relinquish.   new coach pete mangurian said all the appropriate, unexceptionable things post game, but must certainly have silently thanked the team’s higher power when an official’s flag negated the visitors’ 76 yard touchdown pass with just about 3 minutes left on the game clock.  i also wonder if coach had ever seen so helpful  a play as the one midway through the third stanza when red fox punter jason myers managed to brush a knee while fielding a long snap, thereby downing himself on the marist three yard line.  the lions’ sporadic offense failed to take full advantage of the opportunity, choosing instead to move  in a tight, but ineffective circle for three downs before cashing a 22 yard field goal that would prove the game’s ultimate difference when third year defensive lineman wells childress broke through and  blocked a game tying p.a.t. attempt with six and a half minutes remaining in  the fourth quarter.

these frantically colorful second half dramatics thoroughly entertained and captivated the vocal witnesses to the  first game of mangurian’s columbia tenure.  coach m is the latest lion sideline leader assigned to rekindle some of the excitement missing from the northern most tip of manhattan since say 1961 and columbia’s lone league gridiron title.  coach said all the right things about a team, team, team win post game but it looked like a good deal of work remains for many of the boys.  the heroics of running back marcorus garrett on offense and linebacker zach ollinger on d need to be match by a few more of the cubs before this pride  roars.  garrett’s 115 running yards were the most reliable source of forward movement for the blue all afternoon and he worthily cashed the sole td.  ollinger was possessed throughout the contest making 10 unassisted stops (a few of which rattled teeth all the way up into the stands), recovering a fumble and nabbing an interception to hammer home the final nail of the red foxes’ resting place.  unhappily, these fine individual efforts were contrasted by  unit wide inefficiencies on both sides of the ball.  the offensive  line was porous all afternoon and qb  sean brackett was, consequently, most productive when on the run – either via designed roll outs or when fleeing predatory red fox defenders.  though freshman keith ramljak came in for most of coach mangurian’s sideline tongue lashings in this regard, none of the road graders up front were brilliant.  then again, they did spring garrett for his work.  obviously,  pass protection is the o line’s primary homework for the coming week.   meanwhile,  the defensive back field was consistently beaten to the outside by marist’s efficient receivers.  the lions back there have to turn their heads, occasionally, toward the ball.  they were regularly flabbergasted when one of marist’s qb chuck looney’s tosses floated down for a completion.  only the assistance provided by the zebras on two important blown calls assured that the lions were not done in by this unit.  we cannot overlook, though, that  the smaller fellows of the defensive squad, particularly mal thaxton and marquel carter, did some fine hitting covering shorter roots and defending the run.  let’s hope that first year secondary coordinator kevin lempa builds on these strengths while training the cubs out of their inadequacies.  one need also mention the general passiveness of  the kick return squad which provided few positive yards when receiving punts.  though sure handed and fearless, trevor bell (who was clocked twice on fair catches) has to look for lanes to run through and his blockers need to create those lanes.  we look  for more aggressiveness next saturday.

your correspondent, by and large,  was pleased with coach mangurian’s demeanor on the sidelines.  he was vocal about his dissatisfaction with individual breakdowns – just ask messr ramjlak – and unit inadequacies.  neither did he let the officials remain unenlightened about his opinions regarding certain missed calls.  he also did a fair job of handing out the “attaboys” without over doing the glad hands for simply doing one’s job.  first games in a coaching regime are easy to overhype, and the columbia athletic department has worked hard to do just that in the run up to saturday, bombarding the faithful with emails and showering freebie ducats upon neighborhood residents.  now let’s all settle in for an autumn’s worth of challenges.  next up, fordham and the liberty cup.  this is a payback game for the lions.  an intercepted pass on the goal line in last year’s loss to the rams set the team on the road to immense failure and the termination of coach wilson’s career at wien stadium.  the lions owe  ’em.  we’ll be there for the payback.

peace out and go lions,

paulie b