the kentucky derby like charge from the gate that is college basketball in november has yielded to the more sedate pace of the exam period schedule. sparse crowds turn out in the underheated campus gymnasiums of small north east colleges offering minors in zone defense and the history of hoops to watch traditional non-league foes […] Read more »
preliminary notes on a work in progress
columbia’s lions, let off the leash by coach smith for the season opener against maryland-eastern shore, posted an easy victory to start their 2013 -2014 campaign. up only five at the half, the blue settled into their 2 -3 zone shortly after the break and raced off to a 28 point lead before taking the […] Read more »
busload of faith
a stunningly beautiful tri-state autumn has softened the hideous brutalities of columbia’s gridiron season and the even tougher blow of lou reed’s departure. november lifts our hearts with the promise of festal celebrations and the happy return of hardwood hopes to the land. the lions start their 2013-2014 run on saturday night and allgame welcomes […] Read more »
big mike and the boys
64 teams await the first jump ball at noon today and we feel the pressure to prognosticate a bit. allgame has not appeared since the lions ran the crimson off the boards at levien almost six weeks ago. that same underwhelming harvard team represents the ivies in the big dance. i expect little noise from […] Read more »
one crazy weekend in the city of dreams
winning on the road in the ivies is hard as heidegger. just ask coach paul cormier, professor of roundball philosophy at dartmouth, whose big green had lost 24 straight league games away. that is more than 3 years of wandering unhappily in the wilderness. friday last, though, a blizzard blew into the northeast and created […] Read more »
tropical depression
the lions made their annual foray to the ivy league’s southern precincts where they lost games to penn and princeton. both contests demonstrated the blue’s current three point shooting woes with the quaker game on friday a piece de resistance in this regard as the boys went 3 -17 from beyond the arc. that kind of […] Read more »
forth and back
on the 19th, columbia observed the presidential inaugural by traveling to ithaca. starting slowly, they managed to craft a narrow half time margin before thoroughly dismantling ezra cornell’s rubes, 67 -58, behind big mark cisco’s 18 points and 9 boards. brian barbour chipped in with 16 while steve frankoski shot 60% from beyond the arc. […] Read more »
gotta crystal ball? ivy preseason notes
back in mid-autumn, before the season tipped off, the lions were the consensus ivy league third place squad. they were expected to trail princeton and defending champion harvard. as the league prepares to tip off at last, that prognostication seems not unreasonable. the non-league portion of their schedule has provided moments of great encouragement as […] Read more »
triune – notes at the year’s turn
when this correspondent considers his task, the vanity of the endeavor sometimes saddens him. why bother with the project? opening the pages of the new york times sports section on sunday morning, january 6, however, clarifies part of the responsibility and, indeed, value of the work. nowhere in those folio sheets will you find a single sentence […] Read more »
slouching towards bethlehem
our thanksgiving giddiness about the lions triumph over the villanova wildcats, and a 4 – 1 start to the year, has been tempered during the yule season. four defeats in five games have brought the blue to .500 as 2012 wanes. their loss in crooklyn to the l.i.u. blackbirds might be laid at the door […] Read more »