Harvard vs Yale

[Avante]

They have been playing for a long long time, and once upon a time it was a big game, obviously that's no longer the case. The first thing ya noticed when watching an Ivy League game is the lack of size with speed athletes. The second thing you notice is lack of dumb penalties. Sure it's a slower game but entertaining anyway.

The most successful player I can think of who played in that game was Dallas Cowboy Calvin Hill, the first Cowboy to have a 1000 yard season.

[Avante]

A couple things about the Ivy League.

That vaunted Raider vertical passing game first featured Irving "Bo" Roberson an Olympic long jump silver medalist out of Cornell. He was also a 9.4 sprinter.

One of the few guys to ever beat the great Jesse Owens was Ben Johnson out of Columbia.

[pgardn]

The ESPN bit on one of the old Havard Yale games was very entertaining. Tommy Lee Jones a LINEMAN for Harvard...
Very good interviews with all the old boys..

You are obsessed with track. You need to live in Europe.

[benefactor]

The ESPN bit on one of the old Havard Yale games was very entertaining. Tommy Lee Jones a LINEMAN for Harvard...
Very good interviews with all the old boys..

You are obsessed with track. You need to live in Europe.

...he did the same thing to spurraider last night in a discussion about Bo Jackson. Spurraider was talking about how Bo was potentially the greatest athlete the US has ever produced from an all around size, strength and speed standpoint and Avante disagreed and started rattling off times and talking about decathalon and the 100 yard dash. And he wonders why no one wants to have a discussion with him beyond talking to him and making fun of him(though he like to call it leg humping so he internet ego stays intact).

[Avante]

The ESPN bit on one of the old Havard Yale games was very entertaining. Tommy Lee Jones a LINEMAN for Harvard...
Very good interviews with all the old boys..

You are obsessed with track. You need to live in Europe.

Imagine a time when the Army/Navy and Ivy League were powerhouses. Weird.

I ran track and played football, always into speed. I'm into it all not just "world class". I follow high school, junior college. NCAA, so no living in Europe wouldn't work for me.

[Avante]

...he did the same thing to spurraider last night in a discussion about Bo Jackson. Spurraider was talking about how Bo was potentially the greatest athlete the US has ever produced from an all around size, strength and speed standpoint and Avante disagreed and started rattling off times and talking about decathalon and the 100 yard dash. And he wonders why no one wants to have a discussion with him beyond talking to him and making fun of him(though he like to call it leg humping so he internet ego stays intact).

What was Bo Jackson first sport, yep...track. He was a decathlete...ok? Once he got heavy into football he lost interest in track, while at Auburn he ran some indoor stuff but little outdoors because of football. To try and talk Bo Jackson and not mention that is what a guy like you would do because you don't know any better.

In his era Jim Thorpe was just as physically imposing as Bo Jackson and was an Olympic champion and just as revered in the football of that era. What it is is you don't know any of this.

We can't ignore the advantages a Bo Jackson had over everyone from way back when when it comes to training methods/coaching "supplements" and nutrients.

Notice how you show up in these threads, if I'm this and that then go find somerone you enjoy talking to, ok?

[benefactor]

^^told you so.

[Avante]

^^told you so.

Grow up little guy, ok, you might be 17, I'm not...ok?

[Infinite_limit]

I can vouch, there are Track N Field events airing every week in Europe

[FromWayDowntown]

Nobody playing in Harvard/Yale is on an athletic scholarship, though many receive other forms of financial aid. They generally play in front of sparse crowds, in some old and outdated stadiums, frequently travel on game days rather than the day before, almost always ride buses to road games (and at Columbia, ride buses every day to practice). The guys who play there put in those hours and submit to the toll of the game because they love playing football and competing.

There's also this about Ivy League sports:

But there is one thing the Ivy League does that truly sets it apart from its sporting brethren nationwide: it tracks and scrutinizes the finite, detailed academic credentials of every recruited athlete welcomed through the doors of the eight member ins utions. And it has done so for more than 25 years — creating a dossier of grades and test scores for more than 40,000 student-athletes.

To accomplish this, the league came up with a measurement called the Academic Index, which gives all prospective high school recruits a number, roughly from 170 to 240, that summarizes their high school grade-point averages and scores on standardized tests like the SAT. The index number of every admitted recruit is shared among the member ins utions to guarantee that no vastly underqualified recruit has been admitted at a rival ins ution and to allow member universities to compare classwide index averages for athletes against similar averages for the overall student body.

You can question the athletes, but it's not like the teams in the Ivy League are filled with dudes who can't play or aren't athletic. With all of the limitations that exist, the Ivy League still manages to produce several NFL quality prospects every year (the number seems to grow over time, too). If the League would permit its teams to enter the FCS playoffs, there are many years in which Ivy teams would win a game or maybe two. Harvard, for instance, is undefeated and currently sits atop the League and is ranked #14 in FCS. It's not the greatest football, but there are good players and good teams in that league.

I got two years of Ivy football at Columbia before a neck injury did me in. I had a great time, met great people, and gained a lot of really cool experiences.

[FromWayDowntown]

The most successful player I can think of who played in that game was Dallas Cowboy Calvin Hill, the first Cowboy to have a 1000 yard season.

Probably true, but Gary Fencik played for Yale and spent 12 pretty strong seasons with the Bears, including a couple of Pro Bowls and a Super Bowl ring (XX), and Matt Birk played at Harvard and then got 14 years in the NFL with the Vikings and Ravens, making 6 Pro Bowls as an OL and winning a Super Bowl ring with the Ravens (XLVII).