Columbia Spectator Discusses Ivy Post-Season Ban

[DFW HOYA]

A Spectator sports writer calls it discriminatory:

"Princeton’s Shirley Tilghman responded to the recent resolution by telling the Daily Princetonian that 'The logic was not completely dependent on the exams schedule, but rather on the very special rivalry that has been our tradition of Ivy football.' She also added that the ban would prevent the 'escalation in intensity (and player size) that has swept the rest of the country.'

"So, in other words, Tilghman supports the ban for the sake of tradition; it makes the conference “different.” Once something has been set in stone in the past, why change it, she seems to argue. The irony of her argument is that it is actually an identical argument that was used decades ago by those rallying against Ivy League schools becoming co-ed. Replace the word “football” with the word “women,” and it’s the same discriminatory logic."

http://www.columbiaspectator.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/04/23/444c3e1cca24e

[AmsterBison]

So if the Ivy stays out the playoffs are they going to institute weight and height limits on players and penalize players for being too intense?

I can hear the angry fans in the crowd now, "Hey, ref, are you blind? That player was not nonchalant at all!"

[colgate13]

"So, in other words, Tilghman supports the ban for the sake of tradition; it makes the conference “different.” Once something has been set in stone in the past, why change it, she seems to argue. The irony of her argument is that it is actually an identical argument that was used decades ago by those rallying against Ivy League schools becoming co-ed. Replace the word “football” with the word “women,” and it’s the same discriminatory logic."

I can't believe she set herself up like that, but frankly that opinion is spot on. I wonder if anyone had the foresight to see the comparison or not? She looks like an idiot hanging her hat on tradition.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Let's look at Penn's spring roster, shall we?

72 Nesfield, Kamal OL 6-4 302 So. Tampa, Fla. (Howard Blake)
65 Rigler, Jesse OL 6-3 310 So. Hastings, Neb. (Hastings)
79 Milne, William OL 6-5 315 So. New York, N.Y. (Poly Prep)
76 Weeks, Kevin OL 6-6 315 Jr. Orinda, Calif. (Miramonte)

And Harvard's:

67 Frank Fernandez JR C 6-2 285 Honolulu, Hawaii/St. Louis
68 David Paine SO OL 6-3 285 South Attleboro, Mass./Bishop Feehan
70 Jon Medley JR OL 6-5 280 Olympia, Wash./Charles Wright Academy
71 Alex Obrecht SO OL 6-2 280 Cheyenne, Wyo./Cheyenne Central
72 Andrew Brecher JR OT 6-5 290 Needham, Mass./Needham
76 Nik Sobic SR OT 6-5 285 Franklin, Wis./Catholic Memorial
77 Bennett Kowalk SR OT 6-5 285 Hamilton, Ohio/Hamilton
78 Brian Lapham SR OT 6-5 300 Sanford, Maine/Sanford
79 Zach Copple FR OL 6-4 290 Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Southeast

And Yale's:

70 Bassermann, Steve *** OL SR 6-4/305 Notre Dame/Branford, CT
71 Wilkinson, Brice ** OL SR 6-3/286 Memorial Senior/Houston, TX
72 Kucera, Jim * OL SR 6-2/285 Downers Grove South/Darien, IL
75 Gresham, Louis TE JR 6-6/285 St. Stephens & St. Agnes/Alexandria, VA
76 McCarthy, Ed *** OL SR 6-5/302 Fairfield Prep/Fairfield

For fun, let's also look at Columbia's:

66 Daniel Palmer OG JR 6-2 290 Atlanta, Ga. Westminster School
67 Edward Salter OL FR 6-3 283 Marietta, Ga. Alan C. Pope
74 Jack Miller OG FR 6-5 307 Houston, Texas Lamar

Gee that ban has really brought down the size of linemen in the Ivy League... 7 300-pounders and more than 20 linemen over 280 lbs... :rolleyes:

As for intensity, I have a blog (or I-AA) posting waiting in the wings over that, but you're basically saying that you don't want fans to come to your games... And these folks come from Ivy League business schools? :rolleyes:

[Ivytalk]

The League Presidents won't change their tune absent pressure fron the football players themselves and a "critical mass" of concerned alumni. That's a problem when Ivy alumni have become less and less interested in FB, as shown by the general decline in attendance over the past 30 years.

[carney2]

The League Presidents won't change their tune absent pressure fron the football players themselves and a "critical mass" of concerned alumni. That's a problem when Ivy alumni have become less and less interested in FB, as shown by the general decline in attendance over the past 30 years.

We go round and round about this at this site as if we are going to change something. The Ivy League chooses not to be part of the larger I-AA/D-1 Playoff community, and that is their right. I, for one, choose not to beat this dead horse any longer.

[LBPop]

Gee that ban has really brought down the size of linemen in the Ivy League... 7 300-pounders and more than 20 linemen over 280 lbs... :rolleyes:


Oh gee, that's easy to explain. The generally acknowledged policy of grade inflation practiced by the Ivys has also affected the athletic department. Those guys are actually tiny...the published numbers are inflated by weight and height inflation. :nod: xlolx

[*****]

We go round and round about this at this site as if we are going to change something. The Ivy League chooses not to be part of the larger I-AA/D-1 Playoff community, and that is their right. I, for one, choose not to beat this dead horse any longer.carney, we're discussing what the Columbia paper said... not what someone here at AGS said. It kind of matches the Princeton/Harvard/Penn etc. stuff. It's coming from them, not us.