Once every so often, on days when we get home from a routine day at work, we pause for a second and remember the good old days of college. Never mind that you were poor, naive, lost, confused, and disoriented in those days. Never mind you had to write four 20-page papers at a time and deprive yourself of food and sleep to succeed. No, you only remember the good times.
This week is one of those weeks I wish I were still back on campus. This weekend's Yale-Georgetown tilt at the Hilltop is a big deal to Yale alumni as well as Hoya faithful. The Yale Club of DC is hosting a rather generous tailgate party on Saturday on our campus. Hey, anybody who has Red Hot 'n'Blue catering is fine by me, and I hope Georgetown extends warm hospitalities to our Ivy League guests.
It really is a misnomer in popular America that the Ivy League is some sort of tweed'n'books only league. All the schools play Division 1 sports, have reasonably active alumni bases, and we all know about the Princeton basketball program, but on the gridiron, these schools play like they mean it. The Patriot League, the organization where GU chose to home its football program, aspires to Ivy standards.
Georgetown already has in this decade a win over Cornell at the Big Red's own stadium. However, Yale is as tough an opponent Georgetown will face this decade short of a Bowl Subdivision Series program. While I am not a big fan of the other school's fan base hamming it up on our campus, it does show our own student body that big football and big academics can peacefully coexist.
There is a special place in our own fight song for Yale, as hoyasaxa.com ably points out.
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When the famed and state 20th-ranked Odessa Permian Panthers from out in West Texas face off in the Metroplex against #3-ranked Euless Trinity this weekend, Mojo will face a fascinating and highly motivating mashup of Texan passion, Pacific pride and teenage enthusiasm. Euless Trinity employs a version of the Haka war dance used by New Zealand's All Blacks rugby squad. Hawai'i also used the Haka until the team decided to retire it to find a more appropriate local war dance to employ. The reasons for the Haka's popularity in of all places, North Texas, is a tale of the emerging synergies of the global economy.
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Also this weekend, the state and national #1 Southlake Carroll Dragons take on national #2 Miami Northwestern Bulls in one of the most highly anticipated prep games in recent memory. SLC is riding a 49-game win-streak, and the legacy of the Bob Ledbetter and Todd Dodge reigns remains strong with this squad, which features North Texas-bound QB Riley Dodge and Texas-bound RB Tre Newton (son of former Cowboys great Nate Newton). Miami Northwestern boasts no fewer than six commits to the University of Miami, including QB Jacory Harris.
In light of the talent edge favoring Northwestern, SLC appears undermanned. However, the Dragons have beaten teams with similar talent profiles in-state, including Lufkin and Katy.
The game, in light of the Patriots-Jets SIGINT controversy, also apparently has some mischief as well, at least according to the Bulls.
Georgetown's football team has a few kids from Texas on the squad, including some from SLC.
Make sure to tune in to see perhaps a dozen future D-1 BCS and FCS stars at Ford Stadium in Dallas on Saturday.
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