Last Saturday, the New England Sports Network premiered a documentary film entitled "Eight: Ivy League Football and America." The special was aired directly after the broadcast of Dartmouth football's 35-7 loss against Harvard on Saturday afternoon.
"Eight" tracks the evolution of football in America, looking especially at the formation and early years of the Ivy League and the football tradition at Ancient Eight schools. It shows the Ivies as truly the founding fathers of what has since become the most popular sport in the United States.
Producers Erik Anjou and Mark Bernstein offer a lasting message about the true importance of Ivy League football and Ivy League sports in general. The film points out that, though the likes of Harvard, Princeton and Yale have dropped off the scene in terms of contending for national championships, Ivy League athletes continue to embody the epitome of scholar-athletes and represent the ideal of simply playing "for the love of the game."
Anjou played noseguard at Middlebury College from 1979 to 1983. He received his master's degree from Northwestern University and currently works as a documentary filmmaker.
Co-producer Mark Bernstein is a graduate of Princeton and received a law degree from the University of Virginia. He is a writer whose work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He brings additional expertise to the film through one of his three books, "Football: The Ivy League Origins of an American Obsession"(2001).
"Eight" is narrated by two-time Tony Award-winning actor Brian Dennehy, who graduated from Columbia in 1960. Also making notable appearances and commentaries throughout the film are Pennsylvania State University head football coach Joe Paterno, a member of Brown's class of 1950, Academy award-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones (Harvard, class of 1969), College and Pro Football Hall of Famer Chuck Bednarik (Penn, class of 1949) and the Swami, famed ESPN commentator Chris "Boomer" Berman (Brown, class of 1977).
Dartmouth is well represented throughout the film. Former player and current head coach Buddy Teevens '79 speaks about the Ivy League and compares the atmosphere of Ivy League football with that of football at a higher level. Teevens coached at many major conference schools before returning for his second stint coaching the Big Green.
"At the higher level winning is the bottom line and unfortunately a compromise is made, and that compromise is the students," Teevens said.
General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt '78 also appears in the documentary.
In addition to many other former and current Ivy League football players, Big Greeen football's 2006 captain Preston Copley '07 and current captain Andrew Dete '09 offer insight into rivalries within the league and some of their favorite opponents, most notably, Princeton.
"There's just something about beating Princeton," Copley said.
"It's your culture versus their culture, your traditions versus their traditions," Dete said. "It's the tough Dartmouth man from the wilderness versus the sort of preppy, arrogant guy from New Jersey."
Other football alumni who were interviewed for the film also had choice words about Dartmouth.
Charles D. Ravenel (Harvard, class of 1961) recalls playing against Dartmouth when it was still a single-sex institution.
"Dartmouth came down here like caged animals who hadn't been fed or had any female company. They were maniacs," Ravenel said.
In fact, even Joe Paterno offers up some specific feelings about the Big Green.
"Dartmouth always cheated -- the referees always cheated for Dartmouth," Paterno said.
Animosity on Paterno's part for the Big Green is not undeserved. In fact, in 1970, when he had only been at Penn State for four years, Paterno suggested that the Nittany Lions and Dartmouth play to decide regional football supremacy. Dartmouth coach Bob Blackman declined, claiming that the Indians needed a better opponent than Penn State, given the Nittany Lions' 7-3 record.
The film reminds the viewer of times when Dartmouth was a consistent Ivy League power. Despite its recent history, Dartmouth has the most all-time Ivy League football championships with 17.
"Eight" impressively takes advantage of archival football footage throughout the film. It contains short clips of games from the late 1800s, which were some of the first shots ever taken with a motion-picture camera.
Using a mixture of old and new footage, narration, stills and interviews, "Eight" paints a comprehensive picture of Ivy League football and its mission.
The film spans eras in which Harvard Stadium, the Yale Bowl, and Penn's Franklin Field were the largest architectural structures in the world, to the time when the Ivy League was lowered to Division 1-AA status, ultimately leading to the teams' departure from national contention.
The film ends with one of the Big Green football team's oldest traditions, showing the players singing the "Alma Mater" to the fans after a hard-earned victory.
NESN's national affiliates have stated that the documentary will begin to get national exposure. It has guaranteed that "Eight" be aired at least three more times on the network.
