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The Dartmouth
July 8, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Any Given Monday: Friday Edition

While I appreciate the increased possibilities for tanning that the summer presents, it's about time for it to end. There are lots of opportunities for athletic involvement as well, in terms of gym classes and just being in the pleasant weather, but not as many interesting things to watch. The rugby sevens game last month was the jewel of the summer's spectator options so far. To be quite honest, that's not enough for me.

Watching sports games on television isn't the best scenario. For a Yankees fan in New England, they're even worse (even if you order the Yankees channel, the games are blocked out as if anyone is actually tuning in to watch CenterStage or Yankeeography). Attending a Yankees game in Boston seemed like a plausible way to get my baseball fix for the summer, but Saturday's 10-4 loss proved to be painful instead of fun.

Last weekend promised "athletic" entertainment in the form of the Pelt-A-Delta dodgeball tournament, but thanks to a rain forecast surprise! we'll have to wait a while for that as well.

Thankfully, football season is almost here. In just about a week, our non-'13 football friends will descend on campus, signaling the start of practice and increased sales of Muscle Milk at Topside. After that point, there isn't too long to wait for the games to start. By the time most students arrive back on campus, the Big Green will hopefully already have a 1-0 record.

We have a lot to look forward to this season. At the recent Ivy League football media day teleconference, Dartmouth was picked to finish fifth in the league. That's how we did last season, after a seventh-place prediction. It's not entirely unreasonable, then, to aim high above our poll placement. As the Big Green has steadily improved over the last several years, many of our standouts will come into the fall with seasons of starting experience behind them.

Tim McManus '11 is a shining example of the skill that studs Dartmouth's roster after breaking his leg and sitting out the 2009 season, he's now entering his third season as a Big Green football captain. Last year, McManus was named first-team All-Ivy at wide receiver and he's climbing higher and higher in his career stats. He'll easily slide into third on the all-time receptions list this season, barring massive changes from last year's offensive scheme.

We're coming into the 2011 season with a lot of momentum. While we still couldn't hit .500 among the Ivies last year, we finally pulled off an overall winning season, thanks in part to relatively weak competition outside of the league. I find it somewhat disappointing that University of New Hampshire is off our schedule for the foreseeable future, but it's understandable the game obviously hadn't provided much competition for the Wildcats (and 2009's 30-point loss couldn't have done much to help our attitude at the start of a season).

This year, at least, we'll find a challenge against Colgate University for the first game of the season. The Raiders, who play in the Patriot League alongside other familiar Dartmouth opponents, went 7-4 last year, including two Ivy League wins. After that, there's Sacred Heart University should be a win and then Penn.

Ah, the Quakers. On Oct. 1, we'll take on Penn under the (new) lights. This, I believe, has the chance to draw a lot more fans students and community members alike and help turn football into a really big deal at Dartmouth, at least for one night. It's just SO hard to wake up by 11 a.m. on a Saturday, although it seems like the student section has filled up more since my freshman year (when we won a grand total of zero games).

More importantly, though, the Quakers have been tapped to finish first in the Ancient Eight yet again. There's going to be a lot riding on this game the first Ivy game for both teams and the Big Green's home-field advantage could prove to be a great asset if it works out the way I'm foreshadowing, i.e. the equivalent of the Dartmouth-Princeton men's hockey game each year.

Flash back to the analogous matchup last season: Oct. 2, 2010, the Big Green in Philadelphia. Dartmouth's rushing game was all but shut down by the Quaker offense, but three touchdown passes by Conner Kempe '12 kept us in the game. Big deficit at halftime, tied up going into overtime, ultimately we lose by one touchdown. Heartbreak felt acutely by yours truly, even via the sparse medium that is online live stats. Takeaway message: We can beat Penn.

Summer is great and all, but I'm ready for some football! (Cue Hank Williams, I'm out.)