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Subject: Columbia *** Freshman QB Caleb Sanchez Author: TOD HOWARD HAWKS [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] Date Posted: 02:33:43 11/13/24 Wed Caleb Sanchez is a freshman *** QB from California this fall. I'm 80 and a graduate of Columbia College (Class of 1966), which is to say, I've watched more than a few Columbia football games. But during my 60+ years of following the Lions, I'm pretty sure a freshman QB has never played in an Ivy game. But in the Harvard game, Head Coach Poppe put Sanchez in the game for three passes--one short,two long-- putting Columbia on Harvard's two-yard line. Poppe put Cole Freeman back in the game so he could run for a touchdown, which he did. Cole deserved the opportunity to do this. It was Sanchez, though, who made my heart beat faster. A freshman QB playing in a game against Harvard? I don't believe I had ever seen that before. Why was my heart beating faster? Because Sanchez, probably sooner than later, will lead the Lions to its first Ivy championship since 1961. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Subject: Re: Columbia *** Freshman QB Caleb Sanchez Author: Roar Lion [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 07:34:57 11/13/24 Wed Hi Todd - Sean Brackett played in three or four games as a freshman after the starter got hurt. He played well and was 1st team all-Ivy as a sophomore. So, yes, it’s rare for a freshman to play. Goodwin took a few snaps last year, but no meaningful series. I hope you’re right about a championship! [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: Re: Columbia *** Freshman QB Caleb Sanchez Author: Richie [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 08:51:37 11/13/24 Wed Tod, You're an inspiration (even if you we're wrong on this fact). I wish the typical Columbia student of today was more like you. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: Re: Columbia *** Freshman QB Caleb Sanchez Author: Richie [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 08:57:53 11/13/24 Wed Incidentally, I was at the WBB game the other nite against FGCU. The "adult" section was 70% full. The student section was 90% empty. I don't understand why current Columbia students don't support the WBB team more. Maybe it's just early season. I know the support was there the last couple of years. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: Columbia, Fan Attendance and The Inflection Point Author: An Observer [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 10:09:28 11/13/24 Wed Tod, I'm gratified to hear the excitement and enthusiasm in your voice, given everything else that's going on. Live the best life you can, my man. What's the policy for student admission to athletic events? I operate under the assumption that all undergraduates are admitted for free to all varsity sports events at all Ivies. Is that a good assumption? My guess is that the Columbia women's basketball team benefits from having passed the inflection point where students go because other students go. There are a small number of events which have achieved this network effect. People go because other people go. It's a party. The most obvious example is The Game. I'll bet that half the people in the stands don't know what the current records of either Harvard or Yale are and, at most points during the contest, don't even know what the score is. Most of them don't arrive at their seats until the second quarter. They're there just because it's the social thing to do that weekend. Most of them couldn't care less who wins, present company on this board excepted, of course. Contrast that to the local high school The Game here in my town. Everybody knows what the team's record is and whether we need to beat our archrival to get the #1 seed in the state tournament. The pre-game tailgate is just as convivial but, at kick-off, every single seat in the stands is full. And that's 10,000 people for a high school football game between two towns which only have 20,000 population each. As at the other Game, the same BMW's are in the parking lot, but nobody is there to drink. People are there to see a football team win. Last spring, Columbia had two events which passed their respective inflection points. The first was the Lionesses under the direction of my girlfriend. The women's games were the thing to do. Be there or be square. I'll bet that the atmosphere was somewhere between The Game involving HY and my hometown high school The Game. Columbia was on the verge of doing something that it had never done before. I imagine that everybody knew that. The other event which passed the inflection point was the protests. Just the thing to do on campus. It's very hard to build the critical mass to pass the inflection point. I'd be very curious how the attendance at Harvard men's basketball performed last season and this upcoming 2024-25 season. For awhile, the Amaker show was The Show on campus and in town. It was like Columbia women's basketball. On the verge of unprecedented success. But once the wins stopped, I'll bet attendance dropped off. Only The Game endures because, literally, nobody cares who wins. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> Subject: Re: Columbia, Fan Attendance and The Inflection Point Author: An Observer [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 19:13:57 11/19/24 Tue Current GameTimeCT ranking of the Top 10 Connecticut high school football teams: 1. Windsor 8-0 Last week: Defeated Berlin 47-14. Bottom line: Solid showing against a playoff team. Another one coming up on Saturday. 2. Daniel Hand 9-0 Last week: Defeated Xavier 62-31. Bottom line: That's a lot of points. 3. Darien 8-1 Last week: Defeated Fairfield Warde 49-7. Bottom line: And on Thanksgiving, things get real. 4. New Canaan 8-1 Last week: Defeated Bridgeport Central 42-6. Bottom line: See above. That's the kind of pre-game hype we can all appreciate. And this coming Saturday, for the first time since 1961, "things get real" for Columbia football. The subsequent high water mark for the Lions came in Marcellus Wiley and Rory Wilfork's senior year of 1996. I'll leave it up to GG's prodigious, encyclopedic memory of all things Dartmouth, but I believe the Big Green had already clinched their Ivy title the previous week and would have been outright champions regardless of the score against Princeton. So Columbia's season finale against Brown was not a potential championship-sharing game. For Columbia football this Saturday, "things get real." More real than they have been in six decades. Think about what Jon Poppe and the Lions have achieved this season. For the first time in 63 years, the Lions' season finale could deliver a co-championship. In the immortal words of Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes, "This time it's for real." [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> Subject: Re: Columbia, Fan Attendance and The Inflection Point Author: CUFB82 [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 16:32:18 11/20/24 Wed ....You are forgetting 2017. Near identical scenario. Except that year Yale beat a 4-loss Harvard, while Columbia defeated an IL-winless Brown. Higher bar this Saturday for Lions, but also for Harvard. But make no mistake, it's gonna be "LIT"! [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> Subject: New Canaan 34; Darien 0 Author: Boyne [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 14:00:41 11/28/24 Thu A shocker in the pouring rain on Thanksgiving morning. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> Subject: New Canaan Wins Third Straight State Class L Championship, Playing Best Under The Bright Lights Author: An Observer [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 15:23:13 12/15/24 Sun For the second year in a row, New Canaan defeats Darien in the Class L title game, winning their third straight championship and seventh in the last eleven seasons. Four of those seven New Canaan championship victories have come over Darien. Darien has won many state titles of their own, in part because some years they are in a different division than New Canaan. But Darien has never raised the championship trophy with a defeated New Canaan team standing on the field. Ever. I discussed earlier how some teams seem to raise their intensity in games against their archrival, but some teams/coaches may find the added pressure to be somewhat disabling. In the Ivies, I think the Harvard-Yale game produces a statistically improbable number of upsets, including the last two Yale wins which produced two consecutive three-team tri-championships. It strikes me that both the Crimson and the Bulldogs get the yips when trying to close out a championship season against their archrival. New Canaan doesn't. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> Subject: "The Waiting Is The Hardest Part" -- Tom Petty Author: An Observer [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 20:55:59 12/09/24 Mon Congratulations to the Columbia Lions for winning their first Ivy League championship since 1961. A man who witnessed the last title and graduated from Columbia College in 1962 would now be eighty-four years old. That's a long time to wait for a championship. I hope that he is gratified, satisfied and mollified. On the other end of the scale in terms of waiting time for a championship, this Saturday, just as they did last year, Darien and New Canaan will play for the Connecticut Class L football championship. No need for recent graduates to wait until they're eighty-four. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> Subject: Re: "The Waiting Is The Hardest Part" -- Tom Petty Author: Washington Lion (No one asked me but) [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 15:15:17 12/10/24 Tue I've been impressed with the grace of the non-Columbia fans on this board in their sincere congratulations to the Lions and their partisans for the shared title. Hoping the team can stay competitive into the future. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> [> Subject: Re: "The Waiting Is The Hardest Part" -- Tom Petty Author: Lurker [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 16:21:56 12/10/24 Tue Agreed. It is beneficial to entire league if Columbia can erase the “historically inept” image. This year’s performance goes a long way to that end. Be on the watch for “same old Columbia” should there be a big step back next year (which could happen given the quantity of defensive talent graduating). 2 down seasons risks complete backslide. I am sure everyone involved knows this. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: "The Waiting Is The Hardest Part" -- Tom Petty Author: Washington Lion [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 17:54:22 12/10/24 Tue True, Lurker, the challenge is not simply to share a championship once, but to contend year in and year out. Not guaranteed, in Columbia's case, but the foundation that Coaches Bagnoli and Fabish built and the energy that Coach Poppe brought this year has put the program in a much better place than it's been before in my quarter century of fandom. And you're right, Valmas: For this fan, it feels a bit odd when your team shares a championship with two teams that beat it. I happened to be in attendance in Providence in 1999 when Brown beat Columbia to share the league title with Yale. At the final whistle, the Bears, having beaten the Bulldogs earlier in the season, chanted "Head to head! Head to head!" There's a logic to it. But under the league's rules, a co-championship is a championship, and Columbia having lost to its co-champions means it beat teams that they didn't -- Cornell, in Dartmouth's case; Yale in Harvard's. Certainly the players and coaches are entitled to celebrating their well-earned (and historic) title. But I should have said at the outset: Congratulations, too, to Harvard, where my father (and his father) went to college and medical school, a sister is pursuing a graduate degree, and I teach, and to Dartmouth. where, as far as I know, no family members (but certainly several friends) have distinguished themselves. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: "The Waiting Is The Hardest Part" -- Tom Petty Author: Lurker [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 19:32:14 12/10/24 Tue Columbia wins a football title once every 63 years whether it needs it or not [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> [> Subject: More than most ARE unfailingly gracious..... Author: Valmas (Stoic) [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 16:28:09 12/10/24 Tue For example: the Princeton football faithful endured an usually difficult '24 campaign; with nary a complaint about game officiating cited herein; and I'm doubtful that each of the disappointing Tiger outcomes was a product of perfect refereeing. But my joy for Tod and those of his generation is tempered somewhat by one nagging question: how much can you treasure a co-championship as a true championship when the only opportunities you had to compete against those you share it with resulted in definitive defeat? [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: More than most ARE unfailingly gracious..... Author: ivy guy (circumspect) [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 10:43:39 12/13/24 Fri I hear ya' Valmas, Columbia's two Ivy losses were to Harvard and Dartmouth. In my view, that does nothing to diminish the great season the Lions fought in 2024. The beauty of the IL is that every year, every team plays all seven of the Ancient Eight (unlike most conferences). Roar Lions Roar! ## [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: Re: Columbia *** Freshman QB Caleb Sanchez Author: Lion Rooter [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 11:37:26 11/13/24 Wed as for hoops - it is my experience that early season games - men and women - are sparsely attended. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> Subject: You should invite the Obamas for a game Author: Go Green [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 12:30:52 11/13/24 Wed I was at the American-Harvard game over the weekend. Crowd was probably headed for about 1,000 give or take at Bender Arena. When people realized that the Obamas were in attendance, the placed filled up 20 minutes later. And there were still another 1,000 people trying to get in outside the gym. And the poor secret service was plenty busy trying to keep well-wishers away from the Obamas the entire game... [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> Subject: Re: You should invite the Obamas for a game Author: An Observer [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 13:14:32 11/13/24 Wed That is an amazing story. You should forward your experience to the marketing people and coaching staff at Princeton. Mitch Henderson might want to invite alumna Michelle when Yale and Brown come to town this winter. Social media is a powerful thing. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> [> Subject: It was indeed really cool! Author: Go Green [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 13:57:47 11/13/24 Wed Check out the game highlights! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ClEwHTESds [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> [> Subject: Re: You should invite the Obamas for a game Author: joiseyfan [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 21:06:48 11/13/24 Wed Barack and Michelle are veteran fans of the women’s program; their niece Leslie Robinson ‘18 (Craig’s daughter) was All-Ivy for Courtney https://goprincetontigers.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/leslie-robinson/11616 [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: You should invite the Obamas for a game Author: Bengal [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 17:43:43 11/14/24 Thu When we played a school in DC with her niece on the team, Michelle joined them in the halftime locker room and told them to keep pressuring the other team on defense. President Barack Obama joined Craig at U/Md for a NCAA WBB tourney game we were in. I believe alums Sotomayor and Kagan attended that one or the next one, putting Alito to shame for apparently not attending, lol. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]