Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Make Your Picks

The official athletic department obituary for Rich Ruzika contains some added information about his life and a great vintage picture of him from his playing days. Please check it out.




TV Choices

Now that the new TV deal with NBC Sports has been signed, let's assume only the minimum six Ivy football games are televised this fall.

If you were the programming director, which ones would you choose?

If my only goal was the best ratings and getting the most exciting games, I would try to hold out until during the season to make those choices.

But NBC will probably have to decide much sooner than that.

So if I were the program director, here are the games I'd choose if I had to choose now:

1) Harvard-Yale

Actually, I have no choice there. That is the one game NBC is already committed to broadcast. But let's face it, it will get the top ratings anyway/.

2) Harvard-Brown

This week 2 game is at Brown this year and it has become one of the most important and exciting games almost every year for the past decade.

3) Harvard-Penn

Most years, this game seals the Ivy title for the winner.

4) Brown-Penn

Penn seemed like it was on the decline last season, but I'd take a chance on this being another important and fun game again this season.

5) Cornell-Brown

This could be a real offensive fireworks show. And it's week 6 so it could really mean something.

6) Cornell-Harvard

I know, it's a lot of Harvard. But this game this year is in Ithaca and it should be a great test of how good 2011 offensive MVP Jeff Mathews really is.

If NBC goes for a few more games, I'd throw in the Columbia-Cornell game in week nine as it is the 100th meeting... BUT that's the same week as Harvard-Penn. I would also consider Brown-Yale, but I am pretty sure the YES Network will have that game. YES will probably also broadcast Yale at Columbia in week 7.





8 comments:

Anonymous said...

No love for Dartmouth or Princeton on the TV schedule, Jake?

Anonymous said...

And why do you think that Brown is such a big deal? They were a middle-of-the-pack offensive team last year and are not expected to be much better on the offensive side of the ball in 2012.

Anonymous said...

Not to be a homer but Columbia-Cornell in week nine could be a fun game. The two best quarterbacks in the league and maybe the two worst secondaries!

RedTiger61 said...

I started to think about who is Columbia's rival ... when I was in school it was Princeton .... of course that was because we hadn't beaten them in 25 or so years .... The other rival during the late-60's was Brown because we were always battling them to not wind up last in the League .... based on the way we played last year Penn-Columbia might be an interesting game .... also there is the Bag-Mangurian factor might be an interesting dynamic over the next few years .... I'm curious what the rest of you would say is a "rivalry game" for Columbia ??? ....

Anonymous said...

As far as the Columbia bookstore is concerned, your rival is Cornell. https://www.nmnathletics.com/sellnew/ViewItem.dbml?_IN_STORE_=YES&DB_OEM_ID=9600&ITMID=376130&ITMCATID=0

DOC said...

Agree its Cornell with the advent of the Empire Cup series.

WOF said...

It's always been Princeton for me, no contest

RedTiger61 said...

I did take an awful lot of pleasure when we rubbed Princeton's nose in the dirt in 2009 and 2010 ....