Charlie Bettinelli 1974-2015

The 1996 Columbia football team is well known as the most successful individual squad in just about every Lion fan's lifetime. But it wasn't really the eight wins that made that '96 team special, it was the way they won close game after close game and really punched above their weight in almost every way.

Sure, that team had two superstars in future NFL All Pro Defensive End Marcellus Wiley and perennial All Ivy Linebacker Rory Wilfork, but the rest of the team were not Ivy household names.

Two of the players who were quiet leaders of the team were OL Randy Murff and DE Charlie Bettinelli. And by some tragic twist of fate that is just almost too unfair to fathom, both of them have now passed away.

I've written a lot about Murff, who was the team captain, a number of times on this blog and the old blog. His absence has been a painful reality for his former teammates and fans for almost 15 years.

But Bettinelli had remained an overlooked key component to that '96 team and I regret that it's taken his sudden death, just made public yesterday, to bring his contributions to light. But I will try to do them, and him, some justice.

Bettinelli was a serious presence in the locker room, and the other players used him as a role model. He helped them see how to conduct themselves as players in practice and on game day. Then it turned out that Charlie was one of the best students in his class, period. And so many of his teammates sought out and got his help on their assignments and he always made time for his fellow players in need.

None of that should overshadow Betinnelli's contributions on the field. His career highlights include a key sack and a forced fumble in the later stages of the huge 1995 win over Penn and a monster game against St. Mary's in 1995. His final game for the Light Blue was also noteworthy, as he and the rest of the defensive line held off Brown for a 31-27 win.

But his best game ever was against Fordham in week 2 of 1996, when it seemed like he single-handedly beat the Rams in heart-stopping fashion. Trailing 10-7 late in the 1st half, Bettinelli snagged an interception and made it a pick six to give the Lions the lead. When the game was over, he also had two fumble recoveries and a big sack to preserve the 17-10 win.

After Columbia, Betinelli held several impressive jobs, mostly in the tech sector.

The family has opened a 529 college savings plan for Charlie's son Nicolas in Charlie's memory. You can donate to it by making checks payable to Fidelity Investments, (FBO Nicolas Bettinelli A/C 618916783) and send to P.O. Box 770001 Cincinnati, OH 45277.

Fidelity Investments (FBO Nicolas Bettinelli, A/C 618916783) at P.O. Box 770001, Cincinnati, OH 45277. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sonomanews/obituary.aspx?n=charles-egidio-bettinelli&pid=174838077#sthash.epwoo8IL.dpuf

Make checks payable to Fidelity Investments (FBO Nicolas Bettinelli, A/C 618916783) at P.O. Box 770001, Cincinnati, OH 45277. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sonomanews/obituary.aspx?n=charles-egidio-bettinelli&pid=174838077#sthash.epwoo8IL.dpuf

Make checks payable to Fidelity Investments (FBO Nicolas Bettinelli, A/C 618916783) at P.O. Box 770001, Cincinnati, OH 45277. - See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sonomanews/obituary.aspx?n=charles-egidio-bettinelli&pid=174838077#sthash.epwoo8IL.dpuf

More than just a Consolation Prize

The Three-Peat

With a football team that hasn't won a championship in 54 years and a basketball team on a 47-year drought, one can only expect Columbia fans to see the very successful baseball program as a needed counterbalance to the failures elsewhere. 

But I want to make the point that this team is so much more than that. Even if Columbia were home to perennial powers in football and hoops, this 3-time defending Ivy Baseball championship team would be worth very special recognition. 

The last two seasons especially have been a testament to a team that just never gave up and found a way to win. 

In 2014, the Lions came into Gehrig Division play well behind 1st place Penn. But Columbia pulled even just before the season-ending series with the Quakers before splitting that series and eventually winning the one-game divisional playoff in Philadelphia. 

This year, Columbia has won four straight must-win games to win the championship again. First the Lions had to win the final game of the home-and-home series with Penn at Penn to force the playoff. Columbia won that game 8-6 in 10 innings. Then Columbia had to win that playoff, which the Lions did 4-2 at home. Then Columbia had to win Game 2 of the ILCS vs. Dartmouth as the official "road team," which they did 7-2. And finally Columbia had to win the last game of the ILCS yesterday, which they did 10-7 as Coach Brett Boretti had to cobble together a make-shift group of relievers to get through 9 innings against Dartmouth. 

This team is just an incredible combination of great talent and great coaching. I know this is the group that wants to finally break through and get to the NCAA super regionals, but no matter what happens at the end of the month it was just such a great pleasure to watch this team. And that's especially true for the seniors who are finishing up a tremendous run at the top. 

College baseball is nowhere as big as college football and basketball, even in the Ivies. But baseball is still big in America, and when you say the sentence, "Columbia has now won 3 Ivy Baseball championships in a row," every sports fan in America gets that. 

Buddy's Bike

Someone in Norwalk, Connecticut has stolen Dartmouth Head Coach Buddy Teevens' custom-made bicycle.

I hope Buddy gets his bike back, but I think I know how he feels. After all, for the 2012-14 Columbia football seasons, someone stole our whole team.

Unhallowed Ground Part 2

Sean Brackett is now playing Arena Football in Las Vegas 

After 10 years playing on what we call hereinafter “Field Turf 1,” I thought it was more appropriate to list the five best and five worst games in Columbia history on that field. Plus, I wanted to note some of the more memorable games that didn’t quite make it into the “Best” or “Worst” categories.

Monday, I selected the 2009 win over Brown as the best game for the Lions on Field Turf 1. Here are the rest of my top 5:

5. Columbia 37 Fordham 7 (2006)

Here's how I covered the game back then, (my game reports used to be epic and took almost as long as the actual game to read).

Almost nine years later, I think the game holds up as a very good one as it ushered in the Norries Wilson era on a such a high note. It was also an absolutely beautiful day.

4. Columbia 34 Cornell 17 (2012)

This is actually the last game Columbia own on that field and the last game Columbia has won anywhere, for that matter. This was the one solid win the Lions had during the entire Pete Mangurian era. His other two wins were by a whisker and relied on more than the usual amount of luck to get done.

As I noted in my game report, the game had two all-time highlights in Marcorus Garrett’s 86-yard TD run and Josh Martin’s bruising hit on Jeff Mathews on a killer sack. But there were so many other highlights on both sides of the ball as everything started to go Columbia’s way early in the 2^nd half. It was an astounding display of unrelenting dominance for two quarters.

3. Columbia 35 Brown 28  2 OT  (2011)  

QB Sean Brackett just never gave up on a game that  looked to be over several times before Columbia finally pulled it out. It was an emotional win that saved the Lions from an 0-10 season. It was also Norries Wilson’s last game as CU’s coach.

2. Columbia 42 Princeton 14 (2010)

This was Columbia’s best wire-to-wire performance against an Ivy opponent on Field Turf 1. Brackett threw five TD passes and went 18-of-24 for 273 yards and no picks. Columbia hasn’t beaten Princeton since.

And now, here are the rest of my worst five games on this now-departed turf:

5. Dartmouth 21 Columbia 16 (2012)

This was the game, even more than the 69-0 loss to Harvard two weeks later, that really burst the bubble on the Mangurian regime. My take on this last minute Homecoming loss was anguish at how the basic lessons of protecting a lead were again not being taught by yet another Columbia coaching staff.

A gutty performance by the defense and Marcorus Garrett was wasted and a great Homecoming crowd once again had its hearts broken.

4. Fordham 16 Columbia 9 (2010)

http://roarlions.blogspot.com/2010/09/sputtering-out-of-gate.html This game featured a unusual, (even by Columbia standards), combination of bad breaks and bonehead coaching decisions. WR Mike Stephens was hurt when he was left in the game unnecessarily and a missed PAT changed the entire momentum of the game. The 2010 and 2009 seasons were riddled with games like this.

3. Princeton 27 Columbia 24 (2008)

Another agonizing Homecoming loss that featured another lead-changing TD by an opponent and a turnover on what looked like a winning drive for the Lions. 2008 began with one close loss after another and the team just never found its footing.

2. Penn 27 Columbia 20 (2011)

Another Homecoming disaster and probably the game that sealed Norries Wilson’s fate at Columbia more than any other. Most fans will mostly remember the nauseating sequence when Columbia committed penalty after penalty after getting a 2^nd and three at the Penn four. But there were other massive negatives that included blown leads and unnecessary play calls that resulted in turnovers.

Other Memorable Moments

1.       The Snow Bowl

A freak October blizzard hit Baker Field and the game was played in the most brutal conditions probably ever endured at Wien Stadium. http://roarlions.blogspot.com/2011/10/snowed-over.html Yale pulled out the game, 16-13. Columbia could have easily won, but the Lions simply could not execute as well as the Elis in the key moments.

2.       All Wet, Half a Game

The 2007 game against a very good Yale game was marked by very heavy rain throughout the contest. But the weather wasn’t the reason why Columbia basically outplayed the Elis in the first half. There were just a great number of great defensive plays by Andy Shalbrack and others time after time. But Yale eventually prevailed, 28-7.

3.       Brown Takes the Cup

Seeing more Brown fans at Wien Stadium then you ever see at Brown Stadium was weird, but it made sense as the Bears won 52-7 in this 2005 game to clinch their first-ever unshared Ivy title.

4.       Taking the Coach Out

In Columbia's 24-0 win over Iona, Gaels Head Coach Fred Mariani collapsed from heat stroke before the game and didn’t make it back to the sidelines. Certainly not something you see every day.

5.       Monsoon Win

Another massive rain storm almost marred a 2008 21-13 win over Dartmouth that ended a 13-game Columbia losing streak.

I’ll continue with some more memorable moments on Field Turf 1 tomorrow… 

Un-Hallowed Ground

Shalbrack's TD was the greatest play on Columbia's now-departed Field Turf


Ask me how much fun it is to have to pause before every post to congratulate the baseball team on another big win.

I'm sure you can guess the answer.

I watched the game against Penn this weekend and it was another wonderful display of the fine work Coach Brett Boretti has done with this team. And it is a "team" in every way as evidenced by the fact that there seems to be a different hero every week.

The Ivy League Championship Series begins against Dartmouth this Saturday at noon at home on Robertson Field.


Tearing up the Roots

If you were at the baseball game Saturday, you couldn't help but notice that the work to replace the Field Turf at Wien Stadium is well underway. As I have written a few times, Field Turf has a manufacturer-suggested life of 10 years, so this is necessary... and it's nicely symbolic.Columbia is hoping to rip up a failing program just like they're ripping up the field.

Most of the ten seasons that field witnessed were some of the worst in Columbia history. It's first season was 2005, a year where Columbia went 0-7 in the Ivies and lost just about each of those conference games by blowouts.

A year later, new Head Coach Norries Wilson arrived and the Lions surged to a hopeful 5-5 record. But the promise did not hold and Columbia never hit .500 again on that field. In fact the Lions all-time home record on this now departed field was an embarrassing 17-37. Hey, even if the 10 years weren't up, I'd want to tear this field to shreds!

What were the best and worst games on this field?

I'd have to say the best win was the 28-14 win over Brown to close out the 2009 campaign. Even though the 2009 Lions were 4-6, they were the best Columbia team of the last 15 years. The win over Brown featured a sparking performance by then-freshman QB Sean Brackett and the greatest single play of the last 25 years in Columbia history: the Adam Mehrer pick and lateral to Andy Shalbrack for a TD return as time ran out in the first half.

When it comes to the worst losses, there are all too many blowouts to choose from. But the one that still burns me the most was the 2009 23-22 loss to Yale that featured what seemed like 10 or 11 moments when Columbia seemed determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

And while there were some great times on that field, I say good riddance. The Bagnoli Era has begun and it's time to tear the past away... literally.

Offseason? We're just getting warmed up

Play Ball!

There's a lot of Columbia football and Ivy League Football news to catch up today, but it would be foolish not to start with the big baseball game going on at Baker Field tomorrow.

The excellent Lions baseball team takes on Penn for the second straight year in a one-game playoff for the Gehrig Division title. The quality of play in the four game series between these two teams last week was really several cuts above what you usually see in this league. I can only imagine what it will be like in this winner-take-all nine inning game tomorrow.

Junior George Thanopolous gets the ball on the mound gets the ball on the mound for Columbia, but he'll have all of the CU pitching staff behind him if necessary.  The game starts at 1pm and will be broadcast on ESPN3.

Official Lists Come In

Harvard is the first Ivy to release its official list of incoming football freshmen.

One glaring omission is Boca Raton High School's Elgin Davis, who made big news last week when he publicly announced he had chosen Harvard over a scholarship offer from Georgia Tech. Whether this means Davis is taking a PG year somewhere or he just committed too late to be included in the Harvard press release remains to be seen.

35 Slots for Columbia Next Year

When we add up Columbia's incoming freshmen and transfers list, we'll find out how many newcomers the Lions are getting. I have no idea when our official list will be released.

But I do have an idea that Columbia will be getting a bumper crop of freshmen next year based on new Offensive Line Coach Jon McClaughlin's April 27th Tweet that says that 35 new players will join the Lions in the 2016 recruiting class.

The recruiting process for that next class is well underway and with the kind of recruiters Columbia has now hired on the staff, I feel like a manager sending only his best hitters to the plate over and over again.

Music Service

If you liked that remix of the Door's song "5 to 1" they used in the great spring practice highlight video, you can hear whole remix here.