Participation Trophies

Below is an example of the kind of headline I hate the most from our athletic department

"Men's Swimming & Diving Open Ivy League Championships

In other words: “Hey, we’re PARTICPATING!”

“Hey, Nobody Drowned in Warmups!”

“We’re the Champions of just Showing up!”

What we don’t see in these horrible headlines is that CU is currently 6^th in the swimming competition. Also, the much-ballyhooed women’s swimming team totally bombed in the Ivy championships earlier this month. We didn't even finish in the top 3! 

I’m sick of all of this mere celebration of showing up. Have the guts to tell it like it is in the headline and let us know we’re near the bottom of the league.

These kinds of stories/headlines add fuel to the fire for those of us who believe the administration only wants us to field teams and doesn’t really care if they win or not. 

BREAKING: Tim Murphy Hospitalized

Harvard Head Coach Tim Murphy is reportedly dealing with what the papers will only call a "medical issue."

But, it doesn't appear too serious.

Murphy is the best coach in the league in my opinion, Phil Estes is second and Al Bagnoli #3.

Play Ball

Let’s not forget to celebrate success as much as possible.

And with that in mind, the Columbia Baseball team begins its season tomorrow with the start of a four game set at South Florida.

The Lions will begin to defend their Ivy title on March 29^th at home against Brown.

Brett Boretti is the best coach in all of Columbia athletics. He not only excels on the field and in recruiting, but his P.R. skills are also first rate and should serve as a guide to the other coaches at CU.

In case you’ve forgotten about the stellar players on this team, here’s a short reminder:

Jordan Serena is a junior outfielder/infielder, and was 1^st Team All Ivy last year. He’s a speedster, stealing 27 bases in 28 attempts last season.

Mike Fischer is a top defensive catcher and was 2^nd Team All Ivy last season.

Aaron Silbar is another returning 1^st Team All Ivy infielder.

And of course there’s the fan favorite Joey Falcone. 2^nd Team All Ivy last year and the inspiration for many on and off the team.

The pitching looks very good too with a lot of All Ivy returnees.

David Speer was 1^st Team All Ivy last season.

Senior Joey Donino was 2^nd Team All Ivy.

And Sophomore Kevin Roy was All Ivy Honorable Mention and has a lot of upside.

For an unbiased look at how good the Lions are, check out this analysis from Baseball America.

This is an exciting and strong team that deserves more fan support. Much of the home schedule is during a time when it can be a little chilly to watch a baseball game, but not all of it. I hope to see you there.

10 Questions

So spring practice is about to begin and we’re also about to get a lot more info from the football program.

That includes two open practices on March 8^th and March 15^th, a more information-packed introduction to our recruiting class, and a social media Q & A with Head Coach Pete Mangurian on March 18^th.

We’re also about to get some updates on the coaching staff. I know that will include a replacement for WR coach Wendell Davis, who has left the team. I thought Davis did a great job with the receivers in 2012, but something went very, very wrong with that crew last season. We’ll see if his replacement has any answers.

Speaking of answers, here are the top 10 questions I’d like to see fans ask Coach Mangurian on the 18^th:

1)      Granted the team had some bad injuries in 2013, but how do you explain what was the absolute worst season in Ivy history?

2)      Columbia’s offensive line was worse in 2012 than it was in 2011. Then it was worse in 2013 than it was in 2012. When will the bleeding stop, and wasn’t the terrible offensive line the biggest reason for the most serious injuries last year?

3)      Why did you call big donors like Bob Kraft and use the “cupboard was bare” excuse for our woes last season? Didn’t you realize that would get out? And can you really say that your recruits are more talented and had enough experience to justify benching many of the older players?

4)      Why don’t we have a JV program? Every other Ivy team has one and many of our players last season clearly needed more training for college play.

5)      Has it always been your plan to completely “blow up” the football program and start from rock  bottom?

6)      Just about every other Ivy team is using QB’s who are running and passing threats at once. You’re bucking that trend. Why?

7)      How many years away are the Lions from being a legitimate contender for at least a winning season?

8)      Why have you recruited so many incoming freshmen who received no offers from any other Ivy school?

9)      Why did strength coach Ryan Cidzik leave?

10)   Explain why you deserve another season at the helm at Columbia football.

I If anyone reading this does decide to participate in the social media event with Mangurian, I URGE you all to keep it civil and above board. I know my questions above are rather sharp, but they contain no vulgarities or personal insults. I want to pre-emptively discourage anyone from doing that in this upcoming forum. 

Who Stays, Who Goes?

During the Norries Wilson era, the online football roster would be updated within minutes of any personnel changes.

Or at least it seemed that way.

Now, we’ve known since the early days of last season that some of the players still on the published roster were not still with the team. But it’s hard to figure out the reasoning behind who stays on the roster and who doesn’t.

There are four names of undergrads now missing from the roster who were there as of the Brown game at the end of last season:

1)      Connor Spears - transferred to USC

2)      Ricky Wolff - ????

3)      Jake Wanamaker - my sources told me months ago he was inexplicably run off the team by Head Coach Pete Mangurian, possibly for having the audacity to want to show up for his summer internship

4)      Kyriakos Mourkakos - ???

But we know there HAVE to be more non-seniors no longer on the team.

One player who remains a roster mystery is WR Isaiah Gross. Gross was an extremely promising freshman in 2012 until he was injured in week 3. We know he showed up for the very beginning of training camp last summer, but he’s been AWOL ever since. Why someone who didn’t even suit up for one game last year is still technically on the roster is strange. Could it be that Coach Mangurian, who praised Gross very highly at the beginning of 2012, is holding out hope that his erstwhile star will return? Could it be that Mangurian is hoping no one will notice one of his most talented players just bailed on him? Who knows?

The bottom line is we will have little idea who remains on this team at least until spring practice.