Last Lectures

The way a professor handles a last lecture can tell you a lot about them. Many of my professors have used the last class to cover the last part of the course's content, or review for the final exam. They've ended the class with a simple "good luck on the final" or "thank you for a great semester, and enjoy the break." Nothing too fancy.

But a few professors have used the last class to really make an impression on students' mind, and these courses are the ones that I usually consider to be the best I've taken.

In fall 2006, Isaac Kramnick used the 75 minutes of our last class of GOVT 366 (American Political Thought from Madison to Malcolm X), and then about 30 minutes more, to deliver a passionate address about political philosophy. Kramnick tied together nearly everything we'd read over the course of the semester and turned it into a diatribe about American foreign policy, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the separation of church and state, and a host of other issues. I didn't agree with a lot of what he said, but as we walked out of the room, there was no doubt in our minds that Kramnick cared deeply about the material.

Today, in the last class for LAW 405 (The Death Penalty in America), our two professors were in tears as they told us the difficult stories of how they've witnessed the executions of former clients. As a class, we understood how deeply attached these lawyers are to these cases, and why they continue with their work. More than after any other class, we were left with a true appreciation for the gravity of capital punishment, and I know that the 100+ students in the class will remember this for a while.

Because of these experiences, the last lecture is often my favorite. After spending an entire semester trying to objectively present material, professors can show their true feelings and beliefs. Often, it is not the facts I've had to learn for the class, but rather the opinions which I've developed, which last long after I've walked out of the classroom.

"We love you, Orange people!"

Last night I went with a couple of friends to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse to see Guster and Ben Folds in concert. Apparently it was Syracuse's equivalent of Slope Day, so that's why they were able to get such a good lineup.

We foolishly assumed that Ben Folds would open for Guster, considering that (a) Guster was announced as a performer before Ben Folds, and (b) Guster's name is in much bigger font on the ticket than Ben Folds'. Unfortunately, it was the other way around. The less-famous group Hotel Lights played a 30-minute set, Guster played for an hour, and Ben Folds was still playing encores when we left 2 hours into his performance. It was already 11:15 at that point.

We were a little angry that Guster played such a short set, but most of the people were there to see Ben Folds. This was definitely a different experience from the other two Guster concerts I've seen (2006 and 2007), in which Guster was the headliner. It's really too bad that they couldn't have worked out a more equal division of time.

Regardless, Guster proved why I love to see them in concert. Even though they stuck mainly to their mainstream songs, they were still able showcase their range of musical talents. And Ryan Miller's stage banter is hilarious.

Talking about playing in the Carrier Dome, he joked, "this is the most anticlimactic climactic walk on stage ever," since his excitement at playing in the dome disappeared when he realized that the stage was set up on one far end.

After playing their song "Red Oyster Cult," Guster switched to a cover of "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult, complete with cowbell.

Miller put Auto-Tune technology (made famous by T-Pain) on his mic, and sang in the electronic voice: "This is T-Pain...I love rap music...I love college...Hakeem Olajuwon..." The last two are references to Slope Day performer Asher Roth's hit single. Trust me, it was funny.

Opening the six-minute ballad "Ruby Falls," Miller sang the first line as "Tonight...where can we go from here" instead of "where do we go from here," an accidental and minor mistake which drew an immediate reaction from Guster nerds like us. It's nice to know that even after 15 years of touring, these guys still make mistakes.

And the sign-off: "We love you, orange people!"

I'm a little jealous that so many other colleges have brought Guster to campus, but not Cornell. Back when Facebook maintained a network demographics page, Guster was usually around #7 on the list of Cornellians' favorite musical groups. I have no doubt that the CCC would be able to sell a lot of tickets.

Just Cancel Classes on Slope Day

In my three years at Cornell, I have never attended a class on Slope Day. All of my professors have either outright canceled class or have told us that they'll be there but they don't care if we skip that day.

But this isn't always the case. I've heard of some professors who distribute important final exam review materials that day, or inform their students that there will be a question on the final based on that day's class.

An editorial in the Sun on Thursday about the architecture program reminds us that "Slope Day, one of the few days where the majority of the University comes together, is annually filled with reviews for third-year architects."

I have a research paper due at noon on Slope Day...20 pages which are worth 70% of my grade for the semester. And as much as I'm hoping to finish before then, I have a feeling I'll be spending the night before Slope Day at the library.

Why does the university halfheartedly pretend to maintain a regular academic schedule on Slope Day while funneling tens of thousands of dollars into activities for the day on the Slope? They shut down whole buildings, fence off Libe Slope, recruit hundreds of volunteers, and provide entertainment at the same time as when classes are scheduled.

For the sake of the few unfortunate people who have classes or assignments due on Slope Day, the university should simply cancel classes.

How Does Apple Make Money?

Well, obviously they do. Probably on iPods, iPhones, and people stupid enough to not buy an extended warranty for their computers.

I was reunited with my MacBook tonight, a few days ahead of schedule. All the repairs were covered under my warranty, but Apple included the receipt so I could see just how much it cost to fix everything...

Logic board: $876

Top case: $139

Hardware repair: $135

Total of $1150, or roughly $100 more than what I paid for the damn thing nearly 3 years ago. Apple just spent more money to fix my computer than I paid to buy it in 2006. How does this make sense for them?

In any case, things seem to be working okay, and I'll get back into my routine of posting every day.

Wasting Money on Mushrooms

I won't have my computer back for another week, but I'll try my best to do some blogging from the library or friends' computers.

As Cornell continues to cut valuable programs like Dutch and Turkish, while closing libraries and leaving positions unfilled, the university should be looking to save money wherever it can. This is why last week's fungi episode was a little hard to swallow.

In the early 20th Century, a Chinese professor maintained a collection of rare fungi. When Japan invaded China in the late 1930s, the fungi were "smuggled by ox cart to Indochina and then by sea to the United States, eventually arriving at Cornell in 1940, according to the Associated Press."

"In a repatriation ceremony in Weill Hall [last Monday], Skorton presented a high-ranking delegation of Chinese government officials with a mushroom called Lentinus tigrinus and a letter expressing Cornell’s intent to return the fungi."

This is a somewhat cool story and it seems like the decision to return the specimens was the right one. But...the Chinese delegation consisted of a huge number of scientists and political types. They occupied the top two floors of the Statler and ran up a hotel bill totaling more than $250,000. I'm sure they also incurred tens of thousands of dollars in travel expenses, while Cornell undoubtedly paid for receptions, food, and things of that nature while the Chinese delegation was in town.

I realize that it is fairly typical of the Chinese government to spend a tremendous sum of money on showy things like this. But Cornell is making cuts across the board and it seems wrong to arrange a huge ceremony for mushrooms while the university cuts academic programs at the same time. However much money Cornell had to pay to put on this gaudy event, I can't help but assume that it would have been better spent preserving the programs that make Cornell a top university.

Computer Problems

Sorry for the lack of posts; my computer has been acting up. For a while it sounded like Rice Crispies when I turned it on (snap, crackle, etc.), which was totally bizarre. Tonight, it miraculously came back to life, although I'm not sure how long it'll last. I have an appointment tomorrow at the closest Apple Store (up in Syracuse), but I'm hoping I'll be able to cancel and avoid the drive.

If you also have a MacBook, don't worry. Every other blogger has one, too!

Hopefully I'll soon be back to posting more regularly.

Cornell Hockey to Play at UNH

The first, and probably last "scoop" this blog will ever have:

Cornell is working on scheduling a game for next season at UNH. The scheduling of the Colgate games on Tuesdays opens up (I think) a weekend in early January when it might happen.

Also, Colin Greening will be next year's captain. Blake Gallagher and Riley Nash will be alternates.

Two Quick Cornell Facts of the Day

I had dinner last night with one of Cornell's vice presidents, and while we only briefly spoke about the fiscal challenges currently facing the university, I learned a couple of interesting things. These might seem obvious to you, but they were news to me.

--Cornell has over 7,000 bank accounts. These are for various departments, professors, locations, scholarships, etc. This makes it difficult to assess the university's financial situation, since information about all of these accounts must be compiled. The number of accounts also makes it difficult to use money previously allocated to one purpose for another, since funds must be transferred between financial institutions.

--One reason why tuition didn't increase as much as some people expected is financial aid. As tuition goes up, the university must contribute more to meet its financial aid commitments. So, while an increase in tuition would bring more revenue to Cornell, it would also require a bigger aid payout, which the university probably can't afford.

CIA Torture Memos Released...And They're Disgraceful

Instead of diving into this much myself, I'll just send you over to Glenn Greenwald for his analysis of what happened today. You should really scroll down on his site and read some excerpts from these Bush-era memos.

Here's just one part, written by Stephen Bradbury, "deputy assistant attorney general":

Each year, the United States condemns coercive interrogation techniques and other practices employed by other countries. Certain of the techniques the United States has condemned appear to bear some resemblance to some of the CIA interrogation techniques.

Unbelievable. This didn't strike anyone at the CIA as a little bit hypocritical? Or unjust?

Now go read Glenn's post.

Edit: Thank you, Andrew Sullivan. I had noticed the same thing:

For the record:

No mention of the torture memos appears right now on the Drudge Report (which provides news of a prank at Dominos pizza), Instapundit (which mentions the new DVD for the Lord of The Rings trilogy), Pajamas Media, or Michelle Malkin. They are reacting to the evidence of war crimes committed by the president of the United States the way they did at the time the crimes were committed.

Bernanke the Democrat

Gallup conducted a poll the other day about economic issues. Nate Silver picks up on an interesting reversal of sorts:

See, back when Bernanke, the Federal Reserve Chairman, was working for George Bush, he wasn't very popular among Democrats. Now that he is working for Barack Obama, people have had a change of heart. And the opposite has been true for Republicans.

Are people really this partisan? It's the same freakin' guy!

Questions and Answers

This afternoon, I went to the speech by former New York Governor George Pataki, an event sponsored by the Cornell Republicans. The Republicans, apparently, were expecting such a big turnout that tickets were required to ensure a place in Bailey Hall (capacity 1,324). As it turned out, there were maybe 300 people there. But that's not the point.

Pataki got on stage around 5:45 and left at 6:30. He gave a half-hour speech, followed by a 15-minute question and answer session. When he ended his speech, he said something to the effect of, "I want to hear from you guys, so I'll stop there." To me, this clearly expressed a desire to have a constructive Q & A. He even commented that although the CU Republicans president (Ray Mensah) had advised him to avoid politics, he might "get into it a little" during the Q & A.

What followed, however, was disappointing. Every person who asked a question was respectful and reasonable, and Pataki gave intelligent responses. But the Republicans, whether out of fear of substantive debate, or possible tension, or whatever, hustled everything along. No one could ask a follow-up question; mikes were turned off as soon as each person stopped talking. At one point, someone asked Pataki a follow-up, and Pataki looked like he was about to speak, but Mensah pushed past Pataki to the microphone to announce that the questioner was "done."

After what seemed like a paltry number of questions, Mensah ended the Q & A. Forty-five minutes after Pataki began speaking, we were walking out of Bailey Hall.

From my recollection, the bigger-name speakers we've had recently, particulary Mike Huckabee and Shimon Peres, spoke for much longer and stayed longer for the Q & A. I want to emphasize that I don't think Pataki was the one pushing things along, but rather Mensah and the CU GOP. Maybe this is an unfortunate product of Bush-era politicking. Remember how only avowed Bush supporters were allowed to attend the president's speeches during the 2004 campaign?

Personally, I liked Pataki. Admittedly, he focused mostly on the environment and the economy, areas in which I happen to mostly agree with him. But I would have loved to hear him speak for longer, or at least respond to some more audience comments.

One of the most meaningful political experiences I've had at Cornell was watching Mike Huckabee have an intelligent back-and-forth with a student who was in favor of same-sex marriage. Both Huckabee and the student were clearly speaking from their hearts, and clearly believed strongly in what they were saying.

I don't know why the Republicans were so concerned about avoiding a similar moment today.

Cornell Hockey In 2009-2010

I know, I know, all I blog about is hockey. And the season's been over for a couple of weeks. Still, people are starting to look ahead to next year.

There's a discussion about this over at eLynah. The most insightful comment so far:

I think that (depending on how Sean Whitney progresses over the summer) one or both of Braden Birch and Nick D'Agostino have the potential to be impact defensemen from the beginning. John Esposito and Erik Axell could contribute about as much as Locke Jillson and Sean Collins did this year. Based on their junior stats it may take Vince Mihalek, Chris Moulson, and Jarred Seymour a little longer to adjust to the college game.

I think the team's success next year will be dependent on which players are able to elevate their game(s). Evan Barlow definitely did this this year, Blake Gallagher did too. I expect much bigger years from Sean Collins and Patrick Kennedy. Let's hope Patrick can duplicate his brother's sophomore->junior breakout!

The New England Hockey Journal (of all places) labels Cornell the team to beat for next year:

If you have to handicap the 2009-10 ECAC Hockey season, it’s hard to pick against Cornell.

Despite losing some key players, including NCAA tournament hero Evan Barlow and forward Michael Kennedy, the Big Red remain almost entirely intact.

Ithaca Journal beat writer Brandon Thomas has an must-read recap of the season in today's paper, with a small glance towards next year:

On paper, this wasn't supposed to be the Big Red's apex -- the 2009-10 season is. If nobody leaves the team prematurely, Cornell will return its three leading and six of its top eight scorers (Riley Nash, Greening, Gallagher, Brendon Nash, Joe Devin and Mike Devin) and Scrivens, the starting goalie.

Of course that's not to suggest that there aren't areas that need improvement -- and they're not news to anyone. Scrivens will need to prove he can make the dramatic save at a game's pivotal moment all year instead of just the first 15 games. The defense needs to continue its improved puck movement. And the forwards will need to be even more opportunistic on their scoring chances.

What no one wants to mention is the possibility of Riley Nash or Colin Greening leaving early to turn pro. If one of them leaves, Cornell scores 10-15 fewer goals next season and has a lot less offensive clout. If both leave, Cornell loses (with the graduation of Michael Kennedy) its top three offensive players and seems destined to a middle of the pack finish in the ECAC.

Let's be optimistic and assume that Nash and Greening stay. On paper, then, next year's team will be better. But can they play better? I would love to see current freshman Mike Garman or incoming freshman Omar Kanji give Scrivens a run for the starting goaltender job. At the very least, it will push them all to play better. The defensive corps will still be a little thin, so we have to hope Justin Krueger and Brendon Nash continue to improve while everyone stays healthy. With Greening and Nash, I'm actually not too concerned about the offense. I just hope Schafer puts those two on the same line, since splitting them up down the stretch undoubtedly cost us some offense.

With everyone back, and healthy, we should be the favorite to win the ECAC. However, we have a tough out of conference schedule to deal with. I'm sure these games will help the team prepare for the big games in the playoffs, but a few losses will push us into a bit of a hole. If we lose to BU over Thanksgiving, lose to Colorado College down in Florida, and split with North Dakota in January, we're looking at a possible losing record in OOC games, and probably a losing record against the top 25 teams in RPI (which is part of the criteria for the NCAA tournament selection process). I don't think we'll have the luxury (as we did this year) of a strong out of conference record to fall back on if we start struggling in the ECAC. Might be another one of those years where we have to make it to Albany and win a game to punch our ticket to NCAAs.

Or, I could be wrong, we could romp through the schedule and earn a #1 or #2 seed to the NCAA tournament. The two eastern regionals are in Albany and Worcester, which would both be fantastic places to play. Fort Wayne, Indiana (to face Notre Dame) or St. Paul, Minnesota (to face Minnesota) would be less appetizing for obvious reasons.

It's still early. I'll find out next year's captains on Friday, and hopefully we'll get some confirmation soon about Nash and Greening's intentions.

Not Every Underdog Is A Cinderella

I can't stand the tendency of the American sports media to label every underdog team a "Cinderella." We've seen some ridiculous examples of this recently.

In the NCAA basketball tournament, the lack of upsets left the media without a George Mason-style storyline. So, they resorted to doing crazy things like proclaim that Final Four teams #3 Villanova or even #2 Michigan State were Cinderella teams.

With the NCAA hockey tournament, it gets worse. I'll admit that there were a lot of upsets this year, including three first-round upsets of #1 seeds by #4 seeds. But please, you HAVE to keep in mind that only 16 teams make the NCAA hockey tournament. An upset of #4 by #13 isn't that big of a deal -- imagine a defeat of a #1 seed by a #4 seed in basketball. Still, the media couldn't figure out what to make of this one. The Wall St. Journal:

Three of the four No. 1 seeds in this year's tournament didn't even survive their first games over the weekend. Michigan fell to Air Force, 2-0, due almost entirely to the play of Falcons goaltender Andrew Volkening (Michigan took 43 shots to Air Force's 13); Denver lost to Miami University, 4-2; and Notre Dame was buried by Bemidji State, 5-1.

Denver's loss and even Michigan's actually weren't that shocking -- Air Force, which subsequently was eliminated Saturday by Vermont, came within an eyelash of first-round upsets the previous two years -- but Notre Dame's defeat was the equivalent of Radford dismissing North Carolina by double digits.

This is a ridiculous assertion. There is much more parity in the NCAA hockey tournament than on the basketball court. Bemidji's win was unexpected and startling, but nothing close to a first-round upset of UNC basketball.

Miami, also a #4 seed, made it to the national championship game. Reporters were quick to label them a "Cinderella," as well:

The ending to regulation and the ultimate game winner in overtime spoiled an incredible effort by Miami, a Cinderella team that entered the tournament as the 13th overall seed but gave BU all it could handle throughout the title game.

Miami ended the regular season with a second place finish in the strong CCHA conference, and their NCAA run consisted of wins over the lowest #1 seed (Denver), then #2 seed Minnesota-Duluth, and finally #4 Bemidji. Regardless of Miami's low seed in the tournament, their road to the final wasn't too rough.

There are times when the Cinderella image is warranted. But these days the media is too eager to create a compelling storyline that it fails to give a proper assessment of what these upsets really mean.

See you on Saturday at Schoellkopf Field, when Cinderella wannabe Cornell lacrosse takes on expected #1 Princeton. "Can Cinderella find her slippers once again?"

Highlights from the Fancy Cornell Survey

PULSE, which is a clever acronym standing for something I can't remember off the top of my head, was completed by 46 percent of Cornell undergrads this spring (including yours truly). The survey included a range of questions about everything from campus life to personal beliefs.

The full results are available as a .pdf here. I've picked a few highlights.

Most of the results look pretty good for the administration.

How would you evaluate your entire educational experience at Cornell?

Excellent 42
Good 47
(that's 89%!)
Fair 10
Poor 1

But a few don't.

How often have you discussed your course selection plans with a faculty member?

Occasionally 44
Rarely or never 36
Often 16
Very often 4

Feeds back into the well-stated last paragraph of Professor Ross Brann's guest column from the beginning of the year:

Some of [we faculty] are apparently absent from our offices, unavailable or disinterested during orientation and registration when students are thinking about their courses of study. If we fail to advise our students in conversation about their programs and engage in reflection with them about their choice of courses how can we hope to succeed in conveying the significance and value of thinking and ideas? What are we doing here at Cornell?

The Greek image committee still has some work to do:

I enjoy what the Greek system contributes to Cornell University.

Strongly agree 20%
Agree 32%
Disagree 30%
Strongly disagree 18%

To be fair, this was a bizarre way to phrase the question, and people probably read it as: "Do you enjoy attending frat parties?" Only 27% of respondents were actually Greek, so the system has some non-Greek supporters. But still, a lot of negatives there.

Calling the Cornell Public Service Center?

Time spent participating in community service during the typical week this academic year:

None - 60%

And who said Cornell was easy?

How often have you felt overwhelmed by all you had to do?

Often 34%
Very often 27%

There are plenty of other interesting results, but I don't have the time to type more out. Cornell apparently chose not to release students' responses about politics, science, religion, etc.

Why Doesn't Dodd Get The Message?

My Senator, Chris Dodd, should not be facing a tough re-election challenge in 2010. He comes from a well-known political family and is the longest-serving Senator in Connecticut history. He's a powerful Democratic politician in a state which split 61-38 for Obama in November. Yet the latest Quinnipiac poll (where I used to work) has him losing 50-34 to Rob Simmons, a Republican who couldn't hold onto his own Congressional district in 2006.

The details are brutal for Dodd:

Connecticut voters say 50 - 43 percent that Dodd has strong leadership qualities, but they say 54 - 32 percent that he is not honest and trustworthy and 52 - 39 percent that he does not care about their needs and problems.

Most voters, 59 percent, are angry that AIG paid bonuses to some executives, while 33 percent are "bothered but not angry."

Asked if they blame Dodd for these bonuses, 39 percent of voters say "a lot" and 35 percent say "some."

These numbers aren't a reflection of a sudden about-face by Connecticut Dems, in which we've suddenly decided we'd like to be represented by a Republican. We just don't want Dodd to run again.

Although he is Senate Banking Committee Chairman, Dodd was too busy campaigning in Iowa for the Democratic nomination to do anything about the financial crisis. His hopeless presidential run was widely seen as a testament to his own ego, and he alienated his Connecticut constituents even more by moving his family to Iowa while he was campaigning there. He returned home as the financial sector -- which he was supposed to be overseeing -- was imploding. The furor over AIG bonuses, many of which were paid to wealthy Connecticut executives, further hurt Dodd's image.

I think that some of the Democratic poll respondents who said they'd vote against Dodd will have second thoughts about electing a Republican (especially Simmons) and might come back to Dodd. But still, as a Democrat, why should Dodd put his party at risk of losing a Senate seat in a deep blue state? The right thing to do is to retire and allow the party to nominate someone else (Richard Blumenthal? Rosa DeLauro?) who will have an easier time of defeating Simmons.

I just hope Dodd's ego doesn't cost the Democrats a Senate seat, or tarnish the end of his career with an avoidable defeat.

The Best Team You Didn't Watch

Did you know that the UConn women's basketball team finished their 39-0 season by winning the NCAA title tonight?

It's amazing how popular the men's tournament is -- how much money people wager on it, and how many people watch the games. Even Barack Obama filled out a bracket (correctly picking UNC).

But I'm winning to bet that few people outside of Connecticut followed the women's basketball tournament that closely, and they missed possibly the most dominant season you'll see in any sport. 39 wins, 0 losses. UConn won every game by double digits. The team they beat in the NCAA final, Louisville, lost to UConn by 28, 39, and 22 points in their three meetings this year.

This isn't even that much of a new thing for UConn fans. The women's basketball team also finished undefeated in 1995 and 2002.

As Coach Geno Auriemma said before the NCAA tournament, "We're Muhammad Ali riding Secretariat." It's a shame more people didn't watch this season's exciting ride for the UConn women.

Let's Laugh at the Class of 2013

Looking for a little amusement? Head over to the "Cornell University Class of 2013" Facebook group and see what next fall's freshmen have to offer.

INDIVIDUAL COLLEGES:
...
School of Industrial and Labor Relationships

At first I thought this was a joke about ILRies' romantic lives, but I'm pretty sure it was inadvertent.

Let's go to the discussion board and read what our latest Cornell experts have to say about life on the hill:

Syracuse and NYC are both relatively close to go for a weekend so there are bigger cities to go to. As far as the cold, I'm from Florida so it's a big change for me too, but I'm sure you just get used to it.

the hotel school is certainly not the easiest. it's on par with all of the rest of the schools at cornell. it's a common misconception that people think it's easy. not the case. the hotel school is a business school at heart where students are responsible for taking advanced finance courses, for example. not terrifically easy.

Rumor also has it that being a greek uperclassmen sucks a lot because all of the fun parties are in college town.

I was wondering if anyone knew how bad your grades could be before Cornell revokes your admission? One or 2 C's?

Lynah FaithfuL! So excited!
especially to sleep in the stadium for tickets :)

I hear KDR, AZ, and PKA through the best parties

Swim test shouldn't be hard, its just to make sure you're able to swim. They started doing it because one student drowned while on vacation during her spring break so they wanted to make sure everyone can swim.

And the wall:

OMG I JUST GOT MY ACCEPTANCE LETTER TODAY! I AM SO EXCITED! FRIEND ME I WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH EVERYONE!

yay!!! rejected everywhere but here!

anyone catch the Cornell/Northeastern hockey game yesterday? It was EPIC.

Do they send shirts along with acceptances? That would be awesome...

i'm up for a few road trips to buffalo for sure!

That's it for my patience. Welcome, class of 2013.

Cornell Hockey Video Dump

How do Cornell hockey fans amuse themselves during the off-season? Apparently, by uploading videos to YouTube of Cornell beating Harvard. The collection of quality Cornell hockey videos on the internet has roughly doubled in the past week.

First, we have footage from one of the greatest games I have seen live, the 2003 ECAC final against Harvard.

As with some of our come-from-behind victories this season, Cornell was down, 2-1. After Harvard narrowly missed an empty-net goal, Mark McRae scores with 33 seconds remaining to tie the game at 2-2.

Then, in overtime, a goal that has remained vividly in my memory for the last six years:



Also, as a bit of a throwback, we have two goals from Cornell's victory over Harvard in the 1996 ECAC final. This was Coach Mike Schafer's first season back at Cornell, and one of his goals was to beat Harvard. Note that the games were played in Lake Placid, not Albany.

Matt Cooney ties the game at 1-1

Mike Sancimino scores the game-winning goal

Happy watching.

Hockey 101: Planning Your Schedule

Well, my schedule really. But I'm hoping there will be a larger contingent of students making it to the road games next year.

If a course meets on Friday afternoons, it's better to take it in Fall '09 than in Spring '10. This fall, you only have to make it to Yale and RPI for Friday night games. Yale is about 5 hours and RPI is 3 hours, so you really only have one long trip to worry about.

Next spring, however, you have to make it to Clarkson, Quinnipiac, and Harvard for Friday night games. There's also potential for a road playoff series, and thinking optimistically, a chance of a Friday afternoon NCAA regional game. If your class doesn't end until 2:40 or (heaven forbid) 4:10 on Fridays, you'll be missing a lot of classes.

So take that MWF 2:30-3:20 class this fall instead of next spring. Your professors will thank you.

Edit: For a longer discussion of sports and the academic calendar, see Cory Bennett's recent column.

Trip Recap - Western New York to Western Michigan

This past weekend I traveled to the bustling Midwestern city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the NCAA Hockey Regional. Initially, I wasn't planning to go, but I figured that this might be the only time during my four years on the hill that Cornell made the tournament, so why not?

I left Ithaca early Saturday morning (3:30 am) and met two alumni -- classes of 1970 and 1986 -- near the Thruway for the 9-hour drive to Grand Rapids. The drive there is basically a straight line west, cutting through Ontario and most of Michigan on our way to the western part of the state.

We arrived in Grand Rapids a couple of hours before the 4 pm game. Grand Rapids is actually a very nice city; the downtown area features the arena, a couple of recently built hotels, and some bars and restaurants. The area's claim to fame is that Gerald Ford spent part of his childhood in Grand Rapids. As such, the airport, freeway, and pretty much everything else is named after Ford. I would have liked to go to the Gerald Ford Museum, but someone (mistakenly) told us that it was closed on weekends.

In the regional semifinal on Saturday, #9 Cornell came back from a 2-0 deficit against #5 Northeastern to win 3-2 on another clutch Evan Barlow goal with 17 seconds remaining in the game. In the second semifinal, unranked Bemidji State pulled off the improbable upset of #2 Notre Dame, setting up the unexpected Cornell vs. Bemidji matchup to see which team would make the Frozen Four.

After the all-nighter on Friday, I got some much-needed sleep on Saturday night. I had a chance to see more of the downtown on Sunday, as I walked to the hospital to get a tetanus shot for a cut I had gotten in Ithaca on Friday night. Everyone there was very nice, but it was a good thing I wasn't in need of serious medical attention. It took us a few minutes to figure out that "nail injury" didn't mean I had a problem with one of my fingers, and they almost let me walk out of the hospital without registering (or receiving a bracelet).

Going into the regional final against Bemidji, everything seemed too good to be true. Instead of having to face the second-best team in the country (Notre Dame), we were playing a team from a minor conference that had never reached the Frozen Four. After that, thanks to some other upsets, our road to the national championship game went through another low seed, Miami (Ohio).

But we were foolish to look past Bemidji. This was a very fast team, and Cornell just didn't show up to play. Stupid defensive miscues and a lack of urgency on offense cost us a trip to the Frozen Four and broke the hearts of those of us who made the trip to Grand Rapids.

On that note, since I was the only Cornell student in attendance (aside from the pep band and hockey team), I had plenty of time to meet alumni. These are some of the most dedicated college sports fans you'll ever meet, as they take time off from work and families to follow the Big Red during the postseason -- to Albany, Grand Rapids, Minneapolis, Green Bay, or anywhere else the team is sent. For me, it was a little like seeing what I might be in 10 years. It's reassuring to know that it's possible to balance a stable life with Cornell hockey...

As I wrote in another post, this was my 34th and final Cornell hockey game of the season. The only two games I missed were the games in North Dakota over Thanksgiving. Next year, the schedule is a little more fan-friendly. North Dakota comes to Ithaca, and we're playing BU in Madison Square Garden over Thanksgiving. The Florida tournament is the only major trip, aside from that everything is within driving distance from Ithaca.

Moving on to spring sports, the lacrosse team is having another great season. Ranked #3 in the nation, they are 6-1 on the season and host Harvard this Saturday at Schoellkopf. No fish this time, but I'll be there to hopefully help myself move past the end of hockey season.