Horror Movie Scares The Shit Out of Lacrosse Team

I am completely in support of athletes' blogs, since this stuff tends to be amusing.

The lacrosse team recently went to see Paranormal Activity, which is supposed to be the scariest movie ever made. Based on the reactions of people I know who have seen it, this might be an accurate billing.

Cornell senior Pierre Derkac describes how the lacrosse team reacted:

This film had a direct effect on some of the members of our team. Chris Langton had to pull his heavy wooden futon into his roommate, sophomore JJ Glibane’s room. Chris could not sleep alone and held a crucifix while he lied on the futon attempting to fall asleep. Dudley and Romero tried to sneak into my room late Wednesday night to drag me out of bed by me feet (like the woman in the movie). I luckily woke up when they entered, so their sights turned toward Julian. He was not as lucky as me. I could hear the screams of terror and surprise ring through my house when they growled and tore him out of his bed.

On the bright side, maybe this will help to erase from their minds the nightmare of losing to Syracuse in the NCAA championship game.

Derkac also reveals that some players have gained the assistance of the hockey team for their Halloween costumes:

Sophomores JJ Gilbane, Rob Pannell, Chris Langton, Matt Restaino and Chip Daugherty are borrowing gear from the Cornell men’s ice hockey team and wearing t-shirts that replicate the Mighty Ducks jerseys.

Happy Halloween, everyone.

Just Saying

My post on eLynah last night:

Dartmouth was up 1-0 after one tonight before Harvard scored 5 unanswered goals en route to winning 5-3.

College Hockey News roundup/analysis:

It was 1-0 Dartmouth after one, but Harvard scored five straight en route to the win.

Archiving the Digital Generation

Yesterday afternoon, I was searching on my computer for a document I hadn't seen in a couple of years. As I tried plugging various phrases into Spotlight, hoping that the file would come up, I started seeing archived instant message conversations popping up in the search results.

Intrigued, I opened a few. These were IM conversations from the last part of high school, which had somehow made it over to my MacBook when I purchased it over three years ago. Re-reading these exchanges was an eye-opening experience. I was shocked at how moronic, clueless, or even pompous my instant messages sounded to my more mature brain. Did I really say these things? Why would anyone have wanted to be friends with me?

Of course, high school was a different world, with its unique pressures and social situations. But still, some of this is incredibly embarrassing. There are my own lame attempts at humor, and stealthy conspiracies about prom dates and other issues. But there's also the exchange in which a high school classmate, now a fellow honors Government major at Cornell, didn't know who Rush Limbaugh was. It seems that not only were we stupid emotionally, but perhaps intellectually as well.

One of the unfortunate consequences of the internet age is that much of the content we produce is lost. True, people would discard letters and handwritten notes, too, but they might be more inclined to hold onto them because they were fixed in a tangible form. My generation sends instant messages, writes things on Facebook, and drafts emails at a feverish pace. When our IMs are closed, when Facebook has pushed our publications to the bottom of the wall, and when we delete batches of emails to clear out our inboxes, we don't give a second thought to whether we'll want to read these things again. We live for the here, the now, the present.

I don't think this is good. By spending 20 minutes reading through my IMs from four years ago, I learned not only about the person I was then, but realized how much I've changed since then, and how my relationships with people have changed since then. If I hadn't stumbled across these files, I might have continued thinking that I've always been as mature and as levelheaded as I believe I am now. Instead, I now know that I used to be, for lack of a better word, somewhat of an asshole. At least over AIM.

I hardly IM anymore, but I've gotten into the habit of archiving a lot of my emails (thank you, Cmail) and trying to save things for posterity. It's not the same as opening a box of letters tucked away on a shelf, but it provides a similar window into how much has changed in my life. If you have a few minutes sometime, try going through the archives on your computer. What you find might surprise you.

How Ivy Rules Hurt Cornell Hockey

Marc Beck of the Yale Daily News has a great article today about how Ivy League rules and restrictions put Ivy hockey programs at a disadvantage.

Later start to practices:

Among the rule discrepancies is that the Ivy League restricts the date practices can start for hockey teams until two weeks before the start of the season. This year, that date was Oct. 9 for the women and Oct. 16 for the men.

For example, Yale’s second conference opponent this season, Clarkson, played two games before the Elis were even eligible to start their first practice. This past Friday, the Elis played against Providence, which had six games under its belt before facing the Bulldogs. The game ended in a 2-2 tie, but goalie Jaclyn Snikeris ’11 said there was definitely a different feel at the beginning of the season.

Yale star Mark Arcobello says what Cornell's guys won't -- that the late start puts Ivies at a disadvantage:

But forward Mark Arcobello ’10 said the lack of game experience is still a disadvantage at the beginning of the season.

“They know their players better, they know each other, and they’re used to playing with each other for a couple more weeks than we are,” Arcobello said. “After the first couple weeks, everyone gets settled. The first couple weekends, you figure your teammates out and stuff, and they figure that out before us with those two extra weeks.”

Beck also gives us the details about Ivy roster restrictions:

In addition to this rule, the Ivy League restricts eligible players for away games to 22 players, while the ECAC limit is 23. [Women's coach] Witt said this rule is not much of a disadvantage to her team because of the roster’s small size — 21 deep. But on the men’s side, head coach Keith Allain said this rule can sometimes affect his team of 27 on the second night of a double header.

I understand that the Ivy schools like to pretend to put academics first, but think how good Cornell hockey could be if these restrictions were removed!

We might have avoided start-of-season stumbles like the 4-1 RIT loss two years ago, or the loss to Michigan State a couple of years before that. (I would like our chances against Niagara on Friday much better if we'd played a game or two before.)

More importantly, we could schedule two (or even four!) extra games at the start of the season against quality opponents to both better prepare our team for the ECAC schedule and boost our PWR. Imagine an annual Cornell-Ohio State or Cornell-Michigan State series to kick off the season!

It's one thing to place Ivy restrictions on a sport like football, when the Ivy schools compete against each other and no one is going to a bowl game. But in hockey, only six of the 12 ECAC schools are Ivy. And Ivy teams like Cornell, Princeton, and Yale are among the best teams in the NCAA this season. There is no question that the Ivy restrictions are hurting the Ivy hockey programs.

Cornell Ranked Eighth In Sexual Health

Trojan came out with their annual college rankings, based on the availability of sexual health information and resources. Cornell dropped five spots from last year.

From a conference wide standpoint, Ivy League schools continued their
dominance in the Report Card rankings this year, as the conference most known
for its academic prowess saw Columbia, Brown and Cornell University all land
in the top ten. This is the first time three Ivies have landed in the top ten
since the Report Card was created, and helped contribute to the conference's
2.98 overall GPA (out of a possible 4.0).

The University of South Carolina was ranked first. DePaul was last (141st).

More About Boon Jim Lim

From The Star (Malaysia):

Boon Jim, from Kuala Lumpur, was reported to have died of natural causes and was only two months into his four-year course at the university.

His father Lim Ken Ang, 55, said Boon Jim, the youngest of four siblings, was on a Public Service Department scholarship to study economics but was aiming for another degree in engineering.

And, for what it's worth, a comment from a previous post:

Anonymous said...
hey guys. Boon Jim's a friend of mine. Just to clear
things up, its not suicide. The cause, i cannot tell despite knowing though as
the parents clearly not wanna share it.

Preventing Suicides

This article in the Silicon Valley Mercury-News doesn't just mention Cornell, but it says some interesting things about the process of choosing a location to commit suicide:

Suicidal people get fixated, say experts — and when access to an iconic spot is blocked, they may retreat rather than moving elsewhere.

By this logic, if Cornell erected a 20-foot fence around every on-campus gorge to prevent people from being able to jump into them, most people wouldn't bother to drive to a different, off-campus gorge to commit suicide.

The article praises Cornell for taking steps to address the problem of suicide. Over the past couple of weeks, one group (Gannett maybe?) has been recruiting students to deliver information booklets to every professor. The students are also supposed to discuss when professors should approach counselors, or even the police, when they are concerned about a student.

Dave the Zamboni Guy Returns

So after all the attention given over the summer to Dave Nulle's retirement, it appears that he will be around this year, anyway.

Dave was back in his usual role last night, driving the ice resurfacer in full costume. The previous week, at the Red-White scrimmage, the rink manager had driven the resurfacer. Between periods, he left a noticeable sliver of un-melted ice near section O, and he wasn't able to take care of it in a couple of extra passes. In comparison, Dave hardly ever needs to make an extra pass.

Over on eLynah, "Cop at Lynah" reports that Dave has been hired as a "casual temp employee," whatever that means. In any case, it seems like we'll be enjoying another year of Dave Nulle driving the ice resurfacer at Lynah.

Hockey Recruiting in Ontario

At last week's Red-White scrimmage, a friend made an interesting observation about Cornell's freshman class.

On this year's roster, only five players came from the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL). And all five are freshmen.

Moreover, seven of the nine freshmen are from Ontario. In comparison, zero of the six seniors are from Ontario. (Adding departed players Tony Romano and Justin Milo to that class makes it zero out of eight.)

Why didn't Cornell bring in a more geographically diverse class?

Recruiting in Ontario is obviously less expensive than recruiting in places like British Columbia, Alberta, or the American Midwest. The seven Ontario recruits all reside in or around Toronto, which I'm sure allowed Cornell's coaches to meet with several of them during each visit.

Despite the focus on Ontario, Cornell was able to bring in a talented and promising freshman class. Perhaps the coaching staff received enough interest from Ontario prospects during this cycle that there was no need to look elsewhere?

I would try to analyze this a little more, but it looks like it may just be a one-year phenomenon. According to BRP's sidebar, none of the players who have committed to Cornell for the next two years are playing in the OJHL. So I don't think we can explain this Ontario frenzy in terms of budget cuts or a seismic shift away from Cornell's traditionally strong recruiting in western Canada.

But it'll be interesting to look at the geography issue again when more players announce their commitments to Cornell.

Cornell Freshman Dies In Dorm Room

Daily Sun:

Boon Jim Lim ’13, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, was found dead in his dorm room early Monday morning. Lim resided in Clara Dickson Hall and was last seen by his neighbors on Thursday. An investigation is continuing into the cause of his death, which appears to be accidental, according to Tony Craddock ’10, the residential advisor on Lim’s hall.

No further details have been released, but we'll certainly be keeping a close eye on this story.

Lim is the third Cornell student to have died this fall. David Yang '11 died in a car accident in August, and Warren Schor '11 died in September after contracting the H1N1 flu.

Update: Head over here to read a post by Boom Jim about his application to Cornell. He was accepted early decision.

What Is Slope Radio/Media Doing?

Over three years ago, to much pomp and circumstance, Slope Radio was founded. Slope billed itself as the only student-run radio station at Cornell. (WVBR employs a lot of Cornell students, but its headquarters are off-campus.) With sites like YouTube and Flickr exploding, the time seemed ripe for internet media ventures.

Slope Radio operated that first year from a humble studio on the first floor of Appel Commons. After one short semester, however, Slope wanted to expand. That spring, Slope moved into more spacious quarters in Willard Straight Hall.

The following fall, Slope Media Group was founded. Through fundraising, and assistance from Cornell, Slope was able to purchase $40,000 worth of new equipment, which was installed in the WSH studio. Slope was now venturing into producing video, which would be both streamed online at slopetv.com and available on a CUTV channel for on-campus viewers.

In addition to video, Slope began publishing a magazine, and launched a major recruiting drive to recruit producers, hosts, business majors, and everything else they would need to succeed.

The price of all this expansion was not cheap. Any student who wished to join the organization was asked to pay $60 for the first semester (Fall 2007), with the promise that dues would be reduced in the spring. Slope officers reached out to campus organizations with invitations to start their own shows.

The Slope Media juggernaut was rumbling along. But it stopped just as quickly as it started. The fall semester of the 2007-2008 year was tumultuous. Just check out the self-written "full historical timeline" on the Slope website:

• September 2007
  • Slope Radio/TV launch in new 24/7 internet television format – before cnn, before nfl network, espn, etc
  • slope magazine first hard copy distributed on campus
• October 2007
  • Slope Media comes to a halt, all production stops for the semester, Radio/TV project non-sustainable
  • slope media group goes through massive reorganization
  • Slope TV and Radio split permanently

Scarcely one month after their heralded launch, Slope was off the air. Most student shows, except for a select few, were canceled. Some TV shows, which had previously been given a weekly time slot on SlopeTV, were told they could only continue as a weekly podcast on SlopeRadio, provided they were able to record the show in their own time. Slope's leadership had decided to focus on a core of ten produced shows which they thought would bring higher ratings. (It should be noted that nobody at Slope, including the publicity department, had made an effort to advertise for the shows which were later cut due to poor ratings.)

Slope set a series of dates for their exciting "relaunch," missing the first couple of dates they chose. Eventually, at some point that year, things were back up and running again.

I will admit that by this point, with my own ties to the organization severed, I stopped paying close attention to what was going on.

But let's take a look at Slope in October 2009, three years after the launch of SlopeRadio and two years after SlopeTV got off the ground. SlopeMedia.org. A line at the top notes that "Slope Media is Undergoing Development. Please excuse errors and thank you for your patience." Ordinarily a reasonable request, but not when the site has been under development more or less continuously for two years.

The video front and center does not load. The news-style columns on either side contain duplicate entries, almost all of which are from last academic year.

Click on "magazine." There is nothing. There is a graphic of Ludacris. Click the link. It takes you to a bizarre page with a large "Weekly Cowbell" logo and a few sentences about Ludacris' visit to campus last year.

If you go to magazine > issues > fall 2008, you find (underneath the "Weekly Cowbell" logo again), a pdf from the most recent edition of Slope Magazine, published ten months ago. The file is 10 MB, but if you have the patience to open it, you'll find it looks pretty good.

So why has nothing happened since? The organizational chart shows a VP specifically in charge of the magazine, yet nothing has happened in almost a full year.

If you click on "radio," you'll be slightly more impressed. There is an extensive array of shows, although if you click on them, you'll find that many of them have not had any new episodes since the spring (or even Fall 2008). It's certainly not accurate to pretend that every show listed pumps out an hour of content each week.

Go to TV. The only thing listed under Recent TV is "The Weekly Cowbell." "The Weekly Cowbell" was the name of the SlopeRadio show hosted by former cowbell player Ari Baum '07 during the 2006-07 year. Each week, Ari would discuss the previous weekend's hockey games and provide commentary for a listener base of students, alumni, and townies -- basically anyone interested in Cornell hockey.

The current "Cowbell" consists of two hosts sitting on a couch and rambling about sports for an hour. The show was probably born out of the disorganization in Fall 2007, when the decision was made to consolidate all previous sports programs under the umbrella of "The Weekly Cowbell." This may have been an attempt to capitalize on the success of what may have been SlopeRadio's most successful program.

In an outstanding bit of irony, the current incarnation of "Cowbell" never discusses hockey. The show named for one of Cornell hockey's traditions has completely ignored the sport.

There's one more category left. Try "The Slog." The front graphic is unreadable, but if you click on the archived graphics to the side, you'll find something which looks like an elementary school art project. The idea is actually cool -- to organize the week's news based on its relevance to Cornell students (I think), with some Newsweek CW-like one-liners thrown in. But, like nearly everything else with Slope, this has fallen behind the times. The most recent Slog is from three weeks ago.

So, who is running this seemingly disfunctional, oft-delayed, massive operation?

Returning to the organizational chart, you'll be happy to know that there are no fewer than ten (!!) individuals who can call themselves vice-presidents of Slope Media. Along with a president and three editorial directors. (One wonders what the responsibilities of the editorial directors might be, given that there is so little content.)

What does all of this mean?

Has Slope Media deteriorated into a sham organization, with plenty of people claiming to be its leaders, but very little going on? Sure, there are a few radio hosts who do a good job, and maybe there's something to the Slog idea, but what the hell is going on in every other department? Why is the only TV show a hockey show that doesn't talk about hockey? Why has the magazine ceased to "publish" (quotes because I don't think a paper copy has been produced since the first issue)? Why is the fancy video equipment being left unused? What happened to the exciting announcement that SlopeMedia had reached a deal with Athletics to "give viewers unlimited free access to online broadcasts of varsity sports games, pre-game events and interviews with players and fans?"

Why do I care? I care because after three years of reading and hearing about how great Slope is, after seeing how much effort its founders put into starting the organization, and after seeing the expensive equipment and imagining how many cool things can be done with it, there is essentially nothing to show for it today. And this is both disappointing and deceitful. The two guys on "Cowbell" could have just sat in front of their MacBook cameras for an hour and then posted it on YouTube. The few active radio shows could use readily available software and microphones to stream their show online, and have no need for Slope's expensive equipment.

You would think with $40,000 of audio and video equipment, ten vice presidents, assistance from Cornell, and the unlimited broadcast potential of the internet, Slope would have more to show than this.

Maybe we just need to show a little love for Slope. You can place a radio advertisement on SlopeRadio for $8.00 for one week, or $3.50 a week ($7.00 total) for two weeks. Now tell me this whole thing doesn't make sense.

Improving Homecoming

Homecoming is one of those college traditions which always feels like it doesn't belong on Cornell's campus. We're not one of those schools in which everyone gets up early on gameday to drink, tailgate, and head over to the football field. And yet that is exactly what we are asked to do for Homecoming.

Student attendance at football games is poor, and for good reason. The team has experienced years of mediocrity under Coach Jim Knowles '87. Promising beginnings each year evaporate into mediocre campaigns. Plus, it's cold in Ithaca, and it's hard to pry Cornell students away from the heated comforts of their dorms, Greek houses, and libraries to do much of anything. Much less to sit in a mostly-empty stadium to watch your non-bowl-eligible team give up 400 passing yards and toss 5 interceptions.

Yet, there we are every year at Homecoming...kind of. Homecoming would be dead if not for the alumni, who seem content to tailgate in Crescent Lot, and the Greeks, who are drawn to the area primarily because it offers $1 beers and an excuse to grill things. Many of the Greeks don't even stay for the game.

So, how can we improve Homecoming? For one, nix the stupid parade idea. This was a half-assed attempt to make Cornell's Homecoming like those of the other big colleges. But as MetaEzra pointed out, "University Risk Management outlawed the use of any sort of vehicle -- including cars, trucks, bicycles, and, presumably, hand-pulled wagons. And what is a Homecoming parade without a float?" How many students want to report (to the Biotech quad, of all places) at 9:45am to stand around for 45 minutes before walking with their student groups and clubs past a bunch of alumni? The Greek community requested that every IFC fraternity send 2-3 members to march in the parade. Three houses, and IFC President Eddie Rooker, showed up. Out of forty-one. And the parade was over by the time the rest of the hungover Greeks dragged themselves to the lot next to Bartels to eat a hamburger for breakfast.

Second, push the start of the game back. Maybe 12:30 is a good start time for the alumni, who are accustomed to getting things accomplished before noon on Saturday mornings. But it's not good for students. If the game was at 3, and the tailgate at 12, this would give students plenty of time to sleep off the previous night's drinking and make their way over to campus.

Third, Homecoming must be in September. As we've seen, the weather in Ithaca can be quite volatile beginning in October. Sure, you might not have all the foliage in September, but you'll be guaranteed temperatures in the 50s. It's not particularly enjoyable to hold a cold beer when your hands are going numb. Homecoming is earlier next year, and I hope it will remain earlier in the fall.

Fourth, include something other than football to draw people to the game. The parade was supposed to accomplish this, but it backfired. Try giving out a free homecoming t-shirt to every student who goes to the game. Everyone loves a free t-shirt, especially when it commemorates something they feel they're supposed to attend. I'm sure Athletics won't be able to cover the cost (maybe $7 x 2000 students = $14000), but I'm sure someone else can step forward (maybe put a nice big advertisement for the Cornell Store on the back?).

I don't have all the answers, but it's not my job to know what to do. That's for the people in charge. But I certainly think something needs to be changed.

Is Evan Starkman Lying About Cornell?

Somewhat randomly, I stumbled upon an interview from back in 2007 with Evan Starkman, the former Cornell student who was recruited for an MTV reality show and has since appeared on several MTV programs.

In the interview, Starkman asserts, not once but twice, that he received a "hockey scholarship" to Cornell.

Not only is there no record of Starkman on Cornell's roster in any year in which he would have been in Ithaca, but Cornell, as an Ivy League school, does not give any athletic scholarships.

Evan, for those of us who might not know, maybe you can tell us a little bit about yourself before you got into the MTV business. What exactly were you doing before Fresh Meat and The Duel?Before Fresh Meat I was just going to college. I go to Cornell University in Ithaca. When I was on Fresh Meat I was a Junior (in college). I actually stayed enrolled in school and left for Fresh Meat, which we filmed in October and November of 2005. I'm a Liberal Arts major and I do an independent major, which means I wrote my own and I'm studying social movements and how to create change in the world. So, that's it. I'm Canadian, but I ended up in the states on a hockey scholarship to Cornell. So, it's kind of crazy how a Canadian winds up in the states not really a huge fan of the show. We actually didn't even have MTV in Canada, so I didn't grow up watching the Real World. I didn't grow up as a fan of the show, and then my Junior year, they had a casting call for Key West in Ithaca, like right outside my apartment in this bar right in College Town by Cornell, and I just went with a friend and, you know, six months later I'm on the show. And since then, after Fresh Meat, I went back to school to finish up my Junior year and I'm trying to finish up my Senior year right now.
Are you still on a hockey scholarship at Cornell?
I'm still on a scholarship, but as we know, when I left Fresh Meat I got a hernia, which definitely kept me off the ice for that whole year. And now my life has been so crazy with school and life after a reality show that I've never really gotten back on the ice. So, I don't know if I'm going to pursue it after college, but the college hockey thing is over for me, which is sad. I still get on the ice and still practice and hang out, but my life is just too busy right now and filled with other things.

What gives? Did Starkman play any hockey at Cornell? If so, when? And why would he claim to have received a hockey scholarship?

There is a Michael Evan Starkman in the Cornell database. But there are still no records of him playing hockey at Cornell. And an interview with Starkman for SI On Campus, conducted by the former Sports Editor of the Cornell Daily Sun, makes no mention of his former hockey playing. Anyone have more information?

Good News For Cornell

The Cornell and Columbia Libraries were awarded $385,000 from the Mellon Foundation to pursue a partnership termed 2CUL, or "too cool."

Over the next two years, 2CUL will explore ways to improve the quality of collections and services offered to campus constituencies, redirect resources to emerging needs, and make each institution more competitive in securing government and foundation support. The relationship could also provide a new blueprint for broad, non-exclusive partnerships between other academic libraries and other parts of the academy.

Also, Asst. Prof. Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, English, has been named a finalist for the National Book Award in poetry.

My High School Is Famous

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Cornell Big Red (State)

The founding of Cornell appears as one of the GOP's "accomplishments" on their new website.

Republicans Passed the Land-Grant College Act

In 1862, the Republican-controlled 37th Congress passed the Land-Grant College Act. The law, written by Representative Justin Morrill (R-VT), distributed federal land to states to fund the establishment of colleges and universities throughout the country. The dozens of land-grant colleges include the Cornell University, Iowa State University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, and the University of Illinois, among many others.

It's misleading for either major American political party to imply that events which occurred 150 years ago have any bearing on current politics. Abraham Lincoln's Republican affiliation, or Andrew Jackson's Democratic affiliation, are irrelevant because the two parties have changed so much in the years since. The GOP as we know it today shouldn't be commended for having passed a bill six generations ago.

Besides, the Morrill Act passed by comfortable margins in both houses, which means that either (a) the act had bipartisan support, or (b) enough Southern states had left the Union that there weren't many Democrats left in Congress. I'm too lazy to do the research, but maybe someone will be able to tell me which of these was the case.

Oh Those Cambridge Tourists

The Crimson mocks our football team with bizarre Harvard humor:

In Harvard football’s second Ivy League matchup of the season, the Cornell defense was run over worse than Harvard Yard after a visit from a busload of international tourists.

This one's up there with the Watertown Daily Times in contention for the "Cornell-related sports lead of the year" award.

Impartiality

An article in the Cornell-run Chronicle yesterday announced the exciting findings of a new report about Cornell's impact in the community:

Tompkins County's institutions of higher education continue to provide the area with a stable economic base, a highly educated workforce and an active, vibrant community.

[...]

The schools employ 26 percent of county residents -- more than any other job sector. (Retail trade is second with 11 percent.) And they contribute $1.5 billion to the county's economy. That steady activity buffers the county from regional and national economic downturns, says John Gutenberger, director of Cornell's Office of Community Relations. "We don't have the wild swings that other sectors of the economy do. Higher education is a stabilizing factor."

You might be wondering who wrote this very pro-higher ed report.

...representatives from Tompkins County Area Development, the county chamber of commerce and local government encouraged Cornell, Ithaca College and TC3 to write the report, Gutenberger says. "They said it would really help to recruit new businesses to Tompkins County and employees, especially middle and upper management."

Naturally.

And as for Gutenberger's comment about Cornell's helping to buffer the local economy from downturns, that means Tompkins County has been protected from the Great Recession, right?

The report's statistics date from 2007 and do not take into account the 2008 economic crisis.

Oops.

Let me be clear. Cornell and the other area colleges are what keep the local economy going, and I'm not trying to dispute that. But behind the big numbers (i.e. $1.5 billion) are some very real issues, including the Lake Source Cooling controversy and a general sense among many Townies that Cornell essentially bullies Ithaca into getting what it wants.

The article notes that the primary goal of the report is to try to recruit businesses and professionals to the area, which is a noble cause. But Cornell should be careful not to pat itself on the back too often. It's a little ridiculous when a Cornell-written report, praising Cornell, is then praised in the Cornell-run media outlet, without directly acknowledging how preposterous the whole thing is.

91 Percent of Them Graduate With Honors

The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine has a lengthy article today about the Harvard hockey team.

The Harvard hockey team has remained a regular training ground for the professional ranks, and 79 Harvard players have been drafted by NHL teams since the league was founded in 1917 -- more professional draft picks than any Ivy League team in any sport. Unlike pro football or basketball, drafted players don’t have to immediately join their pro teams, so players can arrive on campus already drafted or sign while they’re in college.

And if hockey doesn't work out, at least they'll have a Harvard degree (of which, 91 percent come with some sort of honors).

Thankfully, the Globe talked to someone who realizes how awful it must be to play in Bright Stupid Hockey Center every night:

Indeed, hockey aficionados marvel less at what the school gives up to get players and more at what players give up to attend Harvard. “They have to find the smart kids, but also the kid who is willing to play in front of 2,000 half-interested fans and in an old building,” says Adam Wodon, managing editor of College Hockey News.

Harvard visits Cornell on November 7.

(Via eLynah)

ECAC Hockey on Steroids

What the hell?

Thursday
Quinnipiac 4 at Ohio State 2

Friday
Maine 1 at Union 4
Quinnipiac 3 at Ohio State 1

Saturday
UNH 1 at RPI 3
Maine 3 at Union 6

Of course, Clarkson lost to Michigan State, St. Lawrence lost to Mass-Lowell, and RPI also lost to UMass, but these are some solid results against good hockey programs. Go ECAC!

Schafer: "The Proof's in the Pudding"

Are you excited about hockey yet?

Today, we have season previews from two of the online expert hockey sites, USCHO and INCH.

USCHO's ECAC Hockey correspondent, Brian Sullivan, doesn't take many chances, predicting the same top five as the coaches and media. (This puts Cornell at #2, behind Yale). His specific season preview for Cornell has plenty of quotes from Coach Schafer, but not much analysis.

INCH's Joe Gladziszewski has a general preview for the ECAC, with little talk about Cornell. But he picks Cornell to finish 1st in the ECAC, making him the only pundit to have done so. He drops Yale all the way to #3, behind Princeton, because of concerns about Yale's goaltending.

I'll do my own analysis as we get closer to Cornell's opening game, but I can't believe that anyone can write a preview about Cornell without addressing the terrible stretch of hockey which lasted from late January to March. Cornell had the talent last year to compete for a national championship, and you saw that with our 13-1-3 opening and then the come-from-behind victories over Princeton and Northeastern in the tournaments. But the question for this season is: can we put it together for a whole season? Or, at least for enough of the season to guarantee ourselves a good NCAA seed and a chance at the Frozen Four? No one disputes the fact that Ben Scrivens is a talented goalie, or that Riley Nash and Colin Greening can anchor a productive, dangerous offense, or that Cornell has size and experience on the blue line. The problem is putting it all together, not simply over the course of the season in general, but also at the right times. The big games. And last year's team left a lot of question marks.

Bonus link: CHN's Adam Wodon takes on the NCAA over the Ford Field seating issue.

Links Of The Day

The Colgate Athletic Department has been getting an earful from Hamilton residents and 'gate professors who don't think their anti-Cornell homecoming slogan, "Better Dead Than Red," was appropriate. Colgate Maroon-News

RPI hockey coach Seth Appert, whose team nearly ended Cornell's season in the ECAC quarterfinals last year, says his squad is more talented than last year's and is poised for a breakout season. RPI opens the season tonight against UMass. Albany Times-Union

NHL.com becomes the fifth prognosticator to rank Cornell as the 7th best team in the country. (No one ever accused the experts of doing independent thinking!) Snubbing BU, and every other eastern team, they predict two CCHA and two WCHA teams in the Frozen Four. NHL

Speaking of the 2010 Frozen Four, tickets have been selling pretty slowly. So slowly that the organizers have decided to move the planned ice surface at Ford Field from the 50 yard line to one of the end zones. The move shrinks ticket capacity from 70,000 to 36,000, which is still double the capacity of last year's Verizon Center. CHN/USCHO

Happy fall break.

Take That, Binghamton

With our respective campus newspapers feuding over recent developments involving the Binghamton basketball team, it should be pointed out at least some of Cornell's best athletes are doing things right:

Greening was named a second-team ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-American in the ultra-competitive at-large category as a junior. He carries a 3.95 grade point average in applied economics and management. Greening is a three-time selection to the ECAC Hockey Academic All-League team and a three-time recipient of the team’s Wendell and Francelia Earle Award, which is presented annually to the player with the highest grade point average in his classes.

Since we can all use a good laugh from time to time, let's look back at what Lowe's said about Topher Scott when he was nominated for the same award in 2008:

Scott carries a 2.90 cumulative grade point average following the fall 2007 semester, including a 3.26 GPA during that grading period. A sociology major, he is enrolled in one of the most challenging majors at Cornell University.

AEM isn't exactly rocket science, either, but it's not easy to earn a 3.95 in anything at Cornell, especially when you're traveling for a lot of the year.

Congratulations to Colin. I think his chances are pretty good, at least against fellow ECAC star forward David McIntyre (you really can't make up some of this stuff):

McIntyre holds a 3.2 grade point average heading into his first semester of his senior year. He has been on Colgate’s equivalent of the Dean’s List [the Good Toothbrushing List?] three times.

Since the day McIntyre arrived at Colgate, he has always been the first guy to ask for incoming recruits’ phone numbers so he can welcome them and start preparing them for life in the classroom and on the ice.

Right, McIntyre wants their numbers so he can organize study parties at the library.

He has also served as a motivational speaker for Granden Toy, Canada’s equivalent to Staples.

It's actually "Grand & Toy." How do these work out? "If I scored 20 goals last season, you can sell that office chair!"

Is There A Riley Nash Divide?

I won't say much about my own opinions, but it's becoming clear that there's a divide in opinion over Riley Nash.

The people who tend to see Nash a lot at the college level (ECAC and NCAA observers) are less "sold" on him than those who see him in other capacities (juniors, NHL camp).

I've talked to people, both Cornell fans and others who watch ECAC hockey, who don't think Nash is Cornell's best player. That honor would go to Colin Greening, the two-year captain who actually scored more goals than Nash did last year. Riley might have more raw talent, but these people think that Greening is more of a factor on the ice.

Of course, there is no denying that Nash is a great hockey player. He earned more votes than Zane Kalemba in voting for the media's preseason all-conference team.

But the media might be influenced more by some of the hype than by Nash's actual play.

The College Hockey News' preseason all-CHN team was released today, and there is no mention of Riley Nash. Not only was he left off the first and second teams (unlike fellow ECAC stars McIntyre, Kalemba, and Backman) but he didn't even get a mention in the "players to watch" category. This can only be interpreted as a snubbing, since both Greening and Scrivens were mentioned.

On the other hand, check out this blog post by an NHL recruiting guru who predicts the top candidates for the Hobey Baker:

4) Riley Nash (Cornell) - I was speaking with a contact in the WCHA and asked him for his thoughts on Hobey Baker candidates this year and he not only said Big Red forward Riley Nash might be 'in the mix' but that he was his choice to actually win the award. The ECAC's short schedule might seem like a disadvantage since lower point totals should reasonably be expected. However, Nash has been a scoring leader for Cornell through two seasons and plans to take his game to another level this coming year. Edmonton drafted Nash in the 1st round back in 2007 while he was still playing in the BCHL with Salmon Arm.

So here's a couple of people who don't see too many Cornell games who think Nash has a good shot at winning the Hobey (he is, in fact, the only ECAC player in the top 10). Meanwhile, CHN doesn't even think Nash is someone to watch for.

There is no way of knowing which side (if either) is right about Nash until the season gets going. But it's interesting that there's such a difference of opinion. Obviously, if Nash has the breakout year that many are expecting, it's good for Cornell. But it doesn't seem like everyone is quite sold on Nash's talent.

See also: USCHO preseason poll. As with both USA Today and INCH, Cornell is #7.

NCAA Lacrosse Redux

No one thought the Tigers would win tonight. No one thought they'd even be in this position. Picked by many to finish last in the AL Central, the Tigers found themselves in a one-game tiebreaker to determine who would win the division and win a spot in the playoffs. Their opponents, the Minnesota Twins, finished the season 16-4 as the first-place Tigers tanked, grabbing a share of first place on the last day of the season. With the hottest team in baseball playing in their home stadium, against a 20-year-old Tigers pitcher, everything seemed to be in the Twins' favor.

No one thought the Cornell lacrosse team would be playing in the 2009 national championship game, either. The lacrosse pundits, biased in favor of southern teams, unanimously chose Virginia to defeat Cornell in the national semifinal. Two days later, after a dominant 15-6 Big Red victory, they again discounted Cornell's chances against Syracuse.

Like the Tigers did tonight, the Big Red found themselves with the lead late in the game. Ahead 9-6 with less than four minutes remaining, Cornell let Syracuse claw back. An unbelievable turnover in the final seconds led to the Orange scoring the tying goal with four seconds left in the game.

In similar fashion, the Tigers blew each of their chances late in the game. Whether it was lining into a double play to end the 9th, making stupid fielding plays, or leaving the bases loaded in the 12th inning (with one out), the Tigers didn't seem to be able to put the game away. And the Twins, as opportunistic as the Orange lacrosse team, scored when it counted and celebrated the victory.

And this game was just as hard to watch as the lacrosse championship.

A professor told me a few weeks ago that he'd heard from people close to the lacrosse program that the players had a really tough time coping with the loss to Syracuse. Certainly we in the stands will never forget that finish. Nor will the struggling city of Detroit forget tonight's game, which deprived them of one of the few remaining things they have to cheer about.

It's been a rough summer.

Has Uncle Ezra Been Drinking?

Question 2 from today:

Thanks, Michele, for that updater, and for your ungoing was against trans
fat, sugar, salt and all the stuff we’re learning not to crave.

Three typos in one sentence!

Skorton Is... Funny

Do yourself a favor and read President Skorton's column in today's Sun:

At a recent meeting, [Sun Associate Editor Sammy Perlmutter] told me that students would like to know more about how I spend my days at work. So, herewith, a day in the life of the current Cornell University president (note: in order to protect the innocent and myself, I will not comment on a day in the life of my wife and almost all names have been changed to protect confidentiality … and because I forgot most of the first names)...

I learned a few things about Skorton and his daily routine, including the identity of his ghostwriter (who did a very good job with this one).

Definitely a different column from most of the previous Cornell Diaries.

MIT Bloggers: A Model For Cornell?

The NYT reports that MIT is posting student blog entries on the Admissions homepage, without any sort of censorship. This is a pretty cool idea, since it allows prospective students and alumni to see what life is really like at MIT. Yet, it is also a dangerous idea, since it allows prospective students and alumni to see what life is really like at MIT.

If this is the biggest issue so far, they're doing pretty well:

And not all posts are positive. Ms. Kim once wrote about how the resident advising system was making it impossible for her to move out of her housing — expressing enough irritation that the housing office requested that the admissions office take her post down. Officials refused, instead having the housing office post a rebuttal of her accusations; eventually, the system was changed.

Cornell's Life on the Hill blogs are a pretty lame attempt at student expression. Bloggers post infrequently, and while it's fun to read students' own words, most of the posts are simply "perspective" pieces: students write about what they did that day, or some fun event they went to. There isn't a lot of big-picture stuff.

I'm not saying that Cornell should start letting crazies like me post things on admissions.cornell.edu, but it might be cool to let the outside world see some of the thinking that happens on campus. Pick a contentious issue on campus -- it can be something as benign as the issue of whether Cornell should have class on Labor Day. Have a student from each side write a short essay and publish the two pieces in a special section on the website. Do something to show that Cornell students really care about what happens "on the hill," and demonstrate that they can interact intelligently with the world around them. The "Dear Diary" entries aren't going to cost Cornell any alumni donations, but neither do they prove that Cornell students know how to think.

"Ivy Crack: Adderall"

In case you missed it, the Sun's Red Letter Daze supplement had some interesting coverage of the use of adderall by Cornell students.

http://cornellsun.com/redletterdaze

There's a general article about the drugs and then an anonymous column by one Cornell student:

If that first time was a wild card, an unknown, then now the brain steroids are my trump card. I don’t use them regularly, but at those crucial pressure points throughout the semester, they’re my ace-in-the-hole. Tonight, I’m reviewing for a prelim and starting an essay. I fly through the material like I’ve known it for years. I churn out an entire rough draft. I even have enough spare time to pen an anonymous column for the newspaper.

More Hockey News

Inside College Hockey names Riley Nash to the Preseason All America Third Team.

Freshman Nick D'Agostino is ranked the 13th-best defenseman recruit in the NCAA.

As a whole, Cornell's freshman class is ranked 13th-best in the NCAA. Lucky 13? Among ECAC schools, Harvard (with Louis Leblanc) is 6th, RPI (with Jerry D'Amigo) is 9th, and Yale is 14th.

Cornell is ranked 7th in the first USA Today poll. Our only scheduled opponent who is ranked higher is BU (3rd with 12 first place votes). North Dakota is 8th, Princeton is 9th, and Yale is 11th.

Student season ticket selection will begin at 9am on Saturday, with a schedule based on line numbers and ticket blocks.

Cornell Alum With Ph.D. Dies From Drug Overdose

As the article points out, not exactly the type of person we expect to see these stories coming from:

Woessner described her daughter as a "superstar" and said "everything she did, she did well." She started playing softball at age 7 and continued on a team in Baltimore. She played the clarinet in her high school band and embraced the Native American heritage of her father's family. She graduated from high school early and enrolled in Cornell University at the age of 17, majoring in biology.

She met McCracken at Wake Forest University as they worked toward doctorates in their shared field of interest, drug addiction. She earned a doctorate in physiology and pharmacology.