Not Much History For the Trustee Cup

Even though the conference practically invented the game of football, the Ivy League is behind the times. Sure, John Heisman, Pop Warner 1894, and Walter Camp all played a role in developing the game from its infancy, but today's Ivy teams can't match the pageantry of their D-1A cousins. Why? Because we don't have rivalry trophies.

This past weekend, Minnesota battled Iowa for something more valuable than a win. Yes, they were playing for a pig. More precisely, they were playing for the Floyd of Rosedale, a trophy that dates back to 1935. Sixty-nine years ago, Floyd Olsen, the governor of Minnesota, issued the following challenge to Iowa governor Clyde Herring: "I will bet you a Minnesota prize hog against an Iowa prize hog that Minnesota wins."

Minnesota won the game, and Gov. Herring delivered a pig from the Rosedale Farms in Iowa, and the tradition was born. There are similar stories from across the nation. There's the Old Oaken Bucket (Indiana-Purdue), Paul Bunyan's Axe (Wisconsin-Minnesota), the Keg of Nails (Cincinnati-Louisville), and the list goes on.

Now, some rivalries transcend a trophy. While the winner of the Cal-Stanford game (The Big Game) is awarded the Stanford Axe, the Cal-Stanford rivalry will now always be defined by one particular play.

Alright here we go with the kick-off. Harmon will probably try to squib it and he does. Ball comes loose and the Bears have to get out of bounds. Rogers along the sideline, another one ... they're still in deep trouble at midfield, they tried to do a couple of ... the ball is still loose as they get it to Rogers. They get it back to the 30, they're down to the 20 ... Oh, the band is out on the field!! He's gonna go into the end zone!!!

That, of course, was the Joe Starkey's famous call of the 1982 edition of the Big Game, when Cal beat Stanford on one of the most incredible plays in college football history.

Mysteriously absent, though, is a trophy exchanged by any of the Ivy League schools. "But wait! Isn't the winner of the Penn-Cornell game - which, if I'm not mistaken, is this weekend - awarded the Trustees Cup?"

Why yes, informed reader, that is true, but you are probably one of the few people who know about the Cup. However, this can hardly be considered a rivalry trophy. Penn is Cornell's most-frequently played football opponent, dating back to the teams' first meeting in 1893.

Since then, the schools have faced each other 110 times, making the Cornell-Penn series one of the most prolific rivalries in all of college football. With all this tradition, you would think that some sort of rivalry trophy would have emerged along the way.

Enter the Trustees Cup. This trophy was first awarded to the winner of the Cornell-Penn game way back in ... 1995! Isn't that a century too late to be coming up with a rivalry trophy?

Also, why is it called the Trustees Cup? Did the Cornell and Penn trustees used to bet on the game in the early 1990s? No. From the Cornell game notes this week, we learn that, "many names were suggested for the award, but 'Trustees' Cup' was ultimately selected because it denotes the high level of support and recognition afforded this rivalry."

That's a pretty lame explanation for the name selection. There has to be something in the annals of this rivalry that would make a better name than Trustees Cup. I challenge the creators of the Trustees Cup to go back over the long and storied history of these two programs and find a better name and trophy for this rivalry.

So, we've got a trophy no one knows about AND a rivalry no one knows about. Can you recall a Cornell-Penn game from years past that is extremely memorable? Probably not, and that's the problem. Students won't get excited for a rivalry game if they don't know anything about the rivalry. Cornell has one of the oldest football programs in the country, and yet we are ignorant of our storied tradition.

How do we fix this? Well, for starters, we can show up for the game this Saturday en masse. After being picked in the preseason to finish last, Cornell can clinch second place in the league with a win. No Ivy League team has ever rebounded from an 0-7 campaign with a five-win season the following year, and only one other team has recorded a winning conference season after going 0-7. It's all the more fitting that one of Cornell's own, Jim Knowles '87, has helped stage this remarkable turnaround.

What else can be done to restore the pageantry and excitement that defined our football team in the past? Maybe it's time we borrowed some traditions from other schools; there's a ton of things to pick from. How about the Midnight Yell Practice from Texas A&M? Or the placards from Cal? Or maybe we can come up with our own. The Lynah Faithful is known for their creativity, and we should be able to translate that over to the football games. The program has been rejuvenated this season; let's make sure that Cornell football is in the business of creating champions for years to come.

Seven Hours of Football Goodness

"I know fans can win the game. I've seen it, I've felt it, I've tasted it. I know you make the game," or so professed Michael Vick in a recent Coca Cola commercial. There is much truth to Vick's words, and they have special significance this weekend. Why? Well, in case you've been living under a rock, this Saturday is homecoming, and homecoming means football.

If you only go to the football game at Schoellkopf, however, you'll be missing two other great football matches (soccer for you Yanks) taking place over on the pitch at Berman Field. The men's and the women's squads are both home, so that means you have the opportunity to watch seven hours of football live. There are also a number of other teams who will be home this weekend, so don't count on getting any work done.

Friday

John Reif Memorial Run: Moakley Cross Country Course

Home cross country meets are few and far between, and this will be your last chance to see the harriers in action this season. The top runners will be rested as they prepare for Heps on the 31st, allowing the younger members of the squad a chance to get some experience. For those of you who don't know where the Moakley Course is, it's around the Robert Trent Jones golf course up on North Campus.

Saturday

Women's Soccer vs. Brown: Berman Field, 11 a.m.

Emily Knight and Shannon Fraser have been giving opposing goalies headaches all year, while both of our goalies, Katie Thomas and Katrina Matlin, have goals against averages below one. After falling in double overtime last week to Yale, the team is looking to build some momentum with a win against Brown (a.k.a. the color of * WARNING: word cut by editor*, feel free to yell that at the game).

Football vs. Brown: Schoellkopf Field, 1 p.m.

The football team will beat Brown, and you can quote me on that. [THEY DIDN'T. IN FACT THEY WENT 1-9 THAT YEAR.] You can help contribute to the winning effort by yelling till you can't you breathe. Your goal should be to recreate the atmosphere of Michigan Stadium in Schoellkopf. If you need help with this, talk to President Lehman '77, he's been there. Don't think that you won't have an impact on the game. If the crowd roar is deafening, then the Brown offensive line will not hear the snap count, and will commit numerous penalties. This has already happened this season in the opener against Bucknell, and you can make it happen again.

Men's Soccer vs. Brown: Berman Field, 7 p.m.

This will be the best Ivy game you will see this season. The team has already knocked off defending Ivy champ Penn and No. 16 Yale, and are currently undefeated in league play. Brown is the only other undefeated team in the league, so the winner of this match will have a leg up on the league's automatic bid to the NCAA College Cup.

Here's a "Did You Know?" ala Sportscenter, what school did the World Cup head and assistant coaches, Bruce Arena and Dave Sarachan, graduate from? The answer of course is Cornell. Arena's '73 contract as head coach was recently renewed through 2006. As head coach of the MLS's DC United, Arena led the team to two MLS titles, and most impressively, an Interamerican Cup win. Sarachan '76 was the previous Cornell head coach, and is currently the head of the MLS's Chicago Fire, which won its third U.S. Open Cup title this past Saturday.

Men's Hockey vs. US U-18 Team: Lynah Rink, 7 p.m.

Ok, we all know the hockey team is good, so I won't waste any more space writing about them.

Men's Polo vs. Valley Forge Military Academy: Oxley Equestrian Center, 8:15 p.m.

Many of you probably do not know that the Cornell polo teams are among the best in the nation, with the women's team winning the past four national titles. If you've never been to a polo game before, this is your chance. Oxley is located next to Reis Tennis Center on Pine Tree Road near East Hill Plaza.

As you can see, this will be a busy weekend for Cornell athletics, so try to make it to as many games as you can. You only get four Homecoming weekends as a student, so be sure you make the most of this one.

Cornell Football: Believe It

It's college football season. That means roaring crowds, blaring marching bands, colorful mascots, and tailgating. It's hail mary passes, last-second field-goal kicks, and students tearing down the goal posts. While you may have been watching all the action from your couch the past few weeks, this Saturday will be your first chance to see it live.

That's right, Cornell football opens its season this Saturday.

Now you may be thinking, 'Ivy League football? I'll pass,' but let me tell you, you don't know what you're missing. I got my first taste of C.U. football at the "Schoellkopf Sellout" of 2000 and have been hooked ever since.

Quick, how many national football titles has Cornell won? If you said zero, you're wrong. If you said one, you're also wrong. In fact, the Red has won four national titles, in 1915, 1921, 1922, and 1939. It may have won a fifth title in 1940, if not for a controversial play against Dartmouth.

Ranked No. 1 for most of the season, the 6-0 Red came into this penultimate game looking to blow by 3-4 Dartmouth. In a tightly-fought game, the Green (known as the Indians back then) went up 3-0 on an early fourth quarter field goal. The Red came back with a stellar drive, reaching the Dartmouth six-yard line with little under a minute left in the game. Three running plays later, Cornell was a foot from victory, but got called for a delay of game penalty.

When the fourth-down pass fell incomplete, Dartmouth thought it had pulled off an amazing upset. However, the head referee lost count of downs, and gave the Red the ball and another fourth down. Capitalizing on its fifth down, Cornell scored on a pass into the endzone, and "won" the game 7-3.

After reviewing the game film, the referee admitted to accidentally giving Cornell a fifth down. However, since the game was already recorded in the record books, the result could not be overturned. In a demonstration of true sportsmanship, Cornell head coach Carl Snavely and University president Edmund Ezra Day sent a message to their Dartmouth counterparts, conceding the game to the Green.

Here's another quiz, how many times has a Cornellian been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated? The answer: five. Legendary Cornell goalie Ken Dryden '69 made three cover appearances as a member of the Montreal Canadians in the 70's. In June 1962, the Cornell varsity crew graced the cover, and finally, the November 1, 1971 cover featured running back Ed Marinaro '72.

Marinaro led the nation in rushing in 1970 and 1971, and was also first in the country in 1971 for all-purpose yardage and scoring, with 1932 all-purpose yards and 24 touchdowns. The Red cruised to an 8-1 record in '71, capturing its first Ivy title, and Marinaro was taken 50th overall in the 1972 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings. After a six-year career in the NFL, he appeared in the TV drama Hill Street Blues from 1981-1986.

Flash forward to the "Schoellkopf Sellout." The Red faced Yale for Homecoming, with governor George Pataki (a Yale alumnus) attending the game. With Cornell down 23-17 and facing fourth down deep in Yale territory, Ricky Rahne '02 connected on a pass to Joe Splendorio '01 for the first down. Rahne hit Splendorio again soon after that to put the Red up by one.

With no timeouts and under a minute to play, the Elis drove down the field to the Cornell 17. With two seconds left in the game, the Yale field goal unit trotted onto the field to put up the game-winning 32-yard kick. As the ball went up, I put my head down in disbelief, only to look up and see the kick miss wide left. The crowd roared in celebration, the freshmen rushed the field, the band played Davy, it was an incredible scene.

This would be the first of three one-point victories by the "Cardiac Kids." At Harvard, the Red rallied from a 28-0 halftime deficit to win 29-28 when Splendorio blocked the game-winning field goal in the closing seconds. Princeton's kicking game failed too in the end, as its kicker slipped and missed a point-after attempt with 11 seconds left in the game.

Rahne left Cornell with virtually every school passing record, while last season, Keith Ferguson '02 passed Splendorio to become the program's all-time leader in receiving yards. He also holds the school reception record.

For you youngins, this Saturday is "Freshmen on the Field," when all the first-years storm the field after the game. If you miss your chance, you'll have to wait three years for "Seniors on the Field," at the season's last home game.

So roll out of bed on Saturday and head over to the Crescent for the 1 p.m. kickoff. Drive your car over and tailgate with alumni. Most importantly, cheer till you're hoarse. The team has been training for months, and they're ready to take the field. I hope you'll join me in supporting them.