FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[First6Ws]

Congrats to the All-Nescac team.  The Bants got their fair share on defense and rightfully so.  Offensively, they have too many weapons for a lot of them to get the attention they might if they played elsewhere

I can say with total seriousness that I used to frequently attend Trinity squash matches and 2,000 in attendance is believable.  People would sit on the rafters and draw up ESPN style signs if it was a big match against Princeton or Harvard (not sure why since I don't think they were ever televised, maybe once or twice on the Ocho).  I recommend a stop in if anyone is in the Hartford area on a dull winter Saturday because as the PGA would say "These Guys are Good"

[cruiser]

congratulations to trinity on its squash dominance. that said, i couldnt care less about squash. thts why this is a football board...

[formerbant10]

Cruiser, your attitude reflects that of most Trinity students when first hearing about the "Evil Empire" of squash.  But as First6 said, if you have a chance to check them out, you'd be surprised...I certainly was.
And as you suggested, back to football.  Much congratulations to the Bants once again showing Trinity can dominate in more than just squash.
Be interesting to see who fills in the holes left by this year's graduating class.

[Roonyhufsfarts]

Former, it will be interesting.  This next senior class has never lost so hopefully they wont get to complacient.  They are gunna be good, however, as will many other teams in the NESCAC. 

I am very happy that the NESCAC in general seems to be getting better.  Williams, Herst, and Colby will all field good experienced squads next year and hopefully bowdoin can maintain its strength.  Wesleyan appears to have self-administered a death penalty style halt on all football related recruiting.  That is truly sad, when I was a freshman, Wes was 5-3....what a shame.  Based upon  the attitude of the wes players that i saw playing against trinity and the comments made by some players to the trin players, they are a sad bunch.  despite the fact that i really feel bad for them (in the worst sense), they shouldnt feel sorry about themseleves....they suck, and its there own damn fault.  I just think it is too bad Trin has to finish out the season to our "rival" with all but an assured victory.  Bates? what are you guys doing? did they beat anyone else besides wes tech.

congrats to the bants all conference players.  josh pitcher is the Tom Brady of the NESCAC and its a real shame he didnt make the team (schweitzer = bledsoe??)

[frank uible]

formerbant: There is a big distinction between Trinity's domination in squash and in football. Trinity plays squash against the best collegiate squash teams in North America and football solely against an incestuous and small in number group of American colleges of questionable football quality within the lowest or at best second lowest collegiate football tier (out of 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 tiers depending how one defines a tier). More to the point - there are about 700 four year colleges playing American football; in terms of quality the 2005 Trinity team lies somewhere between 300th and 600th.

[formerbant10]

I agree with you on where Trinity stands in the grand scheme of football, but it really is better to not even rank them b/c there is no way of knowing really where they would fall.  And yes squash does beat the best of the best.  But it's pretty nice to have two teams that don't really lose anymore.  Football the last 3 years and squash the last 6 or 7...I've lost count.  I'm not saying the football team is equal to the squash team, just that we Bants are proud of both...thats all.

[Trin9-0]

Trinity plays squash against the best collegiate squash teams in North America and football solely against an incestuous and small in number group of American colleges.

While this is true... you have to keep in mind that there are only around 20 MAYBE 30 schools who compete intercollegiately in squash. So while the football team's 30 game win streak may not be as impressive because they only play the same 9 teams, you could also say that the squash team's 100+ win streak isn't all that impressive either considering they're only beating the same 15-20 teams every year.

Having said that, I agree with Cruiser. Less squash more football.

hufsfarts: I am very excited to see what next years Bantams can do... especially if Priore does decide to leave. There will be more than a few teams that could knock off Trinity next season. Having both Colby and Amherst at home will help, but watch out for a very tough game on the road at Williams.

I agree Pitcher is a lot like Tom Brady. However, not the Brady who has become famous in New England, but rather the Tom Brady at the University of Michigan. He was the best QB at UM but was brushed aside because of the highly touted, big name blue-chipper Drew Henson(Schweitzer). Everyone wanted to see Henson in the game so they could see how could he could be... however, when the games were on the line the coaches put in Brady (the better, more efficent quarterback) to WIN THE GAME. He, like Pitcher proved how good they could be. Brady won the Rose Bowl, Pitcher won his 4th consecutive NESCAC Championship.

Congrats to the All-NESCACers.

[Knightstalker]

While this is true... you have to keep in mind that there are only around 20 MAYBE 30 schools who compete intercollegiately in squash. So while the football team's 30 game win streak may not be as impressive because they only play the same 9 teams, you could also say that the squash team's 100+ win streak isn't all that impressive either considering they're only beating the same 15-20 teams every year.

And the majority of them are in New England.  When you talk about Trinity's squash team are you talking about the men or the women.  The NCAA only sanctions womens squash.

[formerbant10]

We've been talking about the men's squash team.  The women's team hasn't won a title in the last two years...pretty disappointing for those girls.  The men's team has won the last 7 titles....and we know they aren't NCAA titles, but they are the best in the country.

Is there some title IX issue that the NCAA will sponsor women's but not men's squash...that seems unfair.

[bant551]

I don't think Title IX applies to having a men's team for every woman's team (or vice-versa).  Otherwise, we'd have "fairness" arguments about not funding a women's football team, etc.

I think it is either equal number of teams or equal funding for men's and women's sports.  I think its one of those, but I don't know enough about it.

[cruiser]

congrats to michael blair of trinity, eric ludwig of williams and dan oliphant of colby for their selections to the 2005 aztec bowl team. what better way for the nescac to announce its presence (again) than by sending multiple players to an important dIII all star game such as the aztec bowl. congrats again

[Knightstalker]

Squash and Bowling are conditional NCAA womens sports, they are used so that schools can meet title IX requirements.

[bant551]

Good point/thought Knighstalker.  That makes a lot of sense.  I can see how that works.

Anyway, the CSTV special about "the streak" can be found on Trinity Football's website, www.trincoll.edu/athletics .  I started watching it but my computer sucks so I gave up.  Maybe another time.

[formerbant10]

That's great for the NESCAC guys going to the Aztec Bowl.  Must be nice to spend a week in the sun playing football. 

Knightstalker, thanks for the info.

[Trin9-0]

Considering all the talk on this board about academics in regard to the football programs, here is something that flew under the radar.

2005 NESCAC All-Academic selections for football:

Amherst:
Will Beeson
Joe Bickerstaffe
Justin Macione
Matt Mascioli
Nate Riccardi

Bates:
Anthony Arger

Bowdoin:
Dylan Brix
Steve Curwen
Dave Diamond
Jay Tansey

Colby:
Mike Bracco
Dave Civitello
Jon Forsythe
Dan Giuliani
Rob Jacobs
Mike Poplaski

Middlebury:
Ed Allen
Steve Hauschka
Stefan Hrdina
Matt Morrissey
Kevin Ryan
Scott Secor
Jamie Staples

Trinity:
Carlos Baz
Tim Coughlin
Kevin Swiniarski

Tufts:
Patrick Magoon
Mike McCann

Wesleyan:
David Lucier
Joe Pepe
Rob Weinstock

Williams:
Ryan Scannel


Congrats to Middlebury, with 7 players selected. Also, Colby with 6, Amherst 5, Bowdoin with 4, Trinity and Wesleyan 3 each. Tufts had 2, while Bates and Williams 1, and Hamilton with zero representatives.