The Lion King
Senior
Posts: 394
Reg: 11-21-04
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02-24-05 10:22 PM - Post#4979
Our Administrator has posted an article that proposes a system of rotating NCAA bids, so every Ivy school will qualify one year out of eight. I think that's ridiculous. Sure, it would provide the indispensable quality of modern academia--diversity--and avoid reliance on archaic notions of "good" and "bad," especially ones based on socially constructed criteria like "wins" and "losses." But where's the excitement and suspense? Surely we can come up with a fairer system, one that avoids the tyranny inherent in mere rote application of corporate-influenced patriarchal mathematics.
Here, as in so many other situations, the answer lies in "Peanuts." Remember the Great Pumpkin? Every year he would come to the pumpkin patch that was the most sincere. We need to adopt that system in the Ivy League. Let each school's student community find its own uniquely creative way to express basketball sincerity--poetry readings, modern dance, protest marches, whatever. Dartmouth could make a giant snow sculpture of David Gardner, Brown could announce a major in Comparative Semiotic Basketball Studies, Columbia could do a graffiti mural, Harvard could tar and feather Larry Summers, and so on.
Then an international committee of scholars, carefully balanced to ensure maximum diversity in race, class, gender, and height, would visit each campus and assess its sincerity level. Basketball weekends would be replaced with arts festivals, allowing the players more time to concentrate on their studies and keeping them fresh for the playoffs. I think this is a much more equitable system than the outdated, Eurocentric concept of alphabetical order. Come on, Jake, where's your imagination?
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pennindian
Sophomore
Posts: 100
Reg: 12-09-04
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Re: pumpkins
02-24-05 11:44 PM - Post#4980
In response to The Lion King
I think the article was sarcastic, trying to show how random winners in a conference tournament isn't the best thing for the league. It was hard to tell, but that was my take on it, that he was being facetious.
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palestra38
Professor
Posts: 32836
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Brigadoon
02-24-05 11:45 PM - Post#4981
In response to The Lion King
Lets get real. Other than Penn and Princeton, the other 6 Ivies appear once every 100 years to win a title. So, Penn and Princeton will win 73 out of every 100. Then again, since 1970, the P's have won all but 2---33 of 35. That's less than 1 per 100 for each of the 6.
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10Q
Professor
Posts: 23405
Loc: Suburban Philly
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: pumpkins
02-25-05 01:13 AM - Post#4982
In response to pennindian
I think Lion King understood that the article was meant in jest. Get real indeed.
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Red n Blue
Masters Student
Posts: 898
Loc: South Jersey
Reg: 11-29-04
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Re: Brigadoon
02-25-05 01:13 AM - Post#4983
In response to palestra38
Since the South lost the Civil War, we could try to make it up to them by having the two most Southern Ivy school split the League's NCAA appearences. Oh wait... that's the system we use now.
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10Q
Professor
Posts: 23405
Loc: Suburban Philly
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Brigadoon
02-25-05 01:14 AM - Post#4984
In response to Red n Blue
The South is gonna rise agin.
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T.P.F.K.A.D.W.
PhD Student
Posts: 1172
Loc: Our Nation's Capital
Reg: 01-18-05
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Re: Brigadoon
02-25-05 02:19 AM - Post#4985
In response to palestra38
And to think the class of '89 was there to witness both of them.
*sigh*
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Warrior
newbie
Posts: 49
Loc: Philadelphia, PA
Reg: 11-22-04
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Re: Brigadoon
02-25-05 01:36 PM - Post#4986
In response to T.P.F.K.A.D.W.
Couldn't have been as bad as being in the class of '92, right?
-Warrior (*not* class of '92)
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penn nation
Professor
Posts: 21212
Reg: 12-02-04
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Re: Brigadoon
02-25-05 01:40 PM - Post#4987
In response to T.P.F.K.A.D.W.
Actually, it was the Class of '88, a status I am proud to have. Hard to believe Princeton never won an Ivy title during that span.
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Anonymous
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Re: Brigadoon
02-25-05 02:21 PM - Post#4988
In response to Warrior
Yeah....that to me is the worst sports class in Penn Ivy history. No FB or Men's hoops championships. I unfortunately have had way to many detailed discussions about this. 
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The Lion King
Senior
Posts: 394
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Brigadoon
02-25-05 03:20 PM - Post#4989
In response to
I have to admit that I lucked out on my Columbia class (1982). Not only did we get to see the 1978-79 basketball team, Columbia's best since 1968, but the football team won six games during the four years I was there. That total was not matched until the class of 1993 (and we actually did better than them because we also had a tie).
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palestra38
Professor
Posts: 32836
Reg: 11-21-04
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Re: Brigadoon
02-25-05 03:31 PM - Post#4990
In response to The Lion King
That was an interesting time....since I am CU Law '82, we were on Morningside Heights at the same time. Unfortunately for you in particular, the team your freshman year with Ricky Free, Alton Byrd and Juan Mitchell was up against the Penn Final 4 team (which CU beat up at Levien after Penn already had clinched the League title). These guys all graduated and it was all downhill for Columbia from there.
The highlight for me at Columbia was playing a daily lunchtime game (run from the Law School to Levien, play a 12:00 game and back for a 1:10 class....usually!). Did you ever play a game at Levien and on the way back to the locker room, get dragged into a game at Dodge? You would be blind for the first few minutes of the game due to the extreme difference in brightness between the two gyms. Luckily, I knew where the dead spot on the floor was without having to see.
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tguru
Masters Student
Posts: 409
Reg: 01-10-05
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Re: Brigadoon
02-26-05 01:18 AM - Post#4991
In response to palestra38
Interesting that the author of this article, flagrantly ridiculing proponents of a tournament, is the same moderator who used to pull the plug on threads which became too personal. Can you say double standard?
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Warrior
newbie
Posts: 49
Loc: Philadelphia, PA
Reg: 11-22-04
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Re: Brigadoon
02-26-05 01:20 AM - Post#4992
In response to tguru
Maryland Has Crabs...
That's all I said.
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