"Fire Glen Miller Blog" on Cornell's Performance

From the Penn blog, Fire Glen Miller:

"Intramural Squad" Participates In Annual National TV Loss

The 2008-2009 edition of the Ivy League basketball season came to a close as 14th-seeded Cornell was overwhelmed by 3-seed Missouri in Boise yesterday in the first round of the NCAA tournament. After the usual small-school-style competitive first half, the superior Mizzou depth and speed removed all doubts at the start of the second half. The Big Red certainly didn't flop as bad as the year before against Stanford, but it certainly wasn't the Texas and Texas A&M games of Penn's last two trips to the NCAAs.

Didn't watch the game (I think I got the Pitt-ETSU thrillfest instead, thank goodness). However, I would have been very interested in how the CBS commentators treated the Ivy representative. Were there a lot of math and intellect jokes ("You can't outsmart the Ivy team")? Was there pity ("These smart white kids are playing their hearts out")? Or was there derision ("And that dagger in the heart will send these kids back to the library")?

The New York Times certainly chose the third route. The supposed gold standard of American journalism referred to Cornell as an "intramural squad in nice-looking uniforms" in their game summary. I believe Billy Witz was mistakenly referring to Penn's starting lineup, but its still an affront to the quality of Ivy League basketball.

For the eleventh time in row, the Ivy rep has finished dancing after one day. Much like Tucker Carlson.

Miller's "Good Call" of the Day...Billy Witz

On the Cornell Big Red's performance...

"For at least a half, the Big Red relied on smarts and skills of its own to stay close. But a team that gave the appearance of an intramural squad in nice-looking uniforms was finally made to play like one by Missouri, the Big 12 tournament champion, in the Tigers’ 73-57 victory."