There's a top and a bottom to everything Ivy League edition

[Beerball]

What's the bottom rung on the Ivy League ladder?  To me the only answer is Cornell.  As everyone knows, Cornell was chosen because it was the westernmost campus that was willing to join the league.  Original intentions were that the league would continue to expand westward, but those plans were thwarted by Cornell's ineptitude.

 

High above above Cayuga's waters

There's an awful smell

Some say it's Cayuga's waters

I say it's cornell

 

[BuffaloBill]

Where did this come from? Hobart grads?

 

 

Where’s @The Senatorwhen you need him.  Poor @Beerballmust not have gotten any food from Louies lunch truck.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Stanford. 😆 But they actually win.  😆 🤣 

 

And the weather is great...

[The Senator]

On 12/16/2020 at 11:13 AM, Beerball said:

What's the bottom rung on the Ivy League ladder?  To me the only answer is Cornell.  As everyone knows, Cornell was chosen because it was the westernmost campus that was willing to join the league.  Original intentions were that the league would continue to expand westward, but those plans were thwarted by Cornell's ineptitude.

 

High above above Cayuga's waters

There's an awful smell

Some say it's Cayuga's waters

I say it's cornell

 

Beerball, I love you man, but the only thing I can say in response to your post is...

 

WTF are you talking about!!!???

 

“As everyone knows”, you say?  Well, I certainly don’t know.  As far as I can see, the only thing you (almost) got right is that stupid little ditty that they love to sing at that small and inferior college on Seneca Lake!

 

Cornell was not “chosen because it was the western-most campus - in fact, Cornell was instrumental in the formation of the Ivy League.

 

In 1895, Cornell, Columbia, and Penn founded the Intercollegiate Rowing Association, which remains the oldest collegiate athletic organizing body in the US.  A basketball league was later created in 1902, when Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton formed the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League - they were later joined by Penn and Dartmouth. In 1930, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Penn, Princeton and Yale formed the Eastern Intercollegiate Baseball League - they were later joined by Harvard, Brown, Army and Navy.

 

In 1936, it was noted that Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Penn were advocating the formation of an athletic association for all inter-collegiate sports, and in 1945 the presidents of the eight schools signed the first Ivy Group Agreement, which set academic, financial, and athletic standards for the football teams. The principles established reiterated those put forward in the Harvard-Yale-Princeton presidents' Agreement of 1916.
 

(The Ivy Group Agreement established the core tenet that an applicant's ability to play on a team would not influence admission - namely, no athletic scholarships, no ‘red-shirts’, no participation by grad students, no planes, etc., etc.)

 

In 1954, the presidents extended the Ivy Group Agreement to all intercollegiate sports, effective with the 1955–56 basketball season. This is generally reckoned as the formal formation of the Ivy League.
 

And there you have it - the origins of the Ivy League.  Why it’s called the ‘Ivy League’ is unclear - some say it stems from the custom of the senior class planting ivy, but lots of schools did that.  
 

There’s also an apocryphal explanation that it represents the Roman numeral of four ( I V ), asserting that there was such a sports league originally with four members.

 

No one seems to know the real answer.

 

 

But, BeerSphere, you also left me wondering - what is this “Cornell’s ineptitude” you speak of that “thwarted” westward expansion?
 

Please explain, as I never heard or read anything of said “ineptitude” or “thwarting”, and, to my knowledge, there was never a plan or desire for the Ivy League to expand westward.  

(Although In 1982 the Ivy League briefly considered adding two members, with Army, Navy, and Northwestern the most likely candidates, to avoid being moved into Division I-AA - now Division I FCS - for football.)

 

If you’ve got a link or something, I’d love to read about it.

 

(BTW, I’m reluctant to disparage any of the Ivies, as they’re all ranked in the Top 20 of U.S. colleges, but if I had to put one on a “bottom rung”, I’d pick either Columbia or Brown! 😎)

 

Senatorius Maximus

Cornell University

College of Arts & Sciences ‘81

 

[The Senator]

On 12/16/2020 at 12:51 PM, BuffaloBill said:

Where did this come from? Hobart grads?

 

 

Where’s @The Senatorwhen you need him.  Poor @Beerballmust not have gotten any food from Louies lunch truck.

Sorry to keep you waiting, BB!

 

The Hot Truck disappeared in 2018 - they just couldn’t make a go of it any longer.  (Today’s college kids seem to prefer sushi.

 

But you can still get a PMP or Triple Sui at the Shortstop Deli.

 

 

[The Senator]

On 12/16/2020 at 12:54 PM, ExiledInIllinois said:

Stanford. 😆 But they actually win.  😆 🤣 

 

And the weather is great...

But Stanford isn’t an Ivy League School, even though Leland Stanford tried to model his University after Cornell, and Cornell did supply Stanford’s first President - David Starr Jordan.  
 

Cornell and Stanford have always had close ties - we played a football game against them to celebrate Stanford’s 100th anniversary...

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/vault.si.com/.amp/vault/1991/10/21/a-real-birthday-bash-even-sacrificial-lamb-cornell-enjoyed-stanfords-centennial-celebration

 

I was living in San Francisco back then, and went to the game Stanford slaughtered Cornell.  I think we finally converted a third down in Q4, when Stanford had their 4th string on the field!

 

Now, if we played them in hockey... 😎

 

 

[Johnny Hammersticks]

Better question.  Who’s the dark sheep of the Ivy League South?  Duke, UVA, Emory, Rice or Florida State?

 

 

[4merper4mer]

On 12/16/2020 at 11:13 AM, Beerball said:

What's the bottom rung on the Ivy League ladder?  To me the only answer is Cornell.  As everyone knows, Cornell was chosen because it was the westernmost campus that was willing to join the league.  Original intentions were that the league would continue to expand westward, but those plans were thwarted by Cornell's ineptitude.

 

High above above Cayuga's waters

There's an awful smell

Some say it's Cayuga's waters

I say it's cornell

 

Andy Bernard is their most famous graduate.

[The Senator]

1 hour ago, 4merper4mer said:

Andy Bernard is their most famous graduate.

.

😁

Funny!

 

(But on this board their most famous grad would be Pete Gogolak  🏈😎)

.

[Seasons1992]

I'd put up a "hottest Ivy League" top and bottom link, but I just type here so I don't get fined.

[Doc]

Columbia is known as the armpit of the Ivies, so...

[leh-nerd skin-erd]

12 hours ago, The Senator said:

.

😁

Funny!

 

(But on this board their most famous grad would be Pete Gogolak  🏈😎)

.

https://cornellbigred.com/sports/wrestling/roster/yianni-diakomihalis/47967
 

I won’t do the heavy lifting to google other notable alum, but pre-COVID this young man was in his way to a shot at his  third straight NCAA Wrestling championship.  Rochester area young man—nice kid and tough as nails.   
 

 

[The Senator]

14 hours ago, leh-nerd skin-erd said:

https://cornellbigred.com/sports/wrestling/roster/yianni-diakomihalis/47967
 

I won’t do the heavy lifting to google other notable alum, but pre-COVID this young man was in his way to a shot at his  third straight NCAA Wrestling championship.  Rochester area young man—nice kid and tough as nails.   
 

 

.

Yep, way too many notable Alums to do a Google search, but two come to mind because they’ve been in the news of late - the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Dr. Anthony Fauci - lead scientist on this crazy COVID-19 problem.

 

Also, got this list of notable Alums with ties to Western New York from the Cornel Club...

 

http://cornellclub-buffalo.org/prominent-buffalo-area-cornellians

 

(The Buffalo Chapter of the Cornell Club is, I believe, the oldest chapter, and - unlike the NYC chapter - there are no dues.  It’s located downtown, in the Market Arcade building on Main Street.)

http://cornellclub-buffalo.org/about

 

BTW, found this tidbit  while Googling the history of The Ivy League Athletic Association -

 

“In February 1903, intercollegiate wrestling began when Yale accepted a challenge from Columbia, published in the Yale News. Two years later, Penn and Princeton also added wrestling teams, leading to the formation of the student-run Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, now the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA), the first and oldest collegiate wrestling league in the US.”

 

GO BIG RED!!!!

 

 

[leh-nerd skin-erd]

1 hour ago, The Senator said:

.

Yep, way too many notable Alums to do a Google search, but two come to mind because they’ve been in the news of late - the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Dr. Anthony Fauci - lead scientist on this crazy COVID-19 problem.

 

Also, got this list of notable Alums with ties to Western New York from the Cornel Club...

 

http://cornellclub-buffalo.org/prominent-buffalo-area-cornellians

 

(The Buffalo Chapter of the Cornell Club is, I believe, the oldest chapter, and - unlike the NYC chapter - there are no dues.  It’s located downtown, in the Market Arcade building on Main Street.)

http://cornellclub-buffalo.org/about

 

BTW, found this tidbit  while Googling the history of The Ivy League Athletic Association -

 

“In February 1903, intercollegiate wrestling began when Yale accepted a challenge from Columbia, published in the Yale News. Two years later, Penn and Princeton also added wrestling teams, leading to the formation of the student-run Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, now the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA), the first and oldest collegiate wrestling league in the US.”

 

GO BIG RED!!!!

 

 

How about that!  
 

Btw, notable alum, I see William Sadler, he of Shawshank Fame is a Buffalo guy.  I’ve seen him many, many movies.  Very cool, and another reason to like Shawshank. 
 

Fauci is a name I’ve heard once or twice—👍

[The Senator]

4 hours ago, leh-nerd skin-erd said:

How about that!  
 

Btw, notable alum, I see William Sadler, he of Shawshank Fame is a Buffalo guy.  I’ve seen him many, many movies.  Very cool, and another reason to like Shawshank. 
 

Fauci is a name I’ve heard once or twice—👍

.

...and Kurt Vonnegut, Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul, and Mary’s), Harry Chaplin, Huey Lewis, Robert Moog (invented the Moog Synthisizer), et al

.

[leh-nerd skin-erd]

13 minutes ago, The Senator said:

.

...and Kurt Vonnegut, Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul, and Mary’s), Harry Chaplin, Huey Lewis, Robert Moog (invented the Moog Synthisizer), et al

.

I actually had a Moog ring back in the day. I
 

 And seriously—Harry Chaplin?  I was introduced to his music after his death when I went to college in 1982ish.  He had played the year or two before and most of my new friends (and my future wife) had seen him and said it was a great show.  Love that stuff.