That's right, the oft-maligned football team won its first conference game in almost two years, 21-13 over Dartmouth. At a windy and rainy Wien Stadium, quarterbacks Shane Kelly and Millicent Olawale combined for 205 yards in the air, and the team also produced 193 rushing yards, as the Lions moved to 1-2 in the Ivy League.

After the two teams traded long drives for touchdowns, the Lions ended the first half with a 19 yard touchdown pass from Kelly to junior Austin Knowlin. Dartmouth kicked two field goals in the third quarter, but another long touchdown drive at the start of the fourth put Columbia ahead 21-13, and safety Andy Shalbrack's interception with a minute to go preserved the victory. Next week, the Lions travel to New Haven to take on Yale at 12:30. The game will be televised on the YES network.

In other sports news, the women's soccer team beat Dartmouth 3-1 on Friday night to stay in the hunt for the Ivy League championship. Junior Sophie Reiser continued her starring role by scoring all three goals.

Procrastinate close to home.

Monday
Jeffrey Sachs, George Soros, Nouriel Roubini: About saving the world economy. Moderated by John Roberts of CNN, formerly of CBS. We'll LectureHop if you can't make it. 3:30 PM @ Miller Theater.

Tuesday
Men's Soccer vs. Lafayette: As Bwog noted on Friday, they've had a mixed season. But the uncertainty makes for a more exciting game, right? 7:00 PM @ waytoofaruptown.

Wednesday
Divided We Fall: A film about the change in American mindset towards Sikhs and Muslims in the post-9/11 world. 7:00 PM @ Lerner Cinema.

Thursday
World Leaders - Global Sustainability: Various people discussing environmental stewardship and the role of New York City residents. Hosted by PrezBo, moderated by Steven Cohen, Chief Operating Officer of The Earth Institute. 7:00 PM @ Miller Theater.

The Columbia football team's season got off to an unfortunate start this afternoon, as the team fell at home to Fordham 29-22. The Lions exploded for 22 points in the second quarter, including a 56-yard touchdown pass from Shane Kelly (10-20, for 170 yards and 2 touchdowns) to Austin Knowlin, and an interception return for a touchdown by linebacker Drew Quinn (who also had 16 9.5 tackles).

But Fordham was able to hold the Columbia offense for the rest of the game, and Rams running back Xavier Martin (155 yards, 4 touchdowns) scored twice in the fourth quarter to gain the victory. The Lions play next week at Towson University in Maryland.

On to happier news: the field hockey team continued its undefeated start by winning its first Ivy League game, 1-0 over Brown in Providence. Junior Catherine Campbell scored the only goal of the game, and senior goalkeeper Gena Miller (first team All-Ivy in 2007) posted her second shutout of the season.

Finally, the women's soccer team ran over American University on Friday night, 5-0. Freshman forward Ashlin Yahr scored twice, and Sophie Reiser, Nora Dooley, and Keri Nobil also tallied.

You read the title correctly - sports coverage on Bwog. Stop pointing at the pigs above us. We know they're there.

With the start of a new school year, we felt it was time to turn over a new leaf in the Bwog-sports relationship. In the past, we've generally only reported on sports either as champions or, more often, as a punchline. There are hundreds of our classmates practicing day after day, though, and there's a lot of great stuff to cover in their efforts. We'll be doing our best to give them some coverage, and we ask that you do your best to help us in our occasional ignorance at the intricacies of some of the less well-known sports. On to the what's up this week in the land of sport.

Football: The Lions open their season tomorrow at home against Fordham. The teams have split the last two games, with coach Norries Wilson winning his debut 37-7 in 2006, but then losing in 2007 27-10. To win, the Lions will have to do better on the ground, both on offense with the running back duo of senior Jordan Davis and junior Ray Rangel, and from the whole defense, which gave up 353 yards last year against Fordham.

Unfortunately, the team may be without junior wide reciever Austin Knowlin (led the team with 988 yards and 11 TDs in 2007) and junior linebacker Drew Quinn (second in tackles in 2007) - both have been left off of the starting lineup in the media guide. For a more in-depth preview of the team and the rest of the Ivy League, the Spec has a football supplement.

Bwog's a little late with this item, but we didn't want any more time to go by without congratulating the Columbia men's soccer team on their 3-1 victory yesterday over UC Santa Barbara, who were ranked 6th in the country (and who won the national title two seasons ago).

Despite being outshot 22-7, the Lions held on to bounce back from their Friday night loss to SUNY Stony Brook. Sophomore Bayo Adafin (pictured at right in a photo by Columbia University Athletics) scored all three goals, and has recieved several national and regional awards, including being named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week.

The team's next game is at LaSalle on Wednesday, and their next home game is on the 26th against Quinnipiac. Also, we recommend Adafin get in touch with some European clubs - some of them could use forwards for the Champions League this week.

As if trying to singlehandedly bring prosperity to Africa, or at least co-ordinate his wardrobe of fuschia, canary yellow, and shiny neon green blazers wasn't enough, Bwog has learned that Columbia's own (and only) Catalan economist, Xavier Sala-i-Martin, has been serving as president of FC Barcelona, which won the 2006 UEFA Champions League cup back in May (and if the preceding sentence made no sense to you, it's time to hit Wikipedia). We may have noticed sooner if we'd paid a more recent visit to his popular and entertaining webpage, which shows him hoisting the UEFA trophy aloft like a newborn, er, metallic child (newcomers to the world of Xavier are encouraged to click through to see what the Spaniard's site has up its sleeve for theorists, Marxists, Australians, and anyone who "bothers the flies").

This brings to at least two the number of Columbia econ professors associated with professional soccer (Sunil Gulati is president of the US Soccer Federation). If current trends continue, Bwog believes, everyone in the econ department will either hold a Nobel Prize or preside over the hopes and dreams of a wild, scarf-clad hooligan mob.

-CJS