For the second straight year, three consecutive Yale football games will be televised on the YES Network as part of the "Yale on YES" package.

YES will carry the Oct. 31 game at Columbia, Nov. 7 home game against Brown and Nov. 14 game at Princeton. All three games start at 1 p.m. (probably closer to 1:05 since the game will be on TV).

Chris Shearn will handle the play-by-play, with color commentary coming from former Ivy League and National Football League lineman Ross Tucker and former Yale defensive back Jack Ford. Dan Fleschner, a 2001 Yale graduate, will provide sideline reports.

Chris Brady, a cornerback from New Jersey powerhouse Don Bosco Prep, has committed to Yale according to a report on www.njvarsity.com which would make him the first confirmed commitment for Yale football's Class of 2014.

The 6-foot, 180-pound Brady led Don Bosco with seven interceptions and 15 passes defender while finishing tied for fourth with 37 solo tackles and had interceptions in the final four games of the season.

Also, incoming Yale defensive back Kurt Stottlemyer and the rest of the United States' team's win over Canada in the Junior World Championships is scheduled to be rebroadcast on NFL Network Saturday at 8 p.m. I say scheduled to be broadcast because I received an e-mail informing me of this information but on the schedule grid, Super Bowl XXIII between Dallas and Pittsburgh is listed as the programming from 8-11 p.m. on the network.

A few more items of note:

There is a column in the Register today by Dave Solomon about quarterback Patrick Witt, who transferred from Nebraska to Yale.

The annual Ivy league media day is officially kaput and will be replaced by a conference call with all eight head coaches and Jim Maconaghy, the Ivy’s coordinator of football officials. It will be the first of eight teleconferences with the eight Ivy head coaches.

I'm not sure this move is in the best interest in the league. When I returned to the Yale football beat last year after about a 10-year absence, I was struck with the apathy among the media when it comes to Ivy League football (other than the Yale/Harvard game). During my first stint as the Yale beat writer, several papers would cover all the home games and we were one of the two papers to send beat writers to every home and away game. Now, the Register is pretty much it. Yale has it better than Brown. When Yale played at Brown with a victory giving the Bears at least a share of the Ivy League title, Brown coach Phil Estes wasn't even brought in for interviews because no local media was there to cover the game.

I may be way off on this but I question how many news outlets are going to be jumping in on the weekly conference calls. I think the media day was a chance for the league to get some preseason ink. Having it in New Haven did make some sense so Boston and New York media could make the trip to the event and did just that. Now, I'm not sure what exposure the league will receive before the season.

Yale is well represented on the Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association list of officers.

Director of Athletics Tom Beckett has been named to the executive committee while former coach Jack Siedlecki will serve as the coaches' representative.

Siedlecki is being honored at the second annual Elm City Legends receptions. Among the other honorees are former Yale hockey coach Dick Gagliardi and Bob Dikranian, the former Southern Connecticut State men's soccer coach who is now an assistant coach with the Yale women's soccer team.

Yale's football roster is now up on the school's official site with no major surprises.

Among the veterans on last year's roster, the only ones will eligibility not listed on the current roster are offensive lineman Ben Miller, defensive back Wes Phillips, defensive lineman Matt Smock, kicker Wells Stewart, defensive back Grant Todd and receiver Ryan Vandersloot.

Among the rising sophomores, offensive lineman Michael Gabriel and running back Jake McCrary are the only ones not on the roster.

Kickoff times for nine of Yale's 10 games in the upcoming season are known with the only game time yet to be announced being the Oct. 24 contest at Penn.

Sept. 19 at Georgetown, 1 p.m.
Sept. 26 Cornell, 12:30 p.m.
Oct. 3 Lafayette, 12:30 p.m.
Oct. 10 Dartmouth, 12:30 p.m.
Oct. 17 at Lehigh, 12:30 p.m.
Oct. 24 at Penn, TBA
Oct. 31 at Columbia, 1:30 p.m.
Nov. 7 Brown, 12:05 p.m.
Nov. 14 at Princeton, 1 p.m.
Nov. 21 Harvard, noon


IVY LEAGUE TRIO IN ACTION
Yale incoming freshman John Powers, a quarterback/defensive back/punter from Hopkins, and Penn recruit Billy Ragone, a former standout quarterback at Cheshire, will play for the New Haven County squad in the Hall of Fame Classic Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart University. Ex-Darien receiver Brian Kosnik, who is going to Dartmouth, will play for the Fairfield County squad.

The United States won the inaugural IFAF Junior World Championship with a 41-3 win over Canada Sunday in Canton, Ohio.

Kurt Stottlemyer, an incoming freshman defensive back for Yale, had one tackle for a U.S. team which held Canada to 42 yards of total offense.

In three games Stottlemyer, the only Ivy Leaguer on 45-player U.S. roster, had three tackles including a sack as the U.S. finished 3-0 and outscored its three opponents 174-3.

Former Yale linebacker Bobby Abare has been named the linebackers coach at Wagner College.

Abare, Yale's captain in 2008, was the Bulldogs' leading tackler the last three seasons and was one of the most decorated defensive players in Yale football history. He was invited to a tryout with the Kansas City Chiefs but was not brought back for the rookie mini-camp.

Ironically, Abare's position was opened up by Harvard's hiring of former Wagner secondary coach Mike Horan. Joe Todd, the Seahawks' former linebackers coach, took over as secondary coach with Abare being hired as the new LB coach.

Wagner opens the 2009 season with a home game against Stonehill. The Seahawks will play a pair of Connecticut teams (Sacred Heart and Central Connecticut State) but both games will be in Staten Island, N.Y.

STOTTLEMYER, U.S. TO GO FOR GOLD
Yale incoming freshman Kurt Stottlemyer, a defensive back from Bothwell, Wash., had a sack as the U.S. defeated Mexico 55-0 to improve to 2-0 in the IFAF Junior World Championships in Canton, Ohio.

Stottlemyer has two solo tackles and one assist in two games as the U.S. has outscored France and Mexico 133-0.

The U.S. and Canada will play in the gold-medal game on Sunday at 1 p.m.

I share the sentiments of Jim Fuller on David Poole, just a wonderful person who lit up the Yale press box, and left us too soon at age 52 on Father's Day.

I just wanted to share some photos of David. We can write about his smile all we want, but to see it, is to feel its warmth and genuineness.

In top photo he is throwing out the first pitch at a New Haven Ravens game on his 40th birthday.

And in the above photo he is with Steve Conn, a good friend and Yale's assistant athletic director for sports information.

Thanks to Steve and Bill O'Brien for sharing the photos of David.

Sean