Just returned from the last of the weekly Yale mid-week press conferences at the Yale Bookstore where there was actually a horde of media - do you think it has anything to do with the fact that Yale is playing Harvard this week?

First the news of the day.

All the parking passes sold out by 5 p.m. on Monday so if you plan on coming to the game and don't have one of the precious parking passes, I would go onto www.yalebulldogs.com to see where the shuttle buses to and from the Yale Bowl are located because if you try to drive in and sweet talk yourself into a parking spot, you will be disappointed.

Turning to the football portion of the news update:

Senior safety Larry Abare has been medically cleared to play. I was at the last hour of this morning's practice and did not see Abare. He is being fitted for a cast that will protect the two broken bones in his right forearm but give himself range of motion to be able to play. There will be much more on Abare in Wednesday's edition of the Register. I found it interesting that Marcus Wallace, who had the unenviable task of trying to replace Abare at strong safety the last three games, showed up at practice wearing a cast on his right arm. He was able to practice so it is just a way of protecting his injured arm.

Freshman receiver Chris Smith "won't be ready" for Saturday according to Yale coach Tom Williams although more will be known on his status later in the week.

Other than that, Yale seems OK injury wise.

Tom Williams has seen his share of Thursday practices in his time as a college and professional coach and would be hard pressed to see a more productive one than the one which wrapped up about an hour and a half ago at Clint Frank Field in West Haven.

Running back Alex Thomas (ankle), safety Marcus Wallace (shoulder) and tackle Alex Golubiewski (knee) were all back in action. Wallace, who was the starter at free safety after spring practice was over, split time with Geoff Dunham with the starting defense during the scrimmage portion of the practice. Golubiewski, cleared to return to practice earlier this week, saw plenty of time at left tackle with the top offensive line unit and Thomas had a few impressive runs.

The two most impressive players in the scrimmage were receiver Peter Balsam, who caught TDs on consecutive series, and running back Mordecai Cargill, who had a couple of highlight variety runs. Considering that the Ivy League rookie of the week was Columbia punter Michael Williamsson, I'd have to think that Cargill has a chance to emerge as the league's best freshman since I would expect him to get plenty of opportunities to carry and catch the ball this season.

Receiver Reid Lathan (knee), fullback Josh Kozel (ankle) and tight end Chris Blohm (foot) were held out of practice with only Blohm expected to play on Saturday against Cornell.

WILLIAMS GIVING BACK
Williams is one of the college football coaches taking part in the Coach To Cure MD program. He will be wearing a patch on his shirt during Saturday's game.