It's a beautiful spring Saturday, and that means it's time for football. Fans of Harvard football will get their first peek at the 2010 edition of the Crimson tonight at 7 pm at Harvard Stadium in the annual intrasquad spring game.

If you can't make it down across the river, don't worry—The Back Page has got you covered with our live blog. Check back after 6:30 for up-to-the-minute updates, and we'll have more coverage throughout the weekend and in Monday's paper!

Have you ever wanted to go head-to-head with some of Harvard's best athletes? Yesterday, you had your chance.

Following the excitement of March Madness, the Harvard Cancer Society’s 3-on-3 tournament took place yesterday afternoon. The event raised over $300 for the Jimmy Fund, a Boston-based charity group that supports cancer research for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and targeted a different audience than many other HCS events.

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Former football captain Carl Ehrlich ‘09 left the United States recently to continue playing football in Spain for the Valencia Firebats. While this may be old news, it is important to analyze the ramifications of such a move.

Ehrlich is currently playing for La Liga Nacional de Futbol Americano, a fairly recent league that started up in 1995 after gathering several organizations that had previous football experience. One of those teams was the Valencia Bats, a team composed mainly from the roster of the failed Cullera Giants team. The Bats joined the American Football League (not to be confused with the AFL that was merged into the NFL in 1969) and had a moderately successful season.

Competing with the AFL was the Catalana Football League, and so Spain’s football organizations realized that in order for football to even have a chance in Spain, the leagues needed to be united. The LGNA was created and has been a fairly strong organization since its inaugural season, adding five more teams for the 2010 season. Along with the league’s inception, the Bats changed their name to the current moniker. (More on the Firebats history can be found here, though you may need a translator).

Ehrlich joins a team that in recent years has made major strides to excel on the European football stage. The Firebats won the last three out of four LNFA titles, only failing to win it in 2008.

Because the LNFA is Spain’s top flight for football, the winner and runner-up get the chance to represent the league in the European Football League, the equivalent of the Champions League for soccer. The Firebats’ successes haven’t translated onto the big stage, though, and they have failed to win against many major European opponents. Austria’s Vienna Vikings and Swarco Raiders Tirol have captured the crown for the majority of the past decade, not letting any other country get the title since 2004.

The Firebats are looking to change things around by adding Ehrlich not only to their defensive line but to their offensive line as well. According to Valencia’s website, Ehrlich had a solid effort on both sides of the ball in his first Spanish game, getting a lot of action in its 14-6 victory at home. But it’ll be crucial for Ehrlich to adapt to the different tactics of the Firebats and the scrappy play and strict officiating of European football—he was ejected from his first game for clotheslining an opponent.

There’s a new man in charge of the Cornell football program.

After Christmas, former Big Red coach Jim Knowles stepped down to take the defensive coordinator position at Duke, and Cornell conducted a national search for a new leader. The school found its man in Mississippi offensive coordinator Kent Austin.

The Big Red will officially present Austin in a press conference at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Knowles resigned after six seasons at the helm in Ithaca, leading his alma mater to a 26-34 overall record (16-26 in Ivy play). Cornell finished at or above .500 in three consecutive seasons (2005-2007) and finished third in the Ivy League in 2004—the first team in Ancient Eight history to follow up a winless conference season with a winning league record.

The Big Red finished in the Ivy basement last season, though, going 2-8 overall and 1-6 in conference.

Austin arrives in Ithaca after two seasons of leading the Rebel offense. In his tenure, Ole Miss recorded consecutive nine-win seasons and won two Cotton Bowls.

He will inherit a Cornell squad that finished sixth among Ancient Eight programs last year in both scoring and total offense.

Austin is the second new Ivy coach to be appointed this offseason. Princeton announced the hiring of Cincinnati Bengals assistant and Tiger alum Bob Surace on Dec. 23.

Former Princeton coach Roger Hughes was fired the day after the regular season ended.