CATCHING CRABS

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Fair Harvard's varsity lightweight crew won the final at the Eastern Sprints Saturday without ever having qualified in a heat. We do not contest the quality of that crew; we do, however, contest the decision of the referee placing the boat in the finals in the first place.

We think it grossly unfair and inequitable that a crew which failed to qualify under the rules was allowed to row simply because of "the forceful intervention of heavyweight coach Harry Parker." We ask why have heats in the morning if a crew can qualify for the finals simply on the strength of its reputation. Two false starts in a trial heat would put Bob Hayes out of a 100-yd. race even if there were no doubt that he could win the final running backwards. Why do rules mean something else in crew? Would these rules be bent as far as they were for Harvard if the boat in question was from Columbia or Brown? Or would those pious friends of Harvard rowing keep their mouths shut?

It was the judge's decision whether or not to stop the race when the shell ran into its misfortune during the first thirty seconds. Right or wrong, he made the decision not to do so. Placing the Crimson in the finals after its last place finish in the trials not only countermands that decision, but also makes the assumption that the boat would have avoided any further mishap during the course of that particular race.

But, good crews, even great crews, have caught crabs and been eliminated although the form charts had them listed as winners. To blatantly ignore this fact, no matter how small the odds of such misfortune, is to work an injustic to all concerned. After all, the odds of a shell having troubles such as this one did are quite minute too.

Harvard's varsity lightweights may be the best in their division, but they had no right to be the 1968 Eastern Sprint Champs. Richard B. Hoffman, 1L   Guy M. Blynn, 1L