Italians Back Crimson: 'Win One for Columbus'

John Harvard has traditionally paced the Crimson football sideline in a 1636 Puritan costume, but the Harvard cheerleaders may soon trade in their blunderbust and Crimson for meatballs and spaghetti sauce.

Cambridge Mayor Al Vellucci and 50 Italian residents of East Cambridge are purchasing a block of tickets for the Harvard-Yale game in New Haven, and the mayor plans to root for the Crimson to "beat the hell out of Yale."

Cambridge Italian residents have been up in arms against the Elis ever since Yale released a map three years ago that claims to prove the vikings discovered America. "They came out with this story just before Columbus Day," Vellucci said recently, "and we haven't forgotten it."

When Harvard beat Yale, 29-29, in 1968, Vellucci rewarded the entire squad with an Italian feast. "If the team beats Yale this fall, we'll treat them to a real Italian dinner--ravioli, bread, wine, the works," Vellucci said.

The Cambridge Italian community plans to charter a bus to the game in the Yale Bowl. Informed that some Harvard-Yale contests are played on Friday, the mayor said that the contingent may go down early. "We want to do the thing up right," he saad. "We'll stay overnight and cheer against every Yale team. They never should have done that to us and Columbus."