Yalies More Intent on Studies Than THE Game

NEW HAVEN, Conn,--At a Yale fraternity, the bartender, a relic of the days when old St. Paul's and Groton boys would gather around his domain and jovially drink themselves into oblivion, lamented a bigone era as he sat alone in the darkened club house early last Tuesday evening.

Over at Mory's, the tables were empty except for a few local alumni quietly eating their suppers. But the Cross Campus Library. Yale's antiseptic new reserve book library, buried windowless beneath the dying elms and the gothic stone of the Yale campus, was packed with undergraduates grinding away. One glassy-eyed student peered up from his calculus, and stared in disbelief at the Crimson reporter who, had inquired what the Harvard-Yale game meant to him. He answered "big fucking deal."

Kingman Brewster's "1000 male leaders a year" are apparently more intent on getting into law school these days than going to the Harvard-Yale game. One diehard Yale rooter, Larry Veselka '73, glumly predicted that only about 20 per cent of the student body would be lured away from their studies and Thanksgiving vacation to make the journey to Cambridge for today's season finale.

Attendance has been off at all the Yale games this year--last Saturday the Yale Bowl was half-filled for the Yale-Princeton game, a century-old tradition that until recently always drew at least 50,000 to 60,000 fans.

The Yale Daily News has been trying to generate some excitement with headlines like "THE GAME: 12 Year Jinx," referring to Yale's inability to win at Harvard Stadium since the Bulldog's undefeated team of 1960 smashed the Crimson 36-6. Yale's upset losses to Harvard in the last two years and the bitter memory of "the tie" in 1968 have prompted Yale Daily sports writer Randy Yates to write a melodramatic column entitled "I Hate Harvard."

Yale's senior players don't seem to be too excited about avenging a three year losing streak to Harvard. Bob Leyen, a tackle who chortled "If I died tonight, my life would be complete," in the Yale locker room after the Elis trounced Dartmouth three weeks ago, said, "I don't carry grudges."

When the Crimson asked Yale All-American Dick Jonron if he sought ravage, he said, "No." When we asked him if his failure to have a good game against Harvard gave him added incentive, he said. "No." And when we asked him if he considered Harvard quarterback Bris Crone, three-time conquerer of Janron teams, to be a nemesis, he said, "No." Jauron's sophomore running mate Tyrol Hennings added, "Nobody but the writers thinks Crone has any special powers over Yale."

Yale's second string quarterback, Roly Purrington, summed up the team's attitude towards Crosse. "I don't think there's anybody here who look Bric Crone is Yale's nemesis." Purrington does get excited about the thought of beating Harvard on its own turf, however. As a sophomore, Purrington come in late in the game and drove the Elis to the Harvard 20 before overthrowing a fourth down pass in the final minute, setting the stage for Eric Crone's infamous dash into his own endsone on the last play of the game. Purrington, who wears Brian Dowling's old number "10" has the dubious distinction of being the quarterback who has lost to Crone three year running.

He won't get the chance to avenge the insult-today though, for he was ousted at midseason by sophomore Tom Doyle. "My career hasn't been quite as glorious as I had anticipated." Purrington Inmented.

One Yale senior, Dan Nottingham, has already had all the glory he needs this year. Nottingham, a punter, once elected to run instead of punt in his sophomore season, but he run into the referee and fell down for an eight yard loss. "It was a disaster he said. "I've been thinking about it ever since." A week ago, in his last home game, he did. Paking the punt without telling his coach or his teammates he raced 67 yards against Princeton before being houled down from behind.