"Hey, Ya Know..."

Well, it's been a long time now, now ain't it? A long time since we got together and did some talkin'. Yeah, I kinda missed it too, but things just kept comin' up and all, ya know.

Anyway, I thought we could sorta get together this morning--no, please, don't leave, this will just take a few minutes, I promise--'cuz we got some big things to discuss, you and me.

Ya see the other day, me and my buddy Joe, Joe Restic, the football coach--but ya know that anyhow--well, we got together and had a little chat. Joe, now he's all happy now and everythin', 'cuz Harvard beat Dartmouth last Saturday ya know, and now Harvard's in first place.

Well Joe, he's not the type o' guy to get too excited bout authin', but I know that deep inside, he's pleased as graveyard punch right about now.

That football team o' his, they played quite the game last Saturday huh? Best one I ever seen in these parts. Went out and beat the pants off o' Dartmouth and all, and now they're leadin' the league, just makin' fools out o' all them folks who said they'd be lucky just to finish third or fourth this year.

Well, that's where Joe comes in, ya see, 'cuz while he's all happy and everythin', he's gettin' a little worried. Joe, ya see, and I think I told ya this once before but you probably don't remember, but Joe gets nervous when he's on top and everybody's chasin' him.

That's why he liked it when all them experts picked Brown and Yale to win, 'cuz then he could just sorta breeze along in private, doin' his thing behind closed doors, so to speak, without no one lookin'. But events, well they forced Joe to show his hand early, and now while he's all happy to be in first place, and all, he knows he's still got a big month ahead o' him.

"Well Mike," I can just hear him say, "Mike, let me tell ya. We did a good job Saturday. It was a big win for us, and I'm very pleased.

"But Mike, the season's only half over. This game won't mean anything for us if we don't go out and beat Princeton this weekend. And believe me, they're going to be tough. They've lost a couple of close games, and you remember what happened two years ago. Princeton came in here and they beat us.

"But I'll say this. We're in the position now where we can do it ourselves. We're in front, and somebody's going to have to catch us. But it's going to be tough. We still have a couple of areas where I'd like to see some improvement, and Mike, in this league you just can't take anything for granted."

Well that's Joe for ya', all right. Never givin' away his hand, always playin' down his chances. But believe you me, he's pretty damn pleased 'bout bein' 3--0 in the league right about now.

Ya see, it's like he fooled everybody, just pulled the damn wool over their eyes. I mean there's that first win at Columbia, which occurred so early that nobody can even remember it.

Then those two losses. Ya know, it's almost like he planned them. I mean you gotta figure that Harvard was gonna lose at least once the first month--they always do and so why not do it when the damn game doesn't count for nuthin', not even for beans?

And then Cornell. Joe, why he brings his boys up to Ithaca where no one's lookin', wins up there, and suddenly all he needs is one measly victory to get into first place by himself.

Now ya know what I'm sayin', now don't ya? I'm saying' that Harvard's played one excellent football game this fall, and they're in first. Dartmouth's played three or four, and they're not. So ya see, it's not how many ya win at the beginning, but which ones ya win. And Joe, he knows the ones.

Well I gotta be goin' now, got big things to do if ya catch my drift. But I'll tell ya one more thing, and don't ya tell no one ya spoke to me or nuthin', but ya can be sure that ol' Joe is havin' a mighty nice little chuckle to himself this week.

"Hey," he'd say, "it's all there. We can do it for ourselves and if we don't, we'll have no one else to blame."

Hey, ya know, he's right. See ya around the Stadium, sports.