Pot Pourri: March's Most Popular Pastime

Yes, my Harvard comrades, it's that excruciating time of year again when the winter sports teams are finished with their respective seasons and the spring sports teams are thawing out in their sweatsuits at Briggs Cage.

March. The month when everyone stops talking sports and starts discussing politics to fill out the meaningless lunchtime "Hey, how's it going?" type of conversation. And while they say politics makes for strange bedfellows, my recurring nightmares still consist of being alone in a room with Jack O'Callahan and no referee.

Meanwhile, the coaches who select All-Ivy hockey team have got to be as blind as some of the dates I've been on. While this was definitely not Harvard's year on the ice by any stretch of the garter belt, leaving the names of George Hughes and John Hynes off the All-League roster is like saying the floor at Father's Six isn't sticky on Thursday nights.

Although by no means either of them should have made first or second team, Hughes still remains one of the most effective and unquestionably respected forwards in the circuit. He was selected for honorable mention honors his freshman year and second team status last season.

Hynes, meanwhile, had the third best goals against average in the Ivies (behind first-teamer Mike Laycock of Brown and second teamer Fred Cherne of Princeton), but was overlooked for honorable mention by the coaches in favor of Penn's Bob Sutton and Cornell's Steve Napier.

It reminds me of last season when Brian Petrovek got jobbed out of All-ECAC honors though his g.a. was the second best in the East.

I've got to stop complaining or God might not grant my wish to get the fungo bat surgically removed from Mickey Rivers's behind.

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Speaking of Reggie Jackson and chocolate (my face breaks out at the thought of either one), the new "Reggie" candy bar that will hit the stands next month in time for the opening of the baseball season already has a couple of financial strikes against it. One is its high price (25 cents for a paltry two-ounce bar) and the other is the unique traditionalism of the candy industry.

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Jim Reinig's Quiz-In-Rhyme:

The same surname as a famous knife Belongs to him.

And this Crimson star cuts quite a wake,

In any freestyle swim.

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Seriously, new candy bars or fad-type sweets have little chance of making it in the nougat-and-caramel world. Parents buy their kids the bars they used to eat as children, and that's why Milky Way, Snickers, Nestles' Crunch, Mounds, Almond Joy and the Hershey Bar are still the kingpins. The ten most popular candy bars in the United States are the same today as they were 25 years ago, although price and size have gone up and down, respectively.

The only new bar that has achieved any kind of success lately is the Mars Marathon bar. Think I'm full of fudge? Well, when was the last time you saw Willie Wonka's Peanut Butter Oompahs?

At any rate, it looks like Baby Ruths and Oh Henrys will not feel their candy home-run kingdoms threatened once the fad wears off by All-Star break.

I'm still not used to it. If a kid came to my store and asked me for a "Reggie," I think I'd probably hang him up by his underwear like they used to do to me at summer camp.

The NBA comes roaring into the home stretch of what has been a very successful and competitive season. And after a disgusting start, the Boston Celtics are still in the playoff race in the Eastern Conference, though just barely.

The satisfying thing about the Celts' play of the last few months is a visible change in attitude. Although the club has played only .500 ball since he took over in November, new Celtics coach and former Harvard hoop mentor Tom Sanders has wrought small miracles with the hustle and determination of that squad.

The influx of aggressive new talent (prodigal swingman Don Chaney, quarterback-with-a-new-lease-on-life Ernie DiGregorio, and unfortunate-victim-seeking-asylum-and-full-time-power-forward Kermit Washington), reincarnation of former pouters like Sidney Wicks and Curtis Rowe, and long-awaited discipline to present pouters like JoJo White have finally given Sanders supporting players for Dave Bing, Dave Cowens and John Havlicek.

Not only that, but the Celtics are a lot of fun to watch these days, quite a change from the Celtics of late 1977, of for that matter, the "slow-it-up" Harvard teams of the Satch regime. (Quiz Answer: Julian Mack.)