Fresh Footprints
Since the creation of this column three years ago, Marc Sadowsky has supplied a generation of Harvard sports fans with a weekly diet of Harvard sports events, Boston professional team schedules, and a semester-by-semester chronicle of his personal life, his senior thesis, and his roommates' eccentricities.
Because I'm not writing a thesis, all that is left for me to do is to provide a comprehensive listing of all the sporting events in the immediate vicinity, and keep armchair quarterbacks informed of the times at which your televisions will unleash "games of the week," or regional telecasts.
Of course, I will not allow readers to wallow in provincial ignorance by failing to disseminate relevant information relating to the fortunes of great academic institutions such as the University of Wisconsin or Duke.
But, it's time to get down to business and start stirring up some fan interest. First priority has to go to tonight's action at Fenway Park. There are still regular seats available, as well as the usual bleacher section. To get into the bleachers for either to night's or tomorrow's game against the Detroit Tigers (tonight) and the Toronto Blue Jays (Friday), show up between 6:00 and 6:30 and you should have no porblem getting in for the 7:30 game.
The Red Sox close out the season with afternoon games Saturday and Sunday against the Blue Jays. Starting time is 2:00, so be at Fenway around 12:30 to be sure of bleacher seats.
Although I plugged the Red Sox first, I don't want anyone to get the idea that they are excused from Saturday's football contest at Soldier's Field, where the Crimson gridders will host the Minutemen of the University of Massachusetts in a non-conference tilt at 1:30. The Harvard contingent will be trying to avenge last year's loss to the Minutemen and notch their first win of this season after last week's disappointing defeat at the hands of Columbia, "The Germ of the Ocean."
Taking the field Saturday at 2:00 will be the women's varsity field hockey team. The stickwomen will be hosting Southern Connecticut on the field located behind Palmer-Dixon and the outdoor tennis courts.
If soccer is your thing, then head out to Tufts for the women's varsity soccer team's encounter with the Jumbo's at 11:00 a.m. Saturday morning. The women's sub-varsity squad will be in action closer to home when they host Wellesley, also at 11. This game will either be at the Business School or behind Palmer-Dixon.
Suppose it's raining and you're afraid to melt, or suppose you live in either Chapel Hill or Pittsburgh; then I guess you may as well tune in Channel 5 for the Pitt vs. UNC football battle. Undoubtedly some of you may stay home for the NBC baseball game of the week. Football starts at 1:30 and baseball at 2:00 for you shut-ins.
There will be more Harvard sports taking place next week. At 3:00 p.m. Monday, the J.V. football squad will host Brown.
On Tuesday the women harriers will host Rhode Island at 3:30 p.m. at Franklin Park. To see this and all cross-country meets in person, take Massachusetts Avenue all the way into Boston, where you turn left on Columbus Avenue, which runs into Franklin Park.
Next Wednesday will provide a full complement of sports action starting at 3:30 p.m. You can choose between the women's field hockey team which will be hosting Northeastern, or the men's soccersquad, which tackles U Mass. If you stick around until 5:00, the subvarsity stickwomen take on their Northeastern counteparts. The men's J.V. booters will be competing simultaneously with the varsity at 3:30, so you will have to scout around for that game.
All that is left now is a professional sports round-up. The New England Patriots will be playing Foxboro this Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. against the San Diego Chargers. Seats are available for the patriots' games.
In case you haven't begun thinking about basketball yet, I thought I should advise you that the Boston Celtics began selling tickets for all their home games yesterday at 11:00 a.m. The season opener takes place October 13, at which time John Havlecek's number will be retired.
Before you turn the page, I would like to present this issue's "Cheer of the Week" award to a cheer which I heard Saturday at the Coulumbia game. It goes to the creator of a remarkably melodic ditty, rich in imagery, and destined to enter the realm of Harvardiana--"Harass them, harass them, make them relinquish the spheroid."
Don't forget, the University of Wisconsin, this year's Big-Ten champions-to-be, will be hosting the University of Oregon Ducks. Which reminds me, this year's duck and goose hunting season opens half an hour before sunrise October 11. I'm usually awake by then and I plan to capture any ducks that are still sleeping in Quincy House at sunrise. As a punishment, I will then force them to go to my lectures and to take notes while I go to Yom Kippur services.
Traditionally, at this point, Marc Sadowsky would end the column with a witty closing. In deference to his continuing presence at Harvard in the guise of a special student taking Chem 20, calculus, and physics, I can only say--see you next week, aloha.