36 Courses But No Pass Protection

NEW HAVEN--Handouts, press releases, statistics, more handouts--this clearly was no ordinary Game.

I received a sheet listing the oldest continuous rivalries (The Game is the third, behind Lafayette-Lehigh, at 118, and Yale-Princeton, at 106) and a handout with biographies of all 12 Handsome Dans (the current Yale mascot retired after Saturday's game).

But this one really caught my eye. The all-capitals headline read, "PRESIDENT GIAMATTI PREDICTS VICTORY"; it was printed on Yale Sports Information Office stationery.

"Yale President A. Bartlett Giamatti has made the following statement on this weekend's 100th playing of the Yale-Harvard football game.

"It's going to be a tremendous victory for Yale. The Yale spirit is up. Character will triumph over a complex offense. I think Yale's margin of victory will be substantial.'"

I especially liked the line about character and a complex offense, assuming it was a tongue-in-cheek remark by a man known more as the leading member of the Eli literati than as the leading friend of Eli athletics. Unfortunately, it seemed for three quarters that Giamatti might have a serious point to make, as Yale held the Crimson multiplex to a single touchdown.

But then Harvard's mostly moribund passing game caught fire for a moment as Greg Gizzi found Robert Santiago on the Yale six-yard line late in the third period. On the first play of the fourth quarter. Steve Ernst barreled around left end; as was an irresistable force and the Yale defense something less than an immovable object. Soon I was breathing easier, not particularly concerned by Rob Steinberg's trial-and-error place kicking.

Then it became evident where Bart Smart had gone wrong. Maybe he had been thinking of the character the Bulldogs had displayed by never giving up during their eight straight losses; more likely, he was referring to the superior character all Yalies develop by taking 36 courses instead of Harvard's measly 32.

Character

The would-be baseball commissioner could have benefited from a friendly chat with me on the subject of character and The Game. I would have told him how I (and, presumably, all the seniors on this year's Crimson team) underwent in 1980 the ordeal of witnessing two Harvard kickoff receivers--whose names I have graciously forgotten--converge, bump and fall down like Keystone Kops while Yale recovered the loose ball, setting up a touchdown. That was a real character-building experience. Watching Yale's unstoppable 1981 squad crush the Crimson falls into the same category. Enduring two shutouts in a row in The Game hardens you in a way 36 courses just can't match.

Perhaps this means they're going through a similar character-building era in New Haven Perhaps we can nervously await terrible retribution to equal the 45-7 settling of accounts Harvard inflicted on the Bulldogs a year ago.

Don't count on it though. This was more than just the loss of one game for Yale Giamatti and Yale Athletic Director Frank Ryan have worked to deemphasize football, and their efforts seemed to bear fruit, with Harvard's freshman and JV teams also winning. "We're going to be recruiting this week." Eli Coach Carm Cozza said after the end of his worst season. From looking at the freshman team pictures in the game program, it's clear why he's so desperate: the Crimson had 22 more players on its freshman team than Yale.

so I expect those who read and enjoy the Eli Propaganda for The Game in the years to come may read more stirring declarations by Giamatti like this year's. Scenes like that of quarterback Mike Curtin being sacked by the Crimson before he can even drop back into the pocket, and of Gizzi mysteriously escaping the embraces of two or three Bulldogs every time he scrambled with the ball--they will contribute to the Eli character.

With my personal record evened at 2-2 (1 thought it would never happen after that 28-0 disaster), I feel qualified to make the following statement on the next few playings of the Yale-Harvard football game:

"There will be some tremendous embarrassments for Yale. The Yale spirit will be up. But a complex offense will triumph over character. I think Harvard's margins of victory will be substantial.