Of Shaved Heads And Windy Cities

With their helmets on seniors Brian Ramer, Jae Ellis and Chris Andre make up a very important part of the Harvard football team's defense. Leading the fight against opposing offenses, Ramer, Ellis and Andre have tackled, intercepted and covered their way to an impressive start this season.

Saturday, each of the seniors played significant roles in allowing Lafayette just 16 points and leading the Crimson to its 700th victory ever. Ramer led the team in tackles, while Andre and Ellis led the secondary as it stopped the Leopard passing game from taking over the game.

With their helmets off, however, these three seniors play another kind of defense altogether. When the offense is in the game, these three veterans usually sit in a row on the bench. The glare off their shaved heads is so strong that it may keep spectators from getting a clean view of the action.

Talk about a prevent defense.

Actually, as of the Lafayette game, Ramer was the only one with a completely bald cranium. Ellis has an H shaved in the back of his head and a long stubble covers Andre scalp.

Ramer has been compared to Michelle Foucault, but Mr. Clean fits the bill much better.

Certainly, last Saturday Ramer left several Leopards' clocks completely spic and span.

Hair or no hair, Ramer is confident that the defense can hold its own this year.

"I think we've had an excellent season so far," Ramer said after the Lafayette game. "We had a tough time against William and Mary, but we came back really strong."

Lafayette head Coach Bill Russo sounded a little like a weatherman Saturday after his team failed to mount a comeback in the second half.

His comments in the postgame press conference centered around wind currents and jet streams rather than offensive or defensive formations.

"The wind was a really big factor in the game," Russo said. It dictated the personality of both offenses when they were going into and with the wind."

Asked why the last drive the Leopards mounted consumed so much time and in the process essentially sealed the win for the Crimson, Russo replied more like Willard Scott than Lou Holtz.

"It was really tough to be aggressive going into the wind," Russo said.

Lafayette and Russo were not only victims of the wind Saturday, however.

For the second week in a row, the Leopards suffered defeat at the hands of a team gathering its 700th win. Princeton passed the historic mark with a victory over Lafayette a little over a week ago, and then last weekend Harvard did the same thing.

Russo, who played football at Brown in his college day, tried to look on the bright side when a reporter reminded him that both the Crimson and the Tigers had entered the 700 club with wins over his team.

"At least I'll forever be in the Ivy League record books," Russo said. "It certainly wasn't my career at Brown that was going to get me in."