Dropping the Ball

Ten thousand men (and women) of Harvard watched in disbelief as the sons of Eli stole victory at The Game last weekend. Our Crimson contingent battled nobly, but in the end it was not valor nor skill, but ill fortune that decided the outcome. For once, Fate must have smiled on Yale, for a last-minute endzone "catch" gave the Bulldogs a 24-21 victory and a share of the Ivy League title.

But those faithful Harvard fans in New Haven last weekend need not be bitter. For the world knows that the catch was never complete, the victory illegitimate, the title--Yale's first since 1989--marred by an eternal asterisk in the pages of collegiate history. The 116th Game will not be remembered as Yale's crowning triumph, but--thanks to photographic evidence and video replays on ESPN SportsCenter--as a show of ill-deserved serendipity.

And so, fair Harvard, show pity for the sons of Eli. Even the gloom of New Haven can be lifted by superficial athletic achievement. It would have been terribly embarrassing if Yale dropped the ball--like it has done so many times in the past ten years--in front of so many alums.

Only when the celebration ends in New Haven will a few of the brighter students realize that such transitory jubilation comes at a price. On the field, there is nothing crueler than a catch unanimously condemned, an uncertain victory leading to a title universally questioned. Fate, in her characteristic irony, has presented Yale with a double-edged sword, a transparent triumph ending in terrible tragedy.

They will spend the next ten or twenty years in a fruitless quest to validate their victory in the 116th. It is a stifling burden, destined to build into a gnawing obsession and transform Yale's now-proud Bulldogs into pitiful, aged mutts.

Be not bitter, fair Harvard. Though we know in our hearts that Yale dropped the ball--as surely as Chuck Knoblach dropped the ball in the ALCS--do not turn your head in scorn. Instead, thank our Harvard team on a game well played and, with a knowing smile, congratulate Old Eli on an asterisk well deserved.