Students Rally for the Team, Bash Bulldogs

Whacking bulldog pinatas that spewed condoms reading “Fuck Yale” and shredding stuffed bulldogs, about 2,500 students gathered in the Yard last night to rally around the football team two days before The Game in the first pep rally in recent years.

A sea of students wearing white “Yale Sucks” headbands cheered as the football team crowded on stage to receive the send-off, thanking the students for their support and assuring Harvard a victory.

“We’re gonna dominate,” football team captain Erik Grimm ’06 said. “This is the 122nd time we play Yale. We’re going for a victory.”

As Grimm finished up his speech, a swaggering John Harvard and a helpless Yale bulldog performed an intricate fight sequence that ended with John Harvard flattening the bulldog with a vicious uppercut.

Students also sang along as the Harvard Band played “Ten Thousand Men of Harvard” and watched as cheerleaders performed acrobatic stunts.

“I’ve been here 12 years, we’ve never had anything like this,” Coach Tim Murphy said, noting that The Game was not about the players but about the Harvard student body.

“The team is happy the UC put this together,” said offensive tackle Bennett T. Kowalk ’06 said. “It’s nice to see the student body show support for the team.”

Even the John Harvard statue showed his support, donning a Harvard t-shirt and baseball cap.

Justin H. Haan ’05 the Campus Life Fellow, speculated that pep rallies last appeared at Harvard in the late 1950s and estimated the total cost of last night’s event­—which also featured giant searchlights illuminating the Yard and hot chocolate, cider and cookies for the students—at $5,000.

The rally was organized by a union of student organizations, including the Campus Life Committee, the Pub Night Commission, the H Club, the Band, the Cheerleading Squad, the football team, the House Committees, and the First-Year Social Committee.

“Reviving a Harvard tradition, that’s what we’re all about,” Haan said.

“What made this event so succesful was the pulling together of an enormous array of groups, all of whom share the same goal of improving campus life.”

Several students said they hoped this rally would kick off a new era at the College in which spirited pep rallies were more common.

“It was so exciting to see the freshman class rally around the spirit of the Harvard-Yale rivalry,” said Caroline A. Jennings ’09, a member of the First Year Social Committee. “The event had so much to offer that I’m sure it will continue in the future.”

Although some students were hit by flying Felipe burritos that organizers threw into the crowd and several attempts at moshing failed, the rally still had some students dreaming bigger.

“Hopefully within four years Harvard pep rallies will improve to the quality of those put on by state schools,” Alan Ramos ’09 said.

“Yale sucks. The pep rally rocked my socks,” Philip L. Pérez ’09 said.