Supply of Tickets, Alcohol Dry Up

The Harvard-Yale Game ticket supply, like the tailgate outside, has run dry.

Tickets to the annual Game, entering its 123rd year, sold out yesterday afternoon, the Department of Athletics announced. The Game was sold out in 2004, the last year it was played at Harvard Stadium, The Crimson reported at the time.

Tardy ticket-seekers may be left to watch the action on the TV screen—WLVI-TV 56 will broadcast the Game starting at noon. A former New York Yankees radio broadcaster, Charley Steiner, who now calls games for the Los Angeles Dodgers, will provide the play-by-play. The color commentary will be shaded crimson and blue—former Harvard tackle Danny M. Jiggetts ’76, later a Chicago Bear, and former Eli quarterback Brian J. Dowling, a onetime Green Bay Packer, will join Steiner, according to the channel.

Despite forecasts of heavy rain tomorrow, Harvard officials said it is highly unlikely that Saturday’s tailgate will be cancelled.

“A little rain isn’t going to stop us from getting out on that field,” said Mather House Committee Co-Chair Andrew B. Artz ’07.

The National Weather Service has predicted between one and two inches of rain tomorrow, prompting concern that soggy fields could force tailgating festivities to be rained out. There is no rain, however, forecast for Saturday.

“This is the first time in institutional memory that we’ve had weather of this magnitude leading up to Harvard-Yale,” said Campus Life Fellow John T. Drake ’06.

“The only way that it would possibly be cancelled would be if the grass became so waterlogged that vehicles would cause irreparable damage to the field,” said Tessa C. Petrich ’07, chair of the College Events Board. “But there is no way that we are going to see any rain of that intensity.”

Drake said some aspects of the tailgate might have to be modified if there is heavy rain. For example, he said, Harvard might implement restrictions on vehicles driving on waterlogged fields.

In a change from past years, the College has banned undergraduates from bringing alcohol into the tailgate area. But student leaders said they are determined to have fun despite the restrictions and potential foul weather.

“If it’s absolutely pouring and the College cancels the tailgate, we will definitely be at The Game,” said Quincy House Committee Co-Chair Melissa M. Trahan ’07. “That’s what Saturday’s all about.”