A Touch of Garlic

You might be interested in my history as a swami. I began my career exactly eleven years ago this fall. My sister had a collection of buttons, all kinds of buttons--sewing, advertisements, and political. One day my sister let me pick any button I wanted. It was then the magic power first rushed to my hot little finger and I chose a red-white-and-blue Wilkie button. The die was cast, and Wendell never knew what hit him.

That fall I put a "Rockefeller for President" poster in my window, and after Nixon got the nod, I wore a huge (it's still my largest button) "Our Nation Needs Nixon-Lodge" button that pulled holes in my sweater. I fell asleep in front of the television on election night and went to Miss Gross's fifth grade class the next morning with tears in my eyes.

I steered clear of politics for several years after that traumatic experience. Not until the fall of '64 did I don another button and this time it read "Keep Keating". We had fierce debates in our ninth grade class, which according to a straw poll we won over to our side. Yes, I kept Keating, but it was what I kept him from--winning, that is. Of course, I also had a Johnson button, but somehow we all lost that one too.

Somewhere in between '64 and '68 I picked up a "Keep Chet Kowal" button. Kowal, our mayor, committed suicide shortly after a major scandal and shortly before the election. But being my pick, of course, the suicide attempt failed too.

From '68 I have a row of buttons on my bulletin board--McCarthy, Kennedy and Humphrey. In '69 I wore a "Carmichael" button and went house to house with the candidate individually meeting every voter in the congressional district. The incumbent never left Washington and stayed there in November with 66 per cent of the vote. The last button on my bulletin board says "Goodell".

Pass me a Columbia pin anyone?

Penn-Dartmouth. The Indians are for real; the Quakers aren't. There will be no Drexel Tech first game to make the Quakers look better. There will be no Astro-Turf to help Penn bounce back up. And worst of all, there will be no Lehigh or Brown players on the opposition bench.

Since the Big Green used to play all its Harvard and Yale games away from home, Ivy football weekends are a rarity. The young lassies will be in Hanover today and the Indians will want to impress them with their physical prowess. The fog rises slowly in the Hanover Valley this time of year, but when it does burn off in the afternoon the green scoreboard against the colored leaves of fall will read a beautiful, Dartmouth 35-7.

Princeton-Cornell: It's almost Columbus Day, and Ed. will be out to do justice for his ethnic following. Besides, Ed will be faced with a challenge from Princeton's Scandinavian Bjorklund. Not only the Ivy title and the Heismann trophy are at stake; it's a matter of historical pride.

Princeton and Cornell are two of the country's statistical leaders in total offense. Considering each other's defenses. It's likely they'll stay near the top. Marinaro will reach Steve Owen's all-time rushing record at Oklahoma sooner than you think. Cornell, 1492, Princeton, 1000.

Yale-Brown. Brown has two good running backs; Yale has one. Yale has 79 other players; Brown has none. Yale has now failed to go undefeated in its past four seasons, but it has never finished worse than second in the league. Brown can have consolation knowing that while last Saturday it may have been the fourth worst team on the doubleheader field, today it is only the second worst team in stadium. It's already proven it's the second best team in Rhode Island by losing its opening game. Maybe someday the home team will let the Brown band come and censor the football team from appearing. Bruin fans can always hope, but not today. Yale, 28-7.

Columbia-Harvard. Crimson fans are going to learn a sad moral today: there aren't going to be any easy victories. Several years ago you could count on three wins (Brown, Columbia and Penn.). This, however, is going to be a nail-biting season. Harvard has the potential to win every game, but it's going to have to struggle to protect three point leads and fight to prevent a quick two touchdown rally.

There has been a lot of talk about Don Jackson's passing, but the Columbia defense can not be overlooked. The Lions held Lafayette to three points and then stopped Rod Plummer, who passed for 350 yards the week before.

With a tight defense and Jackson's ability to hit for the sudden score, Harvard is going to need to develop the long-gain threat, i.e., its passing game. If it doesn't, it will wear itself out too soon. There are a lot of books missing from Widener. Someone must have taken out Joe Restic's playbook sometime this week. Harvard '17, Columbia 14.