Savior-Faire

October 15, 1976

Dear Mom,

As I'm sure you know, this is the first letter that I've written to you in over two years, but that's because I've never been as incensed over an issue as I am now.

This afternoon, you see, is the Harvard-Dartmouth football game, which most experts tend to classify as the Durfee-Coyle Cassidy of the Ivies, the Harvard-Yale of October.

Unfortunately, though, the meaning of this game would be lost on me if it wasn't for the fact that I subscribe to the Dartmouth newspaper, because here in Cambridge, nobody seems to care.

All week, I've studiously read The Crimson, but all that I've been able to discover are the scores of some stupid field hockey and tennis matches. Nothing whatsoever on the football game.

When I turn to the Dartmouth newspaper, on the other hand, I see that the town of Hanover, perhaps the entire state of New Hampshire, is going berserk in preparation for this game. Fires on Wednesday night, pre-game rallies on Friday, and some students even took the trouble to come all the way down to Cambridge to paint John Harvard green. How neat, how mean.

Around here, nobody does a thing. For all I know, the football team is playing an exhibition against SMU today. And the only time that Kubacki is mentioned it keeps coming out Kabuki, as in Japanese theatre.

I'll give you an example. Last night at Dartmouth they had a bonfire. Last night at Cambridge they went to Joe's Pizza. And the worst thing was, the pepperonis were stale.

Six grand for stale pepperonis. Six grand to be miserable. Six grand to let the Dartmouths have all the fun. Why, if I didn't go to Out of Town every day, I'd think that Chris Chambliss was a butterfly.

But anyway, I know that you don't like football, and you're probably bored to tears by now, so I'll tell you the things that you want to hear.

Yes, I'm studying hard, my roommates are fine (Steve says hello), and I'm dressing properly. But I still don't have a winter coat.

Well, that's about it. Maybe we'll get together before Thanksgiving, maybe not. How about the weekend of November 13th? I thought for sure that that was the Harvard-Yale weekend, but no one has said anything about it, and besides, I have three hourlies scheduled for that week. Now I know that Harvard is backwards about many things, but they wouldn't schedule midterms on the week before The Game, would they? Give my best to Aunt Lil.   Love,

* * * * *

P.S. No, I didn't forget Dad, so here are my predictions:

BROWN at CORNELL: Barring a hurricane, it's Brown in a blitz. Brown 30, Cornell 13.

COLUMBIA at YALE: Yale's four-game home stand comes to a close today; the Elis won the first three, didn't they? Yale 22, Columbia 15.

COLGATE AT PRINCETON: Does anybody really care who wins this game? A real dead heat, and the temptation is to pick a tie, but that's not good for the percentage. Besides, Colgate is currently undefeated, and there's no way that will last much longer. Princeton 4, Colgate 3 (in extra innings).

PENN at LAFAYETTE: Another snoozer. When drowsy, go with the Ivies. Penn 16, Lafayette 11.

HARVARD at DARTMOUTH: There's absolutely no way in the world that there won't be a winner. And it's going to be the Crimson. Harvard 36, Dartmouth 9.

Last week: two right, two rong (.500)

Season: 17 right, four wrong (.810)