Kicking back

To the Editors of The Crimson:

At the recently concluded Harvard-Yale football contest, there occurred an incident so repulsive to my sensibilities that I feel it simply must be brought to the attention of your readers.

Events transpired as follows: I, my roommate, his girlfriend, his father, and two (undergraduate) friends of ours were innocently seated in the really excellent temporary stands, enjoying our first-rate view of the sun, when Yale had the good fortune to score their first touchdown. Naturally this entailed a try for the extra point, which try was in fact successful. Indeed, so successful that the ball found its way into the stands (sect. 39, to be exact), whereupon it was playfully tossed a few rows further up, landing, eventually, in the hands of one of our party (a member of the class of 1980).

At this point, he made a fatal mistake, committing a crime which I for one think deserves, at the very least, instant castration. And what was this horrible, perverted act? Why, he sat there and held, (yes, he actually held) the ball, even seeming to suggest that he might wish to keep it for a minute or two. Ghastly, isn't it? How can this kind of thing go on?

Fortunately for the free world, the forces of right and good charged up into the stands, in the persons of two (or three) Harvard students football managers, followed by two of the most intelligent members, I'm sure, of the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD). The negotiations that followed (for the ball) were certainly most Kissingeresque. This is what happened: Harvard manger #1, without word or warning, began kicking vigorously at the ball, which action, since my friend was sitting with the ball near his lap, was almost successful in bringing about the very punishment which I mentioned above.

The ball fell below the stands, and Harvard manager #2 arrived, and he, not to be outdone, yanked my friend to his feet, and in general acted in a most impressive fashion. Two members of the fuzz appeared on the scene at this point, and, I must say, hey sized up the situation with a brilliance far beyond the call of duly. They grabbed my friend roughly, unhampered for the moment by the Constitution, and escorted him forcefully outside the stadium.

Now, I realize that football is the most important thing in the world (just like in high school, what fun!), but are these actions really justified? Of course not. There is not them. Is this the kind of character football builds? I'm so glad I could be there to see it.

I don't think that anyone should have to pay $4 for a seat and take treatment like this from fellow Harvard students and our own Harvard police. The simple procedure of asking before kicking has a good deal to recommend it.

All rhetoric aside, this incident is abominable. And it really did happen just as I've described it. I'm not kidding. C. Hylen Smurr '79   Lowell House