Familiarity Without Contempt

Steve Loughran, co-captain of Princeton's men's squash team diddled all alone with the squash ball on court one at Hemenway last night, waiting for the rest of his team to arrive from their accommodations at the Howard Johnson's in Newton.

"I'd love to beat Harvard going out," the senior took a break to say. "I think it'd be great. There's no one we'd rather beat than Harvard there's no one we'd rather play."

Ineffective

The feeling has to be mutual, Loughran and his teammates bring a 7-0 record into the bowels of Hemenway against the 3-0 Crimson at 2:00 this afternoon. On the line is a national championship. No other squash team in the country has emerged as a serious challenger to the two titans, and chances are that the winner of this one will look back on the match at the end of the season as the one that sealed a titular season.

There are a few thoroughly "Harvard" things to do. The Hasty Pudding Show is one. The Yale game is another. Princeton-Harvard squash is yet another and perhaps the one most consistently worthy of its reputation.

Part of the making of a classic is high stakes. Part is tradition. Part, and in this case the primary part, has to be the familiarity of an anticipated annual rendezvous and the pride of being locked with a worthy opponent into something bigger than either of you.

"I love this match so much," said Dave Fish, watching from the stands as Loughran casually ran through his down-the-lines, three-walls, and cross-courts. "It's great to play a match that gets everyone out. The excitement is so great, the proximity is so great, the level of intensity so strong." He gestured toward the courts to back up his point. "These guys are gladiators. They're down in the pits and there's nothing so intimidating as looking up during the warm-up and seeing that mass of people."

Replacement

Princeton's Jadwin Gym hosted the contest last year and the Tigers won 6-3. Hemenway hosted two years ago and Harvard won 5-4. Just how much does the home-court advantage mean? Tough question.

Technically it means a lot. Princeton's courts play cold and fast while Harvard's play hot and slow, and at either location the visiting team faces the choice of adaptation or death. Squash Darwinism, you might call it.

But psychologically the home court may be a monkey on the host's back. For one, everyone on campus knows you've got the advantage. Your friends know and expect you to win. Your opponent knows and plays with reckless abandon. The door into a squash court may be small and camouflaged, but it's not like you can put on the other team's colors and sneak your familiarity with the courts in through it. There's a lot of pressure playing at home and it makes risks--you've got to take risks to win in squash--more dangerous.

Respect between the Tigers and the Crimson runs deep; after every plus and minus is balanced out, after intrigue about individual matches is thrown to the wind, the base question remains who is going to win, and if you look to the coaches for answers you're not going to get much.

Says Fish, "The guys have prepared themselves well." Says first-year Princeton coach Bob Callahan, "We're progressing well, the guys are excited; everything's just right."

For something committal, look to a player. "It'll be an interesting match," Harvard co-captain Mitch Reese said following a short workout yesterday afternoon, "and we're going to win it...I think."