The Friday afternoon rivalries

More than 70,000 people will crowd into the Yale Bowl Saturday for The Game, but for hundreds of Harvard and Yale undergraduates the weekend's big event will already be over. Friday afternoon on intramural fields all over New Haven. Harvard House teams and Yale College squads will square off in six sports.

As many as 30 different Harvard-Yale confrontations will form the intercollegiate icing on this fall's intramural cake. Winners and runners-up in each college's intramural competitions in tackle, touch and co-ed touch football, men's and women's soccer, and cross-country fight for their respective schools.

"The Great Harvard-Yale confrontation," as it is referred to in the official program, dates back more than half a century. Before the founding of the House and College systems, intramural competition at both schools was between classes. The winning class would represent its school in the annual Harvard-Yale showdown.

As the contests evolved, competition expanded to cover each athletic season. But when the academic calendars of the two colleges became different, it became impossible for the winter and spring competition to take place. For example, Harvard does not begin its intramural crew season until Yale students have finished classes and gone home for the summer.

Now only the fall confrontations remain, and the pressure of facing the archrivals comes to bear during a single day in mid-November.

"We are fighting for the name of Harvard." Winthrop House Tackle Football Captain Tim Bechtold says. "We are a little apprehensive when we go out there, since we don't know the quality of the other school's teams." Last year the apprehension didn't hurt Bechtold's squad too much, as Winthrop captured the tackle football title.

In fact, Harvard dominated last year's contests. The Crimson swept all five tackle football games, and won the championship in each sport, taking 18 of 29 games overall. The closest competition came in men's soccer, where three matches ended in ties and two went into overtime.

The host team usually wins the majority of the games because it can field more players. "Players must-provide their own transportation to the games, and the level of participation is dictated by the level of interest in the year's The Game," Harvard Intramural Athletic Director Floyd Wilson explains. This year's 100th anniversary of The Game means that there is an unusually high number of students participating in intramurals, he adds.

The Game adds to the drama of the intramural games by drawing interested fans as well. "There is a party atmosphere," Bechtold says. "It is really nice because you can see all these games happening at once on all these fields, and there are big crowds which you don't get in a regular intramural game."

Not only does the host team get a partisan crowd, it also gets to set the rules. Last year the Winthrop women's soccer team chose to play on a field hockey field, with only six players a side. Yale's Silliman College squad took the game more seriously, and the Eli captain objected that the rules were ridiculous.

"We wanted to show them that the game was supposed to be for fun, so we got together and decided to score like pigs," says Landya Boyer, this year's Winthrop captain. "We all went out there and grunted throughout the game. We had no skill, but lots of spirit, and they lightened up too. It was one of the most fun games I ever played in," Boyer added.

Winthrop won the game, 2-0. This year, the Winthrop squad is well-equipped, with shirts picturing their new pig muscot and reminding Winthrop players to "Score like pigs."