Great moments in the history of The Game

From strangled bulldogs to exploding rockets, the history of the oldest intercollegiate rivalry in American history is fraught with bizarre and amazing stories both on and off the field. From the first Crimson 4-0 victory in 1875 to beloved cries of Yuck Fale in recent years, FM presents the top 10 moments in the history of The Game:

10) The Game wasnt always called The Game. But in 1898 former Crimson captain A. F. Holden, Class of 1888, wrote in a letter to coach Cam Forbes that the Yale-Harvard game is the game of the season..

9) After only 16 years, The Game became so popular that fans began creating counterfeit tickets for the first time. It must have been the Yalies.

8) In 1915, the Bulldogs cried for mercy as the Crimson achieved its largest margin of victory: a 41-0 win at home in Cambridge.

7) In the days when his DHAs were a few sizes smaller, Senator Edward M. Kennedy 54-56 (D-Mass.) caught a touchdown pass in the 1955 Game. Despite Teddys athletic prowess, the Crimson fell to Yale in a 21-7 defeat.

6) Moving from pawns to players, Harvard chess expert Lorin F. Deland dreamt up that famous football play, The Flying Wedge. Picture the Mighty Ducks flying V. But instead of quacking hockey players it was snarling Puritans.The 1892 Game was the first and only time the play ever appeared on the field; it was banned the following year because of its brutality.

5) The two teams were reminded of their own fragile mortality in the 1894 Game, when seven players, in what was described as dying condition, had to be removed from the field. The Game was so brutal that Harvard and Yale suspended all contact with each other for two years.

4) A rocket buried under the zero yard line by M.I.T. pranksters in 1990 exploded over the goalpost, suspending a banner with M.I.T. written on both sides. Yale was about to try for a field goal, which luckily sailed wide due to the M.I.T. intervention.

3) Following a Harvard touchdown in the second quarter of the 1982 Game, a enormous black weather balloon with M.I.T. emblazoned on its side rose from the field and exploded over the 45 yard line. The Crimson went on to a 45-7 victory over Yale.

2) Before he was hunting fugitives, Tommy Lee Jones 69 was an All-Ivy offensive tackle for the Crimson. He played in the legendary 1968 Game, when in the final 42 seconds Harvard scored an amazing 16 points to come back and tie Yale. Although the Elis had been confident of victory, the final points were scored during a two-point conversion with no time left on the clock. The next day, The Crimson famously headlined its article: Harvard Beat Yale 29-29.

1) The Crimson won the 1908 Game 4-0, in no small part due to the inspirational actions of Coach Percy Haughton before The Game in the locker room. According to the legend, Coach Haughton strangled a live bulldog to death with his bare hands, and then tossed its dead carcass at the feet of his players in order to get them properly motivated for The Game.