Go Fish, Pranksters!

Rumor has it that the Harvard’s men’s crew teams tried to make fish tanks out of the women’s boathouse showers on two consecutive nights last week. The heavyweights’ attempt apparently resulted in the deaths of over 100 goldfish, while the lightweights’—which used plastic bags to contain the fish—preserved some of them until morning.

The two events mark a surge in prank wars between the Harvard and Radcliffe teams that date back to 1972. But in the past year, these pranks have been getting fishier—literally.

In October 2004, members of the men’s varsity lightweight crew team reportedly snuck through a second story window of the Weld Boat House with 20 dead mackerel and a five-foot eel.

“The place stunk to high hell,” says Mark A. Adomanis ’07, coxswain for the men’s lightweight team and also a Crimson editor.

Despite the maritime trend, lightweight rower Alex M. Phillips ’06 says he and his teammates are willing to be flexible.

“The idea is to make sure the retaliation is so bad that [the Radcliffe team] never tries to pull a prank on us again,” Phillips says.

Phillips may resort to a plan which entails skinning 10 goats, hanging them from the rafters of the Weld boathouse, lighting the room with a disco-ball, and playing the theme from “Silence of the Lambs.”

At least there won’t be a fish smell.