Losing, in Three Parts (continued)

Crimson FM Chair Mark J. Chiusano offers the fan's perspective on last Saturday's loss to Princeton.

III.

When the game is over they get a ladder over to the far hoop so that Princeton can cut the net. First they lower the hoop from behind to attach an Ivy League Banner to the top. You’d think they’d cut the net there where it’s easy, but they raise it back up again and put the orange ladder underneath. Someone says, from behind me, “I’m not staying to watch them cut the fucking thing.” I find myself guilty to be thinking if my pose looks snapshot-worthy of the fan in defeat.

Coming out of the gym an event organizer shouts that an opening door is not in use, but no one pays attention to her and the crowd funnels out into the open. The buses are parked immediately outside and everyone Harvard jumps on quick. The gym from behind has scaffolding going up to the top.

I am staying the night in New Haven and I begin to follow my friend’s directions to his apartment. I walk through the medieval structures that could be churches even though they are labeled Law School. I was only vaguely paying attention to my friend, before the game, when he described the way to his place, and I realize that I will have to call him to help direct. First I sit on the stone outside the library, it is one of those early spring pre-evenings that remind you of the end of August. Everyone else is on the buses heading back to Cambridge, and no one else is outside. I wonder why I feel so devastatingly unhappy. The grass is very short on the long lawn. Someone comes out of the stone library and trips on the top step. I take my phone out of my pocket to ask my friend to tell me the way.