LADIES LOVE OBSCURE RIVALRIES: HARVARD v. YALE - AKA - THE GAME

by Dan Tella, draspate@indiana.edu

As the NCAA tourney is winding down, and 9 out of 10 people can’t name a single player on any of the remaining teams, I've decided to explore a classic rivalry that often gets overshadowed in the wake of these "flavors of the moment." Back in the day when my grandma still looked smoking in her swimwear, there weren't George Masons to steal ink from these two classic powerhouses. These schools were the ink and the everything. The mind and the body.

In my humble opinion, the Ivy League is the womb from which all modern collegiate rivalries were born. There's a surplus of great rivalries in the Ivy League, and even more TI-83s, but today I focus on unquestionably the greatest of them all, the Adam and Eve, the Yin and the Yang, the Cream and the Clear, the eternal mother of American sports rivalries: Harvard v. Yale.

It starts with a name

It's nothing new for a rivalry to wield a catchy and marketable nickname. The Red River Rivalry, The Iron Bowl, and The Old Oaken Bucket game, to name a few. “The Game.� How cool is that? No modifiers. No fluff. It is a cold simplicity that would unsettle a man of a lower IQ. But not these Ivy League boys. Sports Illustrated On Campus might want to think again about ranking this rivalry 6^th all-time because no other rivalry in college sports can match Harvard v. Yale's illustrious history.

The History

After years of battle, where do these two teams stand? As of 2005, Yale leads the rivalry 64-50-8. These arch rivals first met on November 13, 1875 at Hamilton Field in New Haven; Harvard pulled away at the end of this thrilling shootout to win 4-0.

"The Game" was first played under rules resembling modern rugby. Can we stop and think outside-the-box for a second. How can Sports Illustrated rate this rivalry only sixth best all time when the rivalry outdates the f*cking sport? Come on, in 1894 newspapers reported seven players were carried off the field "in dying condition.� Football is war, or war is football, but however you want to swing it, the boys from New Haven and the boys from Cambridge sure knew how to lay each other up. In fact, the game was so gruesome that the two schools broke off all official contact for two entire years.

After resuming the rivalry in 1897, these braniacs have played every year except during both World Wars due to players serving their country. Hear that hippies? That’s called patriotism. This rivalry has lost no intensity in modern day. In 2005, Harvard trailed 21-3 at half before roaring back and tying the game at 24. Three overtimes later, Harvard won 30-24.

The Catch

One of the greatest moments in the history of Harvard Football came in 1968 and is dubbed simply, "The Catch." Trailing 29-13 with just over two minutes left in "The Game," Harvard put together one of the most memorable drives in college football history. As the clock ran out, Harvard quarterback Frank Champi connected with tight end Pete Varney for a two-point conversion that tied the game 29-29. The next day, the Harvard Crimson's headline read "Harvard wins 29-29."

The Fans

Nobody dies harder for this rivalry than alumni and students. The rivalry extends off the field, into the classroom, and into all the highest pockets of wealth this country has ever seen. Mark my words, there are PhDs who work side by side in a lab somewhere who may together go on to someday cure AIDS (because that's what these Ivy League boys are capable of), but who despise the crap out of each other because of their disparate origins.

The Prank

Not only are Yale and Harvard constantly battling for recognition as the most prestigious university in the world they are only separated by a few hours, which opens the door for some interesting pranks, including in 2004, what we at Rivalfish consider to be one of the best college rivalry pranks of all time. Nice job Yale. Watch the video footage from this amazing prank. It takes an impressive SAT score to pull off a coup of this caliber. We at Rivalfish are awaiting Harvard's friendly retaliation, though the 35-3 romping of Yale that day certainly helped.

The Finish

Since the Ivy League doesn't have a football post-season, “The Game� takes on an even greater meeting. Each and every year, "The Game" is the very last game of both teams' seasons. You could go undefeated, your quarterback could throw for 50,000 yards, your running back could score 200 touchdowns. But if you lose that last game, that final epic battle of us vs. them, you have failed.

The Influence

The schools that became the Ivy League are credited for the development of American Football in the late 19^th century. They developed football’s rules, conventions, and equipment, and even elements such as the mascot and the fight song. Can you even imagine the world of college rivalries without football, fight songs, or mascots? Yale's Walter Camp is widely accepted as the father of American football. I honestly believe that if Harvard and Yale jointly declared "Let there be light," there'd be light.