Agree on the Harvard band’s classy performance - in contrast to the Harvard coach, down 24-3 in the final minute, using his timeouts to postpone the inevitable and prevent Yale from kneeling it out. What was that about?
We watched on TV. Usually we DVR to skip commercials, but since DS was at the game, didn’t want spoilers. I don’t know how Jaguar thinks it’s getting value for money by airing the same commercial at least a dozen times, but what do I know?
We loved watching the game, from the HAVRARD sign to the fans running onto the field. And yes, what did the coach think the viewers/crowd/players would think of his TOs towards the end? It was time to run the clock and let some less-played seniors get their memories of having been on the field. I don’t watch football any more, college or pro, but thoroughly enjoyed the game, and might watch it again next year, just . . . because.
Did see quite a few “clean” uni’s on the Blue side of the line of scrimmage in the 4th Q, not so much on the Crimson.
We went and enjoyed the game and much of the atmosphere, but were fairly disgusted by the amount of trash left behind. An empty lot behind the armory had garbage thick on the ground. We stayed for the basketball game on Sunday. We had to walk halfway around the gym to our parking spot. Our 14-year-old daughter wondered aloud if she could find 10 solo cups on the ground before we got to our car. She quit counting when she got to 100.
@Community2605 that’s disgusting! My personal pet peeve. It’s doesn’t bode well in dispelling the stereotype of Yalies as being indulged kids either. Hate to see what some of these kid’s suites look like…
Re: Harvard coach delaying the end of the game - my family was also wondering why they kept calling time outs, when another Yalie in the stands commented that it’s not uncommon as he was most likely getting all his seniors in to the game so they all could earn their varsity letter, even if the didn’t really ‘play’. Apparently you don’t earn your letter if you don’t have playing time in one of the core games. I don’t know the rules, but I hope that was the case cause it’ll make it far more admirable than jerky.
I agree that the amount of trash on the field by the Armory after the game was shocking. It looked like a lot of people simply left their tailgate trash on the ground and I assume that includes fans of both schools. Very enjoyable game though!
This was actually one of the things that prevented me from going this year. We just got new tires on the car and last year we saw someone that drove over a broken bottle and was dealing with a flat. It was like weaving through a maze. The worst was over by where a frat had their tailgate set up. It was just piles and piles of trash,broken things left behind and the lot smelled of urine. Nasty.
Next year, it will be Fenway Park’s problem, apparently: https://www.mlb.com/redsox/tickets/events/the-game
The “Game of Thrones”-style music on the video is pretty funny - I liked the Handsome Dan spirit video better.
This will be great fun! now have another excuse to visit son and in Boston too!
I wonder why it is at Fenway Park? The article in the Crimson said that all of the other season games will be at the Harvard stadium, so they are not renovating.
Fenway’s hosted a number of college football games in the last few years (including Brown-Dartmouth this fall). I’ll bet this is a moneymaker for everyone. I have to say I’m amused that Harvard Stadium is actually older than Fenway, which I thought was older than dirt.
I don’t know how great the view’s going to be from the top of the Green Monster, though, which seems from the picture to be set back from the 50-yard line. Some kind and wealthy soul needs to reserve a College Confidential suite…
I was at the Game. Great time since the last time Yale had a series of winning seasons was during my tenure, 78-82. Now there will be one there for my D to commemorate her senior year. Medal detectors were a pain and unexpected. Trash was everywhere. Nothing but a bunch of slobs. Harvard timeouts at the end were crazy, considering the wind was kicking up, it was getting dark and starting to rain. But it was worth it. Also, i also noticed how classy the Harvard band was as they continued playing after the Game was over. Class of 2018 is the first class to have to Yale wins under their belt in many years!! Boola Boola!!
Fist sign of impending graduation - Commencement information card arrived in the mail!!! It’s getting real! =D>
We missed the first quarter. The lines were incredibly long before the metal detectors. Trapped in the parking lot for more than two hours afterwards. The Game was great though. Looking forward to Fenway Park next year.
My guess is that they are hosting it there because they are better suited to handle the metal detector and security. Although there have been high security students before, considering the current climate there may be greater need for tighter security. There is a fine line between keeping her safe at events she should enjoy attending and ruining the experience for everyone else.
Harvard’s stadium is always completely sold out for The Game–I assume Fenway is bigger.
Fenway seats a little over 37k, while Harvard Stadium seats a little over 30k. That said, the Fenway layout is awkward for football. From what I can tell, at the Brown-Dartmouth game last month, the teams were on the same sideline, below the Green Monster, and a lot of the seats didn’t look like they had much of a view, particularly if you were a Dartmouth fan (see here: http://m.mlb.com/assets/images/9/4/2/229847942/cuts/960x540_ycf_gridiron_1110_seat_map_srdarr6f_zwtw1bma.png). I’m going to guess that Yale fans, effectively supporting the visiting team, may find themselves similarly hosed.
The last time we went to The Game at Harvard, we were also hosed–seated in the very top behind columns that blocked much of the view. Maybe there will just be 7000 more hosed people.
Amusing letter to the editor in today’s Harvard Crimson discussing this issue:
[QUOTE]
To the Editor:
Now that the 2017 Harvard football campaign has thankfully come to a conclusion, my initial letter was to have been one of strong condemnation towards Harvard’s experimentation with the player’s uniforms this year. Hideous color combinations of black shirts, red pants, and helmets the color of faded cranberry were to have been my targets, but my disgust at this season’s on-the-field haberdasher eyesore has been reduced to a mere grievance when learning that the 135th playing of The Game had been re-located to Fenway Park.
Whether actual renovation or just architectural studies will take place at the Stadium in 2017 and 2018 is immaterial. The storied Yale Bowl is always under construction, yet it somehow never misses a beat to host when it’s Yale’s year to do so. Perhaps this travesty was cooked up by the marketing teams of both the Red Sox and Harvard well in advance, with the result of an anticipated sold-out crowd at Fenway not the only sell-out that will occur. Brushed aside will be history and tradition—but more to the point, that which the playing of this game means to so many.
The 2018 Harvard-Yale game was to have been accompanied by a monumental celebration of the 50th anniversary of what might be the greatest gridiron comeback in collegiate athletics: Those 42 magical seconds at the Stadium when Harvard rebounded from a 16-point deficit to beat Yale, 29-29. Alumni, family, and friends on both sides have been planning for several years to reconvene to relive that incredible turn of events.
Let’s hope that the planning of The Game in 2019 will find Yale resisting any need to counter Harvard’s misstep. Can you imagine playing at Yankee Stadium? Personally, I’m busy re-writing some of the lyrics to our famous football fight songs to coincide with next year’s visit to Kenmore Square. So far I’ve got “Fight Fiercely Fenway,” “Fenwaydiana,” and “Fair Fenway.” But for today, I can’t help singing, “Ten Thousand Men of Harvard Scream Blasphemy Today.”
Marc G. McHugh is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School.