Headached and frostbitten, Harvard students are still trying to figure out what went wrong. Another year of heightened party restrictions and generally pitiful party behavior in Cambridge proves once again that even though Harvard outscored Yale in The Game, Yale still scores more in general. Harvard kids managed to screw up their own pep rally by getting too rambunctious during a Girl Talk concert. To boot, Crimeds botched the 40-year-old Crimson-YDN pigskin challenge by failing to show up to the game. They even refused to open the doors of 14 Plympton St to let the Elis in for a drink.
The Crimson Crazies can blame the Boston Police Department for cutting this year's tailgate short, but the Girl Talk incident is unforgivably the fault of the fun-starved students who organized it. (Really, putting Greg Gillis on a flimsy stage with a PA system is like putting a hungry tiger in a preschool playground.) Meanwhile, the hope that ever-tightening restrictions in Boston and Cambridge might pull the focus back to the football also turns out to be a bit bogus. From the looks of it, there are just as many police officers on the field as gridiron giants. For all the buzz and hullaballoo, this year's 125th anniversary of The Game succeeds, yet again, in stirring more nostalgia than cocktails.
Check out some pictures from the festivities along with B-list celebrity gossip after the jump.
First we brought you uncomfortably high-resolution images of the two MIT guys who streaked the Yale-Harvard game last weekend. Now, via Deadspin, here's the video. Don't say we never did anything for you.
We were dreading having to write a sleepy, dead-on-arrival item about The Game: Yale won, Harvard lost, a streak ended, yadda yadda yadda. Thank God, then, that MIT -- The Game's frequent disruptor -- gave us an angle on this yawn-fest. And as usual, that angle is nudity.
Streakers! God bless 'em. Late in the fourth quarter, the letters of his school writ large across his back, one brave MIT stallion wove around policemen, stadium security, and indifferent football players before being brought down near the Yale 40 yard line. His partner, perhaps imitating the Crimson offense, was brought down before he got going, cuffed near the edge of the field. If that guy's smug grin is any sign, he's getting a hero's welcome back home. Maybe he'll even get a new pair of socks.
When we said kids aren't taking Harvard-Yale seriously this year, we hadn't seen these guys. A Yale rap crew called 108 Tongues just released its third annual edition of the call-to-arms anthem, "Fuck Harvard." The song (and its previousversions) gives the Crimson-Bulldog rivalry a Bloods-Crips overlay: "With thousands of pounds I got a mack 10/ Attackin from the front and the sides/ With rims on my ride/ Riding up to Cambridge commitin homicide." Subtle it is not, but times like this don't call for subtlety. They call for gats.
We expect some sort of response from Harvard, even if it's just a Snoop-like call for peace. Either way, good to see the Yale hip-hop tradition that spawned "BK2Nite" is alive and well.
Every year at The Game, there's always The Jackass who takes The Pregame so seriously, he never makes it to, let alone remembers, The Game itself.
This year, it looks like some students are skipping The Game again, only this time it's deliberate. Now that Yale won't be subsidizing the $60 round-trip bus ride to Cambridge, and Harvard won't be tacitly condoning reckless inebriation, Elis are trying to get psyched about this weekend's match against Princeton instead. Not one of The eight tailgate spaces set aside for Yale at The Harvard-Yale game has been taken, according to The Crimson. All this predicts a lackluster game -- at this point, The team may not even bother to show.
But wait, there's hope! Some Yalies are fighting The Harvard-Yale bureaucracy with the best weapon available: wealth. A tipster in New Haven tells us "at least one group of seniors has hired a 15-person limo to ferry it north in style. A competitive price and the ability to pack open containers of alcohol were both cited as enticements." Clever way to stick it to The athletic department brass? Sure. The reason people hate Ivy Leaguers? Absolutely.
Panicked word has reached our ears that this year's Harvard-Yale game will be ... dry! Or something nightmarishly close to it!
University officials announced tonight a set of crackdowns intended to avoid a repeat of 2004's kick-ass tailgate; among the restrictions are a ban on carrying in liquids of any kind (they know it's a tailgate, right, not a transatlantic flight?) and drinking accessories of any kind. But officer, the funnel is for our asthma!
Beer, spiked hot chocolate and possibly wine will be sold for $1 to anyone with two IDs -- and word is that they will actually be checking them. Here's the rules (thanks, Crimson; emphasis ours), each one more fiendish than the last:
Student tailgates will be located in Ohiri Field and will open three hours prior to the start of the game. All student tailgates will be closed after half-time. This will be enforced: all students will be encouraged to attend the game. We encourage students to pick up their free tickets at the Athletics Department well in advance of the game date.
For safety reasons, no one will be allowed on top of trucks or other vehicles.
Access to the authorized student tailgate area in Ohiri Field will be limited to individuals with a valid Harvard or Yale ID. (Harvard Alumni may purchase tickets from Harvard Box Office and either Bright or Lavieties in Athletics--TBA)
All forms of alcohol are prohibited from being brought in to the student tailgating area. Drinking paraphernalia, items that promote rapid consumption of alcohol, and drinking games are prohibited. No one entering the student tailgate area will be allowed to bring in any beverages of any kind. No one may leave the student tailgate area with an alcoholic beverage. HUPD will enforce these regulations. Vehicles entering the tailgate area the night before, and the morning of, the tailgate will be inspected. (All vehicles will have been issued an official pass to enter the area.)
Beer, spiked hot chocolate (and perhaps wine) will be available for purchase by those of legal drinking age. Professional Bartending, Inc. has been contracted to set up four stations (corresponding to our Harvard neighborhoods) where students may purchase drinks for $1.00. There will be fifteen professional bartending staff working at three stations to help avoid lines. BAT team employees will have stations where students of legal drinking age may obtain bracelets enabling them to purchase alcoholic drinks. Students must show a College I.D. and either a driver's license or a passport.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages, including hot chocolate, will be provided free-of-charge for all Harvard and Yale students on a continuous basis during the student tailgating hours.
Visibly intoxicated individuals will not be admitted to the student tailgate area. Unruly behavior and public urination do not meet our community standards and will not be tolerated in the student tailgate area.