From the Sidelines: For seniors, fourth time is a charm

By Matthew Goldenberg

JULIA TIERNAN/YH

I didn't come to Yale for the football. Sure, as an avid football fan, I'd heard of Calvin Hill, PC '69, and Carm Cozza. I think I'd even read something about Walter Camp, Class of 1880. But as a native of the football-crazed state of Alabama, I wasn't exactly captivated by Division I-AA football in New England. I didn't really care that Princeton and Yale had played 116 times. From my perspective, "The Game" had nothing to do with the Crimson and everything to do with the Crimson Tide. But I've learned a lot in my four years in New Haven, not the least of which is to appreciate Ivy League--and especially Yale--football.

It hasn't been easy. My first three years here were some of the darkest in the school's storied gridiron history. Prior to this season, the football team owned a 6-24 record (not counting the 1997 forfeit by Pennsylvania) since we seniors moved onto campus in 1995. The last time Yale had won at the Bowl was my sophomore year against Bucknell. It had been even longer since we had won an Ivy game. Until this year, I had never witnessed a Bulldog win over Columbia or Cornell or Harvard. But in spite of this lack of success, I became a die-hard Yale football fan.

Why? Well, fandom is a tough phenomenon to explain, and I won't try here. I do know that growing up, I viewed football as a big part of the college experience. I always figured that my Saturday afternoons in the fall would be spent at one stadium or another. So when I began college, even though I ended up at Yale and not at Auburn or Florida or Tennessee, I started going to games. And though my team was usually on the wrong side of the final score, the level of football that I witnessed didn't disappoint.

Ivy League football is college football at its finest. Yeah, I know Ivy teams probably wouldn't win all that many games against Top 25 competition. Nebraska, even during its worst year, would show Cornell what it truly means to be Big Red. Penn State would undoubtedly make all those insecure Pennsylvania students (clad in their "We're not Penn State" sweatshirts) wish they called Happy Valley home.

Though not quite at the level of top-notch scholarship schools, Ivy League football still provides high quality, hard-nosed, competitive action. There are quarterbacks like Joe Walland, TD '00, and Brown's James Perry '00 who can run a two-minute drill of which Dan Marino would be proud. There are running backs like Rashad Bartholomew, SY '01, and Pennsylvania's Jim Finn '99 who can break through defensive lines like Texas's Ricky Williams '99. Well, almost. There are defensive backs like Ben Blake, PC '00, who can deliver crushing hits. Just ask Harvard's Rich Linden '00. As anyone who was at the Yale-Brown or Yale-Princeton games this year can attest, Ivy football provides every bit as much excitement value as any other league in the country.

But what ultimately makes the Ivy League better than the SEC and the Big 10 is that it recognizes the importance of both words in the phrase "college football." At Ivy institutions, football is an extracurricular activity (albeit a highly demanding one). I take pride in the fact that I go to a school where football players are not mercenaries. Here at Yale, linebackers like Pete Mazza, JE '01, and Scott Benton, MC '99, have to take classes other than golf and sex ed to remain academically eligible.

In this age of not-so-amateur college athletics, it's nice that the worst taunts heard chanted at Ivy League games are "Safety School" and "School on Monday," not "Free Shoes U." Ivy League football is college football as it should be. There is, however, one glaring exception.

The major problem with this conference is not what's on the field but rather what's in the stands. Make that what's not in the stands. Low attendance plagues the Ivy League, and the football experience suffers as a result. Part of the fun of college football is the crowd, the pageantry, the deafening roar as a team exits the tunnel, even the wave. As a Yale fan, I haven't been able to enjoy these things because I have often been one of very few students at a game. Hopefully next year, as the team is beating Pennsylvania and Dartmouth en route to a league title, Yalies will take a break from their problem sets and tailgating to find their way into the stadium, as they did for games against Princeton and Harvard this year. Unfortunately, I won't be around to see it.

Provided that my senior essay gets finished, I have seen my last Yale football game as an undergraduate. And what a way to go out. After years of anguish, this season has provided the Class of 1999--football players and spectators alike--with many fond memories. The last two weekends were especially great. Beating Princeton in exhilarating fashion. Beating Harvard in any fashion, however ugly. The Game was a storybook ending to this senior's Yale football career. Yes, Sat., Nov. 21, 1998 is a day I'll never forget. And that's not because Alabama beat Auburn.

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