The Only Game That Matters: The Harvard / Yale Rivalry - Hardcover

Corbett, Bernard M.; Simpson, Paul

 
9781400050680: The Only Game That Matters: The Harvard / Yale Rivalry
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 1400050685 ISBN 13: 9781400050680
Verlag: Crown Pub, 2004

Inhaltsangabe

An entertaining account of the Harvard/Yale football rivalry traces the history of this annual November contest from 1875 to the present day, following the 2002 season as seen through the eyes of players, coaches, and fans, combined with stories of classic match-ups from the past. 20,000 first printing.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Bernard M. Corbett is a sports broadcaster, writer, and researcher and has been the play-by-play announcer for Harvard University football for seven years. He is the author of several books, including The Beanpot: Fifty Years of Thrills, Spills and Chills and Harvard Football. He lives in Stoneham, Massachusetts.

Paul Simpson is a writer and researcher and has written articles for the Boston Globe and Hockey magazine. He lives in Wakefield, Massachusetts.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Chapter 11

The Tie That Binds

THE COLD STING OF a brisk New England morning slapped Neil Rose in the face as he exited Dillon Field House. His breath caught a little as the icy air numbed his lungs. He had no doubt that the crisp football field would be near empty save for himself, fellow Harvard quarterback sophomore Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Todd LaFountaine, a freshman quarterback who'd followed Rose from Honolulu to Harvard. Even after four years in Cambridge, Rose still wasn't used to these hellish winters. The native Hawaiian sure wouldn't miss the weather when he returned to Oahu after graduation.

As cold as it was, Rose had no intention of changing the pregame ritual that had brought him so much success on the gridiron. He wore only mesh crimson shorts and a white T-shirt, and when he reached the field he kicked off his socks and shoes. Growing up in Hawaii, the kids always played football in the schoolyard barefoot. Rose needed to feel the grass and dirt with his bare feet, even if it crackled and crunched underfoot.

As far as football went, this was it for Rose. The 6'2¾, 220-pound quarterback appeared on the tail end of some draft lists after leading his team to perfection in the 2001 season, but the NFL wasn't really a consideration. Intelligent and creative, Rose had other aspirations and though he loved the game, he wasn't sure that football alone would fulfill him. Nonetheless, he wasn't eager to see the last seconds of the fourth quarter dribble off the clock in the 119th playing of the Harvard-Yale game. He didn't want to hear the referee's whistle signaling the end of his playing days.

Rose looked high to the stadium roof at the three flags flapping and snapping in the steady November wind. The first, atop one side of the horseshoe, bore a white H outlined with a thin black band against a field of crimson. The second, in the middle of the horseshoe's curve, was the American flag, the flag at which he would be staring during the national anthem as he reflected on his football career and made final mental preparations for the game. The third flag, directly opposite his school's on the other side of the horseshoe, was that of Harvard's archrival, the Yale Bulldogs. A simple white Y on a dark blue background. Both Ivy, both elegant. The wind whipped the flags taut on the flagpoles, causing them to snap straight as if they had been dipped in the icy waters of the Charles River and left to freeze overnight.

The three flags collectively signified an incredible history. Long before the founding fathers turned back the redcoats so that they could proudly fly the red, white, and blue over a sovereign nation of their own, Harvard and Yale nourished a budding rivalry that had exploded onto the football field in 1875 and became the most important in the sport. Every player, coach, and fan that looked toward the sky today would be reminded of the more than century-old skirmish that they held dear. If the wind continued its violent thrashing, the flags might be reduced to a few frayed threads by game time. It would not be a good day for throwing the pigskin, and that didn't bode well for the Crimson's all-time pass-leader on a day when he needed to be his sharpest. The weather didn't matter to Rose, though. The team had always performed well in bad weather. They were better than the weather.

Rose threw some passes to LaFountaine, testing the wind. He sent the freshman on an outside hard post-Rose's favorite route-and dropped back in slow motion, counting out his footsteps. One, two, three, four, five. Plant the back foot. Fire. Rose hit LaFountaine twenty yards out amid a visualized Yale defense. The defense always gave up something against Harvard's multiple-threat offense, and Rose exploited the weakness. He'd stare down the free safety and watch him cheat just a little left or a little right, reluctantly providing the ideal situation for a completion, especially if the intended receiver was Carl Morris. LaFountaine tossed the ball to Fitzpatrick, and Fitzpatrick mapped his own steps before hurling it back to Rose. The sophomore needed to test the wind himself in case he had to relieve Rose at quarterback.

Rose would miss the pregame routine more than anything else about being a football player. In the still of an empty stadium, with the grass between his toes, Rose was never more at peace with himself. Never more confident in his abilities or more certain of what was to come. Rose prolonged this final ritual for fifteen minutes before the trio headed back to the locker room to avoid hypothermia. The senior settled into one of the metal hot tubs in the training room to take off the chill and warm up his fragile back muscles. He prayed that his frequently injured back wouldn't betray him in his last game.

While Rose warmed in the hot tub, Yale senior captain Jason Lange got off the team bus and sauntered to the visitor's locker room. On the way he glanced overhead, getting his playing instructions for the day from those same three flags flying high above the stadium. The Bulldogs' coaching staff had prepared two defensive game plans-one for Harvard's passing quarterback, Neil Rose; the other for Harvard's scrambler, sophomore Ryan Fitzpatrick. Lange, a nearly three-hundred-pound nose tackle, was the anchor and heart of the Yale defense, and he realized that the wind was sending him into a fight against an attempted ground attack by the Crimson. He would spend the day bulldozing his way into the backfield, clogging and collapsing holes in the defensive line, and trying to wrap his arms around Harvard's slippery and elusive running back, Nick Palazzo. At 5¢4¾ with a low, balanced center of gravity, Palazzo darted like a cat-often streaking past a stunned defensive line before it could react and leaving the tough tackling job for the secondary. Palazzo missed the 2001 game with injuries, so Lange had not had the chance to face him prior to this last game for both young men.

At least Harvard's defensive line would be able to sympathize with Lange. Yale also had a sensational running back who wore the number 22, the same as Palazzo. Sophomore Robert Carr had proven early in the season that he was a big-game player, and there was no game bigger than Harvard-Yale. At 5¢6¾ and with blazing speed, Carr often left opposing defensive linemen staring at the back of his uniform. The Crimson had just as much, if not more, to worry about in terms of defending the run. And if the winds let up, the Harvard defense would have to be concerned with Yale's passing game as well. Quarterbacks Alvin Cowan and Jeff Mroz combined for sixteen touchdown passes on the year, the same as Harvard.

The weather didn't bother Lange. He grew up playing outside of the Windy City in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Cold, rain, and wind gave Lange a mental edge. Players unaccustomed to intemperate conditions lost their focus in bad weather, and Lange took advantage of it.

The senior was ready for anything or anyone Harvard could throw at him. He welcomed a challenge, and not just on the football field. Lange was planning to take the spring semester off from school to work full-time in Yale's development office. He also had his sights set on earning a spot on another fabled Yale team, the singing troupe known as the Whiffenpoofs. He thought maybe his tenor could take him around the world. He would get to the West Coast by bike, though-for the following summer Lange had scheduled a biking trip across the country with two teams of college students to raise money for Habitat for Humanity International. However, for the time being Lange focused on the challenge at hand, the biggest and last game of his football career, and how his defense would stop the Crimson offense.

Lange prepped for the Harvard game as he had for all of his others. He slept for precisely eight and one-half...

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Verlag
Crown Pub
Erscheinungsdatum
2004
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
1400050685
ISBN 13 
9781400050680
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
301
Kontakt zum Hersteller
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