Harvard -Yale game...

 11/18


Boola, boola...bow wow wow

This week’s “hats off” goes to the 137th edition of THE GAME, between Yale and Harvard. The game will be played this coming Saturday at the iconic Yale Bowl.  Built in 1914 to house a team then at the top of collegiate football, the Bowl became the template for the Rose Bowl and all thus  the inspiration for all the “bowl” games that would follow. 


In addition to Yale games, the site was home to what was called the “Suburban Super Bowl,”  an annual preseason game between the Giants and Jets in the years just prior to AFL- NFL merger. For two very strange seasons 1973-75, the NFL Giants played their home games at the Yale Bowl while Yankee Stadium was being renovated and the Meadowlands under construction. I actually caught some of those games including a December including a miserable 31-7 loss to the Vikings in freezing rain in late December.  And the next year, a gimpy Joe Namath scrambling into the end zone.


During my years at Yale in the Carm Cozza era, the teams split evenly. During my Pittsburgh years, I’d take my son to the Harvard-Yale-Princeton Club for a decent buffet and a big screen game with alumni from both schools.  My only other recent Harvard-Yale action was two hockey games at Madison Square Garden, which should have become an annual event. And of course, the 2018 game at Fenway Park in Boston where Harvard won 45-27. 


The hat that’s “on” is a repro of a 1948 Yale baseball hat. That was a memorable year as first baseman  George HW Bush was team captain and Babe Ruth made one of his last public appearances with the Yale team at their classic stadium. He would die later that year. And we’ve got a football practice jersey to go with it.


I feel like it might be time to take the train and head to New Haven for the game….

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Honoring Veterans

Image
 11/11 PACKOS and MASH Today’s hats off is to our veterans.   I’m not usually one for military style wear and especially the wearing of camo by shorts teams. But I’m making exception in a unique way. We’ve got a military style hat and olive green sweat shirt from Tony Packo’s, the famous hot dog emporium in Toledo, Ohio.  Packo’s was made famous by Toledo native Jamie Farr in his role of Klinger in the long-running Korean War era series M*A*S*H.   While Klinger usually dressed as a woman in an effort to get out of the service, his parents regularly sent him care packages from Packo’s and Klinger would occasionally opt for a Toledo Mud Hens jersey and hat thus creating an ongoing connection between MASH, Mud Hens and Packos.  Klinger and Hawkeye in MASH Though set in the Korean War era, MASH was clearly reflecting on the then active Vietnam conflict. The Korean War was the first of what would become an ongoing pattern of US involvement in post colonial struggles ...
Read more

All Souls and el trueno de Trenton (Trenton Thunder)

Image
11/3 el Trueno de Trenton   Yesterday was All Souls Day , or El Dia De Los Muertos (the Day of the Dead ) as it’s known in Mexico. So what better way to commemorate the day than with this “sugar skull” logo from “ El Trueno de Trenton ” or Trenton Thunder . Sugar skulls are both used as treats for roaming bands of children and decorations for one’s own ofrenda , or altar.   This particular logo was developed as part of Trenton’s contribution to La Copa de Diversion, or Fun Cup, a program developed by minor league baseball to attempt to build closer ties with the Hispanic community. This year, El Trueno de Trenton was the Friday edition of the team playing as the Trenton Thunder which in fact was the Buffalo Bisons displaced when the Toronto Blue Jays left Dunedin. Trenton being available when the Yankees abandoned the city for Somerset, New Jersey. When the Bisons returned to Buffalo, the Trenton Thunder finished the year as a “Draft League” team so the team that began ...
Read more

Hanging on to Christ,mas

Image
12/29 fifth day of Christmas Hanging on to Christmas the December pin Micah's mug “I’m hanging on to Christmas,” I tell my friends as we gather for our Wednesday morning conversation. I am a firm believer in celebrating all twelve days and this is just the fifth day. So I’m keeping the Christmas attire going…the red and green Yankee hat I wear every Christmas, and a new addition, it’s a swinging Santa, based on the design by Tod Radom for the December Uniwatch Pin Club.   And I'm drinking from the mug my  then 8 year old son Micah made for Christmas 1992. He wasn't quite ready for Micah so spent some time  calling himself Mike. He grew into Micah soon enough.... I see trees out on the curb already.   My father used to take our tree down during the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.   I’m partial to the older tradition where Christmas   doesn’t begin until the 25th.   And goes on until January 6th when we celebrate the visit of the three kings, or ...
Read more