Thursday, January 08, 2009

Harvard Domination Begins... Now!

Fosco loves sports, but he rarely blogs about it. For one thing, Fosco doesn't really have anything that interesting to say about sports. For another, there are already more sports blogs in existence than any other type of blog (it's true, I've checked). But Fosco cannot pass up this story because his Alma Mater Be Reprazentin!

Sorry about that.

But still--it is kind of big news. On Wednesday night, Harvard's Men's Basketball Team upset No. 17 Boston College, 82-70. (N.B.: ESPN prefers to rank Boston College as No. 24.) And the game was even at BC. This is a landmark win for several reasons:

  1. The scrappy Crimson hoopsters had been pwned by BC previously, having lost 15 of their last 16 games against the Eagles.
  2. In BC's previous game, they had knocked off No. 1 UNC in a surprising upset.
  3. This is Harvard's first win over a ranked team EVER. EVER. Since when? Since EVER.
  4. And the most amazing part of it all? Harvard's leading scorer in the game (with 27) was Jeremy Lin (pictured above). Now Fosco doesn't want to cross too far into the territory of racial stereotyping, but, um... when was the last time you saw an Asian basketball player? (Or, better yet, when have you ever seen an Asian basketball player lead all scoring in an upset of a highly-regarded ranked team?) This guy is hooptastic!
Fosco doesn't know that he's ever been this proud of Harvard sports. Well, at least the sports that people outside of the Ivy League care about (which eliminates squash).

You know what seems appropriate? A singing of the Harvard Fight Song! Join me, will you?
Illegitimum non carborundum;
Domine salvum fac.
Illegitimum non Carborundum;
Domine salvum fac.
Gaudeamus igitur!
Veritas non sequitur?
Illegitimum non carborundum--ipso facto!
Seriously. That's actually the first verse. But maybe we should sing one of the English verses:
Ten thousand men of Harvard want vict'ry today,
For they know that o'er old Eli
Fair Harvard holds sway.
So then we'll conquer old Eli's men,
And when the game ends, we'll sing again:
Ten thousand men of Harvard gained vict'ry today!
If you'd rather hear the music, listen here.

At any rate, Jeremy Lin should be rewarded. May I suggest a coveted audience with former Harvard men's basketball coach (and Lamont University Professor) Amartya Sen?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

There are plenty of asians that have serious skills in basketball... especially from Hawaii.