200,000 rabid sports fans descended on the city of Cambridge last weekend.  By
my estimate, they were about equally divided between spectators of the First
Annual Playing-for-pride Kevin LeClaire Memorial Harvard B-side Tournament and
the slightly less presitigious Head of The Charles Regatta.ÊÊThe 100,000Êor so
fansÊover at the IM fields wereÊnot disappointed--Êgreat weather and competitive
gamesÊlasted all day.

First up for The Red Line was Brandeis B, a.k.a. Tron.  The game got off to a
10:30 start or so, and after falling behind 2-0, The Red Line woke up, and
managed to take half, 7-6.  The Red Line featured a lot of Mac "Big Mac" Snyder
in the role of handler and line-calling tyrant, and was bolstered by a few
ringers from the A-team including interim-B-captain, Noah "No relation to Mac"
Snyder, Mark Kirby, and Scott Asher.  Harvard played a lot of tough D, but too
many crucial mistakes in the end-zone meant that the game went to Brandeis,
13-11. ÊÊ The hated Tufts B was next.  Tufts had about an hour break after
beating the pants off Northeastern in their opener, and they came out fresher
against Harvard.  Still, The Red Line got a second-wind and traded points with
the E-Men until Tufts took half 7-6.  Tufts featured a few ringers of its
own--guys with pretty good throws and pretty bad attitudes.  Harvard B showed
its depth in this contest, featuring good play from Kevin "not big Kevin"
Clancy, strong cuts and some chilly throws from Arthur and Walter, some good Ds
from Dan Morales, and the fiery inspiration of GWA.  This turned into the
biggest disappointment of the day.  The Red Line's offense was flowing, but down
11-12 in a game to 13, Harvard dropped 4 easy discs in the end-zone in one
point, and let the E-men sneak aaway with a victory. ÊÊ ÊÊ Angry and hungry for
a victory after two tough losses, Harvard took a much-needed water-break and
then took on Northeastern A/B in the final game of the day.  The blood of the
workers finally got flowing in this one, and Harvard B started to play its best
ultimate of the day, like true Bolsheviks.  The deep-threat, which had been
stifled most of the day by Tufts and Brandeis became a real weapon as The Red
Line handlers got into a groove.  Even without B-side captain Noah who had to
leave (in tears) after the loss to Tufts, The Red Line took control early and
never peeped back at the NUDEs.  The squad's size was further reduced to 8 men
at one point, and Mac tried to bully Northeastern into rochambing for the game,
but once the teams took the field, the tired Red Line stepped it up.  Everyone
got to play a number of positions and tried new things.  There were a lot of
great Ds in this game, and a layout grab by Asher who was staying against his
will (He lost his beer-points tough when he threw a hammer out of bounds as soon
as he got up.)  GWA got the first beer-points of the year from Mark Kirby by
catching a regular pass in the end-zone for a score.  For a team that was
dead-tired and had only one sub, The Red Line shut down Northeastern's O in a
way it shouldn't have, and Harvard ended the day with an easyÊ13-6 victory.

ÊÊ Everyone who made it out played well and got lots of playing time (by the
end, some of the less-fit were even asking for subs,) and even though the bitter
taste of defeats and what-could-have-been has still not been washed from the
mouths of the B-team (It was tough to lose close games at home, especially in
front of a crowd so big,) everyone played progressively better throughout the
day, got a little muddy (or was it just goose-shit?,)Êand raised his level of
ultimate.  Good job, comrades.