Given my recent disillusionment about the sport of college football, I thought it would be nice to point out an accomplishment of some people who still actually play the game for the sake of playing the game. Ivy League players don't get scholarships. There are no bowls. No playoffs. No gigantic TV contracts. It's about getting out onto the field of play to represent one's school and to test one's personal abilities against an opponent. While I accept the reality of "big time" college football (and incidentally, despise the way it is being managed), there's definitely a part of me that loves the purity of Ivy League competition.
What's most impressive, though, is when a team playing purely for love of the game can match the achievements of teams with more commercial motivations. And that is exactly what the Crimson have accomplished this season. After shutting out Columbia, the Crimson team is 8-0, ranked #15 in Division I-AA as the only undefeated team in the division. They have two tough games remaining in the season: a trip to Philly for a game against the Penn Quakers (as usual, with the Ivy League title effectively on the line), and "The Game" at Harvard Stadium. But no matter how those games turn out, Harvard's season to this point is a real accomplishment, and I want to congratulate them on it.
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