November 24, 2005--Poor Little Lambs
Anything that upsets the alumni of Yale University upsets me as well. So when I read in the NY Times that Yale officials had promulgated new rules that forbid “binge drinking and public drunkenness” at football games, you can only imagine how upset that made me (see link below for full story). Half the reason I went to college (not Yale) was so that I could drink beer and be drunk in public as much as possible. Therefore, this was a cause about which I could be passionate.
As I read further into the article, those unnamed Yale officials were reported to be backing off from their new prohibitions—making a distinction between what was to be tolerated for currently enrolled students versus alums.
This all surfaced big time because The Game (note the capital “T” in “The”) between Harvard and Yale was coming up. As a tradition-bound institution, Yale took a look at the tailgating rules at Harvard, where at last year’s version of The Game, at Harvard, 50 students wound up in hospitals and another 100 were ejected from The Game for public drunkenness. Thus Yale established its own stricter rules.
Alums particularly were outraged. One wrote to The Yale Daily News, saying, “For many of us tailgating all day on game day has become the most vital ritual [must be an anthropologist] in maintaining our desire to support and participate in Yale’s future” (i.e. give money).
So Yale bent the rules for alumni, allowing them to tailgate all day long—before The Game, during The Game, and after The Game.
And tailgate they did. But they also dined in elegance, not squatting on the back of pickup trucks and SUVs. After all, Yale alums are not like those prole NFL crowds slobbering down slabs of ribs while guzzling Buds. The Times reported about thousands of old Yalies seated at small, cloth covered folding tables, with wine bottles and glass stemware and liver pate on china. Replete with “ramekins” of almonds and olives (ramekins??) and wedges of cheese and crackers.
Meanwhile, back at the White House, former cheerleader, Yale legacy and alum (history major), esteemed member of Skull and Bones, President George W. Bush, class of 1968, watched The Game while on his treadmill, longing for a long cold one.
Happy Turkey Day everyone!
As I read further into the article, those unnamed Yale officials were reported to be backing off from their new prohibitions—making a distinction between what was to be tolerated for currently enrolled students versus alums.
This all surfaced big time because The Game (note the capital “T” in “The”) between Harvard and Yale was coming up. As a tradition-bound institution, Yale took a look at the tailgating rules at Harvard, where at last year’s version of The Game, at Harvard, 50 students wound up in hospitals and another 100 were ejected from The Game for public drunkenness. Thus Yale established its own stricter rules.
Alums particularly were outraged. One wrote to The Yale Daily News, saying, “For many of us tailgating all day on game day has become the most vital ritual [must be an anthropologist] in maintaining our desire to support and participate in Yale’s future” (i.e. give money).
So Yale bent the rules for alumni, allowing them to tailgate all day long—before The Game, during The Game, and after The Game.
And tailgate they did. But they also dined in elegance, not squatting on the back of pickup trucks and SUVs. After all, Yale alums are not like those prole NFL crowds slobbering down slabs of ribs while guzzling Buds. The Times reported about thousands of old Yalies seated at small, cloth covered folding tables, with wine bottles and glass stemware and liver pate on china. Replete with “ramekins” of almonds and olives (ramekins??) and wedges of cheese and crackers.
Meanwhile, back at the White House, former cheerleader, Yale legacy and alum (history major), esteemed member of Skull and Bones, President George W. Bush, class of 1968, watched The Game while on his treadmill, longing for a long cold one.
Happy Turkey Day everyone!
posted by Steven Zwerling at
11:57 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home