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Tom Columns

It's amazing each week to watch the halftime shows the visiting bands put on here. Last week's midfield mishap by Holy Cross was a good example of an exercise in bad taste and unfunniness, typical of many similar attempts to 'put down' the Harvard audience.

You were no doubt rolling in the aisles when the Crusader announcer told how, a few years ago, Harvard's was the first football team that managed to lose to a hepatitis-stricken Holy Cross squad. I'm not afraid to tell you that I was really yukking it up on that one.

And how about the antics of that hilarious funster who was trying to pick up a football, but kept on kicking it away from himself. Up and down the field he went, and the ball just kept eluding him. I just couldn't help myself. Paralyzed with laughter I was.

Finally, I just can't say enough for the zany jokester from the Purple and White band who, while the Harvard band was playing, suddenly bolted across the field trying to distract everyone. What a putdown that one was.

What is truly amazing is that these bad shows don't just happen every so often, but are distrubingly frequent. They serve little more than to make Harvard people appreciate the Crimson band all the more. Not that it isn't good in the first place.

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Now for this week's picks:

HOLY CROSS-DARTMOUTH--The Big Green looks bad at the beginning of the season, then stomps on everybody in the Ivy League. It happens every year. Bad as they will try to look, though, they will still manage to beat an inoffensive (get it?) Crusader squad. Another bad week for the Christians. Dartmouth 21, Holy Cross 10.

COLUMBIA-PRINCETON--A resistable force meets a movable object. I have this feeling that the Tigers are really going to break loose this week. Wild as it may sound, they may even score more than two touchdowns. What the hell. Princeton 20, Columbia 6.

COLGATE-YALE--After this game it should be obvious to everyone that the Elis are not fooling around this year. As a matter of fact, they are very serious. Rudy Green and Tyrell Hennings run over a defenseless hoho Colgate squad. Yale 31, Colgate 10.

BUCKNELL-CORNELL--Is there life in Ithaca, N.Y.? It's doubtful, but Big Red football supporters may think so. Are these guys for real? We shall soon see, when the Cornellians start playing some bona fide football teams. Cornell 35, Bucknell 17.

PENNSYLVANIA-BROWN--This is the first of what should be many exciting Ivy games this year. The Bruins stopped making mistakes last week and smashed Rhode Island, 45-15. Penn ripped Lehigh, 28-18, in its opener. This is a very important game for the teams involved; the Red and Blue get a slight nod because they have a bit more class. Penn 28, Brown 27.

RUTGERS-HARVARD--This may be one of those years for Harvard, as the casualty list is already growing. Just the same, the offense moved fairly well against Holy Cross with all those substitutes. Today, we might see exactly what kind of defense we have. This one may not be as easy as it looks. Harvard 23, Rutgers 17.

Last week--Six right, one wrong, one tie (which does not count for anything in my computations). Season's percentage: .857.

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