Well, the Ivy League football season is finally over, and it's time to look toward the future. Winter. Even though winter will not begin for more than a month there is ice on the ground: a sure sign that we won't be seeing tropical weather until at least February, and maybe later.
But don't be upset now that you're not able to sit outside and watch athletic contests for six months. You'll be able to sit inside and watch sports. This weekend is the beginning of that indoor trend, when Eliot House sponsors its Evening with Champions at Watson Rink.
Muhammad Ali will not show up to priouette on the Watson Rink ice. Instead, championship skaters will cavort up and down the frozen stuff. Some the world's best figure skaters will be at the show, including Kent Wiegle and Judy Genevese, the current United States Silver Dance Medalists.
The show, a benefit for the Jimmy Fund, a charity to help children with cancer, also features Scott Hamilton, a skater who was in a Jimmy Fund hospital nine years ago and was told he had only six months to live. Since then, he has won a slew of championships, including the 1976 United States Junior Men's Championship.
Stosh Serafin, a blind skater from Pennsylvania, and Italian Olympian Susan Driano, will also appear. Harvard's representatives will also participate: sophomores Mahlon Bradley and Meg Streeter.
There will be three shows, one on Friday and two on Saturday. The Friday and Saturday night shows start at 7:30 p.m. and a Saturday matinee will begin at 1:30 p.m.
Another skating rink in town, the Boston Garden, will also be the scene of some action this weekend. The amazing Bruins, led by Peter McNab, will entertain the Washington Capitals Thursday night and the Detroit Red-wings Sunday night.
Count on both teams to show up in formal garb for the occassion, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The floundering Celtics will attempt to filet the Denver Nuggets on Friday night. The Celtics are playing without Dave Cowens, the soul of their team, while the Nuggets are being lead through ranks of the Midwest Division by David Thompson.
Thompson, the man with springs in his legs, has been averaging 25.1 points per game for the Nuggets.
Patriots fans will have to content themselves with watching their team on the tube. Unless, of course, they're willing to head down to New York and sit in Shea Stadium. The Pats will face the powerful Jets (who have surprisingly won three games this year.) In their last victory, engineered by Joe Namath, they slaughtered the ever-powerful Tampa Bay Bucaneers.
While the Jets were beating the Bucs into submission, the Pats eked out a win over the Baltimore Colts and Bert Jones. With both teams coming off a big victory, it should prove an excellent game. The game will be on television at 1 p.m.
