Brown came out on to the field, looked up to the clouds with his hands stretched out, his face drenched. "Hey, it's not rainin' out here", he said.

Well, so much for cutting tension only in practice.

Brown's Harvard athletic career began subtly enough on the freshman football team. "I was about eighth string quarterback and played maybe four plays all year."

While freshman football is rarely satisfying for anyone, Brown was able to put things in perspective. "Sure it's frustrating when you're not heavily recruited and you're on the same field with 80 high school captains. But luckily I avoided injury, kept my self-confidence, and treated the whole thing as a learning experience. I knew my chance would come."

A year later, after a 4-3 pitching record on a sub-.500 varsity baseball squad, Brown was back on the football field. Pictures in the game program and post-game interviews with alumni were put off another year. Patience was not only a virtue, it was a priceless commodity.

"There were times when I'd sit out there on the sidelines, with five guys ahead of me and only practices on the scout squad getting my head beat in to look forward to. You begin to wonder whether it's all worth it.

You finally realize that in Coach Restic's system you have to pay the price. Especially for a quarterback, sophomore year is a building year, a year to learn the system and get yourself straightened out. It's like the last lap of a race, you have to get through the ones before it to know where you're headed."

Brown knew where he was headed, at least in one sport. He went 4-0 for the rejuvenated baseball squad sophomore year and spent his summer as the number one pitcher in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League. A pro baseball career was in his plans, one that didn't necessarily include another gridiron learning experience.

Brown was debating coming back for his junior year on the football team when offensive backfield coach Robert Horan persuaded him to "just go through camp and give it a shot." Brown came into camp as the number five signal caller. His goal was to be the backup quarterback behind Tim Davenport. When camp was over Brown had indeed risen to the number two spot.

Brown's football career continued at its, semi-comical level for one more week("I ran out the clock against Columbia with 18 seconds left."), before Davenport's serious neck injury in the opening game against the Lions thrust Brown into the ambiguous spotlight of Harvard foot ball.

They brag about sellouts at the Beanpot hockey tournament every year and you can count heavyweight crew losses over the last decade on one hand and still have fingers left, but regardless, football reigns supreme at Harvard. The only real arena is Harvard Stadium and the only real gladiators are the starting football players. The best proof of this was last spring, when opposing baseball teams would refer to Brown as "the quarterback," when he had been one of the better pitchers in the Ivies for two years.

Loyal fans at Michigan or Nebraska go out and get drunk after their teams lose. Loyal fans at Harvard go out for a drink, win or lose.

"I'd rather play for our crowd than out there. It's not cut--throat. In the Big Ten the rans root, here they watch. The student bodies and alumni are so different, more like a family That's what makes it the Ivy League. When I graduate and go to a Harvard game I'll probably act the same way."

His destination unique and his route even more so, Brown nevertheless seized the opportunity with talent. After a shabby first two games, Brownie clicked and wound up the season leading the Ivies in both passing and total offense, but surprisingly did not make the All-Ivy squad.

As good as Brown's junior baseball season would be(10-1, 0.95 ERA), his biggest game of the year was the football contest against Penn. Brown had the greatest passing day of any Harvard Q.B. ever, completing 15 of 22 attempts for 349 yards and three touchdowns.