Meanwhile, down by the river, Adams and Mather joined forces because neither had enough players to field a team of its own. "Surprisingly, it's worked out really well," says Adams-Mather Captain Buddy Fletcher '87. "Mather brought a lot of excellent linemen, while we have some good players in the skill positions."

"There's been no dissension," Fletcher continues, "and no coup attempts."

The Adams team has decided to alter its style a bit, though. "Our strategy last year was to be creative in our approach," says Fletcher, the team's quarterback. "Most teams, when they call audibles, say 'Red! 21!' But I called 'Red! Shuttle Bus!' which the Cabot-North team found interesting."

"After the play starts, they'd grab hold of me and show me what they thought of my audibles," he adds.

Squads from Eliot and Lowell have also linked up for the first time this year. Although players from each team claim that the other guys initiated the merger, there is little doubt that the move was necessary.

"We only scored one touchdown all last year," sighs Lowell's Bill McEwen '88, "and that was in a 6-0 victory over Eliot."

Although to score some points would be nice, Eliot's Ed Nekritz '87 says his squad is "just going out to have fun--to do some hitting and rough it up on the gridiron a bit."

Sartorial Horror

The biggest disappointment for Quincy, other than the loss of Sullivan and McMillan, has been the team's inability to buy new uniforms. And that's a big deal in intramural sports.

"Our uniforms are ugly, and everybody knows it," Gaffney says. "We don't know who picked out these hideous colors [red and gold], but we need new ones. Whoever runs the intramurals has drastically reduced the budget this year."

"Now we have to go the Oracle of Delphi and sacrifice three vestal virgins for new shirts, and five if we want to choose the color," Gaffney adds. "It's not worth it." (Neither "the people who run the intramurals" nor the oracle was available for comment at the time this article went to press.)

All kidding aside, every league must have its dominating teams and epic struggles. And one of the year's big showdowns occurred yesterday when Leverett demolished defending champion Cabot-North, 20-0.

"I finally learned what it's like to be on the opposite side from where we were last year," moans Cabot-North Captain John Black '86-87. "Leverett's the team to beat."

Leverett, which boasts several ex-varsity gridders, seems pretty confident, and is already looking forward to a match-up against Yale's intramural champion.

"We have incentive to do well this year--we want to beat up on some Bulldogs," says Leverett junior Fred King. "That's what we're working for."

Above all, intramurals provide action not usually witnessed in other football leagues.

While referees for varsity contests may not be as proficient as some would like, few have ever caught a pass while on duty, as did one intramural ref during Leverett's match yesterday.

"Cabot-North was running a crossing pattern over the middle," relates King, when the ball was thrown right at the umpire. "He caught it, and turned a shade of red like I'd never seen before. We were all laughing, but North didn't think it was too funny."

Especially since, after the loss, the downtrodden defenders had to catch that Red! Shuttle Bus! back to the Quad.