Multiflex magician Joe Restic and the Harvard football team, coming to a stadium near you.

It was a show, and for 23 years, Restic saw his name up in lights, on top of a constantly-changing marquee that featured several future NFL players, many young CEOs and hundreds of senior government official wannabes.

It was one of the longest-running shows in Harvard's history and one of its most successful, despite the dwindling gate receipts.

Now, the curtain is going up for the last time in Dillon Field House. And for this, the last performance, the spotlight returns, the gate receipts increase and critics flock to praise the show they damned for so long.

But the show must go on. There is one season of football left to be played in the Restic Era, and this is no Sunset Boulevard finish. Restic is hoping he can go out with a splash; hoping, just once, that he can wish upon a star.

That star is senior quarterback Mike Giardi, called by many (including Restic) the most perfect Multiflex quarterback ever.

The director has his star, the biggest one he can get. But it takes more than a star to make a production. It takes a cast.

Aye, there's the rub.

The offensive line returns as a strength. Giardi--who can argue with him? The passing game looks strong. But the defense is a major question, with just two starters returning ("I have some concerns there," the eternally low-key coach said).

And in the preseason, the running game suffered a major blow when junior Mike Wallace broke his right leg during a tackling drill. Instead of using the preseason to teach the subtleties of the Multiflex to an inexperienced corps of backs, Restic and his coaching staffs must take the time to find a corps of backs to teach.

Expect a slow start to the season, perhaps even--brace yourself--a loss to a very strong Columbia squad (we're serious, the Lions really are good). The later games could either turn out very well or poorly, depending on how well the untested first-year starters do.

But enough about that. With Wallace, an Ivy title might have been too much to hope for. Without him, it's like...wishing on a star.

The Man in the Middle

Harvard's season begins and ends on the shoulders of Giardi. Should he go down, there's no backup quarterback to pick up the slack. (David Morgan '94, the backup quarterback and starting punter for last year's squad, took his

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