For the last 110 years, the Harvard-Yale game has been the embodiment of gentlemanly collegiate competition. Last Saturday, however, a quartet of fun-loving Winthrop residents broke that tradition when they proved that it's all fun and games until someone breaks a nose.

Near the end of the Game, as it became clear that Harvard was to lose, the team, led by recent Undergraduate Council presidential contender Sameer Ferrell '95, made two unsuccessful attempts to get the Calhoun College flag out of the masses of Yalies and into the end zone.

On the third attempt they got lucky, and, with Calhoun in hand, Sam and the gang tried to pull off the type of stunt that legends are made of.

Unfortunately, Harvard lacked panache both on and off the field. The Harvard students tried to beat up several beefy counterparts from Yale as they defended their flag in a bizarre scuffle in the stands. An associate dean of Yale College was insulted by Ferrell when she tried to force a fumble. Four Yalies tackled left, right and center, took down some of Ferrell's buddies and broke one player's nose. Ignominious.

Ferrell, guarding the flag, made a line drive up JFK Street as Yalies chased like bulldogs after the mail carrier. Dodging an angry Eli with a baseball bat outside Winthrop House, he scurried to safety. Score! Then came the eloquent and memorable victory cry: "We stole the flag! We got the fucking Yale flag!"

Cleverer things have been said. We've come a long way from the charismatic masterstrokes that past Games have known. (Does anyone even know what the Calhoun College flag looks like?)

This was more a bungled, shabby attempt than a cleverly diabolical ruse worthy of Harvard. A great deal of embellishment might make it a memorably heroic story for these folks' grandchildren, but we wouldn't count on it.

Stories like this make us wish that the Harvard team hadn't done anything at all, to save us the humiliation. Sure, now we have a grey and yellow flag, but the price we paid renders this little escapade a Pyrrhic victory (especially for the broken-nosed conspirator).

When they get back from their Thanksgiving break, Yalies all over campus will be treated to stories of how loyal Elis beat up and chased Harvard wimps out of their own stadium.

Leave it to a member of the council to think up an ingenious plan like this.

To add to the general level of cunning rivalry, asked later what they planned to do with their hard-earned booty, the students replied, "We're going to piss and stomp on it."

We're glad they didn't go for the bulldog.