In a statement published in full in The Crimson, Yale responded to Harvard's refusal to play. The problem, the Eli spokesperson said, was the persistent libeling of Yale players by Harvard: "Yale fully believed she was not to blame for the beginning of whatever roughness occurred in the Springfield game, and she believed there was overwhelming evidence to this effect."

And on the same Crimson front page, Harvard officials responded: "The statement of Manager Foote of Yale in yesterday's Yale News contains several inaccuracies and is generally calculated to give an erroneous impression of Harvard's position....In common courtesy, it was Yale's part to reopen negotiations if they were to be renewed at all."

As Harvard had not received the "customary invitation," there would be no game. And there wasn't, that year or the next, when clamoring fans and time brought back the Game.

1925

A O-O TIE GAME

In 1925, the line-up between the two elevens in the bowl marked "one of the greatest contests ever played between the two universities," The Crimson claimed.

In that year, 54,000 fans from both sides filled the stands of the Harvard Stadium, for the game to be played 50 years after the first match between the two schools. The weather was fair, though fans received an oilskin-covered issue of the Lampoon, which read "And the people scoffed at Noah."

A Crimson editorial written Saturday November 21, 1925 proclaimed that "certain phenomena recur so regularly and impressively that they become institutions: the Boston Transcript, the equinox, presidential elections, and Harvard-Yale football game."

The event especialy commemorated the first game played in 1875, The Crimson said: "No one could have foreseen that that game was to initiate the sport which now sets the whole nation in a frenzy every autumn."

Though the Eli and Harvard football teams faced a tough game on Saturday, the 1925 Crimson reports that both teams were "full of spirit" before the match-up.

Three days before the game, the Harvard team, for instance, was frolicking at various Boston theaters.

"Having ripped up half the pavement and broken all the glass in the lobby, they were filing quietly in," The Crimson reported.

"The doorman and the manager conspired to stop their progress. The charge of intoxication was, of course, ridiculous," that article continued.

The score of The Game itself was a surprising 0-0, and the headlines the next day read: "Aroused Crimson Eleven Holds Bulldog to Deadlock and Upsets Expectations."

Though the odds against Harvard were 10-3, an impressive match-up led to the tie, which was considered a victory for Harvard.