Tomorrow afternoon at Soldiers Field the Harvard football team takes on Fordham.

Excited?

Going to the game?

Unless you happen to play on the team, you probably answered both questions with an emphatic "no."

Can anyone blame students for not turning out; it's FORDHAM, for goodness sake.

Fordham, fresh off a 34-14 shellacking at the hands of Dartmouth.

Fordham--the name just inspires fear. Say it, "Fordham...Foorrdham." Scary, huh?

Fordham, a team from the all-powerful Patriot League.

The Ivy League went a combined 5-1 against Patriot League teams last weekend, outscoring them 148-73. That number represents one heck of a collective ass-whuppin'.

Harvard demolished Colgate--a card-carrying member of the Patriot League--while establishing a new school record by pounding out 572 yards of total offense.

Certainly, I don't intend to diminish the accomplishments of the Crimson. The team appears talented enough to finish the year atop the Ancient Eight.

However, neither Colgate nor any other Patriot League opponent can be the measuring stick of Harvard's success.

All of which leads to the question: why are we playing patsies from the Patriot League?

The most common response is that since neither coalition of schools give athletic scholarships, the Ivy League and Patriot League are the perfect match.

In theory, I agree.