The Patriots averaged almost 35,000 fans for each of their seven home games at the Harvard Stadium.

However, during the season, the Harvard community's presence was generally small, and at most games it was non-existent.

"The football team used to get free tickets to the games, but it was a joke," says Harvard defensive end Fred J. Martucci '71. "When some of us went to the games, we never stayed for the whole game--the Patriots were terrible, no, they were worse than terrible."

Farneti says that although some of the football players would "rub elbows" with some of the Patriots on Sunday mornings, they remained unimpressed with the pro team.

"A couple of us would go down to the clubhouse and soak in the jacuzzi and hang out with some of the Patriots," he says.

"It was nothing major," he continues. "They were pretty bad. I remember staring and sizing some of the fellows up and thinking I could be doing that."

The Patriots received little coverage in The Crimson, and stories about the team were usually drawn from the major wire services.

"I went to every Harvard game, but I did not care the least about the Patriots," says Bennett H. Beach '71, a former sports editor of The Crimson. "The interest in watching football was very little at the time, and the Patriots did not quite make it among people here."

Farneti, a linebacker on the Crimson defensive unit, says the political and social upheaval of the late 1960s and the early 1970s was a reason why the Patriots' games were sparsely attended by the Harvard community.

"With the Vietnam War and the protests of the administration, sports on campus were frowned upon. You were wearing a scarlet letter if you were a jock," Farneti says. "Harvard was not the place at that time that was overly impressed with a pro team playing in its stadium."

Despite the low turnout by the Harvard community, the Patriots were happy playing in Harvard Stadium during the 1970 season.

"Most of the games we had in excess of 30,000 people in attendance. It was a professional crowd and not a college crowd," Sullivan says. "[Harvard] was a fun place to go to watch a football game. The environment was nice and our fans enjoyed it. And the players enjoyed playing in front of a large crowd."