"Gov Jock" is part of Harvard's jargon--a stereotype so prevalent that the Government Department last year printed up shirts for concentrators modeled on the famous "DHA" sweats.

In fact, for the Harvard football team--perhaps the campus's quintessential "jocks"--the odds are better that those are economics texts on the bookshelf next to the team's playbook. Forty percent of football players are economics concentrators, as compared to 10 percent in government.

But the "gov jock" stereotype is not far off. Of the roughly 50 players shown on the team's Web site and in the Harvard Football News, over 97 percent concentrate in economics, psychology, government, sociology and environmental sciences and public policy (ESPP).

The players and coaches say this focus on the social sciences is partly a product of these concentrations' flexibility--with no long lab sessions, they fit easily into a schedule packed with practices.

Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 says closely-knit student groups often choose the same concentrations.

Still, even football players themselves say their high distribution among only a few concentrations is striking.

"I guess it is a little overwhelming that so many football players are social science concentrators," says team captain Christopher J. Eitzmann '00. "I guess I never realized it before."

In a Pileup