The Harvard social scene is a little odd. Nobody shows up for parties until 11 p.m. and then they complain when the bashes shut down at 1 a.m. Lucien Smith and his Republican Club single-handedly ruin every major event on campus by publishing a party email.

Hockey midnight madness starts at 10 p.m.

Okay, so maybe that is a bit of a non sequitur, but it was strange Saturday night strolling into Bright Hockey Center for an event that should've begun on Sunday morning. Nonetheless, hockey season is here at fair Harvard and it's about time.

The Madness (I will no longer call it Midnight) provided an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the men's and women's hockey teams before they get down to some more serious business.

It's the only time of the year when the Crimson can take the ice and simply have fun, banter with the fans and jaw at each other. Some, like freshmen Dennis Packard and Tim Pettit impressed with their speed. Sophomore winger Brett Nowak, on the other hand, wiped out on the agility skate. And senior winger Jen Botterill reminded the whole school in the accuracy contest that she is good. Damn good.

It wasn't a perfect event by any means. In retrospect, it would've been better to keep the scrimmage. The players tried to mix it up a bit in the races, but senior Tammy Shewchuk tripping classmate Kiirsten Suurkask in the race around the ice doesn't compare to some actual action.

Moreover, the fan contests were utterly ridiculous. Shooting the puck from center ice into an 8-inch hole in the goal is near impossible. Doing it three times in a row for $50,000 is beyond absurd. Wayne Gretzky couldn't do that. And how can you only give $100 for doing it once?

At least, the organizers had the intelligence to select Crimson Sports' own Dave De Remer to take a crack at the hole in the goal.

Dave, don't quit your day job.

Hockey season is here. Over the next few weeks, we'll begin to find out if the men can avenge last year's playoff loss at Cornell and qualify for Lake Placid. The women face an uphill battle to make up for last year's Frozen Four snub, with respective national teams claiming some of its best talent.

But the madness was fun, just not at midnight.

Ramblings

A subway series looks more and more likely each day. Major League Baseball certainly has its fingers crossed, salivating at the ratings a New York, New York World Series would generate. My question, though is how much will the rest of the country care about this match-up? Sure there might be some curiosity for an event that hasn't happened since 1956, but it is hard to see a seven-game series sustaining that interest. Most of the numerous fans who despise the Yankees will be almost equally repulsed by the Mets. Certainly those in Boston will.

For two weeks, the entire baseball universe will be centered in New York City. The rest of the country will not be amused.

But since when did the rest of the country get a vote as to something New York wanted to do?...

Returning to hockey for a moment, the NHL has been underway for about two weeks. It feels like the New Jersey Devils just won the Stanley Cup. For all of hockey's numerous virtues, it needs to reconsider the length of its regular season. The extended playoff format already renders most of the previous play irrelevant, so knocking off 10 games couldn't hurt. Of course, I would also like Commissioner Gary Bettman to knock off at least 5 teams. Sorry, Nashville....

Lastly, and with all due respect to my fellow Crimson editors at FM, the Sigma Chi bush is not a pee nook. Anyone caught relieving himself there will find more than a secret handshake.

Besides, the Lampoon Castle is just down the street.