Rose is no social leper. No one’s saying that. But being a quarterback at Harvard takes a lot out of you. And sometimes, leaving can put a lot back in.

“A popular axiom when defining the Harvard experience is, ‘The best part about Harvard is the people,’” Black says. “The best part about not playing anymore is that I’ve met so many people I feel I’d never have met without quitting football…The highlight of my time here has been interaction with an array of incredibly interesting people.”

Hey, jock bashers and admissions pundits, you of the stereotypes and derision, are you catching any of this? You’re not the only ones who realize that there’s life after Harvard football even before there’s life after Harvard football. Black’s living it up, occupying his time with the Owl, the Ski Club, the Sierra Student Coalition, class and, yes, IM football. Harrington, now a senior, was a class marshal finalist and is the heart and soul of the Eliot House Grill. Wahlberg, also a senior, got his Ivy League championship after all, mowing down Princeton in the ninth to save the title game for the baseball team last spring.

They’re normal Harvard guys with normal Harvard lives—if such things exist.

If anything, Black’s reasons for having left are the same reasons why you have to be happy for the resurgent Rose, and the same reason why you’re happy that Fitzpatrick briefly enjoyed—and will again enjoy—his moments in the sun. It’s a labor of love, the quarterback game, and it’s always good to see that kind of sacrifice rewarded.

And it’s good to see people enjoying what they do. You get the feeling that Rose and Black feel the same in at least one sense when they step out onto the field—Rose at Harvard Stadium, Black in the dingy, unkempt intramural fields in the back—that yes, this is living.

—Staff writer Martin S. Bell can be reached at msbell@fas.harvard.edu.