Yes, the Crimson’s seasons do start later, in keeping with Ivy League regulations. But forcing the hockey teams—both NCAA tournament participants last year—to pile into cars they need to scramble to find, then head off-site in search of ice to hold captain’s practice? The practice guidelines which curtail out-of-season workouts in the interest of forcing athletes to be otherwise involved already require the consistent performance of miracles to even contend on a national level, let alone thrive. Why add yet another disadvantage against non-conference competition on top of the restrictions already in place?

Sure, the athletes say they don’t mind, that they’re used to it by now, that it doesn’t affect their early-season performance. That may be true, and it may not be, but that question is irrelevant. Far more important is why Harvard, proud home of the nation’s largest Division I athletics program, consistently short changes those who provide that extra feather in President Lawrence H. Summers’ cap.

The answer, of course, is money, as it always is. For while Harvard has the largest endowment of any university, retooling Hilles Library into dance studios no one will use is infinitely more important than providing arenas the administration hopes no one will ever want to fill, and building campus hot spots like Loker Commons will always take precedent over a football stadium with a decent place to tailgate.

The baseball team is fortunate because Joe O’Donnell—their patron saint, after whom their field is named and with whose money their new dugouts are being built—will always take care of them. But Harvard’s other programs? Well, they’ll just have to hope Harvard Stadium doesn’t fall apart and the ice doesn’t take too long to freeze.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu. His column appears on alternate Thursdays.