One, they all go to Yale. Two, they all turned in objectively impressive performances. And three, at the hands of their biggest rival—on huge stages, at least for the Ivy League—they all lost.

In spite of all the numbers; in spite of what common sense and predictions might have indicated at the time. Sure, maybe their efforts would have been good enough at another time, and another place, and another opponent, but not then.

As the Harvard basketball team ran off the court that memorable Valentine’s Day with the roar of the crowd still ringing in their ears, I’m confident that they could at least sense this. That they had pulled It off.

Bounding right between the Crimson Dance Team and the palisades of cheerleaders’ pom-poms on either side—a rare feeling for this last season, to say the least—the team was reminded of a fundamental maxim: When these two schools meet, pretty much anything can happen.

I felt that exact feeling again this weekend after hearing about what happened in New Haven thanks to Mike McBride.

For when all was said and done, it was Valentine’s Day and it was Harvard-Yale all over again, for the umpteenth time.

The sport and the venue may have been different, sure.

But in at least one, very real sense, The Game was still very much the same.

—Staff writer Pablo S. Torre can be reached at torre@fas.harvard.edu. His column appears on alternate Mondays.