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Here you are: HY ticket secured, Yale library floor housing approved, and gameday outfit all planned out. You begin to feel yourself engage in the rare school spirit that has spread across campus, awaiting this year’s HY football game. However, as you observe everyone’s enthusiastic school spirit, you may notice one ever-changing figure – Harvard’s mascot, aka Crimson, aka John Harvard, aka The Turkey, aka Remy??

Hate It:

Harvard’s mascot is one of the strangest aspects of the College that has struck me since my acceptance. Coming from a football-loving family, it was hard to explain to my family that my school’s mascot was not a figure or an animal but a color. However, Harvard fails to stick to one shade of “Crimson”. Walking into the Harvard Shop or Coop, it’s noticeable how many different shades of deep red are considered Harvard Crimson. Maroon, Blood Red, Burgundy, Wine, Ruby. Which shade is actually the real Crimson red? Beyond how we present ourselves on campus, this leaves the Harvard student section looking like a color-by-number picture! The Yale side of the stadium puts us to shame with its more cohesive navy-blue crowd (how dare they look more put together than us!).

Beyond color choice, Harvard’s choice for a more object-like mascot is also poor. Technically, Harvard’s official mascot is John Harvard. However, John Harvard, as a mascot, fails to generate any school spirit among students. Beyond shoving through crowds of tourists in front of his statue each day to class, Harvard students don’t have much of a connection to John Harvard. Additionally, screaming “Go John Harvard!” at the top of your lungs sounds a little strange (and dare I say not as cool as “Go Bulldogs!”).

Love It:

While the shade of Crimson may vary from student to student, there is no doubt that it looks great on everyone! Compared to the bleak navy blue of the Yale student section, Harvard’s students shine in their vibrant Crimson apparel and knock (the matching, boring, clone-like) Yalies out of the park. With their school spirit intensified by their radiant shades of Crimson, there is no doubt that Harvard’s school spirit is greater than Yale’s by 10,000 more men.

Moreover, the lack of an official mascot or symbol for Harvard speaks to the age and history of our school. Since its beginning, Harvard hasn’t needed to rely on a mascot (especially an ugly dog) to unify its students. We have other icons on campus that we choose to resonate with: Remy, the Yard Turkeys, Sasha, our House mascots, and more (#iykyk). Yeah, maybe we don’t have a true mascot, per se, but can Yale tell me Handsome Dan rallies as much spirit as the DMing with Deming series (and formerly, the Khuranagram) on our campus does? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Love it or hate it, you can’t deny that our fiery Crimson school spirit is far superior to the obnoxious navy sea of Yalies. Your friends at Flyby trust that Harvard has this game in the bag, and we’ve been playing our part to secure a Crimson victory (which may or may not include an Etsy witch). And remember, whatever Harvard mascot you choose to cheer for, come this Saturday’s game, just make sure it's 10,000 times louder than the Yale side.