Crowds, Crew, Cookouts and Victory

WORCESTER--You could see it in his face, how his boat was doing. He stood on the roof of the boathouse, pacing, grimacing and then, finally, when the race neared its end, grinning.

When it was over, he shouted.

Harvard heavyweight Coach Harry Parker's face told it all.

In the early going, his boat was behind. Parker's face was knotted in doubt. Would the Crimson, the defending Eastern Sprints champion, repeat or go down in defeat?

In the middle of the race, his boat surged. Parker's face was as placid as a lake on a calm spring day.

In the stretch, he smiled. The Crimson pulled ahead of the University of Pennsylvania. The Crimson won.

Give a hoot, Harry. "Yes," he yelled.

Harry Parker's crews have won 16 of 27 Sprints. The man gets to say "Yes" quite often.

How many potato chips can fit into Quinsigamond National Park? How many hot dogs?

How many dogs?

Golden retrievers, dalmations, St. Bernards. Lassie, Spuds Mackenzie, Alex from Stroh's. If I didn't know this was a crew regatta, I'd have thought it was a pet show.

Northeastern's heavyweight boat, the top seed, finished a disappointing fifth yesterday. But what N.U. lacked in crew prowess, it made up for in musical magic. Let me introduce the Northeastern pep band, which set up shop on the sandy shores of Lake Quinsigamond yesterday.

"The band used to do this every year until five years ago," NU band director Chris Jagodzinski explained. "But, I guess because membership had fallen off, they stopped coming. So we've picked up the tradition again this year. We thought we'd give it another try."

Jagodzinski said the pep band does fall gigs with the football team and winter gigs with the hockey team. But come spring, the band is left without a venue.

Sprints was the perfect excuse to dust off the trumpets and drums.

"We're just here to have fun," Jagodzinski said.

How many lawn chairs can fit into Quinsigamond National Park? How many portable television sets?

How many babies?

Babies in pink, babies in blue, babies in red, white and blue.

If I didn't known this was a crew regatta, I'd have thought it was an adoption agency.

Boat names. Every boat may look alike, but they all come with their own names.

Some names are dull. Penn's JV heavyweight boat is called "Class of '62." A genius grant to the person who christened that craft.

Some names are short. Dartmouth's JV lightweight boat is called "Janet B. Riley."

Some names are long. Princeton's JV lightweight boat is called "Thomas Felton Wimberly Jr. '30." By the time you've finished pronouncing that mouthful, the race is over.

I looked for bold names. I looked for "Murder on the Nile" or "Riders on the Storm." I looked for fun names. I looked for "Ship of Fools."

The best boat name award went to Wisconsin's heavyweight craft: "Carnage."

Chew 'em up, Badgers.

How many Sunday newspapers can fit into Quinsigamond National Park? How many trashy novels?

How few physics problem sets?

Exams begin today. Just another manic Monday. Wish it were Sunday, and I was sitting on the shores of Lake Quinsigamond as boats pass...