Back to the Bowl: The Game '21

With comfort the pandemic of 2020 might be behind us, Yale and Harvard fans flocked to the Yale Bowl in surprising numbers Nov. 20 for the 137th edition of That Game. 

The Game of 2020 was canceled, of course, as the Ivy League elected not to have a season. The Game was on hold, and there wasn't a chance to re-live the memorable moments of The Game of 2019, a contest Yale won in glorious and historical fashion under dark skies in extra periods. 

In 2021, Yale athletic officials prepared well for a bounce-back affair. They had installed portable lights just in case This Game went into strands of overtime. And they welcomed back alumni, students, local residents and all others interested in gridiron matters tied to Yale and Harvard. 

The announced crowd, 49,500, crammed into the old Bowl. Most, as usual, don't bother to enter the old stadium until officials shut down tailgate. Still, it felt like a Yale-Harvard game, not a slimmed down version of what most alumni know well. 

The crowds returned, but so did the traditions so tailored to the rivalry:  the familiar chants between student sections, the comedic attempts to entertain by the respective bands, the fourth-quarter strip from those who claim to be from Saybrook College, the white hankerchiefs waved during the playing of Bright College Years, the storming of the field by students from the winning school. 

And there is the usual tradition of the two squads battling back and forth until the end. One takes the lead and grabs the momentum. A half-quarter later, the other stages a comeback. And on and on until the final stanza.

In the 2021 version of back-and-forth, Yale scored a fourth-quarter touchdown, and the Blue side let out a roar that soared beyond the Bowl's rims. The Bulldogs were in front, 31-27. With two minutes to go, the Yale crowd sensed a victory; players began to leap and roam the sidelines with joy.

But as in many Games in the past, the bizarre unfolds. With seconds to go, the Crimson marched swiftly down the field as it had done in 1968 and in 1974 and in pick-any-other-year. Receivers find pathways to get open. Receivers catch passes that had been dropped in the first half. And a receiver squirms beyond a Yale defender to catch the game-winning pass with 21 seconds to go. Harvard clinched the victory, 34-31. 

A painful, debilitating loss for the Yale side. But a hidden smile because The Game returned with the annual pleasures that accompany the late-autumn ritual.