Back When Harvard Wasn't A Basketball School

As Harvard waits to find out who they'll play in the NCAA tournament, Jeffrey Toobin reflects on his time covering the Crimson as a student:

For two seasons, I covered the very much N.C.A.A.-less varsity for the Harvard Crimson. (I wrote a column called Inner Toobin, wherein I would throw around phrases like annus mirabilis on the sports page. It was insufferable.) Of course, the year started with the apparition that is Jeremy Lin ’10 single-handedly (more or less) reviving a Knicks franchise that has been down since almost the John F. Kennedy ’40 Administration, as we used to call it. Now the team is going to the Big Dance. Who knew?

In my day (the customary phrase to introduce gasbag alumni reminiscences), the hoopsters played in a not-so-glorified gym with the poetic name of the Indoor Athletic Building. (What would an Outdoor Athletic Building look like? We mused undergraduately.) At halftime of every game, a local travel agency sponsored what was known as the Bermuda Shoot. After a drawing, a spectator would take a shot from half-court to win a trip to Bermuda if he (or she) made it. Once, a guy did. It was the loudest cheer I heard in those two years.

I did get to cover a game from courtside at the old Boston Garden, which was a big thrill for me. On that day, Harvard lost to Boston College, 86-83, which was a closer game than most of us had expected, since B.C. was favored by about a dozen points. Much later, it emerged that gangsters had paid off four Eagle players to shave points. The scandal earned a mention in Goodfellas.

Hopefully the Crimson can represent well in the tournament.  A first round win would be pretty cool.