THE REAL RACE

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It is fitting that this marvelous Ivy League race remains in doubt even as the regular season reaches its conclusion. Those of us who follow IHO understand that Saturday’s one-game playoff between Harvard and Yale for the Championship is surely significant.

But the annual battle royal between The Ancient Quaker and ToothlessTiger for IHO Pick ‘Em bragging rights has captured the imagination of Roundball Poets across the spectrum. It is fitting, indeed, that these two grizzled veterans of so many Ivy wars, each with at least one foot on the nursing home steps, are deadlocked at 37-18 heading in to today’s final regular season contest between … wait for it … Penn and Princeton!!!

The winner gets a coveted opportunity to shout from the top of Mike Tony’s desk in the IHO newsroom, “I am tied with Alan Gluck for fourth place!!!!!”

THIS IS WHY WE STILL CARE!

Editor’s note: Final IHO Pick ‘Em standings, which we know you’ve all been waiting for, will be released after Saturday’s Ivy championship playoff at the Palestra between Harvard and Yale.

8 thoughts on “THE REAL RACE”

  1. TT,

    On Friday, I was looking at this as a very safe romp for the Tigers. However, the rejuvenation (or maybe the first real juvenation of the season) of the youthful Quakers added to the emotions of Jerome’s last game and the Tigers’ consistent failure to stop DNH (only he and his teammates seem to be able to stop him against Princeton) have started to balance the scales for tonight’s matchup.

    When the two last met, the Quakers focused most of its offense around DNH and Tony Hicks (18 each). They did turn the ball over 17 times and gave up 26 fouls. The Tigers went to the FT line an unbelievable 43 times, outscoring Penn by 23 points from the charity stripe. Over the last several games, though, the team has been much more disciplined and cut down on those mistakes.

    DNH has been taken out of the starting lineup and there has been more offense for freshman Woods, Foreman and Jones. The game against Cornell showed that DNH can still be effective when put in for limited times. The game at Yale showed that Penn has what it takes to play with the better teams in the Ivy League.

    While I will give you the first game in tonight’s double-header (Penn has a very good women’s team, but Princeton is playing on a totally different level), I am thinking that the men’s team has been (ever so slowly) turning into the faster right-handed Rocky Balboa who is able to beat his worthy nemesis Apollo Creed in Rocky 2. As such, I will have to stay Red & Blue and choose my Quakers to emerge victorious while parading Jerome on the team’s shoulders as the clock strikes 0:00.

  2. Or…… maybe not…….

    Penn gave a very sad and uninspiring effort against a much better team.

    Dr. Calhoun is on the clock!

  3. TT I’m glad you picked Penn to win tonight so we are now tied. (You did pick Penn…..didn’t you? I mean, why would you pick the President of the Hair Club for Men ?)

    The AQ

  5. Actually, it’s not. “Royal” is acceptable in the context, although its usage typically refers to more than two combatants. I thought the context was appropriate in view of the particular opponents in this contest. “Royale” is also acceptable, although considered a tad extreme on a basketball site.

    • Those Main Line snobs from Rittenhouse Square always speak the Queen’s English, with appropriate accent on the trailing syllable. Like the French, only with cheesesteaks.

      Not you regular guys from Joisey. The salt of the earth, representing the common man. I like to think of you Princetonians like Joe the Plumber, except with a $21 billion endowment and a #1 US News ranking.

  6. “Common man”….yikes! Remember Princeton’s motto: Dei sub numine viget….in English the rough translation is “God went to Princeton”…go Tigers

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