It’s a little frightening how emotionally invested I am in getting to read this before the season. Seriously… this went from a “meh” day to a very exciting day.
Well, this topic has been up for an hour, and it could still easily go off the rails, but so far... it is sort of heartening to see so many "Listen, this is a very challenging topic with no clear answers... On the one hand... and on the other..."
I like the acknowledgment that it is indeed challenging. I have no idea what the "right" answer is here. But I think we get closer to the "best" answer when people are thoughtfully engaging on the valid concerns of both sides of this issue.
I always find it easiest to put myself in different shoes... how would I feel if I had a trans daughter? Or how would I feel if my daughter got bumped off a team/lost a championship/etc when competing against a trans woman? Man, it really is a tough question.
You're not the only one. Per their Twitter, demand has crashed their site. Great story. I get it. If this was Michigan instead of Tennessee I'd buy one and wear it until it was threadbare.
Actually, that's not even close to true. Round off the $11B in endowment. It disburses 4.5% of its value each year (that's roughly the 7.5% expected nominal return less 3% inflation), so around $500M. The university took in $1.24B in net tuition last year.
I'm gonna go with negligence, possibly negligence per se under Title IX. Probably wouldn't win, but seems like it could survive an early motion to dismiss and proceed to discovery. OSU wouldn't care about potential damages (de minimus), but would greatly care about being subject to both media scrutiny and discovery.
Not sure about about Ohio case law and rules, but spoliation is another one that could creep in here. Heck, if you were getting creative as a prosecutor and there were crimes between Zach and Courtney and Urbs deleted related text messages, you could go for obstruction of justice possibly.
That's in the first 30 seconds of thinking.
I don't think any of those are particularly good, but if you have "no idea, [sic] what her cause of action might be" you aren't trying very hard to think of ideas.
Talked to MAAR’s mom last night in the hotel lobby. She was incredibly nice, justifiably proud, and would NOT stop insisting that she’s still going to come to games. She kept saying “they all say I’m not serious and that I will stop coming, but I’m going to be there.”
She had some nice stories about cooking for MAAR and his roommates and him giving her a hard time because she insisted on feeding all of them instead of leaving him a bunch of leftovers.
She, along with the Wagners and the Robinson family, handled themselves with the utmost class (I assume the same is true of the rest of the families, we just didn’t talk to them).
Tough loss, but it’s still great to be a Michigan Wolverine.
I messaged Stubhub earlier, and they said that they are selling tickets right up to game time and that the pickup center will be open all the way until game time as well. (Sometimes Stubhub stops sales a few hours in advance, but not today apparently).
For anyone thinking about a crazy last minute trip, this is a good use of frequent flyer miles. I used 50K miles to book a ticket that would have cost $1,800 if I paid cash. Pretty good "yield" on your miles. Just booked them yesterday.
And OP, I'll wave from my newly acquired Sec 115 / Row L seats for $250/each incl fees (and it's a mobile ticket, since I arrive at 6PM!). I'll take prayers/well wishes/sacrifices (to the gods or otherwise) for an on-time arrival for AA's CLT-SAT flight this afternoon...
In Boston, this is called banging a left... and the person turning left does not wait for the courtesy of somone "allowing" them to turn left, they just "bang" the left ahead of the oncoming traffic, basically daring the oncoming guy to hit them. You lean to anticipate the move so you don't hit someone else as they bang a left in front of you. It's very common, to the point that if you DON'T bang the left, the people backed up behind the guy turning left are honking...
You may wish to point Matt Mann, Esquire to MCL 600.2591.
600.2591 Frivolous civil action or defense to civil action; awarding costs and fees to prevailing party; definitions.
Sec. 2591.
(1) Upon motion of any party, if a court finds that a civil action or defense to a civil action was frivolous, the court that conducts the civil action shall award to the prevailing party the costs and fees incurred by that party in connection with the civil action by assessing the costs and fees against the nonprevailing party and their attorney.
(2) The amount of costs and fees awarded under this section shall include all reasonable costs actually incurred by the prevailing party and any costs allowed by law or by court rule, including court costs and reasonable attorney fees.
(3) As used in this section:
(a) “Frivolous” means that at least 1 of the following conditions is met:
(i) The party's primary purpose in initiating the action or asserting the defense was to harass, embarrass, or injure the prevailing party.
(ii) The party had no reasonable basis to believe that the facts underlying that party's legal position were in fact true.
(iii) The party's legal position was devoid of arguable legal merit.
(b) “Prevailing party” means a party who wins on the entire record.
UM will always be able to get rid of Harbaugh, and Harbaugh will always be able to walk if he wants. In both cases, it is just a matter of what price you have to pay to do so. That is really what a contract dictates -- the alternative to staying locked together.
So what good does a "lifetime contract" give each party? Pretty much depends entirely on what the terms are for exiting/breaching the contract.
"Nobody is going back to look at rankings at the time of a player's commitment."
Ok, you can't complain about #content, keep publishing Drafteggedon, and then put a quote like that out there. Wouldn't that be pretty interesting to do? Might not even half to be at the time they sign, but rather correlate rankings 1 year prior to signing day, 1.5, 2.0 to eventual sucess. Sounds like the perfect project for someone around here.
And you could do it by service to see who is the good early indicator. Seems like that would be very interesting content.
Course recommendation: intro to logic in the Philosophy department. Name has probably changed, but it is something along those lines. Pretty easy, incredibly useful. In fact, I think it has the best utility/effort ratio of any course I took at Michigan.
For instance, in outlining logical fallacies, an important (because it is used so often) one is appeal to authority, which is preciely what ptMac does: trust me because of my qualifications, which is simply a distraction from the fact that no true argument is made. Appeal to authority is actually a sub-category of a broader set of logical fallacies whose name escapes me (sorry... 15 years since I had that class!), but is generally defined as "distractions from the the fact that they do not address the core argument." Red herrings are the same thing.
Those look good. Picture looks like a Big Green Egg or similar kamado-style smoker. I have one as well... so my question is, do you put these on direct heat or indirect heat (using the plate setter)?
It sort of looks like you have a place setter in place with the legs up on your BGE, but wanted to check because I thought doing it direct may be important to get the skin to crisp up. Would love to know which way you went and thanks for passing along the recipe!
Is there something similar to first sale doctrine for trademarks? I think he is OK here -- this is either fair use or first sale doctrine. (the guy he bought the helmet from paid a royalty/license fee, so the University has been given its compensation, and can't dictate what you do with it after you buy it). But he would have to buy officialy licensed mini-helmets -- you couldn't get a generic blue helmet and put wings on it.
The demographics are pretty interesting. Gender, income, and education all make sense, but I was quite suprised at how many (since it's mostly men) fathers there are here. About half. And, judging by the ages, and the brands of consumer products associated with the site, I'm guessing largely young fathers. As a young father (yep, three year old picked my avatar), makes sense to me! Anything to escape changing diapers and mediating sibling disputes!
MGoBlog: Where you go to advertise luxury cars and baby gear.
I ran the Chicago Marathon wearing a Block M singlet from the UM Running Club and probably heard "Go Blue!" a thousand times. Lots of people wear their names on the jersey so people can cheer for them, but the block M is way better -- I knew they were talking to me, people yell it enthusiastically, and its great to hear the support. It is simply fantastic.
Plus, I ended up running next to a guy wearing an ND singlet and got to talk lots of smack to him (this was right when we had beaten them a few years in a row, including that year).
Bo, signed, you in it, from your dad... very jealous.
Only way it could be better is if it was your son in the picture -- in other words, I think your DAD had the coolest thing ever. Glad it is hanging in your office, must make for great memories.
If he is trying to bash the South, that's pretty dumb (see below). Now, Rhode Island, on the other hand, that is a state where no one goes to Stanford (literally, at least, in the latest freshman class. It was the only state that didn't send anyone to Stanford undergrad).
From Stanford's website:
Class of 2016 by the numbers
The largest group of incoming students – 38.1 percent – graduated from California high schools.
The next top five regions represented in the class are the South (15.1 percent); international students and U.S. students who completed high school studying abroad (9.7 percent); the Mid-Atlantic (9.2 percent); Far West – Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii (8 percent); and the Mid-West (7.8 percent). The other regions are Mountain States (6.3 percent); New England (3.7 percent); and the Great Plains (1.8 percent).
When I saw this I was pretty impressed -- Josh Bekenstein is indeed a member of TRU's board of directors (well, I presume -- I know he is a Managing Director at Bain Capital, who partly owns TRU).
I wanted to point you towards some food options, but let's get a few things out of the way first:
* I love Fenway, and I'm a Tiger's fan. I think it is the best place in America to watch a game. Seat recommendations above all seem about right
* I'll add endorsements for the Freedom Trail if you like walking (very easy to turn it into a massive bar crawl as well) or the Duck Tours if you aren't big into walking. Both are fantastic.
* Cape/Islands: yes, very expensive, and yes, very busy. Alternative: Newburyport on Cape Ann, north of the city. You can even get there by rail if you so choose. I like Martha's Vineyard myself over Nantucket, but it's all pretty similar.
* Avoid the Fanneuil Hall area unless you like tourist traps. Nothing there of real interest other than shops and not good but expensive restaurants (exception: Wagamama, a UK-based noodle chain that is pretty good and inexpensive)
* If you like cheap food and artisan crafts, South End Market is lots of fun on the weekends. There should be food trucks aplenty (My favorite is an Asian one called Bon Me), plus artsy stuff to buy as well as all sorts of food stuffs.
OK, differentiated advice, mostly on food:
* If you want to find the best food, head to one of two places: North End, for Italian and some seafood options, and South End for everything else. There are good food options in Back Bay and elsewhere around, but I think the best -- especially if you don't want to drop big $$s -- are in North End and South End, which, incidentally, are not particularly close to each other.
* Specific recommendations: Neptune's in North End (Seafood), Mike's or Modern Pastry in North End (canoli) are classics. There are many good Italian options there. Mama Maria's is pretty solid and on a pretty little square. Moving to South End, I'd recommend Metropolis on the more affordable end. If you don't mind spending $60/person or so for dinner, both The Butcher Shop and B&G Oysters are fantastic. All are on Tremont Street. On Washington Street, Stella's is good Italian, but the real winner is Toro for tapas. No reservations and you can expect to wait for some time, but amazing food and drinks. Get the corn and a dark and stormy, and then tuck into a bunch of tapas.
* Breakfast: go to Flour Bakery. There is one in South End and one in Central Square in Cambridge (and one more I think, somewhere else). Sticky buns are what they are known for, but the place has a ton of amazing food. Sandwiches are incredible as well. If I only gave you one piece of advice, this would be it. Pretty cheap ($15 for a meal; less for breakfast)
* Unless you just can't help yourself, skip Cheers. Just a bunch of tourists with bad service and overpriced beer. Would you like to see where the people who used to go to the Bull & Finch (the bar that Cheers is based on; is now actually called Cheers on Beacon St) would now go? Turn the corner from the Cheers on Beacon Street, and go up to 77 Charles Street, home of The Sevens. Fantastic neighborhood bar. Oh how I miss it.
* While drinking at The Sevens, put your name in at The Paramount across the street for inexpensive ($15-$20 entrees) comfort food. Or, if you want to see a different part of town, go to Metropolis in South End.
* Harvard Square is a fun place to visit, just because of the energy. Grab a drink at Grendel's Den, walk the square, walk Harvard Yard, and then head out. Preferably to Davis Square.
* If you have time and want to get a non-touristry experience, go to Davis Square in Somerville. The bowling alley/flatbread place is good food and lots of fun, and Red Bones is great BBQ for cheap. Fantastic energy there -- even better than Harvard Square. (Source: I used to live in Harvard Square)
* If you really don't mind splashing some cash on food, my favorite restaurant in the world is Craigie on Main in Cambridge. Very casual (wear jeans) but James Beard-award winning chef and amazing food. If you go early you can sit in the bar and order the legendary burger and walk out for $40/head with a drink each. Otherwise, seated at a table, you can drop serious cash. $500 for two is not out of the question if you do degustation with supplements and wine pairings.
* If you are going to the Cape, Chatham Bars Inn is a gorgeous (very expensive) hotel there that you can stop and get a drink at and enjoy the ocean views from the porch, and is very convenient to the Chatham Pier Fish Market. There, you can have them drop a lobster in the water and have it boiled for you and eat it right on the dock it came in from only hours earlier, for way cheap too. No service, you'll be eating off a paper plate, but the most amazing lobster and mega-cheap.
I moved away about four years ago and miss the city so... probably my favorite place I've lived out of AA, Chicago, NYC, Boston, and Charlotte.
Having been to Harvard Stadium a few times while a grad student and the Yale Bowl a number of times as well, I would offer three pieces of info:
1. The game day experience of the Harvard-Yale game is unlike any other game that either team plays. If you are going to visit, do it for H-Y or you will probably have a subpar experience.
2. More people go for the tailgating than the game, and it's highly likely that no one will no anything about the actual football about to be played. It's like if you distilled our hate for OSU down but then subtracted all knowledge of football. But it's still fun.
3. For my money, despite having a degree from Harvard, I think that Yale has a better game day experience. Part of that is that as far as I can tell, Harvard undergrads are incapable of having fun while the Yalies seem to have no issue with it.
Having grown up on Michigan football and then attended UM undergrad, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of tailgating and the ability to show such disdain for a rival -- although I have to say it is usually classy disdain. I've been to four H-Y games, usually dressed in Harvard gear (always with a M hat though), and never been meaningfully harassed in any way other than playful teasing, and always in good fun. Big contrast from wearing my UM geat to the Shoe and getting full beer bottles thrown at me and racial slurs thrown at my friends.
Many people are "afraid" of needles because they suffer from vasovagal syncope. I should know, since I am one of them.
Basically, one's body overreacts to stimuli (in this case, needles), causing a drop in blood pressure that can lead to fainting. In my case, it leads to naseau and some incredibly intense sweating as well. It's not fun. There is litereally nothing I can do about it. I actually developed it while at U of M, having had dozens of shots before that without incident. Then, one day at the dental school, got a little lidocaine, felt dizy/naseaus and woke up with an (entirely unncessary) oxygen mask on.
Since it is a physiological reaction that causes the symptoms, it's pretty easy to adjust for it -- just lie down so that the drop in blood pressure doesn't cause such a severe drop in blood to the brain.
I get the reaction whether the shot or blood draw is expertly applied or completely botched.
FWIW, I still get all of my vaccinations and have my blood routinely drawn to check for cholesterol, etc.
Google flights lets you search large groups of airports for both origin and destination, and then will further suggest changes to dates to get cheapest fares. If you are really flexible, it's a great tool. Check it out:
Recent Comments
Guys, you need to give more frequent time updates to help people sync up. Otherwise like this! Thanks!
It’s a little frightening how emotionally invested I am in getting to read this before the season. Seriously… this went from a “meh” day to a very exciting day.
South Quad x2. 6th Gomberg was fine. 5th Bush changed my life, because the eventually-to-be-Mrs. Olaf moved in around the corner from me mid-year.
It was from Schlissel’s emails that were released. It’s become the default way to mock/say you disapprove of him
Well, this topic has been up for an hour, and it could still easily go off the rails, but so far... it is sort of heartening to see so many "Listen, this is a very challenging topic with no clear answers... On the one hand... and on the other..."
I like the acknowledgment that it is indeed challenging. I have no idea what the "right" answer is here. But I think we get closer to the "best" answer when people are thoughtfully engaging on the valid concerns of both sides of this issue.
I always find it easiest to put myself in different shoes... how would I feel if I had a trans daughter? Or how would I feel if my daughter got bumped off a team/lost a championship/etc when competing against a trans woman? Man, it really is a tough question.
You're not the only one. Per their Twitter, demand has crashed their site. Great story. I get it. If this was Michigan instead of Tennessee I'd buy one and wear it until it was threadbare.
69 Boyz and Here Kitty Kitty: https://youtu.be/VP4Ezq77LsQ?t=91
There has been at least some discussion of all this before:
https://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/coolio-amani-toomer
Big hitter, the Lama. Long.
Well said LSA, thanks for all of your contributions here, in posts and in moderation!
Anyone click through to the Twitter caption contest on the timeout video?
Best one: "Penn State finally understanding the importance of other coaches speaking up when they see a problem."
FTW.
Gauls. Scrumtrulescent. Howl quote. And man nipples.
This is simply fantastic work. TMD.
I mean, they heard it straight from Jenny McCarthy, how could it have been wrong?
Bravo, LSA2K, that was a good reply to them. I'm not sure I'd want to be around anti-vaxxers anyways, so not much of a loss...
Actually, that's not even close to true. Round off the $11B in endowment. It disburses 4.5% of its value each year (that's roughly the 7.5% expected nominal return less 3% inflation), so around $500M. The university took in $1.24B in net tuition last year.
http://2017.annualreport.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/56/2018/01/05-2017-UM-Financial-Report-financial-statements-consolidated-statements.pdf
https:…
You mean like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM28YFrMdfI
I'm gonna go with negligence, possibly negligence per se under Title IX. Probably wouldn't win, but seems like it could survive an early motion to dismiss and proceed to discovery. OSU wouldn't care about potential damages (de minimus), but would greatly care about being subject to both media scrutiny and discovery.
Not sure about about Ohio case law and rules, but spoliation is another one that could creep in here. Heck, if you were getting creative as a prosecutor and there were crimes between Zach and Courtney and Urbs deleted related text messages, you could go for obstruction of justice possibly.
That's in the first 30 seconds of thinking.
I don't think any of those are particularly good, but if you have "no idea, [sic] what her cause of action might be" you aren't trying very hard to think of ideas.
I messaged Stubhub earlier, and they said that they are selling tickets right up to game time and that the pickup center will be open all the way until game time as well. (Sometimes Stubhub stops sales a few hours in advance, but not today apparently).
So plenty of time to get tickets still!
For anyone thinking about a crazy last minute trip, this is a good use of frequent flyer miles. I used 50K miles to book a ticket that would have cost $1,800 if I paid cash. Pretty good "yield" on your miles. Just booked them yesterday.
And OP, I'll wave from my newly acquired Sec 115 / Row L seats for $250/each incl fees (and it's a mobile ticket, since I arrive at 6PM!). I'll take prayers/well wishes/sacrifices (to the gods or otherwise) for an on-time arrival for AA's CLT-SAT flight this afternoon...
In Boston, this is called banging a left... and the person turning left does not wait for the courtesy of somone "allowing" them to turn left, they just "bang" the left ahead of the oncoming traffic, basically daring the oncoming guy to hit them. You lean to anticipate the move so you don't hit someone else as they bang a left in front of you. It's very common, to the point that if you DON'T bang the left, the people backed up behind the guy turning left are honking...
You may wish to point Matt Mann, Esquire to MCL 600.2591.
600.2591 Frivolous civil action or defense to civil action; awarding costs and fees to prevailing party; definitions.
Sec. 2591.
(1) Upon motion of any party, if a court finds that a civil action or defense to a civil action was frivolous, the court that conducts the civil action shall award to the prevailing party the costs and fees incurred by that party in connection with the civil action by assessing the costs and fees against the nonprevailing party and their attorney.
(2) The amount of costs and fees awarded under this section shall include all reasonable costs actually incurred by the prevailing party and any costs allowed by law or by court rule, including court costs and reasonable attorney fees.
(3) As used in this section:
(a) “Frivolous” means that at least 1 of the following conditions is met:
(i) The party's primary purpose in initiating the action or asserting the defense was to harass, embarrass, or injure the prevailing party.
(ii) The party had no reasonable basis to believe that the facts underlying that party's legal position were in fact true.
(iii) The party's legal position was devoid of arguable legal merit.
(b) “Prevailing party” means a party who wins on the entire record.
UM will always be able to get rid of Harbaugh, and Harbaugh will always be able to walk if he wants. In both cases, it is just a matter of what price you have to pay to do so. That is really what a contract dictates -- the alternative to staying locked together.
So what good does a "lifetime contract" give each party? Pretty much depends entirely on what the terms are for exiting/breaching the contract.
I mean... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski#Mathematics_career
Dude. C'mon now. Yes, that statement is technically true, but 4% to 7%?
"Nobody is going back to look at rankings at the time of a player's commitment."
Ok, you can't complain about #content, keep publishing Drafteggedon, and then put a quote like that out there. Wouldn't that be pretty interesting to do? Might not even half to be at the time they sign, but rather correlate rankings 1 year prior to signing day, 1.5, 2.0 to eventual sucess. Sounds like the perfect project for someone around here.
And you could do it by service to see who is the good early indicator. Seems like that would be very interesting content.
Course recommendation: intro to logic in the Philosophy department. Name has probably changed, but it is something along those lines. Pretty easy, incredibly useful. In fact, I think it has the best utility/effort ratio of any course I took at Michigan.
For instance, in outlining logical fallacies, an important (because it is used so often) one is appeal to authority, which is preciely what ptMac does: trust me because of my qualifications, which is simply a distraction from the fact that no true argument is made. Appeal to authority is actually a sub-category of a broader set of logical fallacies whose name escapes me (sorry... 15 years since I had that class!), but is generally defined as "distractions from the the fact that they do not address the core argument." Red herrings are the same thing.
Those look good. Picture looks like a Big Green Egg or similar kamado-style smoker. I have one as well... so my question is, do you put these on direct heat or indirect heat (using the plate setter)?
It sort of looks like you have a place setter in place with the legs up on your BGE, but wanted to check because I thought doing it direct may be important to get the skin to crisp up. Would love to know which way you went and thanks for passing along the recipe!
All your hyphens are belong to us!
Would look great in my office
Is there something similar to first sale doctrine for trademarks? I think he is OK here -- this is either fair use or first sale doctrine. (the guy he bought the helmet from paid a royalty/license fee, so the University has been given its compensation, and can't dictate what you do with it after you buy it). But he would have to buy officialy licensed mini-helmets -- you couldn't get a generic blue helmet and put wings on it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-sale_doctrine
The demographics are pretty interesting. Gender, income, and education all make sense, but I was quite suprised at how many (since it's mostly men) fathers there are here. About half. And, judging by the ages, and the brands of consumer products associated with the site, I'm guessing largely young fathers. As a young father (yep, three year old picked my avatar), makes sense to me! Anything to escape changing diapers and mediating sibling disputes!
MGoBlog: Where you go to advertise luxury cars and baby gear.
"And they are only getting more confident and more selfless and more united in what they are doing."
The Team, The Team, The Team...
I ran the Chicago Marathon wearing a Block M singlet from the UM Running Club and probably heard "Go Blue!" a thousand times. Lots of people wear their names on the jersey so people can cheer for them, but the block M is way better -- I knew they were talking to me, people yell it enthusiastically, and its great to hear the support. It is simply fantastic.
Plus, I ended up running next to a guy wearing an ND singlet and got to talk lots of smack to him (this was right when we had beaten them a few years in a row, including that year).
Put 'em together, it just makes sense!
(Bonus upvotes for any parents that have seen Frozen enough to get that one...)
If you're gonna jerk off, why don't you do it at home with a moist towel?
You're lecturing me on life?
Bo, signed, you in it, from your dad... very jealous.
Only way it could be better is if it was your son in the picture -- in other words, I think your DAD had the coolest thing ever. Glad it is hanging in your office, must make for great memories.
/end thread
It's kind of easy when you're listening to the G-Dub sound
it has 28 hours to get its load of Coors back to Ann Arbor while avoiding the cops. Was Burt Reynolds driving?
(dating myself here, although to be fair I wasn't even born in 1977)
Perhaps people aren't seeing your avatar... well, I'll upvote. I laughed out loud at this one, but then again, I'm very easily amused.
If he is trying to bash the South, that's pretty dumb (see below). Now, Rhode Island, on the other hand, that is a state where no one goes to Stanford (literally, at least, in the latest freshman class. It was the only state that didn't send anyone to Stanford undergrad).
From Stanford's website:
Class of 2016 by the numbers
The largest group of incoming students – 38.1 percent – graduated from California high schools.
The next top five regions represented in the class are the South (15.1 percent); international students and U.S. students who completed high school studying abroad (9.7 percent); the Mid-Atlantic (9.2 percent); Far West – Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii (8 percent); and the Mid-West (7.8 percent). The other regions are Mountain States (6.3 percent); New England (3.7 percent); and the Great Plains (1.8 percent).
When I saw this I was pretty impressed -- Josh Bekenstein is indeed a member of TRU's board of directors (well, I presume -- I know he is a Managing Director at Bain Capital, who partly owns TRU).
Yeah, that gets me.
I'll add Bridge to Terabithia from childhood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh-ybAfF7HY
Having been to Harvard Stadium a few times while a grad student and the Yale Bowl a number of times as well, I would offer three pieces of info:
1. The game day experience of the Harvard-Yale game is unlike any other game that either team plays. If you are going to visit, do it for H-Y or you will probably have a subpar experience.
2. More people go for the tailgating than the game, and it's highly likely that no one will no anything about the actual football about to be played. It's like if you distilled our hate for OSU down but then subtracted all knowledge of football. But it's still fun.
3. For my money, despite having a degree from Harvard, I think that Yale has a better game day experience. Part of that is that as far as I can tell, Harvard undergrads are incapable of having fun while the Yalies seem to have no issue with it.
Having grown up on Michigan football and then attended UM undergrad, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of tailgating and the ability to show such disdain for a rival -- although I have to say it is usually classy disdain. I've been to four H-Y games, usually dressed in Harvard gear (always with a M hat though), and never been meaningfully harassed in any way other than playful teasing, and always in good fun. Big contrast from wearing my UM geat to the Shoe and getting full beer bottles thrown at me and racial slurs thrown at my friends.
Many people are "afraid" of needles because they suffer from vasovagal syncope. I should know, since I am one of them.
Basically, one's body overreacts to stimuli (in this case, needles), causing a drop in blood pressure that can lead to fainting. In my case, it leads to naseau and some incredibly intense sweating as well. It's not fun. There is litereally nothing I can do about it. I actually developed it while at U of M, having had dozens of shots before that without incident. Then, one day at the dental school, got a little lidocaine, felt dizy/naseaus and woke up with an (entirely unncessary) oxygen mask on.
Since it is a physiological reaction that causes the symptoms, it's pretty easy to adjust for it -- just lie down so that the drop in blood pressure doesn't cause such a severe drop in blood to the brain.
I get the reaction whether the shot or blood draw is expertly applied or completely botched.
FWIW, I still get all of my vaccinations and have my blood routinely drawn to check for cholesterol, etc.
Here is more info on it:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/vasovagal-syncope/basics/…
Google flights lets you search large groups of airports for both origin and destination, and then will further suggest changes to dates to get cheapest fares. If you are really flexible, it's a great tool. Check it out:
https://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=DTW,FNT,MBS,LAN,TOL;t=MCO,SFB,…