Harvard, Yale differ in dealing with off-field incidents

	Harvard coach Tim Murphy has suspended many players this season, including team captain Matthew Thomas. AP
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They like to call it The Game, an event for people who are elite or think they are. It happens each year in November -- the gentlemen of Yale meet the gentlemen of Harvard for 60 minutes of football. The kickoff for the 2006 edition is at noon on Saturday at Harvard Stadium.

But this year things may be a bit different at The Game. As they gather in Cambridge, the ladies and gentlemen of Harvard and Yale will be talking about the successes of their team. Both are 7-2, and there's a chance The Game will decide the Ivy League championship. Yale is 5-1 in the conference, and Harvard is 4-2. Princeton is also 5-1 and faces a Dartmouth team that has won only two of nine games. The championship scenarios range from Yale or Princeton as undisputed champ to a three-way tie among Yale, Harvard and Princeton.

As they ponder a possible championship, the tweedy set will also be wondering about some of the "gentlemen" on the field and other "gentlemen" not on the field. The two ancient rivals have taken different approaches to a series of arrests and brawls involving their players and whether to allow them to play.

Harvard's elected captain and one of its best players, middle linebacker Matthew Thomas, will be missing. He is in the midst of anger-management classes and outpatient alcohol rehabilitation in Maryland after being accused of breaking through the dormitory door of a former girlfriend and attacking her on June 5. Cambridge police found him passed out in the woman's room and charged him with assault and battery, breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony and malicious destruction of private property. Over the objections of Cambridge prosecutors, Thomas was put on "pretrial probation," allowing him to avoid a criminal conviction if he completes the rehab, the anger management and 50 hours of community service.

Harvard will also be missing Keegan Toci, a backup wide receiver who was thrown off the team for what coach Tim Murphy called a "disgusting" performance at the team's annual skit night in September. Two other backup players, tight end Dan Lane and defensive back James Velissaris, missed the season opener because they were suspended for a fight with a shuttle bus driver on campus. And the Crimson's starting quarterback, Liam O'Hagan, has returned from a five-game suspension for a violation of team rules that Harvard will not specify.