This Is Not Political, But...

...it does concern George W. Bush. The L.A. Times published a photo from the 1969 Yale yearbook showing Bush engaged in what was a really clumsy and also really illegal tackle. The caption claims that he was punching the other player in the face. I'm not sure, but I know what I likes and I likes what I sees. As a present-day Yale rugby player, I'd vote to put this on our website.

UPDATE: The NYDN gossip column purports to expose Bush for lyingly claiming to have played "varsity" rugby. Apparently, Lloyd Grove contacted a Yale administrator who told him that there never has been "varsity" rugby at Yale. I'd like to know which administrator he talked to. It's not as if representatives of the team are unavailable. This varsity/not varsity stuff is bullshit. Rugby can't be a varsity sport by definition because it's not a NCAA sport; it's regulated by regional rugby football unions all over the country which also regulate the amateur and semi-professional men's leagues, and all college teams are private clubs partially-independent of their universities. When Bush was at Yale, and today as well, Yale rugby competes at the highest level of American collegiate rugby. If we do well enough, we could contend for a national championship. Our football team can't say that. While what Bush said might not have been technically true, it's simpler just to say he played varsity than to go through this explanation (as he would have had to many, many times with diminishing returns), and closer to the truth, in terms of what one would infer about his play, than it would have been if he had said he didn't play varsity. Moreover, the distinction between varsity and non-varsity athletics in those days just wasn't what it is now. Lay off the president on this one. [That's not a political statement!--ed.]