East Hill was in fine fashion for Homecoming yesterday afternoon. Kudos to Athletics and Alumni Affairs for pushing back the start time to the football game until 6PM: not only did alumni and students have more time to revel the afternoon away, but as the clouds didn't break until 2PM, it took a while for the air to warm up, and by 4 PM we were all tailgating in fine fashion. So dare I suggest that Cornell might actually be able to reach its goal of rekindling its Homecoming Tradition into a genuine event within a couple more years, and selling out the Crescent in time for the sesquicentennial? By my measure the Crescent was probably 60-70% full yesterday:
Various observations:
* The University ordered 10,000 class t-shirts to pass out to undergraduates. The Class of 2014 t-shirt is pretty sporty with a v-neck and some striping on the sleeves. And special thanks goes out to the undergraduate volunteer who thought that I could still potentially pass as a sophomore to procure aforementioned t-shirt.
* With a football game at 6PM, a Glee Club concert at 8PM, and a Cornell Concert Commission concert at 9PM, perhaps more thought should be put into the timing of Homecoming events.
* The much lauded parade from last year was visibly absent this year. And missed.
* To all of the underage undergraduates on Ho Plaza who refused my offering of free beer: Bravo. You made Ezra, and David Skorton, proud.
* One of the reasons why I love returning to Cornell so much is the ease with which you can strike-up friendships with Cornellians, both rekindling old ones and forging new ones.
* Cornell really needs a homecoming bonfire. But as Cornell's Risk Management office would never allow such a fiasco, perhaps the engineers could project some sort of digital video of a bonfire onto Duffield Hall's facade, or something.
* Also, Milstein Hall is neat, but totally not worth the $50MM the University spent to add 50,000 square feet to its physical plant. But more about that later.
