My 17 years at The Day can't hold a candle to the longevity of the nation's oldest intercollegiate sports rivalry.

The 145 races in the 158 years of the Harvard-Yale rowing rivalry never grows old to me. Perhaps it should, but there is a certain redundancy to the images of rowers pulling the four-mile course up the Thames every spring, and yet when given the opportunity to spend a couple weeks this year documenting the lives of the two teams as they took up residency in Gales Ferry I jumped at the chance.

I got to enjoy mornings and evenings on the river; I got to see the crews as they relaxed with games of ping pong or one called "Kan Jam"; I saw meal times and reading and games in their residences. I saw the Yale guys walk to the nearby Gales Ferry library to use the internet and in the end I watched the Harvard crews celebrate a three-race sweep in the actual competition.