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Never Mind “The Game” — For Law Students, These Are the Real Sports Rivalries

Students wearing team jerseys, standing in a group with a football, on grass covered with fall leaves and colorful foliage in the background
The Yale Law Journal football team

In a decades-old rivalry, Yale beat Harvard in the fall sports event of the season this year — twice. But this isn’t about the big win at Yale Bowl on Nov. 18, when the Bulldogs defeated the Crimson in a rematch of one of college football’s most storied competitions. For some Yale Law School students, the weekend’s real action took place before The Game in a local park and at a high school gym. While the contests between Yale and Harvard law students aren’t as old or famous as the legendary Ivy League game, these friendly competitions of tag football and basketball are treasured traditions.

A student wearing a judge's robe and wig runs on the basketball court
Davis Parker ’24 refereed the Court Classic basketball game, dressing to look impartial. 

The newer of the Yale-Harvard law student matchups is the Court Classic, a charity basketball tournament that dates to 2004. Like many annual events, the game took a pause during the pandemic. Harvard Law students brought back an informal version of it in Cambridge last year, in keeping with the practice of having the game in the city that hosts The Game. Yale Law School students declared the return official by hosting this year in New Haven.

“COVID zapped so much of YLS’s institutional memory, and I know all the players were especially proud to be a small part of recovering that history,” said Davis Parker ’24, who helped organized the game and served as referee. “These sparks of joy, community, and school pride may be small on their own, but they add up to so much.”

There were some law student touches. The Yale team determined players’ court time by an algorithm three students designed to factor in each player’s year in school, relative basketball strengths, and practice attendance. In another legal spin on the game, the referee wore a judge’s robe and wig instead of the usual stripes.

The Friday night game would be Yale’s first victory heading into the weekend. Led by top scorer Carl Lasker ’24 with 17 points, Yale won 64-59. Parker called the game a balanced effort, with contributions from Brandon Nye  ’24 on offense, Rachel “Rudie” Ruderman ’24 making some big shots, and Avi Gupta ’26 bringing energy off the bench. Nate Brown ’25, Kevin Chisholm ’25, and Ross Puritty ’26 helped around the basket, he added.

These sparks of joy, community, and school pride may be small on their own, but they add up to so much.”

— Davis Parker ’24

The evening’s other big winner was New Haven Legal Assistance, which the Yale Law School team selected as the game’s beneficiary. As in past years, organizers collected donations from spectators for a local cause of the winning team’s choice. Had Harvard won this year, the proceeds would have gone to the Greater Boston Food Bank.

“We see the event as an opportunity to draw YLS and HLS students’ attention to a local need, and while we have a lot of fun playing the game, the event feels particularly meaningful when we are also having a positive impact on others,” Parker said.

A basketball player about to pass the ball. Another player defends with his arm up.
Kishore Chundi ’26 makes his way down the court. 

By Saturday morning, hours before the better-known football game, editors of the Yale Law Journal were in a neighborhood park, getting ready to take on the editors of the Harvard Law Review in tag football. They were carrying on a tradition that goes back to at least the 1950s. The archives of the Yale Law Journal — a student-run organization independent from Yale Law School — contain typewritten letters between the two sets of editors from back when the game was planned by mail. Some letters are even signed by the respective teams’ “athletic directors,” according to Connor Brashear ’25, a First-Year Editor and a team co-captain, alongside Aren Torikian ’24 and Chase Hinman ’25. It’s the same tone of mock-seriousness that pervades the official accounts of the past years’ games published on the Yale Law Journal’s website.

This year’s game was not the first time on the field together for the Journal’s current group of editors, either. They’d been practicing. For weeks leading up to the game, they met to draw up plays and routes, train players for respective positions, and scrimmage.

This is a really special rivalry, one built on deep mutual respect.”

— Dena Shata ’24

The preparation paid off. The team scored a decisive win of 49-35, avenging a defeat in Cambridge last year. The team’s top scorer was Riley Gordon ’25, whose touchdown gave the team an early lead. He went on to catch two more touchdowns from quarterback Matt Buck ‘24. Other touchdowns came from Nathan Chael ’24, who caught two touchdowns and threw for another, Aren Torikian ’24, who made a diving touchdown catch, and Henry Wu ’25, who elevated above two Harvard players to haul in a pass and score. Meghan Gupta ’25 and Sharon Nunn ’25 added key receptions, while Jonathan Perez-Reyzin ’24 secured the game’s only sack on defense.

Group of students in gym clothes standing in a circle on the edge of a basketball court, leaning in to listen.
Yale Law School's basketball team huddles during a timeout.

While their respective one-game “seasons” may be over for both Yale law student teams for now, it’s not the end of students’ time in sports. Parker said his team’s players will hit the courts of the Payne Whitney Gym for fun throughout the year and are already thinking about ways to raise more funds for charity at next year’s game.

Meanwhile, the law journal editors shared that they have plans to expand their game by reviving a tag football tournament called the Bluebook Invitational this spring. In past years, this tournament included teams from all four schools — Yale, Harvard, Penn and Columbia — whose law journal editors jointly compile the legal citation guide known as The Bluebook.

Large group of students wearing Yale jerseys and scarves, stand outside in a park surrounded by fall foliage
The Yale Law Journal football team and some of its fans.

No matter who wins, don’t expect any hard feelings off the field.

“This is a really special rivalry, one built on deep mutual respect. These editors work incredibly hard to help develop legal scholarship, and this football game provides an opportunity to celebrate that great work, maintain time-honored traditions, and foster community across our mastheads,” Yale Law Journal Editor-in-Chief Dena Shata ’24 said.

Parker noted that the comradery among teammates and even across teams will continue after graduation as players cross paths professionally.

“I think we all recognize that, ultimately, we’re on the same team,” he said. “At its best, this game is an opportunity to build relationships that will span the length of our careers and to create shared memories that connect us both to our institutions and one another.”