Harvard football student-athlete Carl Ehrlich applies the acronym R.I.C.E. to preseason football practice.

Over a hundred years ago, when Harvard Football was Rooseveltian, the ballers spoke softly and carried big sticks. Today, the Harvard Crimson are walking gingerly and carrying big bottles of water.

Sandals have given way to sneakers, and summer tans now dwindle away under ice bags as the Crimson has entered into full blown survival mode (outside of practice and lift).

Seeing as preseason can be a grueling test of physical endurance, I figured that it could best be described using the old rehabilitation acronym, R.I.C.E. (traditionally; rest, ice, compression, elevation).

REST:
On the field, every player aims to expend every ounce of energy he has on every play; off the field, the goal is exactly the opposite. Team members have run exhaustive tests to determine exactly which walking path minimizes time to the dining hall (discounting appropriately for time spent in the shade and adding time for portions forged in goose droppings). You'll forgive the team if they wear sleeveless shirts on the walk; they aren't showing off, just trying to rid themselves of their practice jersey farmer tans. Some of the players have been accused of walking with a certain swagger, but it's really more of a double-legged limp.

Beyond limiting unnecessary physical exertion, sleep has predictably proven to be the biggest factor in camp survival. Most grown men kiss their wives and children goodbye when they head off to work and anxiously run home to see them at the end of the day. I feel this way about my bed. I've been sticking to the system of seven and a half hours of sleep at night with a half hour nap during the day and I'm militant about this. Continuing the habit of an early bedtime from the summer, I've now trained my friends that if they call after 10 p.m., they'd better be on the way or need a ride to the hospital. If not, they will.

Just as my fan drowns out the errant screams from the basketball court below my window, fatigue has drowned out all the aches and pains in my body. While many different parts of camp have been very difficult, getting to sleep has not been an issue.

ICE:
While ice bags have been helpful in getting over the bumps and bruises of camp, the ice baths have proven to be the fountain of youth. With the exception of some freshman, almost every player on the team has been in the ice bath during camp. We joke in the locker room that Coach Hall, our defensive line coach, only asks the freshman how they are feeling because he already knows how the seniors will answer. If camp had been a couple weeks longer, we might start having our position meetings in those tubs.

COMPRESSION:
The greatest evidence of compression in this year's camp has not been ankle wraps, but rather learning the playbook in the little time that we have. Because Harvard starts school so late, we were forced to start our preseason later than nearly every team we play. Being a senior (and having been around the playbook for four years now) and a defensive tackle (arguably the easiest position to learn on the team), the meetings have been more review than anything else. The same cannot be said for the freshman linemen who were handed a nearly 200 page playbook or the freshman defensive backs, who now have nearly as many pass coverages to learn as I do freshman names.

Another example of compression is watching increasingly infamous 7'9'' Ivan Itchndakilya try and fit into the twin beds that we were given to sleep in during camp. He's not the size thing that sleeps on a twin bed, a twin bed is the size thing that sleeps on him...

Note:
What the letter "C" in R.I.C.E doesn't stand for is CAMP. Anyone who has played college football knows to refer to this time of the year as "preseason" because there is nothing very campy about it. It reminds me of how my mom tells her students that they have "opportunities" instead of tests; optimistic rhetoric will not change the gravity of the situation.

ELEMENTARY LESSONS (originally, "Elevation"):
It's amazing how preseason camp returns us to the lessons that we learned in first grade. To name a few...

Use the buddy system:
Before going to bed every night, I double check my alarm and triple check that I still am on the buddy system with at least three players on the team. With a system as simple as a grade school phone tree, it would be nearly impossible to miss breakfast.

Take your vitamins:
While I'm not taking Flintstone chewables anymore, I am taking a multi-vitamin, a fish oil and a glucosamine tablet every morning. Because 'camp' (which pays no head to things like "weekends," or "holidays") can often resemble the movie, "Groundhog Day," taking these vitamins out of my seven-day divider every morning has been my sole way to keep track of the week.

Say please and thank you:
One of the biggest differences between high school and college football is the amount of time and effort that goes into making the experience what it is. We have clean uniforms in our locker every day, trainers to treat our injuries, managers to film our practices, and secretaries to kick our butts if we get out of line (or need a kind reminder to get a haircut). The fastest way for a freshman to get in the dog house (or the dawg house) with the team is to take one of these for granted.

Take a nap every afternoon:
I didn't really have to be taught this one.