Penny races

The curmudgeon - long before he was one - was at Brown while his older brother was as well.  Joining a fraternity (never "frat") was a big part of the culture.


They each had a personality - the jock fraternity, the pipe-smoking-in-a-smoking jacket one, even the animal house, (which put the one in the movie to shame).


The pre-curmudgeon joined a genteel one, despite it's later reputation for the pool we built out front and jumped from a second story window into 3' of water.  We're talking 1967 - we were running on sex, drugs, and Rock&Roll.


The curmudgeon's big brother was in one that was a tad more adventurous.  The penny races were simple things - a high beer content competition where the contestants would race to move a penny across the rug with their noses.


I'm not making this up - the day-later bandaged noses (rug burns and such) were viewed as a badge of honor.


And this was one of the top colleges in America.