Why You Should Pay Attention to Crew Crews

While searching for small-town beefcake, I've been concentrating on swim and wrestling teams, and ignoring crew, because the athletes don't typically take their shirts off.

I'll have to rethink that strategy.

Crew is another word for rowing, a sport requiring teams of 4 or 8 to propel a small boat (called a shell) across for 2 or 5 k races.  It requires tremendous endurance, stamina, and upper-body strength, so crew crews tend to be extremely muscular.

And I've noticed something else about them.







The equipment is frightfully expensive, so crew is associated with exclusive private schools and Ivy League Colleges, although there are teams at Texas A&M, Oklahoma State University, and SUNY Oswego.

This crew is from Harvard.













This one is from Yale.  Rowing apparently requires that everything be snugly placed, with part of your equipment on one side and part on the other.












Very snugly placed, as this team from UCLA demonstrates.

More after the break.

















There are only about 1,700 collegiate male rowers in the U.S.

Why is red the preferred color?  I guess it makes things stand out more.














Hamilton College.

Of course, you can't seen anything while they are rowing, but afterwards their capabilities are fully visible.















St. Joseph's Preparatory School.



















Wayland-Weston is a private crew club in Wayland, MA.  Apparently they make you drop your pants to see if you qualify.
















The rowing association of Sammamish, WA.



















Crew is played at many international events, including the Olympics.  Here the Australian team shows that they can compete.