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S A T U R D A Y

Basketball fans revel in their sport’s complex elegance. Baseball fans are obsessed with strategy. Rowing fans are much simpler: They are sadists. They loll insouciantly on the riverbank, quaff beer, and watch as hundreds of unfortunates—the masochists in the S&M pair—succumb to lactic acid poisoning and vomit their guts into the Potomac. Teams from 10 universities compete in the eighth annual George Washington Invitational Crew Classic. Preliminary heats begin at 8 a.m. and the finals start at 1:20 p.m. at Spout Run and finish at Washington Harbour in Georgetown. FREE. (202) 994-0339. (David Plotz)