The Harvard of Fan Clubs

Stuff White People Like, #98: The Ivy League (see http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/05/06/98-the-ivy-league/).

Of course the comments deteriorated into the usual blah blah around whether Harvard is or isn't over-rated. One poster of the "isn't" persuasion noted that colleges not in the northeast tend to promote themselves by saying they are the "Harvard of Where-ever." True, that. But what if "Harvard" were used to mean "widely perceived as being the best but often challenged as over-rated, also the oldest and very expensive and maybe the most prestigious but tainted with a wee (sometimes not so wee) bit of pretension?"

Then "the Harvard of" could be applied to a vast array of subjects. Here we give it a try:

The Daily Show is the Harvard of Comedy Central.
The black lab is the Harvard of dogs.
Slow-cook oatmeal is the Harvard of breakfast.
The American beech is the Harvard of trees.
The cello is the Harvard of instruments.
The Maine coon cat is the Harvard of cats.
The peony is the Harvard of perennials.
The quiche is the Harvard of brunch.
Alex Beam is the Harvard of Boston Globe "g" columnists.
The butterfly is the Harvard of swimming strokes.
The duck boot is the Harvard of wet cold winter footwear.
The Boston rocker is the Harvard of chairs.
Ikea is the Harvard of discount shopping.
Trader Joe's is the Harvard of grocery stores.
The turkey is the Harvard of fowl.
The cable-knit pullover is the Harvard of sweaters
The almond is the Harvard of nuts.
Lobster is the Harvard of seafood.
Cheesecake is the Harvard of desserts.
The latte is the Harvard of coffee drinks

DGF is the Harvard of Civil War scholars (except there is no doubt she is the best and she isn't even the wee-est bit pretentious).