By Patricia Harris and David Lyon, Globe Correspondents

New Haven: Yale guides swell with pride over the statue of Nathan Hale, “America’s first spy.” Alas, he was nabbed by the British on his first mission. Bela Lyon Pratt’s bronze depicts Hale with his Yale diploma in his pocket as he is about to be hanged. Guides relate an apocryphal tale of the CIA scaling the Yale walls with grappling hooks to make a cast of the statue for Langley headquarters. The actual lie? Hale’s visage was also modeled on a student.
Advantage: Cambridge. Nobody rubs Hale’s foot for luck.