Harvard Is Number One

NO BRAGGING phone calls to friends at state schools. No rallies on the Widener steps. No explosion of tee-shirt sales in the Square. By these measures, it's been an off-year for Harvard in intercollegiate competition. The hockey team's failure to win even a slot in the NCAA tournament caused many to vow to "wait 'til next year."

This year, however, hasn't been as bad for the University as some people suppose. Harvard's math team, chess team, bridge team and on-topic debate team placed first in the country against formidable opposition. Put bluntly, we kicked some intellectual butt.

Admittedly, such endeavors are not exactly spectator sports. "The Wave" is not allowed during debate rounds, and anyone caught yelling "Sieve!" would be ejected from the site of a chess or math competition. It is hard to picture a well-attended rally in front of Widener in honor of the bridge team, even if it did receive the full backing of the Society of Nerds and Geeks.

Regardless, the victories of the chess, math, debate and bridge teams say something about Harvard that cannot be captured by a "Harvard Hockey, National Champs" shirt. Whether we are embarassed to admit it, we refuse to admit it or we admit it way too often, Harvard attracts the best students in the country--US News and World Report's annual blathering notwithstanding.

So even though the icemen didn't win one for Cleary in his last year as head coach, and even though we don't get to claim to our friends that we attend a jock school, don't believe that the year so far has been a total loss. Given Harvard's remarkable success in more intellectual endeavors, we'd take this year over last year anytime.