As my "Sports Monday" began with the jolly tale of UNC's incredible surmounting of the Blue Devils (an 0-10 football team) and with the sob stories depicting both men's basketball and soccer losing by a narrow margin to lower-ranked teams, I opted to save the surprisingly picture-less piece (by Gavin Off) about the loss-less women's soccer squad (21-0) for dessert. So, I tried an editorial by a possible future colleague Amy Noon, who as "an upperclassmen" felt the need to express SRC's dire inadequacy. Quite frankly, an article in front of a word in plural didn't sour the taste buds until I reread the complaint. However, reading about how she didn't "enjoy spending to extra money" immediately left a funny aftertaste.
Still, not being a picky eater when it comes to The Readers' Forum, I attributed this to the Unedited Mail Syndrome and quickly sunk my teeth back into the savory soccer news.
How naive of me -- many more a tooth was I destined to lose before biting through merely two-thirds of the article. A starting goalkeeper throughout high school, I drew a blank trying to make some sense of the way Duke pressured UNC, forcing several goalie kicks. So, when I learned that Jordan Walker's goal gave UNC the lifted it needed, I realized that this too needed a second read. Which surely enough put another hairline crack in the grin of my respect for this 108-year-old paper: "That's critical to any championship run is to have a great defense."
And thus I don't seem to have a choice, but to "reserve the right" to cover (or at least proofread) the story of The Team's 17th attempt to seize NCAA Championship. Dear ladies, have I your vote?
Leonid Y. Orlov
Class of '00
Psychology
