One memorable year as the eye of the Tiger

A s our time as sports editors for the 131st board of The Daily Princetonian grinds to a halt, we're trying to find meaning in the 12,586,221 hours we've spent working at this paper in the last year, which is technically impossible but entirely true. It turns out that quite a few of those hours were quite useful.

There were basketball games at the Palestra (mostly losses) and one incredible win at the Yale Bowl. There were third-row seats in Madison Square Garden and all-access passes to the Breeders' Cup. A road trip to the Inside Lacrosse Face-off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore ... we'll leave that at that.

We entered the process as naive juniors with little guidance and now leave as seniors who know slightly more about Adobe InDesign and Tigers' sports statistics than will ever be useful.

So before we turn the paper over to the next group of editors, who will undoubtedly let this section fall into endless abyss of mediocrity, we'd like to continue a sports section tradition and pass along to our readers some of the knowledge learned, wisdom earned and observations made during our tenure as editors.

— Nothing brings people together like sports on a small TV.

— Having a common enemy is almost as effective as the tiny television. Thanks, Ashley.

— Remember to use all of your P/D/Fs.

This is harder than it might seem first semester freshman year.

— If you're picking teams for pickup ball at Dillon, always go with the grad students and the angry guy with the glasses and the crazy hair. He's got bonkers range.

— Nothing beats teaching sixth graders how to run the pick and roll and see them run it to perfection in their Dillon basketball league.

— Blaming someone for a fiasco is a surefire way to have the athletic director publicize the story in a varsity athletes' meeting.

— Recruiting a fourth editor who spent his junior year abroad in England causes a guaranteed surplus of columns on British vs. American sports.

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— Do you want to go to the Breeders' Cup and eat fancy food in the press box? Just ask.

— This is said every year but warrants repeating: Go on road trips to sporting events. Football and basketball games are fun, but squash tournaments and field hockey games work just as well. Skip the Street for one night and party at the host school.

— One of those road trips should definitely be to watch a basketball game at the Palestra. With all respect to Jadwin, the Palestra might be the best place to watch a game in the entire country.

— Stuck for feature ideas? Call an alum.

— Sports is cool despite News' best efforts to ruin our reputation by association. We like challenges, though.

— Copy's sense of humor is somewhere next to the dangling participle we sent them in a sentence one time: quickly crossed out with a very efficient stroke of red ink.

— No pressure: All graduating varsity athletes are asked in a survey to rank the 'Prince's' coverage of their team.

— A distraction might cause your opponent to miss the last cup, but it could give away entirely too much information.

— You never know when your knowledge of sports could help you get into the med school of your dreams.

— Nights that begin with a little champagne usually go pretty well.

— Nights that involve the Box of Life usually go extremely well.

— The Penn sports section has no sense of humor, even if they have a cocky editor emeritus with a journalism job and a blog.

Before we depart, we'd like to offer our thanks to those in whose footsteps we followed. Sarah, Thad, Anuj and the Zacks who wooed us as freshmen. Dave, whose brilliant editing made our writing sound much better than it was. Stirling, Dan and Anna, who gave us people to talk to while Dave worked. And Tyler, Todd and Clarke, whose emails can still make us lose our lunch.

Of course, to our most faithful readers: our parents. Thank you.

And finally, to Jennifer, Jason and Jake. Enjoy the ride.