NOTES FROM THE DESK

Author: Tom McCann '06

For as long as I can remember, the sports section has looked the same. Each week, every team has been equally represented with a full-length article about the games they played, sure to be read by most of the players, some of the players' parents and a scattering of sports-enthusiasts among the student body. Don't get me wrong, Middlebury students love Panther sports, but few want to read a 500-word article about a game for which they probably already know the result - let alone 10 of them.

This is my fourth semester as editor of the section, and along with Ryan Reese and Zamir Ahmed, my co-editors, we have heeded the advice of Alexander Wolff, senior writer for Sports Illustrated, who was kind enough to speak to us last week, and rethought our section. We also took our cues from Tim Bellis '06, star of the "This Is Me" column from Spring 2003, who said that he only read sections such as the Sports Briefs and College Shorts because they are short and easily digestible.

As a result, we have added a Scoreboard that will give the results of all games each week, including a brief commentary on every one. We have brought back "By the Numbers," a feature that illustrates statistical quirks of Middlebury sports teams, we are including an Editors' Picks box and we're also pioneering a question-answer style feature with a different athlete each week. Finally, we're reducing the number of weekly recaps for each team, instead placing greater emphasis on in-depth features. Not every team will be written about every week, but readers will learn more about some of the incredible individuals that compete as Panthers.

Ironically, while the result of these changes will ultimately be a more streamlined section, this week we're publishing the largest sports section in my time with The Campus. A 'transitional week' that includes the Winter Sports Preview makes for an enormous section, but stay with us­ - the changes are coming. It's going to be more reader-friendly, it's going to be more easily digestible, and in truth, it's going to be more interesting. In all honesty, though, it's about time.

- Tom McCann '06

Sports Editor