Princeton's Perspective: Penn made a bad deal

The Daily Princetonian As much as you loathe us and figure we feel the same way about you, there's actually quite a bit of sympathy for you guys floating around up here on the eve of the big game. Not because of the mini-dynasties you bought are crumbling in Princeton's hands, as your football team did in November and as your basketball team will tonight. That, in fact, brings a smile broader than your admissions standards to our face. Rather we pity you because we know it must be tough to feel like you've been had by a conman. Not only did you sell your school's soul for football and basketball prowess, but in the process you made a lousy business deal. The noblest among you must have been pained by the price of your Faustian bargain to enjoy big-time college athletics success -- an athletic director earning the salary of six English professors, for one, and of course the rulebook creativity so eloquently described by one of your student-athletes not too long ago in Sports Illustrated. It's hard not to see it coming. For three years, Penn has had the best basketball team in the Ivy League. But this year's Quakers pale in comparison to their predecessors. They are talented but inconsistent, playing well one week and then doing things like losing to Yale the next. The pressure to win is on them. Princeton, meanwhile, is playing its best basketball since its own dynasty in the early '90s, and has cruised to 12 straight victories. The Tigers are playing defense like nobody's business, and as for offense, well, let's just say we're due for a big game. Now, I've tried to make things as clear as possible as to why, despite what you might expect, we're actually feeling sorry for you tonight. We know it hurts when you put all your eggs in one basket and Sydney Johnson slaps that basket out of your hand, takes off down the court and slams it home. You went all out for a great basketball team and got a mediocre one in return. You made a bad deal. Which is surprising, because one of the few things Penn is respected for is its business school, where they award degrees in groovy disciplines like marketing, while the rest of the Ivy League makes its students study real subjects. Hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. But tonight the party's over. Princeton 50, Penn 45. Justin Pope is a junior history major from Richmond, Va., and is a sports editor of The Daily Princetonian.