This pampering of athletes is silly at a University whose stated aim is education. If athletics is bringing in big bucks which can be used for educational purposes, then Harvard should at least be honest about it.

BUT I AM not advocating the abolition of sports. Sound mind, sound body is not an outdated concept. However, this goal is best achieved through the allocation of funds to sports-for-the-masses, to intramurals.

The big-money sports simply do not deserve the numerous trainers, expensive equipment, lax admission standards, and other perquisites which they currently enjoy. To be sure, Harvard can and does pride itself on a sports operation considerably cleaner than most universities. But this is having one's cake and eating it too: Harvard tries to claim saintliness and to sin a little at the same time.

The problem with extreme success--like the men's hockey team's recent exploits--is that the claims of saintliness and the potential for sin both rise exponentially. Just as Harvard attracts national publicity--all echoing the positive myth--the University faces increased pressures for aggressive recruiting and other sleazy practices, in order to maintain the high athletic standard it has set for itself.

In other words, sporting success is not merely the result of such practices, but also the cause.

And that, at root, is the most troubling aspect of a Harvard team so good that it loses the national championship by a single goal. The Department of Athletics has given itself a hard act to follow. One can only wait and see what lengths it will go to in the pursuit of national championships, an ideal which is ultimately meaningless at an academic institution like Harvard.