Nevertheless, team spirit was practically bubbling over after Adams was disqualified. Yes, disqualified. From the Green Cup. Maybe for shooting squirrels in the courtyard? For mixing aluminum with glass? It's tough to say, but one guesses they were less than heartbroken. Disqualification from a contest loses some of its sting when the competitors don't know they're competing.

Which, ultimately, is the problem with the Green Cup, and perhaps the reason why my fellow Eliotites couldn't muster the energy to reduce their power. Some things--like Easter egg hunts, synchronized swimming and especially recycling--just shouldn't be made into competitions. No matter how well-intentioned its leaders, Green Cup wrongly assumes that the most ambitious students around will compete for damn near anything--even the honor of being the best waste-reducers in school. Even Captain Planet would have a tough time getting excited for such a competition. So, while I was dismayed at our loss, I can only hope that the Green Cup organizers will provide Eliot House with a better motivation than pure unbridled ambition next year. Because, if nothing else, Green Cup has proven that other Houses' ambition is more unbridled than ours.

Hugh P. Leibert '01 is a social studies concentrator in Eliot House.