Third, I blamed the 1998 football loss to Columbia on bad karma caused by the addition of male cheerleaders. One of them put my editor in a headlock when they ran into each other on the street. Playfully, I think.

Basically, I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly in Harvard athletics. They're all precious memories that I will cherish as an integral part of my college experience, which has been the proverbial best four years of my life.

However, those won't be the defining moments of our time here, and not only because so few students were there to watch them. No, the moments that matter most will be Columbine, the impeachment and the emergence of Britney Spears.

We have been living in a strange, small world. (Harvard athletics is an even stranger, smaller world.) This is a weird place, you know. Remember that for a time, our campus was torn over…grapes.

This strange, small world is special, and Harvard students' talents and expectations are, like so many of our test scores, in the 99th percentile. Who knows what we, the Class of 2000, will accomplish? Do we have another President in our midst? Another Bill Gates, Class of 1977? Another Cornel West '74? Another Unabomber '62?

The only way we'll find out is time. As we go out from here, if you're willing to listen, I've got one piece of advice based on what I've learned in school.

I believe our earthly lives are only temporary but that we can do a lot of good while we're here. Hopefully you already know this by now, but the best way to do that is to care about people.

Most of us put accomplishments first for the vast majority of our lives--doing things for our own future and our own glory. In a way, that paid off, because we're here. But that's too selfish and too shortsighted. That won't leave the world a better place. Instead, care about people, and make it flagrant--give them your time and effort, even if your accomplishments suffer. What we're going to remember from Harvard are the people, not our grades in Ec 10. So use a concept from Ec 10--invest yourself wisely.