Schmoldt Says:

Admittedly, I think it's fair to say that first semester's Point/Counterpoints between myself and Tom Ziemer were better than those of this spring semester. I can probably pick three fall entries that were better than any this semester, including the inaugural argument over which was worse, Dave Wannstedt's mustache or the coach's team at Pitt as well as a battle over the tastier sports name, Coco Crisp or Taco Wallace.

However, undoubtedly the best one of the year was the mascot battle between the Williams College Ephs and the Whittier College Poets. In fact, the sports information folk at Williams College thought that it was so good that they posted it on their athletics website and offer us press passes to a basketball game between the two schools later on in the season. I mean, c'mon, it's an argument over purple cows and pen and notebook-toting rhyming man!

And, although it pains me to concede any of these arguments, I know that I lost this one — even though there was no voting system in place at the time.

I am positive Dave has never had a one-liner better than "Named after John Greenleaf Whittier the writer, their mascot is much tighter. And tighter in the sense meaning cooler; their symbol carries a pen and a pad, not a ruler."

And in response I wrote: "But to combat the poetry of my counterpart, as much as I love the purple cow as the mascot, I must agree with Gelett Burgess' words: "I never saw a purple cow / Nor do I hope to see one; / But I can tell you, anyhow, / I'd rather see than be one."

If there was ever an argument that combined humor with skills, it was the battle between Eph and Poet. This section has provided many of thrills, but if there was a better Point/Counterpoint this school year, I do not believe I know it.

McGrath Says:

So, as the academic year closes for The Badger Herald, we now ask the question that many a bartender has had to try and settle throughout the course of the past nine months: What has been the best Point-Counterpoint of the year?

The options are many, especially if you consider the fact that there is no such thing as poor or sub-par Point-Counterpoint, only brighter shades of awesome. That's why we don't let Brenner near these things.

The biggest limitation to Point-Counterpoint is the low word count. All too often 300 words just isn't enough to get that extra John Daly joke in there consistently and too much excellent content goes the way of the Styrofoam Big Mac container.

Thus, the best Point-Counterpoint would have to be the "Worst 5-man Dodgeball Team" edition. It had everything: competitive eater William Perry, perennial loser Zippy Chippy, professional faker Hulk Hogan … names that are all surely first ballot Point-Counterpoint Hall of Famers. Daly even found his way into that Counterpoint. YES!

Although I did win handily that week, I will do my best not to rub it in, seeing as it is Schmoldt's swan song and all.

Word is that Schmoldt is acting like an annoying grandpa, longing for the days of Fall semester, when he wasn't getting it handed to him so openly on the Internet superhighway as this semester saw the institution of online voting. The Spring season will "officially" end a 5-5 tie between Schmoldt and I, though I think we all know who won the two weeks that went unvoted.

So he wants back to the old days? Fine let him have his past. Just don't let him forget he was long a member of the Dirty Bird before he saw the light.