By Pete Hahnloser The Daily of the University of Washington October 26, 1999

How lucky we are to live in a time where modern conventions have yet to overtake some of our more archaic traditions.

At universities across the country, including the UW, the next few weeks will see celebration and revelry thanks to Homecoming. And Homecoming is truly an exciting time to be here.

On a commuter campus such as ours, it is crucial to have such unifying events. Homecoming is the one time out of the year when people band together and celebrate the true greatness of our University – our football team.

But we need not fear that the celebration is too narrowly focused, because Homecoming also provides a great opportunity to coronate a king and queen – and few other résumé items bear the weight of being Homecoming King.

The celebration reaches out even further and touches us in other intangible ways. For example, there’s a banner on the Ave., fluttering in the breeze – or gale, as it may be at this time of year – celebrating the greatness that is our University.

Certainly, in the dull days of fall, when students are mired in school work and studying for midterms, Homecoming acts as a beacon in the night, calling for all to forget our pain and fear. For we are Huskies – and that is all we need to be truly happy.

Happiness is sometimes a difficult beast to describe, but Homecoming allows us to transgress the bounds of reason and remember that football games won in the '60s are the grounds for our greatness, and that alone is enough to soothe our beating hearts.

Joining us in our ecstasy are alumni from years past, remembering their glorious days as Huskies. They are called home, home to the UW, as if guided by a greater force to watch a football game.

We will continue this tradition. We will all come back once we have left the University for other pursuits – because we are Huskies.

And that is all we’ll ever need to be.

Yeah, folks, I’m going through the archives. What astounded me was neither time I ran the exact same piece (which I’ve only done once) two years in a row did the readers get this as satire. How much more sarcasm do you need?