Congratulations! We're the champions! Well, the east coast champions, at least. And by east coast, I mean just New England.

If that sounds watered down, it's because it is.


Don't get me wrong, I love any postseason competition, and teams that have been racking up ECAC appearances should be proud.


But through no fault of their own, the winners-and we've had a growing number at Brandeis recently-miss out on the chance at a higher level of competition.

The average fan might not realize it, but the volleyball and men's soccer teams-who both captured ECAC crowns this weekend-are not alone on top. Rather, both are champions in one of four regional ECAC tournaments: New England, Upstate, Metro and Southern. Four brackets, 32 teams. It would only make sense for the winners of those tournaments to play for one national ECAC trophy, right?

But when the NCAA is involved, it's never that simple. The increasingly inept collegiate athletics governing institution only permits a certain number of weeks of play in each season. Adding one more week for the two games needed to narrow the field of ECAC champions would make the season last too long.

There's also missed class time and added cost involved-the NCAA partially reimburses teams for travel costs while the ECAC does not. Colleges and universities that make these rules say student-athletes are students first, and they're certainly right. More road games means more missed class.

But this same rationale has been used to decry the possibility of adding a game to

the college football season, a maneuver that would allow a more legitimate champion to be crowned. And not making time for extra games is as much hogwash in that context as it is in this one.

It's only two more games! The extra experience of competition at a higher level is what can make collegiate athletics so special.

Apparently, some agree. Director of Athletics Sheryl Sousa said the governing body of the NCAA considered legislation last year that would have stopped ECAC tournament games from counting against a team's playing time for the whole season.

Sousa voted for the measure, but it didn't pass.

"It's always fun to play teams you haven't played before," Sousa said. "But that's also why we strive for NCAA competition. I do think it's an interesting idea."

It's more than an interesting idea. It's exactly what sports at universities like Brandeis-and fans of those teams-need in order to get more excited about Division III athletics.

The athletes definitely feel the same way. In 3 1/2 years of covering Brandeis sports, I've never heard athletes utter any phrase as often as, "everyone gets into ECACs."

Gothard Lane, the ECAC director of championships, spun things differently in a phone interview.

"That's simply not true," he said.

"We had over 100 teams declare, and we only took 32, so that's not everybody."

But a moment earlier, he had acknowledged that "our motto with the ECACs is participation."

Division III athletes crave-and deserve-a shot at playing on a national stage, even if it's not under an NCAA banner.

The men's soccer team bore the fruit from its years of hard labor with its ECAC New England championship, and the players certainly should be proud of that accomplishment.

But under the current ECAC playoff format, they are simply shortchanged.

"It's nice to say we're New England champs," captain Scott Zackaroff '07 said.

"But in the back of your head you know there are other ECAC champions. . Deep down you think, 'Maybe we could be the only ECAC champion.'