Riding bikes in colored tights

As most of the IU campus suffers through a hangover and recovers from a week-long drinking spree, I can't help but wonder if this year's Little 500 lived up to its title of "The World's Greatest College Weekend."\nThere are a few minimum standards for a successful Little 5 week. Let's see how 2003 stacked up.\nExcessive alcohol consumption\nWhile IU students have never had a problem in this department, Little 5 week is an excuse to drink from sun up to, well, sun up. Carrying on the tradition of kegs 'n eggs on Saturday morning, drunken spectators were in no short supply at the men's race. And while partying on your front lawn and bonging a beer on your porch are not typically good ideas on a "dry campus," Little 5 has repeatedly driven people to party as recklessly as they would like to the rest of the year.\nArrests\nWhen cops are circling the track and you puke all over the stands, don't be surprised if you have to wake up early Sunday morning to pick up trash off the side of the road. Sgt. Don Schmuhl of IUPD told me almost all of the 30 IUPD arrests on Saturday were alcohol-related. \n"I think the number of arrests is about even from last year, maybe even a little less," he said.\nEither students are slowing down, or the cops are catching up.\nSpandex\nOh, yeah. There was definitely plenty of that. What would Little 5 be without it?\nBike accidents\nWrecks on the track are what keep many focused on the race. "Usually there are one or two main ones with seven or eight riders. They usually knock out a big chunk of the pack," said Corey Bitzer, a rider for Alpha Gamma Delta, who was involved in an accident herself. "This year there were only a few."\nThis might have been disappointing for the spectators whose buzz was wearing off, but there's not much to be said for this tradition. So, unless you're looking to take out the competition, this is one aspect of Little 5 that we can do without.\nIndependent Teams\nWhile many teams on the track are either from greek chapters or the dorms, independent teams have proved their worth in the past and broken away from the affiliated riders. Granted, some of them are the remains of greek teams whose chapters were kicked off campus, but independent teams have been at the front of the pack since Cutters became the first non-dorm, non-greek team to win Little 5 in 1984. \nOf the top five teams this year, one was independent in the women's race and three were independent among the men. The center of the universe might have just shifted a bit.\nObscene T-shirts\nPanhellenic Association and Interfraternity Council have been cracking down on sexually implicit T-shirt slogans, so finding a shirt that says little more than a team name and the year is getting difficult. However, I did find a favorite in the crowd. At the top it reads, "No sex? No drugs? No alcohol?" At the bottom, Gary Coleman, with his hands on his hips, asks, "Whatchu' talkin' bout IFC?"\nSo, as we get over our hangover and drag ourselves to class, we can look back at this year's Little 5 as a fun weekend, even if it was a bit tamer than in years past. There were fewer accidents, arrests and raunchy T-shirts, and maybe that's for the best. I mean, hey, as long as we have the spandex, what else can we ask for?