The 1993-94 sports year was like one big trip to the dentists' office.

You knew it was coming; you dreaded it; it was sometimes painful, but not as painful as you thought; and afterwards, you felt like a million bucks, like you could walk right out into the rest of the world, blow in anybody's face and not feel insecure about bad breath.

Yes, it was a cleansing year.

The consummate example of this general cleansing was the hiring of Tim Murphy as head football coach.

While the Joe Restic regime should never be confused with tooth decay, its time had clearly passed. Restic's multiflex--once bold, exciting and dashing--had become outlandlish and revealing, like a bold tie a middle-aged man might wear to compensate fora retreating hairline. It was unreal, as were his staid sermons on the importance of education and values. Theyw were true, wonderful messages, but they didn't excite us: they were too Harvard.

We wanted some guts. He wanted some power. We wanted some drive. And we wanted an offensive line that doesn't clean the dirt out of its fingernails.

Enter Tim Murphy.

While Murphy's hiring was certainly central, it was by no means the only big event in Harvard sports this year. All across the school's playing fields, new, fresh faces were taking over. Women's cross country. Men's soccer. Women's ice hockey. Men's swimming. Women's golf. Men's track. In all these sports, and many more, major transformations occured setting the stage for future successes.

Of course, like the trip to the dentist's office and the bedheads of all those football players at morning practices this spring, it wasn't always pretty.

But that's all a part of it, isn't it? Victory, defeat. Comedy, tragedy. Life, death. Cavities, no cavities. It's all part of the fun, and all part of our list of the 10 defining moments in the 1993-94 Harvard sports season.

Because while a visit to the dentist can be a gateway to new vistas, it wouldn't be if it weren't such a pain in the ass.

Mint-flavored dental floss, anyone?

1. THE GAME--NOV. 20, 1993

The Game is a given for the list, right? Maybe.

But this year's contest was special--particularly for history buffs. First, it was the last game in Restic's 23-year career--the end of a long, successful era in Harvard football. And second, it was the 25th anniversary of the 1968 Game, perhaps the greatest game in Harvard history.