Every story about a Division I team losing an exhibition game to a Division II team has to come with the following disclaimer: Two years ago, Michigan State lost to Division II Grand Valley State. By the end of the year, the Spartans were in the Sweet 16.

But Fairfield got a major reality check last night when the Stags turned in a lackluster performance and fell to Division II Bridgeport, 75-69. I've yet to meet anyone affiliated with MAAC basketball who doesn't feel bad for Ed Cooley because of what's happened over the last two years.

He's done a good job recruiting, an excellent job trying to energize the university community, and at times, an amazing job getting results out of second-tier players who have been forced into action. (Case in point, the last two months of last year).

But the two best players Cooley inherited from Tim O'Toole were Jonathan Han and Greg Nero (who never played for O'Toole but signed with him in the fall of 2005).

Han caused major distractions last year before leaving the team, and Nero is likely out for the season this year, leaving Cooley without a player who, if healthy, would be a double-double machine and an emotional leader.

Add to that the ankle injury that has Warren Edney playing with pain for the bulk of the season, and the Stags NEED big years from freshmen guards Derek Needham and Colin Nickerson or it'll be very difficult to finish in the top half of the MAAC standings.

Fairfield's problems, though, are not limited to basketball. The University has a PR nightmare on its hands as Doug Perlitz, a 1992 alum, faces charges that he sexually abused children while doing service work in Haiti.

And now, from an administration seeking greater influence with the school's independent student newspaper, comes a letter that declared the school's contract with the paper null and void because of supposed violations relating to a column.

As a former Editor of The Mirror, I'm admittedly biased. But I've always maintained a strong, independent student newspaper reflected better on a school than just about anything else. It provides examples of students producing a thoughtful, creative, insightful product without administrators holding their hands. Better than anything else, it speaks to students' intellectual capacity and productivity.

Here's to hoping editors and administrators can work something out that enables The Mirror to keep doing what it does best: Serve as an independent student voice without any further meddling from the administration.