Today's Gold Medal for Best Opening Sentence …

… goes to (drum roll) George F. Will, who begins:

The institutional vanity and intellectual slovenliness of America's campus-based intelligentsia have made academia more peripheral to civic life than at any time since the 19th century.
Not the sort of small talk you'll encounter at your average faculty soirée, but makes you want to read the whole thing.

George's column is about the recent Supreme Court opinion that unanimously dismissed arguments by law-school profs on the matter of military recruiters' access to law-school students.

(Law School Professor) Ann Althouse is less than impressed with George, however:

See what you get when you write a crisp, clear opinion? Columnists portray you as impatient and tart. Damn it, Will! Roberts is writing well.

I, for one, love 'em both.