Scholar Bowl team captures state trophy

When our triumphant athletic teams come home from state competition, it's often to parking lots full of cheering, adoring admirers.

When the Central High School Scholar Bowl team rolled back into town this month after winning its first state competition, the school parking lot was eerily quiet.

That's despite the fact that the same statewide organization oversees both Missouri's athletes and scholars. The scholars come home with practically the same Missouri-shaped trophies.

Maybe it's just easier to cheer for physical accomplishments so visible and easily measured. It's easy to see how many jump shots hit their targets and how many field goals go through the uprights.

But Central's Scholar Bowl success may be the start of a new trend: the well-deserved admiration of people who solve so many algebraic problems in five minutes or can name the countries in the Roman Empire without checking the Internet.

They deserve it as much as any other team that proves its mettle against the rest of the state.