text:  I think it comes when we start to value the gift of a near win. I started to understand this when I went on one cold May day to watch a set of varsity archers, all women as fate would have it, at the northern tip of Manhattan at Columbia's Baker Athletic Complex. I wanted to see what's called Archer's Paradox, the idea that in order to actually hit your target, you have to aim at something slightly skew from it.