|
Our Perspective...
SoCon once battleship, now dinghy
Does Elon belong in the Southern Conference?
Does McAlister’s Deli need to start serving breakfast to attract students?
Does someone need to tell Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock to perk up a little?
Of course not.
The fact that Elon is a member of the SoCon only speaks to the negatives of this once-great conference, and not to the Fighting Christians, er … Phoenix’s capabilities.
With just one conference game remaining this season, Elon, formerly known as the Fighting Christians, has exactly two wins in two years of SoCon play.
One of those was against the now-defunct East Tennessee State program.
After Saturday’s 48-7 win, Elon coach Paul Hamilton (an Appalachian alum) could only describe the ASU victory as a “good old fashioned backhand whipping.”
It has become evident to The Appalachian that the SoCon is no longer a solid fit.
Elon already has angry fans wanting to drop football altogether. Is this really where we are headed as a conference?
This conference once boasted the entire Southeastern Conference, as well as East Carolina, Georgia Tech, Marshall and all four North Carolina schools in the ACC.
Now, the likes of Wofford, Chattanooga, The Citadel and Elon fill up the schedule.
Five years ago the SoCon was considered the best in 1-AA football.
Now most experts would list it behind the Gateway, A-10 and Southland Conferences.
The Mountaineers deserve better than a conference of military schools, small private universities and undeserving public ones.
There is no one in this conference with similar athletic, academic and enrollment standards to Appalachian State University.
Coach Jerry Moore is the only coach in the SoCon who put his team through such a tough non-conference slate.
This slate has cost the deserving Mountaineers the playoffs.
Perhaps next year ASU will take a cue from Georgia Southern, Furman and Wofford and schedule the likes of Johnson C. Smith, Gardner-Webb and Presbyterian.
Anything to sneak into the playoffs, even if the Terriers’ tail is in between their legs.
In the past five years Appalachian has built a brand new basketball arena and made plans to improve existing facilities for other sports.
With the possibility of the Edminsten property and its 60 acres to be used for an off-campus football stadium, the grass has never been greener for ASU athletics.
But what would the point of all of this be if Appalachian’s station in the NCAA remained the same?
Perhaps it is time for athletics director Roachel J. Laney, Peacock and others in the decision-making process to look at life after this conference.
No longer can we afford to look a month ahead. It is time to map out the 15-year plan of this athletics program and find out where we are going.
This conference is fading into oblivion fast. If ASU does not watch out, we will fade right with it.
TO TOP
 |
Billy Fowler | Editorial Cartoonist |
Hope possible in next four years
Hey Democrats, calm down. We’re not doomed. George W. Bush won, and if you voted there isn’t much else you can do about it.
I voted for John Kerry, and I am disappointed in the election outcome. However, I’m going to do what it seems many Kerry supporters cannot, which is be optimistic.
That’s the biggest reason I voted for Kerry in the first place. Optimism.
Optimism that he could make a change even though he presented no real evidence he could. Plus, I’m a beach lover, and who goes to the beach without flip-flops.
If you can’t find a reason to be optimistic, just think how good “The Daily Show” will be for the next four years. Jon Stewart must be licking his chops at all the political satires he will for certain air over the next four years. Just think of how many more “moments of zen” you can look forward to of Bush mispronouncing words like “cat,” “tree” and “apple.”
As I’m typing, I’m learning about a demonstration taking place on Sanford Mall. I’m told it is in protest of our government. Specifically, I assume in reaction to the election results. That’s great. Free speech is great, but can it do harm? Does yelling at one another really help?
You call Bush partisan, and he is. I call you partisan. If you don’t think you have a leader that can be bi-partisan, do it yourself. Reach across the aisle and say, “Hey, I’m a Democrat. You’re a Republican. I voted for Kerry. You voted for Bush. So what?”
The problem with protesting Bush’s re-election is protesting Bush’s re-election.
There are no issues involved that the protest might affect. You can protest a war and maybe sway some politicians.
Bush is going to be in office for the next four years. No swaying. It reminds me of the kid who refuses to shake hands after a little league game because his team lost.
Partisanship is rampant in Washington D.C. It’s rampant everywhere else too.
Debating is good, but it loses its appeal when it’s the only thing that takes place. Why won’t CNN put a show on the air that discusses similarities and how politicians can and do work together?
If CNN does, why don’t I know about it when I do know about “Crossfire?”
If you’re like me, a vote for Kerry was really a vote against Bush. And, Kerry did everything he could to promote such votes through his over criticism. I never got much of a reason from Kerry why I should vote for him. I did get from him why I shouldn’t vote for Bush.
When a presidential candidate says vote for me not because I’m right but because he’s wrong, it just lays out on the table the negative atmosphere we’ve got going on.
Yet, I’d still vote for Kerry if I had to do it again. Either candidate had the potential to do a good job, but neither was a great choice because they can’t look past their thick skulls to realize that working together is the best idea.
It seems Bush winning the election is a huge blow to many people and a big boost for others. That’s not how it should be.
I shouldn’t be hearing, “What’s wrong with people.”
What’s wrong with people? Absolutely nothing. You vote for the candidate you think would make a better president, and you shouldn’t have to defend that to anyone.
For many Kerry supporters, it’s hard to be optimistic when you take a look at some of the things happening in Iraq. It’s the first time Americans have attempted to rebuild a country from the ground up, a very daunting task.
I don’t support Bush, but I do support being optimistic that he can work together with politicians to make things better. Maybe he hasn’t shown it yet, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
Time needs to be allowed. If Bush hasn’t made the situation in Iraq better in four years, maybe then I’ll be pessimistic.
TO TOP
Everyone has right to protest
Wednesday afternoon, I thought it was all over.
The previous day felt like game day. Both political teams and their supporters sparring off in a democratic contest of winner-take-all, and only one candidate – George W. Bush or John F. Kerry -- would be left standing at the end of it.
I had voted weeks before, so the election wasn’t at the forefront of my mind. But apparently, even after Kerry conceded and Bush was the winner, the issue didn’t just disappear.
Instead, students at Appalachian State University were just as eager to raise their voices now than they did before Nov. 2.
It was hard to miss the “We Hold Our Grievances” march Nov. 4, starting in front of Belk Library and ending at Sanford Mall, where both sides of the political spectrum stood side by side, holding signs and chanting for their candidates.
Actually, for the Democratic participants, it was more like chanting against Bush than it was supporting Kerry, but you get the idea.
My office also received an e-mail from a student who was called by someone supposedly from the College Democrats at 1:45 a.m. Wednesday morning, long after the polls had closed. At that time, all the major news organizations were closely following the election but were cautious to announce a winner.
My roommate told me of one girl who dressed in all black the day after the election, as a way to mourn for our country. Another student was quoted in this newspaper as saying they believed World War III would break out during Bush’s second term.
Now personally, I think people just need to get over the fact that Bush won and Kerry did not. There were no controversial court decisions this time; it was settled fair and square.
But, even with my personal opinion on the subject, a person’s protest in a peaceful manner is an expression of democracy, just as last week’s election was.
Protesting the election, by the way, doesn’t include calling people in the early hours of the morning, asking whom they voted for and then cussing at them and hanging up when they tell you.
A citizen has a right to raise their voice in protest, despite what naysayers say or do in response. We have certain freedoms as citizens and to exercise those freedoms is to appreciate what has been given to us.
In the 1995 movie “The American President,” Michael Douglas plays the Commander-in-Chief whose re-election bid is haunted by the political past of his girlfriend, played by Annette Benning. Benning’s character participated in a flag-burning protest over a decade before, and in doing so unwittingly gave the president’s opponents ammunition to fire at his character.
In one of the final scenes of the film, the president finally defends himself and his girlfriend.
“The symbol of your country cannot just be a flag,” he says. “The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.”
The point wasn’t to say he personally advocated flag burning, but to explain that the expression of democracy sometimes comes in manners that both seem strange to other people and often are not the popular thing to do.
Considering the presidential election four years ago, how this one turned out should have felt like a breath of fresh air, and to me, it seems almost pointless to protest it. But this is a democracy, and people have that right.
TO TOP
Letters to the Editor
Criticism of opinion ignorant
Candidate editorial missing facts
Newspaper does good job not censoring
Editorial drips of fascism
|
