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| February 10, 2000 |
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In
our words...
Athletes: role models or role monsters The Genisis of an ideology, Part 1 Seldom used student discount cards require more work than it's worth Why aren't office hours kept now? In
our words...
Anyone who has played sports at any level knows the feeling of a roaring crowd ringing through their ears. That sound is inspiring. So inspiring that it makes athletes perform on a higher plane. Perhaps you watched the Appalachian State University-College of Charleston basketball game on Saturday. If you did, perhaps you noticed the resounding support from the CofC students which rallied their team to beat our formerly undefeated squad. Those who have visited the John Kresse Arena in Charleston have noticed that when the crowd begins its chants and excited yelling, the noise bounces off the walls and funnels directly into center court. That makes it hard for a visiting team to concentrate on the game. But we’re not sure that our team knows what that feels like when they play in Varsity Gym. Our fans at football games pack into Kidd Brewer Stadium, but our basketball attendance is meager, at best. The average football game attendance for ASU is 16,436 in a stadium that seats 18,000, while the basketball team draws a paltry 3,190 in a gym that seats 8,000. Buzz Peterson, our coach, says crowd support definitely helps the team during games: “It’s a big boost, and it gives our team extra energy. I’ve always said it makes (the players’) legs lighter.” If crowd support makes the team’s “legs lighter” then our Mountaineers
must be running around with lead in their shoes.
We have a good basketball team. However, with fans as unsupportive as ours, it shoots them in the foot. Part of what made our football team so great is that people came to the games. Greeks reserve sections of the stands in Kidd Brewer for their organizations; why don’t they do that for basketball? Greeks make up a lot of the fan base at football games; imagine how full Varsity Gym would be if they came out to basketball games. Our teams should not have to get used to playing in front of empty stands. We need to support Mountaineer basketball. They’re our team and they need to know it. Athletes:
role models or role monsters
In a year marking the turn of the millennium, I can’t help but cringe at the recent behavior of those we consider “athletes.” In the last few months, two football players have been linked to murder, and who could forget everyone’s favorite Brave, John Rocker, who used his mouth to offend just about every diverse group in the country. Whatever happened to the days when athletes were looked towards to lead an example for the community? It seems nowadays that athletes are consistently setting the wrong example. The Panthers’ Rae Carruth was arrested late last year in connection with a plot to kill his pregnant girlfriend who later died from several gunshot wounds. Most recently, Panther Fred Lane was arrested on Feb. 3 on drug and weapons charges. On a league wide scale, Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis was arrested after a Super Bowl party for the stabbing deaths of two men while Dolphins running back Cecil Collins was arrested for breaking into the house of a woman he was allegedly stalking. Why this increase in off-field violence from athletes? The problem is that athletes are being treated better than ever and they’re simply taking advantage of this. Take for example the whole Lawrence Phillips situation. The guy was arrested for dragging his girlfriend down a flight of stairs by her hair and still ended up as a first round draft pick. After two NFL teams, a stint in NFL Europe and numerous off the field problems, Phillips winded up on the 49ers and was benched for being a distraction in practice. What kind of message is this sending to athletes? You can screw up time after time and still be able to find someone willing to pay you millions for carrying a football. The ever-increasing salaries of pro athletes are closely linked to the rising trend in athlete violence. On Jan. 31, the Detroit Tigers offered outfielder Juan Gonzalez an eight-year $140 million deal. How can baseball justify paying a player $17.5 million per season to hit a ball? It seems like the more money we pay to see the players play, the more trouble they get into. The NFL this year enjoyed one of its most exciting seasons to date, with a Super Bowl that will go down in history as one of the most entertaining. What people will remember most about this season are not the great plays and competition but the destructive behavior of a few of its players. True, neither Rae Carruth nor Ray Lewis have been tried, but the fact that they’ve made these kind of negative headlines is troubling nevertheless. And who can forget the whole John Rocker story and its impact on the public’s image of professional athletes. In John Rocker’s Sports Illustrated interview, he offended nearly the entire state of New York as well as a fellow teammate and now faces harsh discipline and psychological therapy. Rocker certainly has faced a major public backlash directed at him and that’s exactly what he needs. Athletes need to know that both their fans and bosses aren’t going to keep accepting their behavior and rewarding them with lucrative deals. They must realize that they are blessed to have the talent and ability to play sports for a living and that they will be responsible for their own actions like every other person. It’s a shame that this situation has even reared its ugly head, since the majority of athletes do live by the same law as everyone else. Many athletes do take action in the community and try to set a positive example for their fans. These are the athletes that realize their role model responsibility and they deserve praise. It only takes a few rotten apples to spoil the whole bunch, and that’s
exactly what’s happening in the world of sports.
Lately, as politics becomes more of a general topic of discussion, folks around me have been given plenty of opportunities to learn my personal ideologies. Observant readers will already know that I am first a conservative and then a republican. When those who don’t already know this find out, the common exclamation is “How can you be a conservative?,” as if I had some sort of disease. They generally follow with “Conservatives don’t care about [insert your own issue here].” I take much offense in this, and so I feel the need to explain the basis my own personal conservatism as well as address some wild misconceptions that most folks have. The very root of my entire philosophy is that people are individuals, and as individuals, people are responsible for their own well being. Society is pushed in a forward direction by the work of many individuals, not the populace as a whole. I do not believe in any of that Marxist mumbojumbo (i.e. modern liberal psychobabble) that says we are just worker bees in a hive and society can only function as a single unit. It is true that no man is an island and we as people are interdependent on the culture we live in, but we are still individuals and can take care of ourselves no matter what hardship is presented before us. In other words, if we think for ourselves, we should take initiative in our lives to better ourselves using our own individual strengths and prowesses. Therefore, any kind of government bureaucracy takes away our individuality by making us dependent on certain programs in life. I’m speaking of things such as transportation (roads), education (schools), protection (military) and, of course, government welfare programs. I believe in a well organized government and I think that conceding a small portion of individuality in return for such benefits, and freedom in general, is reasonable. The government is here to provide some kind of order to our democracy, to create and enforce laws, to prevent anarchy. The government should do little more. On the basis of these preceding ideas, it should be clear that I cannot adopt the current liberal philosophy. Modern liberals rely on the fact that life is full of obstacle illusions, and that it is the responsibility of the federal government to remove these “obstacles” from the life of every citizen. If people do not try to solve problems and confront dilemmas for themselves, they cease to become human and instead become machines that must be serviced in a bureaucratic factory. To further my point more clearly, my next commentary will begin to address the most common myths that have developed about conservatives. These are the myths that liberals use every election to try and make the public believe that conservatives are “misinformed cavemen.” Yes, I have been called that before. And no, contrary to what I have been told, conservatives do not swear an oath to Jerry Falwell. Seldom used student discount cards require more work than it's worth To the Editor: I recently read your editorial about the student discount card and the SGA’s role in that process. I was very surprised at the lack of research and the lack of tact that went into that particular piece. First of all, as a former member of the SGA, I know the large amount of work that goes into putting the student discount card together. It is a very long and tedious process that takes a great deal of man hours to complete. I am also not sure that you are aware that a majority of students never used their student discount cards during the time I was at ASU. It was very difficult to get some vendors to participate because they did not believe it was worth their time nor energy. So SGA’s problem this year with vendor participation is no surprise to me or any other person who has worked first hand on that project. But what angers me the most is that an editor of a paper, a person in a leadership role, lacks the respect or the common sense to get up out of their chair, walk across the hall and find out firsthand what the problem is. As for your comment that “future PTA mothers” are looking for “resume fillers.” I am sorry that your own prejudices have blinded you. Has this paper turned into a forum for want to be journalists who have no other outlet to present their unresearched, illogical and derogatory articles? I believe I learned more from my experience in SGA than I could in any other organization. It has helped me succeed in my job and in my personal endeavors. I learned to work with people, to organize and to be a better a leader. I also learned that smart comments, alienation and ill mannered people do not bring about results. I always tell my students that those who unjustly pick on others are insecure in themselves and their own abilities. I was a big supporter of The Appalachian during my time at ASU, however, in the recent past and in the future I will continue to use this paper as an example in my writing classes of unacceptable work. Stacey Bem
Why aren't office hours kept now? To the Editor: In regards to office hours for faculty, my questions, “Why don’t they actually complete their office hours now?” My taxes and my tuition go toward paying professors a salary in order for them to teach and be in their office. My taxes and tuition should not go toward research time so that faculty may publish books and articles. What do we as students get out of that? I’ll go ahead and answer that question. We get to buy overpriced textbooks and further line the pockets of our professors (and their friends) with additional monies. Isn’t that a conflict of interest? If instructors complain about the hours they have to work, why don’t they leave the academic world in which they have spent their entire lives and go into the real world, without guaranteed salaries, state employee benefits, books, articles and tenure. Get a real job! Go into the real world for a change and see what the other side is like. The real world is a lot worse than being a faculty member at a university, where they basically set their own hours and come and go as they please. Colleges and universities are suppose to help students learn. There not for the purpose of giving a faculty member a place to hang a shingle and then use the resources of the campus in order to make money on the outside. Do that on your own time! Frank Huffman
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