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TT71TTT~n/rV VTmCI ONLINE POLL B_J » \ I B W u B % 1 B ' Have you registered to vote yet? V . a / * / fl B B % I t Go t0 www.dailygamecock.com I I 1 V V -L U- .1 _L kJ to vote.Results ported on ] THiflSAlV COCK EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR ■ Adam Beam DESIGN DIRECTOR COPY DESK CHIEF David Stagg Gabrielle Sinclair NEWS EDITOR VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Michael LaForgia Wes Wolfe THE MIX EDITOR SENIOR WRITER Meg Moore Kevin Fellner IN OUR OPINION Explore alternative to course packets When students start buying books, they usually budget for textbooks and study guides and pray they can get away with paying less than $300. But about the first or second week of class, students are hit with a surprise attack: course packets. These silent killers range anywhere ^l^om 30 to 300 pages, and prices can approach triple dig *ws. They’re full of documents, journal articles and book excerpts that professors expect students to read for class. Students are already paying Professors Hundreds of dollars for required should make use textbooks; they shouldn’t be Of Blackboard to required to pay for snippets ease students’ from other books that are rarely financial burden. used. Professors have access to Blackboard, an online forum for students to talk to their professors. But most professors don’t use this service. Professors should consider posting these articles on Blackboard so students could have the option of printing jThem out or just reading them off of their computer "Lcreen. We understand that some students don’t have printers and don’t like the idea of reading a 30-page arti cle from a computer, so we are not advocating eliminat ing course packets. (Jne additional issue, though, is that usually professors would make copies of what they want to pass out to the class or have their student assistant perform that needed task. If using university copiers completes this task, the professor isn’t laying out any money, and neither is the student. It isn’t right for professors to ask students to pay out so much money just to save time. If students want to pay $90 to have a physical course packet, that’s fine. But it’s also fine if students want to read articles off of Blackboard or receive the handouts in ||' ass and save their money for buying football tickets \rom scalpers in front of Williams-Brice Stadium. We should have this option. IT’S YOUR RIGHT Exercise your right to voice your opinion Create message boards at www.dailygamecock.com or send letters to the editor to gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK ® Adam Beam I DESIGN DIRECTOR David Stagg COPY DESK CHIEF Gabrielle Sinclair NEWS EDITOR Michael LaForgia ASST. NEWS EDITOR Jon Turner VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Wes Wolfe THE MIX EDITOR Meg Moore SPORTS EDITOR Jonathan Hillyard ASST. SPORTS EDITOR Daniel Kerr SENIOR WRITER Kevin Fellner • PHOTO EDITOR Jason Steelman SPORTS PHOTO EDITOR Katie Kirkland PAGE DESIGNERS f Erin Cline, Jennifer W Logan, Chas McArthy, Jessica Ann Nielson COPY EDITORS Jennifer Freeman, Anna Huntley, Daniel Regenscheit, Jennifer Sitowski, Steven Van Haren, Joey Wallace ONLINE EDITOR Brian Cope PUBLIC AFFAIRS Katie Miles, Jane Fielden TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 Columbia, S.C. 29208 Fax: 777-6482 CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. The Editor in Chief’s office hours are Monday and Wednesday from 3-5 p.m. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@gwm.sc.edu News: gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu The Mix: gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu Sports: gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Public Affairs: gamecockPR@yahoo.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726; Sports: 777-7182 Editor's Office: 777-3914 STUDENT MEDIA DIRECTOR Scott Lindenberg FACULTY ADVISER Erik Collins CREATIVE DIRECTOR Susan King BUSINESS MANAGER Carolyn Griffin ADVERTISING MANAGER Sarah Scarborough CLASSIFIED MANAGER Sherry F. Holmes PRODUCTION MANAGER Patrick Bergen CREATIVE SERVICES Burke Lauderdale, Chelsea Felder, Laura Gough, Joseph Da inelly, Kristen Wi liams ADVERTISING STAFF Robert Carli, Ryan Gorman, Caroline Love, Jesica Johnson, Katie Stephens -1 The Gamecock is the editorially independent student newspaper of the University of South Carolina. It is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters and nine times during the summer, with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors or author and not those of the University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is the newspaper’s parent organization. The Gamecock is supported in part by student-activity fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for $1 each from the Department of Student Media. - JA. .HEROES, ALL. CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS ■ ' To love GameDay is to know it ■ Your complete guide to the ESPN college football show is here So it has come to this. Yes, just a few short years after the painful 54 17 drubbing USC’s football team suffered at the hands of Rex Grossman and his merry band of reptiles (not to mention the even more painful sight of Lee Corso wearing an Albert the Alligator mascot head), College GameDay is returning to the fair environs of Columbia this Saturday. I thought I’d take the time to introduce you, the non-football fanatic, to the world of College GameDay. For starters, College GameDay is a traveling ESPN show that broadcasts from the site of the biggest college game each week. This week, thanks to Notre Dame’s loss, our match-up against Georgia is that game. So, this Friday and Saturday, the GameDay crew will be on hand to whip the USC crowd into a frenzy before donning various UGA-themed materials and predicting a 54-17 victory for the bulldog boys. Who are these men who hold such power over the hearts of college football fans? I’ll tell you. The GameDay Crew (not including countless techs, cameramen, a teleprompter, and Home Depot employees) is made up of three men, each with their own distinct personality (sorta). Kirk Herbstreit, a former quarterback, is The Blond Pretty One. Every week, GRAHAM b 1 o n d i e CULBERTSON disappoints thousands of FOURTH-YEAR autograph ENGLISH , 6 / STUDENT seekers when he tells them he doesn’t sign body parts or panties. Nevertheless, countless panties are thrown on stage at him every week, and I expect that he takes some of them home. Probably the pink ones. Kirk’s foil and partner in crime is Lee Corso, The Old Guy Who Must Know What He Is Talking About Because He’s Old. Mr. Corso makes amusing predictions, dons mascot heads, would probably sign panties but is never asked to, and is by far my favorite member of the crew. His catchphrase is “Not so fast, my friend,” which he utters whenever Kirk is talking faster than his geriatric ears can hear. Even though he will probably pick the Georgettes to win the game, he has written in the past that, “[Lou Holtz] is one of the few coaches I ever felt seriously outcoached me.” That, plus his hilarious sayings and antics, makes him worth two pretty blonde ex-quarterbacks. Rounding out the GameDay triumvirate is That Other Guy. He’s not blonde, he’s not old, and I think I even spotted him in Athens covering water polo. I looked up his name on the College GameDay website and it’s Chris Fowler, whoever that is. Anyway, he seems nice, but that’s about all I can tell you. At least he has more personality than Rex Grossman. Finally, and most importantly, you should remember that when these guys do GameDay, they usually talk about the local nightlife. If I were you, I would start cruising the bars down in Five Points starting Friday night, and you just might get to buy a pint at Delaney’s for one of the two most popular men in college football, and that other guy. That way they’ll have to give you a shout out on Saturday morning, right before they pick UGA over the Cocksters, 63-17. Well, now you know everything you need to know about College GameDay, the hosts, and where to find them. Just don’t look for them after the game, because after we beat the bully-dogs from down south, they’ll hightail it out of town from the shame of not picking an upset. Otherwise, we’ll have to make sure that Corso ends up with a Cocky head on before the celebration ends. IN YOUR OPINION Blackout for game only helps Bulldogs I appreciate the efforts you are making at encouraging enthusiasm and spirit at football games. Congratulations to the Gamecocks for their win on Saturday over a good Vanderbilt team. I noticed that the Student Gamecock Club (“ESPN to broadcast from stadium,” Wednesday) is encouraging all fans to wear black to games that start after 5 p.m. While it is important to build spirit, I don’t believe this is a good idea. One of the last times we had one of these “blackouts” happened to be the last time GameDay came to town, the 2001 Florida game. The Gators scored freely against us, and I remember Florida coach Steve Spurrier commenting after the game that his receivers were thrilled with the black background our fans provided. It made it very easy for them to pick up the ball. In his post-game interview on ESPN, he thanked us all for helping them by wearing black. I expect this Saturday will feature similar offense to that awful night. We are more ground oriented, Georgia will be more pass oriented, though not to the extent Florida was under Spurrier. I think wearing black provides an advantage to our opponent under these circumstances. Hopefully, the 5:35 p.m. kickoff will help some, as the 2001 Florida kick off was 7:35 p.m. or 8:05 p.m. and, being later in the year, it was dark. Please keep this in mind when scheduling future “blackouts.” As long as we feature a predominantly run attack, we would be better served by encouraging our fans to wear a variety of garnet, black and white. CHIP MORGAN Chemical engineering, ‘85 Infantile Wallace talks about nothing This letter is in response to Joel Wallace’s column (“Carolina aside, I’m ready for football,” Wednesday). His column jumps around more than a child with attention deficit disorder. He hits on five different subjects and doesn’t provide insight to any of them. He disproved his own point on the Patriots before he even made it. They aren’t going to be a formidable team this year, but “their coach is a genius” and “their quarterback always finds a way to win,” not to mention the rrancmse running oacK tney added in the offseason. Major League Baseball hasn’t had a repeat champion in the last three years, whereas, in that same time span, the Patriots have won two out of three Super Bowls. Baseball is headed into another exciting postseason. At the beginning of the column when he wrote, “It’s totally appropriate that I talk about something else entirely,” he meant he would talk about absolutely nothing. If he ever figures out if he’s glad the preseason is over, please let me know. B.C. NEWTON Third-year management student Patrick’s liberalism ignores real truths In response to Kim Patrick’s column (“Bush has been consistently wrong, Wednesday) I find myself enraged by the hackneyed untruths that have emerged by a smug group of liberals bent on winning the presidency. First off, Patrick’s euro-liberal propaganda blames America for the start of terrorism as she states that our “cultural imperialism” is not “wanted in all countries.” However, Middle Eastern unrest has not been solely from America. Rather, Europe perpetrated it in its quest for oil during the Industrial Revolution. Furthermore, America’s presence in world affairs has created more help than harm, including giving billions to countries for basic infrastructure and the stop of worldwide diseases. Ironically, although Patrick does not “excuse (terrorists’) actions,” her column belies her own words. For example, she states that American soldiers “pledge to cause damage, to kill or even lay down their lives tor tneir country, just because they fight in a recognized institution, their actions are widely seen as legitimate.” The comparison of terrorists and soldiers is completely unfounded. Terrorists use draconian tactics of brutality to coerce governments to grant their wishes -- I do not think that American soldiers slaughter innocent people to achieve their goals. Had Patrick paid attention to the news, instead of the rhetoric that the Democratic Party spits, perhaps her views would be different. RUSSELL FRY Second-year political science student Submission Policy Letters to the editor should be less than 300 words and Include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a student. E-mail letters to gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. Letters will be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Cali the newsroom at 777 7726 for more information. Nirvana exists in waiting rooms ■ But why do my car magazines drown their contents with ads? Waiting rooms are way better than newsstands. Not only is there a plethora of reading material, but there’s always the anticipation of what □ lies aneaa - uie object of the wait. So it was with me the other day as I awaited my haircut. Did I mind waiting? Heck no! I had a whole world to CHOW explore within the huge stack FOURTH-YEAR c . „„ ECONOMICS of g,oss> STUDENT magazines. Where else am I supposed to learn hot new make-up tips from the Olsen twins; or how to please my man from some obscure, nameless sex goddess? At this point, 1 noticed a semi-attractive girl sitting in the waiting room also, and I didn’t want to risk looking like 1 was actually interested in pleasing my man or maintaining my hourglass figure. 1 did what any other self respecting guy would do in such a situation — I put on a determined scowl and started digging through the pile of magazines, making an extra effort to toss aside the extra girly looking ones using only my index finger and thumb — much like one would toss aside a dirty diaper. Just as I began to lose hope, I stumbled across an anomaly in the pile. Emblazoned on the cover was a picture of my ’dream car — a ridiculously awesome car of awesomeness -- the 2005 Mercedes SLR McLaren. I picked up the magazine in all its glory and held it aloft. The radiance that emanated from it instantly vaporized all the girly magazines, and the aforementioned semi-attractive girl exploded. At this point, I could hardly contain my excitement, and I clumsily fumbled through the pages looking for a table of contents to find the article. Much to my exasperation, the table of contents was not in the beginning of the magazine — oh, no — 1 had to flip through the beginning several times going page by page through tomes of advertisements just to find it. Alas, once I found it there was no mention of my beloved McLaren on the first page of the table, so 1 continued to the next only to find another series of advertisements. iucic wcic iiiciduy piuuduly sia ui seven pages of advertisements separating the two pages of the table of contents. In all seriousness, what kind of idiot would design a magazine like that? I thought about it for a bit, and realized that all magazines I’ve ever read were designed in a similar manner. Isn’t the purpose of the table of contents to help you find what you’re looking for? Doesn’t it defeat the purpose of even having a table of contents if you’re going to scatter it in random places throughout the magazine? Really, people, you have to be about as smart as a box of rocks to come up with such an idea. Yes, I realize that they probably do it to force the reader to look at advertisements several times over while looking for the bloody thing, but nevertheless, it still makes me want to set them on fire. They should at least have the common decency to place a table of contents in the very beginning of the magazine to let you know on what pages you can find the real table of contents. Unfortunately, I don’t think its going to happen because they’re a bunch of dirty communists. I submit that we should band together and do society a favor by throwing eggs .nd scorpions at those jerks. • ONLINE POLL Do you like the new football uniforms? Yes 63% No 18% What new 19% uniforms? FROM WWW.DAn.YGAMECOCK.COM