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Pep Tall By Kevin Adams Chaikin xtnrv i about disciplin The Tommy Ghaikin story is a sad and shocking one. But is it true? Only Chaikin and the USC football players and coaches know for sure. And, expectedly, their versions clash. Chaikin claims that USC coaches were aware of and even indirectly encouraged his use of illegal, performance-enhancing steroids. He also estimates that up to half of the Gamecock football team was using steroids, and up to a third of his teammates were using cocaine. USC head coach Joe Morrison says Chaikin's claims are "sensationalism" and "exaggerated" and that coaches had heard rumors of steroid use by team members, but had no hard facts. Morrison also says Chaikin had had numerous problems since he arrived at USC, citing events in Chaikin's dorm room, the cafeteria and the weight room. So which version should we believe? Probably a combination of the two. Some of Chaikin's story is fact. Much of it is probably exaggerated fact. And some of it probably isn't fact at all. It's hard to fathom Morrison and his coaching staff deliberately promoting the use of illegal drugs which could possibly get the program in trouble with the NCAA. But whether true or not, Chaikin's story raises some serious questions about Morrison's theories of discipline. Morrison admits after learning Chaikin had been stabbed in a bar fight before the team's first game against The Citadel in 1984, Chaikin's freshman year, that he told Chaikin not to tell anyone of the incident, saying, "It's not what we want to talk to the press about." That in itself is understandable enough. Obviously, had the story made it to the public, it would have proved a big distraction to a team preparing for a season opener. What is particularly disturbing, nowever, is tne ract tnat unaiKin was allowed to play in the game. What kind of message does it send to a youngster when a coach covers up such an incident before your first college game and allows you to go ahead and play despite being drunk and getting in a fight only five nights earlier? Chaikin obviously got the idea that those type of actions would be tolerated to a certain extent and that severe punishment would not be forthcoming if similar actions were to occur in the future. The case of Ryan Bethea is strikingly similar to Chaikin's. Bethea was arrested several times for various charges during his career at USC, the last time in January for possession of cocaine, yet he was never suspended for a game because of his criminal actions. FRATERNI T's I RUSSELL JERSEYS, SWEATSHIR" SCREEN PRINTING, AND MUCH I LOW PRICES & BULK DISCO Call 731-3572 to have a sales r next me Special Student an EUR< from New York on S< DESTINATIONS LONDON PARIS MILAN FRANKFURT ZURICH/GENEVA MADRID COPENHAGEN STOCKHOLM OSLO Above fares also apply from Wasl Paris on non-stop service. Add-on Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and many ott CALL OR WRITE FOR OUR S SO. PACIFIC, AUSTRAI Eurail and Eurail Youth Pass< 1-800-777-0112 or Whole Won 17 E. 45th St., Suite 805, Part of the worldwide S 'aises questions e on USC team Bethea's first arrest, for breaking into a car and attempting to steal a radar detector, also came in his freshman year. Bethea, recently signed by the National Football League's Minnesota Vikings, was finally suspended from the USC squad this past summer after it was learned he had accepted | money from an agent in violation of , NCAA rules. He had been accepted back on the squad after the cocaine i charges were dropped because a i police informant denied making the \ tip which led to Bethea's arrest. ; Time after time, Bethea made bad i headlines. And time after time, Bethea was accepted back to the USC < squad. There have been other cases of < discipline problems by Gamecock 1 football players during Morrison's tenure, the most recent one two Saturdays ago when three members of the team were arrested for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct t after allegedly harassing, spitting on 3 wiiu uixvai-wiiiiig tkj iapt a v^uiuiiiuict \ woman in Five Points. One player has been charged with assault after > allegedly hitting the woman. For 4 their efforts, the two eligible players have been suspended for one game, I against N.C. State this Saturday, and J all three have been placed on disciplinary probation and will receive counseling. Joe Morrison certainly doesn't encourage these sort of actions among his players. If anything, he simply | wishes that these things didn't hap- ft pen, that he could simply concentrate p on coaching football. And he tries to give his players who have made m mistakes chances to redeem H themselves, an admirable quality in 1 any man. But somewhere, a line must be drawn. "|jj As Morrison himself said Monday of Tommy Chaikin, "I would think 1 that if we are guilty of anything, then we are guilty of hanging with an in- g dividual too long and giving him that 1 second and third chance to pursue his JP education, to change his way of life and to be able to go out and take his place in society." It's a tough thing to be guilty of, $ but who's to say what would have | happened had Morrison sat Chaikin down that night in 1984, instead of sending the message that actions such as Chaikin's would be condoned? I The key is to adequately discipline wrong actions when they occur the first time, not on the second and third. And telling a freshman to suit || up with a stab wound incurred five & nights earlier in a bar fieht is not ade quate discipline. I, like Morrison, wish that USC football would make its news on the playing field instead of off. But that won't entirely happen unless the players know that actions such as the above won't be tolerated. ( So far, they have been. I I SORORI T's I ~ rs, wore unts ?ro\^ i j|s| epresentative come to your eting ia Toum fares 10 DPE :heduled Airlines! OW RT $185 $365 235 450 260 500 258 515 258 515 245 470 260 475 260 475 260 475 hington, D.C. to London and fares from Boston, Chicago, ler U.S. cities are also available. SPECIAL FARES TO THE LIA, SO. AMERICA js available immediately. 212-986-9470 ld Travel New York, NY 10017 >TA Travel Network L Coaches c By KEVIN ADAMS Sports editor USC head football coach Joe Morrison anc defensive line coach Jim Washburn said Monday that former USC player Tommy Chaikin had had several problems at USC and that the Gamecock coaching staff probably gave Chaikin too many opportunities to redeem himself. In the Oct. 24 issue of Sports Illustrated, Chaikin, who was a member of the Gamecock football squad from 1983-1987, said in a firstperson article that he was a heavy user of steroids during his career at USC and that Morrison and other coaches knew of and overlooked his steroid abuse. Chaikin also estimated that half of the 1986 USC football team was on steroids and that up to a third was using cocaine and other street drugs. "The more I look at this, I think here was an individual that we recruited out of high school, and He came to the University of South Carolina," said Morrison of Chaikin. "Off and on, we had had some problems with him in the dormitory, some problems in the weight room, some problems in the dining hall. "I would think that, if we are guilty of anything, then we are guilty of hanging with an individual too long and giving him that second or third chance to pursue his education, to change his way of life and to be able to go out and take his place in society," he said. Morrison refused to go into detail about Chaikin's previous problems. At his own press conference Monday, Washburn said he agreed with Morrison that Chaikin had problems while at USC. "I had a sense that something was wrong with Tommy," Washburn said. "There was no question Tom was having problems." Washburn responded to Chaikin's claim that he old Chaikin, "Do what you have to do, take what rou have to take," a statement Chaiken said he inerpreted as indirect encouragement to use steroids. "Coaches have a lot of cliches, I guess," iVashburn told reporters. "One of them is, Whatever it takes to get the job done.' What I * *?'<r ?'* * *^? &! * ' *' USC's 17th-ranked football team will seek to rej Georgia Tech in their last game, face the Wolfpac p.m. QESOLVI HOMOSEXUA SHOULD NOT ALLOWED TO ADOPT CHIL Wednesday October 26 7*7A nu i?<fv riTi m Room 302 A debate sponsored by the Athenian Literary and Debatir leny Chaiki "...if we are guil- JF I ty of anything, then M ^ 1 we are guilty of r hanging with an in- m' 1 dividual too % ** . . long..." \? V Joe Morrison USC football coach Iv m> ' i meant by that ? and you've got to take it in context ? was hard work, dedication, whatever it takes within the law. "I don't condone steroids," he said. "I don't believe in them. Their only use is in the medical community." Morrison said he is equally opposed to the illicit use of steroids. "Anywhere coach Joe Morrison has been, they know and I know that he has never condoned the use of drugs in any way, in any form, in any fashion," Morrison said. "And that certainly includes at the University of South Carolina." Morrison said that former strength coach Keith Kephart had come to him during the 1985 season with rumors of steroid use by Gamecock players and that he gave Kephart the responsibility of dealing with those rumors. Morrison said no names of players were mentioned by Kephart in their conversation. "I did have a conversation with coach Kephart about the rumors that there was steroid use on our football team," he said. "I don't know how many of you knew a great deal about steroids in 1985. I didn't really know a whole lot about them then, and I don't know much more about them today. "We had that conversation, and I said, 'Coach Kep, it seems to me that falls in your department. If you handle that, I would appreciate it. If there is anything I can do or that needs to be done, let me know,"' he said. Morrison said Kephart spoke with several -A** !?*'*/, \-V 2 s *?! x v' > fL, -?' >N . r *?t 4 " & &* v * ^ *fe?~ - ??'.. --- *" i **: >v ** **. ,.:, -.;... .J . :i::A :, .'.y'V v" V<-; * ' ^.'v kx*ct $? zme <- - >*? W i> * ??r?ain the momentum it had when it defeated Georgia, 23:k of North Carolina State in a nationally televised gam f/m STUDENT f -Vl* For The At V. N# The Student Governm will be eligible to buy in the Student Govern r? ... [_;> halls. RF They will also post a 100 alternates and t DREN I opportunity to pure 1 SCHEI 1500 primary students - Tl First 100 alternates - Fri< Second 100 alternates Fri Third 100 alternates Fric Tickets wli Students must be a fu a valid ID card when ig ociety. chasing a ticket. vveuiiesaay, uciODer^b, 1988 in's claims mAmkorc /-\P fUa P/>/\+Unl1 ^ 1 a1 niviiiuvi o ui niv lUUlUdll LVaill euiu unci CU mem guidance, counseling and "whatever it took." "And that was the end of it," he said. "I think that all of our coaches in one form or another. . . try to help our ball players. They try to help them as individuals, they try to help them as players and they certainly try to help them academically. "Now you can try, but again, God gives everyone the right to choose. You can choose whatever you feel or whatever you want to do. I feel the same holds true for drugs, and whether we all want to admit it or not, it's not just football that has the problem. It's society that has this problem." Morrison said he did not follow up on the conversation with Kephart because, "We did not go on rumor. We did not go up to anyone and accuse them just because we felt we needed to accuse someone." Chaikin said in the article that team physician Paul Akers told Morrison that Chaikin was on steroids and that Morrison told Chaikin, "Don't do it anymore." But Morrison said he does not remember talking to Akers or Chaikin. "I'm not calling him a liar," Morrison said. "I'm just saying I don't recall that conversation." He called Chaikin's estimate that up to half the team was using steroids during the 1986 season "exaggerated." He cited as evidence the number of players who made the Iron Cocks Club, which is composed of the team's top weight lifters. "In 1986, we had 21 members that made the Iron Cocks Club," Morrison said. "If we had a great deal of individuals on steroids, I think that number would have been higher." He also cited drug tests performed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association before TTCr"c r.otnr 1-4 1 ? ujl s uuiui uuni luiulsi ui uecemuei1v5/, when only one player ? center Woody Myers ? tested positive for steroids. The NCAA tested the 22 Gamecock starters and 14 players chosen at random before the Gator Bowl. Chaikin was not with the Gamecock squad at that time, having left the team prior to the Clemson game on Nov. 21. .m ***y >-ssr? H II m ^'-'.W'- ... 4 4 -'<'( ^ >**%- ;f' J * ' y **" * ; KENT BROOME/The Gamecock 10, Sept. 24. The Gamecocks, 34-0 losers against le Saturday night in Raleigh. Kickoff is at 8:07 OOTBALL TICKET LOTTERY I vay Clemson vs use Game vember 19.1958 lent will post a list of those students who tickets by 3:00 PM Tuesday, Oct. 25th iment Office window ? various residence list of the first 100 alternates, second hird 100 alternates who will have the tase any tickets remaining. HJLE m TICKET SALES 'M a A D II u~ I -LL. IUI auay v/^i. j. / * ?dm-Tpm (NUbbCN nuusc LUUUy day Oct. 28 - 9am-1 lam Russell House Lobby day Oct. 28 - I lam Ipm Russell House Lobby lay Oct. 28 - Ipm - 3pm Russell House Lobby II cost $15.00 CASH ONLY ill time, fee paying student and present signing up for a ticket and when puri i