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Quote, Unquote ‘I entered this comptetition because I’ve been play ing soccer for a mighty long time, and I feel my legs are just the sexiest out of anyone’s on campus.’ Marc Mehagan, Member of Pi Kappa Phi Franternity Page 6 'Cltt 09111 CCOCk Friday, September 22, 2000 TChe (Bmecock. Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 Editorial Board Brock Vergakis • Editor in Chief Kevin Langston • Viewpoints Editor Nathan White • Asst. Viewpoints Editor Patrick Rathbun • Editorial Contributor Brad Walters • Editorial Contributor SG Senators intimidated by measureable success It certainly didn’t take long for certain members of the Stu dent Senate to demonstrate just how completely out of touch they are with the people whom they supposedly rep resent. Wednesday night a letter was delivered to SG President Jo taka Eaddy by the academic affairs committee, comprised of Senators Tyson Nettles, Shereef El-lbiary, and Allison Whit worth. It said too much time and effort is being put into the petition to extend the drop date, and even if it passes, it wouldn’t make a large enouch impact on the student body for ctnHontc tr\ CQro •>* . . Apparently the three-member committee hasn’t noticed the massive amount of student signatures that have already been collected by students who believe it will make a very large impact on our lives. USC students have a reputation for being incredibly apathetic, and for students to actually sign this petition shows that they really do care about extending the drop date. To say extending it isn’t something students care about is absolutely ludicrous. What the committee wants Eaddy to focus on instead is im proving school spirit and safety. These issues are just cop-outs that they know can never be objectively measured in the way that extending the drop date can. It’s simple — it either suc ceeds, and students’ lives are improved, or it doesn’t and things stay the same. Just because SG has accomplished little in the past to im prove students’ lives doesn’t mean it has to be that way this year. Perhaps these senators don’t want to give up attending the never-ending stream of meetings that accomplish ab solutely nothing and are just intimidated by the fact that ac complishing something tangible will require actual work. Game-day shuttles better late than never Students intersted in attending Saturday's Homecoming game will have the option of taking a free ride. The office of Alcohol and Drug Programs began its game day shuttle service Saturday, making stops at the Russell House, the Capstone area and Bates House. This decision to commission a shuttle to and from USC football games will be advantageous in several ways. It will ensure that students have the option of taking a safe ride to and from sporting events. The walk from campus to Williams-Brice stadium is too long a journey for the university not to provide such an option for students. The shuttle service will add safety in this respect as well. The service might be late in its execution, but at least students will have the option of using the service starting this weekend. The office of Alcohol and Drug Programs should be applauded for its effort in furnishing the university with such a service, but depending on the interest the service generates, we would hope that the office would consider increasing the number of shuttles, pick-up times and shuttle pickups and StODS. The Gamecock is the student newspaper of The University of South Carolina and 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 activities fees. Adoress The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia, SC 29208 Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Studekt Media Area code 803 Advertising 777-3888 Classified 777-1184 Fax 777-6482 Office 777-3888 Gamecock Area code 803-777-7726 * Editor in Chief gamecockeditor@hotmail.com University Desk gamecocudesk@hotmail.com City/State Desk gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com Spotlight gamecockspotlight@hotmail.com Sports gamecocksports@hotmail.com Online www gamecock sc.edu Submission Policy Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome from all members of the Carolina community. Letters should be 250-300 words. Guest columns should be an opinion piece of about 600 words Both must include name, phone number, profes sional title or year and major, if a student. Handwritten submissions must be personally delivered to Russell House room 333. E-mail submissions must include telephone number for confirmation and should be sent to gamecockviewpomts@hotmail.com. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space Anonymous letters will not be pub lished Photos are required for guest columnist and can be provided by the submitter. Call 777-7726 for more information. The Gamecock Brock Vergakis Amy Goulding Editor in Chief Sean Rayford „ . , . Photo Editors Brandon Larrabee University Editor Charles Prashaw . „ . u Amanda Silva John Huiett Asst. Unive[sity Editors City/State Editor .... . John Bailey Kevin Langston Asst. city/State Editor Viewpoints Editor Nathan White Jared Kelowitz Asst. Viewpoints Editor Daytime Sports Editor MacKenzie Craven Kyle Almond Meredith Davis Night Sports Editor Asst. Spotlight Editor Jason Harmon Miranda LaLonde Ashley Melton Ann Marie Miani Brad Walters Jennie Moore Martha Wright Katie Smith Copy Editors Design Editors Stvo€ht Media Erik Collins Robyn Gombar Faculty Adviser Melissa Millen Ellen Parsons Brant'ey Roper Director of Njco^e Rltsse Student Media Adverting Staff Susan King Sean De Luna Creative Director Todd Hooks Melanie Hutto Carolyn Griffin Emilie Moca Business Manager Martin Salisbury Sherry F. Holmes Creative Services Classified Manager College Press Exchange Summer Olympics USA pride: Olympics vs. politics It’s that time again Olympics time. I don’t think I ever feel a greater sense of pride in being an American than I do during the Olympics. I know this is *>eteJohnson wrong, but it is al- *s a journalsim so commonplace, major and writes I think we all every Friday. He get a bit misty- can be reached eyed watching as at gamecockview onc of our ath- points@hotmail. letes stands on com that podium with a gold medal strapped around his or her neck while Francis Scott Key’s masterpiece blares in the background. When you break it down though, it’s a ridiculous phenomenon fueled by cockiness and a superiority com plex over anyone and everyone else. What I’m saying is that we love to flex our muscles to the rest of the world. It seems that only during the Olympics and wartime do Americans get whipped up into a nationalistic fervor based sole ly on the fact that we are kicking some lesser country’s collective ass, whedier it be with bombs and guns or in a swim ming pool. Is it kinda dumb? When you ex amine the phenomenon, yes. Why is it that we can’t feel a sense of pride and happiness to be an American evety day of the year? Well, I’ll tell you, it’s because we lack a greater focus. We don’t really know how rough starving children in third-world nations have it, and quite frankly, as a whole, we don’t care. We think we have some clue about how rough life can be be cause Sally Struthers tells us - with that sad, cracking voice, that there are - *snifP - starving children out there. Yes, this is sad and tragic, and it makes us feel lucky and happy to be an Amer ican for, say, two minutes. But once the infomercial is over, we start whin ing about how our cushy lives are so rough. In the land of opportunity, the only thing holding us back is ourselves. Our sense of patriotism and na tionalism could best be personified by a screaming, cheering high five or a chest bump. The attitude of being bet ter than everyone else must be really quite sickening and intimidating to a foreigner. And the wont thing is that we take it all for granted, especially our democracy, \bter apathy is a plague. Eventually (if not already), Americans will be drones to a system run by two faced, evil politicians. Well, I think Americans don’t vote because there is nobody left to root for. At least if you cheat in the Olympics by taking performance-en hancing drugs, you get punished for it. There are no punishments in politics. What ever happened to our system of checks and balances? Why isn’t it work ing with the leaders of the “greatest country in the world”? We have a candidate running now who has snorted his fair share of co caine and refuses to talk about it. Why isn’t this a big deal to those same peo ple who bugged Clinton for having once smoked marijuana? Have they all of a sudden become more liberal towards drugs? No, they just don’t care what shady things their candidate has done, just as long as he wins and gives them all those favors he’s been promis ing. Does it bother you that that same candidate put astounding numbers of people to death as the governor of Texas and has almost single-handedly allowed for the rapid deterioration of the state’s environment over the past few years? Meanwhile, on the other side, they’re taking illegal contributions to fund their campaign. Right about now I’m finding my self conforming to take the lesser of the two evils. If only we could see Bush vs. Gore in one of those 4 a.m. ESPN2 strong-man competitions. Yeah, right. Neither of them would have a prayer facing up against Magnus Ver Mag nessun, and I would root for Magnus any day. But what a dream it would be if politics were as simple as the Olympics. If you cheat, you are disqualified. It’s not a hard concept, and it should be followed more religiously. If only Bush vs. Gore was as simple and fun as Dan vs. Dave. Letters Students should make themselves heard at the polls To the editor, Corey Ford’s column on Tuesday was right on. With the presidential election coming up in less than two months, young people still have time to get registered. It is crucial that you all exercise one of the most basic rights we have as Americans, the right to vote. As stated in the column, only 32% of those between 18-24 years old bothered voting in the last presiden tial election. That figure looks pretty good compared to the less than 20% of our age demographic that showed up to the polls in the last general election in 1998. I know it may be hard to get excited about this year’s presidential race, with George W. Bush and A1 Gore as the front runners, but it is still our responsibility to get out to the polls and.make our voices heard. If you would rather see Ralph Nader, Pat Buchanan or John Hagelin in the White House in January, make sure you mark them on the ballot instead of the other two. Whatever you do, don’t try to make a statement by not voting; that on ly shows the politicians that you don’t care, and they will return the favor by showing how much they don’t care about you. The reason most politicians focus their cam paigns on seniors and the middle-aged is because they are the ones who get out to vote. It’s a simple fact that not enough young people are so much as registered to vote, let alone actually showing up to the polls. It is utterly amazing to me that that many people just don’t care. Twenty-nine years ago, our federal and state govern ments went to a lot of trouble to amend the Constitution to allow our age demo graphic the right to vote. We owe it to them and to ourselves to get out and do something with it. If you don’t like the way the government is running, do some thing about it. Don’t vote for the career politicians. Not voting is not making a statement. If you really don’t like any of the people on the ballot in November, make use of write-in candidates. You can vote for anyone you want by simply writ ing them in. The bottom line is to get out to the polls in November. If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain about how our country is being run. Your opinion does n’t count. Make your voice heard by cast ing your ballot. If you are registered, make sure you get out to the polls on Nov. 7. If you are not registered, you have more than an ample opportunity to get registered be fore the Oct. 7 deadline. Many organi zations here on campus will be having vot er registration drives until then. If you have an address here on campus or in town, you are eligible to register as a SC resi dent. Don’t waste this opportunity. Make your voice heard. Decide the fate of your country. Get out and vote. Don’t Just Utke my word for it; it’s your right as an Amer ican. Jason Summers Criminal Justice Senior Tipping advice mis leading, useless To the editor, I am writing in response to Jennine Lightweis article 1 ipping lor me mas sive-Aggressive” that appeared Monday, September 18 in The Gamecock. Lightweis not only gives horrible ad vice, but also misinforms readers by pro viding four random and unlikely exam ples. Three of the four examples are negative and totally unlikely in everyday encounters within a restaurant. In the first scenario, she recommends tipping 5 per cent to a condescending waiter. In a lat ter example, Leightweis describes a “filthy waitperson” that apparently flirts with her partner. Her inclination is to “slam the waitperson’s face in the table.” The last scenario is a description of her moral dilemma after an encounter with a Latino waiter with a swastika tattoo. The entire tone of this article was dis gusting. Does Lightweis think she is that far above the “filthy” person serving her? Perhaps the reason she received bad ser vice in three of the four examples was be cause she did not treat the waitperson with respect. A large number of students wait tables to support themselves during their college years. It is not only one of the most humbling experiences a person can go through, but grueling as well. Well Ms. Lightweis, I am sorry if you did receive bad service on these oc casions. Here are a few suggestions: fill out a comment card, speak with the man ager, and/or do not return to the restau rant. But do not write an article void of factual information and label it a guide. Perhaps if you did any research you could have found that waiters and waitresses re ly on tips because they only get paid $2.13 an hour. Susan Beck Media Arts Junior Club Sports use club sports need our support 2n the ■ S C ugby team beat the No. 1 ranked Citadel Bulldogs last week, no fans stormed the field to tear down the goal posts. As a mat ter nf fart there might not have been enough fans to do so had they wanted to. Most of those that were in attendance either clapped politely or silently wondered who won. The vast majority of USC students that played a sport in high school will never play on a USC varsity team. Be they too small or too slow to play at this level, you can chalk it up to natural tal ent that some have, but most do not. The glory days of walking tall in the hall ways with a varsity letter jacket on to impress the cheerleaders are over. But club sports can be a saving grace to high school athletes that aren’t ready to call it quits just yet. Club sports, such as rugby, field hockey, and lacrosse, give these student-athletes a chance to con tinue playing sports at a level of com petition higher than intramural flag foot ball or beer pong. wniie ciuo sporisuoii iouei uie lux uries of full scholarships, fancy new uni forms, athletic trainers and chartered buses, they do offer exercise, which everyone needs, competition and ca maraderie. These are the reasons we started playing sports in the first place. I doubt anyone joined Little League when they were 8 years old with the no tion of someday getting free sneakers from the college of their choice. They joined because it was fun and it was some thing they could do with their friends. Club sports also offer some of the same social perks as Greek life. There are opportunities to meet new people, attend parties, have a sense of belong ing and even get their own T-sliirts com plete with corny sayings on the back. And, if that’s not enough, there’s always the timeless theory that chicks dig scars. Different clubs offer different things. Some have 33 years of history on cam pus and alumni supporting the new breed of players. Some are just beginning and offer members a chance to be a part of the creation of something special. But whether the team is rich in history or just getting started, the amount of hard work is constant. These athletes <, caravan to games on 10-hour road trips. They pile into hotel rooms paid for out of their own pockets. They set up their own fields and buy their own equip ment. They practice hard and play through injuries, just like varsity ath u..* _ _ icicj, mm iiutic Ul uic uuiiiuc. Otlier schools, such as Clemson, have enormous fan support for club teams. Fans travel with the teams on road trips while USC clubs struggle for attendance at home games. Opposing fans out numbered USC fans at games in Co lumbia numerous times the past few years. For a number of schools, the sup- * port of the fans has lead to more fund ing from the school, wltich paid for new equipment to attract new players and even more fan support. The club sports at USC need this type of support. Even if you don’t want to play on a team, you can still support them. Just grab some friends and some refreshments and head over to the field come game-time. Acknowledge your fellow students for their hard work on and off the field. Cheer them on in victory and defeat. And, as always, there will be a social event following die game. Michael Kerr is a junior journalism major and writes every other Friday. Fie can be reached at gamecockview ooints@hotmail .com.