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I Quote, Unquote ‘I like to play the guy ... who gets screwed with a lot. In real life, I’ve been the underdog, and I’ve been a real jerk.’ Adam Sandler, on the range of his acting career Monday, November 27, 2000 t'ht'CSmmck 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 Martha Wright • Editorial Contributor Complete old projects, then create new ones The Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center is a classic ex ample of USC’s unfulfilled promises. Plans to build the center were approved in 1997, and the project was allotted a budget of $38.6 million. Now, three years later, the Fitness and Wellness Cen ter is behind schedule and over budget. Right now, there’s not much to look at on the comer of Blossom and Assembly streets — tumed earth, metal rods and concrete blocks litter the spot where one day will stand a sophisticated fitness center with a track, a weight room, indoor and outdoor pools. Plans call for an 180,000-square-foot behemoth of a building, but we should be see ing a lot more than the beginnings of its construction. Though the university originally planned to open the center in fall 2001, university representatives have pushed the completion date all the way to the end of 2002. This means students won’t be able to access the facilities until 2003. Initial construction bids were $10 mil lion more than the administration expected, causing them not only to cut back on some plans, but also to pad the budget with an addition al $6.3 million. Of that amount, $3.8 million will come frdm student fees. Today, though construction of the Strom Thurmond Fitness and Wellness Center is not yet behind them, the administration is buzzing with ideas for campus improvements. USC is pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into construction projects such as streetscaping, a Greek village and a new law school. This is too much, too soon. Set ting goals is admirable but USC should take care of old projects be fore it embarks on ne,v ones. 'Search for Six' shows no respect for USC's alumni This newspaper has been a bit skeptical about the university’s bicentennial search for six public figures who embody the overall mission and purpose of USC. This “Search for Six” was contradictory in its early stages for the simple reason that it didn’t restrict the nominees to graduates of the university (we say ‘graduates’ because, by definition, people have to take only one course at this university to be considered alum ni). Therefore, saying we think Tiger Woods is the embodiment of our ideals in sports is essentially saying that no USC athlete has lived up to our ideals. What message does this convey to the rest of the universities in this country? It would have been a better service to this university and the na tion if we could have found six graduates who personify these ideals. Instead, we’ve chosen people who have nothing to do with this uni veristy. We were curious to see what nominees the students would come up with for the Search for Six, and we must say we are disappoint ed. This cast of nominees is slim pickings for the student or staff member who takes the Search for Six seriously. We fear that students might have been too caught up in recent trends and fads in their nom inations, and that they might not have chosen their nominees thought fully. We fear Search for Six might be a publicity stunt to lure all these prominent public figures to our campus to speak. What, for ex ample, do you think it would take to get Henry Kissinger here? About Us The Gamecock is the student newspaper of The University of South Carolina and is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semestersand nine times during the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editor; or author and not those of The University of South Carolina. The Board <* Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is the newspaper’s parent oraaniaation. The Gamecock is supported in part bv student activities fees Address The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia, SC 29208 Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Studeht 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 gamecockeditor0hotmail.com University Desk garnecockudesk0hotmail.com City/State Desk gamecockcitydesk©hotmail.com Viewpoints gamecockviewpoints0hotmail.com Spotlight gamecockspotlight0hotrnail.com Sports gamecocksports0hotmail.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 tele phone number for confirmation and should be sent to gamecockviewpoints0hotrnail.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 columnists and can be ijrovided by the submitter. Call 777-7726 for more information. The Gamecock ‘g1Bai8i|—I Brock Vergakis MacKenzie Craven Editor in Chief Spotlight Editor Brandon Larrabee Travis Lynn University Editor Sean Rayford John Huiett Photo Editors City/State Editor Charles Prashaw Kevin Langston Amanda Silva Viewpoints Editor Asst. University Editors Jared Kelowitz John Bailey Day Sports Editor Asst. City/State Editor Kyle Almond Nathan White Night Sports Editor Asst. Viewpoints Editor Mackenzie Clements Aubrey Fitzloff Jason Harmon Miranda LaLonde Ashley Melton ' Ann Marie Miani Brad Walters Jennie Moore Martha Wright Katie Smith Copy Editors Page Designers Stuoeht Media Erik Collins Carolyn Griffin Faculty Adviser Business Manager Ellen Parsons Jannell Deyo Director ot Robyn Gombar Student Media Kefa Khalil Susan King Denise Levereaux Creative Director Brantley Roper Sean De Luna Nicole Russell Todd Hooks Advertising Staff Melanie Hutto Jonathan Dunagin Emilie Moca Interim Ad Manager Martin Salisbury Sherry Holmes Creative Services Classified Manager Edralyne Faye Chavez OUST s. SToljll __ Buuu ST. Onat vTjtjti rT///J USC Football A fan's apology to Lou Holtz Dear Coach Holtz: I’m sorry. Being a Game cock fan for 22 years, I was as hap py as anyone else when you were hired in 1998.1 did n’t know whether you still had the magic that led your teams to Top 25 finishes and peren nial bowl games; I didn’t know whether the job was going to be uavia uionmger is a journalism graduate student. He can be reached at gamecockview points ©hotmail.com. worth your time and trouble. All I knew was that anyone and anything had to be better than the 1-10 season the Gamecocks had just completed. Then came 1999. As USC slid further and further down into the depths of Division I football, I looked at you — as we always do here in America— and I heaped every bit of the blame squarely on the shoulders of the head coach. Everything that went wrong was directly attributed to you, never mind the fact that Bear Bryant himself would have probably had a tough time trying to win with that team. I looked past the crippling injuries, the personal problems and the toughest sched ule in the nation. All I saw was agood foot ball coach, who had won many times be fore, trying to turn around a bad program and falling flat on his face. I knew you weren’t going to win right away, given the lack of talent you had to work with and the new systems being in stalled. But I didn’t think you were go ing to take the Gamecocks where they had never been before — an 0-11 season. And 1 called for your head, m more than just conversation among fellow fans. Then came this season. I don’t know how you did it, but you took a team that was short on talent but long on hope, and you made them believe in themselves. You made them into win ners. This team — the one that had been told it was never going to be successful and had no chance of competing in any league (much less the Southeastern Con ference), the one that lost most of its best segment, the starting defense — was suddenly good. The Gamecocks were 4-0 and had beat en two ranked teams. This hadn’t happened since the days when I was still idolizing Sterling Sharpe and wearing a black No. 2 jersey everywhere. National rankings and bowl games were once again being dis cussed in Columbia, and the spectre of last season was slowly fading away. I looked at you and you were the same person as last season, the same coach who had tried to give USC fans a winner de spite being severely undermanned. You went through more personal problems last season than any person should ever have to deal with, and then once those were solved, you had to figure out ways to turn a down-and-out football team into con tenders. Many others would have folded their arms and sent in their resignations. Many others would have dismissed it as bad luck. You took every bit of the blame and stat ed it was your fault, nobody else’s. Though you had bad press, insults and your reputation as a savior at stake, you went back to work and found out ways to do what you had promised to do: win. ■ Now, the Gamecocks are only wait ing, not to find out whether the season will be extended one more game as in years past, but simply to find out which bowl game USC will appear in. To win seven games at a school that’s only had six eight win seasons in 100-plus years is a huge ac complishment. And you did it in the first eight weeks of the season. You, who had a right above anybody to crow and strut the team’s newfound success, kept quiet and ran the team. Even when the Gamecocks lost a heartbreaker to Clemson two Saturdays ago, you said nothing about any kind of controversial call, preferring instead to discuss the next game and dismissing it as a loss. There are Gamecock fans all around who are putting off last season as a fluke and generalizing your success as “just a matter of time.” Maybe that’s true, but I’m being honest. I blamed you for the losses in 1999, and I’m giving you the credit for USC’s success in 2000. I was at the end of my rope in 1999. As a Gamecock fan, I had been through many losses. But if the team couldn’t win under Lou Holtz, how could they ever have any hope of reaching the promised land ofTitletown? Now the team is together, playing with ferocity and its collective hearts on its sleeves, trying to make itself a bigger part of history as the weeks progress. They owe it all to you. Congratulations on your season, and no matter where the team ends up in the bowl picture, I know that no matter what happens, you and your squad will repre sent the university well and will be justi fiably proud of the 2000 season. Just thought someone should apolo gize. Cycling Safety Columbia cyclists are brave people The safety of Shawn Miller cyclists is a . .. r is a philosophy matter of __ graduate student. public concern. In the same He can be reached way that a city has at 8arnec°ckview an obligation to ac- points commodate pedes- ©hotmail.com. trian traffic by pro viding sidewalks and safe areas to walk, our cities must pro vide something analogous to this for cy clists. It is simply unacceptable for a city to declare that no measures whatsoever be taken to ensure the safety of its citizens as they walk around town. Similarly, a city and its citizens must not neglect whole sale the safety of its cyclists. The Sept. 30 death of cyclist Dr. Har ry Sunshine on Two Notch Road has gen erated some sentiment that Columbia is not an especially safe city for cycling. Dr. Sunshine was struck by what is believed to be a 300-model Lexus while riding on the side of the road early in the morning. Dr. Sunshine, 55, was wearing a reflective vest at the time of the accident. The cul prit is still at large. The tragedy of Dr. Sunshine has sparked some level of concern in Columbia. After the accident, cyclists I know spoke of roads they find especially hazardous (Greene, Harden, Blossom, etc.). I’ve even been called brave by someone at the bookstore just because he saw that I ride a bicycle in Columbia. The fact of the matter is that cycling taken by itself isn’t very dangerous. One rarely reaches speeds exceeding 25 mph on a bicycle, and cycling accidents in volving only cyclists are rare outside of bicycle races. Really, the main danger posed to cyclists comes from automobiles. Cars are dangerous, not bicycles. Columbia does not have any bike lanes, and some claim this is dangerous. How ever, Columbia tends to have wide roads with more than enough room to accom modate both cyclists and motorists —As sembly Street is a good example of this. What makes cycling hazardous in Columbia is the impatience of motorists and the ever increasing size of automobiles. In these days when gigantic sport util ity vehicles rule the road, room for cy clists on our streets has all but disappeared. SUVs, with their extreme width, leave no room for cyclists. Thus, when a motorist encounters a cyclist in the road, there often isn’t enough space for the automobile to pass. The cars on the road or parked on the side of the road are simply too wide. What is required of motorists in such situations is patience. It is absolutely im perative that the motorist wait until there is a safe opportunity to pass. Passing a cyclist before there is ample room is high ly irresponsible and puts the life of the cy clist in danger. Perhaps the danger of the situation is lost on motorists whose vehi cles weigh thousands of pounds and who are in no danger themselves. But it’s un nerving to a cyclist to be passed at 40 mph by a Chevy Suburban at close range. Cyclists are a fact of life in cities, es pecially cities like Columbia which have laige student populations who use bicy cles for transportation. It is everyone’s re sponsibility to make sure that cyclists are safe. Cyclists must, therefore, ride re sponsibly. City planners and officials must make every effort to ensure our streets are as safe as possible for cyclists and motorists. Most importantly, motorists must use good judgment and respect the right of cy clists to be on the road. Impatience and recklessness on the part of motorist will only lead to further accidents and poten tial fatalities. / The case of Dr. Harry Sunshine illus trates this point only too well. . USC’s Bicentennial USC parties like it's 2005 because we can't count I hope you’re ready to cele brate 200 years of USC. You’re about to be inundat ed with more bicen tennial information and propaganda than you could ever hope for. They’re even go ing to open the res idence halls early so everyone can partic ipate in the kickoff celebration in Janu ary. Wbohoo. There’s nothing like an ad ministration-planned party at 11 a.m. on the Horseshoe to be followed by a picnic outside the Russell House in 30-degree weather. Unfortunately, I won’t be attending this bicentennial kickoff. I have a tough time celebrating next year as USC’s 200th anniversary. The reason is pretty simple. USC won’t be 200 years old until 2005. USC was merely chartered in 1801. Classes didn’t begin until 1805. This means we’re celebrating this whole bicentenni al thing four years too early. So when you hear all of the talk about 200 years of “excellence” in education, don’t be fooled. Be smarter than the ad ministration and prove that you can count. While I think celebrating the bicen tennial next year is foolish, I really can’t blame the school. Every university wants to impress others by how old it is. The University of North Carolina and the University of Georgia still argue over which is the oldest public university in the coun try. Georgia, like USC, considers the char tering date to be most important and thus claims it is the oldest. UNC, on the other hand, chooses the logical approach and says it is the oldest because it was the first school to begin classes. UNC was a functioning college for six years before students at UGA ever began classes. This is why UNC has the national reputation for being the oldest public school in the country. While UGA should probably give up its lost cause, at least there’s a little more pride at stake with them than there is at USC. USC isn’t even the oldest college in South Carolina. The College of Charleston has beaten us there. Sure, if you throw enough adjectives in front of something. I’m sure we’re the first in something, but that cheapens being first. But it’s too late now. They’ve released that ugly black, garnet, white and gold bi centennial logo and plan on plastering it all over campus and our athletes’ uniforms. They even want to put it on the football •field for next season. God help us if we ad vertise to the world we can’t count cor rectly. But accurate starting dates have nev er really been a priority here. The new Fit ness and Wellness Center was supposed to open for business next year, but beginning construction was delayed. The university Greek Village was supposed to exist be fore most of us even had our driver’s li censes. The new basketball arena had to face a score of setbacks because of design complications and our incapability to bud get properly. Hell, why not celebrate their anniversaries? None of them exist, but they’ve all been chartered. And at USC, that’s what’s important. This school doesn’t care when VA11115J 6cl uuiic, juai (Vi lung as uiey iu planned. Isn’t that what Student Govern ment is all about, anyway? Always plan ning, never doing. The bicentennial becomes more lu dicrous every time I think about how ridicu lous it would be to celebrate the “char tering” of other things. It’s like celebrating not only the wedding date, but also the proposal date. Nobody counts the en gagement period when saying how long they’ve been married. But if USC wrote the rules on that sort of thing, they sure would, and guys would have yet another day they’d struggle not to forget. So while the administration does every thing it can to persuade us to be excited rbout 196 years of existence, they’ll have to excuse my apathy. Maybe it’s just me, :>ut I’d prefer for my school to use some ogic for once. You might fool some peo ple from South Carolina and Georgia in 0 thinking we’re 200 years old, but not his North Carolinian. Brock Vergakis is a junior jour nalism major. He can be reached at gamecock viewpoints ©hotmail.com