Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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SOUND OFF ONLINE POLL Create message boards at Who would win a game between the www.dailygamecock.com or men’s and women’s basketball team? send letters to the editor to _ www.dailygamecock.com. gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. Results published on Fridays. %■ IN OUR OPINION Holtz makes right decision Everyone is entitled to second chances. And, in any case, the severity of the offense should be taken into account, especially with Derek Watson ajid his off-the-field troubles. But what should be done about these problems is the coach’s and athletics director’s ultimate decision. Everywhere, coaches are forced to make decisions about punishing their players when they take illegal or against-team policy actions. Sometimes those coaches and athletics directors make the right decisions, and sometimes they don’t. Sadly, at many schools, athletic talent remains a factor in the decision making process. But Lou Holtz is renowned for treating all of his players equally, and this time was no exception. We applaud Holtz for his Lou Holtz’s decision to remove Derek Watson from the football team is an example other football coaches around the country should follow. nandiing ot tne situation, in a case where it seems as if the solution is clear, The Gamecock wonders how this action would be treated at other schools. At Ohio State, quarterback Steve Bellisari got a slap on the wrist for endangering lives by driving drunk. The punishment he received was a joke. He played most of the Outback Bowl and was able to post career numbers despite his actions off the field. And in 1999, Florida State wide receivers Peter Warrick and Laveranues Coles illegally received free clothes from a department store. Coles was dismissed, but Warrick, the Seminoles’ marquee player, was suspended only for a few games. Not all schools put character before performance. But South Carolina universities are leading the way to show the integrity of a team is as important as how it performs. Clemson also showed its integrity as a team last month by removing starting running back Travis Zachery after he was arrested for distribution of marijuana. And last year, Holtz suspended Watson for his off-the field behavior before the school’s first Outback Bowl. We commend these two universities for showing their teams, as well as the community, that detrimental behavior won’t be tolerated. Holtz is certainly doing more for our school than giving us a nationally ranked football team. He’s giving us the best out of his players on and off the field. Winners and Sinners E GEORGE “THE SHRUB” BUSH Thwarts terrorists by surviving brush with death pretzel. What will he take on next — peanuts? WOMEN’S BASKETBALL No. 8 team achieves highest ranking since 1981-82. Now it’s time for “Walvieball” vs. Vol b-ball. GEORGE LUCAS Cuts ‘N Sync from “Episode II.” Jar Jar next, please. DEREK WATSON Strike 10, you’re out. Maybe he’ll have better luck behaving with S.C. State’s Bulldogs. JOHN WALKER LINDH American Taliban tried for conspiracy. How long will he last in prison? ENRON Shredded papers. NYSE suspends trading. Enrongate looms. GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS An article in Monday’s paper about the lottery should have ended with the following information: “Robertson said the lottery commission is eagerly anticipating the lottery’s future, including the launch of a pick-numbers game in March.” An article in Monday’s paper about Hodges’ budget proposal should have said that a mid-year cut to the university’s budget occured in October. A caption in Monday’s paper should have identified Gene Hackman as the third actor from the left in a photograph from “The Royal Tenenbaums.” The Gamecock regrets the errors. If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. Write us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Mary Hartney Editor in Chief Glnny Thornton University Editor Kevin Fellner Asst. Univ. Editor Mackenzie Clements Viewpoints Editor Carrie Phillips The Mix Editor Justin Bajan Asst. The Mix Editor Chris Foy Sports Editor Preston Baines Asst. Sports Editor Brandon Larrabee Special Projects Martha Wright Production Manager Mark Hartney Online Editor Page Designers Crystal Dukes, Sarah McLaulin, Katie Smith. David Stagg Copy Editors Kyle Almond, Crystal Boyles. Jason Harmon, Jill Martin, Paul Rhine rrk' CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com University Desk: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com City Desk: gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 STUDENT MEDIA Erik Collins Faculty Adviser Ellen Parsons Director of Student Media Susan King Creative Director Carolyn Griffin Business Manager Sarah Scarborough Advertising Manager Sherry F. Holmes Classified Manager Creative Services Todd Hooks, Jennie Moore, Martin Salisbury, Beju Shah, Advertising Staff Betsy Baugh, Caryn Barowsky, Denise Levereaux, Jackie Rice, Stacey Todd TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia, S.C. 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 ^Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 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. One free copy per reader. Additional copies \ may be purchased for | one dollar each from J the Department of Student Media. COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Hot dawg! Jethro won two bucks new lottery hit me like that treacherous stump had hit my tailbone just days before. As I waited in line, a middle aged woman with puffy hair and too much makeup was in front of me using one of her fake nails on a scratch-off lottery ticket. “All right!” she said to me with a smile and a look in her eyes that most people get when they find out their most recent test came back negative. “I won five bucks!” I congratulated her and went back to making fun of her in my mind. When it was her turn at the counter, I expected her to ask for a pack of Harley Davidson cigarettes and be on her way. But, to my surprise, she handed the ticket to the clerk and asked for five more tickets. I couldn’t believe she wasn’t going to keep that five dollars and use it to buy a Guns *n’ Roses cassette tape. The clerk, who I think was on “America’s Most Wanted” last week, handed the woman five more scratch-off tickets. I expected her to move out of the way so I could pay for my gas, but she just stood there and started scratching off her tickets. As I stared into the back of her head, my eyes watered from the fumes of her hairspray. It was at this moment I decided I hate the lottery. I don’t really have any moral objections to the lottery. If people are ignorant enough to pay a voluntary tax, I say let them. But when it congests lines at stores, I get irritated. If you think the lottery in South Carolina is going to make the children smarter, you’re sadly mistaken. How children do in school has more to do with what’s going on at home than what’s going on in school. Maybe if money could keep families together and make parents raise their children with morals, the lottery would improve education. But no amount of money can make a teenage father tell his son to study for a test. Infinite lottery ticket sales won’t make little Bubba’s parents care about his grades and encourage him to do well in school. Throwing money around can’t solve the S.C. education problem. Money can create new facilities, but it can’t change the way people in this state raise their children. Like the evil stump hidden under the snow that broke my tailbone, the root of South Carolina’s educational crisis isn’t obvious. It’s a hidden tradition of bad parenting that recycles itself with every generation, and the odds of a lottery changing this are one in a million. Watson is a third-year student in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. PHIL WATSON GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Vile gas stations show true spirit of S.C. lottery. I think my vacation went awry because I was too naughty last semester. While all the good boys and girls got wonderful presents, like self-balancing scooters and Harry Potter books, I got a broken tailbone. A broken tailbone is the gift that keeps on hurting... all year long. Santa’s present was given to me in the form of a tree stump hidden under the snow when I was sledding at an alarmingly fast rate down a terrifyingly steep hill. But then, as if a broken tailbone isn’t bad enough, Santa brings another annoying gift not only to me, but to the whole state. The South Carolina Education Lottery has found its way out of Jim Hodges’ big “ways-to-get gullible-people-to-vote-for-me” bag and onto the counters of gas stations all over the state. While I was in a gas station over break, the reality of the College’s Romeo and Juliet myth JAMES BATTLE GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Relationships, single life are equally depressing. My older brother once told me, “When you go to college and you’re off drinking or studying—or probably drinking—you’ll find yourself making one of two decisions. Either you can A: have a girlfriend or B: not have a girlfriend. But what you need to realize, and where my role as older brother and general provider of wisdom comes into play, is that both A and B offer the same amount of pleasure.” But when I got to college, I realized there was some truth to what he said and that when your uncle tells you over Christmas dinner not to worry too much about your shabby grades because college is mostly about getting to know people, what he really means is, “Have you realized that you can be single or have a girlfriend and after a while they both pretty much suck?” On a good day, my brother believed that B: not having a girlfriend was the best decision. His philosophy was that when you’re single, you’re constantly meeting people, and the opportunity for a sweaty affair i — : is ever present. Life is an adventure. You are Odysseus wandering the Greek Isles, and the bull’s horns are in your hands. He also believed that single people had more time for inward reflection or self indulgence. Single people work out. They wear nice clothes and make good conversation because they want to impress others. “But what about when you come home alone?” I said. “Don’t you get depressed?” “Never,” he said. “Usually, you’re so drunk you just pass right out.” However, my brother conceded there are some good things about having a girlfriend. On Sundays you have someone to watch a movie with other than your roommates, who have a very pungent hairy-man-in-the morning smell. And you don’t have to spend as much money at the bar because you’re not on the “hunt.” A dinner here, maybe a movie and a little something at Christmas, and you’re set. But when you have a girlfriend, you’re pretty much worthless to the world. You’re neutered. Your girlfriend walks around a party with your cajones around her neck, and while you might pretend to lightly touch base with good, old friends, what you’re actually doing is distantly following her and waiting until it’s time to go home. Eventually, you realize you would have had more fun at home with her on your third hand couch than at a bar being forced by your many single friends to take a shot called “Snowboarder on Crack.” The part you don’t realize is that while you were at the party talking to your girlfriend’s friends, whom you don’t really like, you were making everyone sick with the arm around the waist or the kiss on the lips. “I’m not drunk enough to pass out, and I have to watch that stuff,” my brother said. “This fake world where two people get along with each other—but I know they whine and scream and bitch all the time behind closed doors. Yet they feel the need to present themselves as some spectacle, some bliss...” he said, and he pointed his finger at me and started making a punching motion. He looked weird. “OK,” I said, “Calm down. Now what about...” “Nope. Thank you. I have spoken,” he said, and my brother returned to tanning in our backyard. Battle is a fourth-year student in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. This page is one-sided without your opinions... E-mail The Gamecock at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com to let us know what you think. Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome from the Carolina community. Letters should be 250-300 words. Guest columns should be about 600 words. Both must include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a student. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will njt be published. Photos are required for guest columnists and can be provided by *ie submitter. Ca^f 777-7726 for more information. Elbow’s closing a blessing MARKHARTNEY GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Jabberwocky Jockey: Mark conveys intrigue. Like most of you, I spent the holidays trying to expel Shakira’s singing “Lucky that my breasts are small and humble” from my head. I returned to find an ostensible civic landmark shut down. I first heard of the now-extinct Elbow Room (motto: Play pool whilst you rock!) four years ago in high school. Elbow sat squarely in Five Points, the social heart of Columbia, CAUuuig a gi mj nij ouquc uiai all rock clubs ache to possess. At least, that was its character as seen from Harden Street. Inside, it was a sticker-slathered dump. Elbow staked its reputation on bringing middle-sized bands to our capitol. No one actually liked to go there, but bands like Guster, Cowboy Mouth and Jump, Little Children had nowhere else to play. So we had to stand in that closet while they overcharged. But that wasn’t Elbow’s only offense. The Connells and Lennon also witnessed the owners’ spectacular mismanagement. They were a few of the bands who had their gigs during university holidays attended by only a handful of locals or canceled as a result of double-booking. When the Smashing Pumpkins, an act too large for Elbow Room, came, they passed on Elbow in favor of Township Auditorium. They paid the price. Scalpers were giving $30 tickets away at the door. Vagrants were wandering in. When Elbow Room brought The Strokes, the “It Band of the Moment - backed by 93.5” (motto: ut: uic in lu uccu JCiiitei Sandman”!), it almost went out in style. But when an employee who hadn’t heard of the band (Rolling Stone, anyone?) told the band’s manager to shove off, The Strokes were slightly annoyed. They played 10 songs and left. Elbow went bankrupt moments later. But Elbow’s Chapter 11 woes are slightly more distressing than the sudden departure of city Burger Kings and the mysterious decline of Sizzler. What’s left? There’s Township, home of impassioned chair-dancing; the Russell House Ballroom, home of shame and Dance Marathon; and New Brookland Tavern, home to acoustics comparable to the showers in Bates House. One option remains, its reputation slowly building: Uncle Doctor’s, conveniently located in Tennessee. Though presently suitable, Uncle Doctor’s likely won’t become our Roxy, Music Farm or House of Blues. The dearth of venues almost makes Clemson (motto: Visit scenic Boise!) appealing. After all, John Mayer and o.a.r. played there last semester, while Carolina Productions (motto: Anyone want to be our president? Anyone? Hello?) wisely spent its thousands on cookies. Who’s to blame? We could blame ourselves for not being entrepreneurs capable of building a hall with a capacity nearing 2,000. Or we could blame Hootie and the Blowfish. And why not? They made us pay them to play their alma mater at Homecoming. No wonder Breaking Records didn’t break Jump and went bankrupt. No wonder there’s no more Rockefeller’s, no more Gallery 701, no more Elbow. I don’t miss it, but maybe if our own bands would give us the time of day, we could get Shakira down here. Maybe you disagree, but I’m not wrong. Hartney is a fourth-year student in the College of Science and Mathematics.