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THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, July 24, 2002 5 IEWPOINTS TH#%AMECOCK EDITORIAL BOARD Chris Foy Editor-in-Chief Ben Bryan News Editor Carrie Phillips The Mix Editor J. Keith Allen Sports Editor Jason L. Rapp Viewpoints Editor Ballpark plans don’t help USC USC has recently been included in the ongoing saga to get the Capital City Bombers a new ballpark. The proposal would mean a new ballpark for both the Bombers and the Gamecock baseball team. Columbia mayor Bob Coble wants a new Bombers park in the already parking-deprived Vista, but location could be negotiable with USC in the mix. Putting our baseball team off campus would mean all three major sports aren’t really on campus. Urban setting or not, that’s inexcusable. Granted, parts of Sarge Frye Field, like the press facilities and the lack of a visitors’ locker room, might be a little quaint. But it serves its purposes well. It has been said that The Sarge could use more seats, but with the exception of the Clemson and NCAA Regional games, it’s very rarely completely sold out. We don’t need a 10,000-seat ballpark that isn’t uniquely ours when we’re doing just fine with what we’ve got. It’s got personality and a USC flavor that a shared ballpark wouldn’t. The Bombers need to stop trying to ride the coattails of a baseball club that’s actually successful and get their own playground. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK STAFF Angel Sizemore Asst. News Editor Robert Gruen Photo Editor Lindsey Walker Online Editor Page Designers Melissa Miklus. Shameka Holloway Copy Editors Lyndsey Hicks. Lara Dalrymple. Erin O'Neal PLACING ADS The Gamecock 1400 Greene St. Columbia. SC 29208 Advertising reps: 777-3888 Classified ads: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 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 Derek Goode, Earl Jones, Jennie Moore, Melanie Roberts. Beju Shah Advertising Staff Jackie Rice, Stacey Todd CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor-in-Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com University Desk: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 GAMECOCK POLICIES 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 the Department of Student Media. 1929 u my j Thanks to USC, I have no cents BY BEN BRYAN GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM The first day of class last year, I walked into the Grand Marketplace hoping to get a quick breakfast before my first class. By this point in my college ca reer, I was very familiar with the process: Five items plus a 12-ounce coffee equals one meal from the meal plan. I wasn't that hungry, and I was pressed for time, so I grabbed four items, got my cup of coffee, and hurried through the line when I noticed the cashier de ducting from my bonus bucks. I tried to correct her, but was told that since I hadn't gotten five items, she couldn't ring me up for the meal combo. I offered to go get another item and just throw it in the trash if that would make it cheaper, but she insisted that she had already rung me up. I didn't have time to argue, so I finally con ceded and went on my way. The next day, I again tried to swing quickly through the GMP on my way to class. Remembering my mishap the day before, I made sure to get my five items (one of which I had no intention of eating) and my coffee and got in line. This time, a different cashier rang it up to more than a dollar over the meal al lowance. I immediately protested and counted my items for her, “One, two, three, four, five. See?” She pointed at my cup of coffee. “Six,” she said. Bitter debate en sued over the exact wording of the combo. In the end, I lost the argu ment (of course), got to class late and decided I couldn't afford break fast again for a while. I was angry at first, but then realized the cashiers' ploy: They’re just trying to save the university money. Yes, I'm sure that was their motivation... While I can respect trying to squeeze pennies in these hard eco nomic times with the budget cuts and all, college students are not ex actly the best place to go looking for extra revenue. Admitting more students helps some, but there's still the expense of having to build more housing for them. At the cur rent rate, USC may run out of names for new dorms before they run out of space. I can hear it now: “Where are ya living next year?” “North-by-Northeast Quad.” The naming rights to the new basketball arena are rumored to be going to Verizon. USC could prob ably land a couple more million by doing the same to other buildings on campus. We could have Bell South Quad and Capital One Capstone before we know it. The Russell House is already be ing overhauled with a multitude of new stores. I guess there’s nothing inherently wrong with an aca demic institution becoming com mercial, but I’m starting to feel more like a customer than a stu dent. Before long, students won’t even need to drive to Harbison for a mall experience. They’ll just do a few laps around the food court at the Sodexho Student Union to see now many tree samples they can get before the ladies handing out oriental chicken on a toothpick start to recognize them. Or maybe they won’t. Unless it’s Christmas season, it’s not nearly as hard to find a place to park at Columbiana. Bryan is a sociology graduate student.