The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 05, 2003, Page 4, Image 4
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4 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, September 5, 2003
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IN OUR OPINION I
Sarge Frye
remembered
Sarge Frye, USC’s beloved athletic groundskeeper
for most of the last half-century, died at Providence
Hospital two days ago.
Frye arrived at USC athletics in 1953 and “retired”
in 1977, but he never really left the fields — he had to
officially retire again in 1997.
Before his tenure at USC, Frye fought for the Army
in World War II and the Korean conflict, was
wounded and decorated for his service.
Frye was known for his constancy.
“If everyone did their
job the way Sarge did his,
we would never have any
trouble at the school,” said
former “Voice of the
Gamecocks” Bob Fulton, *
who went to the visitation.
“I never heard him say
anything derogatory about
anyone. His life should be
a role model.”
He cared for the baseball
field like a surgeon, meticulous about the length and
health of the grass. He might not have played on the
baseball team, which recently went to the College
World Series, but he contributed to its success all the
same.
Frye was a friend to all of those involved in USC
sports, including USC baseball coach Ray Tanner
and former athletics director Jim Carlen. Carlen
suggested in 1980 that U§C, as a recognition, name its
baseball stadium after Frye in 1980.
We’ll miss you, Sarge.
Frye might not have
played on the
baseball team, which
recently went to the
College World Series,
but he contributed to
its success all the
same.
THEY SAID IT
“President Bush’s original
tax cut was not stimulative.
Most of the cuts were not
going to take effect until 2006,
2008 and 2010. Therefore, if
stimulus is to occur, they had
to happen now, not later.”
MAH FESTA
LOYOLA COLLEGE GREYHOUND
“Although it may seem like
a cop-out because of laziness
and a disregard for intellectual
property, downloading more
closely resembles an
econometric-style decision
thai) a legal one. Basic
economic theory states that
when presented with multiple
choices, we choose the one that
benefits us the most at the least
cost.”
JOHN BROUGHER
BROWN UNIVERSITY DAILY HERALD
“Bin Laden said Hussein
was a bad Muslim. That’s
about the equivalent of saying
“I hate Baptists!” here in
Oklahoma.”
JARED VAUGHN
OKLAHOMA STATE DAILY O'COLLEGIAN
GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS
If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us
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¥
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. we .
SbHN ASHcROFT
ULTiMaTe
M9KSoV6Rs
CARTOON COURTESY OF KRTCAMPUS
Liberal arts kicked in teeth
JOEY OPPERMANN
GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM
Merger opens the door
to critical questions.
This Wednesday, I made the
harsh trek to Gambrell for the Q
and A session on the possible
merger between the colleges of
math and science and Liberal
Arts. My classes all fall within
liberal arts, so I had a vested in
terest in getting answers about
what effects it could have on my
college. I didn’t find what I was
looking for, but to my surprise, I
glimpsed the tip of a far more
menacing iceberg.
On stage, the faculty commit
tee formed to evaluate the merg
er answered questions and lis
tened to a mostly worried-look
ing group of professors and staff
from both colleges. The panel
seemed eager for both student
and faculty input.
I got the impression that the
decision for a merger, though fa
vored by some administrators,
was not yet set in stone. This is a
good thing, considering it is a de
cision that should be made only
after much examination.
I didn’t leave with a definite
opinion on the merger, but I was
struck by where the discussion
went.
About halfway through the
session, a professor stood up to
talk about the possible changes.
He talked about his worries
about the administration seek
ing ways to save money without
considering the impact on indi
vidual departments. Already,
VCM and the consolidation of the
foreign language departments
have made his job more difficult,
and he and his colleagues were
reeling from budget cuts that just
keep coming. He decried what he
saw as USC’s downward spiral
from a “comprehensive” univer
sity to a “research” institution
and warned that excessive spe
cialization in grant-attracting re
search areas destroys the uni
versality implicit in a good uni
versity.
I thought it strange he made a
connection between the merger
and issues of research and fund
ing, but as other faculty spoke, I
thought of all the professors I
heard express concern about pol
icy during the last few years, it
occurred to me that liberal and
fine arts faculty are worried
about exactly what this man was
getting at.
Since the eighties, state funds
as a percentage of our budget
have sharply decreased. We now
rely heavily on private sources.
Consider this in light of the
Draconian cuts in higher educa
tion of late and the escalating talk
of USC as a “research” school. If I
were a liberal arts professor, I
might think because the univer
sity cannot get enough money
from an unsupportive legisla
ture, it now puts the best face it
can on a sell-out survival strate
gy: Raise money by investing in
programs that benefit our bene
factors (school of business, phar
maceutical research, etc.). Then
tack the sinking ship of liberal
arts onto the better funded col
lege of science and math, where,
lacking any new funding, it will
remain the ugly stepsister in a
new mega-college.
After years of participating in
a “comprehensive” university
that did a number of different
disciplines well, liberal arts pro
fessors, with the VCM and bud
get cuts hanging like a pall over
their department, feel an ill wind
blowing. Merger or no merger, I
don’t blame them.
Joey Oppermann is a fourth-year
history student.
Reality award shows a reality
DAVID STAGG
GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM
The Davids tackle the
narrowest topics on TV.
In honor of the astounding
originality of cable program
ming, ABC has announced that
this fall, it is set to air a two-hour
awards show dedicated solely to
-r- prepare yourself for this one
— reality television.
That’s right. All of you who
held “Bachelor parties” this week
in honor of the first episode of this
season’s “The Bachelor,” your
dreams are being realized. It’s
about time we start making
awards shows for incredibly nar
row topics. Before long, it’s NBC
with an awards show dedicated to
“Shows About Cops”; CBS the fol
lowing night with “Shows that
Feature Gay Men or Men We
Swear Are Gay Anyway”; and,
capping off the award-show week,
FOX would air its award show
dedicated to “Shows That
Reference Any Part of New York.”
I think this reality award
show thing is a brilliant idea. In
fact, I can’t wait to watch it. But
because I need something to curb
this outpouring of joy I now ex
perience, I’ve taken the opportu
nity to introduce to you “The
Davids,” my personal awards to
narrow topics on television.
GROSSEST SEX DISCUSSION
ON “SEX IN THE CITY”: There
are so many moments here, it
could be impossible to pick just
one. The four-New-York-girls
meet-boys-have-sex-with-them
make-fun-of-them-and-their
weird-qualities-then-break-up
with-them show, which continu
ally performs on top of the rat
ings, never fails to deliver a new
sexual tidbit each episode.
However, as for the grossest one,
I’m going to have to go with the
one where Sarah Jessica Parker’s
character’s boyfriend at the time
(which she goes through quicker
than governors in California)
wants her to take a whiz on him
in the shower. I think this is
where television hit a new low.
MOST AWKWARD TRL MO
MENT: I am wrong about that last
comment. This must have been a
new low in television. At one point
in TRL (otherwise known as
“Watch As We Attempt to Come
Off Cool to Older Kids but Only
Have High School Kids in Our
Audience”) history, it had a con
test in which the winner would
meet the Backstreet Boys.
Everything normal until the girl
who lost literally threatened to
KILL the other girl. Now that’s a
whole new reality show in itself.
BEST QUEER GUY FROM
“QUEER EYE”: The season’s
most unavoidable show and one
of the power duo of gay shows
from Bravo with “Boy Meets
Boy” features the “Fab Five” —
as they are commonly called to
us in-the-know — who have
helped us straight males every
where because we are physical
ly incapable of knowing how to
cook, dress, take care of our
selves, brush our teeth, mail a let
ter, learn about another culture,
make an A in geometry or effec
tively maneuver a car in reverse
into a parking spot. I’ve got to say
though, if I wanted to be helped
by one-fifth of the crew, I would
have to go with Kyan Douglas
(whose motto is “There’s no ex
cuse for nose hair. Ever!”) His
specialty is men’s skin care; a
morning splash on the face no
longer takes care of it. You need
to exfoliate with a soft scrubbing
brush before dabbing, not rub
bing, an ounce of specialty-for
mulated nonalcoholic treatment
with an aftershave hint of mid
night rose scent...
And in honor of the for-real re
ality awards show:
WORST IDEA FOR A NEW
REALITY TV SHOW: Well, there
are two here that run neck-in
neck, but it’s a toilet-bowl match
any way you flush it. An idea
called “Wife Swap,” where wom
en exchange homes, husbands
and children for two weeks, is
pretty bad, but taking the cake is
“Bum Fight,” where producers
would get bums to fight for mon
ey and booze. It’s sad, it’s pathet
ic, and people would watch it.
I know I’ll be there alongside
every one of you other closet re
ality TV show freaks who will be
as excited as Britney when she
kissed Madonna. What a wonder
ful idea this is —If you want to
watch with me, give me a call. I’ll
be at my own “Bachelor” party.
David Stagg is a third-year
media arts student.
WWW.DAILYGAMECOCK.COM
%
Servants
working
to better
society
mi — r~ mi
RYAN HOLT
GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM
Public service means
more than just power.
•
Less than an hour’s drive from
the bustling activities of the uni
versity lies the small town of
Chapin, S.C. — population 2,000
something. While most students
returned to their homes, went to
the beach or lake, or just hung
around campus on Labor Day, I
spent the afternoon in this sleepy
town, which is turned into a
stomping ground every year for a
handful of political hopefuls.
Labor Day marks the start of
campaign season — so I ventured
down to the festivities of Chapin
in search of politics in action.
Wading through a pool of festi
valgoers, I saw campaign stickers
and knew I could still find a few
candidates. My eyes floated from
one scene to the next: snow cones,
interpretive dancers, Thomas
Ravenel, amusement rides and
merchandise booths.
Thomas Ravenel? My first can
didate.
t_aa _ j ii_r t n n__ a ___] *
i uiic u.u. uuicuo vuuui
date talking with a staffer and a
visitor. I didn’t want to disturb
the candidate and continued my
visual search for another politi
cian. Walt McLeod, a member of
the S.C. Assembly, had set up a
tent-like structure. Good political
move, Representative McLeod.
But the governor and, supposed
ly, my congressman were still in
the midst, so I bypassed the booth
and continued my search.
After some time, my luck
seemed to be running out until I
saw Ravenel coming toward me.
I stopped him between two cars,
stuck out my hand, introduced
myself and had my first conver
sation with a politician that day.
I still had more to find though. |
Ten minutes I waited outside a
door to the cafeteria until I saw
some folks emerge from the build
ing with “Joe Wilson” written on
stickers on their shirts. And then
a few moments later, I saw the
congressman emerge from the
cafeteria with two of his aides.
Of course, I had memorized
what I would say. Some get star
ry-eyed at actors and athletes. I get
that way around public servants.
As the representative left the
cafeteria, I greeted him and told
him he could count on my vote.
What a day.
I later learned that the gover
nor had left after the parade and
that Sen. Lindsey Graham had
stopped by as well. There was also
another state representative for
the area, the town’s mayor and
the county sheriff.
For those of you who don’t care
about politics, that’s up to you. A
lot of people are simply annoyed
by campaign signs in the road
way, unnecessarily attracting
their attention and causing near
misses of cars in front.
Sure, commercials, bumper
stickers, signs and newspaper ads
can be frustrating, but I think it’s
fantastic.
Here we have a set of middle
aged men in polo shirts and slacks
on a hot summer day in pursuit
of support in a year’s time.
Some of these candidates are
shoo-ins. But that gives us all the
more reason to marvel. Not only
is it democracy at work, but it’s j
the representation of people who
are seeking to make life better.
You can call me naive for
thinking power and prestige
aren’t issues, butfrom the few
handshakes I’ve had and the hel
los I’ve shared, I truly believe the
majority of our public servants
are seeking the betterment of
society.
And we have a front seat to
watch it all.
Ryan Holt is a first-year political
science student.