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ONLINE POLL Were you aware of the Creed Week events? Go to www.dailygamecock.com to vote. Results posted Friday. AMEGOCK EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR Adam Beam DESIGN DIRECTOR David Stagg NEWS EDITOR Michael LaForgia THE MIX EDITOR Meg Moore COPY DESK CHIEF Gabrielle Sinclair VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Wes Wolfe SENIOR WRITER Kevin Fellner ASST. NEWS EDITOR , Jon Turner IN OUR OPINION Gamecocks need more from Holtz No one can deny Lou Holtz’s place among great college foot ball coaches. With 248 wins, Holtz is third among active coach es, behind Florida State’s Bobby Bowden and Penn State’s Joe Paterno. Holtz has worked his magic while at USC, taking a program that had one victory in two seasons and posting back to-back bowl wins against Ohio State. But since 2001, things have not gone well for the Gamecocks. Despite having top-10 recruiting classes and loads of talent, the Gamecocks have posted two consecutive 5-7 sea If the Gamecocks lose out again, USC should find another head coach. sons. During Holtz’s tenure, USC has still never beaten Tennessee or Florida, and has only one win against Clemson. USC fans have become used to losing. In more than 100 yean of Gamecock football, we’ve only had one 10-win season, and in that season we lost our bowl game. Students have been venting their frustration by taking footballs kicked for extra points from opposing teams and throwing them out of the stadi um. Saturday’s game against Tennessee was worse, when students began throwing water bottles and other objects onto the field after an official didn’t call roughing the kicker on a USC punt. USC has been too lenient on its coaches. Other programs that win big-time conferences, such as Florida and Ohio State, hold their coaches to a high standard. Florida has had better seasons than USC the past two years, and yet they fired coach Ron Zook after his loss to Mississippi State. USC has three games remaining, all against teams with sub-par performances this season. If the Gamecocks lose out again, USC should find another head coach. Coach Holtz will always hold a soft spot in the heart of USC fans. But after losing four out of five games to Clemson, losing every game to Tennessee and Florida and possibly ending up with three consecutive 5-7 seasons, something has to change. IT’S YOUR RIGHT j Exercise your right to voice your opinion Create message boards at www.dailygamecock.com or send letters to the editor to . gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS In Monday’s News, a sentence in a story on negative ads should have read, “Recently, groups like the American Medical Association, Club for Growth and Americans for Job Security ran ads against Tenenbaum and Citizens for a Strong Senate ran ads against DeMint.” The Gamecock regrets the error. If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamccockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK EDITOR Adam Beam DESIGN DIRECTOR David Stagg COPY DESK CHIEF Gabrielle Sinclair NEWS EDITOR Michael LaForgia ASST. NEWS EDITOR Jon Turner VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Wes Wolfe THE MIX EDITOR Meg Moore SPORTS EDITOR Jonathan Hillyard ASST. SPORTS EDITOR Daniel Kerr SENIOR WRITER Kevin Fellner PHOTO EDITOR Jason Steelman SPORTS PHOTO EDITOR Katie Kirkland PAGE DESIGNERS Erin Cline, Staci Jordan, Jennifer Logan, Chas McCarthy, Jessica Ann Nielsen, COPY EDITORS Jennifer Freeman, Anna Huntley, Daniel Regensheit, Jason Reynolds, Jennifer Sitkowski, Shana Till, Steven Van Haren, Joey Wallace ONLINE EDITOR E.B. Davis PUBLIC AFFAIRS Jane Fielden, Katie Miles CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. The Editor's office hours are Monday and Wednesday from 3-5 p.m. Editor: gamecockeditor@gwm.sc.edu News: gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu The Mix: gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu Sports: gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Public Affairs: gamecockPR@yahoo.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726; Sports: 777-7182 Editor's Office: 777-3914 STUDENT MEDIA DIRECTOR Scott Linden berg FACULTY ADVISER Erik Collins CREATIVE DIRECTOR Susan King BUSINESS MANAGER Carolyn Griffin ADVERTISING MANAGER Sarah Scarborough CLASSIFIED MANAGER Sherry F. Holmes PRODUCTION MANAGER Garen Cansler CREATIVE SERVICES Burke Lauderdale, Chelsea Felder, Laura Gough, Joseph Dannelly, Kristen Williams ADVERTISING STAFF Robert Carli, Breanna Evans, Ryan Gorman, Caroline Love, Jesica Johnson, Katie Stephens I he Gamecock is the editorially independent student newspaper of the University of South Carolina. It 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-activity fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for $1 each from the Department of Student Media. TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 ] Columbia, S.C. 29208 Fax: 777-6482 CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Dear Curtis listens to your problems ■ Come to me with all of your relationship and personality problems Dear Curtis is written by Curtis Chow, also known as “Smarter, Handsomer and Otherwise Better than You.” Write Dear Curtis at www.conservativerants.com Dear Curtis, I’ve recently become involved in a relationship with a wonderful man — I’ll call him “Thundarr.” Things between us have started becoming more serious; in fact, we just celebrated our 1-2-3 anniversary (1 week, 2 days, 3 hours). I just know that he’s the one. He’s always trying to make me feel good about myself, continually reminding me of how I’m so hot that nothing else matters. On top of that, he’s always looking out for my health, reminding me that, “Gosh, I don’t really need that second bowl of cereal, do I?” He makes me feel special, and he’s so brilliant — always telling me what I Should think about things. Even when he corrects my errapt thoughts, he reassures me that it’s OK, and that I’m still pretty. He’s also talented. He’s got so much unlocked potential as a street acrobat, and I’m hoping that one day we can be happily married and have carnie children — after all, all you need is love to make things work. And even though he likes to compare me to CURTIS CHOW FOURTH-YEAR ECONOMICS STUDENT other girls, and sometimes he likes to “chase some tail,” boys will be boys, right? I’m writing you because as of late, he seems a bit distanced and dismissive. Curtis, I’m in love with this man — what should I Tf vnn choose to print this, please don’t divulge my real name — just sign me as, “In love with an acrobat ” South Quad, USC Dear Elvira Gertrude Smith, I mean for this to apply to you, and all women like you: You are stupid, you are stupid, you are stupid. Clearly, guys like Thundarr have something on their agenda, and I assure you that it has nothing to do with your positive attributes apart from physical attractiveness. By actively pursuing such a relationship, you effectively forfeit all pity points and complaining rights when he inevitably dumps you for some rough trick named Candy. You’re what’s wrong with America today — and I’m furthermore holding you personally responsible for the war in Iraq, as well as Dale Earnhardt’s death. Dear Curtis, I’m so mad. It makes me feel angry. My best friend had the nerve to tell me that there are no such things as absolutes. Really, how arrogant can you be? Doesn’t he know that truth is relative to the person perceiving it? Please tell “Larry” that he’s a close-minded idiot and that he is absolutely wrong. "My epithet indicates that I’m more open-minded tolerant and right than you albeit cliche and uncreative” Capstone, USC Dear Stupid Idiot, You want me to point out that those who believe that you are absolutely wrong in your non absolutist views are themselves absolutely wrong? Are you feeling OK? Because I think you’ve caught a severe case of stupid. Relativists are arrogant idiots, whose ideology is at best self contradicting, who try to project a false visage of arrogance upon those who disagree with their contention that truth is relative. Why are you so upset at Larry? Isn’t his assertion of truth as valid as everyone else’s? But wait — if it’s as valid, that means you’re wrong, doesn’t it? And if you’re right, then he’s wrong, but then by your own relativist standards, he can’t be wrong. What a conundrum! In closing, you’re an imbecile. IN YOUR OPINION Negative attitudes embarrass school As a member of the USC marching band, I see everything that occurs at the football games. We are there the whole time, win or lose. What I saw Saturday was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life as a Gamecock fan. The first thing was the fact that the student section began emptying at the first sign of trouble. Yes, we did lose, but that still doesn’t warrant students giving up on the team when they give up the first touchdown. I commend the few fans still there at the end. We should be proud to be Carolina fans. The Gamecocks almost mounted a comeback, and if the stadium had been full, it very well could have happened. If you go to other schools such as Georgia, Tennessee and — heaven forbid — Clemson, their fans stay the whole game. Want to know why we don’t win? Players don’t want to play for a team that has fans that give up on them. Just because we won a couple of years ago doesn’t mean that we will win every game, but students should stay with the team through it. It was disheartening to see students leave. And whomever keeps blaming the band for the football team losing, please stop. We practice just as much as they do. We stay the whole game. We play the whole game. If only people knew how tiring it is. The other time was when students started throwing bottles on the field. We are supposed to be the best fans in the nation, but we certainly didn’t look like it Saturday. Everyone talks about Clemson people being rude and obnoxious, yet some students made fools of themselves. Yes, it was a questionable call, but there is no reason whatsoever to throw things on the field. You think GameDay will come back after seeing that? I would be surprised if they did. Come on guys — we’re all better than that. WADE SPEER First-year computer engineering student Parking Services bleeds students dry Today when checking my mail I discovered that it was time to pay for my garage space for next semester. I was not surprised by this, though I couldn’t believe that this semester has flown by so quickly and it’s yet again that time to fork more money over to Parking Services. The only thing that really surprised me was that there was a $40 hike since this summer. They said the raise was for new security equipment and other expensive items. They also said that they surveyed parking in Columbia and other private garages and felt that this amount was appropriate. I’m sorry, but doesn’t USC Parking Services already make an insane amount in parking tickets alone? With the thousands of students here and the thousands that park and receive parking violations, I would think that that was enough revenue to install security cameras and other expensive items. Once again, Parking Services has come to be a menacing evil here on campus that only angers the student body. KATIE JORDAN Second-year political science student WWW. dailygamecock .com Submission Policy Letters to the editor should be less than 300 words and include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a student. E-mail letters to gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. Letters will be edited. Anonymous letters will not be published. Call the newsroom at 777 7726 for more information. Cocky has way with Carolina females ■ Hutchins engages in a little fake news about our playa of a mascot Third-year electronic journalism student Greg Bevins was duped by the USC mascot Tuesday. “I was buying books at the Russell ...i_ COREY HUTCHINS FIFTH-YEAR ENGLISH STUDENT happened,” Bevins said during a phone interview. “I was talking to this cute girl in front of me when her friends grabbed her so they could go get a picture with Cocky.” Bevins said it was not the first time he had seen it happen. i ypicauy it’s the freshmen that he goes for. It’s easy. They’re like ‘Oh my God, it’s that bird, we need to get a picture.’ He knows what he’s doing,” Bevins said. “I mean, you’re the mascot for the college. Great, I understand that. But maybe he should pick up girls when he’s outside the uniform, you know? Or is that his angle? I don’t know. Running the Cock angle, maybe. Whatever works, I guess. Either way, it was annoying and it’s not the first time I’ve seen him do it.” First-year early childhood education student Ashlee Olson said she doesn’t understand what the big deal is. “Cocky is cute,” she said. “He’s pretty well known around here so he probably has money. And I’ve seen Cocky’s feet, so ...” Cocky was the winner of a national annual award for best college mascot in 2003 in the CapitalOne Bowl Mascot competition, a feat Bevins said he believes has gone to Cocky’s head. “He actually came in third place in the online voting,” he said. “But the judges put him over the top for the win. It wouldn’t surprise me if all of the judges were women. “He used 'to be fun, we all loved Cocky. Now I’m afraid to take my girlfriend to the football games.” USC typically chooses women to wear the mascot costume at football games and USC events, but there are a few males who also get to dress up as the fighting gamecock of South Carolina. “I’ve also seen it happen,” second year print journalism student Ryan Richer said. “We were outside the Thomas Cooper Library when Cocky got between me and my girl at the Spurs and Struts show a few weeks ago. He came up to us and just started dancing with her right in front of me. She thought it was cool, but I thought it was really disrespectful. He didn’t ask my permission. He didn’t even introduce himself," Richer said. “I mean, I’m pledging a fraternity and Cocky really embarrassed me in front of my entire pledge class and future brothers. My girlfriend won’t even come to the hall anymore because of all the jokes they make about her and that chicken." Many students believe that the chicken curse only applies to the football team, but Bevins said there is nothing “chicken” about Cocky’s approach to the women at Carolina. “It’ll get better around finals week,” Bevins said. “By then the girls are used to him, and the novelty wears off. I mean, I know he’s the school mascot and all, but he doesn’t have to be such a Cock about it.” Neither Cocky nor the USC athletics director returned phone calls by press time. Cocky is up for Capital One Mascot of the Year again this year. Students can vote at 1 www.capitalonebowl.com. WINNERS AND SINNERS DEMOCRACY Heavy voter turnout reinvigorates American politics. ROOTS OF PEACE Humanitarian group turns a Croatian minefield into a vineyard. AUDIO BALLOTS New audible ballots allow the blind to vote without assistance. FLA. EDITOR Lloyd Brown resigns as editorial page editor of The Florida Times-Union because of plagiarism allegations. BULLDOZER DRIVER Mississippi resident arrested for bulldozing a Vicksburg church. NEW VOTING MACHINES Several precincts across j| H South Carolina report problems >virh newfangled voting equipment.