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* ONLINE POLL Do you think the men’s basketball team will make the NCAA Tourney? Let us know at www.dailygamecock.com. Results posted Friday. - ■ AMECOCK EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR Michael LaForgia NEWS EDITOR Jon Turner VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Wes Wolfe the mix editor Jennifer Freeman ASST. VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Patrick Augustine SPORTS EDITOR Jonathan Hillyard DESIGN DIRECTOR Chas McCarthy COPY DESK CHIEF Steven Van Haren IN OUR OPINION Justin, take advice, names during tenure Dear Justin, First off, The Gamecock congratulates you for your win in the Student Government presidential runoff. You won a hard-fought and extremely close election, and both you and your supporters should be proud of the work and dedication you put in to make it thus far. However, the hard part begins now, as you put together a cabinet and structure an agenda that will guide the decisions you make and the priorities you push on behalf of the more than 15,000 students you represent. Each SG president has had a unique focus and leadership style, and in sitting down with you during the election cycle, we got Here are a few a glimpse of yours and would suggestions for the like to offer the following sugges new SG president. tions. Your experience at the helm of AAAS and your personality underline your managerial style, and this coupled with a cabinet unafraid to voice suggestions should serve USC s students well. Among the nine candidates for the position, you were the only prospective president who emphasized a need for students to take personal responsibility for safety in logi cal and common-sense ways. USC’s urban campus will always have problems with crime, and students can protect their posses sions by making good decisions, as you said. Furthermore, if you accomplish nothing more than eliminating the penalty on students taking more than 16 class credit hours per semester, your adminis tration will have been a success. While this will be a difficult change considering the support this policy has among the administration, it is a matter of fairness for the many students who must take more than five classes a semester to graduate in four years. Pushing USC police to institute a roadside-assistance program would be a waste of their time and resources, so we urge you to abandon this idea as you transition to a legislative program. Most importantly though, surround yourself with leaders committed to change and willing to work hard for Carolina. IT'S your right 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 editorial, The Gamecock editorial board erroneously stated that USC staff members get days off for spring break. A picture in Monday’s Sports should have been credited to Jason Getz of The Tuscaloosa News. The Gamecock regrets the errors. If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockopinions@gwni.sc.edu. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK EDITOR Michael LaForgia design director Chas McCarthy COPY DESK CHIEF Steven Van Haren NEWS EDITOR Jon Turner asst, news editor Kelly Cavanaugh VIEWPOINTS EDITOR Wes Wolfe the mi* editor Jennifer Freeman asst, the mi* editor Carrie Givens SPORTS EDITOR Jonathan Hillyard asst, sports editor Stephen Fastenau senior writer Kevin Fellner photo editor Jason Steelman SPORTS PHOTO EDITOR Katie Kirkland PAGE DESIGNERS Jillian Garis, Staci Jordan. Jessica Ann Nielsen, Megan Sinclair COPYEDITORS Jessica Foster, Bnndy McNair, Daniel Regenscheit, Jason Reynolds, Katie Thompson, Shana Till ONLINE EDITOR Ryan Simmons PUBLIC AFFAIRS Jane Fielden, Katie Miles TO PLACE AN AD The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 ^ 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 Columbia, S.C. 29208 Fax: 777-6482 CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. The Editor’s office hours are Monday and Wednesday from 1 to 3 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 Lindenberg 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 ADVERTISING STAFF Robert Carli, Breanna Evans, Ryan Gorman, Caroline Love, Katie Stephens, McKenzie Welsh The 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 editprs 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. toDDie ^ ToDDLe i iot>Dte . -mill CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS SEC drains fun from celebrations ■ Unecessary apology betrays victorious spirit of fans’ rushing court When USC beat Kentucky over the head with a stick last Tuesday, fans who just hours earlier had been the first to crack a Gamecock joke were flooding the court to celebrate. For me, it’s one of the most beautiful moments in sports — a win-starved crowd storming the court to hug the players who just made their day a little better. Too many times I’ve stood in an empty Colonial Center, raising my toast to Carolina with a few other students while the dejected team members stood at half court looking like children just caught stealing from a candy store. But last Tuesday was different. Students celebrated on the court with the players, the same players they see walking to Gambrell Hall sipping soda from a Styrofoam GMP cup. When time finally ran out, the students felt like all of them had beaten Kentucky. It was magical. But the magic was lost on the SEC. They think it’s not proper sportsmanship to enter the court or field to celebrate a win that wasn’t supposed to happen. As soon as I heard about the $5,000 fine, I was all ready to blast the conference for penalizing students for having a good time. But the next day Student Government passed a resolution the to pay for the fine. Let me type that again. Student Government decided to take our money, the money we have to pay them, and give it to the SEC to cover some ridiculous fine. That has to be one of the most outrageous things the Student Senate has ever done, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. This is what ADAM being young is BEAM about. Go ahead, SEC, impose FOURTH-YEAR your stupid fines JOURNALISM on us' We re STUDENT gonna celebrate anyway and pay your stupid fine with our own money. To us, it’s worth $5,000 to celebrate with you on the court. We’ll pay the fine if it means you’ll keep on giving us reasons to celebrate. But when I read SG’s news release, my hopes fell faster than an Alabama 3-point er. SG wasn’t paying the fine to stick it to the SEC — they were trying to suck up to the administration. In the news release, Sen. Adam Piper, who sponsored the bill, said, “We all got caught up in the mo ment, thus on behalf of the student body, we would like to help the athletics depart ment with the consequences of our ac tions." The consequences of our actions? Help the athletics department? Caught up in the moment? What? It’s about enough po litical correctness to make me puke. To make things worse, Piper also urged stu dents in future games to “leave their cele bration and spirit on the sidelines." We already put up with the athletics department giving student tickets to non students who show up to the game late and get softie usher to move us out of our seat so they can sit down and complain about all the students standing before leav ing early to beat the traffic. We already put up with the athletics department not guar anteeing every student a ticket to football and basketball games. We’re not about to be told to how to party. Notice there were zero injuries/van dalism/Mace during the post-game cele bration last Tuesday. Also notice that when the football team miraculously beat Alabama in 2001 and the students tore down the goalposts, there were no stories about trampled fans and stampeded po lice officers. No, those stories only come from Clemson when their students and their Ians storm the field and don’t know how to celebrate without hurting each oth er. College sports is the last time that we, as students and fans, have the chance to be close to the athletes we scream and cry for. It’s the last time we have to hug the person who won the game and celebrate with them on the field. The SEC seems determined to snuff that spirit. They don’t let visiting bands play more than two songs after a game. They don’t let mascots come over and roughhouse with the other mascots and cheerleaders. And they don’t let students celebrate on the court because, God for bid, it might hurt the other team’s feel ings. So, Student Government, it was a great idea to pay the fine, but it’s hard to tell whose side you’re on. IN YOUR OPINION Writer Thompson left impact on USC That was a great epitaph for Hunter S. Thompson that was in the paper ("Fear and loathing in America without Hunter S. Thompson," Tuesday). Thompson was actually at USC for an hour during the Thanksgiving break in the fall of 1975. He showed up an hour late and appeared to be badly drunk. He opened his session by stating that, “I have nothing to say, and nothing to sell. But if this university is stupid enough to pay me $1200 dollars to show up for an hour, I’m smart enough to take it." We thought we were in the presence of a titan who wrestled with the gods and beat most of them senseless. For those of us who came of age during that era, Thompson was our Steinbeck, our Hemingway. He was the Big Daddy Rabbit with the Long Fuzzy Tongue, as we say in the music business. Anything he wrote was at least entertaining, if not providing a permanent warp to our perspectives. He was to journalism what Jackson Pollack was to art, something savagely beautiful or beautifully savage. Say a prayer for him and his family. TERRY CORCORAN Class of ‘76 Faith does not need scientific evidence Although Scott Currier is probably right when he asserts that many Christians “made their peace with evolution decades ago," other Christians should not acquiesce their creationist views because of an unfortunate belief held by the majority ("Creationism fails in countering Darwin," Monday). Creation science seeks to explain what we already know as truth and does not claim to be the basis of Christianity or creation. My “improvable ancient beliefs” do not come from anything Geology 101 has taught me or from a lecture on evidence of creation. Rather, they come from the inerrant word of God as outlined in the first chapter of Genesis. My confidence in the truth of creation, considered foolish by many, is based on my faith in God and complete trust in his revealed word. The veracity of a six-day creation, or even the existence of God, does not hinge on whether man can prove it through science. Ask science to explain water changing to wine, a virgin birth or a resurrection from the dead and you will have scientific impossibilities. The very foundations of Christianity are not based in things we can explain with our human logic, but on what the Bible teaches us about God. Jesus declared after his resurrection, “Blessed are those who have not seen yet have believed." If I must ignore supposed scientific facts that contradict what I know to be true, then so be it. I cannot explain this evidence, but with faith, I don’t need to. EMILY WARDLAW First-year public relations student 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. Kung-fu moves lack sufficient manliness m Leave sophistication to unskilled girly men and Hollywood movies Anyone else notice Hollywood’s strong tendency to implement unrealistic ninja moves in their choreographed fight scenes? If you’re like me, you probably □ miss ii ic guuu ui days, where fights were fights and not these sissy dance grooves we’re presented with today. So Neo knows kung fu and can fly — so what? CURTIS I’ll bet he’d CHOW cower in terror at the thought of FOURTH-YEAR • . , ECONOMICS receiving a good STUDENT ol’ fashioned “one, two, punch to the groin." It’s practical, and it works without all the superfluous froufrou ninja moves. Seeing as how our generation of men is one step away from becoming pretty princess ballerinas, I’ve decided to help everyone out by writing a guide to “fighting like a real man." This rule shouldn’t even need to be mentioned, but just in case, “Real men don’t use girly moves." That’s right. This means no scratching, kicking of the shin, slapping or anything else indicating that it might be your time of the month. Any of the aforementioned moves will result in the immediate forfeit of your man card. Real men never assume a fighting position with a double knife-hand." This position is a dead giveaway that you’ve either taken “American karate” or that you are merely pretending like you’ve studied some sort of martial arts. Either way, you’ve just telegraphed your ineptitude at fighting, and your bluff will be called. “Real men block with their faces." We don’t dodge or deflect blows. Blocking a punch or a kick with your face is the ultimate mark of manliness. Sometimes, just to prove that I am extra tough, I’ll even strike with my face. “Real men use head-butts." There are many schools of thought about how to master this technique. I submit that the proper way of implementing the head butt is to bend at the waist so that your torso is perpendicular to your legs, and then to charge. Your arms can be either pinned to your side, or for extra style, you can make fists and flail them in a circular motion while you run. “Real men throw haymaker punches." The real man has no regard for effectiveness or strategic value of his strikes. The haymaker punch is executed by cocking your fist all the way behind your head, charging and letting loose in a flail of fury. This move is typically executed when intoxicated or in cowboy saloon fights. Real men wear flannel shirts while they fight." Nothing is more intimidating or manly than the flannel shirt. It flies in the face of conventional dress attire, and moreover exudes a “you want to make something of it?" attitude. The flannel shirt is like a modern-day coat of arms. Display it proudly in battle. “Traditional martial arts moves look silly in real fights." Traditional martial arts rarely look cool outside of martial arts studios and movies. You might be a kung-fu master, and you could be an incredible fighter; however, in a real fight, you’ll probably look silly executing traditional movements. So now that you know how to fight like a real man, you’ll probably want to go out and practice your newly acquired skills. I would recommend starting with the elderly, as they rarely put up much of a fight. Try head-butting grandpa a few times before moving on to children, and eventually to friends and loved ones of equal stature. And remember, your new powers are to be used only in self-defense or to impress the ladies. m m WINNERS AND SINNERS SOUTH CAROLINA The Palmetto State has become a focal point for the 2008 presidential election, with visits by Rudy Guiliani, John Edwards and Min Romney. DARREN WILSON S.C. state nooper wins National Trooper of the Year award for saving another.trooper. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Offers $100 to students who keep their dorm rooms clean for tours. SEC Fining universities for student celebrations takes even more fun out of college athletics. GOV. MARK SANFORD Fails to identify top S.C. agricultural product, chicken, on MSNBC’s “Hardball.” AHMED OMAR ABU ALI Virginia man and U.S. citizen arrested for coordinating with al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia to assassinate President Bush.