The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 24, 2005, Page 7, Image 7
__ VIEWPOINTS __^
AMECOCK
EDITORIAL BOARD
Editor
MICHAEL LaFORGIA
News Editor
STEPHEN FASTENAU
Asst. News Editor
JUSTIN CHAPURA
TheMix Editor
ALEXIS ARNONE
V
Sports Editor
JONATHAN HILLYARD
Viewpoints Editor
BRINDY McNAIR
Copy Desk Chief
STEVEN VAN HAREN
Design Director
chas McCarthy
IN OUR OPINION
Fans should shrug off
Lous latest guesswork
Let’s not get carried away.
When former Gamecocks coach-turned-ESPN-analyst Lou
Holtz predicted last week that USC will beat Georgia on the road
this season, it caused a stir in Columbia — where weary fans are
scrambling for some indicator of the season to come.
Steve Spurrier brushed off the prediction when reporters asked
him about it last week, and if Gamecock fans are smart, they’ll do
the same.
After all, this is the same Lou Holtz who told the Bulldogs to
“bring it on” in a news conference last year, then watched from the
sidelines as the Gamecocks blew a 16-0 first-half lead.
Sure, the Bulldogs aren’t what they were last year. They’ve lost
All-SEC defenders from the line, their linebacking corps and the
secondary.
David Greene, Georgias stand
DOIl’t take a win out fiuarterback, is now taking
against the Bulldogs snaPs in NFL, and so are mar
for granted. quee receivers Fred Gibson and
Reggie Brown.
Add to that Spurrier’s record
against the Bulldogs - he was 11-1 against Georgia in his 12 sea
sons with the Florida Gators — and the game’s as good as won,
right?
Well, not exactly.
Don’t forget Carolina has a few obstacles of its own it has to
overcome this year. The Gamecocks are learning a new offense, and
starting quarterback Blake Mitchell has completed only nine passes
in his college career. True freshmen fill the top three tailback slots.
Not to mention that the guys have, well, had some trouble off the
field in the offseason.
A win against any SEC team should never be counted automatic,
and — after the past three seasons — Georgia coaches could write
a book on beating Carolina in close games.
So don’t take a win against the Bulldogs for granted. Instead,
focus on cheering for the Gamecocks against UCF next week. Then
concentrate on whatever comes next.
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
gamecockopiniom@gwm.sc. edu
CORRECTIONS
If you see an error in todays paper, we want to know. E-mail us at
gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu.
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Online: www.dailygamecock.com
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Cartoon courtesy of KRT Campus
I **•
Strom’s cardio theater running on empty
Television dependence
reaches all-time low
with treadmill-vision
I hate TV. The evil little box is
everywhere — historically, the first
step toward our becoming
multimedia zombies.
The tipping point in all this is
taking place over at the Strom,
having just opened a cardio
theater that allows exercisers to
watch TV while working out.
For me, it’s the last straw for a
campus and country that
sheepishly fawn over the pretty
picture box and all its stylish
offspring.
What’s the status ofTV zombie
ism? Let’s see, I’ve got a TV on my
ceiling for when I wake up, a TV
behind my bathroom mirror, a TV
at the bottom of the toilet so I
don’t miss those few precious
seconds while turning and
squatting and a TV behind the
towel rack. I’ve also got a separate
monitor so I can watch myself
watching TV.
One step closer and you’ll be
devouring human flesh — your
own. No time to take your eyes off
the screen. Need food now. Mmm.
That’s TV zombie-ism.
Television is a soul-sucker, and
I, for many years, suckled its teat
like a brainwashed boob.
Moving last summer to off
campus digs where cable wasn’t
included in the bill was the
greatest thing that ever happened
to me.
Money became more of an
obstacle, and
TV would’ve
become an
inadvertent sin
tax.
I finally
- 2jTgy£|| understood why
UAAHARCA man,y Ncw Yo*
smokers would
Fourth-year ^ the habjt
mechanical
engineering after Pay*ng $12
student for a pack of
cigarettes. Thyik
God crack can’t be legislated!
So here comes TV culture
rearing its ugly head at the
Strom.
I love the place, but there’s a
difference between the fitness
minded who use TV as the cherry
on top of their chiseled routine
and stylish sprinters who use TV
as a crutch to work out.
The latter come to the gym in
make-up. They spend money on
pre-tattered exercise clothes with
memories already installed at the
factory. More time to watch
“Who Wants to Marry This Half
Eaten Sandwich?”
I wish I could forget how much
of a crutch TV was for me.
I couldn’t enter a room in my
house without turning it on. It
placated me
Y’all know the feeling; it’s
almost impossible to leave the
damn thing off.
Luke, my outdoorsy
engineering buddy and catalyst
for this column, would probably
look at a TV and not know how to
work the damn thing. Such
naivete is refreshing.
Experiment: Lock up your TV
for one day.
Dammit, removing TV from
your dorm room and your life is
probably the best thing you could
do.
No more MTV, the most
painfully glossed-over, insipid,
rancid, lip-lined, Rainbow Britt
puddle of pop-driven pig drool.
No more Lifetime.
Funnily enough, USC’s cable
selection includes two Lifetimes
— not quite long enough to forget
“Television for Battered Women.”
I’m convinced these channels
make you dumber.
But most of all, you might find
a desire to go outside and detach
from all this televised tripe.
The Strom has it all wrong: TV
is not the inspiration to get on a
treadmill and run — TV is what
I’m running from. I’m running
from people who’d rather sit on
their asses watching “Room
Raiders,” a veritable 30-minute
lobotomy.
The cardio theater will
probably become a popular staple
at the Strom, and those stalwart
regulars who came before TV
access reared its head will enjoy a
nice little perk.
Those dependent on TV to
work out, and live, will continue
to feed a boring, mind-numbing
lifestyle.
Their kids will get digitally
devoured, and their passions will
be shot to hell at an earlier and
earlier age.
For seniors, graduation homestretch looms
Getting ready to go out
into the real world not
as hard as it appears
So this is it. The start of the
2005-2005 academic year is the
beginning of the end for my
fellow seniors and me. The light
at the end of the tunnel is coming
into view, and maybe to some
that view looks good, but to me
it’s not so grand.
Unfortunately, there’s no
turning back the clock — time
has swept me up like a stampede
and is moving me toward the end
whether I like it or not. Even
though that light and that view
are 10 months away, I have
discovered that in life the future
might take forever to pass, but
the past seems like a mere
second.
Already it feels like the
pressures of the real world are
creeping up on me, like ninjas or
boogiemen. They get up right
behind me and whisper in my
ear, “You’ve got to start studying
for the GRE or the LSAT,” “You
need to find a job and a place to
live after college” and “You’re
going to have bills to pay, bills,
bills, BILLS!”
Whew, that was scary. That’s
OK, though — it’s only an
editorial, only an editorial... .
Anyway, to be a little serious,
I’m sure most of us worry about
the exact things I mentioned
www. dailygt
above. A lot of
people are
totally prepared
already. They’ve
been living on
their own,
JQHf) paying their own
R A BO fl bills, looking
Fourth-year forward to great
English jobs and already
student have a handle on
this whole “life
after college”
thing. The rest of us, however, are
going to be getting the first taste
of life come May when we walk
across that stage and say goodbye
to our undergraduate life.
One of the challenges I look
forward to mastering in the
coming year is cooking. I’ve rarely
ever had to cook a, meal for
myself. This is just part of what
I’m doing in preparation for my
post-undergrad life.
My senior year, the way I see it,
is the time to start getting ready
for what awaits beyond. It’s time
to start studying up on how to
pay my taxes, how to find a good
job and how to make a good
scores on those graduate school
tests. It looks like a big hill to
climb, and it is, but all the tools
are out there to make the path
just a little easier.
I fully intend to take
advantage of the Career Center
this year, looking for help with
filling out applications, typing
4
mecock.com
resumes and interviewing for
jobs. I know that with their help,
some cookbooks and some good
advice from people I trust, I will
be able to make that giant leap
off the graduation stage and into
my future.
By the time we leave here, so
long as we’re prepared for it, we
can handle anything thrown our
way.
One thing I like to remind
myself is that life can’t be so hard
because everyone is doing it.
Let’s get ready for the real
world, but make certain to enjoy
every day we have remaining in
our year. Savor the memories and
take every opportunity to make
the best of our fourth year. It’s a
wonderful time, like a runner who
can see the finish line ahead —
we’re in the homestretch of our
degrees.
It’s not a time for slacking, and
it’s not a time for worrying — now
is the time we must give
everything we have to come in
first. When we’re done, we’ll look
back and feel that college only
took a second to pass, but the
feeling we carry with us will
continue on forever.
Submission Policy
Letters to the editor should be less
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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.
Who says
you have to
buy those
textbooks?
Getting class material
from the library proves
good pocketbook saver
Most fees and expenses
involved with getting a college
education are unavoidable. As
- much as
students might
resent higher
tuition costs and
esoteric
technology' fees,
cunmn we have t0 Pay
them. It is not my
cnumnn ,„Kntion *
Graduate complain about
student in theS£ costs (not
geagrapby ^ ^ $45
convenience fee
for using your Visa or
MasterCard). 1 merely wish to
emphasize that no amount of
complaining will change the
amount we pay. Buying textbooks,
however, is a completely different
ballgame.
lextDooKs aiso represent
necessary purchases, but with a
little more wiggle room. Freshmen
will most likely head over to the
Russell House and purchase their
books for perhaps $400. However,
as freshmen lug nearly 200
pounds of textbooks back to their
dorms, they will probably start to
wonder if there isn’t a better way
to do it. Some solemnly vow that
next semester they will pay less for
their textbooks.
For some, that quest becomes
an obsession. Comparison
shopping is the most obvious way
to find the cheapest used
textbook available — but buyers
beware. This semester I decided
to compare the used prices on my
“Introduction to Linear Algebra”
book at two stores. At the first
store, the book cost $79.99. At
the other, $89.99. I marched
triumphantly back to the first
store the next day to buy my
textbook and save $10. Then
came the shocker — the first
store had increased the price on
my textbook to $89.99! In spite
of my efforts, no money was
saved and a little more time had
been wasted. More saw/ students
will surpass my meager efforts by
spending hours scouring Internet
booksellers for the best deal.
A few years ago I tried a
different tactic. Why not team up
with another student in my class
and go in on the book together?
This technique can be rewarding,
especially if you have class with a
roommate. For me, the results
were less than encouraging. For
the first half of the semester this
worked well, but I ran into
dimculties when the other person
stopped coming to class. I still felt
obligated to share the textbook
with this person, but that meant
regular trips to visit someone I
hardly knew. For me, the hassle
exceeded the financial savings,
and I have never tried it again.
Fortunately, I discovered a
superior tactic next semester that
1 continue to take advantage of. I
only share it now because, as a
graduate student, I have nearly
reached the end of my textbook
buying days. One day as I
wandered through the library, I
stumbled upon a copy of the very
same textbook I had purchased
for a class a year ago. Curious, I
decided to search for some of the
other books I had recendy
purchased. The library had all but
one (note: I went to a different
university for my undergraduate
studies, so I cannot vouch for
USCs library resources).
Come ' next semester, I
triumphantly went to the library
and checked out my textbooks. I
had finally beaten the system! In
celebration, I got five parking
tickets that semester.
f •