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VIEWPOIft TS ---:-~-:-5= thePS&amecock EDITORIAL BOARD Editor Sports Editor MICHAEL LaFORGIA JONATHAN HILLYARD News Editor Viewpoints Editor STEPHEN FASTENAU BRINDY McNAIR Asst. News Editor Copy Desk Chief JUSTIN CHAPURA STEVEN VAN HAREN The Mix Editor Design Director ALEXIS ARNONE CHAS MCCARTHY IN OUR OPINION Don't let big victory turn into catastrophe We hope USC students will learn from what happened over the weekend at a small public university in Minnesota. After the University of Minnesota-Morris’ football team nar- ' rowly defeated Crown College in its homecoming game, fans rushed the field, tore down the goal post and killed 20-year-old Richard Rose. Rose, a Minnesota student and member of the school’s men’s basketball team, was pronounced dead at a hospital Saturday. The cause of his death, an autopsy revealed, was head trauma. | This accident should prompt administrators at colleges nationwide to re-evaluate their policies regarding students charging fields after big wins. Yeah, we did it after the Gamecocks beat Georgia in 2000, and after USC edged Kentucky on the hard court last spring. And no one got hurt. ShOUld Officials b66f But officials beef up “P security around !ecuri around sidelines follow. sidelines following . , , ■ ■. .2 ing this incident in Minnesota? this incident? „ , Perhaps a better question is: Did a kid have to die this year before it occurred to someone that students might get hurt while tearing down goal posts? ^ We know it’s fun, and we know all about the spontaneity and energy and exhilaration of engaging in the most hallowed act of college student vandalism. And we almost can’t believe we’re writing it, but maybe it’s time to rethink things. We face Florida in Williams-Brice Stadium on Nov. 12, and Clemson at home the next weekend. There’s an outside chance the Gamecocks might come out on top against one or both of these teams, and if we do, chances are students will want to rush the field. Before you do, we ask that you think about that poor kid from the University of Minnesota-Morris. What if it were you or your best friend or your girlfriend or boyfriend who got crushed to death under a goal post during post-game celebrations? Would you still think a little restraint I sounded so lame? IT’S YOUR RIGHT 1 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 CORRECTIONS If you see an error in todays paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockopinions@gwm.sc.edu. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Editor MICHAEL LaFORGIA contact information Design Director Offices on thirdfloor of the Russell House. | CHAS MCCARTHY ^e ^^‘tors office hours are Monday and Wednesday from 1-3 p.m. Copy Desk Chief Editor: gamecockeditor@gwm.sc.edu STEVEN VAN HAREN News: gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu News Editor Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@gwm.sc. edu STEPHEN FASTENAU The Mix: gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc.edu Sports: gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu HKTINCH1PUM PMc A&Un: S‘™ackPRQy‘l»"com JUSTIN CHAPURA Online: www.dailygamecock.com Viewpoints Editor Newsroom: 777-7726; Sports: 777-7182 BRINDY McNAIR Editors Office: 777-3914 _ ALEXIS ARNONE STUDENT MEDIA | THE GAMECOCK is the Sports Editor Director editorially independent JONATHAN HILLYARD SCOTT LINDENBERG student newspaper of the Asst. Sports Editor Faculty Adviser Vnivmity of South ALEX RILEY ERIK COLLINS Carolina. It is published sstfcs aaras- ttsSfcL Sports Photo Editor „ . spnng semesters and nine KATIE KIRKLAND ~u.’L”£li!a"aS" i times during the summer. Page Designers CAROLYN GRIFFIN | with the exception of MIKE CONWAY, JESSICA Advertising Manager university holidays and ANN NIELSEN, MEGAN SARAH exam periods. Opinions SINCLAIR SCARBOROUGH expressed inTHE | Graphic Designer Classified Manager GAMECOCK are those of the LAURA-JOYCE GOUGH SHERRY F. HOLMES editors or author and not Copy Editors Production Manager those of the University of CHELSEA HADAWAY, GAREN CANSLER South Carolina. The Board katif TunHorn of Student Publications and JAMISON TINSLEY BREANnTeV/Ss Communications is the LIZ WHITE VmSSSSr fit Online Editor KATIE CUPPIA, I GAMECOCK. The RYAN SIMMONS APRYL ALEXANDER, Department of Student . c . MARY RACHEL Media is the newspaper's JOSEPH DANNELLY, WELSH* DEIDRE^^ Parent organization. THE LAURA-JOYCE GOUGH, MERRICK GAMECOCK is supported in MARGARET LAW, part by student-activity fees. MEGHAN WHITMAN Qnej^eecopyper reaefar - Additional copies may be TO PLACE AN AO purchased for $ 1 each from The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 the Department of Student 1400 Greene St. Classified: 777-1184 Media. Columbia. S.C. 29208 Fax: 777-6482 * 4 Tipping: not some suburb of Hong Kong After years of painful disrespect, servers go on Internet offensive Bad tippers are the scum of society. You know who you are, or maybe you don’t. The holy trinity of holidays — Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas — is upon us. People flock to Olive Garden and Red Lobster with dear old grandma and grandpa, long lost cousin Jeb, and a flock of nameless spouses, boyfriends and girlfriends. Invariably, one of these beloved people will be a cheap ass, dropping $2 on $30 or $5 on $70. It’s your duty — because I know you’re not one of these people — to fix certain injustices. You should be the bigger person and drop a more adequate tip to buttress whatever pocket change they felt they could part with. Here’s the key: Let them see you do it. If they ask what you’re doing, call them out on it. I’m serious. Every American should be required to work in the service industry for one month. Imagine your snobbish aunts, cousins and friends scrubbing dishes, slinging hashbrowns or, worst of all, bringing someone a half-sweet, half unsweet tea, served in a graduated cylinder at exactly 56 degrees Fahrenheit with □ exactly 12 ice cubes and exactly three mango slices on fine china. Never again blKUtill would waiters UflflHflRCn be treated like _ , dogs. Never bourth-year . . , mechanical agaln would engineering people shake student their glasses in the air when they want a refill. Never again would picky-ass, whiny divas run waiters ragged with BS requests and leave a dollar in pennies. It’s time to learn a little frickin’ respect for a difficult job. That’s right, you uppity desk jockey, manning four tables on a Friday night is no slice of hot apple pie. “Some of us have to work for a living,” said one smug businessman to a waitress where I worked over the summer. I hope she gave him a spit sandwich, coated in our finest toilet water. The only time you should tip less than 20 percent — that’s right, it’s not 15 percent anymore, geezers — is when service sucks and the waiter shows no remorse. If you see them smoking a cigarette in the kitchen while you’re awaiting • the check, go ahead and decrease the tip (taking into account their performance up to that point, mind you). But if the kitchen screwed up your order, the waiter and manager apologized profusely and you got a free dessert, you better lay down 20 percent. Maybe more. And for the love of God, put away your geeky mini calculator. It’s simple: Divide the total by 20, and then double that. Boom. You’re “cool.” Leave 8 percent? You’re a “stingy bastard who should rot in hell.” Cheerio. I suggest checking out www.bitterwaitress.com, a sweet little database of horror stories punctuated with justified anger. Along with the best and worst tippers of stage and screen, servers all over the country have singled out non-famous sinners and saints as well. It’s justice that the waiters of yesteryear never could have envisioned. So when Barry M. Scrooge runs up his tab at a Columbia steakhouse, a waiter at a Columbia fish-fry will be on the lookout while running credit cards through the computer. Such info really isn’t useful that late into the meal, but at least it prepares a waiter for the worst. And at least bad tippers get their names smeared across the World Wide Web in a wonderfully acceptable way. There’s something so right about it. God bless servers the world over. IN YOUR OPINION n.eaaers misconstrue ‘straddling the fence’ There have been some misunderstandings about my letter, “Blacks straddle fence with Facebook views” on Oct. 17. The fence I referred to was not a fence dividing blacks and whites, but the fence blacks jump across day to day, depending on their mood. The fence I talked about is one that determines whether blacks get mad about their unique apparel or if they are proud of it. The fence also represents the sides of how blacks want to be treated equal but still endorse programs such as affirmative action, which clearly set unequal awards based solely on race. The different sides of the fence go on and on. Demond Elliot, in his Oct. 19 letter (“Dargan should think about how blacks feel”), asks me now t wouia reel ir i were black. If I were black, I might wear the clothes seen on most blacks, but what I would not do is switch my opinion whenever it suited me. If I were black, I would also be upset with Mr. Elliot’s article because he admitted the black race was inferior to whites: “Being a part of a minority race that has been inferior and discriminated against many lyears by a dominating race....” In response to Jonathan Hardin’s letter (“Most white people find race irrelevant,” Friday), I also like to say that I too am not a racist; I would have a problem with anyone switching opinions whenever it is convenient. I also do not understand why you think you are a part of the problem; I like to think I’m part of the solution by bringing up issues such as fence-jumping. In closing, I want to touch on anotner problem with white people. Several folks have brought other things to my attention about white people apparel: people are wearing hats in the Strom while playing basketball, lifting weights or using cardio machines. I have no idea why people feel this is necessary; your body releases the most amount of heat through your head, so why in the world would you cover it up while working out? The only reason I can come up with is that they want to sweat more, and that’s ridiculous. t RANDY DARGAN Fourth-year HRTM 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. □ Do you think the loss of Syvelle Newton will affect the Gamecocks chance of going to a bowl game? www. dailygamecock. com -V S A Subway 500 delivers it all: fast raceears, faster women ‘Forrest Gump 500’ event shows me other side of NASCAR’s best I could reflect on my weekend with obvious ' conclusions about Saturday’s Vanderbilt game, and make even more obvious conclusions . about the next Donnni §ame asainst Snmi Tennessee, but BBIBV I’ll leave that to Fourth-year Jake Broom. elementary jnstead jy education ... .. student hke to dlscuss another sporting event pertaining to my weekend, one I happened to attend in Martinsville, Va., on Sunday. While many might not consider this event too 'much of a sport, I in fact attended my first NASCAR race, the Subway 500. Bryant Gumbel once called a NASCAR race the “Forrest Gump 500,” and I’ll admit I was skeptical at first; most of my friends were shocked to hear that I went, but ultimately I left with a positive perspective on the sport. Being that it was my first race, I had to take a crash course lesson in NASCAR details and dialect, but I caught on fast. I quickly found a driver who was soon to be retiring, one with an . underdog, final-stand appeal. For the rest of the day I would be rooting for Rusty Wallace. Minutes after entering the speedway I would realize the best part of NASCAR races; the drinking. At no other sporting event in my life had I been able to actually take alcohol into the event! Never had I seen this many drunk Republicans since the Bush family reunion. Nonetheless, 1 made sure 1 took advantage of the situation and helped myself to as many Bud Lights as I could. They say the start of the race is the most impacting, and believe me when I say it’s true. When the announcer . bellows “Gentlemen, start your engines,” you can feel the excitement and power in the stands, partially because the engines are so loud they shake the seats. My attention was sparked, and for the next four hours I would have the time of my life. OK, maybe not the time of my life, but it was a good four hours of fun and drinking. And what’s wrong with that? Believe it or not, you can enjoy being hit on by middle age women in tank tops. You can enjoy the company of 90,000 drunks without a firearm restriction. And there’s no need to comment on a pregnant woman smoking — as long as that baby’s a race fen. Now let’s come back to reality for a minute. I’m not going to start decorating my car in camouflage or carry Skoal everywhere I go, but if I had to give advice, I would say make it a point to go see a NASCAR race in the near future. It might be a litde rowdy and loud, but that’s what makes it so fun. Too bad that little punk Jeff Gordon won this weekend. Some advice to him and his crew: No- real NASCAR redneck is gonna continue to root for a driver whose car is adorned with rainbows. Switch to garnet and black or something — anything but rainbows. i.