MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2012
PAGE 5A
opinion
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Mizzou locker room playlist: "Cry me
a Missouri river."
The amount of swag that basketball game had was unlike any other swag I've ever seen.
I have more battle scars from the game than I do from the party after the game.
Is it just me or does Centennial Jay look like Admiral Ackbar?
It's the Missouri v. KU game. If you have to bring a flask to have a good time, you probably are an alcoholic.
I am thoroughly disappointed in the season ticket holders who sold their tickets to Missouri fans.
The only thing that would make KU better is if there was tetherball on Wesco Beach.
A haiku for all. Three wise men smoking. Honey is the bacon of all things sugary.
Is anyone else worried about the giant pythons taking over Florida?
Wait, you mean we've been rivals with a school that's got no national championships? Time to move on.
Found a note to myself from ten years ago. It read "Never go see the Ying Yang Twins" Huh.
You can call me "Judy" cause I'm Judging you right now.
When I'm alone at Mrs E's I like to pretend I'm eating with a six and a half foot rabbit named Harvey.
Was I born ready? No. I was born crying,
but 10 minutes later. I was ready.
If a zombie attack happens in Vegas...does it stay in Vegas?
The Mizzou pre-game stretching routine strangely resembles the beginning of my dance classes. When I was eight.
I cheered so loud at the game that I got a nosebleed.
I need a massage after how stressful that same was.
You should dream to have musicology, not classics. GTAs come to your party. We also know Latin and have a much larger repertoire of drinking songs.
Mizzou still wanting to play us is like an ex still wanting to go on out dates after breaking up with you.
As a redditor, I would consider it too personal to ask someone their Reddit username.
The Engineering Expo should not have let Mizzou fans into the event, even if they were middle schoolers. Just saving.
Show up to games no matter the opponent
Lottery. For many of the University's dedicated student basketball fans, this means early mornings, a crowded Fieldhouse and either elation or pure disappointment depending on the draw of each individual group.
But recently, a change was proposed to the traditional system. Trey Johnson, a junior from Leawood, who is incharge of camping said that the change would have given lottery preference for the Feb. 25 Missouri game to the the 24 groups who
missed one or less lotteries all season while student housing facilities were open. This would automatically put those groups in the top 24 camping spots.
nobody disagreed with it then. According to Johnson, the idea was to reward those groups who get up early and come to lottery for each and every game, not just the big ones.
"Show up. Come to lotteries whether we're playing Florida Atlantic, Oklahoma State or Missouri. This is our basketball team. Let's be the kind of fans they deserve."
The initiative
has been voted on five separate times, passing each time, and was up for the final vote before the beginning of the Missouri lottery on Feb. 19. It failed for the first time by a vote of 53-51.
Johnson also said that the idea was mentioned to all groups who attended the first lottery and
for argument has been for freshmen who don't know how the lottery works at the beginning of the season.
Some groups who opposed this new incentive said that it's not fair to groups who weren't at the first lottery and didn't know that it would be implemented. Another reason
Because of this debate, a Twitter war has engaged over the past week, attacking both the official and unofficial Twitter accounts for KU Basketball Camping.
Johnson runs the official account.
Those opposed have called it "favoritism" and a "disgrace to democracy."
This is simply not true. It is not favoritism when every single group had the opportunity to attend each lottery and made the choice not to. Because of this the student section has been less active this season, and according to Johnson.
"We have had some pretty weak student sections this year," Johnson said.
This seems like a perfectly logical policy to me and something that should have been in place
for years now. It doesn't seem fair that those groups who come out bright and early for each and every lottery could be stuck sitting behind groups who are at their first lottery simply because it's a big game against Missouri.
Whatever happened to supporting your team no matter how good they were or who they are playing? To me, that is the definition of being a fan.
No, my group doesn't qualify for this bonus since we missed two lotteries, which is one more than the cutoff. But I'm still in favor of passing this for years to come. The University has a great basketball program and several great traditions. Unfortunately many of the fans here seem to be fair weather or big game only fans.
ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN BENEDICK
To those groups out there complaining about this rule, I simply offer one solution. Show up. Come to lotteries whether we're playing Florida Atlantic, Oklahoma State or Missouri. This is our basketball team. Let's be the kind of fans they deserve.
Schtlesener is a sophomore in journalism and Italian from Hertington
CULTURE
College is a gift, not a requirement
Last semester, I took a cultural anthropology course. The professor was very knowledgeable, organized and well-spoken. The course taught me a lot about societal constructions and cultural and structural differences. But for whatever reason, our professor rubbed some students the wrong way.
Many of my classmates were frustrated with his teaching style. We took a few two or three-hour Blackboard exams, occasional quizzes and read a few ethnographies. Comparatively, the work load was on par with most 100-level courses I have taken during my undergraduate career. Maybe even less so.
Complaints about the course reigned supreme in our discussions. From a senior's perspective, the course's requirements were structured cleanly and the readings were pretty straightforward. But the attitudes that arose in our class were truly telling.
There seems to be a profound difference in attitudes, from one extreme to the other, in terms of how to approach a college education. I saw the experience of enrolling in college as a necessary step to growing older. The opportunity to work instead of going to school never seemed like a plausible option. It always was, but what middle-class high school student surrounded by a peer group of soon-to-be college students will take that route very seriously in today's culture?
The profound difference lies in the viewpoint we see college from; essentially, we see college as something we have to do versus something we want to do. This very basic foundation shapes the way we see professors, assignments, leadership opportunities and our studying habits. My own viewpoint on this foundation has evolved in the past four years to reflect my growing awareness of this difference.
Many factors influence this distinction. Paying for college is a large one; it's likely that anyone who doesn't pay for their
own education may tend to put less weight into its eventual outcome. Another factor is whether one is approaching college life from the perspective that his or her degree will positively influence his or her life's direction. From an economic standpoint, the constant rhetoric we are bombarded with that a liberal arts degree is not worth the debt it imbibes can result in a student caring less about his schoolwork. This may also lead some students to prematurity graduate because they don't want to accrue more debt after being told how worthless it may end up being.
We can't forget that college is a fun experience. It is a tool for maturation. It is an opportunity for self-discovery and meeting other like-minded people. These purposes are so often clouded by the fact that many of us feel that schoolwork, tests and readings are inconveniences. The attitudes stemming from my anthropology course are a direct result of this societal viewpoint that pursuing a college degree is an expectation.
If we all thought more uniformly about college as a wanted experience rather than a required one, our experiences would be very different. Perhaps diverse viewpoints help remind those of us who take the opportunity more seriously of the alternative: feeling inconvenienced. But any time you find yourself complaining about your schoolwork, take a step back. Remind yourself why you are here. And also remember that if you haven't exactly figured that out yet, that's okay, too.
Salsbury is a senior in English and art history from Chapman.
ENTERTAINMENT
Fictional characters show their support
Many actors show support for certain causes. What if our favorite television and movie characters did too?
Recently, actor Michael Kenneth Williams, from HBO's "The Wire", released an ad in Maryland for marriage equality. While Williams might not be well-known outside of people who like TV shows about crumbling public institutions, his portrayal of gay stick-up man Omar Little has earned him a special place in the hearts of Marylanders. He even tells them to vote for marriage equality or else "Omar gonna come at you."
This kind of political endorsement opens all kinds of doors. The following is a list of fictional characters and the political issues they might support.
Tyler Durden - Healthcare Reform: In "Fight Club", Tyler Durden was just an ordinary office worker until insomnia forced him to create an alter ego, which he then used to commit random acts of small-scale terrorism before finally destroying the credit card industry. And who hasn't been there, right? Let's face it, hospital bills are hard to pay, especially when you're letting strangers beat you up in the basement of a dive bar. That's why Tyler Durden asks you to support healthcare reform or he'll force you to examine the meaninglessness of your life.
Kernit the Frog - Journalistic Integrity: Most people don't know this, but Kermit the Frog actually got his start as a reporter on "Sesame Street." Even though he's now in charge of a theater
troupe consisting of humans, animals and whatever Gonzo is, he is still deeply involved in the journalistic world. It saddens him to see the lack of attention important issues are receiving. With the presidential election in November, Kermit is calling on news sources everywhere to really examine the candidates instead of turning the campaigns into a horse race.
Jean-Luc Picard - Foreign Aid: Captain Picard spent his career in Starfleet roaming the galaxy, meeting and occasionally getting kidnapped by various alien cultures. He understands the importance of other cultures and the benefits of helping them. Picard knows that the only way to build stable partnerships with foreign countries is through aid and assistance, even if they're strange, omnipotent aliens who toy with us for their amusement.
Tony Soprano - Why Don't You Just Mind Your Own Business, Okay?: Tony Soprano is a legitimate businessman and has no interest in politics. Quite frankly, Tony Soprano thinks it's ridiculous you would say that he has somehow influenced local
elections. Tony Soprano wonders if maybe you have a prejudice against Italian-Americans. In the future, Tony Soprano would like you to contact him at his place of business instead of showing up at his home unannounced. Why are you asking so many questions, anyway? You a cop or something? Leave Tony Soprano alone.
The Bride - Environmentalism: While trying to kill Bill in "Kill Bill," the enigmatic assassin, known mostly as the Bride, had to cut her way through countless bodyguards and relied on deadly skills she had honed over a storied career. However, her real passion is environmentalism. While the subject never came up during her quest to kill her former mentor, the Bride believes the Earth is our gift to future children and that it should be preserved at all costs. Now that the Bride has found out her own child is still alive and not, as she thought, killed in the womb during the attempt on her life, she has redoubled her efforts into preserving the nature world and asks that you do the same.
These are just a few of the many endorsements coming in from fictional characters Remember,the important thing is not what you support,but how cool the person asking you to support it is.
Schumaker is a senior in film and media studies from Overland Park.
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