4A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2002
864-0500 free for
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about
to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, I'm with you on the cloning thing. I think it could be a great, great institution, but the whole cloning is natural or a natural phenomenon or whatever you said — what's up with that?
=
图
This is to Matt Steppen from the Vision collision. I stay in Lewis Hall and I didn't open my door on purpose because I'm voting for the Asian guy anyway, so I wouldn't hang up a poster as it
The Kansan is inaccurate. The Methodist church does indeed allow female clergy, My roommate, Ann, is a Methodist priest. She is female, therefore Methodists do allow female clergy.
we have a war going on in Afghanistan. We have the No.1 ranked basketball team in the nation, and the UDK decides to print a story about Nathan Ubauer on the front page. It pretty much proves my point that the only reason that I have the UDK around is if I run out of toilet paper.
pe
To the guy that was at the birthday last weekend and was talking about every time he watched American Beauty, it just makes him cry. Get real, loser, that's no way to get anyone.
I think I'm going to have to sue my roommate for custody of the fish. She almost let the beautiful creature die. The water is atrociously dirty, and she still hasn't changed it. How would you feel if you had to swim around in your own urine?
have happened to anyone.
My roommate hates that court show, Texas Justice, but I think she's just kind of prejudice against Texans, which is not really such a good thing, because I learned in class today that it's bad to be prejudiced.
have happened to anyone.
Major award shows suck, especially the Grammys. Why? Missy Elliot gets best rap song of the year over Nelly and DMX. Are you kidding me?
If God is supposed to treat the righteous and the wicked in the same way, leading to the conclusion that it does not pay to please God, why the hell should I go to church? Answer me that.
have happened to anyone.
L. Dy
This is to my roommate's girlfriend. If you stay here another night you owe me $150 for rent_Bye.
You don't have to be a tree-hugging hippie to care about the wages of workers in third-world countries. You just have to care about someone other than yourself.
This is in regards to the erectile dysfunction article written by Summer Lewis. I think that she just wanted to say penis a lot in an article.
So I walked into my history test today with the song. "Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangsta" stuck in my head. And it was cool, because I was sitting back in my seat while the professor was handing out the test, and all I could think was, "Damn it feels good to be a gangsta."
图
Try telling Martin Luther King Jr. that peaceful rallies won't change the world.
When that big whistle on campus goes off at 20 after does anyone else want to bust out and do *The Finstones* theme song? Anyone? No? OK, I guess it's just me.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR MARIAN WASHINGTON POLL
MARIAN WASHINGTON POLL
Dear editor.
Dear editor,
Once again, the Kansan has shown a complete lack of good judgment. The poll on whether Marian Washington should remain as coach of the women's basketball team is not only moot, but totally classless and uncalled-for on the part of this publication.
As a graduate of the William Allen White School of Journalism and a long-time supporter of Coach Washington and all other Jayhawk teams, I am extremely offended at this low-class act.
Al Bohl has shown that he can remain in full command of his judgment when evaluating a coaching situation and disregard the "garbage" heaved at Washington from many directions this year. Her 29 years of exemplary service to the University and doing it always in a first-class manner with great dignity, resolve and integrity was easily recognized in formulating the decision.
- Nobody wants to lose any of their athletic contests, but sometimes things go in cycles and catch up you all at once if you are in one place long enough. To her credit, she has remained very loyal to the University in spite of numerous hills to climb and pressures to face during her tenure.
Nevertheless, I am confident she will bring the jayhawks back to prominence with the support of the University and Athletic administrations. The most important thing to me is the fact that, like her men's counterpart, she was shown a great deal of respect by her players at this year's senior day as she has had each year in the past. That tells the true character of her and her program.
John Weltmer Lawrence resident
TALK TO US
Jay Krail
Kyle Ramsey
managing editors
864-4854 or krail@kansan.com and
kryali@kansan.com
Laite Walker
editor
864-4854 or waikane.kansan.com
Clay McCuition readers'representative 864-8101 or mccuplication@xarsan.com
Kursten Phelpa Brooke Hesler
 opinion editors 664-8410 or
 opinion编辑 kansas.com and
 bhsheep@kansas.com
Amber Agee
business manager
864-4014 or addrinet@kansan.com
Kate Mariani
retail sales manager
864-462 or
retailals@kaman.com
Malcolm Gibson
general manager and news
adviser
844-7667 or mqlgibson@kkanan.com
Matt Fisher
Matt Fisher sales and marketing adviser 864-7666 or mitheran@ansan.com
MATT GERTKEN/KANSAN
By the Numbers
23 Percentage of oil imported by the U.S. last year that came from Persian Gulf countries.
27
Percentage that came from Canada and Mexico.
Source: U.S. Department of Energy, from Harper's Weekly Index
19 Percent of Screen Actors Guild members who are black, Latino or Asian.
Number of black, Latino or Asian actors who have won an Academy Award in the top five categories in the past decade. Source: The Associated Press
11 Number of games required to crown a Big 12 men's basketball tournament champion
Number of corporations that sponsored the Big 12 Tournament.
PERSPECTIVE
Source: Big12sports.com
Rude treatment in Columbia proves Jayhawks' class-act sportsmanship
Dear fans of the University of Missouri: I want to thank you for the wonderful hospitality you showed duv
Dear fans of the University of Missouri. I want to thank you for the wonderful hospitality you showed during the weekend of the KU-Mizzou game March 3. It was everything I expected and more. You guys showed why I am so glad to be a Jayhawk.
Thank you for disturbing my dinner with friends from high school who happen to go to MU with such intelligent comments as "Rock Chalk Chicken Hawk,""KU sucks" and others that could not be printed. It hurt my feelings and made me jealous of such a fine institution as MU.
I would also like to give mad props for the comments about my mother when I was leaving the restaurant. That really showed a lot of guts.
COMMENTARY
Thank you to the four guys in black pleather jackets who waited outside the men's restroom to beat my ass. The fourth-grade tactic almost worked until they walked away when I stepped up to them. Talking the talk and not walking the walk seems to be a big trend in Columbia.
Thank you for finally proving to me that people really can't see into the future. You kept yelling at me that we were going to lose and that it was going to be a long trip home after you beat us. Well, we won and I got home in two hours and fifteen minutes. Simple mistake. It could
Eric Borja opinion@kansan.com
Thank you for the Antlers. I only wish we had fans crazy enough to cross-dress, look up phone numbers of basketball players and call them and give the student body and university a bad name — all for the love of an unranked team. Did I mention that they wear dresses? I can't stress enough to you that around 40 guys call themselves real fans because they wear dresses. If that's not the sign of true fan then I don't know what is.
Thank you for shamelessly trying to imitate the Muck Fizzou shirts with such phrases as Buck Foschee. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Thank you for hating KU and our basketball team instead of cheering for your own. I saw signs showing Roy's head on a Britney Spears' body, signs about Roy's mom and signs with KU
At times it seemed as if you were booing us louder than your were cheering for your own team. I am sure that your own players received inspiration from that.
player's phone numbers. But I failed to see any signs congratulating Clarence Gilbert or encouraging your own team.
Thank you to the old man who told me KU still sucks, even after we beat you. That kind of brilliant logic is what I would expect from an MU graduate.
But, most of all, I would like to thank you for making me realize why I am so proud to be a Jayhawk. We take basketball seriously here but we also realize that it isn't life. We don't have to resort to putting other people down to make ourselves feel better. You seem to have a case of small man's disease where you are constantly trying to prove yourself because you feel inadequate.
I know we hold ourselves to a higher degree and that we are a tough act to follow, but some day, some day, you might come close to imitating the class act that is KU.
Sincerelv.
Eric Boria
PS. To the guys in the pleather jackets who wanted to beat me up, you're wearing pleather.
Borja is a Springfield, Mo., junior, in journalism.
PERSPECTIVE
Low music sales reflect music quality
last week's Billboard magazine reported sharp sales increases, largely for artists who performed on the recent Grammy telecast.
This should come as a nice consolation to Recording Academy President C. Michael Greene who, in the middle of the Grammy ceremony, launched an attack against the illegal downloading of songs from Internet sources.
Album sales for 2001 decreased from the previous year for the first time in more than a decade, according to Billboard's year-end issue.
Many in the industry blame this on music piracy. But instead of focusing on the legality of the issue, the music industry should be examining why people are downloading music, including other possibilities for sales slumps.
James Manning opinion@kansan.com
With all the obstacles the industry places on getting music, it makes it easy to justify downloading songs.
COMMENTARY
Take, for instance, the downfall of the single. Out of the current Billboard chart's top 40 songs, only two (Nickelback's "This is How You Remind Me" and LeAnn Rimes's "Can't
Fight the Moonlight") are available in the regular single format.
Five years ago, most popular songs were released in the less expensive format. Record companies felt the single cannibalized album sales and started issuing fewer singles.
This means, instead of getting the one song they want, consumers must purchase a full album.
Add to the single's demise the trend of reissuing a recently released album with new cuts. Those who purchased Mary J. Blige's No More Drama were likely disappointed when MCA reissued the album with bonus tracks and
remixes, meaning fans had to pay full album price to add a few new songs to their collections.
In addition to Blige, Janet Jackson and Jennifer Lopez also reissued albums with one bonus track of a remix on each. This could easily spur people to go online and download the new remix instead of repurchasing the whole album. While these people are at the downloading sites, they will likely download a few other songs by other artists, as well.
Perhaps the most overwhelming reason for music sales slumps is lack of variety. Train's "Drops of Jupiter" is a fine song, but after being played on the radio for nine months, it is time for the song's retirement. The same could be said for other overplayed songs.
The music industry may have a slowdown in sales, but it is far from collapsing. The silly tactic of blaming the slump on thieving college students can only be taken so far. Perhaps if quality products were released, record sales would return to previous heights.
7
Manning is a Liberal graduate student in communications.
B
---
N