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Thursday, September 29, 1968 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Violent coaching shouldn't be an ingredient for success
No one will deny that football is a violent, sometimes barbaric sport.
In almost every game, the action is stopped two or three times so trainers can attend to and remove an injured player from the field. That's expected when physically fit men run at each other at high speeds.
But, according to some former and current KU players, the athletes haven't been the only ones doing the hitting. Allegations that Glen Mason and his staff have struck players have run rampant latex.
Mason acknowledged at a luncheon last week that he hit Verdugo, but said it was not abusive.
Former Kevin Verdugo said he was struck, and a receiver at Mason's former school, Kent State, said Mason players there. At Kansas, Verdugo said, "the whole staff was really getting involved in the thing."
The KU athletic program is standing on thin ice if it ignores Mason's tactics, especially if hitting or excessive physical work in lineup will undermine his ability.
A coach is a teacher, and an athlete is a student. The link between the two is communication. Communication in most circles is achieved more easily through positive verbal stimulation, encouragement rather than through degradation and violence.
It is true that many former high school football players can recall incidents of having their face masks grabbed or their helmets slapped. And it probably would be difficult to find an athlete who never has received a degrading insult from a coach.
But even a violent sport doesn't call for violent coaching. Needless violence cheapens any aspect of life, and it makes a high-profile organization such as a college football team look cheap.
Mason must choose the coaching style he deems most effective. But effectiveness can't be measured by victories alone; an effective coach could mold solid players without excessive violence or abuse.
Before using a quickfix means of discipline or punishment, any coach must first ask himself not only how it will affect the player, but also how it will affect the team.
Mark Tilford for the editorial board
Solving a trashy problem
The Environmental Protection Agency has taken a small step toward dealing with the country's laundering garbage crisis. It does not clear the air over an increasingly difficult and problematic short burst of artificial room deodorizer is better than nothing.
The EPA's strategy for stemming the flood of trash that is burying the country calls for federal aid for states to promote recycling programs; regulations to insure the safety of incinerators and landfills; and efforts to increase the government recycled products. The agency's budget for solid waste programs has been raised this year to $15 million from $2 to $3 million.
That's the good news. The bad news is that $11 million is a drop in the garbage pail compared with what's needed. Much of the enforcement will be at state and local levels, which have no power to crack down on acts of an administration that is generous with rules but tight to them.
Critics of the plan probably are right when they say it is little more than a paucity of effort to show naive voters that Roe's case are about civil rights.
But a bad start is still a start. Just the fact that the feds would consider pushing recycling is encouraging.
However, what the effort needs, more than a bigger budget or tougher rules, is help from the public
About 160 million tons of solid waste are produced yearly in the United States. That's 1,300 pounds for each person. Too much of that waste is in disposable products such as razors, shaving cream, and that Americans would rather use and dump than use wisely.
If the country is going to avoid burying itself in waste, it needs to stop wasting so much. Here in Lawrence, that means people should cut down on using disposable goods, especially when non-disposable alternatives are available. It means that people should take advantage of local recycling centers for aluminum cans and newspapers.
It means being aware that waste doesn't disappear when the trashman comes, and that the problem won't disappear until everyone chips in their fair share.
Michael Merschel for the editorial board
News staff
Todd Cohen...Editor
Michael Horak...Managing editor
Jill Adams...Associate editor
Stephen Wade...News editor
Michael Merschel...Editorial editor
Neil Gerdner...Campus editor
Craig Anderson...Sports editor
Scott Carpenter...Photo editor
Dave Eames...Graphics editor
jll Jess...Artificial features editor
Tom Ebien...General manager, new editor
Business staff
Greg Knipp
Business manager
Debra Cole
Retail sales manager
Criminal police
Linda Prokop
National sales manager
Promotion staff
Sarah Hidgdon
Marketing manager
Brad Lemhart
Production manager
Mac Rodriguez
Assistant
Michael Lehman
Classified manager
Sales manager
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AREN'T YOU THE LEAST BIT AFRAID OF THOSE BIG GUYS FROM NEBRASKA AND OKLAHOMA?
THOSE GUYS DON'T HIT HALF AS HARD AS OUR COACHES DO!
Editor's note: Mike Royko is on vacation. The following column originally appeared Oct. 29, 1881.
Quiz on life expectancy was a real killer
So I took the quiz, which consisted of about 30 questions in two categories, personal facts and facts.
I received some starting information today. It took me a while I was reading a cover story in Time magazine.
That is an intriguing question. If you know the answer to it, then you might have time to make plans for your future. For example, you might buy a new car or house. You should bring your children to stock bearings it off.
But the headline in quinq in Time had a title
but made it impossible to ignore. It said, "How
had it come?"
The story itself wasn't depressing. It was about the obsession for physical fitness that has become a cultural habit.
I don't mind reading about how millions of people jog, wack hacks, wrestle with exercise machines and otherwise punish themselves to squeeze into a pair of designer jeans. Just so long
The personal facts included whether I lived in a city or small town; the longevity my grandparents, the health of my parents, my marital status and my earnings. The lifestyle questions had to do with how much I smoked, drank, exercised, slept, ate, eat, drink, use an oxymorogon or an aggressive and angry person.
I usually skip those quizzes because I know the results in advance. If you don't know you drink too much by the red of your eyes, then you are probably too shaky to take the quiz in the first place.
But at the end of the story was one of those self-squizes that magazines and newspapers like to use for their book reviews. “Something like ‘Do You Drink Too Much?’ or ‘How Happy Are you?’ or ‘What’s Your Rating’?”
You answer the questions, then add up the points, then look at the bottom to find out what kind of shape you're in. And depending on the kind of shape you want to jump off a bridge or you are a deeply unhappy person and will probably jump off a bridge soon" or "10 to 20 points You are a terrible, unhappy person, and your work is really hard.
Mike Royko
Syndicated columnist
It was a simple test. I started with 72 points, each of which represented a year. Then each question was worth plus or minus points, or years. I just added or subtracted as I went alone.
When I finished I looked at the final number. Then I looked for final instructions. Most quizzes tell you to multiply by two or something like that. But there were no further instructions. The final
"That can't be right." I told myself. And I took the quiz again. But the results were the same.
I couldn't believe it. I wished I hadn't taken this test in Time magazine. It was horrible. "I just took this test in Time magazine."
He nodded and said, "I'm not surprised. You haven't looked well lately."
Hoping to show the test gave inaccurate results, I asked a friend who doesn't drink, smoke, swear or get mad and stays in perfect physical shape to answer the questions. The final figure was 82 years.
"How did you do?" my vice-free friend asked.
"I died seven years ago."
"Nonsense. Only the good die young."
At first I was depressed. I've always known that my lifestyle isn't recommended by most phys-ed instructors, but I didn't think the situation was serious. After all, I take vitamin pills and get
regular exercise by walking down escalators
And I know of others who have had the same habits and have made it to ripe old ages. After I took the test, I sought one of the olderuts out of the house, at our伺候, how long have you been living this way?"
"As far back as I can remember," he caccum-
I looked at his wristband, withered face, his frail,
stopped shoulders. the liver肿 on his hands and
what do you do your attitude your remarkable old age?"
He said, "What the hell are you talking about?
I'm only 38."
The joint does have poor lighting.
Now that the initial shock has worn off, I don't
say that bad about the test results. In a way, I find
that it worked.
For one thing, I took the test again, based on the condition I was in seven years ago.
These results showed that I wouldn't have died until last year. So that tells me something, but I can't tell.
Nevertheless, there's a warning in those test results, I guess. So I'm immediately going to change some of my habits. By doing so, I can make itomatic shift in the results and add about 10 years.
For one thing, I lost three weeks by answering "yes" to the question, "Do you work behind a machine? I'm going to add those to my moving desk behind my desk and sitting on my sofa when I write it.
Also, I failed to pick up two years by answering "no" to "Did any of your grandparents live to be 85"? Actually, one would have made it surely, but we didn't. He had a knife in his sleeve young Greek who had a knife in his sleeve
Finally, instead of losing three years by being "intense, aggressive and easily angered," I'll gain three points by becoming "easygoing and happy." And I'll drink to that.
Mike Royko to a syndicated columnist who writes for the Chicago Tribune.
Votes serve self
Slattery voted with the gun lobby on the veto of a law that would allow the veto of the forces of big Brother regarding the drug bill that encourages drug testing and state murder of "drug-related killed," what police officials said.
The votes are contradictory. If slaughterly wanted to do something about violence, especiarly gun-related violence, they sought an end to the arms race between police and drug dealers by proposing gun-switch measures. Instead, he voted against a very similar measure. He waited seven days and possibly underground checks. As it is, he voted for after-the-furious federal intrusion into people's lives.
Jon DeVore Lawrence junior
then people like Slatter must go. Democrats should not call George Bush a wimp when they elected one to Congress. Slatter obviously cares more about keeping his job than serving Democrats or assisting Democratic Democrats to abstain when they come to the appropriate portion of the ballot on Nov. 8.
If the Democratic Party is to be reformed.
The Kansan's Sept. 15th editorial on gun control by Jill McMahon was inaccurate and stupid. By saying "The purpose of a handgun is to kill," McMahon, a writer proved her total ignorance of the subject.
As an avid shooter and gun enthusiast, I have commented on the men's sports that require the use of a handgun, but writer has committed a serious mistake in the men and women who engage in the many sports that require the use of a handgun.
Writer misses target
McMahon's so-called statistics seem to be merely opionated fabrications. The fact is that throughout the United States, areas with waiting lists for McMahon's services rates of crime than locales without such antigun restrictions. For example, Broward County, Florida has no background check on handgun bays. Since
then, its violent crime rate has jumped 22 percent, with murder up 12 percent. Throughout the rest of Florida, violent crime rose only 7 percent and homicide fell 2 percent.
The overwhelming number of gun owners, 99 percent, have never accidentally shot someone else and never commit crimes with a gun. Since the shooting rate in the U.S. has increased 12 percent At the same time, gun involvement in murder dropped 27 percent. Therefore, more guns can be equated with less violence.
FBI figures show that no American city has reduced its crime rate after enacting a tough gun control law. In fact, a comparison of cities that have passed anti-gun statutes with those that have adopted laws requiring guns shoot just the opposite. The statistics show that gun control actually increase violence by removing the ability of self-defense from law-abiding citizens.
McMahon also implies that waiting periods would stop people from committing suicide. There is no relation between gun control and suicides, but it might be a factor in suicides despite the three-day waiting period.
Drunk drivers kill almost 100 times as many people than handguns do each year. Should they be made worse because of that? A gun is an inanimate object, no better or worse than he person who uses it.
Gina Sibley
Lawrence senior
BLOOM COUNTY
WAS A WEEK LATER WHEN
ONE OF THE MOST NOW CON-
SIDERATED STUDENTS
SMART SOALP TONIC FINALLY
NOTIFIED.
by Berke Breathed
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