Tuesday, September 5, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Football fans slow to cheer during season's first victory
Saturday was a perfect day for a football game.
It was an even better day for a victory.
Coming off two consecutive disappointing single-victory seasons, the Kansas football team started their 100th season off on the right foot, winning 41-17. The crowd, however, didn't.
The 37,000 fans who skipped the traditional Labor Day picnics at the lake or family reunions were a little dazed.
The football team resorted to waving their arms and towels in the air to get the fans to notice them and start to cheer. At one point the team was chanting "defense" for a couple of minutes before anyone in the crowd took notice and joined in.
At times the excitement of the players crept into the stands. Bot then again, it would have been hard not to cheer for the 'Hawks after Kelly Donohoe hit Kenny Drayton with a 34-yard flee-flicker pass in the first quarter, or after Deral Boykin intercepted a Montana State pass and took it 78 yards to the end zone.
Kansas fans were in no danger of inciting the wrath of the referees. A new NCAA rule states that defensive teams will be penalized five yards after the first charged timeout if the offensive team is unable to snap the ball because of excessive crowd noise.
For a change, it was apparent that most of the fans were enjoying watching the Jayhawks play. There were no cup fights, the staple of KU fans bored with opponents' long drives. "I liked to win," Glenn Mason told reporters.
"I'm glad we won," Glen Mason told reporters. Fans seemed to be glad that the team had won also, but after the past two seasons, many didn't know what to do. Maybe next week they will.
next week they will.
Those fans who say they would come and see the Jayhawks play if they would win have no excuse now. The 'Hawks are undefeated.
Brett Brenner for the editorial board
Officials show lack of taste in combining hall cafeterias
Right now, Templin Hall men and Lewis Hall women are eating together like one big, happy family. However, this family may be too large for the dining table.
The residents of Templin must trek to Lewis every morning, every afternoon and every night that they want to eat the food they've already paid for as part of their residence hall rooms.
One has to wonder what kind of planning went into this move. The officials say they hope to expand the Lewis cafeteria and extend the food services to offer more menu variety. They also may consolidate other residence hall cafeterias.
Still, that would be many years down the road, a road Templin residents would have to cross hundreds of times in the rain and snow to get their healthy, heaping helpings of steak and stuff.
Some of the Templin men say they don't mind. They welcome the opportunity to visit the Lewis women. Some Lewis women are happy to be visited.
Others, however, must realize that the visitation won't be as iovous as some may think.
Envision a snowy December morning. It's 7 a.m., and Templin residents, instead of padding snugly down to their cafeteria, have to hit the showers and bundle up for that walk that seemed ob-so-short in August.
They'll complain, and they'll have a right to. They aren't getting what every hall resident pays for; an in-hall dining area.
David Stewart for the editorial board
Correction
The editorial board
Because of incorrect information given to an editorial writer, it was reported in Friday's Kansan that residence hall student-employees could not park in residence hall parking lots at night. Student-employees who have yellow-zone permits can park in residence hall lots from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. Student-employees who do not have permits, however, must park in the yellow-zone lots at night.
News staff
David Stewart...Editor
Ric Brack...Managing editor
Daniel Niemi...News editor
Candy Niemann...Planning editor
Sitan Dell...Editorial editor
Jennifer Corser...Campus editor
Elaine Sung...Sports editor
Laura Husan...Photo editor
Chrissine Winner...Art/Features editor
Tom Eblen...General manager,news adviser
Business staff
Linda Prokop...Business manager
Debra Martin...Local advertising sales director
Jerre Medford...National/regional sales director
Jill Lowe...Marketing director
Tami Rank...Production manager
Carrie Staninka...Assistant production manager
Margaret Townsend...Copywriter
Evelyn Hines...Creative director
Christ Dool...Classified manager
Jeff Meesey...Tearaheets manager
Jeanne Hines...Sales and marketing adviser
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Seatbelt a lifesaver, not a nuisance
Two weeks ago I woke up to the sound of my brother's voice talking on my answering machine. His message: "Dad was in a car accident last night. Don't worry, the doctor says he will be fine. He fractured his pelvis."
Luckily, I picked up the phone before my brother hung up. What the machine was relaying to me in my dreams was true. My father, the one man who I've always considered to be an immortal being, was, in fact, lying in an emergency room, owing his life to an air bag.
The inevitable had happened. My father had fallen prey to his lifelong habit of not fastening his seat belt. I don't know why he never wore it. I never asked.
Kathy Walsh
Editorial board
But no more passivity on my part. I'm going to ask. Do you wear your seat belt? Why not?
Do you feel your seat belt is a nuisance? Or maybe it's just not cool to wear one?
I know seat belts aren't exactly comfortable. But they are the law in more than 30 states. Kansas' law states that a policeman can issue a seat belt citation only if the vehicle is pulled over for another moving violation. The choice to buckle up is ultimately yours. You can endure the temporary discomfort of a seat belt or run the risk of being seriously injured in an accident.
Had my father been wearing a seat belt, he could have escaped the wreck with only a few bumps and
bruises. An air bag provides a potentially lifesaving cushion between a driver and steering wheel, dashboard and windshield in a head-on collision. Air bags do not inflate under any other conditions. Therefore, the ideal situation is that the two restraints be used together; with the air bag supplementing the seat belt.
Fortunately, for people such as my father who neglect to buckle up, there is a federal law to protect them. Beginning with 1990 models, all cars sold in the United States will be required to have passive-restraint systems. This means all cars will have at least a driver's-side air bag combined with the existing manual seat belt or an automatic, motorized seat belt without an air bag. By the
Because my father wasn't wearing a seat belt, his hip slipped under the air bag. The result was a broken pelvis and knee, not to mention nearly a week in intensive care and possibly a year in physical therapy.
mid-1900s, passenger-side air bags will be required as well.
Regardless of the installation of air bags, use of seatbelts is necessary. An air bag's sensory mechanisms are generally located in the front bumper of the car. The sensors detect impacts at speeds of 14 mph and greater. The air bag comes out on the driver's side from the center of the steering wheel and inflates in a blink of an eye. But the air bag does not replace the seat belt's function.
If you're not driving a car equipped with a passive restraint system, and you don't fasten your seat belt, you are playing Russian roulette with your life. BUCKLE UP!
One evening while I was visiting my father in the intensive care unit at the hospital, I noticed he was staring intensely at the television, which was tuned in to the hospital's information channel. I looked to see what the message was that had caught his undivided attention. The screen read: "Children sitting on their mothers' laps can go through windshields on impact in 3 mph collisions." FASTEN YOUR SEATBELT!!!
I will never forget the expression on his face, nor can I forget that he is mortal. I also don't forget to fasten my seatbelt.
Kathy Walsh is a Lee's Summit, Mo., senior majoring in journalism.
Jayhawk jungle more like a prairie
I had to wipe a tear away Saturday as the Jayhawks clubbed the Montana State Bobcats like baby seals.
Too bad there weren't more people at the stadium. It seems nothing the Athletic Department does can get people to come out and watch a football game.
football game.
Door prizes, glitzy promotional events and local supermarket football-ticket giveaways haven't packed the stadium.
Now, the man with one of the toughest jobs at KU — marketing the newborn Kansas football team — has come up with the idea of calling the student seating section the "Jayhawk jungle."
Under the plan, the jungle would seat only students, become an intimidating factor to opposing football teams, instill confidence in our football players and boost student support.
I didn't see any jungle at Saturday's game. The plan also calls for living groups to support players with nicknames and posters.
If we were at Notre Dame, Nebraska or Michigan, where students actually attend football games without door prizes and hokey promotional events, this would be a good idea. But at KU, it's easier to just call the section the "Jayhawk prairie."
Joel
Zeff
Staff columnist
Fancy names and posters with nicknames won't turn the anemic student section into a jungle. Respect and admiration will Win a few games, take Oklahoma to the wire and crack a few heads. That's what wins fans.
"I want this to be like the 'Dawg Pound' of the Cleveland Browns," said Kip Helt, the Athletic Department's assistant director of marketing. The pound is the section where tanked-up spectators wear dog masks, about obscenties and throw dog biscuits at opposing players.
Sounds like the old college spirit to me. Instead of dog biscuits, members of the Jayhawk jungle could throw spears and impale opposing players. If nothing else, it would definitely improve our chances of winning.
The only problem is that the jungle would be located in the current student section above the marching band. Not only would the cheers of the banshee jungle become muffled during the roar of the band, the students would still be seated several
miles from the action.
If Helt wants a cheering section that will strike fear into the hearts of opposing players and instil confidence in the puppy-dog eyes of our players, then seat the jungle near the field. Put the alumni in the oxygen-pressurized seats. The patented alumni cheer of standing up and waving arms in disgust would be heard just as well in the nose-bleed seats. Remember, the 'Dawg Pound' in Cleveland is in the end zone, right next to the field.
What happens when Oklahoma or Nebraska come stomping into Memorial Stadium? I don't know how long lengt has been at KU, but when the two Big Red machines roll into town, you might as well change the city's name to Norman or Lincoln. It's a sea of red at Memorial Stadium, with Oklahoma or Nebraska fans literally outnumbering KU fans 1,000 to 1.
Someday KU students watching a football game will turn into a frenzied mob. Someday Memorial Stadium will be an intimidating field of honor. But it must come on its own. Let's see if we can win more than one game before we start calling ourselves a jungle.
We are Jayhawk too.
might roar. Someday.
> Joel Zeff is a Kansas City, Mo., senior majoring in journalism.
Stones hop on fashion bandwagon
Yikes!
Having just gone on record as approving the impulse of celebrities to cash in on their fame while they are still hot — the example I used was football quarterback Jim McMahon — I would feel a little inconsistent criticizing the Rolling Stones for licensing their own line of designer sportwear. So I won't criticize. I will merely say:
The whole thing does raise some questions though. For starters: The Rolling Stones always were influential in the world of fashion, even though they weren't selling the clothes they were wearing. Most of you are probably familiar with the song "Satisfaction," called by many the best rock 'n' roll record ever made. For you youngsters in the audience (as a great man once said), here is a bit of history you may not be aware of.
In case you haven't heard, the Rolling Stones, once the self-defined "bad boys of rock n' roll," have approved the marketing of clothing that includes shirts, jackets, shoes, shorts, baseball caps and bandannas.
“Satisfaction” was introduced to the world on a television show called “Shindig” which, in the days before MTV, was about the best we could do for non-stop music. As Mick Jagger sang “Satisfaction” to the cameras — and no one in America heard the song before — he were black jeans, a
Bob Greene Syndicated columnist
In case you haven't heard, the Rolling Stones, once the self-defined 'bad boys of rock' n 'roll,' have approved the marketing of clothing that includes shirts, jackets, shoes, shorts, baseball caps and bandannas.
tongue all you want to, but the fact is, a lapping
tongue is . . . well, you know. It's a lapping tongue.
And who will purchase the new Rolling Stones sportswear? Featured on some of the items is the famous Rolling Stones lapping-tong logo. You can try to rationalize the symbolism of the lapping
T-shirt with broad horizontal stripes and a rather conservative dark blazer. Within weeks, that only combination became a sartorial combination for young men. Would it have had the same effect had the band been offering the outfit for sale?
Granted, selling clothing based on a product's success is a well-accepted part of our culture. If a soft drink can franchise a line of clothing, then a rock band can, too. Both the soda pop and the band are consumer products.
It's just the tradition involved in the Rolling Stones' particular brand of capitalism. When the Rolling Stones first began releasing record albums, they also made a blatant commercial plea. It was of a different sort, though, than a gentle nudge to purchase a shirt. To be specific, the band urged fans, at least those who couldn't afford to buy their records, to steal money from blind men on the street.
True. The back jacket of an early Rolling Stones album reads, "If you don't have bread, see that blind man, knock him on the head, feel his wallet and lo and behold, you have the loot."
Oh, well. Times change, and allowances must be made. Perhaps if the Rolling Stones see a blind man on the street during the 1989 tour, some compassionate band member will provide the sightless fellow with a lapping-tongue baseball cap.
▶ Bob Greene is a syndicated columnist.