4a
Opinion
Thursday, October 12, 2000
For comments, contact Ben Embry or Emily Hughey at 864-4924 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com
Perspective
Sports fans should try loving soccer
For hard-core sports fans, as well as those who just follow sports occasionally, the fall is a confusing time.
Every October, the focus of sports has no set direction. Football, baseball, basketball and hockey all are competing for the spotlight. This is especially true locally; when the Kansas City Royals have just finished their season, the Kansas City Chiefs are beginning theirs. The college basketball season kicks off at midnight tomorrow. However, with all the anticipation and excitement of the new sports seasons and playoffs, one sport has been neglected in this area.
GGGOOOOOAAAALLLLLLL!!!
The Kansas City Wizards, Western Division Champions in Major League Soccer, are heading to Washington, D.C., in an attempt to win the fifth annual MLS Cup. Hold on, before all you football and baseball fans groan and turn the page, show me one other local sports team that shooting for that kind of accolade. While I've always been a Royals fan, and although they were
Corey M.
Snyder
columnist
curator@morgan.com
pretty darn exciting to watch this year, finishing 18 games back and being behind the Detroit Tigers doesn't make a successful season in my book. As far as the Chiefs are concerned, they may have won their last three games, but they have a long way to go before they are a solid NFL team or threat to win the Super Bowl.
Now is the time to get excited about soccer and the Kansas City Wizards. Not only are the Wizards enjoying playoff success, where they defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy in a minigame semifinal playoff, they were the regular season champions of the MLS. This earned them the No.1 seed in the playoffs and the coveted Supporter's Shield, a trophy given to the champions by various local fan clubs. Eleven Wizards players have been nominated for postseason awards, which include Most Valuable Player, Tony Meola; Defender of the Year, Peter Vermes; Rookie of the Year, Nick Garcia; and Coach of the Year, Bob Gansler. What is most impressive about the Wizards' success is that last year, they finished in last place in their division and had the second-worst record in the MLS.
The Wizards also are very active in the local soccer community and with social services. Each summer, the team plays host to of soccer camps for children of all ages and skill levels. Area youth are exposed not only to the world's fastest-growing sport, but they also are witnesses to some of the world's best players and athletes. The players and staff of the Wizards also are active in the Kansas City community and raise money for a various charities. The Kansas City Chief players also are well-known for their involvement in charities — and, unfortunately, run-ins with the law.
An additional reason to check out the Wizards, for those of you who have never witnessed world-class soccer, is the players' amazing athletic ability. Football players claim that soccer players aren't rough enough. Baseball players claim soccer requires little thought or skill. Have you ever tried running for 90 minutes? Sure, that's not that impressive, but then try jumping to smash your head into a ball travelling at 40 miles per hour in an attempt to score, all while being crushed by a 6-foot-1, 200-pound goalkeeper. There truly is a unique combination of strength and endurance required to play soccer.
If I haven't persuaded you to get excited and watch the Kansas City Wizards in the MLS Cup at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, I'm sorry.
Thanks anyway for letting me indulge my sports enthusiasm on the opinion page. I think we all could be inspired by the entertaining and professional way in which the Wizards represent the area on and off the field.
Snyder is a Topeka senior in pre-physical therapy.
Tribune Media Service
Kansan report card
Pass:
Alcohol Awareness Week. In an attempt to curb alcohol abuse, the University has planned a week-long series of activities to raise awareness about the effects of alcohol. Remember, only you can prevent rampant inebriation.
Coming Out Day. Yesterday marked the annual coming-out celebration for gay, bisexual and transgendered people nationwide.
Fail:
L. Frank Baum. Baum, author of The Wizard of Oz and racist editorialist, called for the annihilation of Native Americans, according to a recent article in the Lawrence Journal-World. Are you a good witch or wicked witch?
Columbus Day. The annual celebration of Christopher Columbus as discoverer of the New World is not only historically inaccurate but offensive. It is time to put the traditions of a colonialist past where they belong: in the past.
Perspective
Fast checkout nice but lacks personal touch
school.
I've never trusted self checkout machines. I first encountered one at my hometown library in Topeka when I was in high
It was supposed to be faster and more convenient, but I often had a book that wouldn't scan, and I'd end up joining the line of people waiting to have their books checked out by an employee.
But my roommate, Amanda, recently
introduced me to the self express checkout at the grocery store, and I was hooked.
We had gone to the grocery store to get dinner. A few people were milling around the checkout lanes as we approached with our salads, crackers and drinks. Then, the four lit-up empty self-express checkout cubes caught our eyes.
"Have you tried these before?" Amanda asked me.
For some reason, I had thought that you had to pay by cash, and I make it a point not to carry cash with me because I know how quickly I spend it. Whenever I go to the grocery store, I always write a check, even it's only for a few dollars.
Amanda assured me that the self-express checkout machines accepted all methods of payment and told me there was nothing to it. She had used them before. Few people were
I find caught a gimppe of them walking by or stared at them longingly as I waited in line, wishing I could be one of those people scanning their groceries and sacking them. I saw these self-express checkouts this summer when I was in Wichita.
I had caught a glimpse
Warisia
Chulindra
columnist
opinion@kansan.com
around, so I thought it would be the ideal time to try the self-express checkout. It went without a glitch. I inserted my $10 bill and received change. I left a happy customer.
The sign above one of the self-express checkouts puzzled me, though. It read: "Job Opportunities Start Here! Apply here!"
In a later trip, I asked the employee monitoring the self-express checkouts if he thought it was odd that the sign was there. He didn't seem to be as amused by it as I was.
Funny. One employee watches over the four self-express checkout machines. It seems to me that fewer job opportunities would be available because of these machines.
Unfortunately, these lanes are closed at night. Imagine my disappointment when I stopped by to pick up milk and bread, and the lane cubes were turned off. I wasn't the only one. A group of students saw the lines and headed to the self-express checkouts then turned around, grumbling.
He glanced at the sign and said, "Oh, never noticed that. That sign was there before those checkouts were."
Since then, I've gone through the express self-checkout several times. I shop at three different grocery stores depending on my mood, but now I go to the grocery store with the self-express checkout.
The cashier smiled at me and asked, "How are you doing today? Did you find everything you needed?" After she finished ringing up my items, she handed me my receipt and said, "Have a nice day."
I waited in line, and that night I was reminded of what I didn't get from the self-express checkouts.
The self-express checkout is nice, but maybe I don't have to use it every time. Some things are worth standing in line for.
Chulindra is a Topeka senior in journalism.
Editorial
Third-party ban mutes key issues
The absence of third parties in the debates is a mockery of democracy.
Just minutes before last week's first presidential debate, Ralph Nader, ticket in hand, was rejected at the door.
Not only was he not allowed as a participant in the debate as the Green Party candidate, but he could not even view from the audience seats — no doubt a discriminatory and offensive gesture of the debates. Those waiting to hear of Nader's third-party issues and solutions have to find another medium.
As the debates go on, Bush talks about "fuzzy math." Gore answers questions not asked, and neither attacks any strong issues. Both candidates are hesitant to discuss topics such as gun control, against which Nader speaks passionately and provides remedies for.
Another forbidden candidate is Harry Browne, of the Libertarian Platform. On his home page, harrybrowne2000.org, he states more about his gun control plan than Gore ever has. With the National Rifle Association already hot on Gore's back and Bush busy attacking Gore instead of issues, the ones giving specific answers are not being televised.
In 1992, Ross Perot became the first third party candidate to become a participant in the presidential debates. His follys demeanor and laughable presence aside, he tackled the two biggest issues of that debate: the national budget and federal government gridlock.
Now, Nader makes clear his stances on this election's hottest issues: education, health care and gun control, as well as the growing issue of foreign policy.
Given a list of hard-hitting issues, a compiled rally schedule, organization, volunteers and a significant number of Nader-backers, why is Ralph Nader not involved in this year's election? It's overwhelmingly obvious that he is prepared to at least debate the issues. And if he can't debate the issues, he should be able to sit in and view them. The presidential debates are beginning to restrict freedoms, and it is what voters don't see that is cheating them.
Ben Tatar for the editorial board
free all for 864-0500 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any tonic they wish. The Kansan reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Slanderous statements will not be printed. To read more, go to www.kansan.com.
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The smoke-free entrances are cool and so are you smokers who stand and smoke twenty feet away, but I still smell like I come out of a bar every time I walk out of a smoke-free entrance.
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How can KU get a perfect score on technology when we don't even have online enrollment?
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I find it ironic that the head of KU Students for Life is male, for whom the choice of abortion wouldn't hold too much of an effect on his internal organs. So it's easy to see the forest from the trees.
People who complained about the Jayhawk Towers being too cold were the same ones who complained it was too hot. Suck it up. It'll get better.
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There needs to be more editorials on third-party candidates on the opinion page.
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Europeans brought real culture and civilization to America. We should be thanking them, not condemning them.
For the people who ranked KU top in technology, I wonder if they know how long we stand in line to enroll.
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Coming Out Day is a bad idea.
195
If you carpeted the entire state of Florida, how lqng would it take to vacuum?
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After making 10 grand at the football game, you'd think that the parking department would take a day off and not ticket me.
Why do people think they only need to be responsible to themselves? As if they don't ever affect the world around them.
Anyone who thinks this country is overcrowded is spoiled.
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