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Monday, December 1, 1986 / University Daily Kansan
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
A much-deserved victory
For the first time in a long time, the home team won a football game in Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
Of course the hometeam in this case was Lawrence High School, and the Chesty Lions won the Class 6A state championship 28-7 over Junction City High School.
The championship victory capped an undefeated season for the Lions and brought a lot of pride and celebration to the innings of a long-quiet football stadium.
It was the sweetest kind of victory because Lawrence came back from a seven-point halftime deficit to roll over the Blue Jaws.
The Lions obviously have a lot of talent, but in the words of
Opinions
LHS Coach Bill Freeman, the young men on his team showed they also had a lot of heart.
The Lions have won the state title two of the last three years, but no Lawrence team had ever won 12 games in a row for an undefeated season.
Freeman was undoubtedly inspirational during his halftime speech to the Lions, because he managed to turn their attitudes and the score of the game around. The Blue Jays only gained 21 yards total offense in the second half and were unable to make a single first down.
Perhaps there's some way Coach Bob Valesente could obtain a transcript of that locker room chat to try on the Jayhawks next year.
Paying now will pay off
When the Kansas State Legislature convenes next month, it will be asked to dish out big money to inaugurate a state lottery and pari-mutu wagering. At the same time, though, legislators will be slashing $13 million from state programs in education and social services to reduce the state's debt.
Reducing state government on one hand and setting up new programs on the other is a bitter pill to swallow. It will be a financial hardship on the state, but in the long run, the sacrifice will pay off.
million. This is a lot of money, but legislators knew that the state would have to provide seed money to get the plans underway.
A draft bill under consideration would allow a Kansas Lottery Commission to borrow the $3 million to the $4 million it needs to start the lottery. Budgeting needed to set up pari-mutual wagering has not been estimated yet, but the 1986 budget for the new Iowa Racing Commission was $1.3
Legislators need to remember that the lottery was never intended to completely cure the state's ills. It is just a step towards increasing state revenue. And pari-mutuel is not going to save us either. But they'll help.
The money for a state lottery and pari-mutuel wagering will most likely come from a general fund where it will compete for funds with the state operations facing the cuts.
Tightening the belt will be tough on the state for a while. But in order to make money, we will have to spend money. And if we're going to do it, we should do it right. In 10 years, when the state has increased its revenue considerably, the sacrifice will seem a small price to have paid.
Construction on the new U.S. embassy in Moscow, $20 million over budget and three years overdue, has been halted. It seems that the entire building, built with Soviet labor and materials, is a nine-story espionage device.
Snug as a bug
Given the nature of business conducted in embassies, one would think the construction of one in our country's greatest adversary would demand top security procedures. A 1977 agreement with the Soviets destroyed any hope of that. Only Soviet labor and materials were to be used in the construction; only nine U.S. government inspectors were permitted to be on the building site.
Soviet spy equipment is embedded throughout the main structural components of the building: walls, floor slabs and beams. It's been estimated that removal of these bugs could cost up to $40 million, if they can be removed at all without destroying the building.
and trusting the Soviets to build a U.S. embassy free of bugs is tantamount to expecting a drug addict to deliver his cocaine stash to the police. Even more incredible is that although there is no guarantee that all the bugs can be found, removed, the U.S. government may just try to outwit the Soviets and use the building as its new embassy.
Now trust is a wonderful thing,but it has to be earned.
Who do they think they're kidding? The building's been under construction since 1979, and the bugs have just now been discovered. These people couldn't outwit Maxwell Smart, much less Soviets with equipment that out-Bonds James Bond.
Why not make the Soviet government pay for the construction of a new embassy, built with U.S. labor and U.S. materials? We could even allow nine Soviet inspectors on the site, as long as they had a couple dozen security people with them at all times. The Soviets took full advantage of our stupidity, but they should pay for the illegal trespass.
News staff
News staff
Lauretta McMillen . Editor
Kady McMaster . Managing editor
Tad Clarke . News editor
David Silverman . Editorial editor
John Hanna . Campus editor
Frank Hansel . Sports editor
Jacki Kelly . Photo editor
Tom Eblen . General manager, news adviser
Business staff
David Nixon . Business manager
Gregory Kaul . Retail sales manager
Denise Stephens . Campus sales manager
Denise Stephens . Classified manager
Lisa Weems . Production manager
Duncan Calhoun . National sales manager
Beverly Kastens . Traffic manager
Jeanne Hines . Sales and marketing adviser
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Campus religion: Can you believe it?
Newsweek, in its vigilance to keep its finger on the pulse of America's campuses, has proclaimed the academic return of the Almighty.
"God Goes Back to College" read the headline. God's back at college. He took a year off, went to Europe and got his head together.
I find myself looking over my shoulder as I walk past Wesco for a glimpse of Him. Maybe I'll see
Christopher Cunnyngham
Columnist
Him when the semester starts, in line at the bookstore writing a check for books. I doubt that God carries cash and I bet he gets a lot of credit, "Thou shalt put it on my bill" being the 11th commandment.
When I see God I will approach him slowly, quietly, and say, "Can I please, please, have an 'A' in Italian?" With any luck he will say "I give you an 'A', and it is good." It would be a bigger miracle than that Red Sea thing.
Is a Really Bad Place To Go."
That's the positive God On Campus scenario. But what is more likely to happen is that someone will stop me on campus and ask whether I would like some "literature." If I don't think fast enough and say something like, "Out of my face, class is my life." I will get handed an illegibly dittoed pamphlet with a title along the lines of "Hell
I know, technically the word "literature" can be used to describe all written works, but I'm an English major. If you asked me whether I wanted some literature I'd probably say yes, but you'd better hand me something by Bukowski, Dylan Thomas or "Bill the Cat" Shakespeare.
If you are going to hand me some cheap ditto pamphlet, then say, "Would you like some of our cheap ditto pamphlets?" I will say no.
That is the negative God On Campus scenario.
I'm looking for a God who likes the Marx Brothers, knows all the words to "Louie Louie" and can cook better than I. These are also the criteria for my dates, if that tells you anything.
One thing about religious groups is that they're unpredictable. The Campus Crusade for Christ at Duke University recently advertised a seminar "guaranteed to improve your grade point average." It began with helpful study tips and slowly evolved into a "relationship with God" lecture.
That is the negative God On Campus scenario. I belong to the Church of the Higher Ennui. We don't believe that any sentient God could have created a world this boring on purpose, and if he did it accidentally, he didn't hang around to catch the blame.
That's it, be sneaky. I love a crafty religion. Get them into the tent any way you can and feed it to them slowly. Perhaps a subliminal message was being played in the background that said "God's a good guy."
Although tradition has it that former presidents should get regular intelligence briefings, this administration has not kept up the habit.
A note to all fundamentalists: If you are going to
say Christ's name a lot, please don't make it sound like a candy bar. If you want someone to believe that you have a personal relationship with Him, say His name like you two were going bowling later that night. Say it like you're pals, say it like you would say "Nick."
I'm tired of hearing His name pronounced like a Madison Avenue catchphrase. And whatever you do, don't say "Kuunhrist." It makes you sound like Pat Robertson, and not everybody takes him seriously. Some people don't take him at all.
Look at it from the point of view of someone who doesn't have a religion: They all look the same. And, in the end, all religions think you would be better off if you were on their team. That's flattering, but it rests on the precept that we're all miserable and searching for something.
I don't have a religion and I'm a pretty cheerful guy — enjoyning my life without benefit of clergy, so to speak. I looked around and made that decision years ago. When someone hands me a pamphlet do they think I ask myself, "Christianity? Never heard of that before. Maybe I'll give it a try."
I don't mean to throw all religious groups into one basket. I like some religions. Judaism, for instance. They have really good food, some hip tunes and at weddings the old people dance up a storm. This is a great religion.
I and many other people made up our minds a long time ago. It just not for me. I don't mind what religion you are. In fact, it's none of my business. Keep it to yourself and be happy.
Speaking in shades of white
The Washington Post quoted unidentified sources as saying the first lady was "upset about the way the Iran crisis has been handled and particularly riked at the questions it has provoked about the president's credibility."
The Post said that these sources said "she was upset at the way the president's advisers and Secretary of State had responded to the Iran disclosures."
White House spokesman Larry Speakes boasted to reporters recently that at a presidential news conference he could guess 99 out of 100 questions "that you guys pose, and we can tell (Reagan) nine out of 10 times who is going to ask the question."
Helen Thomas UPI Commentary
Before his Wednesday night news conference, Speakes was asked whether Reagan was facing "one of the toughest news conferences" he had had to face because of the Iran deal and the issue of administration credibility.
"But you never know what he's going to answer?" a reporter mimed
"As a great man said yesterday and today, the president tells the truth. That's all that's required," Speakes said.
Elaine Crispen, the first lady's press secretary, acknowledged that Nancy Reagan does get upset when her husband is criticized. But she said that she knew of no anger "being voiced" by Nancy Reagan against individuals in the administration, such as Secretary of State George Shultz, who has publicly disagreed with President Reagan on the secret approaches to Iran.
"Who's the great man," he was asked, "You?"
"Yes," he replied. "But it's not a tough press conference because the president knows all the facts. The president tells the facts."
The ghost of football past
It is wrenchingly obvious to alumni observers far and wide that the winning tradition of yore has totally vanished from Kansas University's football program. Saturday after Saturday, we see our legions mercilessly decimated as though, by Satan's own hand, they are doomed to suffer the most abject humiliation for their pitiful efforts.
When the gridiron version of the Kansas Jayhawks loses (a predictable prospect on any given weekend), they lose BIG. And we faithful out in the hustings find precious little balm for our annual embarrassment in such limp excuses as "questionable calls," "injuries to key players" and "bad luck." Not when we are implored again and again by the University's Athletic Department to make generous contributions to various booster funds . . . and our only satisfaction is shameful beatings of 61, 70 and 48 points.
That's one hellava lot of bad luck and calls that could have "gone either way."
to virtually treat our opponents to a movable feast of roast Jayhawk on successive Satdays in stadiums across the land.
The unpleasant fact is that drastic changes in KU's approach to major league football as a source of income and school pride are now in order. It is one thing to lose with honor. It is quite another
One can only ask, in the words of Casey Stengel, "Don't anybody
William S.
Koester
Guest Shot
here know how to play this game?"
Clearly, neither our football players or their coaches are of the caliber necessary to compete on reasonably even terms with those of the better teams in the Big Eight and other, comparable Division I-A conferences. And that is utterly decorporable for a school that has basketball teams perennially ranked among the finest in the land — check that, the world (We showed the Reds, didn't we?)
So the University of Kansas is faced with some hard choices: (1) Put up the coaching bucks and player perks to make KU compete again in football, or, (2) abolish football as one of KU's intercollegiate sports until such time as the problems that have plagued
our program for decades can be corrected.
For the latter, which I tend to favor reluctantly. I also would suggest giving the boot to that "Happy Jayhawk" — he of the pixilated eye and Little Lord Fainterley shoe buckles — and replacing him with the Fighting Jayhawk of "Yogi," Williams, 1941. Today's so-called "Jayhawk" is the laughing stock of the nation.
We are hungry for victory. We need something to cheer about. And KU basketball has given all of us who love our laurel mater and her grand traditions a generous helping over the years. It's way past time for us to be getting the same from KU football.
It is axiomatic, in college sports, that perennial losers do not fill empty seats or inspire team support among loyal alumn. Our contributions alone cannot build a successful football program. It is a Memorial Stadium packed with rabid boosters that must supply the dollars needed to restore dignity and a winning tradition to KU football. And the only way to ensure that is to get hard-nosed, driving, no-nonsense coaches who can inspire the ultimate sacrifice in their charges — Saturday after Saturday after Saturday.