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Wednesday, November 4, 1992
OPINION UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
IN OUR OPINION
Royals management needs Brett's talents
The Kansas City Royals front office is having its problems these days. It managed to take a second place team to the near-cellar in only three short years through a variety of insightful trades and acquisitions. It has hired such skillful managers as John Wathan and Hal McRae. And last, but certainly not least, it attempted recently to pressure George Brett into retiring.
Not that any of these moves are justifiable, but the latter is absolutely outrageous. George Brett has been the Royals franchise for the last 15 years. He has won three batting titles, hitting nearly 400 in one of those years, and has become a member of the 3,000 hit club.
Brett has led the Royals to numerous division championships, two World Series appearances and one World Series title. He is beloved by fans across the nation, respected by his peers and even liked by the umpires.
These should be reasons enough to offer Brett another year or two on his contract if he chooses. Yet, this also misses a very important fact. He was the leading hitter on the team this year. Not only that, but he is probably the reason that the Royals only lost $11 million last year. Despite the Royals dismal year, Brett's effort to reach 3,000 hits kept the fans pouring in.
Monday, Royals owner Ewing Kaufman made a formal apology to Brett saying that Brett had misunderstood him. He claimed to have only been suggesting that it might be a good idea for Brett to go out in a blaze of glory.
The mistake should have never been made in the first place.
The fact is that the Royals need his blaze of glory because it is the only thing keeping their flickering flame lit.
JEFF REYNOLDS FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Warlords keep Somalia in desperate conditions
The scene in southern Somalia has become a night mare.
Every time there seems to be a ray of light, southern Somalia slips back into an inferno that is being stoked up by numerous political organizations.
The multiplicity of the loosely organized groups operating in southern Somalia are themselves the nightmare that grips the Somalis.
The existence of these diverse organizations has given them a new hellish dimension to the whirlpool in which the southern Somali people are caught. The original aims of all these organizations seem to have shifted from political rivalry to something better they seem to have discovered recently. The warlords have found themselves a bonanza in international food aid. Recent reports indicate that the systematic robbery of food is a well-organized business.
The warlords are not only cashing in on the misery of what is left of the Somali people in southern Somalia, but they are doing everything possible to prevent any change to the situation so that they could keep getting richer and richer at the expense of their own people. That makes them the most iron-hearted group of men in creation.
Saudi Gazette
Jid dah, Saudi Arabia,
KANSAN STAFF
ERIC NELSON
Editor
GREG FARMER Managing editor
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
BILL SKEET, Technology coordinator
Asst. Managing ... Almee Brainard
News ... Alexander Bloemhof
Editorial ... Stephen Martino
Campus ... Gavie Ostranger
Sports ... Shelly Solon
Photo ... Justin Krupp
Features ... Cody Holt
Graphics ... Sean Teweis
SCOTT HANNA
Business manager
BILLLEIBENGOOD
Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES
Sales and marketing adviser
TOM EBLEN
Business Staff
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Keep Jordan's debts in proper perspective
Not that anyone asked, but I'll admit it anyway. I've lost more gambling at poker and golf than Michael Jordan. There, I have bared my soul, unburdened my conscience.
I'm not the only one. Thousands of people have lost as much. For that matter, so have some of the journalists who are moralizing and are hyperventilating about Jordan's $57,000 in lost golf bets.
But let me clarify something. I didn't lose $57,000. I don't bet that kind of money on anything. The reason I don't bet that kind of money is that I don't make the kind of money Jordan does. Few people do.
COLUMNIST
A conservative estimate of Jordan's annual take in salary and endorsements would be about $15 million.
So simple math tells us that 1 percent of his annual pretax income would be about $150,000.
That means Jordan lost about one-third of 1 percent.
Let's use that formula for someone making $100,000 a year. It comes to about $333.
Well, lying to the press is not against the law. If it was, we wouldn't have a president. All the candidates would be behind bars.
Now, would you be horrified if you heard that some $100,000-a-year businessman or executive had lost $333 in golf bets? Only if you are his wife and he buys cheap anniversary gifts.
It's all relative. That would be like
some $50,000-a-year guy losing $170..
Not exactly shocking numbers.
MIKE ROYKO
So why is there so much attention being paid to Jordan's $57,000? Because he is Michael Jordan, our most famous and admired athlete.
Money aside, what shocks some journalists is that Jordan initially lied to the press about the lost bets.
Everything he does is news. Under the modern rules of journalism, which we sort of make up as we go along, a famous person has no privacy. A reporter could hide in Jordan's laundry hamper, and some editor would say that it is only fitting and proper because the public has a right to know about Jordan's underwear.
If there's anything interesting in this story, it isn't that Jordan lost $57,000. It's that some shrewd gobbler called Slim walked away with that $57,000.
Mike Royko is a syndicated columnist with the Chicago Tribune.
Golf hustling is an art. To succeed big-time, you have to be a shrewd salesmen, a psychologist, an odd-maker and a very good golfer.
How good a golfer? Nobody knows how good the best hustlers are because, to be successful, a hunter never shoots any better than he has. To if you shoot a 90, he shoots an 89. If you shoot an 80, he shoots a 79.
Or if you have an inflated opinion of your game, as Jordan does, he doesn't even have to beat you. You shoot an
The only person The Fat Man wouldn't bet against was another Chicagoan known as Little John. Little John, not much taller than a tee, performed what appeared to be a hula dance as he was swinging at the ball. But while you were laughing at his swing, his ball was landing near the cup and you were reaching for your wallet. He once waded into a Florida pond and knocked a ball off a lily pad and on the green to pocket about $10,000.
80, but he shoots an 85 and wins.
That's because the hustler has convinced you that you are so good and he is so bad, you have to give him a few strokes to even the match out.
It takes skill and cool nerves to be a hustler. Those rich young men on the golf tour can shoot a bad round or two, and what is the worst that can happen? They don't win any money, but they don't lose any, either.
At one time, the best golf hustler in the United States played out of Chicago. He was called The Fat Man. He slashed at the ball like a big, fat guy. But when the money was on the line, his unsightly fat man's swing somehow sent the ball in the right direction.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Reader defends Kansan columns
I must respond to the latest attack on columnist Kate Kelley. Ena Wheeler objects to the inclusion of Kate's column on the editorial page. She believes Kate's comments to be trivial and non-controversial. However, last time I looked, the title on the top of the page on which Kate's column appears reads "Opinion." It
age and mothers and all. I very often both appreciate and can relate to her comments, and doubtless there are lots of other “non-trads” and other aged Kansan readers who do too. Maybe it's our age, Kate's and mine, that has taught us what Ena and Kate's other critics could stand to learn, which is that life’s too short to be serious all the time. Lighten up kids. There’s room for everyone.
Maria Butler
Lawrence sophomore
does not say "Political Opinion" or "Controversial Opinion" or "Deep, Meaningful, Thought Provoking Opinion." This being a free world, Ena and anyone else who prefers not to be entertained while reading the paper can just skip Kate's column and stick to the meatier stuff. I personally enjoy hearing what Kate has to say, even if the topic is of less than earth shattering importance, probably because we have so much in common, being about the same
Loco Locals
WELCOME BACK... TODAY, ON
K. BLAB, I WELCOME PROF
AICLER CICER. HE'S HERE
TO EXPLOUND ON THE ELECTION.
AND, PROFESSOR, YOU
WERE TELLING ME...
DESPITE THE PROMISES-
HE'LL FAIL UTERLY...of
COURSE THE OTHER TWO
Couldn't DO ANY BETTER
STAFF COLUMNIST
KEVIN BARTELS
Clinton won the battle but now the war begins
Stress levels have been running high these days. Last night the nation was poised on the brink of a terrible decision between Depravity, Weirdness, and the Great Unknown.
The long nightmare is over at last. Bill Clinton will take the Oval Office in January, while Ross Perot will return to enjoy his billions, his paranoia, and undoubtedly more appearances on "Larry King Live."
For me, the long and sweaty nights of fear are finally over. The Evil One has gone down the tubes — back to whatever neither regions are reserved for failed presidents. Yes, indeed, Richard Nixon lies down there, covered with slime and writering serpents, along with Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. And now, inheriting the fiscal, diplomatic, and military disasters of the past 12 years, President Bill Clinton will take the helm and try to revitalize the U.S. economy.
Hmm. Not too long ago, I had unkind things to say about Slick Willie and I am not sure now that I have entirely changed my mind. Worse than Clinton's inability to galvanize the public to follow his programs with enthusiasm, is the question of what he will do when confronted by the multitudes of lobbyists, Given Clinton's long history of capitulation and compromise over legislative issues, the root question here is whether Clinton can shake off the ghosts of Democrats Past and produce genuine change.
But the biggest problem remaining for Elvis — excuse me, President Elvis — is the economy. Clinton now must preside over a truly awesome mess; annual employment growth at an american 0.7 percent over the past four years with nearly 10 million people looking for work, declining living standards and shrinking numbers of small businesses — the lowest levels since 1975 — all spell One Term for the Clinton Administration unless he manages to resuscitate the economy during his tenure in office.
To his credit, Clinton has proposed to rebuild the infrastructure, place more money into the research and development of new technologies and tax cuts and credits for businesses to increase investment. Will it be enough, however? Adding, say, $50 billion into a six trillion dollar economy seems like — to borrow from a description of Vice President Dan Quayle — small potatoes. Clinton will need to do more to encourage business and industry not just to continue, but to expand. Doing so will indeed distinguish Clinton as a new kind of Democrat because, even now, lobbyists, labor, and special interest groups are all salivating at the prospect of running anuck in Washington.
In any case, the die has been cast and Clinton has emerged triumphant. There was much sadness in the Oval Office last night, as campaign staffers and senior aides alike shrieked and moaned while their noble leader was crushed—not unlike the Jimmy Carter they love to hate. But the most pathetic moment had to be when soon to be former Vice President Dan Quayle was told of the loss.
"We lost, Sir? Lost what?"
Kevin Martinez is a Louisville, Ky., graduate student主要在 English.
By Tom Michaud