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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28. 2011
opinion
That awkward moment when you start to tell a story to your family but you have to change details because you realize it's about you in a bar.
That FML moment when Words With Friends starts you out with all consonants.
Just bought a singing Justin Bieber toothbrush. $10 is so worth having him sing to me every day and night.
My favorite part of women's basketball games? There are no asshats there to yell "CHIEFS" at the end of the national anthem.
Missouri fans who say they won the border war series remind me of 5-year-olds who quit a game before it was over and claim that they won.
Usually when you fail at your job, you lose money ... unless you're Turner Gill
Here I sit curil' in my 'stache, this quarter ply toilet paper has given me quite a rash.
I really can't stand it when people say "Your dumb" in tweets and Facebook statuses. I'm sorry, my friend, you're dumb.
TEEEEB0000000WW!!
Even I can't decode my drunk texts from last night. Yet "alcohol" was spelled right every time, go figure.
I've started the dangerous habit of stripping in my sleep.
Shaking the FFR editor's hand would pretty much be a dream come true for me.
Following the White Stripes with Coldplay is like following cocaine with oatmeal.
Merry Christmas, Turner Gill.
Professors should know how to use "lose" and "loose" correctly in a sentence!
To the guy who just whacked his head on a bus seat pole ... I saw that.
Dear computers at Anschutz, its Marijuana not Marihuana! Get your Spanish right!
The only good thing about being fat is that no one will sit next to you on the airplane.
It looks like there was some sort of Pizza Shuffle orgy in my apartment while I was gone.
Ditka for coach 2012
Spent all of Thanksgiving making " "he blows a lot" jokes with my Granny. My family is perfect.
Bring back Mangino! I miss my Big Blueberry. <3
From a WWII documentary. "The German forces launched operation Uranus to penetrate Russian defenses from behind ..." I coudn't make this up if I tried, people.
EDITORIAL
Turner Gill's biggest contribution: Giving us the phrase, "at least it's not as bad as when Turner Gill was coach."
New football coach should be mix of Gill, Mangino
As the Turner Gill era comes to an early conclusion at Kansas, it's up for debate whether his firing was fair after just two years as coach.
However, in the world of Division I college sports, decisions like the one that athletics director Sheahon Zenger made on Sunday aren't necessarily made based on what is fair or unfair. Rather, the reality is that they're made largely on economic grounds.
It isn't too much of a stretch to say that there were small signs of improvement for the Kansas football team from last year to this year. But in terms of fan support and interest, Kansas Athletics simply could not afford another year with Gill as head coach.
When Gill was hired following embattled former coach Mark Mangino's resignation, there were high hopes for great football. But even greater than the expectation of great football was the expectation that Gill was a decent man of integrity and would coach as such.
No one can say that Gill isn't a person of rigorous moral and ethical standards. He is a class act and the kind of person you would be proud to have as a friend or family member. Unfortunately, college athletics, though it may appear to be a
family at times, is ultimately a business.
As a business, former athletics director Lew Perkins made a terrible business decision in hiring Gill at a very generous salary. He was overpaid. Now, less than three years later, the Jayhawks are paying the price for that decision. Buying out Gill costs Athletics around $6 million. Nevertheless, not putting up the cash would have made for an even worse scenario for Kansas. Each Jayhawk loss means fewer tickets sold, less concessions bought, less merchandise purchased and, most damaging, fewer donors willing to reach into their deep
pockets.
Gill came to Lawrence during a dark time for Kansas football and restored ethical credibility to a program that Mangino left in scandal. But now it's time for the lajhawks to thrive again on the field, and Gill isn't the person to do it.
We don't know who that person will be, but we hope that whomever the University hires will be able to bring a strong record of performance both on and off the field. There must be a happy medium between game time performance and upstanding personal conduct. In Mangino and Gill, Kansas experienced the extremes of
each. It's time to find someone who will be able to bring both those interests together.
It's been a tumultuous three years for the University in general and athletics in particular. Again, students and the University community face yet another change, another upheaval. But we're resilient. We've weathered a ticket scandal, the resignation of an athletics director, the resignation of one football coach in scandal and the firing of another for lackluster performance.
We're still standing. We're still here. It will get better.
CARTOON
- The Kansan Editorial Board
Nick Sambaluk
CHIRPS BACK
Zhareefer
@DUK_Opinion Black Friday's supposed to save me money, but somehow my bank statement says i have less money than before...
What are your opinions about Black Friday?
CAMPUS
Follow us on Twitter @UDK_Opinion. Tweet us your opinions, and we just might publish them.
Brockhawk
Ralph_Farley
@UDOK_Opinion I have less faith in humanity after witnessing it in manhattan Kansas.
@DBK Domain I think its sad how crazy people get over material items. when did we lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas? #familytime
@UDK_Option I got ran over by an old woman with her cart. Worst. Holiday.
Ever. #BlackFriday
BrandonWoodard
Players like T-Rob make us thankful
The University of Kansas is a special place. From its beautiful campus to its unmatched basketball tradition, I honestly feel blessed to be here. Being raised in Kansas, I've dreamed of coming here since I was old enough to understand its existence. I'm a big sports fan, but no team means as much to me as the jayhawks' basketball team. When I was younger, I'd run around my house with a blow-up basketball and act like I was Kirk Hinrich while I watched him play on my television. I've seen a lot of heroes play in Allen Fieldhouse, but I have never seen what I am seeing now.
Becoming a legend in a program that has a storied history is hard. It's even harder when you aren't even a starter for the team. But somehow, Thomas Robinson has done just that. This year, Robinson may be the team leader, preseason All-Big 12, but he wasn't that a year ago. He was a sixth-man: a guy coming off the bench for some extra energy. Robinson hasn't had the chance to shine yet, but students treat him as if he's been shining for years.
Thomas Robinson lost his grandparents and his mother in a very short time span. Something strange happens when tragedy hits. When a family suffers, they become closer to deal with the pain together. There is no way for me to understand the pain that he went through and the pain he still deals with today. But I do know that Kansas basketball is like
a family, and that's exactly what Robinson found when he was suffering.
When Thomas Robinson decided to play the day after his mother's death, I was there. Being the selfish sports fan I am, my first thought was wondering if Robinson would play. Once I was in the Fieldhouse, I heard that he was going to play, and the fans gave a long moment of silence. I realized this game meant more than a win or loss. Kansas lost, but that's not what matters today. What matters is the sacrifice Robinson made for his KU family and the love that he would receive in return from the KU campus and the Jayhawks basketball fans.
I know if I were to lose my mother before a game, there would be no way I could play. But that's the difference between Robinson and me. Robinson is a legend; he sacrificed more than I ever could, just so he wouldn't let down his teammates, his school or his fans. That game will always be important to me, and it should for the rest of Kansas. With players like Josh Selby and Xavier Henry leaving for the NBA after one season, it's hard to believe that some of these players even care about Kansas. Then we have a player in Robinson that plays on one of the hardest days of his life.
Robinson will leave for the NBA next season, and none of us will argue, because we know he's done enough for us. He's sacrificed for us, and now he needs to do what is best for him and his sister.
Once he's gone, I'll remember him for his beaming smile and his high energy, but most importantly I'll remember that we loved Thomas Robinson because Thomas Robinson loved us. A true Legend of the Phog.
Lysen is a junior from Andover majoring in journalism
POP CULTURE
TV father figures teach me about manhood
My father was always around when I was a child, so I never tried to find a father figure via television. I grew up watching shows like "Home Improvement," "Full House," and "Growing Pains," but I never viewed any of the fathers from these shows as actual father figures. As I am now older, with my biological father still present in my life, I still feel a void without ever having a TV dad.
After watching hundreds of shows and studying every TV father that I could find, I have narrowed my decision down to two candidates: Coach Eric Taylor from "Friday Night Lights" and Don Draper from "Mad Men."
In "Friday Night Lights," the local football fanatic Buddy Garrity eloquently claims that football and love are the two most important things in life. From what I have come to learn from this melodramatic tale of teenage hormones and parents attempting to raise their kids as decent citizens, is that life in small town America boils
down to love and Friday night football. More importantly it covers the concept of what it means to be a man. Moreover, Taylor strives to turn a group of young, horny, and rambunctious adolescent teens into men by teaching them football.
Taylor, in his infinite wisdom, said, "Every man at some point in his life is going to lose a battle ... But what makes
Watching Taylor, thanks to my actual father's Netflix account, I have learned a man's most important obligation is to provide for his family. As injured quarterback Jason Street said, "When success is essential to keeping a family together there is nothing a man won't do. Nothing."
him a man is at the midst of that battle he does not lose himself. This game is not over, this battle is not over." A man is someone who doesn't quit, no matter what problem is laid out in front of him. However, I am afraid that I am not up to Coach T's standards. I failed him as a son. I am afraid that Coach T would not be proud of me in the decisions I have made, and by my shortcomings as a man who has lost the battle of manhood.
With that, I will now turn to Don Draper for fatherly advice: One of my favorite scenes is one where Draper is sitting with his boss Roger Sterling and he tells him, "You don't know how to drink ... My generation, we
drink because it is good, because it feels better than unbuttoning your collar, because we deserve it. We drink because it's what men do." Yes! What men do! Mén drink not because it is hip or to feel the buzz, men drink because that is what separates men from women. Whiskey is the deciding factor. Mad Men has taught me that I am a man because I choose to drink.
I am not sure if these are the type of things you are suppose to learn from a TV father figure, but, regardless, my real father could out-drink Don Draper any day.
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Moffitt is a senior in English and philosophy from Wichita
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