1995_03 The Daily Collegian March 1995

              2-rTlie Daily Collegian     Tliiirsday, March 16,1995
Edltortel/Oplnion
Your Mileage
-May Vary
By Draeger Martinez
A warning to sports fans:
Keep your perspective
Today marksthe beginning of theannualNCAA men's basketball
tournament The Big Dance, the road ttJIhir Final Four where hoop
dreams live and die by theslimmest of hopes.
Fresno State may have missed its chance to go, and then some, but
my alma mater is going. The University of Texas, Austin, under the
helm of esteemed Coach Tom Penders is going as the sole representa¬
tive of the whole Southwestern Conference — all of which has me
immensely and remarkably nonplussed.
Now I have about as much Longhom spirit as* the next alumnus.
One year during my undergraduate days, we had a talented team that
went all the way to the Great Eight. The bookstores and spirit shops
sold thousands of shirts, one of which I wore when writing this, with
a big BMW logo. The upper-right and lower-left quarters were colored
burnt orange instead of blue, and a nifty coincidence had three of our
top scorers, Eric Blanks, Will Mays and Joey Wright, with the initials
B, M and W. Tb make sure the point escaped no one, the bottom of the
shirt read, "The ultimate scoring machine."
On the night the team won a close matchup in the Sweet Sixteen
round, the whole campus went bonkers. That year 1 lived in Jester
dormitory, a legendary behemoth that held over 3,400 students. Back
in the 1960s, Jester had its own zip code, and during election years, it
serves as two entire Austin precincts.
When the Horns won, hundreds of residents from Jester and the
other dorms poured out into the; main courtyard from watching the
game on television in their rooms.
We screamed, we cheered, we sang 'Texas Fight" and "The E*/jes
of Texas" and flung around truly scandalous numbers of toilet paper
- rolls. We had a grand old time for over an hour. During^our im¬
promptu pep rally and afterward, every single car running both
directions for 20 blocks of "The Drag," the diversely populated
Guadalupe Street just west to campus, honked and hooted. A few
lonely souls stood out in the street, approaching each car to slap a high-
five with thavdriver, who in all likelihood didn't know from Eve.
If that last part doesn't jar you a bit, maybe it should. Just imagine:
standing alone in a street, congratulating perfect strangers on the
basketball prowess of a group of men not personally known by either
party.
Probably the, only, thing the team members, the drivers and the
high-fivers hadin common was going to a university with 50,000
students; where cavernous lecture classes numbering in the hundreds
are the rule until and even into senior year.
Bear in mind, I have nothing against playing sports. Qp the
contrary, participating in a tearh provides needed exercise and social
interaction, as well as teaching worthwhile lessons about working
hard; setting and meeting goals and compensating others' shortcom¬
ings with your strengths. In fact, playing sports yourself teaches thes^
things much betteMhanby watching sports from a bleacher or a couch.
All I'm advocating is keeping a sense of perspective. As my
colleagues among the sports writing staff have already begun to
remind me, watching college and professional sports can make for
gripping entertainment
But how much entertainment can one person take? Despite their
external differences, the lessons taught by baseball, football, basket¬
ball, soccer and the like are essentially the same. And once vpu' ve seen
a few Hail Marypasses and 360-degree monster dunksy^aven't you
basically seen them all?    ' (
Besides, losing perspective about sports can lead to troublesome
modes of thinking. To be sure, one thing many people like about sports
is their lack of equivocation. At the end of most games, one team has
won by scoring more points than another in adherence to sets of rules
that remain the same regardless of venue or who's playing. But most
other areas of life lend themselves to more complex resolutiorts with
more room for interpretatiojn.
Somebody once said, "Life js basically a game," but even if they
meant the Milton Bradley product, they were being dartger&usly
simplistic    .
Draeger Martinez cart be contaeted'about this and other stories by
emailing DraegerM@aol.com. »J.
■
Fees, fees, fees: The buck
never stops at quality service
Many students do not
realize that the fees we pay at
the Cashfer's window are not
just "tuition" but are in fact a
combination of micro-fees
generated by campus adminis¬
trators. These monies are used
to backfill cuts from the legisla¬
ture and governor. As a result,
much debate has ensued about
the establishment and gover¬
nance and use of the escalating
CSU fees we face. Should
students have to pay for basic
services that the university is
expected by the state to pro¬
vide? If so, can't we have a say
in how these hard-earned
dollars are, spent?
Less than a decade ago
students could use the health
center for basic services. Each
health center in the CSU also
had a commitment to keep
students healthy physically and
mentally with counseling
services. In the last two years, 19
Green Nation
of the 20 campuses have
established mandatory health
center fees to provide these
basic services. Further, these
fees have escalated up to $70
per year. ^
The ultimate goal of the
university will be for students to
pay 75 percent of the bill by
19%, without searching for
alternatives other than placing
the burden on the backs of
students. Though the students
on our Student Health Center
Advisory Committee voted
against another fee increase in
an effort to urge the administra¬
tion to maintain their commit¬
ment, the students were lied to
and told there was no other way
to make ends meet. Contrary to
that, Dean of Student Affairs
William Corcoran said that the
budget will not be adversely
affected if enrollment goals are
met We made our target this
year. We can expect the admin¬
istration will force an increase
irrespective of the facts. ~_
Doesn't that sound like the
tactics of intimidation?
Anyone been told they
need to pay $35 for an e-mail
account?
•How about a $25 course fee
or lab fee? Technology fee?
Administrative fee? Library fee?
Counseling fee? Advising fee^;
Bathroom stall fee? PG & E fee?
Even better, a 1-900 number
fee to register for classes.
Students at CSU, Fullerton
started paying it last semester.
Pay to register for classes you
can't get in to.
'     How's^that for generating a
little revenue back into higher
education?
Green Nation appears every
other Thursday.
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The Daily Collegian
California State Unitversity, Fresno
Stait Writers: Lba Alvf», Paulo Auuquehquf, Adam
Brady, David John Chavez, Brian R. Fisher, Adrianne
Go, Matt Hart, Lucy Her, Ken Koller, Belinda Lee,
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Edttor in Chief: Shannon Wentworth
Managing Edttor: Joe Rosato Jr
Photo Editor: Steve R. Fujimoto
Sports Editor: Doug Stolhand
Entertainment:   Shelly Silva & Leah Ferjch
Advertising Manager: Kjchard Nixon
FtooucnoN:      Ken Koller & Rusty Robbon
Business Manager: Jamie Wilcox
CoPYEDrroRs:    " ChoiMingAng
Christine Malamanig 7.
Shelly Silva
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