Dallas Heartache

ESPN DALLAS= Each Season's Playoffs are Not in Dallas.

The life of a Dallas sports fan is one full of heartbreak, disappointment, frustration and anger. It seems to me like I have had the worst luck in picking my teams that I am loyal to through the good and the bad. The Dallas Mavericks have had such hardships and trials getting so close to winning the Championship only to be defeated by bogus calls against us in the Miami Heat series a few years ago and then last year with the Denver Thuggets. While I don't blame the entirety of our losses on bad calls, it did play a huge part in our defeats.

However currently with the Dallas Cowboys, I am so frustrated that I can hardly watch the games, but that would place me in the category of a "fair-weather fan", and I am anything but, so I sit and gut out the games with a grimace of pain and anguish on my face. Even our victories are short lived because of the horrid game play that landed us just lucky enough to win. On paper we have one of the best teams in the NFL, lead by the 3rd best quarterback, Tony Romo has a wonderful supporting cast that winning the division title should be no difficult task, yet somehow the boys just like to piss it all away and keep driving me mad!!! We just can't get it together!!! We'll the season isn't even half way through, so there is still hope that we can start living up to our potential. I just want for once to be able to enjoy cheering for my teams, and not wondering how we are going to screw up no matter how great our lead may be.

It is a hard life, but one worth living, for one day there will be a great reward for my dedication and support... until then I will continue to believe in my superstitions, drinking from my Dallas Cowboys mug and wearing my old, ripped Mavericks shirt for the games and hope that my diligence will somehow help my teams to the victory.

Speaking of heartbreaks and frustrating sports teams... Good luck BYU against TCU this weekend!!! ESPN College Game Day will be in Provo and its our homecoming game. With this amount of attention on us, we will most likely blow it, and all the while I will be wearing my BYU Blue like an ignorant fool.

Hello Yogurt

Goodbye Red Mango and HELLO YOGURT!!! I have found a new favorite frozen yogurt place. Hello Yogurt offers everything you could possibly want from a yogurt shop and then more! If you are in the mood for a healthy, light, and fruity snack, Hello Yogurt has the answer with delicious fresh fruit toppings such as banana · blackberries · blueberries · kiwi · mango · pineapples · raspberries · strawberries · watermelon and they have light, low-fat and sugar free flavors like green tea · mango · raspberry · strawberry and more! If you are in the mood for some chocolate they offer toppings like brownie · chocolate chips · chocolate sprinkles · diced almonds · diced peanuts · graham cracker crumbs · gummy bears · mini m&ms · mini reese's pieces · nonfat granola · oreo cookies · rainbow sprinkles · shredded coconut · white chocolate chips · and many more, with wonderful yogurts like original tart · butter brickle · chocolate · cookies & cream · and new york cheese cake. However the best topping they have are MOCHI (I'm not sure about the spelling, but they are amazing). Another reason why I love Hello Yogurt is that the sizes of the toppings are GIGANTIC!!!! They basically have fun-size candy bars and half strawberries, non of the little cubes of toppings like at other yogurt places (like Yo-Zone). The best part is that Hello Yogurt isn't a chain, it is local to Orem, UT, and I always like supporting the local underdogs over the mainstream corporate stuff. So, check it out because it is DELICIOUS!!!!

Poe

So, thanks to my wonderful Transatlantic Literary History (or as I call it, my Tranny class), I have become quite familiar with the wonderful work of Edgar Allan Poe. While today his work is not viewed as scary, imagine reading it in the 19th century. I am sure that his writings were absolutely disturbing to his readers. But I have enjoyed my study of him and his works. A few of my favorites have been The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart, and The Fall of the House of Usher. And while his stories haven't exactly kept me up scared at nigh, they are creepy.

Reading all these creepy tales has gotten me in the mood to watch a scary movie. A few that I have my eye on are The Stepfather and Paranormal Activity. However with scary movies it is also a huge gamble, they can either be extremely satisfying and scare the POO out of me, or they can be so horrible that they are almost funny. I definitely am not going to see Saw VI. Seriously, a sixth movie, come on Liongate, enough is enough.

My Response

This is my response to the article published in the Daily Universe (see my post "WOW" below for the article).

To the Editor

If I am reading Matt Payne’s article, More honesty about true student, athlete treatment correctly the main issue that Matt Payne has is not “with the fact that athletes get preferential treatment…but rather with the way some schools pretend that this preferential treatment doesn’t happen”. Well I guess my only rebuttal to this is Who is pretending? I am pretty sure most students, student-athletes, administrators and professors are aware that there are certain privileges that student-athletes are awarded that are not offered to the rest of the student body, and why not? After all, the student-athletes deserve everything they get.

Maybe I have to see the commercial to understand how South Carolina was pretending to treat normal students the same way they treat student-athletes, but based on Matt Payne’s description of the commercial, they weren’t pretending anything. They were simply showing a young high school athlete choosing to participate in athletics at South Carolina, while also choosing to study in one of the top international business schools in the nation. But I guess I’ll have to take Mr. Payne’s word for it as he apparently knows quite a lot about how things are run at the University of South Carolina.

What Mr. Payne failed to mention is that student-athletes are not the only people on campus receiving finical aid. Scholarships are awarded to many students based on them just being them, for example their ethnicity, religion, heritage, and other such traits. Sometimes receiving these scholarships requires some work, like filling out an application, or finding the best scholarship that works for the student’s specific needs. There are also academic scholarships available to those that qualify just as there are athletic scholarships for those that qualify. For these kinds of scholarships, one must work hard all through high school and perhaps even earlier than that, developing talents, habits and abilities to obtain such preferential treatment.

While student athletes are given great facilities to not only train in, but also to study in, the rest of the student body is not left to study by candle light in the basements. BYU has one of the best campuses for students in the nation. The BYU business program is one of the best in the nation, and is housed in one of the better buildings on campus. The business program is ranked in the top 10 programs in the nation, and our football team is struggling to stay in the top 20 right now. But, the business program is never going to sell out La Vell Edwards Stadium for an Investors Club Meeting.

I offer a challenge to Matt Payne:

For one month, actually, just try one week, wake up at 5:45 am on Monday, and go work out for two hours. Now, this is not just a light jog and some yoga, I challenge you to work out at the level of a NCAA Division I athlete for 2 hours, then spend 3 hours in class, awake and taking notes. After your classes, work out for another two hours at the same intensity as the morning. When afternoon practice gets out at 5:00 pm, ice, shower and then go study for another few hours. Then do this for four more days, Tuesday through Friday. Finally, spend your weekend hosting high school recruits, or away at a competition. Do that for one week and tell me that student-athletes don’t deserve a pair of sweat pants. I bet if this was your schedule you wouldn’t have had time to watch the South Carolina game on Thursday. Even student-athletes that are on a full tuition scholarship, book scholarship and receive a rent and food allowance could make a lot more money working at Subway in the Cougareat. And believe me, there are not as many student-athletes receiving that amount of scholarship, as you may like to think.

The few instances in which student-athletes have broken rules are known publicly because student-athletes are looked upon in the public eye, and in all those instances fair treatment was given. Reggie Bush is under investigation, and Jim McMahon was kicked out of school. Don’t tell me normal students have never cheated in high school to get better grades to increase their collegiate opportunities.

Another reason as to why student-athletes deserve some sweats and shoes is because, whether you like it or not, student-athletes are representing the university on a much larger scale than any other student. While students are receiving national attention in many academic fields, it is athletics that draws the most attention, and that is just how it is. You will never see national coverage for a normal student deciding what school to go to. Why? Because, quite frankly, no body cares. That doesn’t mean that normal students aren’t important, or that they don’t deserve recognition for the hard work that they do, but that is just the way it is. At the end of the day, life is just not fair, Matt. Some people are going to get bigger, better, nicer things than you, and you know what, they might not deserve any of it. But that is just the way life is.

WOW

This was published in the Daily Universe yesterday.... my letter to the editor soon to come!!!!

MORE HONESTY ABOUT TRUE STUDENT, ATHLETE TREATMENT

I was watching a college football game between South Carolina and Mississippi on ESPN last Thursday when a commercial caught my particular attention.

It was one advertising the University of South Carolina. The commercial centered around a young man, apparently a high-school senior, who was set to make his college choice known through a nationally-televised news conference — the same kind of absurd grasps for attention that are becoming popular for every semi-talented high school athlete.

Fans from several schools — the generic “State,” “U” and “Tech” were of course represented — watched with anticipation, with one student covering her face like she couldn’t take the intensity of the announcement.

The moment of truth finally came, and the young man jubilantly announced he would attend South Carolina to study ... (wait for it) ... international business! He even had a briefcase with the Gamecocks’ logo on it, and the television commentator made a smart comment like, “It’s really no surprise he chose South Carolina, they’ve got the top program in the country.”

I almost threw the remote at the television for the transparency of it. Besides the fact that the commercial was ridiculous, I was disgusted at South Carolina for intimating that they actually treat normal students the same way they treat student-athletes.They don’t.
No school does.

I understand that schools are anxious for prospective students to know about more than athletics, and every school across the country clearly has more to offer than football and basketball. But that doesn’t mean that they should put up the facade of having the business program and football team on equal ground.

The next time I see national media coverage of a non-student-athlete making his or her college choice will be the first.

I don’t take issue with the fact that athletes get preferential treatment — that has happened as long as there has been such a thing as a “student-athlete” — but rather with the way some schools pretend that this preferential treatment doesn’t happen.

BYU athletes are no different when it comes to receiving added benefits. Besides scholarships, they get a monthly stipend for rent and food, free clothes (especially shoes and sweatpants), and all the free and convenient academic counseling their hearts desire. I might be more incensed by this except that I don’t generally prefer to wear my pajamas to class every day. The food and rent thing, though, I think I could live with.

And even these perks aren’t enough for some athletes.
Reggie Bush, who won the Heisman Trophy and now plays for the NFL’s New Orleans Saints, and his family are currently under investigation for accepting financial benefits worth more than $100,000 from marketing agents while Bush was playing at the University of Southern California.

And, more recently, it came to light that former University of Memphis basketball player Derrick Rose had another person take his SAT exam in high school, which he used to qualify for college. He spent one year playing for Memphis and is now a star in the NBA.

Both are making lots of money, and both made lots of money for their schools, neither of which has been particularly apologetic about the scandals.

Even BYU has struggled with student-athletes in the past. Jim McMahon supposedly thumbed his nose at the Honor Code during his time at BYU, yet was suspended and subsequently expelled only after the football season ended his senior year. If McMahon wasn’t brilliant on the field, would he have lasted as long as he did? Probably not.

While most student-athletes and their colleges live by the rules and act as positive representatives of their schools, many flaunt their temporary celebrity into getting the most out of the least possible academic effort.

Though clearly inappropriate, this type of behavior sends mixed signals to high school athletes who may expect this to be the norm in college, and schools like South Carolina that promote an athlete-style life to each and every student should be wary of the real message they are sending.

WOW.