Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 1988)
Page 2/The BattalionAThursday, September 29, 1988 Opinion Cheats reach new lows As our culture has become more sophisticated and technological, apparently so have the methods that some will resort to in cheating. The days are long gone when A&M’s trainers supposedly sent foot balls with less air into the game so that kicker Tony Franklin could boot 50-plus-yard field goals. Aggie offensive lineman L.B. Moon has been suspended for three games for testing positive for anabolic steroids, performance enhancing drugs. Although steroids do improve athletic perfor mance, they also carry serious ramifications —violent mood swings, muscle and heart damage, deterioration of the reproductive system and liver cancer. So why would an athlete resort to cutting short his life for a few moments in the sun? In the case of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, who was stripped of his Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter dash Monday, the mo tive was probably money. Johnson stood to become extremely wealthy (as if this amateur athlete weren’t already rich). He weighed the consequences, took a calculated risk and handed his medal to Carl Lewis when it backfired. And unfortunately for Johnson, he will be banned from international competition for two years — the end of the world for a sprinter who’s 26 and entering the prime of his ca reer. Moon’s case is far more perplexing. Certainly, if in fact he did use steroids (he won’t admit or deny the accusations), it was to in crease A&M’s chances of winning. However, Moon is a marginal col legiate player who’s chances of playing in the professional ranks are remote at best. Destroying his liver, heart and fertility for four months of glory hardly seems like a fair trade-off. This episode also puts the athletic department under a magnify ing glass for the third time in a season that already has produced a winless season and NCAA probation. Because if Moon was indeed taking steroids, it is more likely that someone prescribed and was ad vising him how to use the drugs than him taking it upon himself to do so. The Battalion Editorial Board Fish Camp flounders in many worthless efforts What’s the big deal about Fish Camp? When I came to A&M (in the pre historic days be fore parking ga- rages and telephone regis tration), I was con-, vinced that I’d never survive my first year because I Becky Weisenfels didn’t go to Fish Camp (gasp!). When people discovered I hadn’t gone to Fish Camp, they acted as if I had committed the ultimate sin, some thing comparable to shooting the pope while he was blessing poor homeless children in Uganda. Give me a break. Believe it or not I did survive, I still have all my hair and I can even find my way around campus without a map. Not only that, but I discovered that my friends who did go to Fish Camp didn’t find it to be the soul-moving, heart-stopping ultimate Aggie experi ence it was supposed to be. As a matter of fact, most of the peo ple I know hated it. I have two friends from my hometown who were so miser able at Fish Camp that they sat up one night on the bathroom floor, eating mint Oreos and Cornquistos until they made themselves sick. Party down, dooby doo down down. And the people I know who didn’t hate Fish Camp had a good reason — they didn’t go. To be perfectly honest, I do have one friend who liked Fish Camp — but she’s the type of person who could have a good time at an Orville Reddenbacher look-alike convention. She’s one of those outgoing, fun people who ends up as a game-show contestant —and wins five Frigidaires on a bonus question. I think the people who organize Fish Camp have all the best intentions — to teach incoming freshmen about A&M and its traditions; to help make the tran sition to college easier; to allow the campers to meet other freshmen in the same boat. I understand the great amount of work and dedication that is given to organize Fish Camp. I just happen to think Fish Camp is a total waste of time despite the effort put into it. I have already admitted that I did not go to the guppie getaway, but I have lis tened to four years of students who are involved and did attend. They were not thrilled and I am glad I didn’t go. Fish Camp is an experience in “what being an Aggie is all about,” or Brain wash 101. The freshmen don’t need that. If they didn’t like A&M, why would they be enrolled? Give the stu dents time to live here and slowly come to appreciate A&M for what it is. Believe it or not, a student does not have to looooove tradition, go to all the football games and know all the yells to get a quality education and enjoy their time at A&M. Those things are added attractions, not necessities. But those are the things Fish Camp stresses. I don’t think Fish Camp helps ease the transition to college, either. The people who really get something out of Fish Camp are the outgoing students who were popular in high school and who would have no trouble adjusting to life at A&M anyway. Sort of like giving a step-stool to someone who’s eight-feet tall — they just don’t need it. Other students who are not really outgoing are not going to enjoy being thrown into a group of strangers to make friends. They won’t meet many people, and probably won’t see many of them when school starts. But many people will throw up this argument when people say they didn’t meet many people at Fish Camp: “You have to have the right frame of mind.” Don’t they tell patients something like that just before wheeling them into ma jor surgery? I know some people who hated Fish Camp but decided to become a coun selor to see if they would enjoy it more from the upper level. They didn’t. But most counselors probably find their work at Fish Camp fun and rewarding. As a matter of fact, many counselors probably enjoy Fish Camp, but it’s dif ferent being one of the whales instead of one of the sardines. I’m a good Aggie, and I didn’t need a group of students to haul me off for four days to teach me how to be one. I made friends, learned the yells and the “Spirit of Aggieland” — all without Fish Camp. Imagine that. Becky Weisenfels is a senior journa lism major, managing editor and a col umnist for The Battalion. Debate confirms another no-choice election in ’88 In order to be come better in formed about this year s campaign is sues and the ideals represented by Michael Dukakis and George Bush, I watched Sun day’s presidential debate. After watching the en tire 90-minute Dean Sueltenfuss the people involved in trading arms for hostages a few years ago? I guess he’s had a change of heart. Then there’s the environment. I re cently read a column, supposedly writ ten by Mr. Bush, that outlined his gen eral ideas on environmental topics. Those ideas went something like this: Environment is good. You know, it’s, uhh — well, it’s good. Um, we should have it. Definitely. Yes, we definitely need the environment. The fact that Dukakis opposes death penalty while condoningabon« is another indication of this man'si ocy. Somehow it’s OK to kill unfe children , but it’s wrong to impose! death penalty on convicted killers.|- don’t understand that reasoning. program I was able to reach two conclu sions. One: I don’t want to vote for ei ther of these fools. Two: I should have watched pro wrestling. It’s not that the debate didn’t serve its purpose in allowing each candidate to present his views on the issues, it’s just that many of the views they presented were ludicrous. The only real environmental policy that Bush outlined in the column was his concept of “zero tolerance” concern ing violations of anti-pollution laws. Not tolerating people or companies who break these laws is a good idea. But when the laws are as weak as they have been under the Reagan-Bush adminis tration it doesn’t really matter if they’re enforced. Another thing that Mike w do if he is elected is to force all com nies in the U.S. to provide health ins ance for their employees. In addition being just one more violation whole free enterprise concept, theii of businesses providing mandat® health insurance simply won’t work In all fairness, however, I have to concede that either candidate would make a fine stand-up comedian. When Dukakis called Bush the Joe Isuzu of American politics the audience roared with laughter. And Bush’s comment about the clarity of Boston Harbor was superb — a brief throat-clearing, a slight dramatic pause, and then a subtle, well-timed delivery. Johnny Carson would have been proud. However, I doubt he would have been proud of Bush’s asinine commit ment to the Strategic Defense Initiative. Not only is SDI a waste of time and money, but it’s a program that has been criticized by many members of the sci entific community. How can anyone be sides Ronald Reagan be dumb enough to think that spending billions of dollars on a space-based defense system (which can’t provide protection against weap ons that stay within the Earth’s atmo sphere) is going to prevent a nuclear war? Another major stumbling block for Bush is running mate Dan Quayle. Dis regarding the National Guard incident and the possibility that Quayle’s wealthy relatives helped him get elected to the U.S. Senate, one fundamental truth still exists: Dan Quayle simply does not have enough experience to be first in line to the presidency. As Dukakis pointed out, the idea of President Quayle is a fright ening notion for many people. Admittedly, the idea of President Mike Dukakis isn’t exactly comforting either. Yes, he’s done a pretty good job as the governor of Massachusetts, but he’s had no experience in foreign policy matters. Besides that, he has the appear ance of being rather wimpy. I mean, will a pushover like Mike really be able to stand up to those nastie Commies? For example, let’s imagine that 18 Dukakis has been elected andallcomi nies are now required by lawtoprai health insurance for their emploj# These companies will have to come with some way to pay for allofthiii surance. How will they do it?Theree a number of ways. They could lav employees, reduce employees’wages, pass costs on to consumers. Allofitit things would hurt, not help, theaveu worker. When it comes right down toil,k ther Michael Dukakis nor GeorgeBa would make a good president. Ba wants to spend billions of dollarsoni fense while neglecting many domea issues, and Dukakis wants to spends much money on elaborate socialp grams. Why can’t we have amoremt erate candidate? Someone who spend less and save more. Another issue that killed George’s credibility was the problem of dealing with terrorists. We should not make concessions to terrorists, he said during the debate. Gee, wasn’t Mr. Bush one of One of the things that has really hurt Dukakis is the whole, ugly business about giving weekend passes to con victed murderers. It’s just downright stupid for a governor to let something like that happen. It may be possible that in trying to show everyone what a sym pathetic guy he is, Mr. Dukakis has gone just a little too far with his compassion toward criminals. I don’t know about everyone else, I’m not going to vote for eitheroftla turkeys. What I’m going to do is and look for someone who will I half-decent president. And ifl’mlui I might come across a competentwt in candidate before election day. By the way, does anyone know if b don LaRouche is still around? Dean Sueltenfuss is a juniorjom lism major and columnist for The Bi talion. V^EAT-H J2-OW IKlMA'TE ( tai The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Lydia Berzsenyi, Editor Becky Weisenfels, Managing Editor Anthony Wilson, Opinion Page Editor Richard Williams, City Editor D A Jensen, Denise Thompson, News Editors Hal Hammons, Sports Editor Jay Janner, Art Director Leslie Guy, Entertainment Editor Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspa per operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board or the author, and do not necessarily rep resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, fac ulty or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Department of Journalism. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination periods. Mail subscriptions are $17.44 per semester, $34.62 per school year and $36.44 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-1 111. Second class postage paid at College Station, TX 77843. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal ion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, Col lege Station TX 77843-4 111. IILOOM COUNTY by fterke Breath^ t