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
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The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
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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
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IILOOM COUNTY by fterke Breath^
t