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PINION
Page 5 • Monday, June 14, 1999
Sports players should not lie, cheat or steal, nor tolerate those who do.
But many athletes still wear horns instead of halos.
They sometimes hit below the belt.
Do ethics get a sporting chance?
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n recent years, the sport of boxing has been lit
tered with corruption and a lack of superstars -
a far cry from the days of yore when names like
Ali, Frazier, Marciano and Liston attracted fans by
tie thousands.
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RYAN
GARCIA
Boxing desperately needs
role models. It has one in
champion Roy Jones Jr.
States Drug Enforcement Agency for its nationwide
anti-drug poster.
Whenever Jones is not fighting, he is traveling
across the country with his semi-professional bas
ketball team which he plays on to raise money for
various charities.
In a time when professional ath
letes from every sport seem to hide
behind Charles Barkley’s irrespon
sible statement — “I’m not a role
model. I’m an athlete” — Roy
Jones Jr. embraces the chance to
positively
influence
everyone he
can, especially
children.
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I Allegations of fight-tampering have run ram-
pant, decimating boxing’s fan base. If boxing is to
survive, then it must once again produce a
hero that fans can rally around.
I Light-heavyweight Roy Jones Jr. may have
answered the call this month when he won a
unanimous decision over Reggie Johnson, consoli
dating all three championship belts — the IBF’s,
WBC’s and WBA’s — for the first time in 14 years.
I Jones, who has a 40-1 record with 33 knock
outs, is the most electrifying boxer in the business.
I Regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in
the world by several boxing publications such as
KO Magazine and Boxing Illustrated, Jones has the
potential to save boxing much like Mark McGwire
revitalized baseball last year by shattering Roger
Maris’ longstanding single-season home run
record.
I With hand speed that the Philadelphia Inquirer
called “quicker than Muhammad Ali,” Jones can
do just about anything he wants to inside the ring.
I In his recent victory, Jones backed his opponent
to the ropes, looked at Michael Jordan who was
ringside and shouted, “Watch this!” Jones then
proceeded to land a flurry of jabs to the face of the
39-6-1 Johnson.
I Jones, who has received Fighter of the Year
^ awards every year since 1993, has often expressed
Boredom over what he considers a lack of qualified
Opponents in the professional ranks.
Unlike most recognized boxers who fight at a
rate of two fights per year, Jones fights more fre
quently. Jones’ consolidation of the championship
belts was his fifth title defense in the past 18
months.
I As amazing as Jones’ skills are, his character
truly sets him apart.
Boxing fans have all too often seen the unbal
anced equation of skill without integrity.
I For an ever-so-brief moment, boxing fans re-
jpiced as a 20-year-old street-tough kid by the
name of Mike Tyson shocked the world, winning
the heavyweight championship. Fans eagerly antic
ipated Tyson’s next victim.
I Twelve years later, the only thing fans can look
forward to is Tyson’s next jail term.
I At 32, Tyson has served two jail terms, including
one for a 1992 rape conviction.
I Jones’ out-of-the-ring experiences have been
somewhat different.
I With numerous Humanitarian of the Year
Awards from various organizations, Jones provides
a role model for America’s youth.
| When most fighters are negotiating the amount
of money they will make, Jones frequently donates a
portion of the gate proceeds from his fights to local
charities. In 1996, Jones was chosen by the United
T his year has already seen the nadir of sports
manship on the baseball diamond. It did not
happen on a major league field, and the usu
al suspects like Albert Belle and Roberto Alomar
had nothing to do with it. It happened on a base
ball field at Wichita State Uni
versity in Kansas, during a
game with the University of
Evansville. The perpetrator of
this act was actually an honors
student by the name of Ben
Christiansen, a player with a
previously spotless
record.
What did this for
mer choir boy do?
He hit the leadoff
batter in the face with a pitch-while
he was waiting on deck.
Christiansen said Evansville’s
leadoff hitter, Anthony Molina,
was not in the on deck circle and
was too close to the plate while
taking his warmup swings.
He said this warranted his ac
tion, which shattered Molina’s
left eye socket and, at least tem
porarily, ruined his vision in
that eye.
Standing alone, this was a
sick thing to do. Molina was not
even looking at Christiansen
when he was hit and was com
pletely defenseless. What makes
it even worse is the fact that
Christiansen’s action was not
only expected by his coaching
staff, but was taught to the play
ers by the coaches.
Wichita State may not be a
college that is known nationally,
but it is a baseball power. It has
won the College World Series
once and has been the runner up
three times in the past 17 years.
The fact that such a program
would resort to goon-squad tactics
is a good indication of the “win
at all costs” mentality that some
programs have taken.
It is not like the coaching
staff at Wichita State is a
new bunch trying to make
an impression by showing
they are trying really, re
ally hard to win, either.
Wichita State base
ball coach Gene
Stephenson has
won over 1,200
games during his
tenure as head
coach at Wichita
State. Pitching
coach Brent
Kemnitz is also well established.
Many apologists for the Wichita State program
say that there has never been one other negative
incident that has affected the team in the two
decades that Stephenson has coached there, and
College baseball sees some
foul plays. Unfortunately,
some coaches encourage it.
MARK
PASSWATERS
this one episode should not be a big issue.
By this logic, O.J. Simpson should not be
frowned upon as an athlete because he only killed
people once.
What happened at Wichita State before cannot
excuse this act. Twelve hundred wins cannot
cover up the fact that a pitcher drilled an unsus
pecting player in the face with a 92-mile-per-hour
fastball on the orders of his coaches. Chris
tiansen and other Wichita State pitchers have
been quoted as saying they were taught from day
one that if someone does what Molina did — get
too close to the batter’s box while the pitcher is
warming up — they are to hit them in order to
“send a message.”
• The next time Coach Stephenson wants to
“send a message,” will someone please pick up
the phone and call UPS? It is much safer.
Such thuggery has no place in the game of
baseball, and all the people involved should be
punished severely.
If Anthony Molina was too close to the plate,
why not call time out and ask the umpire to make
him step back into the on deck circle? This is a
decent, logical response to a minor infringement
on the pitcher’s “turf.”
The nickname of Wichita State’s baseball team
is the Shockers. This incident has certainly
shocked the nation and will hopefully cause a re-
evaluation of what is important in college athlet
ics.
Winning is certainly important, but Coaches
Stephenson and Kemnitz have forgotten that be
sides racking up “W’s,” they have another task —
to help develop these athletes into decent young
men who will be assets to society should they not
make the Major Leagues. Teaching cutthroat tac
tics like this most certainly will not do that.
Hopefully, the NCAA and the law will come
down hard on these men, as they were the precipi
tators of an assault with a deadly weapon. Anyone
who has ever faced a 90-mile-per-hour fastball can
attest to this.
Anthony Molina will probably never play base
ball again. He may never see properly again.
Ben Christiansen was drafted in the first round
by the Chicago Cubs and will probably make it to
the major leagues.
While Christiansen actually threw the pitch
that hurt Molina, he was probably the least guilty
of the three, since he did what he was told to do.
But this may not be much solace to him
should a fastball from someone like John
Smoltz, Curt Schilling or Jaret Wright come
sailing up and in on him “accidentally.”
Mark Passwaters is an electrical
engineering graduate student.
Maternity leave laws should be expanded
I n her recent book What'
Our Mothers Didn’t Tell Us:
Why Happiness Eludes the
Modem Woman, Danielle Crit
tenden illustrates the common
plight of career women who
desire children and home life
but feel pressured to remain in
a career by the ideals of femi- tom
nism gone too far.
In her book.
Crittenden 1
OWENS
says that although feminism has liberated women
,s from being forced to stay home, it has now mi
grated to the other extreme by pressuring women
who desire families into careers. Perhaps even
more disturbing, she notes, is that those career
I aaa women who choose to have children are expect-
1U9, et j by moc jern feminists and businesses to quick-
xd
vaila-
Stall"
ly return to work, as if the pregnancy were only
some sort of disease she is expected to recover
from instead of the beginning of a new era of her
He.
I This insensitivity perpetuated by both extreme
nplO) f feminism and greedy business acutely manifests
, J itself, says Crittenden, in the “sudden, unexpect-
IFCP e q moment when women find their insides shred-
ding the first day they return from maternity
leave, having placed their infants in a stranger’s
thCiBms.”
pit® Crittenden is right. This assault upon hu-
rhankind’s most sacred institution — motherhood
must be stopped.
‘ Unfortunately, because extreme feminist pro-
H gramming is so pervasive in society, the ideal so
lution of erasing the prejudices against women
staying home could take decades to achieve.
A more practical solution is legislation to ex
tend maternity leave from its present level to a full
five years after birth. Working women who have
a child would be given five years from birth to re
turn to work penalty free. The mechanics of im
plementing such a plan would be similar to the
Family and Medical Leave Act.
Although the direct benefit of this plan is al
lowing a woman to care for a child in his or her
most important developmental years, perhaps the
most potent quality is the legislation’s ability to
remove the teeth from the typical feminist argu
ment. Women in careers are often manipulated
into believing they are wasting their potential if
they stop their careers and choose to have a fam
ily.
Under a 5-year maternity leave plan, a woman
could feel she was only pausing her career, not
wasting it. If a woman finds rearing children
preferable to the rat race of corporate America,
she can remain at home. If not, she is free to re
turn to work.
Fellow conservatives would probably oppose
such a measure because they think it would im
pose too heavy a burden on businesses.
But it could be argued in response that slight
inconveniences for employers is a tax worth pay
ing to pass on the genetics of our most talented
women. Since intelligent women are the ones
most strongly targeted by the lie that they are
wasting their talents if they stay home and have
children, modern society Implicitly encourages
only those with the least potential to have the
most children.
Feminists should also be swayed by this argu
ment. If the genetic quality of future generations
is eroded, then the treatment of women will erode
also.
There is a medium to strong correlation be
tween the intelligence of a society’s members and
“/f a woman finds rearing
children preferable to the
rat race of corporate
America, she can remain
at home. If not, she is free
to return to work/'
its treatment of women, and the most primitive
peoples are the ones most savage toward women.
In accommodating our most gifted women’s de
sires for children, America can stop or severely
slow such a regression.
Motherhood is the noblest of any human en
deavor, and it is time American attitudes and laws
reflect the level of respect the institution deserves.
Torn Owens is a senior
chemical engineering major.
MAIL CALL
Column makes
unfair stereotypes
In response to Tom Owens’ June
3 column.
Tom Owens’ column has chal
lenged my faith in America’s atti
tude toward and respect for oth
er countries.
I do not see any positive re
sult that can come out of the
writer’s proposals.
For example, his appeal to
“end all tourism and visits be
tween China and [the United
States]” could cause more
harms than benefits to the Unit
ed States, the People’s Republic
of China and the world.
It would also be selfish and
arrogant for us to demand con
formity from other countries by
using our superior military power
without allowing diplomatic com
munication.
History has taught us painful
ly that the arms race will bring
more tension and fear to the
whole world.
Furthermore, on Texas A&M
University’s diversified campus,
Owens’ stereotyping opinion
about the Chinese and other
non-citizens should have had no
place on the opinion page of
the campus newspaper.
This incident has caused
many to believe the majority of •
students here are in agreement (
with Mr. Owens.
In my opinion, his article has
offended not just the Chinese
but also other international stu
dents.
It gives this great country a
bad name.
David Hendrawirawan
Class of ’01
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