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Ihe eyes of ESPN are upon you...
$ “Sidelines” a damaging misrepresentation ofA&M or positive publicity?
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Ihe latest episode of the ESPN television show,
“Sidelines." had mothers cringing, former students
gasping in disbelief and current students stunned and
embarrassed by the image portrayed of
Texas A&M. ESPN claims the show is a
"no-holds-barred look at the Texas A&M
football program and campus life,” but it is
turning out to be a terrible misrepresenta
tion of the University. The image Aggies
had hoped would be associated with their
school was lost somewhere at The Salty
Dog.
A&M has an amazing opportunity to
tom exhaust an: fcgw the world the unimaginable, unattainable spirit that char-
ivid 574-8052. , ■ „ w . r . . ,
Ktenzes this campus. Ine spirit of A&M is not something that
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easily understood, and it cannot be put into words. The
ease of community here is something that must be seen
irst-hand to be fully understand. Ron Blatchley, who
ipent 14 years at A&M as the director of student
ilfairs, understands this all too well.
“1 thought this show was to portray the unique
ipiritof Aggieland." he said. "That’s why ESPN
hose us. What we have on this campus is not
omething you will find anywhere else, and others
vish they could have it." But Blatchley does not
#Sidelines as moving the A&M image in a
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‘We have an incredible, unique University and the
dies, veterinaris'luiraof it is not captured at all in this show, and I am
rot and cage.sw ^surethat it ever will be if they continue to show
tan, veterinarian ^j-j n( j s 0 f things they are showing," Blatchley said.
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SITED
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am willing lo p
KEliN
ZIMMER
has a great se^ Tie real Aggie spirit found at football games and
adoption! Fean Midnight Yell is overshadowed in “Sidelines" by the
student4s jjghtlife and the outrageous actions of some cast
nembers. Mike Wood, Class of 1965. could not
wtchall of Thursday’s episode.
iwimatcQ'] "Asaformer student, I am not interested in the
a i luff on this show: the drinking and kissing and
led fo^springKi ^-hopping are not things that 1 use to characterize
A&M,"he said. "This is not a typical college and our
students are not typical students. You can go to any
college campus and see what you saw on Sidelines
TWay night.”
Mwfuniversities would be excited to have the
ggpohunity that Texas A&M has with this show. A
audience has an inside look at A&M. and
Ted Agies have the opportunity to show what the
Apts. 680-3215
Igde spirit is about. Instead. Sidelines has
alien on a look resembling “College Girls
“■GoneWild in College Station." This may be
ESPN’s attempt at reality TV, but this is not
ikreality of Aggieland.
Drinking until you lose count or kissing
people of the same sex because you are drunk
not things many Aggies would use to charac-
lerize their college experience, and certainly not
sthey would want the world using to represent
hasA&M. Blatchley said that “the real A&M, the
ta!spirit, the real Aggie and what it really means to
lean Aggie, should be done more justice. With this
rogram we are doing the opposite of justice.”
Aggies every where should be concerned with the image
hat is portrayed ofA&M in Sidelines. The negative images
eenon Sidelines do not cast A&M in a positive light, and will
cave a negative impression on potential students and those
lot familiar with A&M.
Valerie Weynand. mother of two A&M students, said, “As
omeone with a 30-year association with A&M, 1 am appalled
.owest priceai# ^disgusted with the program. It should showcase our tradi-
., ste.217. 846 ionsand let others see why A&M is such an amazing place. If
ariy. (CP-001 r i0n]e j n ano ther state is watching this and knows nothing
est; Hope Re! bout A&M, I do not think it is a place they would decide to
is a shame that the focus of the show does not concen-
sava Yoga- ah rate on our traditions and the things that place Aggies in a
lass by themselves. The drunkenness and debauchery seen
mtheshow make A&M appear like any other school in the
lation. Our traditions, camaraderie and spirit are what set
\&M apart. Unfortunately, such things are being overshad-
un 2002-4-# ,, ,
t $446- 7-nigt* wed by the current focus of Sidelines.
ESPN’s failure to capture the spirit of Aggieland may be
he best proof of what all Aggies know — that you cannot
inderstand A&M from the outside. Perhaps we were kidding
lurselves to think ESPN could come in and try to capture the
spirit that can ne’er be told.”
Kelln Zimmer is a junior
English major.
ne of the biggest problems Aggies have is explaining
I Texas A&M to the outside world. “From the outside look
ing in ...” is a phrase everyone has heard. But A&M has
finally been given the chance to explain.
ESPN is airing a new series, “Sidelines,” and
the premiere season is staged in glorious Bryan-
College Station. They may show clips of muddy
trucks and railroad tracks, and it may be at times
frustrating to watch ESPN portray College
Station as a hick town, but none of that matters.
What matters is that by the end of the series,
meijssa viewers are given an in-depth look at different
BEDSQLE aspects of the University. This is a wonderful
I
opportunity for A&M — not only for the Athletic
Department, but for the entire campus.
Sidelines has chosen 12 students, some of whom are football
players to follow with cameras in MTV “Real World” fashion,
with cameras watching their every move and trying to capture
some of their life on tape. The camera crews go to football prac
tices, bars and parties. They travel in cars down the streets of
College Station and show everything except class time for these
students. Sometimes it captures them not doing much of any
thing, which is what students often do.
Sidelines is trying to show what makes A&M unique, and the
potential benefits are countless. Like it or not, the image many
people outside Texas have of A&M is what was plastered on the
news in the aftermath of the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse. Sadly,
it was not the image of our school uniting during the
tragedy that most people saw on the news; it was an
image of fallen logs and the shattered hearts of grief-
ridden students.
ADRIAN CALCANEO • THE BATTALION
The A&M community will never forget Bonfire
1999, but we have recovered. The spirit of this
campus is alive and there is a new image for the
outside world to see. This is the chance.
A&M is unique in its traditions. Viewers will
see Midnight Yell and the dedication of students
getting pumped for a game. They will see Kyle
Field doused in maroon out of love for the team, and
they will see students standing relentlessly in the spir
it of the 12th Man. Non-Aggies are not going to be the
only ones influenced either.
Sidelines has the ability to reach past, present and
future Aggies nationwide. Alumni will see the show
and remember their days on campus. They will
see that the heart of this campus has not changed.
The show will also have an affect on current
students. A certain amount of pride is felt when
people see their everyday sights on television.
A&M and College Station are not things that
people pay much attention to, and now, for 30
minutes every Thursday night. Aggies can see their
own school and town on the screen and feel that
each person on this campus is a part of that.
This series also has great potential to influence new
football recruits who can get an inside look at the
football program, coaches and other players and real
ize how special and unique Texas Aggie football is.
The advertisement for Sidelines on ESPN says
that at A&M football is “a way of life.” Football
is a way of life here, and so is being an Aggie.
The show, despite the negative things people may
say about it, inspired an Orlando Sentinel columnist
to write an article that has spread among Aggies
worldwide via e-mail.
Many will have some complaints about the show,
whether it does not show enough of the Corps or
does not adequately represent some part of the
student body.
But whatever the complaint is. Aggies should
realize that what comes out of this opportunity is
much greater than who the cameras follow. Some
things about A&M will never make sense to those
outside Aggieland, but maybe in the future, from the
outside looking in, they will have a better chance
to understand.
Melissa Bedsole is a senior
psychology major.
A&M vs. Harvard: Who shares your values?
TVtc
This is a tale of two college campuses
and a Rorschach test for Americans to
decide where they fit along the nation’s
cultural divide.
It’s corny vs. cool, instinctive patriotism
vs. deeply ingrained political correctness.
It’s Texas A&M vs. Harvard. Despite my
Harvard background, 1 come down squarely
with the Aggies.
My guess is that most Americans will,
too, even those who might be embarrassed
to admit it, until they think about the two
schools and themselves.
Harvard ended funding for, and kicked
off campus, the Reserve Officers’ Training
Corps, which provides financial aid to stu
dents who receive training and become mil
itary officers. It did so in 1995 because the
Pentagon prohibits homosexuals from open
ly serving in the military.
Harvard, whose students can take ROTC
at nearby schools, apparently believes that
promoting gay rights takes precedence over
the national defense.
At A&M, the military is part of a culture
that reveres family, football and, in times
past, making fun of New Yorkers.
But after the Sept. 11 attack, students at
the working-class university devised a
uniquely Aggie way to raise more than
$150,000 for the victims, most of whom are
from New York. Harvard students, with pre
sumably greater financial resources, did
nothing comparable.
A&M students sold 70,000-plus T-shirts
proclaiming “Standing For America,” in
patriotic colors. The school’s triple-decker,
82,000-seat football stadium was color-
coded, the top in red, middle in white and
the bottom in blue for the next game. It was
one patriotic television picture.
Admittedly, these are not exact compar
isons, but the anecdotes illustrate the cultur
al differences between Harvard and A&M,
and, to an uncomfortable degree, between
Ivy League elites and most of America.
Harvard is, well. Harvard, the nation’s
most prestigious university. But it’s a snooty
place where many, although by no means
all, look down on the rest of America as
intellectually inferior and unsophisticated.
I spent two semesters there as a
Neiman Fellow, taking advantage of a gen
erous university program that allows mid
career journalists to sample its rich aca
demic offerings.
At the time, shortly after Ronald
Reagan’s election as president, the campus
consensus was that he had duped the coun
try. Americans, the Harvard group-think
Despite my Harvard back
ground, I come down squarely
with the Aggies.
argued, would return to traditional liberal
ism soon. That view was out of touch then,
as now.
Fast-forward to today, when Harvard is
among elite colleges where the view that
U.S. foreign policy gave Osama bin Laden
reason for his terrorism appears to be more
than a fringe opinion. The Associated Press
reports that “a recent peace rally [on cam
pus] drew several times more students than
a patriotism rally.”
At A&M, this year rated the nation’s
15th best public university by U.S. News &
World Report, the T-shirts symbolize an
instinctive belief in America and its values.
Students and faculty there have the common
sense to distinguish between foreign policy
and murder.
The reality is that the comparison
between Harvard and Texas A&M illus
trates the heirarchy of institutional values.
At Harvard — and I’m being generous to
the school’s students and faculty — there is
an underlying skepticism about the virtues
of the U.S. military and unabashed patriot
ism. Some argue that hostility is a more
accurate term.
Many at Harvard and similar institutions
say that most Americans don’t understand
the complex nature of the issue. But they’re
wrong. Sometimes things are as simple as
they seem.
The Harvard detachment from the mili
tary, symbolized by its looney ROTC poli
cy, is one reason that students, faculty and
administrators take an academic view of the
situation. Many see flag-waving patriotism
as wrongly judgmental about the superiority
of the American way of life.
And Harvard is not alone. Other elite
educational institutions, such as Yale and
Cal-Berkeley, display similar attitudes,
especially when compared with most of the
nation’s campuses and communities.
At A&M, as in most of America, the stu
dents and faculty believe national defense
takes priority over pushing gay rights. And
despite, what some of my liberal friends
will argue, this view has nothing to do with
anti-gay bigotry.
It has to do with common sense. When
the nation is attacked, internal squabbles
about policy nuances pale in comparison.
Times like these make me wish Harvard
played serious football so I could root
against them on TV. You can be sure that I
will be pulling for the Aggies.
Reprinted with permission from Peter A.
Brown, a columnist for the Orlando
Sentinel. It appeared in the Oct. 11 issue.