Early kickoff times 'slap in face' to loyal fans

Despite a shaky performance against NAU and the mistake-filled effort against Utah, it's been great to see and feel the enthusiasm with which the UA football team, under new coach Mike Stoops, has been greeted, and I hope to see it continue and expand.

Even during the dismal days at the end of the Mackovic era, the team and athletics department could count on literally tens of thousands of fans to buy tickets, show up and support the team.

Wouldn't it be nice if that kind of loyalty was reciprocated by the athletics department?

Instead, athletic director Jim Livengood has chosen to put getting a few dollars and a little exposure from ESPN ahead of our fans by re-scheduling upcoming September games against Wisconsin and Washington State from their original 7 p.m. kickoffs to the scorching sun and sweltering heat of 1 and 12:35 in the afternoon, respectively.

These start times are a slap in the face to those who really support this football team and program.

Lost are opportunities to tailgate during reasonable afternoon hours and enjoy football under the lights on beautiful Tucson nights, in favor of spending the hottest part of the day directly in the blistering sun.

Jim, are you bent over in your office in anticipation of ESPN's call, or do you just wait and bend over when they call?

Seven o'clock kickoffs are far better for the fans, the players and probably would be for ESPN as well, if we were able to negotiate with them (having been there, I can tell you that football fans in Madison don't go to bed early on Saturday nights).

I hope enough outrage is expressed over this abomination that it won't be repeated next year. Go Cats!

Chase Fehr
education psychology graduate student

Correct protocol needed at home football games

In my years at the UA I have craved some sort of football excitement.

Despite the loss on Saturday, I was very encouraged by the support of the fans.

I have been a serious football fan my whole life and saw some things that our student section needs to work on.

I like the excitement, but it is obvious we have a lot of football fans new to this.

First, football games are not political rallies.

So I hated seeing people chanting pro-Bush chants at the game. It's football - we should concentrate on cheering for the Wildcats.

Second, when the other team has the ball on third down, the crowd is supposed to make an insane amount of noise to throw the opposing quarterback off.

And finally, the wave is not supposed to happen when we have the ball.

The wave is designed to throw the opposing offense out of whack.

Instead, Wilbur and our cheerleaders put the wave in effect when we had the ball.

Heavner threw an interception shortly after the wave began. But keep the enthusiasm up Cats!!

Lucas Doub
communications senior

Bad idea to bring back Wall of Expression

The comment in the Sept. 10 edition of the Wildcat that the Wall of Expression should be brought back as a symbol of "unity" ignores what was actually written on the Wall of Expression.

The reason the Wall was placed in storage and removed was due to all the racist and specifically anti-Semitic comments and even swastikas written as 'expressions' of the University students after Sept. 11.

I was on campus and I remember the degrading fascist comments that sprouted up almost overnight when the UA administration decided to give the students a chance to express what they felt.

Comments such as "The Jews planned 9/11," and, "Israel is the real terrorist," were the norm.

This is why the Wall was removed, because it was an example of hatred, intolerance and fascism, rather then the 'unity' some people now nostalgically remember.

So maybe it is a good idea to bring it back, just so the campus can be confronted by the actual feelings of some members of the student body.

Maybe it would be a sobering reminder of the fact that despite all the multiculturalism pushed down students' throats, hatred is still very much part of the college experience.

Seth J. Frantzman
alumnus

Media will always be corporately run

Aaron Okin's Sept. 8 column, "In Defense of Corporate Media" is laughable.

He takes a page from Karl Rove and tries to portray corporate media's weakness (public accountability) as its strength.

There is no public accountability involved when overzealous editors pull stories for political or economic reasons.

Political reasons, like when Fox News pulls or rewords stories to fit the "message of the day" it receives from the White House.

Economic reasons, like when any corporate outfit refuses to run stories because it may upset their advertisers.

Remember when reporters used to make politicians squirm instead of being their cheerleaders?

Students would do well to go to the library and rent "Toxic Sludge is Good for You."

This documentary demonstrates how corporations, with the help of media outlets, turn commercials into important news and you're never told the difference.

Speaking of a mea culpa, Okin manages to ignore the recent ones by the media.

The first being the New York Times, apologizing for unabashedly acting as a bullhorn for the White House in reference to WMD's and the push for war (from a supposed liberal paper, no less).

The second being the Washington Post that admitted to ignoring and burying anti-war voices before and during the occupation.

Democracy is based on an informed and educated public.

Whether you think the media is liberal or conservative, just remember that it is always corporate.

There is a distinct conflict of interest between the public seeking information and an entity solely existing to make money from advertisers.

Michael Sousa
art education senior

Tortilla flinging falls flat on sensitivity

I agree that the UA's ritual tortilla tossing during graduation is a rotten waste of food. In fact, I'm amazed that people can promote the tradition as a "harmless way to celebrate" when people are going hungry just a few hours south of campus.

It would be hard to defend the tradition if one is really aware about the hardships of the poor, especially with so many of them close to home.

Of course, the most important issue here is a matter of respect. Contrary to what some have said, this must be an issue of cultural awareness.

Sure, it's just a tortilla, but that's not the point.

When people express their hurt feelings, we have a responsibility to show them some respect. Even if you don't listen to the pleas from the president of the university (which only seemed to increase the number of tortillas in the air last May), at least recognize that some members of our community are offended by the tradition.

I guess you could learn something about culture from watching "American Pie," but that might be a little hazardous (to your health, not to mention society).

At university, we have an even better way to learn about culture: from each other.

When you understand this, you'll understand what it means to be culturally aware.

Nick Mullally
physics sophomore