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4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 12, 2002
OP/ED
J~lbe 3litigzu 1 tilg
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STUDENTS AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SINCE 1890
JON SCHWARTZ
Editor in Chief
JOHANNA HANINK
Editorial Page Editor
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's
editorial board. All other articles, letter's and cartoons do not
necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
NOTABLE
QUOTABLE
You don't even
need a bomb.
Just open a
can and people
will die."
- Abel Gonzales, the director of
radiation and waste safety for the
International Atomic Energy Agency, on
cesium 137-filled canisters that are
scattered throughout the former Soviet
Union. The quote was reported in
yesterday's Washington Post.
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Win for the University of Michigan
JON SCHWARTZ Two SITES TO EVERY SCHWARTZ
bout two weeks
ago, after a partic-
larly uneventful
night at work, my friend
Dave and I decided that
we needed some sort of
adventure. The choice was
easy - North Campus.
(We're simple people.)
The destination we
had in mind was the peculiar wave field in the
corner of the campus. We'd never seen it, and
though it was about as cold as it has been so far
this year, we thought it would be a great place to
throw a football around.
That got old pretty quick, so I told Dave that
we should go find some music note sculpture
somewhere on the other side of North Campus. I
was really intrigued by it since I'd seen a picture
and it looked interesting. He wasn't so
impressed by the idea, but he trudged along. In
the car, he kept asking why we would be looking
for something like this at 2:30 in the morning.
My answer was that we were going because
I thought it was something that really represent-
ed the University, something that, no matter
how small it was, I would always remember
when thinking about my four years here. He
didn't put up a fight after that.
Why do I tell this story now? Because I love
this University. I love this campus. I love the
people here, the experiences I've had, the other
ridiculous late-night adventures I've taken. I
love the football team, the hockey team, the bas-
ketball teams, the water polo team.
Call me anything you want, but I still think
about that stupid music note and it makes me
smile. And I know it will for years to come.
++++;.+
I know that I'm not the only one who, when
I was much younger, would ask my mother if
she'd still love me even if I didn't do well on a
test. And I know that mine was not the only
mother who always answered cryptically that
she'd love me even more.
I was too young at the time to understand
what she could possibly mean by that. But on
Thursday afternoon, reading about what Uni-
versity President Mary Sue Coleman and Ath-
letic Director Bill Martin said in the press
conference announcing Michigan's self-
imposed sanctions on the basketball program, I
finally realized how moments of failure can
make you love something even more.
I find it odd that I was partially lured to this
University by a group of five fabulous players, a
team that, looking back now, apparently never
existed. And I was laughed at today when I
asked a Borders clerk if they planned on getting
in any more copies of Mitch Albom's fictional
classic "Fab Five."
Seriously, though, like just about everyone
else on this campus, the University can do noth-
ing to make me forget the magic those five stars
made or the change they affected on college bas-
ketball as a whole. But while some use that as a
reason to express disdain for the Athletic Depart-
ment's actions, I, in turn finally see the first ray
of light coming from the program, something
that I haven't seen in my first three years here.
And it's about the basketball program loving the
University like so many of us do.
There's no question that Chris Webber,
Maurice Taylor, Robert Traylor and Louis Bul-
lock did not love the University while they were
here. They definitely don't now. They came
here because it was a means to an end. For
Chris Webber, that end was the No. 1 pick in
the 1993 NBA Draft. For Louis Bullock, it was
a basketball career in Europe. Whatever they
are saying, none of them is crying right now
because the banners are down.
If you love something, you don't malicious-
ly break its rules for personal gain. If those four
players (who may or may not have attended
Michigan) are upset right now, it's not because
they selfishly brought shame to a great universi-
ty, but because they got caught in the process.
I've said before that a big difference
between college and professional athletics is the
attachment many college fans feel for their
teams. It's not as much always the Wolverines,
at least in my mind, as it is the University.
The problem is that the athletes we revere
don't understand this. Chris Webber was play-
ing basketball. It didn't matter whether it was
St. Cecilia's church, Arco Arena or our own
Crisler Arena. He was shining on the biggest
stage he could find. And in order to play, he,
Taylor, Traylor and Bullock only had to enroll
in the school and go to classes here and there.
Bill Martin loves this University. If he
didn't, he wouldn't have been fighting back
tears throughout his press conference. More-
over, so does current star LaVell Blanchard. As
a senior on a team barred from the postseason
this year, he has nothing to play for. Nothing,
that is, except the University. "I am a Michigan
man," the normally stoic Blanchard said Friday.
"All I can do is smile because even though this
may be a hard time, I think back to the tradition
and the fun I had with this program, and I would
not trade it for anything else."
In these days of apparent failure, how could
you not love something like that.
I can't say for sure, but I have a feeling that
there's something on this campus that Bill Mar-
tin, Mary Sue Coleman and LaVell Blanchard
will think about in years to come. Maybe it will
be as big as the Burton Bell Tower or as small
as the "M" on the Diag, but I bet there's some-
thing. For all I know, they might even be will-
ing to accompany Dave and I on our next
absurd adventure. Who knows what else this
University holds.
When you love something, it stays inside
you. Which is why I can't help feeling that
Webber, Taylor, Traylor and Bullock have
never once thought about a stupid music note
sculpture on North Campus. And call me any-
thing you want, but that seems sad.
I
Jon Schw z can beriched
ILsz@tmnich.edu
Holla back, Bubbe!
JOSEPH LITMAN TI- ,WV ENDTHEORY
T wo very schticky much of the nation. stances. The Democrats? They were last
people visited Both my mom and my dad are pro- seen rolling over in the Senate out of fear of
Ann Arbor this choice and anti-war. They support a pletho- appearing unpatriotic. Where did that leave
weekend. In response to ra of social welfare programs and believe in my parents? They had already been quite
an online quiz that I had the absolute protection of civil rights. They upset with their party's "platform" and after
created for the amuse- don't hate minorities; they don't vilify the last week, they were left to stew in their dis-
ment of my friends and poor. The only people like them that I know content. Yet talking about how bad things
family, one of our guests are, here or at home. And even in New have been did nothing to motivate Tom
asked me if Swanson, as York, many of the "liberals" that Mom and Daschle. Upon too few ears did my parents'
in the brutally hot Dad know are liberal only after securing gripes fall, and too little was done otherwise.
Kristy, was a Jewish last name. The other their own safety and prosperity through Why do I make that conclusion given the
visitor spent five minutes on Washington conservative means, rights and altruism be pockets of Democrats in places like Chicago
Street looking at names of all the office- damned. The pole of the political spectrum and Los Angeles? Because after hours of
building tenants and deciphering who was at which you can find Alfred and Betty Jane bemoaning the fate of the Democratic Party,
Jewish. They both told me a great deal about is a lonely one. my parents. and I went to see Michael
some upcoming bar mitzvahs. Last week's election was a clear indica- Moore's Bowling for Columbine. Moore
Two very down people also visited Ann tion that the forces of conservatism were poignantly showed that the violent culture of
Arbor on Saturday. One of them carried on either coopting or overpowering their leftist this country is perpetuated by a confluence
about how much she liked a Counting Crows counterparts. During one of the opening of the proliferation of guns, the media-driven
CD that a 16-year-old had made for her. sequences from the old cartoon "Super- fear engendered in most on a daily basis and
Prompted by another one of the quiz's ques- friends," The Justice League (Superman, a serially underlying fear of "others" (or
tions, the second traveler asked me if he had Wonder Woman, El Dorado et. al.) collides "ethnics" as NRA President Charlton Heston
really neglected to include Tracy McGrady with the Legion of Doom (Lex Luther, said in the film). My parents were shocked
on his list of NBA players whom he claims Giganta, Grodd, et. al.) and the opposing by how dissimilar they felt from many por-
he could.dismantle one-on-one. They both groups meld together to form the show's trayed in the documentary. They don't know
followed up some of their statements with a logo. In "Superfriends" terms, last Tuesday people who own guns; they don't know
rhetorical "Nome sayin'?" the Legion of Doom collided with the Justice where to get a gun.
The first group and the second group are League but just kept going, not stopping for This insulation from the real America
comprised of the same two people: 54-year- logos or credits. The Republican gains in the provided a melancholy reminder of why last
old, enlightened lawyers from New York. House and Senate were so striking not Tuesday happened: liberals don't live in the
May I please present my parents, Alfred Ira because they were historic or because of United States. They live elsewhere, and
Litman and Betty Jane Jacobs,. who flew their implications, but because Aquaman, since the liberal message is swallowed by its
from the liberal cloister that is Manhattan's Batman, and the rest of the Democratic lead- supposed protectors, elsewhere is getting
Upper West Side to the only other place ership saw Toyman, Scarecrow and the rest smaller. My parents flew home yesterday
where they feel as comfortable in their poli- of the Republicans coming and did nothing. since no one can drive through hostile
tics, Ann Arbor. My parents are examples of Republicans galvanized and activated waters.
how completely outnumbered the liberals in their supporters much better than the Democ-
this country have become, how they have rats did theirs. Cunningly using fear and
failed at playing politics and how that dwin- group warfare as motivation, Republicans Joseph Litman can be reached
dling group is unfortunately insulated from were able to give their voters issues and atlitmanj@umich.edu.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
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4
Daily editorial attempted to
disrupt the goals of Anti-War
Action student group
dents for Choice) who are apparently divert-
ing attention from opposition to the war in
Iraq. Three of those groups (not MSA) are
actually boycotting the Daily, which conve-
niently results in either unchallenged mis-
representations or a temporary break against
the boycott.
and military practices, which for SFC meant
discussing the reproductive health restric-
tions in the military and the health ramifica-
tions for women and children during
war-time. The editorial misrepresented our
actions and falsely suggested that feminism
is irrelevant to discussions of war.
. .
Ar
A