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Show Editorial WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2012 3 THE SIGNPOST The Signpost Viewpoint Team owners squabbling with athletes Leading up to the biggest sports event in the nation, two proud sports franchise owners quarreled through social media with some of their teams' biggest stars. In the days usually spent trashtalking and deciding what dip to serve at the World's Best Super Bowl Party, fans' attention was torn between Pats vs. Giants and controversy for the Indianapolis Colts and Utah Jazz. Indianapolis hosted the Super Bowl while unsure of the future of its own franchise and the quarterback who made them relevant the past 14 years. Locally, Utah Jazz fans were equally distracted by controversy surrounding a few of the men who brought the franchise to prominence. On Friday, Jan. 27, beloved Hall of Famer Karl Malone co-hosted the Gordon Monson show on 97.5 The Zone. He began a war of words when he discussed the Williams-Sloan debacle, blamed Jazz management for Sloan's abrupt retirement, and claimed he had to buy a Jazz ticket from a scalper because the Jazz would not provide him one. A few days later, Jazz owner Greg Miller fired back through social media. "Hey Karl - you're lying," Miller wrote on Twitter last Tuesday. "You have my number. Next time you need a seat to a Jazz game, call me. You can have mine." Later that night Miller continued his rebuttal to Malone's remarks on his blog, including how Malone was too "unreliable and unstable" to join the Jazz coaching staff and made the stressful situation sur- rounding Sloan's retirement worse by speaking to reporters when he didn't know the circumstances surrounding it. Colts owner Jim Irsay also used Twitter last Monday to hash out a franchise controversy. If there was any season that proved how much Peyton Manning means to the Colts, it was this last one, in which he didn't even take a snap. As what seems to be a direct result of Manning's neck injury, the Colts had the worst record in the NFL. Indianapolis now has the first overall pick in the upcoming draft, and Andrew Luck, quarterback sensation out of Stanford, is viewed to be the best college player and obvious choice for the first pick. Although Manning has been Fans worship players, especially Hall of Famers, not the owners. Fan loyalty to players is so intense that, when owners seem to double-cross them, fans often side with players. Since fan support is the driving force behind the success of all franchises, owners should use discretion in how and where they discuss player relations. Maybe if fans start to buy jerseys with owners' names on the back, the owners could write tweets and blog posts putting franchise players in a bad light without upsetting fans. As for now, they should settle their scores in private or official team statements and leave the Twitter feed to the Chad Ochocincos of the world. Comment on this column ai wsusignpost.conl Abstract Academic 5HENEMAN"6U"E'"ER*5 HOW CAN THE U.S.BE SHOCKED THAT WE VETOED THE SYRIA RE5OLUTIONIP DIDN'T THEY 5EE " WHAT I DID IN GHECHNVAP The ultimate quitting-school bucket list Kory Wood • The Signpost columnist I'm quitting school. It was in the middle of a threepage paper. My 36th of the semester, actually. That's when I decided. I don't have time for this anymore. There are mountains to climb, cheesecakes to bake, reality TV marathons to absorb. I know this quitting feeling well. For two years before I was married, I worked at a local credit union call center. Every day after school, I would spend five hours telling angry 86-yearold women named Leverna how a debit card worked, and every day, I would say to myself, "Self, this job is turning you into human oatmeal. After 400 phone calls from people ordering personal checks with pictures of puppies on them, you are now a stagnant pool of hot oats. The unflavored kind. You should quit and do anything else. I mean anything. Do not rule out things that are illegal." This week, I have that oatmeal feeling again. So, I'm quitting. That's it. I'm moving to the mountains to raise sheep and write poetry and maybe scrape together a meager living by carving caricatures of famous people out of dried sheep dung and selling them at a roadside stand. I'm just spit-balling here, of course. But anything would be better than another dang threepage paper. f,k6I011A aa taer- Ctaagt teks.cm. Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Asst. Managing Editor News Editor Sports Editor Photo Editor Business Editor cleared by doctors to play, Irsay wrote on Twitter that Manning has not passed the Colts' physical or been cleared to play for Indianapolis. The inconsistency between Manning and Irsay seems to have more to do with Luck and Manning's $28 million bonus due in March than a turn and cough. Although franchise owners have the right to voice their side of the story, social media is not the forum to do so, especially concerning player relations. Had Miller used his phone to call Malone instead of calling him out on Twitter, the issue could have been dealt with in private instead of on the front page of the sports section. Irsay's tweet might be true, but came off as distasteful and suggested he might not want Manning to be healthy enough to return. Spencer Garn Stephanie Simonson Thomas Alberts Eric Jensen Nathan Davis Amanda Lewark Jessica Klemm 626-7121 626-7614 626-7614 626-7655 626-7983 626-8071 626-7621 Features Editor A&E Editor Copy Editor Adviser Ad Manager Office Manager OK, OK, I'm not really dropping out. That ship has sailed. At this point, it would be easier to just finish than to explain to my mom why I'm making a living writing limericks for wedding announcements (another idea). But there's so much more to do than write papers. Why, I still have to .. . . . . meet Ben and Jerry. . . . spend a day sitting on a bench in Disneyland and people-watching. . . . eat my weight in chili cheese fries. . . . get ridiculously rich, purchase the contract of an NBA player, and make him teach a seventh-grade English class. Get them dangling participles outta my house! Uh! (Swatting motion, followed by a wagging finger.) . . . get tan. Specifically, tanner than Ron Paul. . . . try out for American Idol by singing the theme song from Step by Step. Also, by playing an accordion. . . . hang out with the hobbits from The Lord of the Rings. Well, not Sam. Just the fun ones. . . . create an animated film based on the life of Chief Justice John Marshall, only all the characters are voiced by Betty White. Also, it wins the Best Picture Oscar. . . . have a ton of kids (preferably attractive ones), then start a family band, which gets really famous. . . . dissolve family band very publicly, then acquire book/ movie rights. Exploit as needed. . . . earn the 15th roster spot on the Utah Jazz. I have two legs, a willing heart and six very hard fouls to give. Seriously, I will chew through Kobe's kneecap if Jerrica Archibald Kory Wood Jennifer Sanda Shane Farver Shelley Hart Georgia Edwards it means getting into one game. ... wear a new pair of socks every day for the rest of my life. ... move to the mountains and raise sheep. I'm still a little serious about that one. . . . buy everything in Costco and return it the next day, just to see if they would take it back. I think they would. . . . write a book. . . . or just pretend to have written a book, and "work" on my laptop in public all day at Starbucks. Maybe hand out autographed "originals" (really just copies of Call of the Wild with different dust jackets). . . . meet Bill Murray and apologize for all the other huge dorks he's had to hear misquote lines from Groundhog Day. . . . see a major league baseball game in every stadium. Spill chewed-up Milk Duds all over Boston's Fenway Park. Go Rockies! . . . spend a summer in Hawaii. . . . spend a winter in Siberia before I spend a summer in Hawaii, just so I really appreciate it. . . . create a reality TV show called WorstTM, where the only people who are allowed to compete are those who were contestants on other reality shows, but were also the first people kicked off in the very first episode of those shows. Of course, WorstTM would only have one episode. . . . ride in a helicopter. To your mother's house. . . . sleep in just once without getting a phone call. . write a three-page paper on where I think three-page papers belong. Comment on this column at wsusignpost.com 626-7105 626-7624 626-7659 626-7526 626-6359 626-7974 The Signpost is a student publication, written, edited and drafted by Weber State University The Signpost reserves the right to edit for reasons of space and libel and also reserves the right students. 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