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Show Go team America Winter Olympics serve good purpose celebrate in the Every four years, Seth Hawkins accomplishments the world can take of humanity. a brief repose from But more the wars, arguments than this, the and petty differencOlympics have es and unite in the a tremendous Olympic Games. unifying effect Seriously, the within our own Olympics are a trecountry. These mendous unifying Backseat^ games exemplify force among the nations. Athletes Coach j and typify fundamental American across the globe values such as unite in a central destination to compete in the patriotism, competition, athgames and to represent their leticism and seeing the little countries. Tragedy strikes, guy come out on top. The heroes emerge and often, the American dream can be realunderdog defeats their heav- ized through the Olympics. ily favored opponents. The Other sporting events do Olympic Games provide an not pull America together like opportunity for the world to the Olympics can. Basketball, watch talented athletes give football and baseball are all everything they have. sports that Americans genAt the Olympic Games, erally love. However, these a variety of nations can sup- sports do not tend to have port and even cheer for one any type of unifying effect. another through their ath- Sure we .watch the Super letes. Issues that are heavily Bowl, but we're divided in debated in councils and par- it. We're always rooting for liaments mean nothing dur- one team or the other. In ing the Olympics. For a brief the Olympics, we can unite 16-day period, the world can our cheers under one banner: watch people compete and team America. Few sights are as stirring as seeing an exhausted, but proud athlete stand on the awards podium as they watch the American flag being raised. As the national anthem is played, one can't help but feel proud to be an American. Although we might not fully understand the event the athlete competed in, we can be proud that they succeeded and that they represented our country well. Some claim that the Winter Olympics are outdated or contain sports that the rest of the world might be good at, but not the United States. However, the events in the Winter Olympics are constantly changing to adapt to the latest winter sporting trends. The first Winter Olympics, held in France in 1924, included events such as ice hockey, speed skating, Nordic skiing, figure skating, curling and even mili• T E A M AMERICA see page 7 9 The Winte Olympics are dumb The Winter Olympics are dumb. There, I said it. I've been saying this for two weeks now and generally people have been taken aback. It's as if disliking the games was un-American. If refusing to watch women and gay men prance around on skates in an event called ice dancing is unAmerican, call me Han Xiaopeng. I'm not ethically and principally against the Winter Olympics, I just choose not to watch them. Why? It's not entertaining. Am I impressed by the skill of these athletes? Of course. I know I could never make it to the bottom of the hill in the giant slalom. Well, maybe I could, but some parts of my body might cross the finish line before others. I can respect the difficulty of pulling off a triple toe loop-double toe loop-double loop combination (I don't really know what that is,.I just looked it up). I can respect the stupidity of skiing off a giant jump to see how far one can go. I understand that these are not easy, nor painless, nor sane activities, but I simply don't care to watch them. Walker C u r l i n g usually takes the brunt of the Winter Olympic jokes. I do think curling is a very cool game, but it doesn't belong in the Olympics. After all, Chutes and Ladders is a very cool game, but they're not handing out any medals for that. A lot of people make fun of curling without really knowing what it is. In order to help you ridicule the pseudo-sport, I'll clarify it for you. In curling, one team member slides along a sheet of ice gripping a 40-pound stone. That person then releases the stone toward a target painted on the other side of the ice sheet. Other team members sweep the ice in order to make the rock slide faster or slower. That's about it. I think the prestige and value of a gold medal is greatly diminished when they're given out for sweeping. I have lots of practice dusting, but nobody ever invited me to Italy to do if professionally. The games do have some redeeming points. Hockey certainly belongs in the Olympics, though I'm still not very drawn to it. The races — skiing, speed skating, etc. — are fine; let the fastest man win. So if you'd like, continue watching 15-minute superstars like Sasha Cohen and Apolo Ohno. I'll be watching the Jazz game on TiVo and gearing up for World Cup 2006. Ben Walker is a junior majoring in print journalism. Comments can be sent to benwalker@cc.usu.edu Working through college - playing tennis Despite playing tennis for USU, Young says his real love is cycling BY JOEY HISLOP Staff Writer Tyler Larson/mlarson&ccusu.edu UTAH STATE'S DANTLEY YOUNG said once he is done playing tennis he would like to try to become a professional cyclist. He said he trains on an exercise bike for three to four hours a day. Most college students have to work temporary jobs to put themselves through school Some work in retail, some wait tables, some even work in their field of study. Dantley Young, on the other hand, plays tennis. ' He's the No. 4 singles player for USU's men's tennis team, but the way hetalksabout it,tennis is just a job he does to pay for school. His real passion is cycling. "My dream is to be a professional cyclist," Young said. "Once I finish tennis, the next two or three years of my life are going to be devoted to trying to go pro in cycling." Young isn't just dreaming, either. A junior majoring in exercise science, Young keeps himself in tip-top condition during .the school year (aka: the months in between races) by eating right and training on an exercise bike three to four hours a day. His plan appears to be already in place. According to Young, he rides at what cyclists call the "cat-3" level, FIRST WINTER OLYMPICS "For me, it's the drive," Young said. "Trying to accomplish something little every day kinda snowballs and you get to those bigger objectives." While his physique and mannerisms are those of a man driven to succeed, Young says his life is all about what he calls "finding tranquilo." "Never too high, never too low," Young says. "It's just the feeling of being content. That's how I feel every time I get offthe bike." Though he's more likely to win the Tour de France than Wimbledon, Young is a talented tennis player, too. His strength on the court comes not so much from an explosive game, but from his physical and mental fitness, which he attributes to cycling. "Being a cyclist has taught me to compete well on the tennis court," said Young. "Fitness just gives you so much more confidence and helps you stay in there a little bit more." Evidence of Young's ability to •WORKING see page 79 • SWEEP From page 13 in her right mind would suggest such a thing. The Winter Olympics began in 1924 in Chamonix, France, as a dare. A bunch of tough guys (not unlike those dumb, painted dudes at football games) got together to formalize the fraternity-like dares they'd been working on for months. This is why winter sports are insane. The Swedish tough guys pushed poor, drunk Sven down an icy hill on a sled because ... well... they didn't have a good reason, they were also drunk. When he didn't die, they decided to try too. Sven's cousin, Bjorn made it down the hill just a little quicker. He was elated. Luge was invented. Not to be outdone by the Swedes, the German tough guys dared Erwin to go down the hill head-first. When Erwin crashed into the Iugers at the bottom of the hill, his fellow countrymen shouted something like, "He Schlaged his Knochengerust!" Because it was a mouthful to say, the IOC just decided to keep the name simple and the new sport of Knochengeriist was born. Erwin died, but the German beer was more potent than the Swedish brew. Four Germans jumped short for category-3. Young said he began this past summer at the cat-5 level. Over those next few months, Young competed in more than 40 races, including the 200-mile "Lotoja"(Logan-to-Jackson) and improved to his current level of cat-3. He plans to move up to cat-2 by July. "That's the goal," Young said. "Once you get to a cat-2, you're racing with the big boys. You learn from them, you get that experience and hopefully somebody will recognize that you have potential and sign you to a pro contract." While it's hard for many college students to stay physically active during the school year, Young's daily routine doesn't allow for much sitting around. It usually consists of going to classes in the morning, training on the bike, going to tennis practice and studying for Andy Anderson's anatomy class, among others, he said. It's a mentally and physically draining regimen that he tackles everyday with what he calls "the drive." From page 7 7 on a much larger sled that they stole from a French kid named Bob. They rode Bob's sled down the icy hill to go give the Iugers a pasting for hurting their friend. To help defend their Scandinavian buddies, the Norwegians hurried down the hill the best way they could figure out while intoxicated - ski jumping. They landed a few meters short of the brawl, about 125 meters away, or in other words, right on top of the Russian group who were trying to skate out of the way as quickly as possible.' Eventually everyone involved in the proceedings ended up in a slippery brawl which developed into what we now call short track speed skating. All the while, Helga and Olga, wives of Sven and Bjorn stood, with hands on hips, at the top of the hill, shaking their heads and mumbling Swedish words of disapproval. Embarrassed, they hoped this wouldn't have to happen every year. No, women couldn't have invented the Olympics. They are too sensible. This is why the Winter Games occurs only every four years. This is also why women don't get overly excited when they pass a car on the way to work because it just dropped .30 seconds off their commute. I do. I have the couchpotato Olympics spirit. It's a guy thing. I just have one Olympicrelated problem. This summer I need to do some home repair and remodeling. Formerly, I used Home Depot to accommodate my building needs. But now, all you can find there are wannabe Olympians who can't tell an eavestrough nail from a finishing nail. Gosh! And it's not like those fruity men's figure skaters will be much help when I have sheetrocking questions. They'd offer better advice in the sequins section at Michaels. I just try to avoid the doubles luge guys altogether. Anyway, the 2006 Winter Olympics has finally come to a close — meaning it s once again mildly acceptable to watch those "precious" Thursday night reality programs. More importantly, the couch will once again have a chance to recover from the crater my butt left over the last 17 days. Gorrett Wheeler is a second bachelor's student in technical theatre design. Send any comments or column ideas to wheel@cc.usu.edu. Northern Colorado in a match that proved to be slightly tougher. Though the Aggie women still won in dominating fashion, 6-1, the Bears of Northern Colorado made the match closer than the score indicates. In doubles competition, the Aggie's No. 1 team of Lindsay Bennion and Andrea Barker as well as the No. 2 team of senior Jill Smith and junior Lauren Monson were both able to pull out 9-7 victories. However, at the No. 3 spot for doubles, the tandem of junior Courtney Anderson and freshman Dee Dee Nelson won convincingly, 8-1. In Saturday's singles action, the Aggies won at every spot except No. 2 where USU's Smith lost a tough one, 6-4, 6-4, to UNC's Meredith Krystofik. Aggies Barker and Monson both won somewhat easily at the No's 5 and 6 spots, respectively. Barker defeated UNC's Carmen Vasos, 6-3, 6-2, while Monson won her match against UNC s Kellie Crail, 63, 6-2. At the No. 1 spot for the Aggies, Bennion had a good first set before pulling out a close second set in a 6-2, 7-5 victory over UNC's Karen Groll. USU's Anderson won again at the No. 3 spot, 6-1, 6-1, improving her singles record to 9-2 on the season. At the No. 4 spot, Nelson needed three sets to beat UNC's Christina Shelly, 67(4), 6-3, 6-4. "It was a good match, they were pretty tough," Wright said. "We won six out of the seven matches, but we had to work for it in a few of them. -jhulop@cc.usu.edu The Bulldogs sport a record of 15-11, 8-6 in conference play, and have won four of their lastfivegames, including an 81-79 win over Boise State on ESPN Monday night. FSU is led by the duo of Quinton Hosley and JaVance Coleman. Together, they average 36.6 points, 12.2 rebounds and 3.2 steals per game. "They're at least as good as any duo out there," Morrill said. He said they compare to other combinations in the league like Nevada's Nick Fazekas/Marcelus Kemp, USU's own Nate Harris/ Jaycee Carroll and New Mexico States Elijah Ingram/ anybody else on that team. USU lost the first meeting this season with FSU 99-96 in double-overtime. In that game, Hosley and Coleman combined for 50 points, six 3-pointers, 21 rebounds and 10 assists. Also in that game, Nate Harris had a seasonhigh 33 points -bhhinton@cc.usu.edu • FRESNO From page 7 7 seventh-most threes in the country per game." The Bulldogs are in a self-imposed, post-season ban this year for numerous rules violations. They will not even get to compete in the Western Athletic Conference tournament. "They're down to their final two games," Morrill said. "I'm sure they're trying to finish on a good note. There's very few teams that can finish the season with a win. They're in a position to do that." |