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Show v Review - Wednesday, February 26, 1986 - Page2 comment J 'Lucky' Anderson coat is symbol of victory .. blab sports. I understand ... I don't know if he is really super-stitious or whether he pulled he biggest public relations coup of the season Whatever the case, i worked and it deserves the special recognition such a monument has earned. All of this leads us to how super-stitious are we? Do we believe in lucky coats, lucky socks, lucky towels, lucky in sports? Some BYU ball football players have been known to wear a certain color of under their uniform or wear the same in every game, socks over and over again until they fall apart. (Have you noticed that since Patrick Ewing made it fashionable to wear a under the basket-ball uniform, how many college players are now doing it? Nearly everyone on the Georgetown team now wears under their uniforms.) Would you really walk under a ladder, let a black cat cross your path, or stay in bed on Friday the 13th? In my mere unrational moments, 1 have given some thought to super-stitions. Did the fact I didn't go to the game really cause the team to lose? Did the fact I did go to the game really cause the team to lose? Did the fact I bought my ticket early bring back luck to the team? Did the fact I bought my ticket late bring bad luck to the team? Have you noticed that most of my superstitions deal with games? It is very easy to be superstitious about the affinity for that jacket. hs If I don't wear blue to a BVti Viking game, will the team l0Seu I wear brown and yellow Wyoming beat us? ' N I'll tell you the truth. When I in college and wanted BYU to an badly (which they did often f basketball but never in football) i could find all kinds of bad luck 7 post the losses on. 10 Yet, in my mind I knew it ff, ridiculous. There is no such thins a luck. Things happen the way th happen and what you wear or w you don't wear has nothing to J with it. That is not strictly true, however If you wore a floppy hat and a bin! made a nest in it, it would not haw happened if you did not wear the hat Instinct caused the bird to build th. nest, not bad luck. Or if you wore a dress with bit sleeves and the fabric got caught I machinery and your arm was eaten up, it would not have happened if m had not worn that dress. But it ffas not bad luck that caused it. It ffas carelessness in wearing such an out fit around machinery. So you see, we do not need to be superstitious and waste precious thought on such trivia. Things would happen the same anyway. It all boils down to using common horse sense and being practical. By the way, I don't have tickets 'for the two upcoming BYU games. I need to try and find some. Wish mi luck, okay? By MAKCEIXA WAI.KKK It has been interesting following the exciting exploits of Coach LaDell Anderson's lucky sportcoat. Since BYU lost its last two basketball games the poor coat has taken some verbal abuse. People are now contending that the coat is not so lucky after all, and Brian Fink reported on the Coach's Show Sunday night that the team mem-bers hate the coat and they were going to take a vote Monday as to whether the coach should continue to wear the jacket. I'm all for keeping the coat because it did the job it was intended to do. It became a symbol at a time when BYU needed a symbol for vic-tory in the worst way. They got it through that salt and pepper-colore- d coat. Anyone with an ounce of prac-ticality knows that there is no such thing as a lucky coat. A coat is a coat is a coat. If good things happen with the coat on they would also have happened with the coat off. But the difference is in the belief. It is like the little elephant, Dumbo, I believe, who was told he could fly if he held a feather in his trunk because the feather was magic and would hold him up. Actually, the feather was not magic. Dumbo was just told that it was and he believed and he flew. If he accidently dropped the feather, he fell to the ground. He reached the point where he did not need the feather anymore because he believed in himself. Now, the BYU team can believe in themselves, despite two losses last week, and they can do without the coat. It served its purpose. However, the coat should stay because it did its job and it deserves to stay. Not because it was the lucky token that caused the team to win 12 straight games. The team would have won the 12 games anyway - but the coach, the media, and the fans got a lot of mileage out of that coat. It was a great publicity gimmick. It must be remembered that BYU had won a few games before some observant soul, like Paul James or someone, noticed that the coach was wearing this same coat each week. From then on it became the lucky coat. The coach has admitted to being superstitious. He wore the coat because he was wearing it when they won a game. Did anyone ever ask him if he wore the coat when they lost games earlier on? I don't know, but suddenly here was this famous jacket. Winter not over for Utah Valley North Utah County residents would be well warned to not take the current warming trend too seriously. After all, it's still February. To be sure, an early end to this winter was predicted by some local groundhogs. But that prediction was contradicted by the findings of other groundhogs, both here at home and across the country. And the blue sky and bright sun have fooled Mother nature, as flowers are beginning to bud, and trees will soon begin to blossom long before either should ever happen. That's caused some problems. This early spring-lik- e weather has been painful, with May showers in the middle of February, coupled with early run-of- f, causing some disasterous flooding in Utah County and in other parts of the state. :ie warmer weather also gives an interesting slant to Utah's favorite winter passtime - skiing. Spring ski weather in February is a novelty. But without some new snow, all this sun will make the slopes pretty rugged before the season ends. But it's a good bet the blue skies won't last. This is not a plea to pay attention to the old sayings about March coming in like a lion. If the current weather trend continues, the year's third month's en-trance will indeed be much more like a lamb. But it would be a good time to remember that Utah County's weather is fickle --- especially in the springtime. It's a good thing to remember that spring has not arrived in Utah County until it snows and the tem-perature climbs to over 70 degrees in the same hour. And it usually does that sometime in June. Until then, enjoy the sun and carry an umbrella. Cereal shopping is serious business grassroots I ? ' VtVlfffirll Copyright 1986 Becky Grass Johnson They are out to get you, one way or another. Your taste buds have been targeted by cereal manufacturers everywhere.. It takes only one stroll down the cereal aisle of the supermarket to discover that there have been cereals created for everyone. I can tell you right now that the safest way to walk the cereal aisle is without kids. There are cereals shaped like stars, alphabets and numbers. The most beloved cartoon characters decorate the outsides of the boxes. These cereals are strategically placed at children's eye level on the grocery shelves. While mom is busy reading the nutritional value of Crunchy Bran, the kids are busy loading the cart with all the cereals that laboratory rats died on. J There have been reports that' laboratory test rats actually did better on the cardboard boxes the cereal was packaged in than the; cereal itself. (So they didn't live as. long. ..they died smiling! ) If the bright colors and cartoon promotionals don't get them, the their Christmas toys if only they can have the free trick mirror, spy decoder ring or magic magnifying glass. The last prize we found in the cereal was a wall-walke- r. A wall-walk-is a sticky, rubber blob that looks like a cross between an oc-topus and a spider. It was simply delightful to watch as the kids threw it against the refrigerator and stared as it crawled down the door, leaving a slimy trail behind it. Not only does a wall-walk- look and. feel disgusting, it glows in the dark. What a hit! And just why is it that in a box of cereal large enough to feed 37 people, there is only one spy decoder ring? Doesn't the manufacturer know that as many as five small spies can live under the same roof? This situation has caused incidents of international proportion at our breakfast table! Cereal companies are out to get the big kids too. Ask any dieter and they can tell why "you can't pinch an inch,'" or what "fills them up, not out." Every jock knows which cereal is "the breakfast of cha-mpions." Even all the back-to-natu-consumers have been enticed by cereals filled with nuts, raisins and bran. If you watch t.v. commercials it doesn't take you long to realize that if you don't pack granola snacks on the family picnic, you are an unfit parent. All the hoopla of the advertising world has no effect on me. I'll continue buying the boring basics Those are the cereals that you have to put your own sugar and on. Sometimes, you even have to cook them. My favorite is oatmeal. The most exciting thing about oatmeal are the suspicious, little lumps. There are no prizes in an oatmeal box, just coupons for more oatmeal. Now that's boring! ' But I'll stay with oatmeal just the same. Mom always used to say, "Eat your oatmeal. It's good to you. It'll stick to your ribs." And you know what? Not only does it stick to your ribs, but to the tables, chairs and floors as well Now that's got to be good for you! by BECKI GRASS JOHNSON marvelous, surprise prize inside will! I used to think that keeping baby from squeezing bananas and eating grapes in the produce section was a trick!' Now the. test of.skill is keeping junior from doing a double, somersault, half-twi- st out of the cart as he lunges for the box of Crunchios with the surprise prize inside! There is something about a prize at the bottom of the Crunchios that makes the kids ready to hock all (letters to J More money needed to support education for Utah children Editor: I am a high school biology teacher (n the Alpine District, and a mother of three children. We are not native to Utah, but there's no place we'd rather live. Utah's solid family life offers us the best kids you'll find anywhere. What baffles me is the con-tradiction between values and budget. Most Utah people agree that children are our greatest we'll pay the price. Why, then, is Utah willing to accept, minimum mind-savin- g facilities? Education has also made great strides - stimulating interest -- - focusing on individual needs -- providing long-ter- memory ex-periences - balancing with right-braine- d thinking - all at a price. These advances cannot be mainstreamed in an atmosphere of minimum budget. resource. Many acknowledge that the glory of God is intelligence. But that standard is not backed up with funds. How can we praise the value of youth in our churches while we plan for school budget in our legislature? Utah's present financial philosophy refutes our value system. Medical advances have made great strides in saving lives, at tremendous costs. Although prices have doubled - tripled - quadrupled - no one dares to challenge the value of better-testin- g facilities, better monitoring, better surgical technique. If it saves peoples' lives, I urge you to stand up for Utah's greatest resource, and to confirm Utah's value of intelligence. Stand up for kindergarten - stand up for career ladder - stand up for lower class size - stand up for the best equipment and media. We don't insult the doctors' in-telligence by asking them to use 1930's. medical technique. Stand up for educational intelligence and fight for drastic budget increases. Let Utah rise to take a lead in of-fering the best education in the nation. --Cynthia Otto Orem Editor conventioned out after St. George the editor's column CSC We are sorry to report that for the' second time in over three years, Mr.' Haddock is not able to produce his, weekly column. j The poor man tried hard, too hard in fact. But after he had stared at the computer screen for two hours without typing a word, we decided to! give him a break. We don't feel it is any shame that; he just couldn't get a column, or, anything else, for that matter, put; together this week. Everybody has' an off day. Of course, the last time this' happened he had a good reason.: After all, it was election week, and elections are hard on everyone. This week, Mr. Haddock's excuse is quite a bit weaker. It seems he! was conventioning this weekend with other members of the press -- and he still isn't himself. You wouldn't think that three days' in St. George would affect someonej so, especially someone who does not; partake of alcoholic spirits. On the other hand, Mr. Haddock' did overindulge at the dinner table," as well as the breakfast and lunch! table. (It was even reported to usi that he made the rounds after dinner Saturday and snatched uneaten! Jelly Bellys off of other tables,) collecting a large number of the jelly And he was suffering notably from a swelling in the cranial region which started Saturday evening. It seems they give awards at these things - nothing important, mind you. But Mr. Haddock is so com-petitive. I mean, he cheats at Scrabble and mercilessly bankrupts his own children just to win a game of Monopoly. And it's been rumored that he memorized all of the answers in Trivial Pursuit just so no one could ever beat him. So these silly little contests mean a lot to him, even if they don't mean diddly to his readers. It was bad enough that his newspaper won the general ex-cellence award for the second time in a row, and the third time since he started editing the newspaper. That gave his ego a boost that wouldn't quit. But when three editorials he wrote took all the awards in the editorial writing competition, there was no stopping the man. His wife reports that he even showed his plaques to the diners in the restaurant where he stopped to eat on his way back from St. George. It was more than any of us in the office could stand. Finally, after three days away from home our editor exhibitec some of the classic symptoms i sensory deprivation. Out of to presence of his household of sii children, he lived in a world devoic of noise. Sleep was impossible without i baby crying in the next room,. Aid despite the prodigious amounts i food Mr. Haddock ingested at tin convention, he reported thai Ih dining area was too quiet, and to digestion was hampered. We just got so tired of him we sent the poor man home - where he could enjoy some of the home-gr-noises that he missed during to brief vacation, and we could enjoj some peace in the office. We wanted to give him time for ll swelling of his head to subsides! that he might to return to his mo common state of manic-depressi-behavior, punctuated with a health; dose of paranoia and cynicism- - required condition of all wkl! newspaper editors. When he comes back to work, to new hat may even fit him again. Really, it was nice to get him1 of the office for a while. Thingsseeff to run much smoother when I"5 gone. We're regret to announce, however, that he will return n week. By MAItC HADDOCK-- By THE STAFF beans before the waitresses asked him to leave.) And then there was the sun. After leaving a cloud-covere- d Utah County, Mr. Haddock found himself under the harsh glare of old Sol during his stay in southern Utah, and then returned only to more sunlight. Part of his condition could, then, be attributed to sun stroke. Legislature mulls fate of unclaimed animals By E. MARK BEZZANT Shall or may? That is the question currently before the Utah Legislature dealing with the use of animals for experimentation. The current law states that city pounds "must" sell animals not claimed by owners for medical research rather than put the animal "to sleep." Researchers are concerned that if city pounds are not required to sell the unwanted animals that there will be a shortage of animals available for research. One would initially wonder why there would be ' a shortage since the city would lose t revenue by not selling the animals for research, but apparently there is other money involved. I asked Animal Control Officer Kurt Bean how the proposed change : would affect Pleasant Grove, and what the city's position was on the bill before the legislature. Officer Bean indicated that a man from the University of Utah comes down every Tuesday morning to see if the city has any dogs that they could use. The University will pay the city $14 per dog and $10 per cat. They prefer dogs that weight 45 or 50 pounds. The city usually sells between 40 and 50 dogs to the University of Utah per year. Since July, the University has purchased about 25 dogs from the city pound. They have purchased no cats. Officer bean stated that they buy hundreds of cats from Orem City, as well as hundreds of dogs. Officer Bean indicated that the alternative for the animals is to be put to "sleep" by injection to the heart. In a typical year he said that between 500 and 1000 dogs are disposed of per year at the city pound. He also indicated that he puts more cats away than dogs. However, before the animal is killed, the animal is kept at the pound three working days to give the owner a chance to claim the animal. The carcass of the dead animal is taken to Orem where a company picks them up for recycling into fertilizer, soap, car seats, etc. Pleasant Grove pays $30 per month to Orem to handle the dead animals. Officer bean indicated that he favored the use of animals for research from both a humane and economic view point. He stated that the animals are well taken care of at the University and are kept in a very healthy condition for the researach. He also indicated that it sayes the city a lot of money because he does not have to take the time to inject the animals. Officer Bean also said that it reduces the risk of being hurt by the larger dogs in an attempt to inject them at the pound. Regardless of the outcome of the bill before the legislature, Officer Bean sees no change in Pleasant Grove's policy to make pound animals available for research. The League of Cities and Towns, which represents city views favors changing the "shall" to "may" thus giving the cities their choice. in in 1 1mmii 1 1 in i in ii i ii 1 1 ii 1 1 in i ii mi 1 1 in 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 l iCC' mm E Utah County's Distributor TV AltematOFS : E for ARP on electrical "xJVfek. 1 anri E E alternators & starters vrlvY E S for all foreign or domestic jS" StdlteTS E E autos, trucks & mobile homes ; for Imports - I ENGINES Vs$JP $20 i These Japanese engines . sjs. have less than 10,000 Automotive E miles on them and are ReP,ocement Part complete with wires, pAJ E alt., starter, carb., sen- - ding unit, water pump, llf Z fan belt works. UMll L S S-i- 9 595 Aomotive Service j E 1S88CC 445 E. 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