Tuesday, November 13, 2001

Some issues have long lives
Presented below is a multitude of meanderings presented for your mental manipulation. Enjoy!

2000 Election

It was one year ago last week that the 2000 Presidential Election ended in a virtual tie. You can bet that Florida will do its very best to ensure that they are not in the public eye like that ever again (and they thought the Elián Gonzalez thing was bad).

Amazingly, some newspapers were still yammering over the Florida election results as recently as September, and it was not until the Sept. 11 attacks that they stopped talking about it briefly, only to put it back in the newspapers yesterday. There is losing with grace, and then there’s being a sore loser.

Al Gore, to his credit, was able to let it go and his supporters should have followed his lead.

The World Series vs. The Emmys

No tie here! The seventh game of the World Series blew away the Emmys in the ratings. Sports drama vs. vacuous glitz: No contest.

Part of me wanted to root for the New York Yankees because of all the Sept. 11-related experiences they went through, but I just couldn’t do it. It just goes against the grain — like rooting for Satan or something (okay, maybe it isn’t quite that bad). I am glad that the Arizona Diamondbacks finally put them away, because the Yanks have 20-plus World Series championships, and that’s enough. I didn’t watch the Emmys, because I actually forgot they were on, but I heard that they toned it down.

ood for them.

Coach Billy Tubbs

Should TCU try to encourage men’s basketball coach Billy Tubbs to stay? You bet your Horned-Frog bobble-head statue they should! Tubbs’ high-octane offense is fun to watch, and it’s the closest thing in Fort Worth we have to pro-basketball.

I really hope that Tubbs’ team is able to go to the Big Dance this season, because I really want to see ‘Billyball’ for years to come. In such a scenario, it would be harder for the TCU powers-that-be to just let Tubbs go.

Perennial Parking Problem

I am a graduate student, but I am a TCU employee first. That means I get the Faculty/Staff parking sticker. The gathering at the Addison and Randolph Clark statues last Thursday over parking issues really struck a chord with me. I am irritated enough over so many faculty/staff spaces being converted to reserve spaces, but now I hear that we are going to lose even more spaces.

I pay for my sticker every August, so I want spaces available to me so that I can go to my job. Parking has always been a problem, but this is too much. If this keeps up, we might have to start parking on the sidewalks or the grass. Maybe Amon Carter Stadium should be opened up as a parking lot in the off-season.

Meal Plans and “Black Holes”

A story in the TCU Daily Skiff Nov. 8 reported that TCU students are required to get a meal plan if they live on-campus. The most bothersome part of this requirement is that any money not used by the end of the semester goes into a fund called the “black hole” where the money is spent elsewhere (it ain’t spent on making parking spaces, that’s for sure!).

This “black hole” concept makes TCU look tacky and greedy. However, I think I have hit upon a potential solution to this dilemma.

Instead of dumping extra meal money in a vague “black hole” fund, TCU should give students the option of donating the extra funds to local food banks, which have been hit lately by the poor economy. It would give the students a chance to do a good deed, and it would be good PR for TCU. It would be a win-win situation for all involved.

John P. Araujo is a Master of Liberal Arts major from Fort Worth.
He can be contacted at (j.araujo@tcu.edu).