State-of-the-art venues lack history, alienate fans

I’ll never forget the first time I walked into Wrigley Field in Chicago.

On the ground level, surrounded on all four sides by neighborhoods created out of love for the Chicago Cubs, the first thing that revealed itself to me wasn’t the ivy on the outfield wall or the perfectly sculpted dirt forming the infield.

It was the smell.

Like walking into an old saw mill, the aroma of history — combined with years of leftover vomit, beer and urine — wafted through the crowd’s nostrils with an equal tenacity toward support and admiration of the North Siders.

It was exactly what I wanted.

Regardless of the alleged curse currently haunting the Cubs — no World Series appearances since 1945, no World Series championships since 1908 — the fans of Chicago continue to sell out their most hallowed of grounds.

It’s a shame this trend looks like it’s over.

More often, sports franchises opt for newer, state-of-the-art stadiums in lieu of retaining emblems of their history, by far the biggest factor in establishing any type of home field advantage.

Entire generations of fans have looked forward to the day when they could introduce their children to the same, almost cult-like worship of their hometown team in their hometown stadium.

It’s exactly what pumped through my veins the first time I entered the Louisiana Superdome.

As a die-hard Saints fan, I can’t fully explain the meaning of the Superdome to anyone who hasn’t followed the sport. Others might think I’m either wasting my time following a “meaningless” activity or even suggest I need a little more church.

On Sundays during football season, the Superdome is church.

But like many other churches, the popularity of “old school” is being replaced with high-tech mega-behemoths.

Since 1999, 10 stadiums, labeled state-of-the-art, have been constructed for NFL teams. Two of those arenas house this Sunday’s Super Bowl participants, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals.

Both Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field, which hosts the Steelers, and Glendale’s more recently built University of Phoenix Stadium — housing the Arizona Cardinals — serve as a stark reminder of just how obsessed sports teams are, not with cultivating and nurturing a fan base but with eliminating any semblance of tradition and history.

The latest obscenity of technology lies in Indianapolis, as the Colts opened Lucas Oil Stadium for its inaugural season last fall. The project was estimated to cost up to $720 million, forcing local counties around the area to raise taxes to supplant the $100 million the Colts put up as a franchise.

Like most other SOTAS, the stadium comes with more than a hundred corporate suites.
ESPN.com’s “The Sports Guy,” Bill Simmons wrote a column last November about how SOTAS destroy home-field advantage by forcing its fans to adhere to the changes and to try to redevelop a tradition to last with the team. He verbalized his discontent by claiming Lucas Oil Stadium was nothing more than “the latest state-of-the-art football venue that seems much more interested in looking cool and making money over, you know, actually helping its home team win games.”

It’s this fear that worries me about the future of sports and, most importantly for University students, the upcoming baseball season.

There was no shortage of people attending baseball games at the old Alex Box Stadium. The University even holds the record for most in a season, with 291,676 catching a game in 2003.

The new Alex Box Stadium will house 8,500 seats. The old stadium eclipsed this number five times, despite its capacity of 7,760. It will feature more than four times more space dedicated to restrooms and 5,100 square feet for an arcade, suites, a club lounge and a hall of fame — all brand new additions to LSU baseball.

While 9-year-olds have the chance to ignore the game while pumping quarters by the hundreds into LSU’s Athletic Department, those of us with memories of LSU baseball are understandably miffed.

After losing the 2003 Super Regional to LSU, Baylor head coach Steve Smith commented on what made his experience at old Alex Box memorable.

“I want to commend what I truly believe may be the premiere crowd in all of college baseball — that is a special, special crowd out there. I want to say that the way the fans have responded all weekend to just excellence and outstanding play leads me to believe that they truly do appreciate the difficulty of playing this game. I’m glad to have our players play in front of a crowd that I truly believe appreciated their performance.”

Regardless of the distractions to the game, the fans are what makes a team unique.
Stadiums don’t make dynasties. They simply make money.


Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

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SG class project beautifies ignorance of problems

Three inspiring University halls will soon be shaded by stately, yet unnecessary oaks.

The area outside of Dodson Auditorium will soon host a brand new courtyard, complete with oak trees, a vast lawn area and a money-making scheme to perpetuate future senior class gifts.

Intended as a way for the class of 2009 to “leave their mark” on the University, the proposed Dodson courtyard will feature purchasable and engravable bricks, ranging in price from $75 to $100, meant to fund the class of 2010’s future project.

The courtyard raises many concerns, from the source of funding to the absence of a substantial idea to improve — not merely “beautify” — our campus.

First, the courtyard would only be accessible from the parking lot connecting Stubbs and Audubon halls to Lockett Hall. An area to relax in such a congested space will only intensify the foot and car traffic, creating many more problems in an already claustrophobia-inducing campus.

The parking garage — a long-awaited yet incomplete vision for decreasing traffic problems — includes moving the African-American Cultural Center and the Women’s Center.

Postponed by delays involving Highland and Pentagon dining facilities, the parking garage would also house the University bookstore, freeing up space for other student activities and organizations within the Student Union.

With the Union’s renovation behind schedule — now scheduled for completion in April 2011, according to a Daily Reveille report on Jan. 15 — plans for a parking garage are on hold, further congesting campus.

Second, the University was already aiming to renovate the Dodson courtyard into something more useful than a strip of grass with port-o-potties. When SG came up with the plans for the Class Gift Project, the University jumped at the chance to pass the buck to the students.

“The University was only looking for funding, and the students provided a real way to pay for it,” Dennis Mitchell, campus landscape architect, told The Daily Reveille.

The final problem is SG’s lack of interest in student opinion on how fees are used.

The Dodson courtyard idea was funded by the SG Initiatives Account and the SG Surplus Account.

The Daily Reveille’s Editorial Board endorsed the SG Class Gift Project after initial hesitance about spending more than $70,000 of student money.

“If SG has to spend $70,000,” the Editorial Board wrote Nov. 18 when the bill passed, “given the rules that attend student fees earmarked for SG expenses, SG often does have to spend that money or risk losing it — we’re glad the money will be spent on ... something tangible, generous and relevant to students.”

While criticizing the spirit of giving back to the University can be viewed as mean-spirited, the fact remains SG did not give students the option of spending this surplus money.

SG is remedying this handicap, following a cue from the Ivy League.

In a broadcast e-mail sent by the Student Senate Tuesday, SG asked for student opinion on how to spend $5,000 of student fees.

“Out of all of the ideas submitted, the Student Senate Temporary Student Initiative Committee will narrow them down and check to see which ideas are feasible. The 3 top ideas will be placed on the Spring Election Ballot, and YOU, the students, will be able to vote on which idea you want your $5,000 spent on,” according to the e-mail.

SG is coming up $65,000 short.

Real change to the University cannot occur with this paltry sum. But if a contest was devised to figure out a way to spend a substantial sum of money — like $70,000 — the produced ideas wouldn’t seem like a lazy attempt at leaving a legacy.

Most students are only concerned with earning their degrees and leaving the University to join the rest of the working world.

SG could make a counterargument, since many in the Senate could claim the body has every right to employ what it feels are the best wishes of the students.

Reality check for SG. The Senate has 14 vacant seats, according to the SG Web site.

No wonder student opinion is underrepresented.



Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

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America will awaken from Bush-inspired nightmare

Almost a decade ago, we stood at the crossroads of the 21st century. We were given the choice between the second-in-command to an adulterer and a man labeling himself a “compassionate conservative.”

Through the hardships associated with scandal, we chose the latter, wondering whether or not we would be satisfied.

But we were not satisfied.

We were not satisfied by the lack of eloquence, as new words like “misunderestimated,” “nucular,” and “Hispanically” forced their way into our lexicon.

We were not satisfied by the newest of these terms, “bushism,” defined as any statement uttered by a president with a less-than-exemplary command of the English language.

We were not satisfied when tax cuts to the wealthiest of Americans were delivered with the ease of hush money from the mob.

We were not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until someone holds those continuing to subvert our Constitution accountable for their actions.

With every fault, every screw-up, every assertion of righteousness, the fear of the unknown swept our collective consciousness, culminating in an attack on our homeland.

The 9/11 attacks served as a wake-up call to the realities of 21st century planet Earth.

The fact of the matter made itself heard, loud and clear.

America is not No. 1.

America is merely one of hundreds of countries worldwide.

America, however, wasn’t ready to throw down its guns and figure out pathways through the complexities of its new world. We weren’t ready to throw down our grudges and speak honestly about solutions to the new problems of our world.

We were merely ready to throw down with our world.

Combining our unrelenting rage with the administration’s unrelenting accusations about Iraq — with a pinch of journalistic ineptitude — Americans heard exactly what they needed to hear.

And by April 2003, we were a nation at war.

Consumed with the worst of ourselves, confident not in the arsenal of our virtues but in the virtue of our arsenal, we anxiously awaited the fruits of our military spending — financed with our taxes — exploding through the lenses of high definition in real time.

As the great Dr. King turned over in his grave, we ceased to “conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline,” but in the mud and the muck of our inner demons.

We had a nightmare.

It was a nightmare engrained within the fabric of our collective being, forged together by the slings and arrows of those who would deny other human beings their basic civil liberties.

It was a nightmare stretching as far as the Middle East, permanently scarring our vision for democracy, our love of freedom and the value of our fellow man.

If the nighttime is darkest before the day, the past eight years were the epicenter of a black hole.

But the dawn is coming.

The dawn of a new America will feature the birth of a new accountability, where our leaders will not be selected by the content of their last names but by the color of their imaginations and the strength of their moral fiber.

America will stress the virtues of reason, temperance and moderation, not the previously held convictions inspired by a generation of yes men.

America will reassert those basic claims of the value of mankind, however tired or vibrant, however patriotic or dissenting.

America will learn the true definition of patriotism — the marriage of equal parts praise and criticism, joining a shared sense of responsibility to our fellow brothers and sisters.

All of us, with the same hearts, lungs, kidneys and minds will embrace this new America, where being “proud to be American” falls flat in the test of honor.

We must be proud to be alive. We must be proud to be here, on this Earth we all occupy.

We must be proud to be human beings.

We have seen the disasters of our new world, from prisoner abuse to the politicization of an entire government department, from the evils of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay to the live, worldwide broadcast of an entire city’s drowning.

We have also seen our hailed free market philosophies make way for insatiable greed and unregulated self-indulgence, as the country shudders at today’s outlook had our president successfully privatized Social Security.

But the dawn is coming.

The dawn will feature a new interest in technology and science, discovery and patience, confidence and possibility.

The dawn will only come when we all wake up to it. When the nightmare fades into memory, our minds will clear the waste, leaving only the possibility to imagine what can be.

Dream at last! Dream at last! Thank whomever you want, we can dream at last!

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

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Always destruction of small businesses - always

“They’re like locusts. They’re moving from planet to planet, their whole civilization. After they’ve consumed every natural resource they move on.”
“And we’re next.”

When President Whitmore’s (Bill Pullman) mind is ensnared by the alien kept hostage at Area 51 in the movie “Independence Day,” he is informed of the alien plot to take over and destroy the planet.

The movement he describes above could just as easily be applied to Wal-Mart.

On the one hand, Wal-Mart provides the lowest prices on so many goods to the point of giving customers a one-stop shopping experience, with everything they need from bullets and rifles to frozen turkeys.

On other hand, Wal-Mart sucks the life out of local communities. People routinely avoid their local small business in favor of the conglomerate’s low prices.

It’s bad enough only half of Wal-Mart’s employees have health insurance, let alone earn enough wages to support a two-person family.

It’s bad enough Wal-Mart is routinely investigated for, among other things, violating child labor laws, prohibiting the organization of unions and locations so close to national monuments you’d think they were their own emblem of the history and culture of an area.

But where else is one to go for affordable boxer briefs?

The largest private employer in the world was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton, who originally opened his store under the moniker “Walton’s Five and Dime.” He achieved early success by slowing his rate of price markup, routinely offering lower prices on goods and services than his neighborhood counterparts.

As Wal-Mart’s business model became overwhemingly profitable, so spread the building of Supercenters nationwide and around the world. In 2006, The Wall Street Journal estimated Wal-Mart attracts more than 100 million customers a week in the U.S.
Nearly a third of the U.S. population shops at Wal-Mart each week.

Criticism of Wal-Mart is not in short supply. In fact, the phrase “Criticism of Wal-Mart” has its own separate page on Wikipedia. Also, no shortage of documentaries, books and exposés exist on the subject.

PBS created its own debate about Wal-Mart in the 2007 documentary “Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town,” in which they expose the retailer’s employee wage shortfalls. In the U.S., only the Federal government employs more people, yet the majority of Wal-Mart employees with children live under the poverty line.

Wal-Mart has been sued repeatedly for “predatory pricing,” or intentionally selling their products at lower costs to drive competitors out of the market.

A lawsuit in Arkansas, centering on Wal-Mart’s use of “loss leaders” — when a company encourages business by selling products at lower cost than their value — was settled by the Arkansas Supreme Court, who ruled in favor of the retailer, denying claims of predatory pricing.

Similar lawsuits in Oklahoma and Wisconsin were settled out of court, with no admission of wrongdoing by Wal-Mart.

During 2008, as many companies experienced lethal layoffs and abysmal losses, Wal-Mart was — for the time being — one of the few profitable companies in the world.

Fast forward to Jan. 7, when evidence of Wal-Mart’s influence on the entire world market inspired the Associated Press’s headline, “World stocks tumble on Wal-Mart’s profit warning.”

Wal-Mart slashed its fourth quarter earnings estimates after December sales rose only 1.7 per cent after fuel costs, much worse than forecasters initially predicted.

With the economy as bad as it is, many people last year turned to Wal-Mart for all of their low cost needs. Inside their halls, customers were treated to disingenuous signs like “Buy American.”

Considering Wal-Mart imports more than 80 percent of its goods from overseas — many produced in third-world sweatshops — it forces one to call shenanigans.

But the biggest problem with Wal-Mart isn’t the lawsuits, the allegations or even the price control.

Its biggest problem is guilt.

Even the most avid anti-Wal-Mart activists have to make signs and banners for their protests to continue the cause. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart provides the cheapest prices for markers, wood, paper and plastic.

Where do you think protestors go to purchase their anti-corporate materials? The place with the cheapest price, affording them more signs.

It’s tough to know the allegations against Wal-Mart and still utilize their low prices, contradicting everything they stand for. The feeling of shame associated with saving money regardless of moral and ethical dilemmas can drive people to the brink of insanity.

Instead, a solution to this problem was afforded by our reliable President Whitmore, saving us the time and energy of lobbying and protesting the corporate behemoth.

“Nuke ‘em. Let’s nuke the bastards.”

It didn’t work in the movie, but I can’t think of an alternative.


Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

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Illinois surpasses Louisiana as corruption capital

Living in Louisiana is a lot like being on Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras: none of the abundant, scandalous activity surprises anyone — only because everyone looks like they’re having a great time.

It’s a good way to describe the corruption in this state, although the corruption crown has shifted slightly further up the Mississippi River.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested and indicted for trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder. Blagojevich was quoted as saying, “I’ve got this thing, and it’s fucking golden. I’m not giving it up for fucking nothing,” according to wiretaps taken by the FBI.

In addition to threatening to withhold millions in Medicaid reimbursements to a children’s hospital if the CEO failed to contribute $50,000 to his campaign fund, the embattled governor is also accused of planning extortion and trying to force the Chicago-based Tribune Company to fire editorial writers in exchange for a tax break allegedly worth $100 million.

The Illinois House of Representatives impeached Blagojevich — 114 to 1, with one member voting ‘present’ — and at the time of this column, he awaits trial from the Illinois Senate.

In lieu of resigning his position, the governor instead appointed former state Attorney General Roland Burris, 71, to fill the vacant Senate seat. The appointment caused a predictable stir around the Capitol and across the mainstream media, as the race card once again showed its ugly face in the form of Rep. Bobby Rush, asking the media “not to hang or lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointor,” while calling the U.S. Senate “the last bastion of plantation politics,” according to The Associated Press.

The media circus sparked by Blagojevich’s actions brings Illinois — yes, Illinois — back to its true place atop the corruption echelon in America.

A columnist hailing from the home state of Huey P. Long and Edwin Edwards is claiming — nay, asserting — that Illinois was, is and will continue to be the most corrupt state in the nation’s history.

According to Time Magazine, Blagojevich is the first governor in Illinois history to be impeached but is the sixth Illinois governor to be subject to arrest or indictment.

His predecessor, George Ryan, was convicted in April 2006 on 18 felony counts, including racketeering conspiracy, mail and tax fraud and lying to the FBI. The former governor was exposed for trading truck operators’ licenses for political contributions, as well as exchanging government favors for family vacations, tickets to events and other gifts.

Ironically, when Blagojevich was elected governor, becoming the first Democrat to be elected governor of Illinois in 30 years, he pledged to end a “Republican legacy of corruption, mismanagement and lost opportunities.”

Illinois corruption dates back to the 1920s, when former Gov. Lennington Small was charged with embezzling over $1 million in state funds.

Small went on trial in 1922 but was acquitted and would serve seven more years in office, of course after giving state jobs to four jurors from the trial.

Otto Kerner was indicted and convicted in 1973 of bribery, conspiracy, income tax evasion, mail fraud and perjury, stemming from deals made with a horse racing association, promising favorable race dates in exchange for $356,000 worth of stock.

Dan Walker became governor the year Kerner was convicted but left office to start a savings and loan business, only to be indicted for making $1.4 million in fraudulent loans to provide maintenance to his private yacht.

After his death in 1970, former Ill. Secretary of State Paul Powell — no relation to Colin — had his house raided, only to find shoeboxes full of checks, totaling more than $800,000, made out by Illinois residents thinking they were paying license registration fees.

Also found in space he rented: 49 cases of whiskey, 14 transistor radios and two cases of creamed corn. When it was all settled in 1978, his estate was estimated to be worth $4.6 million, including $1 million in racetrack stock.

Considering he was in public office for 42 years, never earning more than $30,000 a year, Powell lived the fullest of his personal motto: “There’s only one thing worse than a defeated politician, and that’s a broke one.”

Only the coming weeks will tell whether Blagojevich will resign from office or be forced out by the Illinois Senate. But the day Robert Grant of the FBI’s Chicago office announced Blagojevich’s indictment, he said, “If [Illinois] isn’t the most corrupt state in the United States, it’s certainly one hell of a competitor.”

Bad news for Illinois: If corruption were a baseball player, Illinois would be Barry Bonds.

Originally published in The Daily Reveille...

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