Letters to the editorWho cares about the pros?
Editor:Why is the Don Antonio’s Sports Box section of the sports
page always
overflowing with statistics on professional sports leagues, with
so little
attention paid to college sports standings and rankings?
The NFL, for example, only plays on weekends and Mondays, and
thus, we
see the same statistics every day – boring. And while many
people get more
and more disenchanted by the excesses of professional sports,
our college
sports go neglected.
When was the last time I saw the national rankings of
women’s
volleyball? Those change every week and are essential, given the
high
quality team at UCLA.
When was the last time playoff brackets were shown for the
tournaments
for which men’s and women’s soccer qualified? Maybe the Sports
Box is
simply a paid advertisement by that eatery whose name it bears;
however,
excluding college sports standings is inexcusable for The Bruin,
and
professional statistics are simply BORING.
Patrick Burns
Graduate student
GeographyDie hard fans get the shaft
Editor:This is in response to Kimberly Babb’s letter ("Stand up,
sit down …,"
Nov. 20) regarding the poor spirited student section in the last
two home
exhibition basketball games. Perhaps what she didn’t realize is
that UCLA
has successfully eliminated the "real" student section.
If she looked closely, she would have noticed that where there
was once
a spirited student section (mid-court bleachers), there are now
alumni who
apparently paid big bucks to have reserved seats there. If she
looked even
closer, she would have noticed that the student section has been
pushed
over to where the band used to be, and the band is in the upper
blue
mid-court seats.
Now, don’t get me wrong, it is not Babb’s fault the student
section is
not as spirited as last year, but more likely UCLA or the
Central Ticket
Office, or whoever is responsible for the whole ticket
distribution and
seating this year. Not only has the student section been moved
in lieu of
wealthy alumni, but all the die-hard fans I know were unable to
get season
tickets this year.
Why, you ask? Because tickets were distributed on a lottery
system that
didn’t take into account the four years prior, where the diehard
fans went
to each and every game and slept out, even though UCLA’s
basketball team
wasn’t No. 1. All the system took into account was one’s ability
to pay for
both football and basketball season tickets, and of course, a
touch of luck
that one’s card would be picked.
Babb writes a short test to see if one belongs in the student
section. A
better test would be as follows:
1) Do you remember when you could approach the CTO window and
simply ask
for season tickets and have a choice between full season and
half season
(Plan A and Plan B)?
2) Do you remember when there were no line, no lottery and no
alumni
sitting in the student seats?
3) Do you remember sleeping out the night before the game with
not only
a midterm the next day, but shivering to death because it was so
cold and
rainy that you thought Noah and his animals would come floating
by?
If you can’t answer yes to these three questions, then I have
some
friends who would be willing to take some tickets off your
hands.
Finally, even though Babb has just become an alumna (’95), she
shouldn’t
be appalled by the students, but by her fellow alumni who have
successfully
stolen seats from students just because they have more
money.Eric Chien
Fifth year
Microbiology/molecular genetics
Electrical engineering
Editing error
Editor:In response to Wednesday, Nov. 22’s column, "Stirring the
alphabet
soup," I, Jenny Hsieh, as the author, would like to make
some
clarifications as to errors I saw in the final printed
version.
The words "It is wonderful to see distinct niches being provided
for
every conceivable type of Chinese person out there (otherwise,
everyone
could join any `Chinese’ clubs even if they were not Chinese)."
were
printed in place of what I had originally intended. It should
have read:
"It is wonderful to see distinct niches being provided for
every
conceivable type of persons, Chinese or otherwise, out there.
(Everyone
could join any `Chinese’ club even if they were not Chinese)." I
believe in
open access to student programs. I would be offended, too, if
someone
excluded me from their ethnic organization because I didn’t have
their skin
color.
The second part I wanted to clarify has to do with the words
"everyone,
that is, except `eggs’ – Caucasians who fit in the Asian scene
… pardon
the expression, I know I am being hypocritical by labeling." I
found it
questionable that I label when I advocate an end to labeling.
Therefore, I
changed that paragraph on my final submission to read "with the
exception
of those who are not of Chinese ancestry, then, of course, they
would bear
the unfortunate label of being an `egg’ … white on the
outside, and
yellow on the inside." Yet, due to an editing error, the final
version of
my words were not printed.
I take the misrepresentation of my ideas very seriously,
especially on a
topic as sensitive and as controversial as this one. This is my
attempt to
clarify on my behalf that the words that were printed were not
necessarily
reflective of my ideas.Jenny Hsieh
Daily Bruin
Columnist