Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 20, 1999)
\ EDITOR Erin Gibson OPINION EDITOR Cliff Hicks EDITORIAL BOARD Nancy Christensen Brad Davis Sam McKewon Jeff Randall Bret Schulte Our VIEW Dirty cash Olympic bribery has marred sports Money talks, and its message can be seductive. That seduction includes the promise of wealth, fortune or favors for those who choose to listen to it. But just as clean money helps America’s citizens and its programs, dirty money can kill. Its victims: those who fall from their pedestals because of corruption or greed. Dirty money’s latest target: the very basic foundation of America’s pastimes and athlet ic endeavors - sportsmanship. No better example exists in today’s news than the plight of those members of die com mittee to bring the 2002 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City. And what a plight they have brought themselves to. The Olympics, a symbol of achievement and excellence in sportsmanship, has been irrevocably-marred because of that commit tee’s foiled plan to bribe officials on the International Olympic Committee, which is in charge of selecting the sites. Part of that plan was to literally “grease the wheels” by giving the IOC members cars. Others got their children’s college tuition paid, utners got mgn-pncea prostitutes to help make the decision of picking a city a lit tle bit easier. Salt Lake City got the Olympics. Surely, the bribes had something to do with it. They didn’t get away with it, either, as the committee members responsible have been ousted and Salt Lake City may lose the event. It’s easy to see IOC members were bribed but unconscionable to condone. The Olympics brings hundreds of millions of dol lars to a city. There was a city wide celebration in Atlanta Mien it was awarded the Summer Olympics in 1996. It’s worldwide recognition that a city is one of the best. Which makes this all the more sad. A little of Olympic spirit is gone with this scandal, as is the pride of those who live in Salt Lake City. Along with it goes some of our trust in athletes. But the question is begged: Should we trust them? Money seems to be the central issue in all of sports. The NBA almost didn’t have a sea son because of it. Notre Dame, Arizona State and Northwestern all had players purposely play poorly because they’re paid to do so by gamblers. With every incident of point shav ing, America’s wariness of athletes goes up. It’s appropriate to write this editorial now, for we stand only five days from single biggest day of gambling in our history - the Super Bowl in Miami. Millions will wager money on the game, some of those wagering millions by themselves. With the current news as it is, one won ders what would happen if Jamal Anderson fumbles a ball or John Elway throws a bad pass. Were they seduced by money to do it? What if the referees make the wrong call? Were they seduced? We hope not. But the fact that the question might enter our minds is a small defeat for America, and an unfortunate victory for dirty cash. Editorial Policy - Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the spring 1999 Daily Nebraskan. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its employees, its student body or the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. A column is solely the opinion of its author. The Board of Regents serves as pubfisher of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Tne UNL Publications Board, established by the regents, supervises the production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its student employees. latter Policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor and guest columns, but does not guarantee their pubfication. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject any material submitted. Submitted material becomes property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be published. Those who submit letters must identify themselves by name, year in school, major and/or group affiliation, if any.. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 , Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln, NE. 68588-0448. E-mail: letters@unlinfo.unl.edu. Babin’s VIEW DN LETTERS Problems outweighed In response to professor Gerry Harbison’s column, “Kingly considera tions,” Mr. Harbison seems a little con fused about the purpose of celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. It is not an academic holiday, we are not cel ebrating King the scholar, we are cele brating King the leader, and the civil rights movement as a whole. What King did as a student has no bearing on what he did for the rest of his life. Furthermore, I’d be very careful about calling King a fraud. Tell me, was he a fraud when he went to prison for organizing the Birmingham protests? Was he a fraud when he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of die Lincoln Memorial? Let’s try to keep our eye on the ball here. Any harm caused by King’s pla giarism is insignificant compared to the amount of good he did for our society. It is sobering when you think of where we might still be if it were not for his work, and the work of those like him, and a holiday is the very least we can do to show our appreciation. j • • JakeWobig sophomore political science and international affairs Irrelevant point I won’t dispute Professor Harbison’s claim that Martin Luther King Jr. borrowed (plagiarized?) many of his writings from the works of oth ers. Neither do I confirm it In my view, it is largely an irrelevant issue. If he did so and did not properly credit the origi nal authors, then this was wrong. But when we celebrate MLK day, the focus is not on Dr. King’s academic career or . where he may have obtained the words he spoke. Rather, we celebrate die truth he spoke about and the power of his ideas, which belong to everyone. These include the ideas of unity instead of division, forgiveness instead of hatred and peace instead of attack. An idea owned by one person is a weak idea indeed. But an idfea which is shared becomes/ . stronger, and all who hold the J idea share its power equally. Tom Mariey professor of mathematics and statistics Impact over implications While I agree with Dr. Harbison’s opinion on the academic career of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I disagree with the premise that it is grounds not to celebrate a day in his honor. The King hpliday is to honor Dr. King’s contribution to the civil rights move ment and not his pursuit of academic rigor. His scholarship may be ques tionable but the impact his leadership had on the civil rights movement is not. Let those of us that appreciate the strides that have been made and hope for greater strides in the future cele brate Dr. King’s birthday. This is a free country; you can do whatever you like on that day. Bill Clarke graduate student chemistry Show some respect In observation of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, I attended Dr. Bertice Berry’s speech at the Lied Center. She gave an amazing presen tation, and I learned a lot, but unfortu nately, that is not the topic of my letter. I was sitting with some friends, when a group of 25 fraternity men dressed in suits sat down in the fifth and part of the sixth row. No more than ten minutes into Dr. Berry’s speech, 12 of the men were slouched over in their seats ... SLEEPING. This was one of the rudest things I’ve ever witnessed. They were obviously from a fra ternity (because I knew some of the members), so I could easily say that these men represent all fraternity men. Luckily, I know many people in the greek system who are not like these men, so I will not make such assumptions. However, other students may. Dr. Berry’s Speech was informa tive and entertaining, and I learned a lot about racism in our society. These men could have learned a great deal too, if they had been awake. Maybe they should have taken note of a 6 year-old girl sitting nearby - she had no problem paying attention. Sleeping during the speech showed indiffer ence and lack of respect toward Dr. Berry and her message. The action of these men reflects poorly on their house, the greek system, and the NU community. Angie Buescher senior broadcasting