Strong rally fuels intramural championship

Today I finished playing in my first real tennis tournament, with a 6-8, 6-2, 6-3 victory in the final championship match over my nemesis, the other Steven (with a different last name) in a marathon match that lasted three hours, five minutes. I don't think I've ever played in windier conditions in my life than what we had today. Talk about constant adjusting.

I feel like I can brag about this win because this is a new hobby I've been working on for awhile now, and this was the first competitive tennis I've played besides messing around with friends. Since they don't have baseball leagues for guys who are 20-years-old, I figure this must be the next best thing for competition. Heck, there are even 65-year-old people who play tennis in USTA leagues.

The only tennis lessons I have ever taken were when I was about 8 or 9 years old for like four weeks one summer at the Oxford Country Club. Wait...Oxford has a country club you ask? Exactly, that's how long ago it was. But I am planning on taking a tennis class in the fall. My serve is horrible! At least compared to everybody else's...

My ultimate goal is to someday be able to beat Andy Roddick (he would probably have to have two broken legs and a eye patch over his left eye for that to happen).

Collapse of the big media?

The spring issue of Wilson Quarterly touches on an interesting topic. It explores how the media has evolved over the last decade or so and how the American people are starved for real news nowadays.

I can definitely concur with the author that pack journalism is the rule of the day (laziness is what I call it), and television news has no doubt become sensational in every way. That's why we are now seeing TV network news stations cover these kidnappings and cases like Terri Schiavo and manhunts for sex offenders around the clock non-stop. It's riveting (for some). I would even dare to say that competition has so overwhelmingly become the ultimate factor that the news has been turned into "entertainment" (news-tainment).

The author seems to chastise editors and producers for hiring young "marketers" rather than "journalists," but I'm not sure they have much other choice. It's called competition or ratings, and if your product isn't as good or better than the other guy's then you're not going to sell adveterising and make money. The Clarion-Ledger created zoned editions last summer while I was there to provide community news for the three counties in the metro area, and while this may not be the best journalistic concept out there, it sure as heck is making a lot of money. I'm guessing that was the primary purpose for creating the zoned editions.

He is also correct in his assertion that the news has become little tidbits and quick hit type news, rather than the traditional in-depth features. I know that may not be the most appealing thing for the intelligent minds of America, but there there are a lot of media consumers who don't care for sitting down and spending 10-15 minutes reading a 1,500-2,000 word piece. They just want the "wham, bam, thank ya, ma'am!" quick hits, and much of this is due to the development of the Internet and wireless messaging. New technology has driven the market to want everything now now now. I'm not sure how long it will be before traditional in-depth reporting will return as the primary media product, but probably not anytime soon.

I think he is hitting on something with reaching the young market, those 18-34. It seems like when people are in college and when people just get out into the workforce they are at the point in their lives when they most tend to question everything, voice their own opinions without fear of recourse and develop their own perspectives on key issues in the world. That's why Fox News has become so popular among the younger crowd, because they have a lot of young people on there and they are constantly bringing in "experts" or the "insiders" to debate issues and argue back and forth about whose perspective is right. There is very little actual, force-fed news reporting on Fox, and young people seem to hate being told what to believe. They love bickering, because they do a lot of it themselves. There is
even an online Fox News fan group at Ole Miss with over 200 members, but there aren't any for the other news networks. (It may also be due to the fact that Fox's top news anchor,
Shepard Smith, is an Ole Miss graduate). The local TV stations are so strapped with not having enough reporters to do the job that they have to be sensational to grab attention.

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=wq.welcome

Barbour making progress; signs bill to allow display of religious texts

Governor Haley Barbour doesn't have much to hang his hat on so far during his reign atop Mississippi, but he finally made a bold, admirable move Thursday when he signed into law a bill that will allow religious texts to be displayed in public buildings.

Local boards will now be able to choose whether or not to display documents such as the Ten Commandments, the Beattitudes, or the "In God We Trust" posters. The latter have been hanging in all Mississippi classrooms since 2001. The bill follows a nasty incident in Alabama last year where a state leader lost his job because he refused to order the removal of a monument honoring the Ten Commandments at the state Capitol building.

The display of religious texts has become a national point of debate because of the Alabama mess, and the U.S. Supreme Court is set to make a ruling on the issue by late June.

Hopefully, our local, state and national leaders will follow the principles this nation was founded on — freedom and a high respect for God Almighty.

Razzano trial moves to fourth day

The aggravated assault trial of former Ole Miss fullback Rick Razzano continued Wednesday in Lafayette County Circuit Court with the prosecution presenting eyewitnesses of a fight that took place between Razzano and a former law student.

A grand jury indicted Razzano last June for allegedly slamming Paul Myers, 25, into a parked vehicle and then punching Myers in the head on a street curb until he was unconcsious. Myers was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-North Mississippi where he received stitches for a head injury and treated for a concussion before being released.

Razzano also faces three counts of misdemeanor simple assault in the April 3, 2004, incident. His wife, Leah, was charged with two counts of simple assault. Rick Razzano could receive up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the felony assault charge.

Assistant district attorney T.R. Trout on Wednesday called several witnesses of the incident to testify that Razzano was verbally abusive and aggressive toward Myers and eight of his friends who accompanied him. On cross examination, Farese argued that Razzano was enticed to react to taunts and threats made by Myers and his friends.

Myers and his sister, Marjorie, filed a civil suit against Razzano on April 1 seeking actual and punitive damages totaling $225,000 for personal injuries suffered in the altercation.

Braves minor league baseball in Mississippi...YES!

The Atlanta Braves' Double-A squad lost their eighth game in 11 tries Monday night. But why doesn't that matter? Because they made their home debut at their new ballpark in Pearl, Miss. Minor league baseball is finally back in the Magnolia State, and the icing on the cake is the fact that these guys are one breakout season away from jumping to Turner Field.

This is also great for the state of Mississippi. The Braves' only rival among the state's major league baseball fans is the Cardinals, and we already have their Triple-A team in Memphis. Perhaps Oxford's location only an hour from Memphis and a little over two hours from Pearl makes it the perfect place to live if you can't have a major league park nearby.

Also note that the M-Braves' designated hitter is Michael Rosamond. Sound familiar? It's probably because not too long ago the Madison native was launching baseballs out of Swayze Field at Ole Miss.

Don't expect this club to fold anytime soon, either, as previous minor league teams in the Mets and Astros' systems have done over at Smith Wills Stadium downtown. The M-Braves are locked into their contract at Trustmark Park for 20 years, and the Braves' fan base in Mississippi is strong enough to keep the turnstiles turning.

The DM runs white supremacist ad

An advertisement appearing in The Daily Mississippian today is promoting the suppression of minority groups because it says "diversity is a weakness, not a strenth." The ad claims that by the middle of this century, whites will be the minority in the U.S. and that "for whites to celebrate diversity is to celebrate their dwindling numbers and declining influence."

The organization, American Renaissance, is based in Oakton, Va., and claims to focus on how race shapes the development of world culture and politics. The 30-inch ad that ran in today's DM clearly shows their dissent for other ethnic groups. But check out the Web site — the main page has a bright red banner at the top welcoming Ole Miss students! It also gives links to articles it recently ran about the university!

I'm not sure if AmRen does these kinds of ad campaigns for universities across the country or if they picked a select few they thought were racist-minded. They are surely aware of the history of Ole Miss, whether or not it is still accurate, and they probably recall the strong support to keep Colonel Reb in place last year. They are probably also aware of the state's recent vote to keep the Confederate battle emblem in its state flag. Maybe we as Mississippians have brought this kind of attention on ourselves, who knows.

I also have to question the DM staff for allowing this type of ad run. Freedom of speech or not, this type of speech could cause the direct incitement of hate or perhaps violence and should not be tolerated. I want to assume that nobody checked this group out, but maybe the money was the most important factor. I don't know. I hope it was just a mistake. But it should be noted that the DM made over $200 from running the ad.

UPD caught engaging in extortion?

The University (MS) Police Department has always been known to be shady and in it for the money. To boil it down, the agency is essentially another fundraising arm of Ole Miss. Don't believe me?

Try asking six Ole Miss students who reportedly had their vehicles towed from the Ford Center parking lot Wednesday afternoon because the university wanted that space to be empty for an event being held later that night. Nevermind that the area is zoned open parking and the barriers around the parking lot did not go up until midday, well after class had already begun. I guess UPD expects students to magically know when to move their cars so that people who do not even attend Ole Miss can have their designated parking spaces.

Just to put this in perspective, each of those students had to pay $85 to retrieve their car from Shivers Towing. If they returned to their car while it was being loaded on a truck, they only had to pay $45.

We are....Ole Miss! We are....Ole Miss!

ASB gets interim attorney general

After an hour and a half Senate debate resulted in Caroline Dye's rejection as the nominee for attorney general Tuesday, recently-inaugurated ASB Presdient Rebecca Bertrand has named Ryan Williams as the interim attorney general.

Williams, who served as former President Gordon Fellows' AG, will oversee the upcoming senior class elections and serve until the conclusion of the spring semester. Bertrand will bring a new nominee before the Senate for confirmation at the beginning of the fall term.

The disappointing thing about the whole situation is how the Senate handled Dye's confirmation hearing. They made an all-out attack on her experience in the ASB, and questioned whether she had the knowledge or ability to do the job more effectively than anyone else (specifically, more effectively than Marc Walker). They decided by a 23-7 vote that she does not. But Bertrand will appoint an extremely qualified person who will do a great job, and in the meantime, the Cabinet will move forward and work for the students (something the Senate has seemed to forget about).

The Senate is a peculiar body. I had the privilege to serve the university for three months this spring as a liberal arts senator before joining Cabinet, and I came to find out the complexities and politics that exist. It is almost "cliquish" in a sense, and it seems that the Senate will not allow anyone any real power in the organization unless they have served time in the Senate. Apparently, you don't understand the ASB unless you are a senator. Even if you serve on the judicial council, you apparently don't have the knowledge it takes to interpret ASB Code. Nothing personal against anybody in Senate, but things are getting out of hand, guys.