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Page 4 Friday, October 22, 2004 ThePSdt Opinion The Jeff Zone: tidbits about Halloween Jeff Davis Special to the Pilot Halloween Ramblings It’s that time of year again. October ends with perhaps the least neces sary of all major holi days. All of Davis the major American holidays have an important significance of some kind, but not Halloween. I looked up Halloween in the dictionary and the definition is: n., commercial holiday with no real purpose other than more uses for pumpkins and an excuse for candy com. I’ve participated in this popular American ritual ever since I could say “twick-ow- tweet,” and I have yet to understand exactly why we do it. We teach kids they can walk up to people’s doors and make demands (and yet we dislike Jehovah’s Witnesses?). We give these kids a false sense of reality: that people will always give them hand outs just for being who they are or who they want to be. The activities associated with Halloween are a lot of fun but what do they mean? We carve smiley faces with bad teeth into pumpkins. We share stories of fear of various fictional creatures that are vulnerable to some of the dumbest things: witches that melt in water and vampires that can’t sur vive light. But don’t get me vsTong, it is a lot of fim to scare little children so bad they have to make an emer gency bathroom visit and a costume change. I think all kids these days need a good scare now and then. The History of Halloween Being the excellent investigative joumahst that I am, like the Dan Rather of college newspapers, I did some research into the true history of Halloween. The encyclopedia I found on the fourth floor of the library revealed some interesting infoimation. Halloween was started in 1883 by two poor rural North Carolina farmers named Jethro T. Hall and Marcus L. O’Ween. Hall and O’Ween were desperate for cash during hard times and were close to losing their farms. They came up with a way to increase sales of their most abundant crop that year: pumpkins. Hall had a knife and O’Ween had the idea to cut out a smiley face in the likeness of Hall, who had several missing teeth and some oddly shaped facial features. They adver tised that the last day of October would be a day in which folks would dress up as something or someone else, ask strangers for candy and play games. There would be fun and games for everyone that day, including a pumpkin-carving contest. Pumpkin sales skyrocketed. People came up with many uses for pumpkins besides just pumpkin pie and carv ings. Jack O’Neil even put a candle in the middle of a pumpkin he carved and called it a Jack-O-Lantem. With increased sales and profits Hall and O’Ween were able to pay off their debts and keep their farms. Hall and O’Ween were pleased with their successful business venture. They decided to do it again every year and they started calling the anniversary Halloween. Years went by and other businessmen began to get involved. Apple growers, caldron makers, costume designers, candy makers, storytellers and later televi sion producers all got involved with the Halloween concept and it evolved into the hohday we now know. I’m Jeff Davis and this has been “The Rest of the Story”. “Taxi:” Doesn’t run on all cylinders Jacob Conley Pilot staff After seeing hordes of zombies being blown to bits, I decided it was time to laugh. Unfortunately, “Taxi” only provided the occasional chuckle, instead of actual humor. The basic premise of Taxi is really simple. Take an incompetent New York City cop, a repressed race car driver and throw in a predictable plot and you have an average movie that is more akin to “Speed Racer” than a box office hit. The movie opens with Belle, played by Queen Latifah, racing through the streets of New York City on a bicycle trying to set a package delivery record. She does, and feels that it is time to start her career as a New York City cab driver. Belle’s cab is not your nor mal yellow cheese bpx, however. With the flip of a few switches, it is trans formed into the Yankee ver sion of the General Lee. On the same day, New York City Cop Adam Washburn, played by Saturday Night Live Alumnus Jimmy Fallon, is stripped of his license for running over a superior officer’s parrot. Relegated to beat duty by his lieu tenant, who is also his for mer girlfriend, Washburn finds a chance for redemp tion when several banks are robbed by a trio of Brazilian supermodels. Guess whose cab he uses to track doviTi the voluptuous villains? Big surprise, it is Belle’s. Through a series of semi-comedic screw-ups and more painfully pre dictable plotlines, Belle and Washburn catch the crooks, which allows Belle a chance to fulfill her dream of becoming a race car driver and Washburn to rec oncile with his girlfi'iend. After watching Taxi, I left the theater with a feel ing of fioistration. It had two historically funny actors, but they had no chemistry. These characters were put in predictable situ ations, which led to obvious outcomes. (I knew how the movie would end after the first 30 minutes.) So, if you’re looking for comedy with fast, witty dia logue or one with a new and refireshing plot, don’t take this “Taxi,” it’s not worth the fare. photo courtesy of movies.com “Taxi” stars Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon pair up as an unlikely duo to stop a gang of bank robbers. Sports Women defeat Mercer; Woodworth sets record photo by Kevin Banks During the Mercer game, Laura Dickson, freshman, defends the ball. The Bulldogs defeated the Bears 5-0.0 Jared Smith Special to the Pilot Last Thursday the Gardner-Webb University Lady Bulldog (9-6, 5-2) soc cer team took on the Mercer Bears. Gardner- W e b b Freshman E 1 i c i a Morris set ,,, , . Woodworth the tone early as she scored two goals in the first 16 minutes of the game. Both of Morris’ goals were assisted by Leeanna Woodworth, and conse quently the two assists placed Woodworth as the all- time GWU leader with 25. Approximately 45 min utes in to the game, Liz Kier added another goal in the Lady Bulldogs favor placing the score at 3-0. The goal was assisted by Woodworth. With more than a minute left in the first half, Woodworth scored a goal. The assist went to Catherine Kobelka. The final blow for the Bears came with four min utes and 35 seconds to go in the game as Woodworth added another goal. The final goal provided Woodworth viith yet another Lady Bulldog record as she accumulated the single sea son goals record with her 20 of the season. “I wouldn’t have ever expected it,” said Woodworth. “I was kind of suiprised, and I didn’t real ize I was that close.” Gardner-Webb defeated Mercer 5-0. Besides the impressive score, the win put the team closer for an Atlantic Sun tournament birth. “We definitely needed the win to make the push for the Atlantic Sun tourna ment,” said Kevin Mounce, head coach. On Saturday, the team also defeated Georgia State 2-1, giving the Lady Bulldogs a big win on senior day. Senior Liz Kier scored a goal and had an assist. The other goal was scored by Woodworth. The A-Sun tournament starts Nov. 4 and will be held at Campbell University. Men take tough losses Crossing the finish line Cross country team connpete in nneet Jennifer Menster Pilot editor-in-chief While many were enjoying their fall break relaxing or visiting with family and friends, the men’s soccer team was hard at work. In fact. Coach Tony Setzer said his team has fought hard all season long despite its record of 2-12. “These kids go out to play to win every time,” said Setzer, head men’s soccer coach for 16 years. “There is nothing to hang their heads about.” Over the break, the team lost 2-1 in double-overtime against University of Central Florida and 4-0 against Florida Atlantic. The Bulldogs held Florida Atlantic scoreless in the first half, but after the Owls scored twice, less than five minutes into the second half, the momentum was set. The loss was not effort less, however. GWU keep er, Tyler Kettering, had nine saves during the first half. By the end of the game, the sophomore had 12 saves, which brings his season total to just three shy of his 114 last season as a freshman. Chris Williams, Sergio Lozano and Drew Schaefering, each took two shots for the Bulldogs. During last Thursday’s game against UCF, the Bulldogs forced double overtime before losing 2-1. Lozano scored his first goal of the season in the 82 minute, to force the over time. The assist went to Brian Wentzel. Kettering had eight saves. In the last five games of their season, Setzer expects his Bulldogs to be tough competition. “We have a good opportunity to win every game,” Setzer said. “If we just be patient, things will go our way.” The team’s next match is today at 7 p.m. at Winthrop. The team’s last home game will be Nov. 6 against Campbell. Sean Hubbard Pilot sports editor Both the Gardner- Webb University’s men and women’s cross coun try teams competed in the 32 Annual Furman Cross Country Invitational on Oct. 10. With her time of 19:33.52 in the 5000- meter course, Michele Milner earned a 31-place finish to lead the women. This finish was the sec ond consecutive meet in which Milner turned in the best time. The second Lady Bulldog to cross the finish line was sophomore Katherine Warden with a time of 20:35.54, which was good enough for 77 place. The rest of the women finished fiirther back in the pack as Tamara Stephenson (21:40.45), Jessie Poremsky (23:07.59), and Abbie Crago (21:53.28) rounded out the times for the rest of the team. The men, who com peted with only three run ners, got a solid perform ance from freshman Alex Nimmo who ran to a 69 place finish. Nimmo was able to finish the 8000-meter course in 27:46.93, while teammate and freshman WC Winston finished with a time of 30:17.76. Just 10 seconds later, the final Bulldog, Matt Winning would cross the finish line to complete the trio of times. GWU will be back in action on Oct. 30 for the Atlantic Sun Championships.
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