The Pilot
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
cl
Page A3
— Opinions
Season of hope and renewal oro|^ls us toward
oT, Clark the mission teams that went out had Many will heacOiome to sum- and resurrection of C
semester’s finsh
By
Pilot Editor
Spring Break is already just a
memory and Easter is right before
us.
With two breaks falling right af
ter each other, March is fast becom
ing my favorite month.
I hope that everyone had a safe
and relaxing spring break, and that
a great time and were able to ac
complish a lot in their time out in
the field,
March also marks the semester
halfway point, which is another
reason to celebrate. In about eight
more weeks we will be turning in
our final exams and heading off to
our various locations for the sum-
Many will nead home to sum
mer jobs, or stay on campus and
attend summer school. Seniors will
be graduating and hopefully begin
ning new careers. My plans are a
bit ambiguous right now, but I am
looking forward to finally walking
across the stage and receiving my
diploma.
Besides the holiday of Easter it
self, a time to reflect on the death
and resurrection of Christ, 1 enjoy
the time spent with family and
friends.
Anofher reminder of the sacred
ness of life is the return of spring.
The days are once again growing
warmer and longer, daffodils are
blooming, and spring is just around
the corner, officially making its de
but Thursday.
After growing up in the very
cold and usually colorless North,
where spring is a fleeting season, I
absolutely love this time of year in
the South when everything seems
to be blooming and there is color
everywhere.
It is a personal reminder that,
eventually, all things change and
improve.
1 especially love spring because
it is a season of hope.
The Pilot
Nancy-Pat Dire
Faculty Advisor
Rebecca Clark
Editor in Chief
Stephanie Kay
Designer
Ashley Carter and Haley Black
Photo Editors
Jacob Conley
Sports Editor
Patrice Blackmon
MiChaela Bryson
Blake DuDonis
Alex McKay
Kory McNair
Lanny Newton
Christopher Shaver
Lauren Taylor
Staff Writers
Kate Gazaway
Marlee Harris
Jessica Jones
Tyler Kucifer
Staff Photographers
Phone Number: 704-406-3844
P.O. Box 5192
pilot@gardner-webb.edu
Wisdom on Wheels
Things not done magnified as graduation nears
By Jacob Conley
Pilot sports editor
I have been melancholy
for the last few days and I
can’t figure out why.
Yes, Gardner-Webb lost
and if they had won Duke
would be on the hor^^.
But usually after _ jason
ending loss I recover emo
tionally. Not this time, and I
think I have figured out why.
My college career is al
most over and there was so
much 1 did not accomplish
during my time here that I
would have liked to.
My most notable shortfall
is that I wish I had forged
more meaningful relation
ships with people.
Sure people know my
name and that I like sports,
but do they really know me?
I wish they did and that I had
spent some time getting to
know them.
Of course I have had some
good friends over the years:
Sam Head, Justin Alston and
^fc^Brandon Beach just to
,, ne a few.
But you may notice some
thing missing from this list:
women.
Oh sure, I have been on a
few dates, mostly the spring
formal, but I was never
completely sure if my dates
agreed to go with me because
they saw it as an opportunity
to get to know me as a per
son, or if they simply felt
sorry for me.
In most cases it turned out
to be the lat
ter, because
soon after
we arrived
at the dance,
my date for
the evening
would go
Conley ^
of friends
and I would not see her for
the rest of the night.
I would rather face flat
out rejection than have to
face the pain of neglect. It is
much worse.
These feelings sometimes
surface and I am pretty good
at hiding them. I think what
severed to bring them to
the surface on this occasion
was reading “High Fidelity”
(thanks a lot. Dr Parker),
In this book the main
character makes a list of his
five most painful breakups.
I can’t do that because I
have not had any long rela
tionships with the opposite
sex, and that is depressing.
(As an aside, the best cure
for depression is not listen
ing to the complete works
of Edgar Allen Poe narrated
by Anthony Hopkins. That
will, in the words of Thelma
Harper, “Scare the holy sugar
out of you.”)
But I digress. In the near
future, I will be looking for
a date for the formal. All I
ask is that you look past the
wheelchair and base your
response on personality, not
pity.
Walking Wisdom
Stupid things in basketball have made season frustrating
Graduating in May?
Only if you meet these requirements
By Kory McNair
Pilot staff'writer
If you plan to graduate
in May but haven’t turned
in your paperwork yet, get
ready to pay an additional
$50: You’ve missed Mon
day’s filing deadline and the
fee has just gone from $ 100
to $150.
Applications for anyone
wishing to graduate over the
summer are due April 28.
The same fees apply.
The application can be
found on the registrar’s Web
site.
However, just turning
in the application and fee
doesn’t guarantee that you
can graduate. There are basic
graduation requirements that
may differ from major to ma
jor, but most specify that
undergraduate students
have at least 128 credit hours
and a GPA of at least 2.0 to
qualify for graduation.
Check your numbers to
make sure they meet those
requirements.
There will be two gradu
ation exercises in May. The
ceremony for nursing stu
dents is May 9, and all re
maining undergraduates will
have their commencement
exercises May 10.
According to Randall
Cooper, who works in the
business office in Webb Hall,
as many as 800 seniors ex
pected to graduate this year.
By Lanny Newton
Pilot sports writer
College basketball has
been plagued by two prob
lems this year: bad refer
eeing and an inc^pk'etent
NCAA tournament vHection
committee.
The bad refereeing was
best illustrated in Gardner-
Webb’s A-Sun tournament
semifinal loss to Jackson
ville.
The selection commit
tee’s incompetence can be
seen in its seeding and deci
sion of who should get in and
who should be left out.
The most obvious bad
call was the mon^tum-
shifting phantom flL'nical
foul on Brandon Jackson.
After he was intentionally
fouled by Evan Jefferson of
Jacksonville, the referee in
explicably called a technical
foul with 24 seconds left in
the first half
Jackson missed both of
his foul shots. Jacksonville
hit both technical-foul free
throws to put them up by 16
points.
Jacksonville then got the
ball back and hit a 3-pointer
from half court at the buzzer
to make it a 19-point defi
cit, rather than a possible
9- or 10-point deficit if the
• inical foul had not been
ed.
This was especially ex
cruciating, considering the
fact that Gardner-Webb out-
scored Jacksonville by 10 in
the second half.
While there have been
blown calls in every league
this year, the A-Sun seems to
have had a disproportionate
number of them.
Gardner-Webb was also
the victim of several bad foul
^Jls and phantom travels
the regular season.
The great hope is that with
the move into the Big South
we will have better referees
calling the games and see an
improvement in the ability of
the referees to call the games
properly.
The NCAA selection
committee is always going to
be plagued by controversy, as
a seemingly deserving team
always seems to be left out.
This year, however, the
committee made some truly
baffling decisions.
Rather than putting a team
that was playing its best ball
and look truly impressive at
the end of the year, such as
Virginia Tech, it decided to
put in a sixth team from the
Pacific 10 conference, name
ly Arizona.
Although Arizona had a
more impressive non-confer
ence schedule, it did next to
nothing in conference, fin
ishing under .500 at 8-10 in
the No. 2 RPI conference.
Virginia Tech, by compar
ison, finished 9-7 in the ACC
and played North Carolina to
the wire in the semifinals of
the ACC Tournament after
winning their quarterfinal
game, another thing Arizona
didn’t do.
This is compounded by
the fact that the ACC as the
No. 1 RPI conference in the
nation only got four teams,
which tied with the Big 10
for the least among the so-
called BCS conferences.
This further baffles when
considering the fact that the
ACC won the Big 10-ACC
Challenge for the ninth
straight year, this time 8-3.
Head-to-head wins were
also completely ignored
when choosing teams, as
Arizona State beat Arizona
twice in the regular season
and had a better record.
The multiple stupid mis
takes made by the committee
is infuriating.
Another baffling thing
committed by the NIT selec
tion committee was placing
Syracuse as a No. I seed while
placing UMass — which de
feated Syracuse on its home
court - as a No. 2 seed.
Maiyland, which had a
win over North Carolina in
February, was placed as a
No. 5 seed despite its 8-8 fin
ish in the ACC.
The good news is that
the brackets are in and the
tournaments are ready to get
started.
For most North Carolin
ians and college basketball
fans, this is the greatest time
of year, at least besides Eas
ter and Christmas.
VOLUNTEERS FOR CHINA
China Needs Christian Coiiege Students and Adults!
Will you go in 2008?
• Are you willing to make a difference in China?
• Are you willing to give up three to six weeks of your summer 2008?
• Are you v^ng t^ake friends with Chinese students/teach Medical English?
• Are you willing to learn a little Chinese, and how to use chopsticks?
If you can answer YES to these questions, then God must be
calling you to serve as a short-term representative in China!
Come, use your English to help someone!
WHAT: 2008: A China Odyssey for Students and Adults!
WHERE: High School or College/Universities in China
WHEN: June, July, August, 2008, 3, 4, 5, and 6 week assignments
COST: $1000 to $1300 plus round trip air ticket costing ($1400 to 1700).
This is an approved program for Bonner Scholars.
For more information contact:
Volunteers for China
Ann or David WIson
Phone: (865)983-9852
Email: cen29529@centurytel.net
w www.volunteersforchina.org