By BRIAN ROESPORTS WRITER

Gary Gaines lives in a world fewwill ever experience. His resumeincludes district championships,playoff appearances and even a1989 high school state champi-onship. Evenmore surreal,the coach wasfeatured in ab e s t - s e l l i n gbook, FridayNight Lightsand that por-tion of his lifefrom 1988 willalso be shownin the big-screen versionof the book.

T o d a y ,though, Gainessits in his of-fice reflectingon his own life.As a coach,Gaines moved from town to townevery few years with wife and twoyoung children.

“I’ve been blessed so much withmy wife, Sharon, and with my fam-ily,” Gaines said. “This job it isn’t

always fair to the kids.“Every coach understands his

job is on the line,” Gaines said.“You’ve either just been fired or fix-ing to be fired.”

The life of a coach brings differ-ent destinations, but through it all,Gaines said he always trusted thatGod would provide.

Gary Gaines was born in 1949 inthe small West Texas town of Crane.

Oil fields fueled the economy inCrane, but football fueled the life-blood of the community. Naturally,Gary Gaines played football.

By KYLE ROBARTSSPORTS EDITOR

Among other roles, Billy BobThornton has played a racist prisonguard, a mentallychallenged murder-er and a vulgar,drunken Santa.And now he’s GaryGaines.

Academy Awardwinner Billy BobT h o r n t o n(Monster’s Ball,Sling Blade, BadSanta) will appearin screens acrossAmerica in FridayNight Lights as headcoach of the 1988Permian HighSchool Panthers,also known as GaryGaines. The film isbased on the na-tional bestsellerwith the same titlewritten by H.G.Bissinger thatopens this week-end.

For those who know Gaines,Thornton’s past roles and his behav-

ior off-screen don’t share the char-acteristics of ACU’s head footballcoach. Thornton and his formerspouse Angelina Jolie were knownfor wearing each other’s blood sam-ples around their necks and talkingopenly about their sex lives.

“He’s a good coach, he’s loyal tohis players, he’sdedicated, depend-able, and reliable,”senior linebackerShawn Taylor saidof Gaines. “Hewants the best forhis players.”

Even with hisdiverse and risquéroles, Thorntonfound coach Gaines’‘nice guy’ charactera relief as an actor.

“I had a feel forthe kind of guy hewas, and actually asan actor, I liked itbetter that he’s anice guy becauseusually in sportsmovies, the coach isjust intense 24hours a day, andpeople don’t act likethat,” Thornton

said. “I’m glad that they didn’t tell

By JONATHAN SMITHEDITOR IN CHIEF

The Students’ Associationvoted down an amendment tothe bylaws that would haveincreased the required gradepoint average from 2.5 to 3.0 torun for an executive officerposition.

The amendment, whichwould have needed a two-thirds vote from Congress, fell20-23 with two abstaining.Senators Casey Bingham, soph-omore political science majorfrom Conroe, Brandon Smith,freshman political sciencemajor from Keller, and MissyMae Walters, senior politicalscience major from Abilene,

OPTIMISTTHE

Department of Journalism and Mass Communication Abilene Christian University Serving the ACU community since 1912

FRIDAYOctober 8, 2004

Vol. 93, No. 151 section, 8 pages

www.acuoptimist.com

Cats face winless Rams:The football team will playAngelo State at ShotwellStadium on Saturday.

Page 8

Abilene’s artistic attractions:Students looking for art-related activities have avariety to choose from in Abilene this monthwith ArtWalk and the Poets Corner.

Page 6

Winter wardrobes:A winter clothing drive wasorganized to help the stu-dents from Madagascar.

Page 3

Congressvotes notto changeXO rules

Students can run forexecutive office with

2.5 grade point average

Photo courtesy of CREATIVE SERVICES

Head football coach Gary Gaines will be portrayed in the film“Friday Night Lights,” which is being released this weekend.

RALPH NELSON/2004 Universal Studios

Billy Bob Thornton plays coachGary Gaines in the adaptation ofH.G. Bissinger's prize-winningbook, “Friday Night Lights.”

By JACI SCHNEIDEROPINION EDITOR

Ten senior women were kid-napped Wednesday night,taken to the Alumni RelationsOffice and notified they hadbeen nominated for Home-coming Queen.

Last week, students nomi-nated 279 women to the Court,and students will vote for one

of the top-10 nominees forQueen from Oct. 13 to 15.

The Queen’s ActivitiesCommittee of the Home-coming Steering Committeeorganized the kidnapping ofthe 10 women, said BetseyCraig, coordinator of Queen’sActivities for Homecoming.

“It’s all kinds of fun and asurprise,” she said.

The committee decoratedthe alumni office and preparedsnacks for the women after thekidnapping.

Jenny Fullerton, seniorspeech pathology major from

Garland, said she was sur-prised when the kidnapperscame to her Sigma Theta Chimeeting.

“Ten people dressed inblack came knocking on mydoor,” she said. “It was intimi-dating, but it was funny. I wasreally shocked, but I’m reallyexcited.”

Laci Bills, senior exercisescience and special educationmajor from Sherman and vicepresident of Ko Jo Kai, alsosaid she was surprised at theannouncement.

“I had no idea, but it’s such

an honor,” Bills said. “I justthink it’s going to be really neatto be part of the Homecomingtradition. It’s something I’llremember forever.”

The women will take part ina Queen’s Tea the Friday ofHomecoming Week, whichwill include the Coming HomeCourt—queen nominees from10 years ago, Craig said.

The nominees will be pre-sented in Chapel on Friday andSaturday of Homecoming andride in convertibles for the

Committee selects ten queen nominees Finalists chosen from pool of 279

nominated last week

BRIAN SCHMIDT/Chief Photographer

Excited Homecoming Queen nominees sit around a table and cele-brate in the Alumni Relations Office after being brought together andnotified of their nomination Wednesday night.

By EMILY CHASTAINSTUDENT REPORTER

To depledge or not todepledge—that is the questionstudents are considering as themonth-long pledging periodcontinues for social clubs.

Twenty-three students havedepledged this year as ofThursday night. Clubs sent outa total of 378 bids to potentialpledges, said Mike Spell, direc-tor of judicial affairs and advis-er of social clubs, in an e-mail.

The term "depledging"means that an individual hasdecided to no longer partici-pate in a social club and doesnot follow through with anymore of the pledge process.That student usually talks withsocial club officers about his orher decision and is asked tocontact the Office of JudicialAffairs as well.

Somechooseto quitpledging

Number of thosedepledging slightly

higher than last year

See CLUBS Page 7

See SA Page 7

See QUEENS Page 7

See GAINES Page 5

Gary Gaines’ road to ACUwinds through West Texas

‘Nice guy’ role was a relieffor Thornton in ‘Lights’

See THORNTON Page 5

Image courtesy of 2004 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS

Seeing the lights

Calendar Events

9 Saturday

14 Thursday

8 Friday

10 Sunday

Friday, October 8, 2004

CAMPUS

12 Tuesday

13Wednesday

The Optimist maintains thiscalendar for the ACU communityto keep track of local social, aca-demic and service opportunities.

Groups may send ann-ouncements directly to opti-mist@jmc.acu.edu or to the Page2 Editor, ACU Box 27892, Abilene,TX 79699.

To ensure that an item willappear on time, the announce-ment should be sent at least 10days before. The Optimist mayedit items for space and style.

Corrections and clarifica-tions of published news articleswill be printed in this space in atimely manner.

ChapelCheck-UpCredited Chapels to date: 33

38Credited Chapels remaining:

About This Page

VolunteerOpportunities

11Monday

Faculty Women’s Meeting, 11:30a.m.-1 p.m., Faculty-Staff DiningRoom.

Social club officers meeting, 5-6:30p.m., Living Room.

Movie Night, 6:30-10 p.m., LivingRoom.

McNair Scholars, all day, CampusCenter ticket windows.

SA Live, 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.,Campus Center tables.

Service Saturday sign-ups, 11:30a.m.-2 p.m., Campus Center ticketwindows.

Movie Night, 6:30-10 p.m., LivingRoom.

McNair Scholars, all day, CampusCenter ticket windows.

&Leukemia and Lymphoma Societyfund-raiser, ACU football game,Shotwell Stadium.

Freshman Tailgate Party, 12:30 p.m.,Shotwell Stadium.

Sigma Theta Chi Grub.

GATA Grub.

DAY

SA Live, 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.,Campus Center tables.

Unstress Day.

SA Live, 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.,Campus Center tables.

Wellness Week, “Passion for Life,”11:30-1:30 p.m., Hilton Room.

Bible study group, 7-10 p.m., LivingRoom.

Gamma Sigma Phi Grub.

Frater Sodalis Grub.

Sub T-16 Grub.

Pruett Gerontology display, all day,Campus Center tables.

Campus Life Division breakfast, 7:309 a.m., Living Room.

Service Saturday sign-ups, 11:30a.m.-2 p.m., Campus Center ticketwindows.

SA Live, 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.,Campus Center tables.

McNair Scholars, all day, CampusCenter ticket windows.

SA Live, 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.,Campus Center tables.

Campaign video viewing, 1-2:30p.m., Hilton Room.

Movie Night, 6:30-10 p.m., LivingRoom.

Homecoming Steering CommitteeMeeting, 9:30-10:45 p.m., HiltonRoom.

McNair Scholars, all day, CampusCenter ticket windows.

ACU Computer Auction, 7 a.m.-10p.m., Hilton Room.

CorrectionIn the Oct. 6 issue on the

page 9 story “Computers upfor auction,” hardware analystScott Fletcher was misidenti-fied.

Corrections and clarifica-tions of published news arti-cles will be printed in this spacein a timely manner.

KGNZ radio needs male vol-unteers beginning at 9 a.m. on Oct.21 to unload and set up for theCaedmon`s Call concert that night.Volunteers will receive free tickets tothe concert. Interested students cancontact Doug Harris at KGNZ at 673-3045.

The Noah Project needs volun-teers to answer hotline calls andattend to shelter needs. For informa-tion, contact the Volunteer andService-Learning Center.

By NATHAN CRUMMELSTUDENT REPORTER

Citizens of Abilene are en-couraged to participate in“Fall Clean for Abilene,”hosted by the city of Abileneand Keep Abilene Beautiful,taking place this week. Theprogram, which began Tues-day and ends Saturday, in-vites citizens to clean outtheir homes and garages andbring the discarded items tothe Environmental RecyclingCenter at 2209 Oak St.

According to a news re-lease, the ERC is acceptingsuch items as appliances,wood, furniture, bedding,yard trash and clothing, alongwith common recyclablessuch as aluminum cans, plas-tics, newspapers and card-board. A small additional feeis necessary for the removal ofcertain items such as tires andcomputer and electronicequipment.

The recycling center is notaccepting junk cars and sug-

gests citizens contact a localjunk or salvage yard and havethe vehicle towed. Some deal-ers are willing to tow thevehicle away for free and paythe owner $50 to $100 if theowner has the title, accordingto the news release.

Citizens with “junker”cars can also take advantageof Power 103 and MTV’sPimp My Ride contest cur-rently taking place. The win-ner’s car will be completelyrenovated and “pimped out”as is seen on the MTV show.All entries must be entered byOct. 15 in order to be eligiblefor the contest. For details,visit Power 103’s Web site.

Jenna Grime, a member ofthe Service Action LeadershipTeam, has been involved in anumber of community serv-ice projects since arriving atACU, including Service Sat-urday and ACU for Abilene,and said the Fall Clean eventis a great idea.

“I think it’s wonderful forpeople in the Abilene com-munity to come together andto make Abilene a little morebeautiful,” Grime said.

Grime, junior Englishmajor from Archbold, Ohio,

said she and her roommateshave their own little recy-cling center at their houseand each do their best to beas conservation friendly aspossible. Grime encouragedother ACU students to begood stewards of what theyhave been given and to atleast be aware of the opportu-nities to conserve wheneverpossible.

“Just because you are onlyhere for four years does notmean you don’t have to takecare of what you have beengiven,” Grime said.

Grime admitted thatsometimes it is hard to recy-cle when the appropriate out-lets for recycling are notavailable.

“There is not a lot of recy-cling that goes on on theACU campus,” Grime said.“We see trash cans every-where but never anything forrecycling.”

Fall Clean is one such out-let for students and residentsin Abilene to take advantageof the recycling facilities,Grime said.

Friday, October 8, 2004 Page 3CAMPUS NEWS

By CHRISTY GOWERFEATURES EDITOR

ACU administrators areexamining what the universityrequires as its core courses, thecourses every student takesregardless of major. This is thefirst time it has been done inabout 15 years, and Dr. JeffArrington, associate dean of theCollege of Arts and Sciences,said the review is overdue.

“The general educationshould command more interestand attention because it has todo with what we think all stu-

dents should know,” Arringtonsaid.

Arrington is chair of theGeneral Education ReviewCommittee, which has beenresearching and reviewing thegeneral education curriculumas a whole and will release threeproposal drafts later this month.

“Our committee won’t makechanges,” Arrington said.“We’re going to put the flag upon the flagpole with three dif-ferent sorts of plans and seewhat kind of feedback and reac-tion we get, and then we’ll buildone that addresses the learningoutcomes and what we hearfrom the faculty.”

The faculty must approveany major curriculum changes,and Arrington said he hopes the

faculty will vote on the drafts inApril and at least one other timebefore the final changes come ineffect for freshmen entering theuniversity in 2006.

He said the committee hasexpressed a lot of interest incourses that connect lessonsfrom multiple subject areas,similar in design to the HonorsProgram’s humanities courses.He said this is importantbecause, while universities tendto isolate subjects, the worldtends to connect them.

“I think we can model forour students that kind of con-nected learning by these kindsof courses,” he said. “I’m look-ing forward to seeing where wecome out with regard to talkingabout how we connect our

learning as opposed to how wedepartmentalize.”

Arrington acknowledgedthat connections are not alwayspossible or practical, but he saidcourses that do connect multi-ple subjects should be in bal-ance with those that do not.

He said the committee mem-bers are paying attention tohow the world has changedsince the spring of 1990, thelast time the courses wereexamined.

“We don’t need to preparestudents to do the same sorts ofthings that they were doingyears and years ago when thiscurriculum was first consid-ered,” he said. “We need to talkabout preparing for the future.”

Dr. Dwayne VanRheenen,

provost and chair of the councilthat reviews changes in generaleducation courses, said in an e-mail that the council has donesignificant background work onthe curriculum over the lastthree years and has passed thatinformation down to the reviewcommittee.

“The nature of the world haschanged substantially in thepast few years,” he said. “Henceas a faculty, we need to deter-mine whether the current [gen-eral education curriculum] ade-quately prepares students forthe 21st century.”

Arrington said the commit-tee relied on student learningoutcomes, which evaluateswhat a student knows, can doand values, when looking at

requirements. He said theyfound this method in GreaterExpectations, a national reportproduced by the AmericanAssociation of Colleges andUniversities for state schools.He said they went beyond thatby asking how the maximschanged for a Christian school.

“I’m kind of wondering if wecan be more overt about help-ing students build a well-grounded Christian worldviewthat can equip them for life intheir profession,” he said, “aswell as life in their family andlife in the community and intheir church…life as a citizenand traveler in the world.”

By MALLORY SHERWOODSTAFF WRITER

Steven Moore, assistant pro-fessor of English, and SusanLewis, instructor of journalismand mass communication, werechosen as this year’s Home-coming Parade grand marshalsby the 35-member Home-coming Steering Committee.

Moore and Lewis will ride ina convertible in the Home-coming Parade on Oct. 23 andbe honored at a special Chapelfollowing the parade.

“These professors stood outas leaders, have a good attitude,genuinely care about the stu-dents and take the time to get toknow them,” said Danielle Dil-worth, member of the Home-coming Parade Committee andjunior integrated marketing andcommunication major fromPlano.

Members of the Home-coming Parade Committee burstinto the faculty members’ class-rooms with purple and whiteballoons and M&Ms Sept. 29 totell them of their award.

“The first thing I did waslaugh because it is such anunusual honor,” Lewis said.“The more I thought about itthough, it really is a big honor,and I am grateful to them forthinking of me.”

Grand marshals for the pa-rade have been a tradition since1992, allowing students to showprofessors they are important tothe university and they havemade a difference in students’lives, said Samantha Adkins, co-ordinator of Alumni Programs.

Dilworth said Moore is wellknown by students around cam-pus because of his friendly andcheerful attitude.

“I’ve never met Steven Moorebefore, but I know exactly whohe is,” Dilworth said. “His ener-gy and upbeat attitude is visibleevery time you see him, and healways smiles and says, ‘hi.’”

Other students and facultyagree that Moore is an excellentchoice for this honor.

“Professor Moore has been awonderful role model to stu-dents, both English majors andnon-majors, through his love oflanguage, literature, learningand his dedication to servingGod,” said Dr. Nancy Shankle,chair of the English department,in an e-mail.

Similarly, Lewis has impactedstudents with her positive atti-tude and care for the students.

Kylee Peterson, member ofthe Homecoming Parade Com-mittee and junior integratedmarketing and communicationmajor from Granbury, said sheconsiders Lewis more of a friendthan a professor.

“She was my U-100 professorwhen I was a freshman andintroduced me to the culture ofACU,” Peterson said. “She gen-uinely cares about her studentsand teaches us things we canapply in our life, things we’llactually use in the future.”

Peterson also said that ACUchooses grand marshals for theparade because it is a traditionand they want to honor thosewho do so much for ACU butdon’t realize it.

Lewis and Moore join a list ofother faculty members such asDr. Francis Churchill, Rita Har-rell, Mark Lewis and manymore.

“It is not an honor you canput in a box,” Lewis said. “It isone that very few people canclaim, and I’m very happy andgrateful for that.”

University core courses undergo committee re-evaluationRequirement changes

should take effect in fall 2006

This would look great with that skirt

Lewis, Moore chosen to receive traditional honor

Parade grand marshals selected

E-mail Gower at: cng02a@acu.edu

E-mail Sherwood at: mes02e@acu.edu

Abilenians take out their trashCitywide fall

cleaning programends Saturday

E-mail Crummel at: optimist@acu.edu

BRIAN SCHMIDT/Staff Photographer

Jenny Nitamane, freshman political science major from Antananarivo, Madagascar, and Ando Ran-drianarisoa, freshman computer science major from Ambatondrazaka, Madagascar, search through cloth-ing donated by students, faculty and staff in the Communication Disorders and Communication depart-ments Thursday. The Malagasy students arrived in the United States with only summer clothing, so stu-dents, faculty and staff from the two departments organized by word of mouth a winter clothing drive andhad the Malagasy students visit Sherrod Don Morris Room 134 to choose as much clothing as they want-ed, said Gaye May, administrative coordinator for the Department of Communication.

Pledging.The word alone makes me

want to take a month-longsabbatical from school eachfall.

It’s not justthe rainbow ofcolors worneach day, thelunchboxes ,n o t e b o o k sand bricks Isee pledgescarrying a-round, or theo u t l a n d i s houtfits they

create to help cheer on theirteams for intramural games.Those aren’t whatreally affect mebecause I justhave to put upwith looking atthem.

The thing thatbothers me themost about pled-ging is the com-plaining. Sure,I’m griping rightnow about what Idislike about pled-ging, but thewhining I hear from pledgesis excessive.

Most of the time it’s abouttime—they don’t have time tocomplete all their activities;they don’t have time to attendChapel; they don’t have timeto wash their clothes, or seetheir friends or go to work ona regular basis.

I always hear about howmuch they’re behind on home-work, and tomorrow they haveto finish 10 visits, help plan forgrub, work on the Home-coming float and find time tomemorize the names and biog-

raphical information of all theclub members.

When I’m sitting in classlistening to a group of guysmoan about how tired theyare because they had to runlast night, or I’m walkingbehind a crowd of girls whoare discussing how theyhaven’t talked to their bestfriend in a week, I always justwant to interrupt them andexpress my true feelings: Getover it.

Pledges knew going intothe process that it was goingto be tough, and this is thecourse they chose. They sawhow things worked last year,

and they attendedrushes and wentto all the informa-tion meetings,and they should-n’t be surprisedabout the com-mitment invol-ved.

They shouldcome to gripswith the fact thatthey may not getto take a midafter-noon nap for a

few weeks or go on a date thismonth. The work and the vis-its and the exhaustion is allpart of it, and in a couple ofweeks, it will all be over.

So to pledges, I’d like tosay instead of bellyaching allthe time about how hard yourlife is, suck it up and makethe next few weeks a positiveexperience. It will make cam-pus a bit more pleasant for allof us.

VIEWSFRIDAYPage 4 OPTIMIST October 8, 2004

OPTIMIST Editor in ChiefJonathan Smith

Managing EditorLori Bredemeyer

The Optimist Editorial Board

Opinion EditorJaci Schneider

Copy EditorSarah Carlson

Faculty AdviserDr. Cheryl Bacon

Ad ManagerChristi Stark

Published by the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication,

Abilene Christian University

Editorial and letter policyUnsigned editorials are the opinions

of the Optimist Editorial Board and may notnecessarily reflect the views of the universi-ty or its administration.

Signed columns, cartoons and let-ters are the opinions of their creators andmay not necessarily reflect the viewpoints ofthe Optimist, its Editorial Board or the uni-versity.

The Optimist encourages reader re-sponse through letters to the editor but re-serves the right to limit frequent contributors

or to refuse to print letters containing per-sonal attacks, obscenity, defamation, erro-neous information or invasion of privacy.

Please limit letters to 350 words orless. A name and phone number must beincluded for verification purposes. Phonenumbers will not be published.

Address letters to: ACU Box 27892

Abilene, TX 79699E-mail letters to:

optimist@jmc.acu.edu

Optimist contact informationNewsroom:(325) 674-2439

Sports desk:(325) 674-2684

Advertising office:(325) 674-2463

Photo department:(325) 674-2499

Subscriptions ($45/academic year):(325) 674-2296

Online:www.acuoptimist.com

Chief PhotographerBrian Schmidt

THE

As a member of Pi Kappa,we have a habit of asking our-selves, “What is something wecould try that only God coulddo?”

As a member of this studentbody, on Monday, what we wit-nessed was nothing short of amiracle. More than $3,000came from the ACU family insupport of the ACU alumniand Haiti missionaries spon-sored by Healing Hands,exceeding all expectations(including my own). Theamazing thing to me was thatthis massive, primarily stu-dent-targeted fund-raisingevent happened without much

time for planning or recruiting.Just a couple of general pleasmade to the student body, oneday set aside for a collectionand an army of volunteers whoanswered the call.

I have heard some question-ing whether it is possible for aChristian to remain relevant ina constantly changing world.Monday we heard the answer.

It was a resounding “Yes!”I am so proud to be consid-

ered part of this student body.Together, we rose up a stan-dard and declared the glory ofour Lord’s name.

We witnessed God workingthrough us to bless others in

the knick oftime.

It took am o m e n tand a chunkof change; imagine what time-ly measure the Lord would useto impact the world around uswith a submitted life.

It is my belief that a peoplewho remain near the heart ofGod will always have a place inexpanding His kingdom. Weanswered because we were sen-sitive to our Father’s heartbeat.We showed ourselves faithful.We have passed the test; are weprepared for the calling?

Layne RouseSA executive president

senior communication majorfrom Midland

Something drastic is hap-pening on campus. Word onthe street is that the Mar-keting Club is asking us not

to wear purplefor a while,but white in-stead.

Now, as wewalk acrosscampus, we’redefinitely go-ing to see some-thing missing ifthey are able topull this off.This campusisn’t going to

look the same without theviolet-colored T-shirts (orpolo shirt, if you fit into thedescription of “Faculty orStaff”).

And, in my humble opin-ion, it’s going to be a welcomechange.

Purple is a funny color, ifyou ask me. When you’re

talking about clothing, itdoesn’t play well with others.A little bit of it goes a longway, and there’s not reallysuch a thing as “mildly” pur-ple. If something is purple,it’s rich, vibrant, slap-you-upside-the-head purple.

On second thought, that’snot really true. I’ve seendresses around Easter timethat were a nice pastel violet.But I think it’s fair to say thatACU has picked the farthestthing from that to representour school.

Now I’m not downing ourschool colors. I think thepurple and white are great,and I’ve got as much schoolpride as the next guy (provid-ing the next guy isn’t Williethe Wildcat). It looks great

on all the signs and advertise-ments, the Web sites, andhere and there in buildingdecoration.

But purple does not lookgood on my body. To be hon-est, as I’ve looked around forthe last (hmrfmumble) yearsI’ve been here, I notice thatpurple is not a color for guysto wear. Show me a guy wholooks good in purple, and I’llshow you a guy who doesn’tknow he looks goofy in pur-ple.

You could perhaps makean argument that girls havean easier time of it; outsidethe bubble you probably seeit on more gals than guys. Buteven they have to be tired oftrying to get together the verysame clothes and accessories

every time they want to showschool spirit because it’s allthat will match the ubiqui-tous royal hue.

But, like so many things,the good students, facultyand staff of this universityhave made the sacrifice forthe sake of school spirit. Andnow, with the new campaigntoward white, they won’thave to. Now, instead of theFriday Chapel crowd remind-ing you of Dimetapp, we’ll bewearing shades because ofthe blinding glare of thewhite.

But still, I think it’ll berefreshing for a while. Imean, seriously — just tryand tell me you don’t have awhite T-shirt somewhere.

“There’s a lot of it.It’s making thingswet.”

“We need themoisture, but itsure is a pain.”

Debates informative; help voters decideThe second of

three presidentialdebates is Friday

night where the can-didates will discuss

issues relating to foreignpolicy, homeland security, andeconomic and domestic policy.It will be in a town hall formatwith President Bush andSenator Kerry sitting on stoolsanswering questions submittedby audience members at Wash-ington University in St. Louis.

Typically, the people whotend to watch the debates arethe people who need to seethem the least. It is the peoplewho don’t have an opinion on

issues or are un-decided whoreally need towatch them

But no mat-ter what category one falls in, ifthey want to be informed onthe issues in this election, it isimperative they listen to thestances of the candidates com-ing from their own mouths,and not what other party mem-bers and campaign ads may say.If one is unsure of whom tovote for, they should watch thedebates and listen to what eachcandidate has to say.

Because we are in Texas,both parties have not been

advertising or making cam-paign stops because the statewill essentially vote for Bush.This makes watching thedebates even more importantfor Texans as one of the onlyvenues to hear the candidatesdiscuss the issues at hand.

The first debate Sept. 30focused mainly on the war inIraq, and an estimated 62.5million people watched Bushand Kerry square off for 90minutes, according to cnn.com.

The lastp re s i d e n t i a ldebate will beWednesday in

Arizona withthe same format as the firstdebate. All three debates com-bined will cover an array ofissues, so it is important towatch more than one.

The key to becoming in-formed on issues is having anopen mind. If one sits there andscoffs at one of the candidates,regardless of what he is saying,then they are missing the pointof the debate. Having an openmind and taking the otherside’s position into considera-

tion leads to a better under-standing of the issues. Onedoes not have to agree with anopinion in order to respect it.

The presidential debatesshould lead to debates betweenAmericans, discussing and dis-secting issues and gaining abetter understanding of topics.They should not, however, leadto arguments.

We commend the CollegeRepublicans and College Dem-ocrats on campus for comingtogether to watch the debates,and we hope this can be alearning opportunity for bothsides.

In Your Words

“It’s horriblebecause I just gotmy hair done aweek ago, andevery time I getmy hair done itrains.”

In My Words Daniel Barcroft

What do you think about all the rainwe’ve been having lately?

LoriBredemeyer

Lori’s story

All three debates combined will cover an array ofissues, so it is important to watch more than one.

The issue:The final twodebates for presi-dential candidateswill be this week.Our view:Students shouldwatch the debates tobe informed aboutthe issues.The solution:Students need towatch the debates,especially if they areundecided or feeluninformed. Theyneed to be open-minded and respectopposing opinions,even if not in agree-ment with them.

Sharde Henleysophomore business managementmajorfrom Houston

Tracy Schiebeljunior nutrition major from Fort Collins, Colo.

Josh Willinghamjunior accounting majorfrom Arlington

DanielBarcroft

No Pun forBarcroft

If something is purple, it’s rich, vibrant, slap-you-upside-the-head purple.

Campus rescued from Dimetapp haze

Respond to Barcroft at:optimist@acu.edu or dwb99a@acu.edu

YOUR VOICEYOUR VOICE

Students stepped up to help Haitians

Following Chapel Mon-day, students donatedmore than $3,000 to ahurricane relief effortin Haiti.

Re:

Pledging createstoo many whiners

E-mail Bredemeyer at: optimist@acu.edu or lmb00g@acu.edu

“I like the rain,but I’m afraid Imight fall downsometimes.”

Tray Richardsjunior kinesiology majorfrom Tuscola

Instead ofBellyaching allthe time ... suckit up and make

the next fewweeks a positive

experience.

me that he was wound up everyminute of the day because thatwouldn’t be as interesting toplay.

“I like to play a different partin every movie; I like to changeup, and I’m sort of known forthat—usually when they wantsomebody to be different, I’mthe guy they call. That’s the joyof acting for me is to be able todo that, and I never played acoach or a teacher,” Thorntonsaid.

Thornton has played manyfictional characters in his career,but with his performance asDavy Crockett in The Alamo,and now as coach Gaines, he’senjoyed the challenges of play-ing real-life characters.

“You feel a certain obligationto get it right since you’re deal-ing with a realperson, sothere is somemore pres-sure,” Thorn-ton said. “Youjust try to readup on them as much as you can;I think it is a lot better to play areal character that not every-body knows.

“In Texas towns where GaryGaines coaches, people knowwhat he’s like, but the rest of thecountry won’t know, and I don’thave to imitate him,” Thorntonsaid. “It is a bad thing for anactor to try to do—to try andimitate somebody. I think theperformance suffers.”

Thornton didn’t need awhole lot of coaching when itcame to coach Gaines’ slow,southern drawl or sports back-ground. Thornton was raised inHot Springs, Ark., was the sonof a basketball coach and livedin Houston for a time as well.

“I talked to a lot of peoplethat knew him; since I wasraised down that way, I knewthe accent wouldn’t be that faroff,” Thornton said.

The actor played football inearly high school, but he mostlyplayed baseball as a pitcher. Atryout after high school withthe Kansas City Royals turnedsour when he broke his collar-bone, and that was the end ofhis sports career.

However, some things aboutGaines’ character were not soeasy for Thornton.

“They say that he doesn’tcurse, so I didn’t in the movie.It’s hard to yell at players with-out cussing, but we pulled itoff,” Thornton said with a laugh.

Bissinger’s book isn’t afavorite topic of Gaines’. It re-flected poorly on his staff—making inferences of racism andforcing injured players to play.

“It’s hard not to take thatstuff personally; I think my per-ception a lot of times differedfrom (Bissinger’s)—I wouldn’tconsider the experience to be abig positive,” Gaines said.

Bissinger, who followed theOdessa team around for an en-tire season, wrote his percep-tions and stories of the teamand the town based on what heencountered.

Thornton was sensitive toGaines’ feelings, however.While filming a game scene at

the Houston Astrodome, formerWildcat players Sione Ohuafiand Blake Lewis served asextras in the film and were talk-ing with Thornton, when Lewisoffered to dial up Gaines’ officeline so they could speak.Gaines did not answer, soThornton left a message.

“I just told him that I hope Ido you justice; I’d like to meetyou sometime, hopefully you’llbe proud of what I do, and I cer-tainly don’t mean any harm. Ihope you’re OK with whatwe’ve done,” Thornton said.

The two haven’t had thechance to talk or meet, but bothhave said that they wish theycould have.

Thornton had read the bookbefore accepting the role, but asfar as the controversial portray-al of the town and coachingstaff, Thornton said he had tolook past it.

“Once I started the movie, Ihad to concentrate on the script;I couldn’t pay much attention tothe book,” Thornton said.

The chapters in Bissinger’sbook alternate between thetown and the team, but for thescreen’s sake, Thornton said thefilm mainly focused on football.

“A movie has to have a cen-tral point of view, so it’s really

about the team, these kids andtheir coach,” Thornton said.“The way the town comes intoplay is how they react to thecoach and the team and viceversa. ... There is stuff about thetown, but it all relates to theteam.”

Though seeing 10,000 to12,000 people attend a highschool football game doesn’tsurprise most locals or thoseraised in Texas, Thorntonbelieves that Odessa’s obsessiveinterest with a bunch of boysplaying football will surpriseothers around the nation.

“The intensity was prettymuch what I expected; it waspretty intense in Arkansas withthe Razorbacks, and there’ssome fanatical fans. The townsin Arkansas are the same way,it’s just not to the same degree asit is in Odessa,” Thornton said.

“I thinks o m e b o d yfrom outhere (LosA n g e l e s )would bep r e t t y

shocked by (the intensity).”Obviously, the roles that

Thornton has played in his pre-vious motion pictures do notdefine him as a person, but withthe roles he’s taken and his ec-centric behavior off-screen,Thornton hasn’t displayedmuch of the ‘nice guy’ imagecoach Gaines is known for.

However, the coach may bein good hands with the actor, asThornton has been recognizedby several different organiza-tions for his past performancesin a variety of different roles. Heeven received a Golden Globenomination for Best Actor in aMusical/Comedy MotionPicture for Bad Santa.

For Monster’s Ball, theNational Board of Review(USA) named him Best Actor,and Thornton was nominatedfor the Academy Award for BestActor for his role in Sling Blade.

“I think that they took thebest of the book out of there andmade a good movie out of it,”Thornton said. “I’m just a smallpart of the movie; I’m just kindof there coaching the team, andthe movie is its own animal, andwe’re just people that service it.”

Thornton: Actor awarded for rolesContinued from Page 1

Friday, October 8, 2004 Page 5FROM THE FRONT PAGE

BRIAN SCHMIDT/Chief Photographer

Coach Gary Gaines talks to starting quarterback Greg Wiggins during Saturday’s football game atShotwell Stadium against Southeastern Oklahoma State.

Gary looked up to manycoaches in his youth but nonemore than his uncle: RichardGaines. Sadly, Richard died atthe age of 28 from a braintumor.

“I had many great coachesgrowing up but my uncle waskind of a hero to me,” Garysaid.

Gary Gaines excelled in ath-letics but his passion was clear-ly football.

“He’s so into football he evenstretches with the players,” saidACU football player MikeCaudle. “He cares about theplayers too. He prays before andafter every practice with us.” Eventually Gaines became thestarting quarterback at CraneHigh School. His successfulhigh school career led him toplay college football at AngeloState University.

After graduating from ASUin 1971, Gaines landed his firstcoaching job at Fort StocktonHigh School as an assistantcoach. A year later he becamethe assistant coach at MonahansHigh Schooland stayedfour yearsbefore becom-ing the headcoach atP e t e r s b u r gHigh School.

“Petersburg was fun. It was agreat place to get my feet wet,”Gaines said. “The town wasonly 1,300 people, but everyFriday night was like theCotton Bowl for me.”

Gaines went from Petersburgto Denver City and then toOdessa to become an assistantcoach at Permian High School.The move paid off as Permianwon the 1980 state champi-onship. Gaines left Permian forTascosa High School inAmarillo and then returned toMonahans as the head coach.

Gaines spent two years asthe head coach at Monahans.He left because another coach-ing position was available atPermian. This time the openingwas for a head coach.

Gaines never knew his deci-sion to leave Monahans and be-come the head coach at Per-mian would still be discussedmore than 15 years later.

Before the 1988 season, anewspaper editor from Phil-adelphia named H.G. Bissingerpitched the idea to Gaines thathe move to Odessa, follow thePermian football team and write

a book about how this footballteam could bring a communitytogether.

“He said it would be likeHoosiers,” Gaines said.

At first Gaines balked at theidea of a newspaper guy docu-menting the town and the team.But Bissinger convinced himthis book would positively cap-ture the essence of high schoolfootball in Texas.

Bissinger moved to Odessaand followed the Permian teamto practices, meetings, gamesand everywhere in between.

“He always carried hisnotepad and pen with him writ-ing everything down,” Gainessaid.

The season ended withPermian losing a disappointinggame to the Dallas CarterCowboys in the semifinals ofthe state playoffs. The Panthersrebounded the next year andwon the 1989 state champi-onship. The book featured the1988 season, but the film hasPermian playing for the statechampionship that year.

Friday Night Lights wasreleased in 1990. Gaines was

one of the first to receive a copyof the book. Bissinger calledGaines and said, “You’re goingto like it.” Gaines, however, saidhe never read the book.

Gaines recalled his wife,Sharon, calling him in tearsover what she had read in thebook. The pages were filledwith racist accusations and per-sonal details about the lives ofplayers and coaches.

“People said that my familyand I weren’t even portrayed ina negative light,” Gaines said.“Maybe not, but I was the cap-tain of the ship. And the nega-tive reflects on the head coachtoo.”

Gaines left Permian after therelease of the book for TexasTech to be the Red Raiders line-backers coach. He recruitedsome players from Permian andeven talked to one about the1988 season.

“When I went to Texas Tech,I had a guy who played for meat Permian, and I asked him ifhe ever heard anything racistfrom me or any of the othercoaches. He said, ‘No coach, Iwouldn’t have played if there

was.’ That was reassuring tohear that from one of my play-ers,” Gaines said.

After four years in Lubbock,Gaines returned to the highschool level in 1994, spendingtwo seasons at Abilene Highand four in San Angelo atCentral High School.

In 2000, Abilene ChristianUniversity offered Gaines a newcareer opportunity: coachingcollege football.

ACU was the opposite ofalmost every other team Gaineshad coached: unsuccessful. Thedismal Wildcats had never evenparticipated in a Division IIpost-season game and hadn’tbeen to the playoffs since win-ning the NAIA Division Inational championship in 1977.

Regardless, Gaines said ACUwas a dream job.

“This is something I had notdone before, and that appealedto me,” Gaines said. “When Iwent back to San Angelo, I was47 years old, and I didn’t thinkthere was any possibility forprofessional advancement. Thisjob is a dream come true.”

Wildcat football playerC l a y t o nFarrell said hea d m i r e sGaines for hisdemeanor.

“He’s sucha great coachbecause of his

calmness,” said Farrell. “Hedemands respect, but his calmdemeanor really keeps our teamtogether.”

In 20 seasons as a headcoach, Gary Gaines has com-piled a 121-96-1 record. His re-cord at ACU is 18-28, but theWildcats posted back-to-backwinning seasons in 2002 and2003 for the first time since1997.

Gaines gets out of his chairand moves carefully toward thewall on the right side of hisoffice. Hanging on the wall is acluster of pictures. He pointstoward the pictures and proud-ly looks at his four grandchil-dren. He stares at the picturesand smiles before going back tohis desk.

“What we went throughwith the book was difficult, butcompared to other things in life,it was nothing,” Gaines said.

“I think everyone has trialsin their life, but it’s your faiththat can get you through.”

Gaines: Job a ‘dream come true’ Continued from Page 1

“I think everyone has trials in their life,but it’s your faith that can get you through.”

Gary Gaines, head football coach

“They say that he doesn’t curse, so I didn’t in themovie. It’s hard to yell at players without cussing.”

Billy Bob Thornton, who plays Coach Gary Gaines in Friday Night Lights

RALPH NELSON/2004 Universal Studios

Billy Bob Thornton, playing ACU’s head football coach Gary Gaines, leads the Permian High Panthersof Odessa to the state playoffs in Imagine Entertainment's adaptation of H.G. Bissinger's prize-winningbook, “Friday Night Lights.” The film opens nationwide Friday.

E-mail Roe at: bpr00a@acu.edu

E-mail Robarts at: kdr00c@acu.edu

By DEE TRAVISARTS EDITOR

One of my many observa-tions since arriving on thiscampus is a vast falsehoodmany students seem to havebought into: There’s nothingto do in Abilene. What isthat?

True, the vast desert sur-rounding the campus nodoubt helps to further thisattitude, but it’s always best toconsider the glass half full.

There’s usually somethingto do in Abilene, but manystudents are simply unaware.

Therefore, to make a longstory short, the following aresome upcoming arts-related

events I feel you should knowabout. Enjoy.

The Poets Corner

“The Poets Corner” is anew forum for sharing origi-nal poetry. On Oct. 18, theAbilene Public Library willconduct the event, open toreaders of all ages.Registration is required forthe event, although preregis-tration isn’t necessary; simplyregister the day of the event.

The main auditorium willfeature readings of originalpoems from 6:30-8:30p.m.,and refreshments will beserved. The library is locatedat 202 Cedar St.

ArtWalk

ArtWalk is an event manystudents are completely un-

aware of. Some students haveheard the name but haveabsolutely no idea where orwhen it is. ArtWalk is Abi-lene’s biggest cultural event,and it occurs downtown everymonth; the next ArtWalk willbe Thursday.

Various museums, storesand restaurants open theirdoors to ArtWalkers from 5-8:30 p.m., and many of themmake special offers. The Cen-ter for Contemporary Artsbegan the ArtWalk celebra-tion 10 years ago and contin-ues to play a major role everymonth in contributing to theevent.

This Thursday, one of themain attractions will be TheErinShire Gardens Folk Fest-ival. Folk musicians will belocated all across downtownto serenade ArtWalkers. TheCenter for Contemporary Arts

is featuring the Seven Trains ofThought exhibit. City Hall willfeature more than 100 photo-graphs taken in conjunctionwith the Summer ArtReachprogram.

Copies of the ShinneryReview’s 2004 publication ofACU students’ artwork andpoetry will be on sale, and justto top it off, all ArtWalkerswill receive free trolley rides.

The Paramount

Many students don’t takeadvantage of the fact thatAbilene is home to one ofAmerica’s great historic movietheatres.

The Paramount was con-structed in 1930 during thegolden age of Hollywood, andmany films now shown in theParamount’s classic serieswere shown there decades ago

in their first run.The theatre was completely

renovated in 1986, completewith new lighting and soundequipment, and the theatre iscurrently home to live per-formances as well as movies.

This weekend, the Para-mount will be showing Gas-Light, a legendary suspensethriller starring Charles Boyer,Ingrid Bergman, and also fea-turing the film debut ofAngela Lansbury. Showtimesare Friday at 7:30 p.m. andSaturday at 2:00 and 7:30.

Thursday, for ArtWalk, theParamount will be showingSuper Size Me, a 2004 Sun-dance film about obesity inAmerica. The only showtimeis at 7:30 p.m.

ARTSFRIDAYPage 6 OPTIMIST October 8, 2004

The Box Office

Figures are for the week-end of October 1-3 and are inmillions. Total grosses inparentheses.

1 Shark Tale—$47.6 (new)2 Ladder 49—$22.1 (new) 3 The Forgotten—$11.8

($38.1)4 Sky Captain and the World

of Tomorrow—$3.28 ($30.6)

5 Mr. 3000—$2.53 ($19.1)6 Shaun of the Dead—$2.48

($6.93)7 Woman Thou Art

Loosed—$2.33 (new)8 Resident Evil:

Apocalypse—$2.31 ($47)9 First Daughter—$2.16

($7.13)10 Cellular—$2.01 ($28.2)

New York Times best-selling fiction novelsNumbers indicate: current posi-tion, last week’s position andtotal weeks on the list.

1/-/1 Stephen King, The Dark Tower2/1/3 Patricia Cornwell, Trace3/2/80 Dan Brown,

The Da Vinci Code4/-/1 Maeve Binchy, Nights of Rain and Stars 5/4/4 Susan Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell6/3/2 Sidney Sheldon, Are You Afraid of the Dark?7/5/53 Mitch Albom, The FivePeople You Meet In Heaven

8/6/39 Dan Brown,Angels and Demons9/-/1 Neal Stephenson, The System of the World10/8/20 Ian Caldwell and DustinThomason, The Rule of Four

Abilene features artistic activities for studentsContrary to popularbelief, Abilene offers

enjoyable events

E-mail Travis at: dxt02a@acu.edu

Top-selling AlbumsNumbers indicate: current posi-tion, last week’s position andtotal weeks on the chart.

1/-/1 Rascal Flatts, Feels Like Today2/-/1 Hilary Duff, Hilary Duff3/-/1 Clara, Goodies

4/1/2 Green Day,American Idiot5/2/3 Nelly, Suit6/-/1 The Used, In Love and Death 7/6/5 Ray Charles, Genius Loves Company8/4/3 Nelly, Sweat

9/-/1 Marilyn Manson, Lest We Forget: The Best Of10/5/6 Tim McGraw,Live Like You Were Dying

helped ACU go 2-0 to openconference play. Along withher 122 assists, Martin added12 digs, two service aces, twokills and one block last week.

ACU faces Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday at 2p.m. Kingsville, generally atthe bottom of the LSC SouthDivision, is currently 1-0 inconference and playing wellwith an upset over TarletonState.

Carthel said the team must

play better on the road, andthe team still has plenty toprove.

“We haven’t earned any-thing yet,” Carthel said. “Westill have a lot we want toaccomplish. We’ll start thisweekend by really focusingand putting away road games.”

The Wildcats return hometo host St. Edwards onTuesday at 7 p.m. in MoodyColiseum.

Friday, October 8, 2004 Page 7JUMPS

Volleyball: Wildcatslook to bounce back

E-mail Roe at: bpr00a@acu.edu

Continued from Page 8

the first, but couldn’t stringanything together as he shot74 and 82 in the next tworounds. Samples said that’sthe challenge for this year’ssquad: getting it all togetherat the same time.

“We have a lot of talent, alot of raw talent,” Samplessaid. “It’s just getting every-thing together. We’ve got toget rid of the big numbers.”

Campbell also said theteam played well at times in

Phoenix, but not so well atothers.

“We were right in thereafter the first round, but wefaded a little at the end,” hesaid.

Cal State Bakersfieldshowed no such problemswith consistency and repeatedas winners of the tournament.The Roadrunners were 12under par as a team, whileWestern Washington, the onlyother team to finish belowpar, was nine under and fin-ished second.

Scott Sikes from TexasWesleyan University won theindividual title, posting threebelow-par rounds on his wayto a nine-under score.

Other ACU players includ-ed Kyle Byerly, who was 16over and finished in a tie for72nd, Curtis Harris in 76th,and Zach Starnes, who tiedfor 79th. Of the three, Harrisposted the lowest round witha 74 on the first day. It’s thoselow scores scattered aroundthe scorecards that makesSamples think this team has

something. “We’ve got enough talent

to compete with anybody,”Samples said.

The Wildcats will get theirnext shot at competing whenthey travel to San Antonio forthe Rattler Invitational at TheGolf Club of Texas on Oct.18-19.

Golf: Team has time off before next contestContinued from Page 8

E-mail Roe at: weg02a@acu.edu

"Depledging is always going tohappen,” said Hillary Mudroch,senior criminal justice majorfrom Angleton and president ofDelta Theta. “It's a personalchoice. People think you hatethem if they depledge, andthat's kind of a myth."

Six students have depledgedDelta Theta. Mudroch said thisnumber might be one morethan the average for her club,and higher than most otherclubs.

The realization of how busytheir schedule is and theamount of money involved

doesn't sink in for all the girlsuntil pledging really starts,Mudroch said.

Spell said he has receivedmany responses from peoplewho were offered a bid that wasnot their first choice.

"[They] give the club a tryonly to find that they do notfeel it is a fit for them," Spellsaid. "Others realize how muchof a time commitment is

involved in the process andrealize that they do not have thetime to give."

For Richard Keker, sopho-more elementary educationmajor from Sugar Land, de-pledging was solely an issue oftime. Keker said he depledgedGamma Sigma Phi on Tuesdayafter noticing his academicshad started to suffer. Pledgingwasn't giving him enough time

to complete the observationhours he needed for his ele-mentary education major.

"All the guys I pledged withare still my friends," Keker said."I'd probably pledge again if Ihad the time next year."

At this time last year, 10 stu-dents had depledged with atotal of 20 depledges for theyear. Spell said he has a hunchthere might be more studentswho choose to depledge in theremaining weeks of pledging.

Clubs: Students depledge for many reasonsContinued from Page 1

presented the amendment as away to increase the academicstandards of executive offi-cers.

“SA takes a lot of work,”Smith said. “We don’t want toput people in a position wherethey have a 2.5, 2.7 GPA goinginto their senior year.”

However, some membersquestioned raising the requiredGPA to run for executive office.

“One of the missions of SAis to get people involved,” saidJeremy Gudgel, chief financialofficer and sophomore acc-ounting major from Andrews.“Raising it would make therequirements a lot harder, andit would make it more elite.”

Some contended that GPAsays something about the char-acter of the candidate.

“If you’re going to be anexecutive officer, you need tobe one that has a hard workethic and a good work ethic,”said Tyler Cosgrove, executive

treasurer and junior financemajor from Amarillo. “If yourGPA is below a 3.0, I am goingto question your work ethic.”

Smith said there has notbeen a problem with executiveofficers with GPAs lower than3.0 in recent history, but somestill questioned the proposal.

“The students know how topick leaders, they know how topick people who know whatthey’re doing,” said Jeff Mc-Cain, junior integrated market-ing communication majorfrom Liberty.

Representatives from Hea-ling Hands International at-tended the meeting to receivethe donation made by studentsafter Chapel on Monday for therelief effort in hurricane-strick-en Haiti. Students raised$3,880.57 to send with mis-sionaries to Haiti to buy foodand water for those who lostpossessions in the hurricanes.

SA: GPA bill debated Continued from Page 1

Homecoming Parade Saturday.During halftime of the foot-

ball game, the 2004 Home-coming Queen will be an-nounced.

“It’s going to be a really busyweek,” Fullerton said.

Misty Willcox, senior ele-mentary education major fromBedford and pledge-mom forGATA, said she will also be real-ly busy that week, but she said

she’s looking forward to theexcitement.

“It’s an honor,” Willcox said,“and it’s really exciting and fun.

Queens: Homecoming to be busy Continued from Page 1

HomecomingQueen nominees

• Laci Bills, exercise scienceand special education majorfrom Sherman• Jenny Fullerton, speech-lan-guage pathology major fromGarland• Jenni Kripner, elementaryeducation major from SanAntonio• Rosalyn Perry, elementaryeducation major from Abilene• Allison Sevier, marketing andmanagement major fromSulphur Springs• Lydia Spies, biology andBible major from Glen Rose• Moriah Steward, secondaryeducation major from FortWorth• Amanda Thompson, fashionmerchandise and marketingmajor from North RichlandHills• Nichelle Wall, psychologymajor from Abilene• Misty Willcox, elementaryeducation major from Bedford

BRIAN SCHMIDT/Chief Photographer

Laci Bills, senior exercise science and special education major from Sherman, Amanda Thompson, seniorfashion merchandise and marketing major from North Richland Hills, and Nichelle Wall, senior psychologymajor from Abilene, ride in a van with other kidnapped Homecoming Queen nominees on Wednesday night.

E-mail Schneider at: jrs02a@acu.edu

E-mail Smith at: jvs02a@acu.edu

“It’s a personal choice. People think you hate themif they depledge, and that’s kind of a myth.”

Hillary Mudroch, president of Delta Theta

E-mail Chastain at: optimist@acu.edu

By STEVE HOLTSPORTS WRITER

The latest additions to themen’s cross country teamwasted no time making a posi-tive impact, just weeks afterarriving in the United Statesfor the first time.

Kenyan Nicodemus Nai-madu and Burundian LaurentNgirakamaro placed seventhand 12th, respectively, at theOklahoma State UniversityCowboy Jamboree inStillwater, Okla., helping theWildcat men to a third-placeteam finish. Senior BernardManirakiza was ACU’s toprunner Saturday, placingfourth with a time of 24:20over the 8,000-meter course,but the immediate contribu-tions of Naimadu andNgirakamaro against mainlyDivision I competition werethe story of the day. Naimadufinished the race in 24:27, fol-lowed by Ngirakamaro, whoran 24:48.

“They are talented youngmen,” said head coach JonMurray. “They handled every-thing real well – the newnessof everything, the training.”

Junior Martin O’Kello wasslowed down by a strainedcalf, but he still managed tofinish 22nd in 25:11. TransferLucky Hadebe rounded outthe top five with a 36th-place

finish, completing the coursein 25:49.

The women’s team finished10th overall, led by anotherfast race by transfer AdehMwamba. Mwamba continuedto show why she is expected tobe a contender for an individ-ual national title, placing thirdoverall in the competitivefield. Mwamba finished the5,000-meter course in 17:44, aseason best for that distance.Sophomore Olha Kryv’yak wasagain the No. 2 runner for theWildcats, finishing 20th in18:30. Transfer Trina Cox was49th overall in 19:18, followedby Denise Morgan and MollyeStanford in 95th place and103rd place, respectively. Coxsaid she was disappointedwith her race, but that theteam performed well as awhole, despite race-time con-ditions that were about 30degrees cooler than most ofthe ACU athletes are used to.

“It was a good race, goodcompetition,” said Cox, whorecently transferred from SantaRosa Community College inCalifornia. “As a whole team,we did just fine, consideringthe weather, the competition.”

The Arkansas men were theteam champions Saturday,while the Texas Tech womentook top honors.

The Wildcat women arestill hurt by the absence ofjunior Abbie Waters, who hasbeen hampered by a nagginginjury all season. Cox said thatin addition to getting Watersback as the team’s No. 4 run-

ner, the Wildcat women willhave to do a few more thingsto earn a berth to the DivisionII national championships.

“I think to get to nationalswe’re going to have to workhard as a team and pass morepeople off,” Cox said. “We justhave to beat as many people aswe can.”

The men’s team seems to beon track to win its fifth con-secutive South CentralRegional title and earn itseighth total top-10 finish atthe NCAA Division II CrossCountry NationalChampionships, to be run inEvansville, Ind. Murray saidthe team’s apparent weaknessafter three meets is the timegap between the fourth andfifth runners.

“We’ve just got to get ourfifth runner up there, eitherLucky or [freshman] Vincent[Morogah]. We just have tokeep packing them up towardour No. 1 runner,” Murraysaid. “Through three, we’rerunning with anyone.”

Neither ACU team will raceSaturday, instead training inpreparation for the ChilePepper Festival on Oct. 16 inFayetteville, Ark. The ChilePepper likely will be the bestcompetition either team willsee all season, featuring manyof the top teams in the nation.

BRIAN SCHMIDT/Chief Photographer

Freshman receiver Jerale Badon runs after a catch in Saturday’s 35-15 loss to Southeastern. Badon caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from Greg Wiggins, giving him two on theseason. He leads all ACU receivers with 270 yards in five games.

SPORTSFRIDAYPage 8 OPTIMIST October 8, 2004

By KYLE ROBARTSSPORTS EDITOR

To say that the two footballteams meeting at ShotwellStadium Saturday have theirbacks against the wall wouldbe an understatement.

The Angelo State Rams (0-6) will be looking for theirfirst win all year, while theWildcats will be looking tosnap a two-game losing skidand get back on track torevive hope for a playoff run.

The Rams lost a heart-breaker 38-35 on Saturday toEastern New Mexico, a teamthat beat ACU the previousweek 28-21. Angelo Statejumped out 28-6 with 2:24left in the third quarteragainst ENMU, before theGreyhounds stormed back toscore 32 points in the final15:57 of the game.

The Wildcats just came offa 35-14 loss to Southeastern

Oklahoma State where theycommitted five turnovers togive them eight in the last twogames, and a total of 12 fortheir three losses.

Oddly enough, when theWildcats don’t turn the ballover, at least in 2004, it leadsto victories. In the 23-14 winover Northeastern State andthe 31-14 stomping ofTarleton State, ACU didn’t

turn the ballover once.

The team’sinconsistencyon offense hasbeen costly.The Wildcatsare 10th in theconference intime of pos-session, aver-

aging just 28:29 with the ballin their control, and areranked 12th out of 13 in totaloffense, averaging just 293.2yards per game.

Defensively, the secondaryhas lived up to the pre-seasonhype of being considered oneof the top secondaries in thenation. It leads the conference

allowing just 169.4 yards percontest. Stopping the run isan entirely different storyhowever, as the Cats haveallowed 192.6 yards per game.

Though Angelo State is win-less thus far in the season, theteam has proved to be disci-plined. They rank third in theconference in time of posses-sion (32:19), second in penaltyyards (53.2 ypg), and have a +7turnover margin whereas theWildcats have a –4.

For ACU to improve on itsconsecutive 6-4 seasons, theteam will need to win out. At2-3 they have five gamesremaining, all in the LSCSouth. The team still hasTexas A&M-Kingsville (rank-ed #4 in the nation), and 4-1Midwestern State to face.Theoretically, if the team wereto run the tables, they’d atleast be in a tie for first placein the LSC South and wouldhave to rely on the regionalpolls for a playoff berth.

The NCAA takes the topsix teams from each regional

poll to the post-season. Beforelast week’s lossto South-eastern, ACUwas ranked12th in theS o u t h w e s tRegion poll butdropped outafter sufferingits third loss ofthe season.

Senior line-backer ShawnTaylor said thatw i n n i n gSaturday’s gamewould be thebest way to getthe team backon track.

“Angelo hasn’t won allyear, and this is going to be agood chance for them,” Taylorsaid. “They’re a good team,but if we play like I think wecan, we can shut them out –goose egg.”

Starting quarterback GregWiggins was injured with anankle sprain in Saturday’sgame with Southeastern.

Wiggins is currently listedas probable for Saturday’smatchup with the Rams.However, if Wiggins is unableto play, red-shirt freshmanBrock Pierce will fill the void.

Pierce completed two offour passes for 14 yards andone interception.

By WARREN GRAYSPORTS WRITER

The ACU golf team showedsome promise in the GrandCanyon University Fall Invi-tational Monday and Tuesday,but finished 14th at EstrallaMountain Ranch in Phoenix.

The Wildcats displayedwhat coach Mike Campbelldescribed as “bright spots”throughout the tournament,epitomized by the play ofMatt Samples.

Samples, who finished tiedfor 31st, shot a 78 in the first

round but managed to drop 10shots in the second round tofinish with a four-under 68.Campbell said Samples playedvery well in the second round,but Samples was not satisfied.

“It was kind of disappoint-ing that I didn’t play better inthe first round,” he said.

Samples attributed hisshaky start to his inconsistentputting. Unlike most Texasgolf courses, where bentgrassgreens are primarily used,Estralla Mountain Ranch fea-tured bermuda greens.

“Some of the guys hadnever even putted on bermu-da greens before,” Samplessaid. “There’s just a totally dif-

ferent feel.”Samples continued his up-

and-down play in the thirdround. Although he hit everyfairway, he came away with a75, thanks in large part to hisshort game. He said he wouldhave been much more com-petitive in the tournament hadhis putting been where hewanted it.

“I missed some easy putts;it’s all putting,” Samples said.“I’ve been working on that.”

After Samples, the nexthighest Wildcat finisher wasCarlos Alvarez, who finishedin a five-person group at 47th.Like Samples, Alvarez postedone below par round, a 70 in

Team finishes 14th in Arizona Teams bode well vs. D-I schoolsSamples top finisherfor Wildcats; finishes

31st overall in Phoenix

Two men, one womanfinish in top 10

individually

Rams, 0-6, look to winwhile Wildcats look

to get offense clicking

GolfGolf Cross CountryCross Country

This week inWildcat sports...

(home events in italics)

Saturday, October 9 VB: at TX A&M-Kingsville, 2 p.m. FB: Angelo State, 2 p.m.

Tuesday, October 12 VB: St. Edward's, 7 p.m.

Thursday, October 14 VB: at Angelo State, 7 p.m.

Saturday, October 16 FB: at West Texas A&M, 7 p.m. CC: Chile Pepper Festival,Fayetteville, Ark

LSC SouthStandings

FootballTeam Div. Tot.1. A&M-Kingsville 2-0 4-02. Midwestern State 2-0 4-13. E. New Mexico 2-0 3-34. A&M-Commerce 0-1 2-35. ACU 0-2 2-36. W. Texas A&M 0-2 1-47. Angelo State 0-2 0-6

VolleyballTeam Div. Tot.1. Angelo State 2-0 15-42. ACU 2-0 16-63. A&M-Kingsville 1-0 7-124. Tarleton State 0-1 13-95. E. New Mexico 0-2 12-56. West Texas A&M 0-2 11-9

Briefs

Manning #1 puntreturner in the nation

Sophomore defensiveback Danieal Manning is offi-cially the No. 1 punt-returnspecialist in the nationthrough Oct. 2.

Manning didn’t qualify forlast week’s leaderboardbecause he hadn’t returnedthe minimum number of puntsrequired. That was mostlydue to opponents puntingaway from the Pre-seasonAll-America selection.

Manning has returned sixpunts (2 for TD) for 219 yards,giving him a 36.5 yard aver-age per return.

The next player on theleaderboard trails Manningby 12.1 yards with an averageof 24.4 yards per return.

In the Lone StarConference, Manning shad-ows its next leader by 23.9yards as Midwestern’sMarcus Stenix is the closestthing to competition forManning with a 12.6 yardaverage.

- Kyle Robarts Sports Editor

FootballFootball

Game Preview

Abilene Christian (2-3, 0-1) vs Angelo State (0-6, 0-2)Date: Saturday Oct. 9, 2004 Time: 2 p.m.

Location: AbileneStadium: Shotwell Stadium (15,000, turf)

Audio: KULL 92.5 FM or streaming audio at www.tsrnsports.com

Abilene Christian (2-3)Colors: Purple and WhiteCoach: Gary Gaines (18-28, 5th season)

Angelo State (0-6)Colors: Blue and Gold

Coach: Jerry Vandergriff (141-98-2, 23rd season

Must-win for Wildcats Saturday

By BRIAN ROESPORTS EDITOR

The Wildcats are in themidst of their toughest roadtrip of the season, traveling toStephenville Thursday night toface Tarleton and going toKingsville for Saturday’s matchagainst Texas A&M-Kingsville.

ACU looks to rebound off asurprising loss to LubbockChristian on Tuesday night inLubbock. The Wildcats, who

soundly defeated LCU inthree straight games at homeon Sept. 7, lost in four games.ACU has not beaten LCU inLubbock since head coachBrek Horn arrived at ACU.

“We don’t want to takeanything away from LCU, butwe played poorly,” said assis-tant coach Sarah Carthel. “Wewere not prepared mentally,and we didn’t play to ourpotential.”

The Wildcats were alsowithout the services of twoplayers: junior setter LindseyMartin was removed fromgame one because she rolled

her ankle, and junior middleblocker Ashlee Motola washeld out of the game to rest anabdominal injury.

Martin, who injured herankle last season during con-ference play, is expected toreturn this weekend. For herperformance last week, thejunior earned Lone Star Con-ference South Division setterof the week.

Martin distributed 122assists (15.25 per game) and

Team loses in fourgames to Lubbock

Christian University

VVolleyballolleyball

Streak snapped; Cats fall

See VOLLEYBALL Page 11

See GOLF Page 11

Taylor

E-mail Robarts at: kdr00c@acu.edu

E-mail Holt at: smh00a@acu.edu