WSU fans need to grow up

I'm a Coug. And I'm proud to be a Coug. Except on Saturday, September 12. 2009. On that day I was ashamed to be associated with WSU. And it wasn't because of our "football" ball team on the field - if you even consider the first 20 minutes of the game "playing football" on WSU's side. No, I was ashamed to be a Coug because of our "fans."

Our fans are some of the crudest, rudest, impolite, explicit, meanest and most negative fans that I've been exposed to.

More than twice the fans broke out into chants of "F--- Hawaii." Are you kidding me? Hawaii was doing what any team goes out on the field to do: win. Yes, the Cougs were losing, but it wasn't that Hawaii was being exceptionally forceful about it. All the big hits were clean, all the penalties were accidents, all the points were earned. And you're going to curse at them for that? The Cougs turned the ball over so many times in the first half they may have well been bakers.

The University of Hawaii is home to some of the nicest people on this planet and they are the athletic representatives for the State of Hawaii (since they lack a professional sports
team). They have never done anything disrespectful to WSU like spit/stomp on our cougar head (USC) or set a part of our field on fire (UW). They don't deserve to be cussed at. If anything, chants of "F--- Wulff" should have been expressed. And the F means "Fire." Wulff has done a poor job of getting our team ready for the games. Don't get mad at Hawaii for showing us what we need to work on.

Calls of "B---S---" when it wasn't even clear that WSU was on the short end of a ref's ruling are also inappropriate. Think about it; if you were a ref and the fans chanted BS on your calls, would you support them on the next close call? I wouldn't. If we don't respect the refs, they won't respect us. They're just doing the best job they can. If you don't like them, simply boo to express disapproval appropriately and complain to the Pac-10 later for better refs. But don't take it out on the guys in the stripes!

I've also seen Cougar fans starting trouble with Hawaii fans, leading the Cougar fans to being led out of the stadium in handcuffs. I don't know details, so I won't elaborate - but it's shameful to see, regardless of the finer points.

Instead we should channel energy into being louder on defensive third downs (shoot, all downs), so they can't hear the snap count and audibles, focus on the fight song so we clap on beat and yell louder on "Go Cougs!" chants to shake the stadium floor and pump up our team.

I love the passion we have for our football team, I just wish our maturity and class positively correlated with our heart. Otherwise, we look more like childish potty mouths rather than a respectful Pac-10 fan base.

Something to think about.

-- Post From My iPhone

Riches-to-Rags

Wanna hear some facts about today's game?

1. Prior to today, Hawaii has never, ever won a game on the road against a BCS team. Today was their first.
2. Hawaii only returns one defensive starter from last year.
3. Hawaii barely beat Central Arkansas (is that even a school?) last week, and WSU put up as many points against Hawaii's suspect D as they did: 20.
4. A running back from Pasco, WA - a WSU territory - scored the TD to put Hawaii up 21-0.
5. Here's a direct quote from ESPN: "Even Hawaii's linemen were faster than Washington State's defensive backs. When Chima Nwachukwu picked up a fumble by Alexander at the Cougars 1 midway through the second quarter -- 1 yard from Hawaii going up 42-0 -- he briefly appeared free for a 99-yard score down the sideline. Then Warriors right tackle Laupepa Letuli ran him down and pushed him out of bounds at the WSU 31."

What happened to Wazzu?

Here's what WSU accomplished in the first few years of the 2000s:

1. Beat USC.
2. Beat Oregon.
3. Beat a team with Vince Young.
4. Went to the Rose Bowl.
5. Went to major bowl games.

How could this have happened? It's quite possibly one of the greatest falls among BCS schools.

What makes it worse is that UW won a game today.

If we can't beat SMU, it may be our turn to go winless for a whole season.

I love my Cougars, I just wish they'd give me more reasons to love them.

Please Coach Wulf, turn this thing around. No more letting teams jump out to 35-0 leads. No more giving up the ball 7 times in a game. No more letting opponents get over 500 yards from passing alone.

Please. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Concerned Cougar fans everywhere.

-- Post From My iPhone

Health

Is health care a right, or a privilege? That's a major discussion going on right now, due to President Obama's push for national health care.

In my opinion, there should be no discussion. Health care provided by the government should be accessible to its citizens just as much as safety, defense and education currently are. The government currently foots the bill for the police, military and grade school teachers, respectively, and it should do so for health related programs. So why isn't health care provided nationally? For the same reason every other innovative program or idea gets stifled – those with wealth and power as a result of the status quo intend to keep it that way.

The insurance industry is a lucrative field. People often forget that insurance companies and third party warranty programs are designed to make a profit. If the company actually benefited you, it wouldn't exist! With insurance, you pay a premium. Then the company has an agreement with you to provide you coverage should you get sick or get injured. That's all fine and dandy, but on average, a typical individual spends more on their premium than they do on whatever routine health care they receive. Only when we undergo freak accidents, like I did with my teeth, do we find ourselves wishing that we had insurance coverage. But insurance providers are profit companies; they need to stay in the black. Therefore, they will do their best to provide the least amount of coverage for the most amount of premium while staying competitive within the market rates. With this in mind, it's easy to see why those with wealth due to the status quo intend to spend millions on advertising and propaganda to ensure that it stays that way.

Even the wealthy not tied to the insurance industry prefer to keep the way things are. The wealthy enjoy the luxury of being able to pay off their personal medical bills. But if the government were to sponsor a national health care plan, not only would the wealthy continue to pay their own health care, but their taxes would increase because someone would have to foot the bill for the lower income on health care. In fact, they would argue that the poor are more likely to get sick, because they cannot afford to eat healthy (like purchase organic foods), exercise regularly (gym membership and clubs) and carryout a positive lifestyle (the poor are often overworked and have poor work environments) – so why should they have to foot the bill for this new health care plan that mostly the poor will take advantage of? It's an understandable, but incredibly selfish mindset possessed by the rich, and since they have the money and influence to shape public opinion, it will be difficult for health care reform to pass.

Who else doesn't want government sponsored health care? The medical field employees. If government sponsored health care were to pass, the pay for nurses and pharmacists would undoubtedly fall from the astronomical salaries they are currently at. The government is notorious for providing low pay for its employees. Government workers – in the past at least – enjoy great benefits, high job security and a relaxed work environment. But they don't get a high pay rate. Current medical employees are in a dream situation. They have high job security from third party insurance companies, and they have lucrative salaries. Government intervention would likely hurt their current situation, so you can be sure that they will protect themselves by not exactly jumping aboard with President Obama's plan.

But here are the facts: the United States remains one of the only industrialized nations in the world without a national health care program. Critics of President Obama's plan are primarily republicans, which is most ironic because they also oppose abortion. You get it? Republicans want every fetus born, but once you're in the world, you have to fend for yourself! This is absolutely ridiculous and hypocritical! Health care is expensive, no doubt about it. That's why we need a program accessible to every American to assist them in their right to live. That's why we need change. That's why we need to support President Obama's initiative on health care reform.