JV needs you The Politics of Sex: The right to gay marriage

The 2004-05 Cabrini basketball season is about to start in a few weeks. I am sure many students plan on attending some varsity games, but did you know that there is a men’s junior varsity basketball team at Cabrini? If you didn’t, now you do, and if you already knew this, you probably never attended a game.

I have been playing for the men’s JVbasketball team for two years and many of the home games have been deserted. I am talking empty. If the ball goes out of bounds all you hear is the loud bang of it hitting the bleachers. This is because there is absolutely no one sitting in the stands to catch it!

Besides a few family members, there are approximately ten Cabrini students at every game. It is so quiet I can hear a player on the bench take a swig of Gatorade, gulp it down and burp all while I’m on the court.

The dance team forgets every week to pay JVgames a visit at half time. However, I can understand this. Why would they perform if there isn’t anyone in the stands?

“I don’t go to the games because the excitement level is low. I think this is because no one goes,” Ian McDonald, a junior criminal justice major, said. Adecent crowd would motivate the players to execute at a higher level. Acrowd of more than 20 people rarely shows up. I think this definitely needs to change.

It seems as if JVbasketball gets a bad name just because it isn’t the varsity. Many narrowminded people assume that we are not as good as varsity players. In some cases, this assumption is true, but there still are few factors people need to understand about the JVteam before they disregard it.

Head coach John Dzik and his staff are some of the best recruiters in Division III basketball. Every year there is sure to be a huge influx of new and talented players, which makes the competition for a varsity spot to be extremely demanding.

Every week during the season, Coach Dzik brings players up and sends them down from varsity to JV. If a player hasn’t been performing to his potential, he is sent to the JVteam until his spot is rightfully earned. Also, varsity players that are just coming off an injury start at the JV level and work their way back up to varsity.

Justin Walsh, a junior history major, has played on the JVbasketball team for two years. “The level of competition the JVteam goes against is very tough,” Walsh said. The JVbasketball team’s schedule is cluttered with games against community and junior colleges. The natural talent at some of these schools is unbelievable.

“Many players we compete against are potentially Division I players that just need to work on their grades,” Walsh said. Penn’s JV, St. Joe’s JV, and Cecil County Junior College are just a few of the great teams Cabrini competes against.

Sophomore point guard Victor O’Connor played on the JV team last year. “I would definitely appreciate it if more female fans showed up. This would definitely make me play better,” O’Connor said.

Every team has its ups and downs. Cabrini’s JVteam may get blown out by other teams from time to time, but they still deserve support from the students.

Basketball season starts up in October. I urge all the students to pay attention to when men’s JVgames are scheduled. After all, today’s JVplayers are tomorrow’s varsity stars.

MastronardiService & LeadershipAward

Students: If you are actively committed to community service & civic engagement, eligible for financial aid, 2.5 GPA or above, and enrolled as a full-time student, consider applying for this prestigious annual award established by Cabrini alumnae to honor our tradition of "education of the heart."

This year the award will be given to two students, who will each receive a tuition remission of approximately $650, divided between fall and spring semesters.

Application information in the Wolfington Center: Dr. Mary Laver x8409 mlaver@cabrini.edu

Deadline for submitting completed application essays and recommendations: OCTOBER 15, 2004

Award winners will be notified on November 1, and publically presented at CABRINI DAY on November 11th

SARAH DUFFY STAFF WRITER SED722@ CABRINI EDU

If you are one who criticizes others for their sexual preference, you have every right to your opinion, but, let me point out. It is just an opinion, and does not prevent other individuals from choosing the sexual identity that so pleases them.

Legislation is already turning in 25 states to ban gay marriages. Not only does President Bush want to ban gay marriages, but make it a constitutional amendment. You’ve got to be kidding me. America takes great pride in our separation of church and state. What part of separation doesn’t our government understand?

Let’s refer to the U.S. Constitution as a mission statement, a general outline of what we Americans are all about. Would you say that we support preventing homosexuals from marrying each other? That seems a bit out of context to me.

Why are we seeking such drastic legislation to control what constitutes less than 5 percent of our population, if not for some personal agenda to restrict anoth- er human being’s pursuit of happiness? Sounds like a personal problem, not a constitutional amendment. p.m.

The government’s attempts to control our private-sexual lives never hold any weight in the real world. Did you know that oral sex is illegal in Florida? Now this may be a stretch, but I am pretty sure that someone in Florida is having oral sex right now, especially down in Miami Beach. In fact I hear that’s pretty much all they do there.

Regardless of majority opinion, gay people exist, they really do! People are not going to stop being gay. If a homosexual couple decided to marry, I encourage the faithfulness of a union between two people.

Perhaps if we stopped treating homosexuals as outcast, and forcing them to live in fear of their own identity, we wouldn’t have 40-year-old governors coming out of the closet or an underground AIDS epidemic, but rather, a friendly community of happily married gay couples.

So to that little boy who dreams of one day walking down the aisle and marring his prince charming, I ask him to not give up hope. For I believe that we will come to terms with this issue and encourage the dreams of all the future homosexuals of America.