Do the right thing

On Friday, the Minnesota Vikings fined wide receiver Troy Williamson one game's pay for missing Sunday's game to attend his grandmother's funeral on Monday. If this isn't the worst story that I have seen in sports in a while I don't know what is. Williamson was fined roughly $25,000 of his $435,000 base salary for this year. Now I know some would argue that he shouldn't have to miss a Sunday game in order to attend a Monday funeral. Some would say that NFL players deal with family tragedies and personal situations all the time. Well think of it this way. Williamson's Grandmother was like a Mother to him. She basically raised him and they were extremely close. On top of that, Williamson was the main organizer of the funeral and needed to arrange travel plans for his brother's as well as some family members in the military. He also has been dealing with a brother who has been in and out of a coma for the last two months. It is not like Williamson didn't inform the organization of his intended absence, he sat down and talked with the organization before he left. He was even quoted as saying: "I don't care if they would have [taken] my pay for the rest of the year, I was going home." Is it really worth the bad publicity to fine a guy who is making less than a million dollars a year? Is it really worth the bad publicity to fine a guy who was just trying to be there for his family in a time of need? This is one of the worst stories I have seen in a long time and it absolutely disgusts me. Do the right thing and give the guy his money back for being there for his family.

Others have also weighed in on this story as well.

Mark Kreidler
Kevin Brown

Marion Jones was a hero to all track fans. She broke records and was an icon for little children. Now she went from the highest point being regarded as the fastest woman in the world to the lowest point and being known as a cheater and getting her medals taken away. She use to amaze people when she ran and beat all her competitors by a huge margin and when she would run down her opponents from behind. She was one of the best athletes in this era. Marion Jones was a role model for upcoming track stars especially the females. Little girls wanted to be just like Marion Jones, from the way she acted in front of the camera to how she performed on the track. Since she admitted to using steroids all of her fame and positive reputation has left.

When she came out publicly everyone was shocked and disappointed. This did not just tarnish her athletic career but her character as well. She will be stripped of her medals and some of her teammates will lose their Olympic medals as well because of her. This is something she will have to live with for the rest of her life. Before the people knew that Marion Jones was taking steroids they recognized how intelligent, strong, and beautiful she was. People can only see the ugly in her now. Marion Jones was known as one of the greatest runners of all time but now she is infamous for using steroids.

Winter at NIU

Now that it is getting colder, have any of you thought about what your going to do in the winter? How are we going to get to class when it starts to snow? I know for a fact it is going to be extremely hard to get on the NIU bus when there is 20,000 other students fighting for a seat. I guess we walk in the snow. BOOO! Once we get to class, where do we store our huge winter coats? In my chemistry class, its a lecture hall with about 400 seats. I know I'm going to get hot and want to take my big coat off, where do you put it? Because of the snow, the floors are going to get all wet. I guess I just have to grin and bear it, but I am NOT looking forward to the winter months at NIU. I feel this way probably because I hate the winter months everywhere else its cold and snows as well. I will just have to get up early to get to class, or just don't go. JK! (Colette told us we had too otherwise we are loosing $36.57.) Thankfully it hasn't snowed yet, so I don't have to worry about it.

sleep.

My sleep is very important to me. I love to sleep. My sleeping cycle has been all messed up. I pretty much take a nap every day. It seems like very time I lay down, I fall asleep. It's hard for me to stay awake during my classes in the beginning of the day. I think there are two main reasons why I've been extremly tired. The first reason is that there are many distractions at college. There is always something going on, either my friends are doing something fun, or I have homework I need to do. I don't think I would ever be able to go to bed before midnight. When I do go to bed my neighbors are so loud. Which is my second reason why I am so tired. Last sunday, my neighbors got guitar hero 2. I tried to go to bed at midnight, they were so loud that I couldn't sleep, the CA's came in at one and told them to be quite. I woke up at two in the morning hearing them screaming. I eventually feel asleep, and woke again at 4 and at 6. They are always up late. Whenever I have a big test I have to sleep over in a friends room. My roomate and I have talked to them about it. They feel bad and say that they will work on it. We also have talked to our CA about it, but she hasn't done much. I still go nights without sleep. My next step is ear plugs. Any ideas?

lots of sleep is a necessity for going kids. Here is a website that explains more about how important sleep is.

http://www.apa.org/topics/whysleep.html

Long Distance Relationships

Going to college many people try to continue their relationship even though it will now be considered a long distance relationship. Although, many relationships can last and be good there is almost certain that problems and fights will occur a little more often. And there are many relationships that will fail. I came to school having a boyfriend of a year and a half and we broke up the second week of me being here. It was very hard and he couldn't get use to the fact of me not being there everyday. It was also difficult because he was an hour away taking 18 credit hours of classes and he was playing two college sports which made him gone every weekend. It was very difficult but after a few weeks we were able to work things out and continue our relationship. But the one thing I have learned here that most relationships don't last. Most of my friends who came to school with a boyfriend broke up fairly quickly. Why are long distance relationships so hard? If your relationship is based soely on trust and you really care about each other why are there so many problems that arise? Looking at this website helped to give me more insight into long distance relationships http://www.thecampuschronicle.com/features/articles/020208h.cfm.