H 32°, L 7° | Tomorrow: 
H 17°, L 4°At the rear end of the Badger Herald’s offices sits the sports desk and the opinion desk, no more than three feet apart. And so, during my three semester stint at the editorial page — which will draw to a close with the publication of this newspaper — I have enjoyed many an opportunity to chat with the eight different sports editors who have tended to the all-popular section since I first took up residence in the office. While they would frequently choose to — at least out of courtesy — indulge my ramblings about politics, equally often I would listen as they carried on about one collegiate sport or another.
Other than NCAA football and basketball — both of which I am a fan, like any good follower of Bucky — I must admit to having never found an interest in any of Wisconsin’s various varsity sports. When the crew team would come up in conversation, my eyes would roll. If hockey was the topic, I’d scramble to find some urgent e-mail to tend to. And if the discourse ever breached track and field, I’d seriously contemplate hiding under my desk.
But early this semester, almost out of a sense of ironic humor, one of the sports editors asked me to sacrifice a weekend and cover a couple of women’s tennis tournaments for the paper. Despite being entirely sober at the time, I agreed. And some three months, 20-something articles and 1,800 miles later, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
I can’t speak to any other varsity sports and must admit to still making a beeline for the bathroom when the topic of men’s golf is raised, but I can say nine of the most interesting, wonderful and hard-working young women on campus practice just about daily at the Nielson Tennis Stadium, and their head coach is a woman who would easily be among the most positive figures in any student’s life.
I’ve always known preconceptions to be dangerous, but I was still shocked as each of mine here quickly crumbled. This is not a team of self-righteous scholarship-gropers having their hands held by tutors; it is a squad of humble, hard-working young women who recess to the campus’ various study hubs after the end of grueling regular practices. Each player has her own personality, some more diverse than others, and yet the squad could not be more tightly knit.
But perhaps most notably for the campus at large, their matches produce some of the most intricate, beautiful and skillful play around. Crowds never grow as large as they should, and yet admission is free to see a group of dedicated athletes serve, return, spin and handle a tennis ball in a masterful fashion on a nearly weekly basis.
I have long been mortified by the cost of women’s athletics — the aforementioned free ticket stub leaves this team in the “non-revenue” category for sure — and yet must admit to having come to an epiphany somewhere between Penn State and Indiana while following the squad on the road one weekend: financially, it is just another club.
One need only go to a single Student Services Finance Committee meeting (something I have done all too often) to see how nauseating the sums of money carelessly thrown about to the countless no-name student groups are. One student group actually notorious for creating negative sentiment on campus litters more than a quarter million dollars every year.
And yet here is the women’s tennis team, using already existing facilities for practice, employing only a handful of people and actually making the drive all the way to Ohio State so as to not squander airfare. In an era of Title IX mandates, could one fathom a finer, more productive way to keeps the books balanced? And for an experience that will forever mold nine young students’ lives, is this really a lot to ask?
Indeed, somewhere in the gut of those 21 matches, the squad managed to open even my eyes.
So to Katie, Caitlin, Lindsay, Kaylan, Nicole, Chelsea, Lexi, Madison, Nicole, Erin and Patti: Thank you.
Mac VerStandig ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in rhetoric. As his stint on the Herald editorial page draws to a close, he would like to offer a special thanks to the dedicated staff of opinion writers who make his life such a joy; Zach Stern for challenging him and taking care of him at the same time; Cristina Daglas for leading so well by example; Drew Hansen, Kari Bellingham and Jake Leonard for doing the same and Paul Temple and Eric Cullen for taking the risk 18 months ago.
IP hash: cea66516
You seem legitimately shocked that your preconceived prejudices didn’t turn out to be accurate. Try learning something from this you arrogant prick.
IP hash: ffbe8b4e
Are you sure he’s the arrogant one? tool.
IP hash: 991ed6bb
Mac has a crush on Kaylan!
Mac and Kaylan, sitting in a tree, w-h-i-n-i-n-g.
IP hash: 3c34cc34
Thank god we never have to listen to this pretentious fuckwad fascist again. I wish someone would stick that cigar up his ass lit end first.
IP hash: ba3efda4
No point in even saying that. I can just picture him reading it, sitting back in his chair and patting his belly thinking “I really got these liberals riled up now.” (like that’s hard to do). Best thing to do with a guy like this is ignore him until his arrogance and idiocy come crashing down on him in a storm of negative publicity and pills (Rush Limbaugh) and let him fade into obscurity.
IP hash: 277de2b5
He won’t be able to smoke the cigar or spout out much rhetoric as an entry level customer service rep for some insurance company anyway.
IP hash: 59c01aeb
http://uwbadgers.com/photos/fullphoto.aspx?picfilename=caiatikaylanwtns_01h
He must not be a “breast man.”
IP hash: 3c34cc34
Figures that this fucker would like sports base don how much money thye spend. Hey, throwing poop at one another costs nothing too! Does that make it good?
IP hash: 91b5d4c5
As Mac fellates his cigar and waxes sentimental about “rear ends”, I’m left wondering why he was such a fan of men’s sports in the first place.
IP hash: f915e934
PICKETERS NEEDED!!!
URGENT!!!
TERRORISTS PLAN TO MEET ON OUR CAMPUS NEXT WEEK!!!
SEE http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=1100
Draft Agenda
Friday, June 24 Grainger Hall of Business Administration, University of Wisconsin 975 University Avenue
7:00-8:30PM Beyond Chutzpah: The Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History
Dr. Norman Finkelstein, Professor of Political Theory at DePaul University, and author of Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict, will present a keynote address that is free and open to the public.
Saturday, June 25 Grainger Hall of Business Administration, University of Wisconsin 975 University Avenue
8:30-9:30AM Registration and breakfast
9:30-10:15AM Welcome/Ice-Breakers and About the US Campaign
Members of the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project will welcome conference participants to Madison and review conference logistics with attendees. Kymberlie Quong Charles, US Campaign Membership Outreach Coordinator, will introduce the US Campaign, its goals, membership criteria, organizing strategy, taskforces, days of action, etc.
10:30AM-12:00PM Skills-Building Workshop Session #1
Workshops will be practical, hands-on, skills-building sessions that will increase the effectiveness of conference attendees' activism. Conference attendees will choose three out of four workshops. For the media and grassroots advocacy workshops, conference attendees will be encouraged to plug into national taskforces facilitated by the US Campaign. Scheduled workshop facilitators are:
Divestment: Mohammed Abed, al-Awda Wisconsin, Mark Evenson & Nancy Turner, Faculty, UW-Platteville, and The Association of University of Wisconsin Professionals Sister City Projects: Jennifer Loewenstein, George Arida, Jim Goronson, Kathy Walsh, Madison-Rafah Sister City Project Grassroots Advocacy: Josh Ruebner, US Campaign Legislative Task Force Media: Rima Mutreja, Palestine Media Watch/US Campaign Media Task Force
12:00PM-1:30PM Lunch & informal caucuses/affinity groups
NOTE: Lunch is not being provided at the conference. Conference attendees will be directed to low-cost food options near campus.
Conference attendees will organize themselves into informal caucuses/affinity groups in order to network and strategize by common interest. Examples could be by religious, ethnic, racial, professional, or geographic identity.
1:30PM-3:00PM Skills-Building Workshop Session #2
3:00PM-3:30PM Break
3:30PM-5:00PM Skills-Building Workshop Session #3
5:00PM-5:30PM Conclusions & Evaluations
Conference organizers will facilitate a discussion on lessons learned from the conference and encourage people and groups to plug into the work of the US Campaign. Conference attendees who are willing to circulate their contact information can do so and will be encouraged to fill out conference evaluation forms before leaving.
The Crossing, 1127 University Ave.
5:30PM-7:30PM Social Hour/Dinner
The conference will move across campus to The Crossing, a campus religious center, for a social hour and Middle Eastern dinner. Both conference attendees and the general public are invited to the dinner, which will cost $10.
7:30PM-9:00PM Rebuilding Homes, Rebuilding Hopes in Gaza
Cindy and Craig Corrie, the parents of Rachel Corrie, a US peace activist who was killed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, and Khaled and Samah Nasrallah, family members who lived in the house that Rachel tried to prevent from being demolished when she was killed, will present the story that links their families together. The panelists will be introduced by Joe Carr, a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams, who will also peform a spoken word tribute to Rachel Corrie. The panelists will speak about their involvement with the Rebuilding Homes Alliance and there will be a fundraiser for the US Campaign and the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project. The event is free and open to the public.
Sunday, June 26 The Crossing, 1127 University Ave.
9:00AM-9:30 AM Breakfast
9:30-12:00PM Strategizing Session
Conference attendees will group themselves by geography (local, regional, state-wide) in order to strategize and develop a plan of action for their area in an informal setting. Strategizing sessions will be facilitated by conference organizers to encourage the formation of new groups where none exist, to strengthen existing groups, and to create local, regional, and state-wide coalitions that are plugged into the work and organizing strategy of the US Campaign.