Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Friday, April 29, 2005
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■ In my opinion
The upside of shattered dreams
Greg Schindler was once a star of
fensive lineman for the Stanford
football team; a four-year starter,
heavily recruited out of high school
by, among others, the University of
Oregon. He was named a second
team All-Pacific-10 Conference play
er in 2001 after his third season, and
he was a potential third- or fourth
round pick had he chosen to enter
the 2002 NFL draft.
Instead, he chose to stay for his fi
nal year of eligibility at Stanford,
even though he had already earned
his degree. Injuries caught up with
him, and his dream of playing in the
NFL gradually went down the tubes.
Now, he studies journalism as a
graduate student at the UO. How he
arrived here after coming so close to
playing in the NFL illustrates that
things don’t always work out,
dreams do get shattered, and life
does go on.
Schindler’s life changed forever in
March 2000, when he was hustling
through spring conditioning drills at
a Stanford practice facility. In one
drill, the players had to run one di
rection, then turn and run back.
When Schindler tried to pivot, his
body turned. His foot didn’t budge.
“Honestly, it sounded like a shot
gun blast,” Schindler said. “Every
body in the room could hear. ”
That “shotgun blast” was the
sound of Schindler’s ankle suffering
a severe sprain. Though he went on
to play two more seasons on that an
kle, he would never be the same.
“I had almost no function in that
ankle,” Schindler said. “It was like
CHUCK SLOTHOWER
TAKING ISSUE
playing on a peg leg.”
Schindler, 24, has experienced
things no other current University
student has. Despite his injuries, the
San Francisco 49ers gambled on
him, signing the free agent to a
$535,000, two-year contract on the
second day of the 2003 NFL draft.
He practiced with the 49ers. He
listened to the coaches and ran plays
through pain that necessitated
injections into his spine to keep
him going.
Schindler got the impression that
his injuries were far worse than the
49ers trainers were letting on, but he
agreed to do his best to get into play
ing shape. Then, before he could
play in a game and hear the cheering
crowds at Monster Park, the 49ers
unceremoniously dumped him, de
spite NFL rules that Schindler says
prohibit releasing injured players.
“They don’t have a lot of patience
for guys who get injured right
away,” Schindler explained.
Luckily, he had an excellent agent
who helped him through the diffi
cult time after the 49ers released
him. And, unlike most athletes with
dreams that have torn like ankle car
tilage, Schindler had a Stanford
degree to fall back on.
“One thing I knew is I didn’t want
to spend the next few years getting
surgery after surgery trying to get
back into football just so I could say
I played in the NFL,” he said.
So after considering his options, it
was on to Eugene, a town he first
visited in high school when he par
ticipated in camps run by University
football coaches. The town where,
as a Stanford player, he twice chal
lenged the Ducks. The town where
his Cardinal delivered one of the
most heartbreaking defeats in UO
football history: the 2001 game in
which Stanford roared back to beat
Joey Harrington and arguably the
finest football team in Ducks histo
ry, breaking a 23-game Autzen Sta
dium win streak and proving “Joey
Heisman" fallible.
“I just remember how quiet
the stadium was,” Schindler said of
the game.
Now, he’s learning the techniques
of the reporters who used to pester
him. He sometimes watches football
games in the stadium he once
helped silence.
Schindler isn’t sure if reporting is
for him. He may want to edit instead
or teach and coach football at a high
school or small college, where he
could shape the lives of young men.
He could tell them about his NFL
dream shot, his stellar career at
Stanford and how a courageous
young man refused to let life get the
better of him.
chuckslothower@ daily emerald, com
ROTC produces educated
military decision-makers
History repeats itself. In asserting
that the military should not be pres
ent in colleges (“Professor criticizes
University's links to U.S. military,”
ODE, April 27), professor of peace
studies Simona Sharoni reminds
me of the Vietnam War debates and
the response that my father, a 1937
University graduate, gave to my as
sertion in 1969 that ROTC should
be thrown off campus.
My father suggested that our
choice is simple: Do we want our
entire military leadership trained at
military academies, or do we want
some University graduates making
recommendations and decisions?
The answer, to me, was clear. At
the University, future officers take
classes with a diverse student body
and are taught by professors with a
variety of political and cultural
viewpoints. (Let us hope some take
classes from Dr. Sharoni. I mean
that seriously).
A number of my father’s life-long
friends were officers who graduat
ed from the University. One was a
general. These were family men
who served with honor. Let us not
confuse anger and frustration
(mine included) toward President
Bush and his cronies with our need
to keep a military comprised of
INBOX
well-educated private citizens.
Alice Kaseberg
Eugene
Filibuster nuclear option
will stifle needed dialogue
America is about freedom of
speech and debate, especially in the
halls of Congress. The Republican
majority is seeking to limit debate
on important legislative and judicial
topics by pursuing the “nuclear op
tion” to end the filibuster.
The filibuster is an important
method to extend debate on contro
versial legislative topics and judicial
nominations. Throughout American
history, the Senate filibuster has
served as an important element of
the checks and balances system,
preventing a partisan majority from
ruling through tyranny while pro
moting bipartisan compromise and
moderation. It has served as a par
ticularly important check when all
three branches of government are
controlled by one party.
Republicans and Democrats
should freely debate topics and judi
cial nominations that will greatly af
fect our country. The nuclear option
will stifle that spirit of dialogue and
debate. In an increasingly polarized
country, it is crucial to encourage a
wide range of dialogue in a govern
ment dominated by one party.
Sen. Gordon Smith is an important
voice in his party and he needs to
hear from his constituents that op
pose the elimination of the fili
buster. Urge him to join other
prominent Republicans who have
spoken out against Bill Frist’s push
to eliminate the filibuster.
Jonathan Evans
Eugene
If you really care about
the Web rabbit go vegan
I think AnneMarie Knepper’s col
umn two weeks ago (“Bunny Mon
ey,” ODE, April 14) misses the point
when she commends the Web hoax
guys for holding a rabbit hostage to
play off people’s sympathies, earn
money and sell stuff. The real point to
be made is about justice and compas
sion. Why pay anyone money not to
eat a rabbit in June when these care
less Web pranksters are likely stuffing
their faces with other animals’ flesh
every day at McDonald’s? What does
it matter whether it is their pet rabbit
or a factory-farmed chicken or an
ocean fish they are eating? If you care
about the rabbit (whether the animal
exists or not), the main way you can
channel your compassionate sympa
thies is to stop eating any animals
yourself and go vegan. You’ll save
thousands of lives and not have to
man
Doctoral Student and GTF
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■ Editorial
Gas prices
give chance
to improve
life quality
When it comes to ever increasing prices at
the gas pump, one sentiment echoes across the
board. Regardless of location, class or even
political party, the resounding question of the
U.S. citizen cruising by the fuel station is sim
ply this: When’s the price gonna come down?
Nobody likes the idea of forking out more
than $2.50 per gallon. But the rising gas prices
provide an opportunity to search for something
better. If having to pay $50 every week to fuel
up the family Land Cruiser is what it takes to fi
nally convince our nation that we need to find
better energy sources, then so be it.
Already, car dealerships have reported a se
rious trend toward consumers who are willing
to pay more money for a “less” car: Less in size,
less reliant on gasoline, less money from the
pocketbook later on. Of course the problem
with introducing smaller, more efficient cars
into the United States (such as the European
“Smart Car”) is that these vehicles are at high
risk of being clobbered in the event of a tiff with
any “normal” (read: school bus-sized) sport
utility vehicle.
Another possible benefit of high gas prices
and money-conscious Americans is the likeli
hood that the mass transit system will thrive
under such conditions. Communities relying on
public transportation will produce and main
tain better buses, trains, etc. Mass transporta
tion, as well as carpooling, is easy on the wallet
and will become even more convenient and
modernized if disgruntled motorists decide to
utilize these public services.
Besides an increase in public vehicles, fewer
cars on the road could mean an upswing in
pedestrians as well. In America’s weight-con
scious society, it seems that unmanageable fuel
prices could be just the ticket to overcoming
obesity. A walk down to the corner market cuts
both consumer spending as well as inches off
the waistline.
President Bush has recognized the problem
of sky-high gas prices just like the rest of us. Al
though widespread concern over fuel cost
would be the perfect opportunity to introduce
national conversation and legislation on con
serving energy, reducing oil dependence and
finding more efficient and clean sources of
power, Capitol Hill has taken a drastically dif
ferent approach. Bush has called for a decrease
in foreign oil dependence but still insists that
drilling into Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge is a good idea. The newest brilliant Bush
plan in overcoming pricey gas is to build more
nuclear power plants.
Doesn’t it sound fun to spend the next billion
years deciding what to do with the resulting nu
clear waste? It will probably be something
along the lines of trafficking dangerous, ra
dioactive material across crowded state high
ways, then shoving it under a culturally signifi
cant land mass, if the Yucca Mountain fiasco is
any indication of where our country’s nuclear
politics are headed.
Nationally, our energy crisis is being dealt
with in all the wrong ways. U.S. citizens should
not be encouraged to rely on wildlife refuge oil
fields and questionable nuclear technology. In
stead, we should be encouraged to rely on the
values of efficiency, cooperation and our own
two feet.
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