Who
knows about the Homecoming luau?
By Todd Leland
On-line Forty-Niner
Once
again it is Homecoming week and the only
reason I know about it is because I report
on it.
I would have no clue that there will be
a luau style beach party in the Pyramid
parking lot on Saturday if Chief Justice
Luis Peña of the Associated Students
Judiciary had not entered the newsroom with
a T-shirt that had caught my eye.
The T-shirt was a promo shirt given to members
of Associated Students Inc. in preparation
for Homecoming. Now let’s just say that
a ballpark number of 40 to 50 shirts were
given away to A.S.I. senators, executive
officers and additional commissioners and
staff members.
Now, I consider myself lucky to have seen
this shirt, but what about the other 35,000
students on campus? For everyone on campus
to know about Homecoming each one of those
50 or so shirt bearers would have to be
seen by at least 700 students.
This would be a monstrous task, seeing that
in such fashionable times no one wants to
wear the same thing two days in a row.
But wait! There are posters too. Being a
reporter that has to travel to many different
buildings and facilities on this campus
it must be concluded that I have seen hundreds
of these posters plastered to walls, pinned
to notice boards, stapled to stakes and
driven into the ground. Unfortunately this
is far from fact. I’ve seen one, one poster
which was taped alone to a door in the basement
of the Social Sciences & Public Affairs
building. Standing alone it demands the
presence of the dozens upon dozens of students
that bother to notice it at Homecoming.
Once again we as students have been let
down by the most fabulous Beach Pride Center
and the great Beach Pride Referendum. That
rally a couple weeks ago was just what this
campus needed. Unfortunately, the rally
was a bit premature. This week is the banner
week for Beach Pride, it is the week when
the Beach Pride Center should be bustling
with energy on the borderline of overexertion
and exhaustion.
But where is the pride? Where is the energy?
We had a huge pep rally two weeks ago; is
there no way we could possibly have another
one on such short notice?
It has been mentioned that the reason there
are so few a number of rallies is the reluctance
of athletic organizations to participant.
I find this hard to believe. The only thing
more exciting for an athlete than performing
at the peak of their ability in the sport
they love is to do exactly that in front
of a large crowd of people that want them
to succeed.
It is foolish to believe the cheer team
would not want to come out and show its
national championship form again. That the
dance team could not possibly want to return
for an encore performance. It would be selfish
to think that the spirit band should come
out of hiding to play in front of a crowd.
The members of the top ranked baseball,
women’s water polo and men’s volleyball
teams definitely do not want to be paraded
in front of and applauded by their fellow
49ers.
At some point we can’t blame the Beach Pride
Center and the Beach Pride Referendum.
We have all the tools to create and publicize
an unforgettable Homecoming experience.
The luau should be a spectacular event.
How many campuses can have a luau in February
anyway? But once again I have to ask: Who
actually knows about it?
Can anybody tell me with certainty, who
are the finalists for the homecoming king
and queen? Didn’t think so.
I can only hope it is the Beach Pride Center’s
fault that there are only 1,000 people at
men’s basketball games and even less then
that at women’s basketball events. I can
only hope they are not doing their jobs
to the best of their abilities, which is
far from the truth, because I would rather
blame them than think we as students don’t
care about our school.
You now know about Homecoming and I make
it your obligation to attend. Grass skirt,
coconut bikini top, Hawaiian shirt, lei
and all. Let’s make Homecoming look like
a true Homecoming.
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