To the Daily:
Good sportsmanship should be source of pride
This letter is in response to Reda Jaber’s letter to the editor arguing that Michigan fans should not be so friendly at home football games (Opposing fans should not feel at home at the Big House, 10/04/2007). Are you kidding? Isn’t the world full enough of legitimate hate already? If anything, we should pride ourselves on welcoming fans from all over the country to see just how we do football at the Big House. Our hospitality and sportsmanship are things worth being known for. Acting like a bunch of jerks looks like either we’re getting defensive about a bad season or – worse yet – sinking down to the Ohio State Buckeye level.
Being a good fan means funneling all your energy into loving and supporting your team. Michigan fans need to work on that after seeing how some shameful Michigan “fans” have been treating their own team. Being nice is never embarrassing. We need to learn to be humble when we lose and modest when we win.
Melissa Kunimatse and Laura Wasserman
LSA seniors
Coach Beilein will bring major success to Michigan
I understand that Michigan fans have been critical of some of men’s basketball coach John Beilein’s recruits. I’m a longtime West Virginia basketball fan and a huge fan of Beilein, even though he bolted from the Mountaineers. He does seem to have issues staying for extended periods of time at one school, but while he was in Morgantown, he really shaped up our team. It will take two years, but he will field a winning team that Michigan fans will love, composed of unselfish scrappers and great 3-point shooters. I have been a West Virginia fan from the days of Rod Hundley and Jerry West, and I guarantee you will love Beilein.
Harold Snyder
West Virginia University alum
Students shouldn’t treat Ann Arbor like a dump
On any given day in Ann Arbor, one can find beer cans, paper plates, broken glass and remnants of late-night pizza binges scattered on sidewalks, lawns and other places where trash does not belong. Yes, it is easier to throw something on the ground rather than wait three minutes or less to dispose of it in a trash receptacle, but it is completely wrong to treat our campus and the Earth like a landfill.
Please do Ann Arbor and the planet a favor. Think about your capacity as a University student to promote the kind of behavior that you know is right. I know that I am speaking of littering in the most superficial, non-scientific way, but I am sure that there are professors on campus who would be happy to enumerate the negative effects of abusing the Earth, even in the most miniscule ways. Each individual’s actions matter. Next time you are walking to class, pick up a few pieces of trash and put them in a garbage can. Trust me, it makes all the difference. I would really like to clean up Ann Arbor for everyone, including the squirrels, and I am asking for your support in helping to make our world a little bit cleaner.
Rachel Kaufman
LSA senior