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The Behrend Beacon
THEBEHREND BEACON
,„,/,/„/„,(iticeo, /), The lichioul College
News Editor
Liz Hayes
Sports Editor
Mike Bello
Asst. Sports Editors
Kate Lerdatisky Petrikis
Editorial Page Editor
Abigail Lvng
Features Editor
Karl Benacci
Asst. Features Editor
Erin McCarty
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Jeanine Noce
Wire Service Editor
Guy Resehenthaler
Health Page Editor
Sarah Orr
•Postal Information•
The Beacon is published weekly
by the students of Penn State Erie,
The Behrend College;
First Floor, The J. Elmer Reed
Union Building, Station Road,
Erie, PA 16563
The Beacon can be reached by
calling (814) 898-6488 or
(814) 898-6019 (FAX).
ISSN 1071-9288.
A VIEW FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE
Role models
How far
is too far?
Webster's Ninth New Collegiate
Dictionary defines the phrase 'role
model' as being "a person whose
behavior in a particular role is imi
tated by others." Strange enough,
the role models of America today
are far from what people should
imitate. Media today is saturated
with news on the mistakes of all
kinds of stars that thousands of
people look up to and emulate.
In this day and age, things only
seem to get more drastic. Role
models today are causing great
uproars about sex and the publica
tion thereof. Britney Spears, who
is one such media mogul, has been
pushing the limits. From posing on
Rolling Stone magazines, scantily
clad in tube tops and short- short
shorts, to dancing around in thongs
and rhinestone bras, she has jaded
the minds of all pre-teen girls.
Britney was recently quoted as say
ing, don't want to he seen as a
role model." Sorry, sweetheart:
you are one.
Girls all over the nation are try
ing to look "sexy" and dress in
tight, short, slinky clothing, bear
ing such titles as "Hottie" and
"Princess." No niy has Britney
done her shat e onscreen, but on the
set of her movie debut, she is ru
mored to have fought with the di
rector over whether she should
have a topless scene or not. She
wants one and he doesn't.
It's not just Britney, though.
Most women in the entertainment
industry have taken to this trend of
tight, short, skin-baring clothing.
Mariah Carey wears little clothing
in all of the music videos she
makes. Destiny's Child, despite
their claims to wear just enough,
still dress provocatively in their
music videos.
Also, in Sisquo's video of the
"Thong Song", anyone can see
women dancing around in thongs
and bikini tops, bearing almost all
of their bodies. Ten years ago.
when modesty was still a virtue,
this sort of thing was looked down
upon. These days, it's everywhere!
One role model who is not em
ployed by the entertainment indus
try, yet is known to all, is ex-Presi
dent Bill Clinton. The President's
job is to keep the country safe and
make it run more efficiently, but
Clinton took advantage of his po-
Editor-in-Chief
Robert Wvnne
Managing Editor
Jeffrey Miller
Assistant Managing Editor
Paige Miles
Professional Publication Mgr.
Dave Richards
Advisor
Mr. John Kenvin
The Beacon encourages letters to
the editor. Letters should include
the address, phone number,
semester standing and major of
the writer. Writers can mail letters
to behrcoll2@aol.com. Letters
must be received no later than
5 p.m. Sunday for inclusion in that
sition and had sexual encounters
with an intern. He made the posi
tion of the President look like some
sort of joke.
On the other side of the entertain
ment spectrum, professional sports
players had their share of scandals
in the news. Recently, several of
these sportsmen have been found
guilty of accepting sexual favors
from strippers in Atlanta's Gold Strip
Club. Some of these athletes were
Patrick Ewing, a former New York
Knick, now part of the Miami Heat;
Dikembe Mutumbo, of the Philadel
phia 76ers; Terrell Davis, of the Den
ver Broncos; Andruw Jones, of the
Atlanta Braves; and Dennis Rod
man, of the Lakers. All these men
allegedly had sexual encounters with
topless dancers arranged for them at
the club.
Ewing, married and father of
three, was the first to admit he had
accepted sexual favors. Mutumbo
is also and has children. Other stars
who have been known to go to this
strip club are George Clooney, Mick
Jagger, and Donald Trump.
The news of these stars taking ad
vantage of their high status in order
to get these sexual favors is morally
and socially wrong. Not only does
it not set good standards for those
who look up to these stars, but this
also angers and upsets the general
public. People of this country look
to these athletes and music talents in
order to set their own goals of trying
to achieve what these stars have.
When they find out that they are no
better than anyone else, they are af
fected by it.
The role model society today are,
frankly, not role model material. The
entertainment industry should work
on cleaning up their act. If they don't
do something about this problem
now, it is only going to worsen to
the point that nothing is going to be
sacred anymore.
Associate Editors
Joshlewick
Kelly Walsh
Photo Editors
Kristin Rod
‘ cerc
Jeff flunkey
Advertising Manager
Ann Marie Hare)
Public Relations Manager
Katie Galley
Office Manager
Jason Ahm,4
Copy Editor
tVeinelorf
Website Editor
Jon McLaughlin
Technical Support
Doug Butterworth
•Letter Policy•
week's issue
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Friday, September 7, 2001
itgAAPPING (IPA,
HUMAN GENOME, SCIENTISTS
fwe., FINALLY PINPOINTED
IC RN . Dx.GENE....
Need to get
your
Little League World Series captures the attention of fans,
nations, forensic document examiners
How did most
12-year-old boys spend their last
couple of weeks?
Some took to playing away at
their Playstation. Others wolfed a
bit too much sugarcoated cereal
and spent the afternoon shooting
hoops with Dad and occasionally
coughing up little marshmallow
chunks. Still more found them
selves leashed into accompanying
Mom on one of those prolific "back
to school" shopping rituals, drift
ing through cavernous multi-pur
pose warehouse labyrinths. A few
youngsters hit the sugar-flake
trough before mom roped them
into the minivan, and, unfortu
nately, there's a good chance those
brave youngsters experienced the
whole marshmallow chunk phe
nomena while walking down some
kind of bed-linen aisle.
But not Danny Almonte, star of
Rolando Paulin() Little League
team from the Bronx. No way this
guy coughs up any high-fructose
corn syrupy nuggets. If there's one
kid who's eating the Breakfast of
Champions, it's this guy.
Danny Almonte. This kid already
has this catchy, radio jingle-type
name - like a Joe DiMaggio,
Mickey Mantle or Mike Piazza.
That moniker is just waiting for
marketing hounds to paste up on
sunflower-seed bags and ketchup
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Send letters, both po.sitive
and negative,
e. ,~ _ _ x_(. '~ _.. _ a
behrcoll2@aolacom
bottles, complete
leriousl y with Danny' s grin
ning 12-year-old
g a t i tle... Dominican features
and a quoted and
Walsh italicized cliche
like "He's a can't
has professional scouts sar-
dine-packed into Little League
stadiums, or that has major league
players only half-joking about
whiffing on his inside sliders, and
has skeptics privately doubting the
authenticity of his birth records
and passport.
No, it's not the flashy name; it's
the 70+ mile-an-hour fastball,
equivalent to a 25 year old major
leaguer throwing somewhere in the
neighborhood of 130 mph.
"I don't know if anyone's ever
seen a 12-year-old throw the ball
like he throws it," said Apopka
manager Bob Brewer.
Danny's Bronx team defeated his
Florida kids 5-0 behind the 16-
strikeout perfect game witchery of
Almonte, the first perfect game in
the Little League World Series in
44 years. Almonte struck out the
first 16 batters he faced before
Apopka resorted to marginal cow
ardice and a couple gassed-out
bunts. Bunts! I mean, this 12-year
old kid was throwing heat!
Those other boys couldn't even
see the ball; really, it was like
Almonte packed the ball into his
glove, casually pulled the glove to
his chin, winked at the TV cam
eras, and then teleported the ball
into the catcher's mitt. His pitches
Oh, wait. With the LLWS offi
cially over and champions de
clared, Sports Illustrated just un
earthed documentation stating
something off
chest?
to Ithre editor!
miss."
It's not just the
name, though, that
Abigail Long, Editorial Page Editor
Almonte is really 14-and-a-half -
2 1/2 years too old to be eligible
for Little League competition.
Damn. Oceanside, Calif. could be
slightly po'ed after losing 1-0 to
Almonte in the semi-finals. Those
kids from Apopka, Fla. might be
moderately upset after getting
mowed down in the early rounds
by a ringer skipping his high
school orientation.
Little League president Stephen
Keener wasn't too enthusiastic
about the affidavit indicating
Almonte was born in 1987.
"If this is the same Danny
Almonte who played for Rolando
Paulino Little League, then we
have been deceived and a fraud has
been perpetrated on Little League,"
admonished a visibly disconcerted
Keener on the heels of the most
successful Little League World
Series ever.
And it really was successful,
even in light of all the deception
and forged identity certificates. By
some divine or serendipitous hand
and helped by Little League rules
prohibiting pitchers from tossing
back-to-back games, Apopka, Fla.
got to face the Bronx "Baby Bomb
ers" again in the U.S. finals, this
time without the near 6-foot, 14 1/
2 year old Almonte blocking out
the sun.
And those boys from Florida
were ready. The Apopka kids tore
into the authentically 12-year-old
Bronx pitcher, knocking home runs
over the walls and showing venge
ful enthusiasm into an 8-2 victory
and a date with the international
champs.
"It's a whole `nother ballgame
without the big kid on the mound,"
grinned Brewer after the match.
Danny and the "Baby Bombers"
packed their van and drove off to
face the Netherlands Antilles in the
behrcoll2@aol.com
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consolation game
Meanwhile, Apopka prepared to
face Tokyo Kitasuna for the Little
League World Series champion
ship. As the teams began prelimi
nary warm-ups stuff like formal
introduction to the opposition, rou
tine ground balls, taping ankles -
America waited on the edge of her
collective sofa. That particular
weekend featured the kickoff of the
College Football season, NFL pre
season matchups, and an overtime
shootout between Jim Furyk and
Tiger Woods that went three dozen
extra holes.
But it was the LLWS that the
country turned to, bringing home
a 6.0/11 rating for ABC and out
ranking all other weekend sporting
events. And, it wasn't only
Almonte responsible for cultivat
ing such remarkable interest in the
event. The Russian team barely had
a native field to practice on, yet
won its way into the tournament
despite lack of shoes and bats and
with a girl playing catcher as the
only female in this year's series.
In the end, Japan beat Florida,
which is too bad. But after Japan
won, the team asked interpreter Bill
Lundy about a statue in the sta
dium, and he had absolutely no
idea who it 'was. "I simply told
them it was the baseball God,"
Lundy admitted. The entire Tokyo
Kitasuna team ran up to the statue,
a statue of former Little League
Vice President Howard J. Lamade,
and began praying and bowing pro
fusely. How funny is that? It's got
to be the highlight of the whole
series, the real feel-good moment.
That, and knowing Danny will no
longer be forced to shave between
innings.
Walsh's column appears
every three weeks.
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