thegazettewww.westerngazette.ca WESTERN’S DAILY STUDENT NEWSPAPER • EST.1906 • VOLUME 103, ISSUE 9 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009

... trying to focus since 1906

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ADHD drug misusegrowing concern Reliance on perceivedstudy aid may be off themark according to expertsBy Allie FonarevGazette Staff

No longer does a simple cup of cof-fee make due when it comes towithstanding the pressures andlong hours required in academia.

According to a recent article inMacleans, up to a quarter of under-graduate students are thought touse stimulants, and they generallyhave no trouble acquiring them,with pills readily available on theinternet or through friends.

“It was really easy. Within twopeople I asked it was done — theydidn’t tell me [how they got it],” saidA.C., a third-year student at West-ern who used medication meantfor Attention Deficit/HyperactivityDisorder to finish an overdue paper.

“My friend had a prescriptionwhich he told me wasn’t even thatdifficult to get,” said A.I., anotherstudent who took the medication.

According to the Ontario Stu-dent Drug Use and Health Survey,in 2007, about one per cent, or 9600Ontario students, from grades 7 to12 admitted to using ADHD drugsfor non-medical purposes.

However, data on use of thedrugs among university students isdifficult to acquire. David L. Rabin-er, senior research scientist anddirector of undergraduate studiesat Duke University, is one of the fewresearchers to recently complete astudy evaluating the misuse of pre-scribed ADHD medication by uni-versity students.

“It was certainly reported farmore often by seniors than byfresh[men] year so [use] does seemto increase with time in college,” hesaid of his study results. But headded there isn’t any long-termdata to compare to in further detail.

C.B., a fourth-year student witha prescription for ADHD medica-tion, admitted to misusing it forboth study and for occasionalrecreational purposes.

Riley Hinson, professor of psy-chology at Western, assented therewas no question of the illegal use ofRitalin. But he wondered whetherthere was reason to believe it actu-ally helps.

Magic Mark-Booster?When taken by people withoutADHD, the pills are thought toincrease focus, productivity and theability to multitask — a useful edgefor students or workers under pres-sure.

Rabiner confirmed the medica-tion did have these kinds of effects,but pointed to the lack of data onwhether the effects make anymeaningful difference in a student’sability to study more successfully.

He said that while the majorityof students believe the drugs canimprove studying, there is no con-clusive evidence.

There seems to be a general con-sensus in the student communitythat the drugs do help with focusand motivation.

“They also have a very goodmouth-to-mouth reputation withstudents,” A.I. said.

However, the drug use is notwithout drawbacks. Both A.I. andA.C. said the quality of their worksuffered. Furthermore, the studentsfelt negative physical effects.

As to long-term negative effects,Rabiner noted he didn’t believe anyhad been documented. “But it’s pos-sible that at some point, as with anymedication, previously unknown

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Student Reasons for Abusing ADHD Medication (%)

from The Misuse & Diversion of Prescribed ADHD Medications by College Students, Journal of Attention Disorders 2009

PLEASE SEE NO CLEAR P3

Corey Stanford/Gazette

Western mourns AzizA world-famous London artist withstrong ties to Western has died atthe age of 86.

Philip Aziz passed away fromcancer on Sunday, following acareer producing numerous paint-ings and sculptures featured in uni-versities, churches and galleriesaround the world.

He was a lecturer of art historyat Western in the 1950s and wasdescribed as a very popular andengaging lecturer by Brian Meehan,director of Museum London.

“He brought a lot of focus to the[art] program in that way,” Meehansaid.

Visual arts department ChairPatrick Mahon described Aziz ashaving an abstract approach to hiswork.

“He was trying to combine reli-gious themes with modern paint-ings,” Mahon said, adding this iswhat made Aziz’s work beautiful.

In his later years, Aziz visited thevisual arts department and enjoyedmentoring Western’s young artists.

“He was very interested in whatthe students were doing,” Mahonsaid.

Aziz was born in St. Thomas andgrew up in London, attending theart program at Beal and later goingto Yale University.

In 2005, the City of Londonrenamed the street leading to hishouse just south of campus toPhilip Aziz Avenue in his honour.

—Jay La Rochelle

Earn money while you drinkA bar in Edmonton is offering $20to students at the door for showingtheir student cards.

While the incentive offered byEdmonton’s Union Hall may helpattract its target market, the dealcomes along with many risks.Adam Winkler, owner of Winks barin London, was shocked by thenotion: “To me, it 100 per cent pro-motes binge drinking, especiallydepending on the bar.”

Since bars heavily rely on drinksales as opposed to cover charges,any revenue gained from the act isquestionable.

“I can see it as a good way to getpeople to the club, and that moneyis just going to go right back into thebar,” Ricky Liorti, co-owner ofCrowned Entertainment Promo-tions, said.

Wrinkler thought the idea ofhanding out cash may be an optionfor London bars in the future: “It’ssomething I’d have to consider. Youhave to stay within the competi-tion.”

If London decides to take thelead of its neighbours to the west,perhaps students could soon be lit-erally getting paid to get their drinkon.

— Lauren Moore

Weather

P2 ➤ news theGazette •Wednesday, September 16, 2009

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side-effects may occur,” he added.

Party Pressure?Rabiner’s study found 31 per cent ofrespondents had misused ADHDmedications.

“By far the most common rea-son students gave for doing thiswas to enhance their academic per-formance. In the current economystudents seem to be feeling morepressure to excel and that couldcertainly be a contributing factor,”Rabiner said.

A.C. and A.I. contended to see-ing the use of the drugs becomingmore normalized.

“I feel in certain fields like busi-ness and law in which people workover 50 to 60 hours a week in com-petitive firms, I could see a lot ofuse happening, especially when itcomes to furthering your owncareer as a young person,” AI said.

But A.C. did not feel the need touse it and both noted they did not tryit because they felt peer pressured.Rather, it was for self-motivation.

C.B. recalled peers asking himfor drugs in order to make up forlost work hours spent partying.

But this may be a misconception.“All I see in media reports is thatthey’re doing it to party and get highand all the students are saying is thatthey’re doing it to become super stu-dents,” Rabiner said. “What we saware students who aren’t doing as wellacademically as their peers just try-ing to find a way to get by.”

Is using a non-prescribed stimu-lant cheating? “If it really does enhance academicperformance and really does resultin students doing better on theirexams or papers, then I see howpeople could regard it that way,”Rabiner said, but added, “At thispoint it’s an illegal way of trying toaccomplish the same thing thatother students are doing, like drink-ing six shots of espresso or Red Bull.Is one cheating and the other not?”

Though A.I. and A.C. have bothused the drugs, they were unsurewhether their use instituted anunfair advantage.

“I’m not sure the quality of thework goes up, as much as it is con-cerned with quantity,” A.I. said. A.C.agreed, noting the reduced qualityof the work may actually be a hin-

drance to your grades.Western’s Hinson maintained

the question was a difficult onebecause there may not be reason tobelieve it actually helps. “If not, arethey taking harm for no benefit?”he asked.

To each their own?In the end, A.C. felt the negativeeffects of the drugs outweighed thepositive and concluded it was notworth using them again. C.B. con-tinues to use them, while A.I.remains unsure whether he will feelthe need to try them again. What iscertain is more debate will continue.

news ➤ P3theGazette •Wednesday, September 16, 2009

www.uwosororities.com

In Joining a Sorority at Western, a woman becomes a member, not just of her local Chapter, but also of a strong international community made up of over 100,000 women. They have opportunities for leadership positions, to get involved in the community through charity work, have scholastic support and scholarship opportunities and last but not least… to develop lifelong friends.

• W hat are the benefits? L ifelong friendships, L eadership opportunities, C harity work, S ocial networking, S cholarship opportunities, and most importantly S isterhood – be more than just a student, be part of a community.

• W ho can join? A ny woman who is a registered student @ UWO

• H ow do i join? T o sign up for formal recruitment…

Check out our Facebook Group or website for details. “UWO Sororities Formal Recruitment 2009”

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Our membership is open to all women enrolled at UWO

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Stabbing delays busesBy Shreya TekriwalGazette Staff

A stabbing in a major student res-idential area resulted in policeroadblocks and bus detours yes-terday.

Police arrived on the sceneMonday evening to find a manlying in the middle of the east-bound lane on Riverside Drive.

The victim — a 35-year-oldman — is now in critical condi-tion in the hospital.

Police reports stated the stab-bing was the result of an alterca-tion which took place at approxi-mately 8 p.m. in the area of WilsonAvenue and Riverside Drive.

Amy Phillipo, media relationsofficer for London Police Services,mentioned the victim was walk-ing with two other males at thetime of the incident.

Riverside Drive — betweenWharncliffe Road and RidoutStreet — was closed off to thepublic for most of Monday nightuntil Tuesday afternoon.

“[We were detoured] around 8

p.m. [Monday] and continueduntil about 1 p.m. [on Tuesday],”John Ford, director of the LondonTransit Commission, said.

Ford also mentioned five dif-ferent bus routes were affected bythis incident.

“We detour a lot throughoutthe year — be it for a water-main break, fires or anythingneeding evacuations. We’requite familiar with dealing withthose kinds of situations andthey can occur at the drop off ahat,” Ford added.

According to Ford, in case ofsuch emergencies, LTC dispatch-ers are informed immediately —who then forward the informationto drivers and put them on adetour.

The Major Crime Section isinvestigating the incident andrequests the public’s assistance inappealing for any witnesses thatobserved the altercation to callpolice at 519-661-5670 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS. Youcan also provide your tips online atwww.londoncrimestoppers.com.

CONTINUED FROM P1

Lauren Pelley/Gazette

No clear advantage to use

While it may be a clichéd phrase to putforward at this time of year, I couldn’thelp but think “something wicked thisway comes” as the election talk rampedup in Ottawa this past weekend.

And why not? Unless an epic politicalblunder leads to a dramatic change inthe polls, the Parliament we’ll find post-election will be more or less the same asthe one we have now. If the griping foundin the opinion pages of major newspa-pers is a true reflection of popular opin-ion, then the last thing Canada wants isanother minority government. However,that seems to be exactly the directionwe’re heading towards.

Our disenchantment with minoritygovernments is hardly surprising at thispoint. The federal government’s ability togovern has ground to a halt over the lastfew years as the parties rush off to elec-tions as soon as the opinion polls swayslightly in their direction. There seems tobe a perception any minority governmentis only temporary and therefore incapableof producing effective legislation.

Many are critical of minority govern-ments because they often fail to quicklypass legislation — while this may be true,it’s not necessarily a negative. Whilemajority governments act on the assump-tion their party is supported by mostCanadians, a minority government mustoperate on negotiation and conciliation.

While compromise might not be Con-servative Prime Minister Harper’s cup of

tea, it has worked in the past. As JohnIbbitson pointed out in his Globe andMail column earlier this week, bothMackenzie King and Lester B. Pearsonwere able to pass legislation into law atrates comparable to those seen bymajority governments.

Despite their differences, Canada’spolitical parties should be able to find atleast one or two policies to agree on. Whynot try to make this work?

Sadly, nearly all thought of negotia-tion in our current government has givenway to reckless attacks for small politicalgain. The attacking ad campaigns havealready started even though an electionhas yet to be called. And since anotherminority seems certain, the only effectthese ads will have is to poison the rela-tions between the parties — a loss to allCanadians.

The Liberals need to realize their daysof being Canada’s natural governingparty are over — a united Conservativeparty has seen to that. Unless electionreform results in a switch to a propor-tional representation style, the next few

elections are still likely to see the Liberalsand Conservatives with a similar num-ber of seats. Perhaps trying to worktogether would be a good idea.

No matter how much Harper mayenjoy his partisan antics, they are irre-sponsible in a minority government sit-uation. It’s time our esteemed PrimeMinister learns how to play nice in thesandbox.

If we’re going into another minorityparliament, then we should embrace itrather than shun it. Moving forward,Canadians should pressure their mem-bers of Parliament to work with otherparties and encourage bipartisan legis-lation.

The days of majority governance areover, at least for the time being, and thisshould be seen as a good thing. Canadi-ans are not of the same mind on any sin-gle subject and partisan legislation onenormally sees in majorities ignores thisdiversity. Parliament needs to make thepolitical reality they have created work,not hope things will change a fewmonths after taking office.

The London Free Press reported yesterday that a 22-year-old man was the victim of a violent hate crime along KippsLane last Tuesday night. According to the article, the Lon-don resident was lured into a vehicle where he was severe-ly beaten for being homosexual.

The alleged hate crime raises questions about howaccepting our society truly is.

It is comforting to think of homophobia, sexism andracism as things of the past and to believe that, as a soci-ety, we have evolved to become more accepting.

Unfortunately acts of hate continue.In an ideal world we would want everyone to not only

be tolerated, but also accepted for who they are. Howev-er, many still struggle to tolerate anyone outside whatthey consider to be the norm.

As university students, we tend to find ourselves in acomparatively more tolerant and accepting community.It’s easy to see how those living inside the Western bubblemay take for granted the resources bestowed upon them.

University is a unique experience where young peopleare encouraged to break down preconceived notions andstereotypes. Every day we are told to think critically andbe open-minded towards an array of different people andideas.

But many people in London live beyond the grasp ofthe Western gates and, for either financial or personal rea-sons, do not have the opportunity to experience the safecommunity and support systems our university has tooffer.

It’s not surprising the attacks occurred in an impover-ished area of London known for its violence and troubledyouth. However, such intolerance does not only stemfrom a particular socio-economic status and is not alwaysmanifested through violence — it can also be attributedto generational differences and cultural beliefs among thegeneral population.

Many hold certain viewpoints for reasons other thanignorance. Sometimes religion, politics and other deeplypersonal situations can influence the way someone viewsothers within their community —views that are unlikelyto change regardless of anyone’s effort. This is why com-plete acceptance of all individuals and their lifestyles is agoal that is not reachable in the world in which we cur-rently live.

Instead, we should strive to at least be tolerant of oneanother. Even if it is difficult accepting a person the waythey are, understanding and appreciating the world is fullof a variety of different types of people is the only way wecan reach peaceful resolutions and move forward as asociety.

Tolerancea realistic

goal

thegazetteVolume 103, Issue 9

No man can justly censure or condemn another, because indeed no man truly knows another.

— RELIGIO MEDICI

Ryan Hendrick Carly Conway Jaela BernstienEditor-In-Chief Deputy Editor Managing Editor

Editor - gazette.editor@uwo.caDeputy - gazette.deputy.editor@uwo.ca

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Harper should play nice in sandboxMinority government not all bad — politicians should compromise, not attack

P4 ➤ opinions theGazette •Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Editorials appearing under the ‘opinions’ heading are decidedupon by a majority of the editorial board and are written by amember of the editorial board but are not necessarily theexpressed opinion of each editorial board member. All otheropinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarilyreflect the opinions of the USC, The Gazette, its editors or staff.

Letters: Must include the contributor’s name, identification (ie.History II, Dean of Arts) and be submitted to gazette.opin-ions@uwo.ca. Letters judged by the Editor-In-Chief to be libelousor derogatory will not be published. The Gazette reserves theright to edit letters and submissions and makes no guaranteesthat a letter will be published.

All articles, letters, photographs, graphics, illustrations and car-toons published in The Gazette, both in the newspaper and onlineversions, are the property of The Gazette. By submitting any suchmaterial to The Gazette for publication, you grant to The Gazettea non-exclusive, world-wide, royalty-free, irrevocable license topublish such material in perpetuity in any media, including but notlimited to, The Gazette‘s hard copy and online archives.

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Section Editors 2009-2010

Ryan Abreu, Tara Athar, Katherine Atkinson, Erin Baker, Mary Ann

Boateng, Jordan Brown, Dylan Clark, Julie-Anne Cleyn, Caitlin Conroy,

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Amber Garratt, Jennifer Gautier, Jeremy Gritten, Eliot Hong, Alan

Hudes, Aras Kolya, Aaron Korolnek, Jay LaRochelle, Colin Lim, Julia

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“A study done by the Royal Bank of Canada found that 43per cent of new college and university students and 35per cent of those already in school feel they can onlystretch their money as far as Christmas.”

—Chris Wilkins, founder of Scholarship Canada

The Gazette, Thursday, Sept. 10 2009

We want to hear from you. Send your letters to gazette.opinions@uwo.ca and

don’t forget to visit us on the web atwww.westerngazette.ca

Hayes’d &ConfusedMike HayesSenior Editor

ArtsEntertainmentP5WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009

By Amber Garratt Gazette Staff

Few female guitarists of this gener-ation have made a name for them-selves. Kaki King — a New Yorkbased guitar virtuoso — is anexception. She has her very ownstyle of fret-slapping, finger-pickingtalent that has brought her to theforefront of female guitarists.

In 2007, King was on RollingStone’s “New Guitar Gods” listalongside such talents as JohnMayer, Jack White of the WhiteStripes and Pearl Jam’s MikeMcCready and Stone Gossard.

The distinctive musical stylingsof King have been developing sincethe age of five when she began clas-sical guitar lessons. Over the past 23years she has created innovative,uncharted instrumental music.

King released her first album in2003 entitled Everybody Loves You,which was an entirely instrumen-tal showcasing of her brilliant gui-tar riffs and one-of-a-kind sound.In 2004 she released her followupalbum, Legs To Make Us Longer,which exemplified her solo guitarskills. King decided to take a riskin 2006 with her third album,…Until We Felt Red, and mergedher remarkable instrumentalswith strong vocals, entering newterritory.

Her latest release — DreamingOf Revenge — is more sophisticat-

ed than previous albums. “Eventhough half the tracks are instru-mentals, I feel like I’m writing popsongs,” King said.

King stands out amongst othermusicians, as her music is in agenre unto its own. Her emotion-filled, edgy lyrics are honest andunique — an uncommon trait inthe mainstream music scene.

“I can’t remember how manyhappy songs I have written. I can’teven count them on one hand.Most of the music I have written iseither pensive or melancholy ordown right sadly emotive,” Kingexplained. “It’s like there is some-thing inside me that needs to getthat out and the best way to do thatis through music.”

King’s talent has not gone unno-ticed. It has captivated her fans andmusical peers alike. She was fea-tured as a guest guitarist on Teganand Sara’s 2007 album The Con. Shewas then asked to play on the FooFighters’ album Echoes, Silence,Patience & Grace for the track “Bal-lad of the Beaconsfield Miners”.

Grohl of the Foo Fightersdescribed King: “There are someguitar players that are good andthere are some guitar players thatare really fucking good. And thenthere’s Kaki King.”

King spent most of 2008 touringEurope, performing in cities likeMilan, Hamburg and Rotterdamand across the United States pro-moting Dreaming Of Revenge andreaching out to her extensive fanbase.

“I want to be able to make musiceveryday but make it on my ownterms. I have been able to get a lotof mileage with what I am capableof and I just want to continue that,”King said. “I know that as long as Ihave the ability to make music andplay live by myself without havingto cater to anyone then I will behappy.”

Kaki King makes her debut Lon-don performance on Friday at thisyear’s London Ontario Live Arts Fes-tival. King will follow A Horse AndHis Boy, Bruce Peninsula andSlaranffenland at 8 p.m. on theRogers Main Stage at Victoria Park.

Gazette File Photo

DEEP STARES WIN HEARTS. Guitar star Kaki King will play her instrumental pop music at the London Ontario Live Arts Festival Friday night in Victoria Park.

“There are some guitar

players that are good

and there are some

guitar players that are

really fucking good.

And then there’s Kaki

King.”– Dave Grohl

Foo Fighters

King is queen of the guitarGuitar virtuoso Kaki King brings instrumental pop to LOLA main stage

By Carol-Anne WysemanGazette Writer

9Director: Shane AckerStarring: The voices of Elijah Wood,Jennifer Connelly, ChristopherPlummer, John C. Reilly, MartinLandau

Appearance really isn’t everything,as proved in Acker’s feature-lengthdebut, 9. The animated film’s spe-cial effects and executive producerTim Burton manage to temporarily

distract viewers from a seeminglynonexistent plot — but not for long.

The film opens with No. 9(Wood), a mechanical and tweedragdoll surrounded by ruins anddestroyed buildings. He quicklymeets other puppet-like creatureslike himself, including No. 2 (Lan-dau), the first victim of “The Beast”and the reason No. 9 begins hisquest to destroy the robots.

Characters 3, 4 and 6 (CrispinGlover), and No. 8 (Fred Tatasciore)are entirely forgettable as they don’tserve a clear purpose. In fact, No. 3and No. 4 don’t even speak.

As a result, the film doesn’t neednine characters. At times it is diffi-cult to distinguish one from anoth-er, as only some have unique char-acteristics.

Together, No. 9 and his newfriends attempt to save the worldfrom giant robots who have cap-tured No. 2 and destroyed humani-

ty. There is no explanation as to whythe characters are ragdolls, just asthere is no character developmentthroughout the film.

Like so many movies before it, 9deals with the generic idea of tech-nology going wrong and wiping outmankind. The cliché story — com-plete with its willing and fearlessleader and loss of close friends —makes the film completely unsur-prising.

Throughout the movie, No. 9and his new friends face largerobots and defeat them, only tocome across more robots. Viewersare expected to believe the unre-alistic suggestion that ragdollswithout any special ability arecapable of winning battles againstdestructive machinery. All thewhile, the heroes are hunted by“The Beast” — a spider-like robotthat sucks the spirit out of its vic-tim. There isn’t one moment ofcomic relief and the repetitive bat-tles are unnecessary and spreadthe film too thin.

It comes as no surprise that 9is based on Acker’s 10-minute ani-mation, a hit on the Internet and2005 Oscar nominee. This successcan’t be transferred to a 79-minute film without adding char-acter development and strength-ening the plot.

Nonetheless, 9’s special effectsare exceptional. Visually speaking,Acker does not disappoint — thespecial effects are bold and theimages are detailed. Unfortunatelythe strength of 9’s visual appealexceeds that of the film’s plot tosuch an extent.

With a predictable, unoriginalplot and no character develop-ment, visual effects fail to save 9from falling short. In truth, 9 ismore like a 4.

P6 ➤ arts&entertainment theGazette •Wednesday, September 16, 2009

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Visuals don’t outshine 9’s uneventful plotFilm’s story fails in comparison to strong special effects

MxPxOn The Cover IITooth & Nail

MxPx have been around since 1992and has released eight full-length,original studio albums. Theirnewest release, On The Cover II isn’tamong those.

OTCII, as the name suggests, is acover album, more precisely analbum covering songs from the 80s,including songs by the Ramones,U2 and The Clash.

Unfortunately, as both a coveralbum and an album by itself, it’sfairly mediocre. “Heaven Is a PlaceOn Earth,” a cover of a BelindaCarlisle song, is the only truly goodtrack out of the bunch, capturingthe feel of the original song whileadding a new touch. To make mat-ters worse, the lead singer on thattrack isn’t even a MxPx member.

A few other tracks come close todecent but don’t quite hit the mark.Covers of Queen’s “Somebody toLove” and The Proclaimers’ “I’mGonna Be (500 miles)” suck. Nei-ther is faithful to the feel of the orig-inal, nor an improvement. Despiteits shortcomings, no song is a deal-breaker and OTCII is still mildlyenjoyable.

— Matthew Rogers

ON DISC

Gazette File Photo

CUTE AND CUDDLY? With animated characters like these it’s easy to seethat Tim Burton had a hand in the production of 9.

Another off-season is coming to aclose in most major sports andanother exciting season of freeagent pickups is behind us. And yetit has left me wondering, what thehell is wrong with professionalsports team owners?

Every major sport is guilty ofspending ludicrous amounts onplayer salaries, with the owners rightat the heart of it. All the while theentire world has spent the past yearin the midst of a major recession.

This particular summer broughtto mind the opening scene fromBASEketball. For those of you whohaven’t seen it, there is a scenewhere the narrator talks about thedemise of pro sports based on theawful business practices of teamowners. In the end, the fansstopped caring and professionalsports disintegrated until the sportof baseketball was created. I’mstarting to think we’re headingdown that path.

Let’s start with the debacle thatis Major League Baseball. Since theMLB doesn’t have a salary cap or agood revenue sharing system,teams like the Yankees can go outevery season and bring in playerslike CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett andMark Teixeira for a combined $62million per year. Five teams have atotal payroll below $62 million. Inthe process, they have created a$50 million debt. Is that really whatanyone should be doing during arecession?

In what is now a growing trend,the most ridiculous contract thissummer is Stephen Strasbourg’s.Strasbourg was the number oneoverall pick in the 2009 MLB draftand was recently signed by theWashington Nationals to a contractthat pays him $15.1 million a year.The kid has not thrown a pitch inhis professional career, nor has hepracticed with the team.

Unfortunately, baseball isn’t theonly sport subject to this. Soccer iseven guiltier of this outrageousspending.

Over the past few years, clubslike Chelsea FC, Manchester Cityand Real Madrid have thrownaround massive contracts like it

was nothing. Madrid alone spent160 million euros to buy the likesof Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo,with an additional 100 millioneuros for the rest of their transfersthis summer. Not surprisingly,they are currently wrestling with amassive debt.

Obviously spending ridiculousamounts of money on undeservingathletes is a horrible idea and I’dthink most of you would agree. Afterall, there are people working to curediseases pulling a yearly salaryequal to what some of these guysmake in a couple of weeks. Societymay need to re-evaluate this.

But as far as the sports world isconcerned, the biggest problemwith this is the lack of parity thatresults from these monstrouscontracts.

Let’s look at the National Foot-ball League. Sure, some of the starsmake ridiculous amounts ofmoney. But with the league’s salarycap, organizations are forced tospend carefully and actually build ateam from the ground up.

This works because in the NFLyou can’t just throw money at aproblem to be successful, unlikethe Yankees of the world. The capprocess puts every team through aseries of peaks and valleys, puttingconstant success out of reach.

But what about leagues whereowners are not capped and can dowhatever the they want. Onceagain, I’m going to pick on soccer.

Over the past 20 years, almostevery champion in the EuropeanChampions League has been fromthe top 20 most valuable clubs,which of course, are the clubs withan unlimited bank account. Thosewith cash flow problems are out ofluck in the Champions League.

This is a sign of the growingdivide between the top 20 clubs inEurope and the rest of the soccer-playing world. Success by any ofthese so-called smaller clubs is few

and far between, and rarely lastsmore than a season.

For instance, Porto, a club fromPortugal, won the ChampionsLeague in 2003. The next season theylost their coach and best players toteams offering up boatloads of cash.

So as far as I’m concerned, theselarge contracts are the biggest prob-lem facing professional sports,overshadowing doping scandalsand whatever Michael Vick is doingthis week. These owners have toomuch freedom, and clearly moremoney than they can handle.

Can things be fixed? Probablynot, at least not until people loseinterest. But until the BASEketballscenario happens, we can alwayshope some radical owner comesalong. Or maybe we need to startup a real-life baseketball league. Itwill be great until, of course, some-one ruins that too.

sports ➤ P7theGazette •Wednesday, September 16, 2009

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Pro sports owners need to drop the buckMLB, European soccer would benefit from salary caps

Gazette file photo

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By Melanie LuiGazette Writer

Friends became foes this past Sat-urday as the Mustangs cross-coun-try team faced off against oneanother in the 34th annual purpleand white intra-squad competition.

Although the event — held atGibbons Park, just south of campus— had no visiting teams, the com-petition was fierce with severalMustangs eager to establish them-selves among their peers and earn atop spot on the team.

The competition started withthe men battling it out in the 6 kmrace.

In a photo finish, two-timeOntario University Athletics firstteam all-star Kyle O’Neill narrowlyedged out talented junior RyanHuff, while the rest of the men’steam finished closely behind.

“We went at the pace we want-ed,” O’Neill, the 2007 OUA rookie ofthe year, said. “I was happy finish-ing first, but to see my teammatescome in right behind me was alsosatisfying.”

O’Neill and Huff both came inwith times of 19 minutes and 28seconds, with O’Neill claiming thetop spot by mere milliseconds.Brent Smith, Matt Suda and rookieSimon Hodge rounded out the top

five with times of 19:31, 19:35 and19:38, respectively.

“We have a good pack of guys inthe same range and ability,” O’Neillsaid after the race. “It’s a goodweapon to use against the otherteams. We’re looking forward to theseason.”

After the men’s race, thewomen’s side competed in the 4 kmrun, with another tight finish thatsaw Lynn Mockler narrowly edgingLorelle Convery by a second at thefinish line. Both girls — the “mightymites” as they are known to theirteammates — were 2008 OUA sec-ond team all-stars and are compet-ing in their fourth year.

“I think the results of the meetwere very good,” Convery said.“Everyone was close together. We’regoing to be pretty competitive. Wehave some strong returning mem-bers, but it’s mostly a young team,which will be good for our future.”

“Other teams should be con-cerned,” Mockler added. “The rook-ies did really well at this meet. Theywill make a great addition to ourteam.”

Three rookies rounded out thetop five with Alicia Knox, LauraDesjardins and Hailey Cummingsfinishing with times of 15:01, 15:08and 15:09 respectively.

“I’m excited to improve and to

get close with the team,” Cum-mings said. “Everyone is so wel-coming all the time. I think it will befun. I’m just a rookie, but hopefullyI’ll have some success.”

The three rookies credited a vig-orous off-season training regimentand the tough competitionthroughout the tryout process fortheir impressive results.

“[I’ve been preparing] all sum-mer,” rookie Rachel Windsor said.“I’ve just been waiting to be part ofthis team. It’s so great to be on ateam of people who want to do this.They’re talented as well as dedicat-ed. I’m so glad to be here.”

The purple and white intra-squad competition is the brainchildof timeless Mustangs cross-countryhead coach Bob Vigars, who is inhis 42nd year of doubling as coachand a professor in the departmentof health science.

Vigars first came up with theidea in order to add another com-petition to the season. Over theyears, however, the meet becamepart of the cross-country tryoutprocess.

Vigars hopes the competition willtest the veterans to gauge their readi-ness for the season and allow rook-ies who are going through their firsttryouts to measure where they standwith the current team members.

“I’m very pleased overall withthe results,” Vigars said after themeet. “It was great to see our vet-erans run better at this time ofyear than they had in other years.Our rookies on the women’s sidein particular were quite impres-sive.”

This year Vigars is adding twograduate assistant coaches to hiscoaching staff: Jenn Webber andTim Konoval. Webber was a stand-out on both the cross-country andtrack and field teams at Western.Konoval also competed in bothsports, but for the University of

Pittsburgh. Vigars will lean on themthroughout the season to sharetheir expertise and help the teamsucceed.

The Canadian InteruniversitySport pre-season rankings have themen’s team ranked sixth in thecountry, while the women areranked fourth. Barring any majorsetbacks, both teams look poised tochallenge for a medal on thenational stage.

Catch the Mustangs cross-coun-try team in action at the WesternInternational Meet on Sept. 26 atThames Valley Golf Course.

SportsP8 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009

ON DECK:Mens soccer... Thursday

MUSTANGS CROSS COUNTRY

Cross-country gears up for run at nationals

Laura Barclay/Gazette

NICE QUADS — YOU THINK THOSE ARE IMPLANTS? The Mustangs cross-country team faced off against one another in their annual purple and white intrasquad event this past week-end. Lynn Mockler led the way for the women while Kyle O’Neill finished first for the men.

Rookies challenge veterans in final tune up before season

MEN’S 6 KM RUN

Place Name Time

1 Kyle O’Neill 19:28

2 Ryan Huff 19:28

3 Brent Smith 19:31

4 Matt Suda 19:35

5 Simon Hodge 19:38

6 Will Komer 19:46

7 Alex Strokach 19:52

8 Evan Andrin 20:36

9 David Arango 20:43

10 Aelx Mouret 20:59

11 Mike Cameron 21:18

WOMEN’S 4 KM RUN

Place Name Time

1 Lynn Mockler 14:56

2 Lorelle Convery 14:57

3 Alicia Knox 15:01

4 Laura Desjardins 15:08

5 Hailey Cummings15:09

6 Hilary Egan 15:21

7 Sara Leo 15:27

8 Lauren Coutts 15:29

9 Ali Savill 15:34

10 Rachel Windsor 15:36

11 Erica Scott 15:59