Concordia is a school that is rich in tradition. The traditions of the school are what make it everything that the college is today. Most football players are asked why they chose Concordia and the majority of the guys, including myself, will quickly point to the strong traditions of the college. I am personally a guy who is very big on tradition. I have many traditions and rituals that I follow in order to get myself through the many dreadful weeks of school. One tradition that I do weekly is a Monday conversation with my favorite campus security guard. Another is that after a long weekend of partying, I take a Sunday trip to Grand Junction to start my week off the right way.

Tradition is a big part of my life and I appreciate the sacredness of traditions, BUT there is one cobber tradition that really grinds my gears. This tradition is the alleged “Bell Tower Curse.” This curse is foolish and nonsense. I am okay with the chipper and super cheesy three day long freshman orientation; I wore my beanie with pride. I love it when the beast is unleashed at the annual homecoming bonfires. I cheer along loudly doing my part in unleashing the beast. But the idea that if a student decides to walk under the bell tower alone they will be doomed and never find love is preposterous.

I do not know much about love, my experience is very limited and has taught me that love just hurts, but I know there is more to it than that. I know that there is much joy brought to many people’s lives all across the world through this powerful emotion. I wanted some advice on love, and at a Lutheran school, what better place to look than the Bible. I figured that it could help shed some light on this situation. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” WOW! That is the love that I am looking for. But could something so patient and kind, so unproud and not easily angered really withhold itself from you just because you decide to walk under the bell tower alone? I do not think so. This tradition is false, and to prove it I have walked under the bell tower alone several times. Perhaps this is the reason I do not have a girlfriend :/.. But more likely it is a decision by choice. The bell tower curse is incorrect, contradictory to the entire belief system of our school, and it gives me the bell tower blues.
Ernie puttin it down

Rude Boy

Does anyone remember when guys would open doors for the ladies? How about a time when we would pull out a chair for her to sit down in? Well I don’t. A transition has been made when it comes to guys getting the girls. The day of the gentlemen has came and gone. The reason behind this is simple, ITS ALL WOMAN’S FAULT.

Love is a crazy and powerful emotion. It drives men to do things that they would not normally do.I am going to quickly outline for you a typical saturday for a single young man. Eat food, drink booze, smoke a cigar, hangout with the fellas, chase girls and watch sports. This is ideal day for 8 out of 10 single guys that I hangout with. This is what we like to do to be happy. When a girlfriend is added to this equation, the typical saturday is changed forever. The only part of the typical saturday that is still a guarentee is the eating of food part. This is terrible! How can a man live this way? They can not, they wont. They stay stubborn in order to maintain their manhood. The fact that women are always trying to change a man is killing chivalry.

Ladies do not want gentlemen anymore. The social norm has changed, the process of wooing the ladies will never be the same. No more love letters, romantic walks along the beach, or serenading the girls through song. Although it goes against everything that seems reasonable and logical, girls are falling for the bad boys. The ladies are choosing the tough guys over the kind guys. We grow up and go through school watching all the pretty girls fall for the arrogant jocks. As a species that evolves in order to survive, most guys are adjusting to the tragic situation. They realize that the poetry and sensitivity of the early times of wooing girls is near obsolete. No longer is the sweet songs of the hit R & B group the temptations applicable, no longer do we sing about My Girl. This has been made clear by popular female singers of our time. The hit song from last year by Rihanna Rude Boy sums it up. Ladies want a rude boy, they are not interested in a gentleman anymore.

Four Loko is the new phenomen sweeping across colleges all across the nation. The controversial beverage is causing college students to blackout all across the nation. The drinks main ingredients are alcohol, caffenine, taurine and guarana. There have been alot of publicity about the drink because the ridiculous stories associated with the drink. One of the most notable was in my home state of Washington. During a “Loko Party” Students at a Central Washington party all drank the Loko and went through the stages of Loko…

“Four Loko got its name because it sends the person who consumed it into FOUR STAGES OF CRAZY:

Stage 1: Tipsy (loud, might stumble, laugh)

Stage 2: Drunk (embarrassing, stumbling, slight slur)

Stage 3: Wasted (heavy slur, falling, hitting on fat girls)

Stage 4: Black Out (no ability to speak, vomiting, waking up next to a fat girl, memory loss)”

None of these students woke up with any fat girls, but that would have certainly been a better scenario for them. There were 22 students hospitalized with alcohol poisoning and 1 of them died. That is LOCO. Last night while watching one of my favorite television shows ” The Colbert Report” the sauvy comedian weighed in on his opinion of the drink. All students should drink Loko, you must be Loco to not drink loco. This obvious statement of sarcasm was after disclosing some alarming facts about the drink. In the beverage there is an equivalent to three cups of coffee and two beers. All of us remember in our wellness classes that it is a dangerous mixture when drinking caffenine and alcohol. This is literally the worse fear of my wellness instructor Brady Larson.

Knowing the dangers of Loko and hearing the horror stories involved with the drink that has been labeled in some groups blackout in a can or liquid cocaine. I had to try the drink myself. My curiousity got the best of me. This was a terrible idea! My friends and i all drank Loko and went through the stages of loko. I do not have a definite recollection of that night, which verifies to me that i made it to stage four and suffered from the memory loss. The next day i was determined for figure out what happened the previous night. The events that occurred that night are entirely too embarassing to disclose in this blog. But i did wake up the morning in search of my phone and discovered the battery in my pocket. THATS IS THE BATTERY! The phone has still not been found and luckily i had a backup phone.

Loko is Loco. It is soon to be banned and Cobbers if you are not interested in blacking out stay away from the drink! Its not safe