It’s spring, and that means no more frumpy sweaters. Not so fast, say upright Christian men. In a survey sponsored by evangelical youth site The Rebelution, repressed young men the world over answered the question “What do you think is immodest?”. The answer was, overwhelmingly, “Pretty much everything.” Some highlights:

• 57.5% of survey takers disagreed with the statement “It is okay to expose the stomach when wearing a swimsuit.” It gets better when you hit the comments, though. One boy said, “Seeing a girl’s belly makes me very uncomfortable and it is just something that you don’t need to show to anyone.” Here’s something creepy: he’s 13!
• A well-informed 60.7% thought gauchos are modest. For myself, I have no idea what gauchos are. It seems that their knowledge of women’s clothing is rivaled only by this man’s.
• 47% thought T-shirts with messages on the front “draw too much attention to the bust.” So intense!

Link via Pandagon

Posted by Will Sommer

Subway cars in DC might be missing a certain elegance soon, if Metro’s new general manager has his way. John Catoe wants to get rid of carpeting on the trains, saying it’s hard to clean and expensive:

“Real world tells you it’s expensive, it doesn’t look good—particularly when it snows and you bring a lot of salt in there—and it doesn’t smell very good after it gets wet.”

Carpeting in Metro cars has never struck me as filthy or smelly. It’s a nice contrast with New York’s rubber floors. Unfortunately, that’s exactly the direction Catoe wants to go. Besides removing the carpet, Catoe wants to remove some seats so there’s more standing room.

Catoe does have two good ideas. He’s responsible for the new red warning lights on train platforms, which apparently won’t be extended to include every line’s color (blue and orange would look slick). He also wants easier access to handrails for people who don’t want to get inadvertante abdominal exercise reaching for Metro’s too-high bars.
Link via Wonkette

-Posted by Will Sommer

Even as I basked in the glow of reflected glory from our beloved Men’s B-Ball team—final four bound—after the game last night, I was left with a question that had irked me from the first half onward. Why, when the ball was at UNC’s end, did we hear loud chants of “DEFENSE! DEFENSE!” from in-crowd mics, but when the Hoyas were under attack, nary a Georgetown voice was heard? I was positive that Hoya fans would make themselves heard, so it must have been CBS muting Georgetown supporters. Well, it was a combo of the two. One on-site correspondent reports that CBS covered up the Georgetown section’s in-crowd mic because the Hoyas were yelling “BULLSHIT!” at every bad call—apparently, the FCC doesn’t like it when you broadcast that. Either way, Atlanta here we come …

–Posted by Tim Fernholz, Managing Editor.

In light of Georgetown’s Sweet 16 run, an article discusses Craig Esherick’s feelings about the success of Jeff and Roy, who were actually his recruits. He says he is proud that his boys are doing well. He also mentions that he knew they were talented and coachable when he recruited them, and “they’ve obviously received good coaching.”

But Green and Hibbert were on the way. And even during recruiting, Esherick thought that Green could be a Big East player of the year.

“That’s going to sound crazy, but I’m going to answer the question honestly: Yes, I did,” Esherick said. “When I first saw him play, I thought this kid could be a star.”

But be careful not to become an Esherick-lover. The article also mentions that JT III had to re-recruit these three and convince them to play with him. Often when a coach leaves his post, his recruits defect to another school (Scottie Reynolds accepted a scholarship to Oklahoma, but then Kevin Sampson moved to Indiana and he ended up at ‘Nova) or they follow the coach to his new school (JWall went with JTIII from Princeton to G’town). So, it seems that Jeff Green was attached to Georgetown more than he was to Esherick. Oh, and not to mention that Esherick was 13-15 my freshman year and we didn’t even make the NIT.

Another interesting nugget: Esh is apparently working as the VP of Athletic Relations for CSTV, but “considered pursuing another coaching position after he was fired.” This isn’t exactly true - he did more than think about re-entering the coaching world. In Feb. 2005, less than a year after being sacked, Esh applied for the head job at New Mexico State, saying, “I think, clearly, I wanted to get back into coaching.”

“I’d be a heck of a coach for them,” Esherick said. “But that’s not my call.”

Yea, I bet you woulda been awesome.

Posted by Keenan Steiner, Editorial Board Chair

Chicken fingers may be the most popular item on the Leo’s menu. Served twice a week, they’re proof that Marriott can be trusted with meat sometimes. But I think there are actually two different types of chicken finger, one much more delicious.

I say this because I’ve noticed a sharp decline in the quality of the chicken fingers since the school year started. At first, chicken fingers were amazing. Now? Not so much. This isn’t just “They keep the good food out until the parents are gone” foolishness. At some point last semester the good version came back, briefly, giving me the opportunity to notice differences.

The regular chicken fingers have an orange color, and are flat. The earlier, better chicken fingers are more yellow, and bumpier.

So why not always serve the better iteration? Because, according to Director of Resident Dining Steven Gibbs, it doesn’t exist at all. “The Chicken Fingers in O’Donovan Dining Hall are the same. We do not offer two types,” he wrote in an e-mail.

Hardly! I still hold that there is a better kind of chicken finger. What do you think?
-Posted by Will Sommer, Staff Writer

Over at Purdue, a missing student was found dead—after two months—in an electrical transformer room.

“[W]ade Steffey apparently touched a “ceramic element” that connects an electrical wire to a transformer inside the room. The contact sent enough voltage through him to kill him.

“Norberg said officials apparently did check the room when searching for Steffey, but Steffey was behind a transformer. He was not visible from either an exterior or interior doorway, she said.

“On Monday, a utility worker was called to check the room after getting a report about a noise coming from inside. Purdue officials said she entered using the interior door, which had been locked.

“Norberg said she believes the utility worker might have gone farther into the room because she smelled an odor. That’s why she might have been able to find the body that was missed during the first search, Norberg said.

Say it with me now: Ughghghghghghghg. This is the kind of story that sends shudders through college students everywhere. Apparently, Steffey was looking for his coat one night when he stumbled into the room, which should have been locked. Even worse was the Purdue’s negligence in searching the room. Our sympathies are with Steffey’s family. And stay out of the maintenance rooms after the party, Hoyas.

Posted by Tim Fernholz, Managing Editor

What do gun nuts, Cambodia fanatics and Fritz Brogan’s enemies all have in common?

They’re Voice readers, of course.

Last week our gun editorial brought in all the expected protest letters from Second Amenment supporters across the country. Scott W., of Phoenix, Arizona wrote “Please, give us all a break and stop making idiotic comments like - ‘While it’s unclear what impact gun control has had on District crime over the years, what the sense in allowing more guns on the streets?’”

The Fritz Brogan cover story, too, provoked all manner of letters taking issue with our front-page-characterization of Brogan as “Joe Hoya” himself. One letter writer even threatened to expose some pretty steamy allegations about Brogan’s character. We’ll see if it makes it into print on Thursday.

The biggest surprise, however, came in a link in an e-mail sent to us by someone claiming the not so-self-effacing title of “Lord Playboy.” His Lordship pointed us to a discussion board of four pages of threads where all types of message board geeks spent the last week attacking Kent Elliot’s piece on Cambodia (”A $350 Problem”, March 15, 2007). These guys are really serious about everything from “dirty” backpackers to the assumed honesty of every bell boy in Cambodia. To see what these boring people spend their time doing, check this link out.
Posted by Chris Stanton, Editor-in-Chief

Did anyone else find it a little strange that Ray Danieli, the assistant director of off-campus life, was out in Red Square last Friday handing out ping-pong balls in Red Square with the Run for Rigby people?

The set of pakaged balls, custom colored to fit with the coming St. Patrick’s Day weekend, came with a reminder to sign up for the April 14 “Rigby Ball” and April 15 “Run 4 Rigby.” The message included an encouragement to “Enjoy these pong balls.”

Clearly the balls were supported and paid for by the Run for Rigby organization. However, Danieli’s presence in Red Square was an indication that the school tacitly supports appealing to students’ love for beer pong (beirut) in order to promote safety. It’s a definite compromise of ideals since the student code of conduct very clearly states that drinking games are not okay: “Of particular concern are alcohol-related drinking games. Because they are designed to encourage the excessive consumption of alcohol, they run contrary to and undermine the University’s promotion of the responsible use of alcohol. Alcohol-related drinking games shall be deemed an aggravating factor.”

The funny thing is, Danieli’s colleague (they share a tiny office), Director of Off-Campus Life Charles VanSant is the man responsible for lecturing and punishing off-campus students who party so hard that they burn the University’s bridges with the neighbors.

Way to go guys, for encouraging binge drinking and precision on the ping-pong table!

Posted by Chris Stanton, Editor-in-Chief

If you haven’t heard (making you one of the five people in America), the Men’s Basketball team is matched up against Belmont in tomorrow’s first-round game of the NCAA tournament. You’ve probably never heard Belmont’s name, but that doesn’t mean this team can be overlooked (well, not quite). If you’re interested, though, here are some stories on the matchup from the Associated Press and the Washington Post.

(An Occaisonal Reuben Review)

Loeb’s New York Deli
832 15th St. N.W.
Loeb’s Reuben is a jungle beast looming on your plate, overstuffed with an unbalanced amount of corned beef. Saeurkraut is sparse but fresh, with a light dousing of Thousand Island Dressing. Most delightful is the hearty Rye, though it earns a penalty for being untoasted.
6.5 out of 10 Delicious Points

Posted by Tim Fernholz, Managing Editor