Letters to the editor

Misunderstanding wrestling

To the Editor:

I am writing in regards to Jeff Greenwald's column ("Wrestling fails to do the spectacular," The Daily Pennsylvanian, 03/25/04). I was extremely disappointed with his review and recap of this year's Division I Wrestling NCAA Championships. Right from the start, it was negatively titled and hardly improved from there on.

I happen to have made the trip down to St. Louis to watch our team compete. To begin with, it is an honor to have even made it to the tournament. Few of our other Penn teams were able to make it to the NCAAs this year (BASKETBALL) but are certainly given much more attention and credit to their season. Throughout the column, there are many inaccuracies and false statements. I was sorry to see that it didn't even seem to be spell-checked. The quotes and even the opening sentence had grammatical errors and were not proofread.

Greenwald's story was disappointing, if not insulting. I have never known a lot about wrestling, but since going to the tournament, I have realized the gravity and accomplishments of our team and their successes. Maybe instead of writing negative articles about the team, the DP could focus on the good things that happened in the tournament. To have two All-Americans, including one of the few two-time All-Americans in the Ivy League (Matt Feast), as well as finishing in the top 20 in the nation is far more than most of our other sports teams have managed to do.

Wrestling at Penn has been and will continue to be an excellent program that is considered one of the top combinations of academics and athletics in the nation.

Greenwald writes, "But it is hard for a team that is not able to do anything spectacular to garner much attention." Maybe if the team garners the appropriate attention in the future, the spectacular things that are accomplished will stand out a little more to people who do not necessarily understand wrestling, such as Greenwald.

Lauren Kowtna

College '05

The facts on Spain

To the Editor:

I would like to ask for your time in trying to set the facts straight about Ms. Dubert's article "Spain's election will weaken war on terror," DP, 03/22/04). I speak from firsthand experience, since I am both a Spanish citizen and a concerned democratic voter.

It seems that Ms. Dubert has no qualms in labeling Jos‚ Zapatero an appeaser. I do not call an appeaser a person who has consistently and ardently fought against a government that does not listen to its people. During the buildup for the Iraq war, polls consistently showed that 90 percent of Spanish citizens opposed the invasion, but Jos‚ Maria Aznar went ahead anyway.

Ms. Dubert speaks of how the Spanish people will have to learn the hard way now about terrorism. Newsflash: Spanish citizens have been fighting terrorism (ETA) long before anyone in America cared an ounce about terrorism. Is learning the hard way stepping out of the target area for Islamist fundamentalists angered by America's unnecessary invasion of Iraq? Well then, I'd rather learn the hard way and save my fellow citizens. You speak of more attacks now that Spain has "succumbed" to more democratic leaders. I beg to differ. It seems that not angering people needlessly is a good way of not getting attacked.

Ms. Dubert clearly fails to grasp the situation. The clich‚ of quoting and referencing World War II events is so out of place that it's hard to even argue against. Can someone show me where al Qaeda's tanks and armies are? Which country did they invade? The world situation is so different that World War II quotes should stay inside the classrooms. The only instability is that which Mr. Bush is actively creating every day by polarizing every single event into an overly simplified "either you are with me or against me."

Voter turnout for the last elections? Almost 80 percent. This just shows that Spain is one of the strongest democracies in the world. Surely the fact that we got out of a dictatorship a mere 30 years ago helps. Mr. Aznar's government was starting to look like one.

Daniel Sabido

Wharton '07

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