Letter to the Coliseum Commission

To the members of the Coliseum Commission,

My name is J. T. Murphy. I am a Writer who attended the University of Southern California, and I owe the school immensely for its boost to my career and my character. I send this letter on behalf of the Trojan football program and Director of Athletics, Michael L. Garrett. I am concerned about our beloved Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The stadium needs complete replacement of facilities, across the board. Concessions have not been commensurate with the services offered at all modern athletic sites. Restrooms are inadequate, to say the least, especially with the Trojans being as popular as they are today. The media systems are grossly inadequate, including the video and sound systems and the scoreboards. They must be replaced with state-of-the-art systems that are easily obtainable.

The Coliseum is a prestigious landmark and it is a shame that the structure on which it is built has been allowed to deteriorate to its current state. Stairs, walkways, and infrastructure are all made of concrete, and they need significant repair. All seats must be replaced. Currently, access to this stadium is inefficient and safety is a concern. Elevators and escalators are needed to improve this, as well as a reconfiguration of the entry gates.

Mike Garrett informed me that the University asked to participate in the decisions affecting a stadium that has primarily served as the home of its football program for over 80 years. He stated that the University requested opportunities to control more of the Coliseum's revenue, that is in fact generated by the Trojan football program, in order to offset the cost to the school of repairing the stadium. In exchange, USC is prepared to spend $100 million of the budget of the Athletics Department on all the necessary renovations. Also, USC could guarantee a much more active Coliseum year-round, beyond home football games.

This offer was rejected. I cannot fathom the reason. USC has asked for changes to the Coliseum. USC has asked to pay for them, and to make sure they are made properly and efficiently. The NFL has stated time and time again that they will not do this. Taxpayers should not be asked to do this. USC, however, wants to take action in all facets. The University has a vested interest in the advancement and upkeep of the Coliseum. The University can ensure the success of using the stadium for entertainment purposes, given its active student body. Nothing would change for the Coliseum Commission, aside from a significant increase in revenue.

Please allow USC to be more than a tenant. Let the school direct and fund the renovation and repair of the Coliseum in concert with the Coliseum Commission, the city, the county, and the state. At the same time, give this fine University control of more of the stadium's revenue to balance the expenses of refurbishment.

When each one of us came to the community at USC, we learned about The Trojan. Let me tell you, it is more than a nickname for our sports teams. The people that really buy into the Trojan Family, including me, become Trojans themselves. It is the reason USC has stayed with the Coliseum all these years, while other teams have come and gone. It is the reason we have such a remarkable relationship with our surrounding neighborhoods, and the financial data is there to back it up. Home games bring $5 million each fall to the local economy. Each year, $4 billion from USC goes into it.

We want to remain in the Coliseum. We want to tailgate on University Park, and visit Heritage Hall, and witness Step Off. We want to see the Spirit of Troy take the field before kickoff and fill our hearts with drumbeats. We want to see the lighting of the Olympic Torch precede another Trojan victory. We want those memories to remain the same.

There is another side to being a Trojan. It involves being strong in the face of something unpleasant. That is what we are prepared to do. If we have to, we will deal with our team playing home games in the Rose Bowl. That is not an empty threat. We may not like it, but the students, alumni, and fans will do what we must in order to help the football program.

I implore the Coliseum Commission to reconsider its position. USC's offer is advantageous. However, the current course on which these negotiations have been set is detrimental to the Commission. A few seasons of Trojan home games in the Rose Bowl and public opinion may swell beyond simply supporting USC.

The calls for the University to own the Coliseum outright may grow in number and strength.

Team-Building: the Spartan Phalanx in 300

"Young men, fight shield to shield and never succumb to panic or miserable flight, but steel the heart in your chests with magnificence and courage."
-- Tyrtaeus, The War Songs of Tyrtaeus

The Greek phalanx was first developed in the 8th century B.C. and lasted as the primary mode of battle for 4 centuries until the Roman legion began to take shape. The phalanx was defeated, once and for all, at the Battle of Pydna in 160 B.C.

The disposition of the forces was such that the effectiveness of the
phalanx depended on the execution: how well the soldiers could maintain the formation in combat, and how well they could stand their ground in the heat of battle. The opponent was not the main enemy of the phalanx. Fear was the enemy. The conventional wisdom of the time was that the side that was more disciplined and more courageous would win. The Greek word dynamis, which means "will to fight", expressed the desire that kept the soldiers in formation. In many cases, one side would flee before they could be engaged by the side with the greater will.

The formation was organized with soldiers lined up very closely to one another in ranks with their shields locked together. An individual soldier carried his shield, called an aspis, on his left arm, protecting not himself but the soldier to his left. He used his right arm to attack with his spear, called a doru, or sword, called a xiphos. Spearmen projected their spears over the outermost rank of shields. Essentially, the phalanx was a massive spear-and-shield wall. The deciding factor was determined by which side could knock the other off balance, tactically speaking. Battles were won when one army's vulnerable right side (carrying spears) overpowered the opposing army's protected left side (carrying shields).

In Sparta, the shield was symbolic. It represented the subordination of the individual soldier to his unit as well as the integral part he played in its success. This was his solemn responsibility to his brothers in arms. During the mid 5th century B.C., the Spartans replaced family-based shield designs with the letter lambda, which stood for Laconia, or Lacedaemon. The lambda is used anachronistically in the film, 300. The film is mostly an artistic exaggeration of the events surrounding and including the Battle of Thermopylae, which occurred in 480 B.C.

Possibly the greatest recorded last stand in history, the battle featured 300 Spartans, backed by around 7,000 other Greek allies, against the massive imperial army of Xerxes, King of Persia, which consisted of at least 100,000 troops. The film version of this battle is excellent when viewed as a portrayal of the spirit and emotion surrounding it, rather than a factual record, which it is not. However, the hyperbole works in almost every case. Xerxes was not an androgynous seven-footer but he was insane. According to Greek historian Herodotus, after an unsuccessful attempt to cross the Hellespont strait, Xerxes had the water itself whipped 300 times.

More to the point, the decision by the filmmakers to include in the main battle only the 300 Spartans was very wise. The essential emphasis on the point that these men had only each other to rely on makes this film a great one for team-building. We have scene after scene of our red tunic clad, sacred shield wielding heroes facing off against what appears to be a billion of the nastiest, ugliest enemy soldiers one can imagine.

None of this would have been possible without the phalanx. The characters in the film break the formation technically, which is unrealistic but required for the excitement factor. However, what is more important is that they never break the duties and principles they hold so dear. Everything that is involved in maximizing the effectiveness of the Spartan phalanx also makes for the best kind of team.

Ultimately, the 300 were defeated. But they never vacated the solemn responsibility they had for one another and they never abandoned the courage, the discipline, and the dynamis required to fight. Protect the team, win or lose... that's exactly what they did. Despite the loss at Thermopylae, the Athenian victory at Marathon in 490 B.C. is an example of the success of the formation against a superior opponent. 10,000 Athenians decisively defeated 26,000 Persians.

How I Deal with Pain

Pain sucks, and there's no way around it. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I have a very high pain tolerance level. On one hand, that means that it takes a lot of suffering to knock me down. On the other, that means that it takes a lot of suffering to knock me down. The good news about having high pain tolerance is that I have developed several ways to cope. Most of them are pretty standard and logical, but it's always cool for me to think about the mentality that goes into dealing with pain.

Pain is divided into two classes for me. The first class is just your garden-variety pain. It's the kind of stuff everybody deals with on a daily basis. I'm actually a pretty big wuss when it comes to this class. In this instance, I'll usually be vocal about anything. I call it, "expressing my pain." I figure that because I have to use up so much energy for the real pain, I'm entitled to be a sissy over the sissy stuff. The second class is big-time, emotion draining pain. This is the stuff that requires my game face. Besides medication, the best, most effective method for fighting pain is meditative breathing.

A lot of the stuff I face happens in a medical setting. Controlled breathing is good for everyone involved. If you aren't used to managing such a situation, it's easy to panic, which makes things really hard on the medical professionals. If you panic, they have to stop what they're doing and that prolongs the entire process. Falling into a good rhythm of breathing goes a long way toward ensuring that I will stay calm. Then, it's difficult to explain, but I try to exist purely and completely within the moment of each breath. I direct all my energy toward each inhalation and exhalation. I think of myself in no other context but that present moment. Literally by living from moment to moment, I can break up the experience of pain into smaller, more manageable bits. It's quite a meditative process which is why I call it meditative breathing.

Certain kinds of music are very helpful. It has to have an especially rhythmic quality to it. Obviously, there are certain genres that are more conducive to rhythmic music, but the genre doesn't matter in reality if the song I'm listening to has the type of richness and repetition I need. Using music for pain management comes from the same place, essentially, as the meditative breathing. Listening to the right music requires less energy, however, so it's very useful when I'm tired. I can be a little more passive and, in some ways, a little more relaxed. This allows me to just "be" in the moment and focus on the experience of each tiny movement of music.

Humor is extremely valuable, especially in a more social setting, although still a medical one. If I'm laughing or joking about whatever it is I'm going through, it gets minimized mentally for me and becomes easier to manage. I usually can compartmentalize the pain and allow myself to be distracted by jokes. Those who know my sense of humor can also use it to gauge how I'm feeling. Sometimes, I can feel the anxiety of the other people around me, the medical people not working on me and my loved ones, and that makes it worse. Humor allows me to be engaged with them about something else and that relieves a little of the tension, usually enough for what I need.

The last thing about coping with pain is realizing that these personal methods are not enough to deal with everything. The physical portion of this fact means acknowledging that a painkiller regimen is necessary. Finding the right balance on that front took me a year and a half, but once I had it down, that part of it became very easy. Emotionally, I've accepted that I need to depend on those I love to help get me through the rest.