On Friday, Nov. 28, 2001, the Iowa State men’s soccer program embarked in a series of community programs in an effort to get out of debt and be able to compete in the fall season.

The team, in conjunction with the Ames Soccer Club, proposed a series of camps and an indoor league. The camps started in November and ran through December, while the indoor season started in January and ran through March 8.

We would like to thank Mike Harvey, associate director of facility operations for Iowa State. His help, patience and dedication in walking us through this has been amazing.

Thanks to Pete Englin, Dean of Students, his words of wisdom and caring were instrumental in pointing us in the right direction. We also want to thank Allan Murdoch, men’s hockey coach, and a slew of other titles and responsibilities, for the insight on managing a sport club.

Keith Bystrom, president of the Ames Soccer Club is to be thanked for taking a chance on this bunch and believing that we would actually follow through. Finally we would also like to thank the Iowa State Sports Council, GSB, particularly Steve Medanic, for sticking with us during financial troubles.

A total of over 320 kids participated in the programs and fun was had by all involved. The team also raised close to $15,000 which will be used for uniform, travel and equipment for next year.

As for the opinion, from the onset, the ISU men’s soccer club, knew that we needed some exposure for this newly created program and immediately contacted the editor in chief of the Daily, Andrea Hauser. Since the end of October through my last attempt at communication with Hauser on March 7, I have left a grand total of 12 voice mail messages, spoke to her twice in person and wrote her two e-mails.

What was my pestering all about? I simply wanted to have the name of a person from the Daily that could help me write a story about this program. I never asked her to write the story, I simply asked her to give me a name, or have someone give me a call. The result of my five-month odyssey? Not a single name, not a courtesy reply, nothing.

I have yet to meet Hauser, but her behavior is puzzling. In these five months, everything from the Scottish Dance Club to some fraternity egg-throwing contest has made its way through the newspaper, but the Daily has decided not to give the men’s soccer club any coverage.

If you ask me, I would rather have an editor that appears in Toons and has a sense of humor but has enough common sense and courtesy to return a call. I was not brought up to be a complainer, and throughout my life I have followed the motto “if you don’t like something, change it.”

So I will. Please let me know what the qualifications are for being an editor of the Daily and when the next job opening is, count me in. My English is not so good (being from Italy and all), but I can certainly work hard, and return phone calls.

Sandro Bassanini

Graduate student

Community and regional planning