This is why the phrase bittersweet was created.

When I was first asked to write a column about sports for the graduation issue, I thought about declining because that would mean my time here is officially over.

This has been the best five years of my life and I am going to miss this school with all of my heart.

So much has changed since I started here in the fall of 2004.

CHEERS to the football team for capping off a great season with a No. 7 ranking and a win over a previously undefeated Boise State University team in the Poinsettia Bowl.

JEERS to Dining Services for keeping possibly tainted peanut butter crackers on the shelves after they had been recalled by Kellogg, and to the communications office for failing to adequately warn students of the danger.

Though he has been hit in the head with a golf club and a fence post, Sgt. Alvin Allcon said he has never been severely injured in his 31-year career as a police officer."I've never lost time to an injury,"...

The biggest piece of advice I have as a soon-to-be college graduate might seem rather simple, but it can never be said enough: Get to know people. I've been hearing this for years, but it never really...

It is a safe assumption to say the next two weeks are going to be an uncontrollable frenzy of cramming and stress for all students on campus.

Finals week is upon us, and as a student in the College of Science and Engineering, I can say this is the worst week of the semester.

I am convinced, after taking a beating from tests all semester, that cumulative final exams are wonderfully pointless.

ampus Recreation is not accepting any new applications or renewing alumni or community memberships put in effect on or after Jan. 1 of this year, according to a university official.

Steve Kintigh, director of Campus Recreation, said he has believed for some time that students would one day begin to drive out community and alumni members.

"The student body is growing and will continue to grow," Kintigh said. "It was time to put guidelines in place."

A growing project aims to develop an appreciation and understanding of the natural world located on campus.

The Arboretum project, led by Provost Nowell Donovan, will begin this summer in an effort to learn more about and recognize some of the types of trees on campus, Donovan said.

The project is part of a state organization called the Great Tree Ring that consists of people concerned with botanical education, Donovan said. Campus botanists discovered that there are 40 different species of trees on campus, he said.

One of the best things about baseball is that it is a long season.

If you go 0-4 one day, you get the chance to come back out tomorrow and get another crack at it. So basically what I'm saying is don't freak out just yet and start blowing up your roster.

I have seen leagues where studs like Reds' second baseman Brandon Phillips and Brewers' outfielder Ryan Braun are getting cut. Don't be that dumb. Hang on to your best players because despite their slow start, these guys will still put up monster numbers as the season goes on.

I am a slave to this newspaper.It owns my soul. It tests my sanity on a nightly basis. And even as the hours dwell on and my hair becomes increasingly disheveled from a sort of stressed caressing that...

Dining Services is developing a value menu that it hopes will attract more students to on-campus eateries, a Dining Services official said.

The 1873 Café & Sports Grill will be the only location offering the new value menu, said Legia Abato, marketing manager of Dining Services. The value menu pricing would be significantly lowered to the $5 range rather than the normal price range of $7 to $9, she said.