Pirate's Day report

A week after "Pirate Day" 2016, the Jolly Roger is still flying above Hoofers. Apparently some people aren't sure whether or not the event actually happened yet (and maybe Hoofers is soliciting some real pirate action...)

If you missed PD '16, you didn't miss much. We had a watered down version of a treasure hunt race, union food afterwards, and a few people even dressed up in "pirate" outfits. You could also trek off to the hot, filthy under-construction Union and stand in line to buy beer.

It was nothing like the rollicking PD's of the past. A grand total of 55 people participated (much less than 10% of the club), and the festivities were over and most people long gone by 5 PM. No more raucous boardwalk party going into the night, no more slinging people off piers, no more boats going back out for skirmishes. Overall, a sad reflection of the great PD's of the past.

So what happened? New rules happened. Trying to cover their asses for past negligence--and probably upset that as Union managers they can't participate in the fun at Hoofers--Mark Guthier and other Union staff have worked to make it harder for the rest of us to have fun. New ad hoc rules including the prohibitions on alcohol are their method.

The lifejacket rule (if indeed it is still a rule) is also negligent. On PD, many people wore their lifejackets and risked heat stroke on the sunny, 90 degree, light-wind day in spite of the idiocy of doing so (non-swimmers excepted). As for the alcohol rule, it's easy enough to circumvent, but the overall restrictions including on land serve no purpose except to suffocate the social side of the club.

One can argue that people should be able to have fun without drinking, but then why doesn't Guthier prohibit alcohol at the Union altogether..? It's because that generates big revenue for the Union, and if Guthier did so, the Regents would fire him faster than they'd dig out an Indiana tick.