A look back at the week's wackiest stories

By Eric Horowitz

With school back in session, college campuses are once again full of life. From freshman orientations going awry to Peyton Manning finally doing something to help Tennessee win a big game, SIOC has it all...

Peyton Manning, shown here leading the Tennessee crowd in "Rocky Top," has agreed to donate $1 million to the Vols' athletic department. AP

Former Tennessee star Peyton Manning has pledged to donate $1 million to his alma mater's athletic department. In a letter to the school, Manning asked that most of the money go towards improving the football complex and locker rooms. Manning originally planned to spend the money on an elaborate showroom for his Super Bowl MVP trophy, but realized that improving Tennessee's football facilities was a much more realistic goal.

The season hasn't started yet, but college football is already asserting its control over SEC territory. The town of Oxford, Mississippi has announced that it will allow restaurants to serve alcohol on September 3, the day of Ole Miss' home opener against Memphis, from noon until 10 PM. After seeing what has been done for a September game vs. Memphis, diehard Ole Miss fans have begun putting together a proposal to postpone Christmas lest it interfere with their team's appearance in a bowl game.

Meanwhile, at the University of Georgia, football fever caused a slew of problems at the ticket pick-up windows. The "mad dash" that followed the opening of the windows led to shoving, fighting, shouting, and fainting as hordes of students were packed together in 90 degree heat. The fracas finally ended when police arrived and subdued the crowd by using techniques such as "passing out soda." It's a shame this happened, but on the bright side, I'd like to congratulate all of those who had August 21st in their "first college football-related melee of the season" office pool.

The start of the new school year means that it's time once again for freshman orientation mishaps. Ball State University has apologized for an offensive, vulgar SLAM! poetry show that bashed men and featured performers saying such things as "'F' the government" and "'F' the military". The school claims that the show was supposed to be an entertaining way to talk to students about serious issues. The University of Louisville didn't even wait until students had arrived before unleashing the profanity. The school recently discovered that the 3,000 postcards it sent to incoming freshman to promote Welcome Weekend 2006 contained the phrases "f-cking world" and "f-ckin lies" in small print. Class of 2010, welcome to college!