The Spoonbender

Friday, February 04, 2005

It's Friday, friends and fans, but as we prepare to Thank God with liters of oversweet margaritas and tiny plates filled again and again with warmish potato skins and limp nachos, I offer you this cautionary tale. It tells of Matthew Carrington -- a 21-year-old Chico State student who died while pledging what's got to be the lamest fraternity ever.

You see, his Chi Tau pledgemasters forced him to "[drink] water from a five-gallon jug and [do] exercises" until he died of hyponatremia, or water intoxication. Now I don't claim to be completely in touch with what's cool these days, but back when I was in college being in a frat meant, like, having fun. I'm talking beer bongs, homoerotic paddlings, and the occasional date rape, not calesthenics and hydration.

So this weekend, let's all try to learn Matthew's lesson: Stay safe, have fun, and drink alcohol.

carrington
RIP Matthew Carrington, who didn't even die of a cool pledging accident, like drinking 100 shots of tequila and trying to fuck a brown bear.