war of the girls

the following is an article i am writing for my journalism class on the terror that has become the victoria's secret college-wear contest. you will see that it's not completely finished, but here it is anyways:

The competition is fierce. The candidates are ruthless. Americans will choose the winner. And in the midst of such a historical election time for the U.S., college ladies across the country are doing their part to get the word out on the importance of voting...voting for our university in Victoria's Secret's collegiate-themed sweat pants line, that is, and this competition makes the 2008 presidential election seem like child's play.
The idea is this: Students log on to the Victoria's Secret Pink website (www.vspink.com/nominate_your_school) to cast their vote in order to win their respective college's name on a series of spirited sweat pants, tank tops, and yes, even panties.
But how did this seemingly innocent competition turn into such a blood thirsty battle between colleges? Maybe it's all in good fun, seeing as how Victoria's Secret's "Pink" line of casual-wear has proven to be the comfy threads of choice among college girls. Maybe it's just in our competitive nature to not want any college to be better than our own (VCU may have beat us in basketball but I'll be damned if they get customized sweat pants before we do!). Or maybe its because seemingly overnight, Drexel University gained some 4 million votes in their favor, crushing the former leader James Madison University, who at the time only had about 100,000 votes.
The trick was obvious. Somehow, Drexel students found a way to beat the old method of voting (voting, refreshing the page, repeat). This outrageous, and dare I say ballsy move on Drexel's part outraged all the other colleges on the top 25 list that had been voting the fair and honest way: over and over, during class, dinner, church, sleeping hours, and while everything and anything else was going on. Obviously, it was no more Miss Nice Mason.