Wednesday, February 11, 2009 Print Edition

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wednesday february 11,2008 blacksburg, va.

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news SGA TO HONOR N. ILLINOIS The SGA encourages students to wear their Hokies for Huskies T-shirts or red and black to the basketball game against Georgia Tech tonight in Cassell Coliseum to show support for the one-year anniversary of the NIU shootings, which is Feb. 14. The game tips off at 7 p.m.

TECH RANKED IN TOP 25 PEACE CORPS PRODUCERS Virginia Tech is ranked No. 24 of large schools that produce Peace Corps Volunteers. A total of 535 Tech alumni have served with the organization, and 43 alumni members currently serve. For future opportunities to work with the Peace Corps, go to http://www.peacecorps.vt.edu/

sports ACC TOURNAMENT TICKETS AVAILABLE The Virginia Tech Athletics Department is opening up ticket sales to all fans who are interested in attending the upcoming ACC Tournament in Atlanta. The 56th edition of the tournament will be held at the Georgia Dome between March 12 and March 15. Those interested in purchasing tickets can go to www.hokietickets.com.

tomorrow’s weather

Corps leader leaves lasting legacy GABE MCVEY

ct news reporter Early morning exercise, formation, marching and drill are not the college experience most parents and prospective students imagine. But hardly any freshman student hasn’t had to ask an upperclassman about the odd, uncomfortable-looking “rattling” — 90 degree right and left turns made while walking around campus during a freshman year in the Corps of Cadets.

Out-of-place as it may appear, members and alumni can easily speak about the corps’ formative role in their early adulthood and its fundamental place in making them the people they are today.

This transformative process can work both ways, however, in the case of a special cadet.

Enter Adnan Barqawi, a senior business major and a descendant of Palestinian refugees who grew up in Kuwait; who, as Major General and Commandant of Cadets Jerrold Allen put it, is “the hardest-working, most dedicated leader I have observed in my 10 years as commandant.”

Barqawi served as the regimental commander for the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets in the fall semester, leaving the top spot this semester for a position as a cadet major as per the Corps procedure of allowing more students to tackle the position’s challenges.

“Part of the duties of regimental commander was to select the direction that the corps will take.

Your vision is to shoot two or three years down the line from now,” Barqawi said.

At the head of the Corps, Barqawi used his experience as a mid-level leader to set out a new model of cadet leadership that emphasizes positive reinforcement and mutual respect between leaders and trainees.

“There was a lot of focus on negative reinforcement during training, and attitude of, ‘We’re going to do to you what was done to us,’” Barqawi said.

“It’s a cancerous mentality that has ground at the corps for quite some time.”

It was a new direction much appreciated by his peers.

“That’s what leadership is all about, caring for your people, caring for their needs, what’s going on in their lives,” said Cadet Col. P.C. Gaddis, a senior sociology major and the current commander of the Corps of Cadets.

COMING UP IN THE CORPS

Barqawi’s leadership style was born of his unique Corps experience.

He said he wasn’t sure what to expect when he came to America in August 2005 and readily admits he chose Tech because it was accepting applicants and, he jokes, because of the wellknown slogan, “Virginia is for Lovers.” When he reached campus, however, his decision to join the Corps happened almost immediately.

“The number one reason was that I saw someone walking in the uniform … I walked up to him and said, ‘I want to be like you,’” Barqawi said.

After reading the corps’ mission statement, which he can now recite from memory, Barqawi

DANIEL LIN/SPPS

Former regimental commander Adnan Barqawi salutes during morning assembly yesterday morning. Barqawi, a Kuwaiti national of Palestinian descent who is now seeking American citizenship, has had a significant effect on the culture of Tech’s Corps of Cadets. was hooked.

“We develop leaders of exceptional character who are imbued with the concept of selfless service and are willing to serve the nation and the commonwealth whether in or out of uniform for a lifetime,” Barqawi said, eliciting knowing grins from his fellow cadets and leaving the impression that such a recitation is not unusual for him.

A dark-haired, dark-eyed man of medium build and height, Barqawi speaks in clipped, unaccented English and uses subdued but noticeable hand gestures to reinforce his points; rarely does a question faze him or leave him without a ready, considered answer — a trait that his fellows say carries over to his leadership style.

“It’s always a great experience,” to be working with Barqawi, “because you know he’s planned out every aspect” of the project, Gaddis said.

“Rarely do you get something that you say, ‘This isn’t going to work.’ Usually it’s something that — at most — we’re going to have to tweak.”

At the beginning of his Corps career, Barqawi readily admits he felt he was overwhelmed by the culture shock of both a new country and the transition to the corps’ highly regimented lifestyle.

He did, however, find an ally in fellow cadet Adam Smith.

“Adam Smith was instrumental in helping me

make the adjustment; he was very sensitive culturally,” Barqawi said. “He was trying to protect me from corruption, while trying to expose me to something I’ve never been exposed to.”

Smith said he was sympathetic to Barqawi’s initial plight.

“It’s a lot of training and adjustment to an atmosphere that you’re definitely not used to,” said now-Cadet Lt. Col. Smith, a senior mechanical engineering student and the regimental executive officer. “It’s a huge shock for anyone, and for Adnan it was a huge culture shock.”

While Smith was helping with the cultural component, Barqawi also struggled through the corps’ demanding physical regimen.

“I fell behind during our first long run; I didn’t give up and when it was over, all I remember is being given my time and then waking up in the hospital,” Barqawi said.

After finishing his freshman year, Barqawi found himself in his first leadership position leading a “fire team” of a few cadets.

Barqawi said he found the existing leadership and training model too focused on discipline and not enough on leadership consisting of positive reinforcement and mutual respect, traits he had picked up in his studies of effective military leaders.

For an institution such as the Corps of Cadets that places a premium on continuity and tradition, this was not a popular position — but he used his ideas to form a new theory of leadership.

“What’s key to keep in mind is that tradition is not a ‘Gospel,’ set-in-stone concept,” Barqawi said. “There is good tradition and bad tradition; we keep the good and with time, we set aside bad traditions.”

Barqawi said he found a syncretistic approach — combining Western and Middle Eastern ideas of leadership and culture presented a far preferable alternative to the approach used during his induction.

“Back in Kuwait there are people coming in and out of your house all of the time; you know all of your neighbors and extended family. Having that social network is phenomenal and is such a fulfillment — that’s something that I’d love to bring here from the Middle East,” Barqawi said.

ASCENDING TO LEADERSHIP

When he topped the regimental chart during his senior year, he was ready to make institutional changes to the corps’ training and leadership model.

“In some cases there was a lot of resistance to the

see BARQAWI, page two

PARTLY CLOUDY/WIND high 50, low 33

corrections The list of recommended artists and albums accompanying the Lily Allen reviews (CT “Dueling Reviews,” Feb. 10, 2009) was incorrect. The intended artists were: Fiest – The Reminder Katy Perry – One Of the Boys Kate Nash – Made of Bricks Sara Bareilles – Little Voice If you see something in today’s paper that needs to be corrected, please e-mail our public editor at publiceditor@collegiatetimes.com,

coming up TOMORROW’S CT See what some Va delegates are proposing to get more in-state students into Tech and UVa. See our multimedia staff ’s review of the Lyric’s recent showing “Doubt.”

index News.....................2 Features................3 0pinions................5

Classifieds..............6 Sports....................4 Sudoku..................6

An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 106th year • issue 14

Catawba Farm to house Sustainability Center

Peace Center sponsors student club

DEBRA HOUCHIN

ct news staff writer Virginia Tech continues to innovate in agriculture more than two centuries after its creation. One of the university’s current projects is the formulation of the Catawba Sustainability Center 40 minutes north of Blacksburg.

The center, which has been in the works for about a year, aims to be an example for landowners of the benefits of sustainable farming and the promotion of environmental stewardship in the community.

“One of the things that struck me,” said Christy Gabbard of Tech’s Conservation Management Institute, “is that we talk about sustainability in each of our disciplines, but there’s not really a place to showcase sustainability across disciplines.”

Gabbard is the head of planning for the center.

Although it is still in the early stages of planning, one concrete project for the center is the growth of warm-season grasses, which are a form of bio-energy offering numerous environmental benefits, including improved water quality and reduced carbon emissions. This project will begin this spring.

Another plan involves leasing land to local farmers so that they can grow vegetables and learn about sustainable farming techniques that would improve soil and water quality. This project would offer a chance to see what sort of infrastructure is needed on the farm to maintain sustainable practices. Farmers would make a profit from their produce grown in the center, although it is not decided what fraction of the profit will belong to the center.

The center is in partnership with Catawba Landcare, a local organization that focuses on promoting sustainable farming in the community to provide a valuable model for sustainable practices across disciplines, with which Gabbard also works.

According to Gabbard, the land on which the Sustainability Center is based came under university ownership in the late 1980s, when more than 350 acres were deeded to the school after serving

JORDAN KELLAM

ct news staff writer

LUKE MASON/SPPS

Catawba Farm will soon be the site of a warm-season grass growing venture. as a dairy farm for a state mental and geriatric institute. The land was used for minor projects by various Tech departments before being placed on the university’s surplus list of properties, which are properties that could be potentially sold to someone outside of Tech. Gabbard jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with Catawba Landcare.

For Tech, the center offers many educational opportunities. According to John Munsell of the College of Forestry, the land will not only serve as a model for landowners and farmers, but it could also serve as an instrument to teach students about the value of sustainable practices.

Gabbard believes that agriculture, natural resources, business, engineering and landscape architecture are all fields of study that will be applied in the center.

Munsell is aware of the importance of developing “the service learning component” that the center offers, as well as the positive example it will set for landowners and students. He expressed that it is “forward leaning in terms of service engagement.” Munsell has discussed the center and its benefits with his classes.

Brad Shoemaker, a senior majoring in

forestry who is involved at the center, said the valuable experience the center can offer will “help the country move toward sustainable farming and sustainable practice” that would benefit future generations.

Gabbard predicted that the bulk of the funding will come from outside of Tech, such as grants, foundations, donations or partnerships, although it is still currently an issue in the early planning process as it is difficult to project costs and profits. The United States Department of Agriculture has provided a $700,000 Conservation Innovation Grant to the Conservation Management Institute, and a portion of this grant will go to the Center.

Catawba residents have had a generally positive reaction to the project. Gabbard noted that locals have given donations and spent many hours working on at the Center. “A lot of people’s families have worked on this dairy farm, so there is sort of this attachment to this land,” she said.

“It’s a place where you can take … the research at Virginia Tech and implement it in a real way in a real location where it can impact people outside of the university.”

A new club on campus, Students for Non-violence, has currently set its focus on organizing a symposium facilitated by student research. The symposium, taking place in October 2011, will reflect the research of students at various college campuses, allowing those participating to demonstrate what is most important to them in this non-violence movement.

Jerzy Nowak, founding director of the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention, created the club as an interdisciplinary attempt at promoting a more peaceful, less violent atmosphere on the Tech campus and around the world.

The club’s main goal, for now, is to recruit members to take part in the symposium, which was made possible by a $50,000 gift from the Lacy Foundation.

“We originally thought that we’d sponsor this nonviolence symposium, but since the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention is student-centered, I thought we’d explore whether there was sufficient interest to formulate a club and have this undertaking across the entire campus, including both graduate and undergraduate students, (so as to) preserve and continue the symposium,” Nowak said.

Nowak, husband of April 16 shooting victim Jocelyne CoutureNowak, said that he views students’ participation in the club as an important step in ending violence. With this, he explained that community service would play a big role in the club.

One of the first service programs sponsored by the club will be Pennies for Peace.

According to John Welch, undergraduate vice president of the club and organizer of Pennies for Peace, the club will collect pennies at all the local schools and some local businesses between now and April. It intends to contribute the money to children in Afghanistan and Pakistan, to partner with the Central Asia Institute to promote peace in unlikely places and, if possible, to build a school in one of the developing nations.

Students for Non-violence will try to raise awareness on the Tech campus along with the surrounding community, about nonviolence and ways to promote the practice. The club is currently in need of new members to help participate in spreading its message. According to club president Kristina Anderson, student members can reach across disciplines to target the projects and areas that are most in need of assistance.

“I truly believe in student capacity to impact the discussion on violence prevention on all scales,” said Anderson, who was injured on April 16. “Student input and involvement in the discourse of safety is important to bring a new perspective to current

have a news tip? want to see something in the CT? e-mail newstips@collegiatetimes.com

see CENTER, page two

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february 11, 2009

Historic home now one year from demolition ZACH CRIZER

Barqawi: Cadets benefit from revamped guiding philosophy from page one

ct news reporter Blacksburg’s Town Council recently denied a demolition permit for Taylor’s Frames and Things house, leaving it one year to be sold or renovated.

Beverly Taylor applied to demolish the building after attempts to sell the building, also known as the BennettPugh House, failed.

Town policy requires a special process for demolition of “contributing structures” of the town’s historical district. Applications must be considered by the Historic Design Review Board and later voted on by the Town Council.

The citizen board recommended the house, built in 1900, be left standing at 103 S. Main Street.

Taylor is a widow struggling financially to pay the mortgage on the uninhabitable house.

Kay Moody, a member of the Historic Design Review Board, said her position requires her to focus on the integrity of the historic district, not personal situations.

“I’m aware of the hardship, and I sympathize,” Moody said. “But we can’t make decisions based on the financial struggles of a single person.”

Town councilman Tom Sherman said he followed the recommendation, feeling the building must be treated carefully.

“Every contributing structure is important to a district,” Sherman said.

“The overall objective is to maintain the historical sense of the district itself.”

With two council members absent, the demolition permit was denied by a majority of 4-1. Vice Mayor Leslie Hager-Smith was the lone dissenting vote.

“Three years is long enough to endure,” Hager-Smith said. “I’m convinced that at the end of another year of waiting, nobody else is going to come forward. I didn’t see a reason to make her wait longer.”

Although the town has delayed demolition, there is no guarantee the house will remain standing in a year.

Sherman said the denial gives the town a chance to encourage restoration.

“It provides some additional time to secure contributing structures and see if they can be renovated or repurposed,” Sherman said.

However, at the end of one year, the

MICHAEL MCDERMOTT/SPPS

Thwarted in previous attempts to demolish this home at 103 N. Main, owner Beverly Taylor will now wait at least one more year before doing so. town has no control over the building.

Taylor has had the house on the market since 2005. The building has been assessed at $419,300, but requires extensive repairs.

Hager-Smith said she lives in a historically designed house and appreciates the architectural value of the property. She would prefer to demolish the house now and have control of historical architectural aspects of the home.

“At the end of this year she signed up for, she can do whatever she wants,” Hager-Smith said. “She doesn’t have to salvage anything. Now we’re not part of the conversation anymore. We voted to let the time keep ticking.”

Moody said she hopes future history preservation situations can be handled with a better outcome.

“Other towns and cities have

editor: sara mitchell email: universitynews@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: mw 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

editor: caleb fleming email: nrvnews@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: tth 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.

done this,” Moody said. “I feel like Blacksburg should do some study and see how others do it.”

If the structure is demolished, Moody hopes to have some say in what replaces it.

“I think the best resolution if it has to be demolished is that the developer would have to meet some pretty strict requirements,” Moody said.

Currently, town officials would not be able to influence the new building.

“Whatever goes in there can change the whole block,” Moody said. “I would like to see the town give the board the power to approve what goes in.”

Taylor was unreachable for comment.

In a town council hearing, Taylor’s representatives said two parties have shown interest in the land, if the building were to be removed.

new approach,” Barqawi said. “There is this typical mentality to what military training should be.”

The rewards the corps has seen are greater numbers of freshmen staying on through the difficult initial training phase, a marked increase in pride and a generally better attitude among the corps’ members.

“Our retention standards are the best they’ve ever been. We normally have about 20 to 25 percent attrition by the six-week point (in the semester),” Barqawi said of the number of incoming Corps members who leave the institution. “That’s dropped to 12 or 15 percent.”

“As a company commander, I didn’t lose a single person (from my company) by the six-week mark and through the semester. Partly, I’d attribute that to this new training approach,” Smith said.

As a company commander and then as the commander of the entire regiment, Barqawi built cadets up rather than using them as parts in a machine, Gaddis said.

“I have a wife and daughter. He’s always been very considerate of peoples’ situations; he always came by on a regular basis and asked, ‘Hey, how are you doing? How’s your daughter doing?

How’s your wife?’ It was the same for other battalion commanders as well,” Gaddis said.

The tide of opinion turned in Barqawi’s favor after the corps saw a significant increase in motivation, initiative and “esprit de corps” — as noted by the commandant and other corps officers.

“One of his greatest strengths is his ability to motivate cadets to take on tough challenges and to strive for excellence,” Allen said.

Barqawi said he found his faith in his convictions rewarded over time, despite initial resistance.

“Once you get to that kind of leadership position, like regimental commander, it’s no longer a popularity contest,” Barqawi said. “What really amazed me is the amount of respect a system earns as you go forward, as you see the rewards.”

‘OBLIGATEDTO RETURNTHE FAVOR’ Barqawi is now looking ahead to graduation and beyond, where he will work in the Teach for America Program and become an American citizen. Having spent his entire life as

Organization of the Corps 1 Regiment 3 Battalions 11 Companies per battalion (180-200 cadets per battalion) 2 Platoons per company 4 Squads per company (50-60 cadets per company) 2 Fire teams per squad (10-12 cadets per squad) 2-3 Cadets per fire team SARA SPANGLER/COLLEGIATE TIMES

an essentially stateless person, Barqawi says he wants to give back to the country that offered him so much.

“Both my parents were born in Palestine; they were always people without a country,” Barqawi said. “I was born and raised in Kuwait, but that didn’t make me Kuwaiti — I was ineligible for public education; I was not eligible for higher education. My parents weren’t allowed to buy a house.

If you want to open a business, you have to have a Kuwaiti partner who has a 51 percent interest” because of Kuwaiti laws stipulating descent from a Kuwaiti male as a necessary factor for citizenship.

“I chose, and have the privilege, to apply for American citizenship and become a man with a country,” Barqawi said. “I wasn’t like the majority of foreigners who come here and hang around with people who look and talk like them — I chose a society that is the heart of American culture and traditions.”

Barqawi says those kinds of choices aren’t available to everyone in his native Kuwait.

“The leaders in the Middle East are only concerned with one thing — keeping their seat — and they do this by controlling the money, by downplaying the importance of knowledge, intellect and education,” Barqawi said. “The corps was instrumental in changing me from the worst of the worst to becoming the top cadet — I wasn’t the worst out of arrogance, but ignorance.”

Barqawi said Kuwaiti authorities had interfered with his education in several ways during his youth.

“I went to a British private school,

and there were pages missing from my textbook — those were all to do with the Holocaust. I was taught that the Holocaust is an absolute lie,” Barqawi said. “I went to the Holocaust Museum in Washington and saw for myself the truth of it.”

Looking ahead, Barqawi wants to help America in the way it has helped him: by fighting ignorance, mentoring and helping young people achieve their potential.

“What truly appalled me about this whole picturesque image is that looking into the future is that we have 13 million children who live in poverty,” Barqawi said of the United States. “What that means is that half of those children won’t graduate high school — those who graduate from high school read at an eighth-grade level, and only 10 percent will make it to college and graduate.”

“That’s a problem money and books can’t solve; that’s when another human being has to be there and give them their hand to bring them up to that level,” Barqawi said. “In a country that aspires to lofty ideals like, ‘Where you’re born does not determine your life opportunities,’ this is not the case for those kids who are growing in those low-income communities.”

Barqawi said that with the corps’ mission statement in mind and his enormous gratitude for the opportunities he’s been given in America, it’s really the least he can do.

“Someone has done that for me, and now I feel obligated to return the favor,” Barqawi said.

For the Corps of Cadets, however, perhaps he already has.

Center: Club will sponsor Interior secretary delays peace symposium in 2011 offshore oil drilling plan WILLIAM E. GIBSON

from page one

leadership. Only a bottom-up initiative may educate as many as possible.”

She explained that because the student body is most directly affected, they must be equally empowered to bring about change in this area.

Nowak also said that Students for Non-violence will value the student members’ input in choosing a stance on controversial issues, such as gun control, and that Tech students should be a role model for the rest of the world to bring change to the belief that violence is the only option.

Leah Wickham, graduate vice president of the club and graduate assistant to the center, agreed.

“People only turn to violence when there isn’t anything left. Just to care about people, to help them before they can’t help themselves, can alter a potentially violent outcome.”

sun sentinel

MICHAEL MCDERMOTT/SPPS

Center administrator Connie Wallace and Pris Sears, an IT manager, look over building plans for when the Center moves to Norris Hall.

WASHINGTON — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday ordered an assessment of offshore oil and gas resources to help the Obama administration decide where to allow energy production along the nation’s coastlines.

The review could include test drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico near Florida’s shores, as well as along the state’s east coast.

Salazar delayed a five-year drilling plan that had been issued in the final hours of the Bush administration. It would have opened all of the nation’s offshore waters to energy exploration, except for the eastern Gulf. The secretary called it a “headlong rush of the worst kind.”

“It was a process tilted toward the

usual energy players and interests,” Salazar said. “American consumers and taxpayers were being overlooked.”

The new administration’s plans leave open the prospect of drilling in some offshore waters, including tracts near Florida’s shores.

“The question becomes: how close do we come to the coast of Florida,” he said.

Congress last year let lapse a longstanding ban on drilling along the nation’s coasts. However, nearly all of the eastern Gulf remains sheltered from drilling under a 2006 energy bill.

Energy companies are eager to extract oil reserves and even bigger deposits of natural gas in the eastern Gulf. Many Florida officials and environmentalists strongly oppose drilling for fear it could lead to oil spills that

foul beaches and discourage tourism.

Salazar indicated on Tuesday he believes the boundaries of the banned area in the Gulf are subject to change.

“Is the line we set today in the right place?” he asked. “We need that kind of thoughtful review.”

It’s all part of devising a comprehensive energy plan that includes development of renewable energy sources powered by wind, sun and ocean currents.

Salazar extended the public-comment period on the Bush drilling plan by 180 days. He directed Interior officials to review offshore resources and report to him in 45 days.

He promised to hold four regional meetings _ in Alaska, near the Gulf, along the West Coast and the East Coast _ to gather opinions from governors, environmentalists and energy-industry experts.

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editor: bethany buchanan email: features@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: w 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., f 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.

february 11, 2009

Q & A: Basshound talks about upcoming Advocating for the judicious album, potential summer touring schedule use of popular auto-tuner TOPHER FORHECZ

ct features reporter Basshound is a band well traveled. In less than a month of touring, the band has journeyed from its native Baltimore across the United States to Colorado and back with 17 stops in between.

While heading for St. Louis from a gig in Des Moines, Iowa, guitarist Greg Maly took time to speak with the CT before landing in Blacksburg for the band’s show tomorrow night at 9 p.m. at the Lantern. The band has been preparing to release its new CD in April or May while on the road.

Collegiate Times: I heard your new CD is almost finished. What’s the status?

Greg Maly: We’re done tracking — in the sense that all of our parts are done being played; we’ve played all of our notes. So right now it’s up to the engineer who we work with to mix-master it. So he has been working on that, and he’s been sending us different versions of our tracks. We’re going to send him feedback and tell him what we think about different songs. We’ve got to do our artwork and get it pressed and start promoting for the CD release party, and just trying to get this CD up and ready so that we can get it out to the public.

CT: I know, especially for more of a jam-based band, seeing a band live versus listening to them on a CD can make a lot of difference. Do you think that the CD captures the essence of Basshound?

GM: Yeah, it’s really interesting. We work with a really great producer up in Baltimore, (an) engineer producer. We kind of think of it as going to band camp because we go in there with our songs and we play them, and he records us, and then we sit there and just fine tune all of our material with our engineer because he has a lot of experience with putting out music. So, not only is the studio a good way to get music out to people, it also helps us refine our sound and what we play. It gets our material honed in and refined, so I do think that what we put together not only captures what we sound like but also pushes our sound to a new level by working on it so hard. Not only does our live show help our CD, but our CD also helps our live show in the sense that it whips us into shape. We kind of push this idea of electro-funk as being what we sound like. Electronic funk music — the hybrid of organic funk music with electronic music influences — (is what) I really think that we’ve captured on this CD. CT: Last time the group played in Blacksburg, you were playing bits of RJD2 and did an encore with some Daft Punk songs. I was just about to ask you whether you were subconsciously convincing yourselves to turn into a live techno band.

GM: We dabble in that, but we’ll always have elements of funk and jazz and impromptu because those are the big influences on us. I don’t think we’ll

DANIEL LIN/SPPS

Basshound, who was here last November, returns to play at The Lantern tonight. ever be a strictly electronic band, but we definitely hit those pockets because it’s a big piece of what people are listening to these days, and it’s a really cutting-edge form of music.

CT: Getting back to the album, I know that some bands see producers as a rented extra member of the group. What is your approach to working with a producer?

GM: They’re all different I guess, and we’ve cut a couple CDs now, and we’ve cut CDs at different studios. But this guy, his role is interesting because he’s worked with so many bands, like hundreds and hundreds of bands. So he knows what goes into the songwriting process, and he can kind of look into the psychology of a band. He doesn’t only produce you, but he also helps you find your own voice, and I think that’s a really interesting role of a producer, not necessarily to tell you what to sound like, but (to) help you figure out what you want to sound like.

CT: The summer is coming up and so is festival season. You played All Good last year; what are your plans for this year?

GM: We haven’t heard the results from some of the festivals that are coming out. We’re hoping to play there, but that line up hasn’t been finalized so we don’t really know if we’re on it or not. We have a

couple other festivals that we’ve landed; we’re playing at — I guess it’s in Floyd — the beer and wine festival on the Fourth of July, the Floyd Fandago festival. We’re excited to be on that bill, and we’ve got a couple other small festivals lined up. The summer tour is what we’re really working on because there’s a lot of places to go in this country, and you have to figure out what where you want to be. Routing becomes a time-consuming process because you don’t want to spend every day of your tour driving hours and hours and hours.

CT: The sizes of crowds tend to vary with festivals in the summer and clubs for the rest of the year.

Where do you feel most comfortable playing?

GM: Right now, our ideal, I would say, place where we’re most comfortable is a size like the Lantern, which kind of reminds us of our home club, the 8X10 club. Because you can fit 300 people in a room, and it’s a good size room, and it’s a great sound system, and it really works out well for both the audience and the band. When you’re playing in a huge field with a huge crowd, when you’re in the audience it’s also a little bit different because when you’re standing amongst 10,000 people, you can’t feel the band as individual players as much as you can when you’re sitting in a room of a hundred to 300 people. I can’t really say it enough, we really enjoy coming through Blacksburg.

It seems like everyone has been guilty these days.

The crime, known as autotuner, makes use of a phase vocoder to correct pitch in vocal and JONATHAN instrumental perYI formances. From ct features Kanye West and Treporter Pain to Lil Wayne and Chris Brown, the tragic trend of auto-tuner seems to have plagued the hip-hop community, or what’s left of it.

For starters, there’s a differOPINION ence between a straight auto-tuner and vocoders. A vocoder is a type of synthesizer that converts spoken words into musical notes. Then there are talk-boxes that we hear from Roger Troutman in Zapp or Peter Frampton’s “Do You Feel.” Trust me: It takes way more talent to be able to do that.

Auto-tuner’s primary purpose is to disguise inaccuracies and mistakes that allow artists to produce more accurately tuned recordings. I’m not sure whether it’s worse that it’s becoming a trend or that it’s making money — there doesn’t seem to be a difference to the pro-tooled bandits.

The sounds are tasteful and snazzy for some but don’t sit right with me. Sure, it’s been around for a while. Even Britney Spears has gone nuts with it. But now it seems as though the auto-tuner has crossed over into unwelcoming terrain.

Thanks again, Cher.

It seems that the formula for a chart hit is to feature hip-hop’s go-to guy, T-Pain (contemporary guru of auto-tuner). But with T-Pain racking up four songs in the top 10 of Billboards’ Hot 100 in two weeks and more than nine appearances on Billboard’s Rhythmic Top 10 chart, he has the credentials to back up his slippery vocals.

How hasn’t the market become saturated?

The truth is it’s because people are eating it up. Snoop Dogg’s “Sexual Eruption,” Kanye West’s entire “808s & Heartbreak” album, and Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter III” are proof that the auto-tuner is an extremely contagious pandemic. Snoop backed his use for visual representations, though.

Listening to “The Good Life” with Kanye West and T-Pain was the first time I had experienced such a discounted crossover hit. Soon enough, ringmaster T-Pain started setting up camp everywhere. But that was only the beginning.

Statistics: Everyone’s favorite rapper auto-tuned his “Lollipop,” the number one most added at both crossover and urban radio formats. With “Tha Carter III,” Lil Wayne went platinum twice after only two months of shelf life. The use of auto-tuner has become reckless and rampant.

In other words, profitable. That’s supply and demand, I suppose.

There can’t be a scapegoat to hip-hop’s current downturn. You can point your finger at T-Pain, but realize it’s happening everywhere. Current markets don’t seem to see the difference between autotune and sampling. MTV has been and will be dominated by rap music for the next decade — I’m calling it.

This is not to say the use of auto-tuner should be prohibited. Daft Punk’s album “Discovery,” Kylie Minogue’s “X,” and even Roger Troutman in Tupac and Dr. Dre’s “California Love” are solid examples of utilizing auto-tuner tastefully.

Hip-hop’s once rebellious fortitude has somehow slipped between our fingers and the bane of hip-hop has deplorably become popular. Though I understand contemporary rap’s commercial appeal and prosperity, it’s saddening that the success of these musicians is truly a reflection of self. I give T-Pain credit for the ability to come up with catchy hooks once in a while and harnessing something of his own style. That top hat sets him apart, I guess.

But the biggest pitfall of auto-tuner is that its uncreative commercial crossover appeal has jeopardized rap music’s credibility. And to put it bluntly, the use of it comes off as lazy. Does it really enhance the performance or have any visual or cultural significance? Or does it provide an elementary outlet for the so-called acquired minds? Through any cultural lens, it should be possible to point out the frauds. I’m all for evening the playing field, but why give so much credit to those who have sneaked their way through the talent filter? As I see it, music production is traversing a troubling route. Someday I hope we can all look back at this bizarre phenomenon and scoff, while T-Pain is put away in a mansion, somewhere in “Wiscansin.”

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editor: thomas emerick, brian wright email: sportseditor@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: w 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.; t 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

february 11, 2009

Orioles legend speaks at‘Baseball Night in Blacksburg’ BRIAN WRIGHT

ct sports editor Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer was the headline guest at the second annual Baseball Night in Blacksburg, held Feb. 6 in the west side stadium club of Lane Stadium. The event, which was a fundraising banquet for the Hokie baseball team, featured silent and live auctions for various professional sports and an address by Palmer.

He compiled the most wins by a pitcher in Baltimore Orioles history with 268 victories over a 19-year career spent entirely in Baltimore. Palmer’s list of accomplishments also includes three Cy Young Awards, eight 20-win seasons and being a member on three World Series championship clubs. After retiring in 1984, Palmer was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.

Following his tenure on the field, he became an announcer for ABC Sports and currently works as an analyst on Orioles television broadcasts.

Prior to speaking for the guests at the banquet, he fielded questions from local media.

Q: Are the Orioles headed in the right direction?

A: I certainly hope so. As you all know, it’s a very difficult division to be in. Obviously, nobody can outspend the Yankees. The Red Sox could, somewhat, because of their revenue-stream state.

But if you talked to (Boston general manager) Theo Epstein, he’d tell you that not only do they have to be proactive in signing free agents, but they also have to go into the international leagues and get players such as (Daisuke Matsuzaka) and develop young players — which they did. For the Orioles, there’s a lesson to be learned there. You have to try to sign players and develop your young talent.

(The Orioles) helped themselves with (Caesar) Izturus at shortstop because that was one of their weaknesses.

(Melvin) Mora was one of the best hitters in the second half of the season.

(Nick) Markakis is as good a right fielder as you can have, and they signed him long term, so that’s a positive. Catching is going to be somewhat of a dilemma.

Ramon Hernandez’s first year was great, and then the second year and third year he was not the most ambitious guy. I think people resented that. It’s such an

important position. You need to really have somebody that understands how important catching is. I think Greg Zaun, who was there a long time ago, has really matured as a catcher. Is (Aubrey) Huff going to be hitting 32 home runs? He’s certainly capable of doing that. Brian Roberts is one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball. I think Adam Jones has a chance to be as good as anyone in baseball in terms of center fielders. He’s going to have to mature as a hitter, but he’s a great kid. I think the bullpen is going to be special, especially if some of the guys come back. As for the starting pitching … there’s going to be some holes. Everybody on paper is supposedly better than them, but there have been a lot of good teams on paper that haven’t done very well.

Q: You’ve been pretty outspoken over the years about the steroids issue in baseball. What’s your initial reaction to the Alex Rodriguez news?

A: It’s a horrible message to send to all the kids who idolize him and want to be Alex Rodriguez. We all know that.

That goes without saying. The whole premise of that drug testing where it’s not supposed to become public was if it was over 5 percent. And if you did, you would have (regular) testing. So, one of the reasons we have testing is because he was one of that percentage. So, you have a real problem there. Have they taken care of the problem? No, but you’re taking a step in the right direction — such as testing for amphetamines. They still don’t test for growth hormones, which is ludicrous to me. But baseball is going to have to take a hard stance on this.

MICHAEL MCDERMOTT/SPPS

Jim Palmer speaks with the media prior to the second annual Baseball Night in Blacksburg on Saturday. The event, which was a fundraiser for the Tech baseball team, included an address by the Hall of Fame pitcher. up the stands. The players are making more money. I played for Cal Ripken Sr., and the first thing he told us was that there were no such thing as shortcuts. Doing the right thing versus what will get us more money or immediate gratification is something we all have to deal with.

Q: Do you ever wonder how many games you might have won if you had partaken in that?

Q: As a Hall of Famer, would you vote guys like Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmiero into Cooperstown?

A: Bob Gibson has talked about the fact that if he had played in this era, it would have been difficult. Maybe he would have even done it. Look at (Barry) Bonds. In 1998, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa have that astonishing, spellbinding home run race. All the notoriety went (to those two). We all got caught up in it. Guys saw that you could gain a lot of notoriety; you could make a lot of money. All the wrong messages.

I’ve heard stories of the (Players) Union telling players what to take so you wouldn’t get caught. And why? Owners loved it. The (1994) baseball strike was a thing of the past when you start filling

A: Well, I’m glad I don’t get to vote.

The dilemma for me is that I saw Rafael Palmiero play for most of his career.

And here’s a guy that is one of only four guys to have over 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. And he’s on that list with Eddie Murray, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. So, I saw him, and I saw him at the end of 2005 — the year he had the Congressional hearings. We’re in Toronto. And he needed 78 hits (to get to 3,000). I’m thinking, “How’s he going to get 78 hits?” His bat speed — it just looked like he was out of gas. But I was there when he got his 3,000th hit up in Seattle. It was excit-

ing. But something happened. All of a sudden, the bat got a little quicker.

So, how do you judge a guy like that?

He did have 3,000 hits and he did have 500-plus home runs to go along with the Gold Gloves. Is he a Hall of Famer if he doesn’t hit all those home runs?

You’ve got to look at complete players.

Q: The Oriole teams that you were a part of are still considered some of the best of all time. Do you think the franchise will ever see that kind of magic again?

A: It’s a different era. It’s very difficult. Tampa had to lose 10 or 11 straight years to get in the position they’re in now. All the guys I played with pretty much came up through the (Orioles) organization with the exception of Frank Robinson. He kind of made all of us better. That was one of the great trades. You’ve got to make trades; you’ve got to develop your young players so you can use them as tools to get certain players to build your team.

Q: Is the economy going to widen the gap between the rich and poor teams in baseball?

A: That’s a good question. There’s a good article I once read on class resentment. When everything is going good, they don’t mind if people on Wall Street are making money and the executives of GM, Ford and Chrysler are making a lot of money. But when things aren’t going good, you’re losing jobs and whatever, the whole playing field changes. So it’s going to be interesting in baseball. Very few teams have lowered their ticket prices.

I think you have to be very aware of that. It’s going to be a difficult sell.

But I think you have to try to get your fans to relate to the players.

And while we made nice salaries, we didn’t make so much that people resented us.

Q: What was the most you could make when you started playing?

A: In the minor leagues, you could make $500 a month and the maximum

salary you could make in the major leagues was $7,000.

Q: How does working on television give you a different perspective of the game as opposed to when you were playing?

A: The game looks a lot easier on television. Because I think television slows down the game. A guy throws a hanging curveball and you wonder, “How did he not hit that pitch?” And when you go down and sit in the dugout or get in the box in field level you get a different feel. I remember when I hurt my arm, I was watching (Orioles pitcher Dave) McNally pitch one day.

He was pitching fastballs away, on the corner. He’d jam them with curveballs.

The hitters wouldn’t sit on the ball well. Brooks (Robinson) would snag a ball in the hole or (Mark) Belanger would go over and get it, and (Paul) Blair would run down a fly ball. It looked like it wasn’t hit as hard. But if you play the game, it’s very fast. The game is easy up (in the announcer’s box). It’s hard down there.

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opinions 5

editor: laurel colella, david mcilroy email: opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: mw 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

february 11,2008

EDITORIAL

Before tuition hikes, state and parents need a fiscal compact The State Council for Higher Education for Virginia recently recommended that all public universities and colleges in the state be required to set aside between 5 percent and 30 percent of tuition increases specifically for need-based financial aid. This suggestion comes when many people are worried about the effects of our failing economy on the abilities of some students to finance obtaining a degree in higher education, or on their abilities to remain in school.

This aid will be distributed to students receiving or applying for need-based financial aid.

First, the issue of whether or not universities allocate funds within SCHEV’s recommendation really isn’t up to SCHEV: it can recommend until blue in the face but universities will ultimately decide where their tuition money will go.

We must be careful to remain fair, allowing as many students as possible access to the university. Further, we want to give people the opportunity to stay in school once they’ve made it here.

The real problem at hand here is, as is all too frequent in the Commonwealth, about the state’s obligation (if we may even call it that anymore) to higher education.

To what extent does Virginia value higher education? The answer is complicated by the fact that universities can raise money through corporate

partnerships and research dollars that dwarf even the most ambitious school districts.

Yet this recommendation seems a bit like builiding more hospitals to treat victims of gun wounds: treating the symptoms rather than the true disease.

We don’t think college students are particularly claiming they should be at the top of the Commonwealth’s budget needs: transportation, energy and long-term fiscal strategy are all much more pressing.

Further, with just over half of Tech’s students hailing from families who make over $100,000 a year according to Tech’s institutional research, the majority of Tech students could fiscally support SCHEV’s recommendation and tuition hikes in general.

But let’s make a deal. For every dollar a parent or student, Virginia or otherwise, gets added to their tuition bill, the university will slash a standard amount of spending from its administrative or operating costs.

The university’s recent $500,000 infusion to financial aid is undoubtedly a good thing. But the fact that Tech could dredge up half a million in “unallocated funds” does give us pause before we sign on to paying out even more.

The editorial board is composed of David Grant, Laurel Colella, Alexandra Kaufmann and Jenna Marson.

Live music offers joyful experience for audiences TOM MINOGUE regular columnist There’s something about listening to music live that can’t be captured over a pair of headphones.

For all the manufactured pop bliss that barrages the senses with synthesizers and vocoders, the raw experience of watching your favorite artist — or in my case, rock and roll band — play live captures a collective temporal moment that can’t be replaced by listening over the headphones alone.

Because of the recent spell of warm weather, I’ve been thinking a lot of what I consider to be live music season — the summer. Around the nation, thousands of people gather for a variety of music festivals depending on tastes and budgets.

One I’ve attended since its inception in the summer of 2006 is Virgin Fest, which usually takes a large variety of artists and puts them on stage at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

Throw in the typical August 90 degree weather and a few thousand of your new sweaty best friends, and you have yourself a musical experience unlike any other.

Of course the summer festival music experience has to come with a requisite disclaimer: If you do not like being hot as all Hades, cramped and occasionally crushed in the party pit, then you should avoid this scene at the cost of your precious sanity.

However, if you can learn to appreciate these circumstances and persevere through the 10 acts taking the stage that day to make it to the headlining artist, you’ll find a natural high unlike any other.

Though I might be confusing this feeling with being overcome by sheer delirium, you’ll feel the ringing in

your ears and the rattle in your bones.

As long as you’re not that dude who’s wandering about in his boxers and a bandanna on his head asking where the “goods” are, I’d consider one to be in good shape.

Let’s take last year’s Virgin Fest for example. After a long day of enjoying the good (Iggy Pop, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, IGGY POP), suffering through the bad (Lil Wayne … seriously, man, put down the guitar), and the awful (Paramore can put the price on a friendship), my friends and I had finally made it to the headlining sets of Kanye West and Nine Inch Nails.

I’ve never considered myself a huge Nine Inch Nails fan, but they put on a show I’m probably never going to forget.

The phrase “bow down before the one you serve” is a lot more commanding when it’s being screamed by a massive crowd that surrounds you.

Along with the intense visuals that accompanied their show, Nine Inch Nails definitely earned their headline spot. Perhaps I was too quick to judge them with their song on the radio about fornicating like an animal.

But let’s say that you’re still not sold on the festival concept. For you, perhaps these are too far away, too expensive and feature a bevy of artists you have no interest in.

As an aside here, it displeases me to note that my ticket to Bonnaroo 2009 will be funding the emperorswith-no-clothes, Animal Collective.

The alternative to the sweltering summer masses of music festivals are the venues around Blacksburg that offer a chance to hear awesome music on the cheap at a conveniently close location.

The Virginia Tech Union has done an excellent job this year bringing such acts as Third Eye Blind, Darius

Rucker and, later this month, Girl Talk to perform for Tech students at affordable prices.

Extra props for Girl Talk. Even if he is just going to be spinning away on his laptop, it’s going to be sheer insanity. Performing as close as the Commonwealth Ballroom or Burruss Auditorium, they won’t wear out the soles of your shoes or tack on unnecessary gas mileage.

Off Main Street, however, is my personal favorite, the Lantern.

Showcasing local indie bands, the Lantern is often visited by metal band Fallon.

Laying a slew of heavy metal riffs on its audience, the band is probably my favorite here in Blacksburg. Though rock may be dead, metal lives on with these righteous defenders holding the soothsayers at the gates.

If you are interested in seeing music played by real people and not just obfuscated figments of your imagination played over headphones, there is no lack of options at your disposal.

Perhaps I’ve failed to mention what really makes live music so much better than the recorded counterpart.

Sure, energy can come across just by listening to a recording, but it doesn’t translate to the same capture of a temporal moment as when you witness the same sound at a live show. Listening to “My Generation”

by The Who as opposed to seeing Pete Townshend smash the bejeezus out of his guitar at the end of the song live are completely different experiences.

One is captured, static, permanent and can be relived as you listen to it.

The other is alive, on fire, recorded so vividly in the mind’s eye that this transitory moment becomes something permanent residing only in memory.

This is what music should be and what live music has to offer.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Phelps inhaled— that was the point In response to the Dallas Morning News editorial “Phelps, pot and dealing with the consequences” published in Thursday’s Collegiate Times, I wish to provide the missing link between “pot smokers like Michael Phelps” and “innocent Mexicans killed by drug cartels” that the editorial board chose to leave absent.

At Virginia Tech’s Public Forum on Alcohol and Other Drug Policies last October, a cadet student posited that I and all the students who advocate for change of our Zero Tolerance drug policy are not proud to be Hokies. While I respect that he came forward and shared his views, I cannot help but think that he and the Dallas Morning News editor are missing the same common point: that policies can be improved and that our current drug policies are broken.

When I purchase my morning cup of coffee — which usually turns into four to six cups with free-refills — I sometimes tease the barista that she is my drug-dealer. Sometimes she plays along and says, “Yeah, that’s right, show me the money.”

This is satire because she really is my drug dealer; coffee really is a drug, and I really am addicted to it.

Yet, if the DEA came in and busted the ABP cart, would I stop drinking coffee? No. I would purchase it from one of the other five coffee shops on campus or walk a block downtown.

Similarly, if one drug cartel is busted, then another will fill the demand; and if Michael Phelps’ pot dealer is busted, then he will buy drugs elsewhere.

The editorial board of the Dallas Morning News writes, “The fates (of Michael Phelps using pot and innocent Mexicans killed by drug cartels) are not easily separated,” yet the author takes extraordinary lengths to do so by not realizing the context of prohibition.

At Virginia Tech alone, more than 9,000 current students have reported using marijuana. To expect that all Americans will suddenly raise their consumer consciousness and halt their use for the sake of moral opposition to the brutality done by drug

Give professional soccer the old college try

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cartels is simply not practical.

Meanwhile, Texas state legislators recently warned the city council of El Paso, Texas, that its funding would be cut off if it did not reverse its unanimous vote calling for national debate on drug legalization, a resolution in support of their violence-ridden, border-city Ciudad Juárez.

This proves the undemocratic lengths our politicians are willing to take to silence the growing support for alternatives to drug prohibition.

There is a big game coming up on Wednesday night. Yes, the Hokie men’s basketball team is hosting Georgia Tech in a big ACC game.

And by all means, go to the game and support the Hokies (I certainly would not want to upset Coach Greenberg).

However, if you are not going to the game or are otherwise looking for something else to do Wednesday night, let me provide an alternative.

The U.S. men’s soccer team is hosting Mexico on Wednesday night at 7 p.m., playing on ESPN2.

For those who are unaware, this is a World Cup qualifying match (for the 2010 World Cup), and it is the first game of the last group, to determine who goes to the World Cup for North America.

Not only that, this game is a battle for bragging rights in the region.

Mexico and the United States have long been the soccer powers in North America, and this game will be intense as usual.

So I implore those who have never given soccer a real try to watch this game. It’s going to be an exciting game, and who knows, it just might surprise you and keep your attention for longer than you expected.

And for those at the basketball game, you can always record the soccer game and watch it at a later time.

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Communicating the idea of India as a historical phenomenon NARESH SELVARASU & NAVANEETA DORBALA guest columnists There is but one truth; the learned call it by many names – Rig Veda During the Indian Republic Day celebrations at Cranwell International Center this year, someone I know quoted that “India is not a country. It’s a phenomenon.”

Come to think of it, I wonder what is the singular phenomenon that characterizes India? Or, to put it in another perspective, what is the first thing that strikes you when you see the word “India”” The Taj Mahal?

Yoga? Diwali? Bollywood? Bangalore?

These are just some of the common themes that reflect the phenomenon that is India. But what makes India, India? Or more fundamentally, what made India, India? It could be that India today is what it is because of the variety of monarchic influences it has had through its long history. From as far back as the Indus Valley civilization (2nd century B.C.) to the 19th century when British imperialism prevailed, India has embraced influences in development, religion and culture.

For instance, the highly efficient public transportation systems catering to the billion-plus Indian population today have their roots in the Industrial Revolution that occurred during British rule. Farther back, India owes a good part of its historic architecture and rich cultural and linguistic heritage to the giant Islamic monarchy, the Mughal Empire, which prevailed from 16th to mid-19th centuries.

The consequence has been that today, India stands as a country defined by pluralism in different dimensions.

In a country that houses the second largest population in the world, diversity of peoples is only natural. That is why one may not be able to generalize the social, cultural and economic traits of the Indian people whose presence is global.

STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS: MAKE YOURSELVES HEARD This column is the result of a partnership between the Indian Student Association and the Collegiate Times to produce a biweekly column for the newspaper.

If you’d like to reserve your own 750-1000 words of space in the CT to talk about the issues and ideas that matter most to your student organization, e-mail us at editor@collegiatetimes.com or stop by our newsroom, 365 Squires.

Moreover, in the context of today’s Information Age, the pluralistic characteristic of India is only increasing. In an age of globalization where communication is potentially reaching even remote villages, it might be evident how this diverse population has spread to various corners of the globe.

Today, it is both easy and likely to find at least one Indian connection in every department of an American university.

Indians have gradually permeated into several parts of the world beating the

barriers of country. One would find the Indian diaspora making it big in several places across the globe.

Lakshmi Mittal, chairman and CEO of steel giant Arcelor-Mittal, is one of many living examples. Another interesting example of the influence of India are the generations residing in Singapore who have been speaking and following the language and culture of the Indian state Tamil Nadu for decades without having been to India.

A person from Tamil Nadu would feel at home as much in Singapore as in Chennai.

So one could say that the Indians have gradually blended into the larger, “global community” of the 21st century. Country is now merely a physical demarcation for administrative and economic purposes. It is not necessary for an Indian to “hail” from India.

It is just that Indian people are everywhere. This is how the concept of a geographical demarcation is slowly beginning to fade out and Indians are growing to become a worldwide population.

From this perspective, our friend was amazingly right. There is no “country” called India. There is only a phenomenon. And it is the people of India, who are the phenomenon! It is only the idea called India that binds them together. On the eve of India’s 60th Republic Day, we need to understand that unity of India and the pluralism in its cultures are inseparable, that this is what makes India unique.

This uniqueness provides a hope for peace and coexistence in our world that seems more fractured and torn by conflicts.

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sports 7

editor: thomas emerick, brian wright email: sportseditor@collegiatetimes.com phone: 540.231.9865 office hours: w 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.; t 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

february 11, 2009

A modest proposal: Let Vick out of the doghouse ZACH CRIZER news reporter

Is it PETA’s new campaign? Afraid not. Its efforts are focused on urging the NFL to “test Michael Vick for a brain disorder” and flooding the White House’s Oval Office with letters asking for President Barack Obama’s ban on torture to include

animals.

Dogs are being used as live shark bait, though. A group based in San Francisco is already protesting the nasty alternative to taking your pet water skiing.

As always, some Facebook COMMENT addicts have formed an opposition group. Their catchphrase is direct and vaguely familiar: Endorse the use of dogs as live shark bait.

The opposition may be a harmless social networking Web site prank (let’s hope so), but I have an opposition group that is perfectly logical.

My catchphrase: Free Michael Vick.

Full disclosure: I saw a Hokie basketball fan wearing this catchy little slogan across his chest in Cassell Coliseum. So I suppose he really started the opposition group, but I am taking it to the people.

After being incarcerated, publicly humiliated and stripped of his fortune, Vick should not be suspended by the NFL or psychoanalyzed, as PETA has suggested.

PETA is probably hiring new marketing employees right now.

One current PETA campaign, which refers to fish as “sea kittens,” is an attempt to make humans think “Kentucky Fried Felines” when they hear Long John Silver’s.

Actually, kittens have been used as shark bait as well.

Probably not the type of sea kittens PETA had in mind.

Perhaps it should be focusing their efforts on more heinous crimes.

Was Vick’s dog fighting ring reprehensible? Absolutely. But should he be psychoanalyzed and stopped from doing his job even after spending 23 months behind bars?

By PETA’s standards? Sure, anything goes for people who can relate catchand-release fishing to the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. But by the NFL’s standards? Not so much.

This is a league where Adam “Pacman” Jones can have more police run-ins than punt return yards and be granted another chance.

This is a league where a bullet wound from carrying an illegal gun in the band of sweatpants is not proof of wrongdo-

ing. The New York Giants’ Plaxico Burress has been disciplined by the team, but not by the league.

This is a league where Larry Johnson, the man that has more domestic assaults on his rap sheet than Tom Brady has Super Bowl rings on his hand, is in good standing.

Honestly, 23 months of incarceration is unheard of for NFL athletes.

We’re talking about dog fighting: Not weapons, drugs or murder.

PETA should be happy with what they accomplished. Actually, maybe they should expand their organization to battle more widespread problems.

Think about all of the immoral criminals that would be in jail if PETA offered its fervent pursuit of justice to more areas of society.

Michael Phelps would be hammering out license plates in South Carolina; former Yankees manager Joe Torre would be restricted from entering New York.

Haven’t these PETA people heard of cruel and unusual punishment? It is illegal in this country.

For people. Not just canines, felines and sea kittens.

This man has already been stripped of his fortune, two prime years in his profession and his freedom.

What more do they want from Michael Vick?

At this point, suspending him from the NFL would be yet another over-the-

BRANDT SANDERLIN/MCT

Michael Vick enters a Richmond courthouse in July 2007. The former Hokie is serving a 23-month jail sentence. top example of made-for-TV justice.

Subjecting him to psychoanalysis should be a form of torture that this group supposedly wants banned.

If they found anything, it would likely be an extraordinary abundance of athletic coordination and an extraordinary lack of common sense.

Those who refer to fish as “sea kittens” shouldn’t be the ones defining crazy, anyway.

By my standards, Michael Vick has

paid his debt to society and to the animal kingdom.

The courts of this country have laid down their gavel. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s subjective, spur-ofthe-moment judgments should not be piled on top.

As the wildcat offense spreads across the NFL landscape, there will be demand for Michael Vick. The San Francisco 49ers have already been rumored as potential suitors.

Plus, we know the Raiders will sign anybody, and the Vick media storm wouldn’t even be noticed in Dallas.

He will be signed. He will be useful, and he will be fun to watch.

We’re not electing this man president.

Michael Vick just wants to play football for a living, and he should be allowed to do that.

It is time PETA aims its torches and pitchforks at something else.

Even if they think Vick is an animal.

Rodriguez faces long climb back to respectability after steriod use TIM COWLISHAW

the dallas morning news The remaking of Alex Rodriguez’s image began with a sit-down confession to ESPN’s Peter Gammons.

Had Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens been smart enough to go this route, they might have Hall of Fame inductions in their future instead of federal indictments.

Rodriguez admitted he took banned substances while playing for the Texas Rangers.

“I had just signed this enormous contract,” Rodriguez said of the 10year, $252 million contract he signed before the 2001 season.

That would still be the largest contract in baseball had Rodriguez not

opted out after the 2007 season and signed a 10-year, $270 million deal to stay with the Yankees.

“I felt I needed to perform and perform at a high level every day,” Rodriguez said.

While his decision to talk was a good one, Rodriguez didn’t come completely clean.

He said he didn’t remember exactly what banned substances he took, although the report that he was one of 104 major leaguers who tested positive in 2003 said it was testosterone and Primobolan.

It’s hard to believe anyone so obsessed with himself and his ability as Rodriguez didn’t know what he was taking.

And when Gammons asked him if he took the substances between 2001 and 2003 _ his three Texas years _ Rodriguez called it “pretty accurate.”

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A-Rod’s home run totals were larger for those three years, when he averaged 52, than they have been for his other 10 seasons, when he averaged 39. But he was playing in a much friendlier hitters’ park in Arlington than he did in Seattle or New York.

I think Rodriguez’s willingness to admit he took steroids will enhance his chances of reaching the Hall of Fame. But it won’t be easy.

There’s no question he will finish his career with Hall of Fame numbers. Heck, he has them already — 553 home runs, three Most Valuable Player awards, 12 All-Star Game appearances — and he won’t turn 34 until midseason.

But there’s also no question that a lot of the writers who have Hall of Fame votes didn’t like his personality already and will jump at the chance to say his steroids use should

expel him from any Hall consideration.

Cheating is cheating, they argue.

If I’m not voting for Mark McGwire or Bonds or Sammy Sosa because they were either proved guilty or appeared to be so, then it’s hard to ignore Rodriguez’s admission of guilt.

However, taking steroids, even if illegal, was not against the rules of major league baseball at the time Rodriguez said he was doing it.

And if he never tests positive again, while that’s not exactly proof he isn’t taking something they don’t have a test for, it’s pretty good evidence he

didn’t need steroids to begin with.

While Joe Torre’s book The Yankee Years paints an unflattering portrait of Rodriguez as a player who was not only self-absorbed but ridiculously jealous of Derek Jeter’s popularity, it also mentions that no Yankee worked as hard off the field as Rodriguez.

All this means is that, as a Hall of Fame voter, I don’t have a clue what to do when Rodriguez becomes eligible for the Hall of Fame. I’m only glad that I have years left to figure this thing out.

It’s going to be difficult to ignore that he used steroids while he played for the Rangers.

If I’m not voting for Mark McGwire or Bonds or Sammy Sosa because they were either proved guilty or appeared to be so, then it’s hard to ignore Rodriguez’s admission

of guilt.

However, if a Gold Glove infielder retires with 800 home runs and maybe close to 20 All-Star appearances and there is reason to assume his numbers and accomplishments would have been close to that without any steroid use, how is that player not a Hall of Famer?

It’s going to be a long climb to respectability for a player as unloved by his team’s fans and as scrutinized and criticized by New York’s media as Rodriguez.

“I’m just sorry,” Rodriguez said. “I’m sorry for my fans in Texas.”

I can’t say I’m sure how many of those he has. But after seeing what Bonds and Clemens have done to themselves and their reputations, I’m a fan of Rodriguez’s approach, which at least hints at honesty.

page 8

wednesday, february 11,2008

Struggling Yellow Jackets swarm Cassell Coliseum MATT COLLETTE

ct sports staff writer It’s an understatement to say that the Hokies have given their fans a few gray hairs over the course of the season. Each one is agonizingly familiar with the statistic that six of the team’s seven losses have been by a combined 13 points.

After an impressive comeback against North Carolina State on Sunday, it is possible that the team has turned a proverbial corner and has moved on from their pair of heartbreakers against Clemson and Boston College.

And while many are looking ahead to the back-to-back home tilts against perennial frontrunners Duke and North Carolina as the season’s key stretch, it is the next four contests — games where the Hokies will be favored to win — that could truly dictate the season. If they can take care of business against Georgia Tech, Maryland, Virginia and Florida State, they will have built a comfy tournament-friendly cushion to fall back on.

“We should have one loss right now, but we’ve got a tough team,” said sophomore guard Malcolm Delaney.

“I think we started off good in the first half (of the schedule), and I think for the second half of the schedule it puts us in a good position to make the NCAA (Tournament).”

The first game in this crucial stretch is, on paper, the most appetizing.

On Wednesday night, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (10-12, 1-8) will journey to Blacksburg for the first and only meeting between the two teams this year. The Jackets — who have never beaten the Hokies — are the team that has claimed the “doormat” status in the brutal Atlantic Coast Conference this season. That was until they decided to pull an upset on Wake Forest, at the time ranked No. 4 in the country.

“They’ve played a lot of games where they’ve been in position to win and they just haven’t finished,” said Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg. “In that way, they’re reflective of our league.”

The story for the Yellow Jackets this year is their inability to have enough quality scoring possessions.

Despite being fourth in the ACC in rebounding and holding their opponents to a meager 39 percent from the field, they have only topped 76 points once during their ACC schedule and have turned the ball over 49 more times than the opposition.

“We are getting some open looks, and we just aren’t knocking them down,” said Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt.

“If you look at our defensive numbers and our rebounding numbers, and that tells you all you need to know about the effort these kids are putting up.”

Sophomore forward Gani Lawal has been the standout Yellow Jacket this year, his 10.4 rebounds-per-game average leading the conference by almost two boards per game. The Norcross, Ga., native also averages

15.5 points and put up 25 in their big win against Wake. Greenberg referred to him as a “monster offensive rebounder.”

As inside presence has been a key concern for Greenberg and the Hokies lately, Lawal will be especially dangerous.

“We have to rebound the ball better,” Greenberg said. “We’ve got to play better post defense, and we’ve got to be more consistent in terms of our execution.

Our post defense has got to improve and we’ve got to rebound the ball better, there’s no doubt about it.”

Supporting Lawal is 6’10’, 225-pound senior forward Alade Aminu. The name Aminu might sound familiar, as Alade’s younger brother, Al-Farouq, is a standout freshman for Wake Forest.

Alade completes Georgia Tech’s big tandem, with 11.9 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, along with some senior leadership for a young group.

Georgia Tech’s size — especially of Lawal, Aminu and 6’8”, 240-pound junior forward Zach Peacock — is one pressing concern for the Hokies.

“They’re a big team, that’s the first thing that comes to mind,” senior A.D. Vassallo said.

“They got big guys inside. We struggled to defend (NC State) inside so we got to do a better job to get ready for (those three).”

The Hokies’ strength lies in their three-headed monster of Jeff Allen, Vassallo and Malcolm Delaney, a crew quietly emerging as one of the elite trios in the country.

As Hewitt said on a Monday teleconference, these three are the focus of any team who sees Virginia Tech on their schedule, and they must be defended well if the opponent wants a chance to win.

No three-man bunch in the ACC averages more than the 51.6 points per game poured in by Allen, Vassallo and Delaney. The only contending group can be found in Chapel Hill, N.C., where Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green fall a point short at 50.6 per game.

Against the Yellow Jackets, Delaney should be able to get open looks on the outside against freshman point guard Iman Shumpert who, despite recent improvement, may find trouble handling the ACC’s fifth-leading scorer.

Greenberg, who has seen too many ACC games go sour in his time in Blacksburg, has kept the team on alert for the game Wednesday evening. On paper, Georgia Tech may look like a struggling club with only one conference win. But the Hokies’ head coach doesn’t want that to get into the minds of his players.

“It doesn’t get any easier. You sit and watch Georgia Tech, you see an extremely athletic, hard-playing team that’s holding its opponents to a terrific defensive field goal percentage,” Greenberg said.

“It’s just another day in the ACC. If you’re not focused on the task at hand, you’re going to get whacked pretty good.

We’ve got a tremendous challenge on our hands this week.”

DASHA AFANASEVA/SPPS

Malcolm Delaney looks for a passing lane between two defenders. The Tech guard has averaged 14.5 points in his two games against Georgia Tech.

STARTING LINEUP Virginia Tech vs. Georgia Tech

VASSALLO

ALLEN

DAVILA

DELANEY

THOMPSON

LAWAL

CLINCH

SHUMPERT

MILLER

PEACOCK

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