Wednesday, February 10, 2010
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COLLEGIATETIMES 106th year, issue 14
News, page 2
Features, page 3
Opinions, page 5
Sports, page 7
Classifieds, page 6
Sudoku, page 6
Parking proves difficult as snowfall approaches record levels news reporter As snowfall in Blacksburg approaches its highest level in more than 40 years, Virginia Tech parking officials are scrambling to clear lots for student parking. In an e-mail sent Monday, Parking Services asked students to remove their cars from the Coliseum Lot, Duck Pond Lot, and lots on Perry Street and
as they can handle,” McCoy said. “If we get more, we may have to move it, we’re not sure.” Blacksburg snowfall totaled 47.3 inches between Dec.1, 2009 and Feb. 9, 2010, tying it with the 1963-64 season for the third largest snowfall, according to records from the National Weather Service office based in Blacksburg. The average season snowfall for Blacksburg between 1971 and 2000 was 23.2 inches. Meteorologist Marc Chenard said
that “colder than normal” air in the region, along with storms brought by El Nino led to the increase in snowfall. “El Nino years like this one, you’ll get more storms coming in from the pacific,” Chenard said. McCoy stressed patience for students looking for a spot. “There is available parking on campus,” McCoy said. “You may have to walk a little farther until it melts or we move it away.”
BLACKSBURG’S LARGEST SEASONAL SNOWFALL ACCUMLATIONS
75.4” 52.0” 47.3” 47.3” 45.4” 43.1”
Prices Fork. Richard McCoy, parking manager for Tech Parking Services, said the snow was a stark contrast to previous years. “We’ve received a good deal more snow than what’s normal,” McCoy said. “It’s a challenge.” McCoy said that some snow from the main lots was transported to Chicken Hill. McCoy said problems might arise should more snow fall in Blacksburg. “The lots have about as much snow
SNOWFALL TOTALS
GORDON BLOCK
*As of Tuesday morning
’95-’96 ’65-’66 ’63-’64 ’09-’10 ’97-’98 ’97-’98
Athletes take team approach to academics CALEB FLEMING news staff writer The NCAA has worked to boost the academic standards of its student athletes for decades, and while graduation rates have improved, some universities now face criticism for athlete clustering. More than a quarter of the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team can be found in a single major, sociology, which attracts less than one percent of the total university population. Some even say athletes are encouraged to “major in eligibility.” Grouping male athletes disproportionately into particular majors is not a new phenomenon in the NCAA, or at Tech. A study conducted by the USA Today in 2003 indicated that at Tech, 10 of 54 football players who were not listed as university studies students were majoring in Apparel, Housing and Resource Management. While 18 percent of the football team was enrolled in this field of study in 2003, just 0.4 percent of the undergraduate student population majored in AHRM. Seven years later, the trend has continued. According to the Virginia Tech Sports Information Department, 12 of 62 football players attached to a major other than university studies are studying AHRM. Just 1.3 percent of the undergraduate student population majors in AHRM. On the men’s basketball team, four of the 11 non-university studies majors are enrolled in sociology, representing 36 percent of the team. University-wide, 0.8 percent of students are sociology majors. On the men’s soccer team, eight of the 27 players on the roster outside of university studies are majoring in business, representing 29.6 percent of the team. Just 2.6 percent of all undergraduates attempt to receive a degree in business. Colin Howlett, the associate director of advising for football, argues there is no concentrated effort to steer students in the direction of a major in AHRM, but did acknowledge the clear existence of a trend. “It’s been self-perpetuating,” Howlett said. “We have guys who have gone into that major and seen the value in it and carried the banner for it.” Howlett did offer one possible explanation
KASEY STONEMAN/COLLEGIATE TIMES
for the influx of football players in AHRM: money. “They want to make a lot of money,” Howlett said. “I think you can look to guest speakers that come in and talk and see people who are affluent and make a good living and say, ‘Geez, I’d like to make what that person makes.’ We’re talking about people who are presidents and vice presidents and corporate executive officers, but it’s a major that they talk about money a lot because there is a lot of money changing hands.” LuAnn Gaskill, department head for
AHRM, did not return calls from the Collegiate Times seeking comment. This cycle of student athletes picking a particular major has also been seen in basketball with sociology, said Katie Ammons, adviser for men’s basketball. “Who you hang out with and who you surround yourself with can lead students to one major or another,” Ammons said. “You see it in a lot of organizations. It’s changed over time too. We went through a period of business majors and then human development majors.”
Both Ammons and Howlett agreed that because of the hot-button issue that athlete clustering can be, it is imperative to provide student athletes with unbiased advice. “They might have a conversation with me about different majors and what they involve and entail,” Ammons said. “But we send them out to meet with advisers who can give them a little more information.” Howlett added that athlete advisors are more of an add-on than anything else. “I tell them they should go to that department and talk to an undergraduate adviser,”
Howlett said. “I will talk to them about different classes and the challenges they may face, whether it’s here in school or after school.” But the perception that some athletes at Tech attempt to major in “eligibility” and not a real subject of academia may not be that far off. “The question I get a lot is what is the easiest major on this campus,” Howlett said. “My main role is to try and dispel the see ATHLETES / page two
Council tables Historic District Ordinance
BRIAN CLAY/SPPS
Kay Moody, chairwoman of the Historic Design Review board, speaks in front of the Blacksburg Town Council last night, asking citizens to trust the board and respect the downtown historic district.
QUESTIONING HOMEOWNERS DRIVE AMENDMENT OFF BLACKSBURG TOWN COUNCIL VOTE SCHEDULE LIANA BAYNE news reporter Owners of historic homes, anxious for a resolution, will have to wait longer in a yearlong conflict over their property rights. The Blacksburg Town Council tabled Ordinance 1546 Tuesday night, which would have provided stronger guidelines on whether homeowners wishing to demolish a historic structure had to seek approval from the town. The ordinance was “postponed indefinitely,” according to Mayor Ron Rordam, because of a “tremendous
amount of input” from citizens that has caused the council to re-think holding a vote. The ordinance has been a topic of discussion for the past year. Kay Moody, the recently-appointed chairwoman of the Blacksburg Historic Design Review board, said during the council’s meeting Tuesday the controversy has been “very difficult” to endure. Homeowners have at times clashed with the board. Some feel that an amendment restricting demolition of historic structures would impose on homeowners’ rights. Others said that it would protect the integrity of the
historic district. One homeowner who has been vocal throughout the process has been Tom Roberts, who spoke Tuesday night about his efforts to educate his fellow property owners about the ordinance. “I don’t doubt the hard work and dedication of the committee,” he said, “but listen to the people who have sent e-mail, called and had individual experiences.” Roberts, however, merely said he was attempting to ensure that homeowners were as informed as possible about a process that could potentially affect their rights as property owners. Moody, who has been a member of the board since 2000, directly criticized Roberts during her remarks as having led “an attack on our board.” He said he wanted to have conversa-
tion between homeowners and the Design Review Board to ensure that rules governing the board’s regulatory powers were clearly defined. “It was an impression of a lot of property owners that Ordinance 1222, the existing ordinance, was being posed as if it were mandatory already, although it was still called advisory,” Roberts said. The new ordinance was originally introduced in 2009 when an issue with a Blacksburg home owner brought to light the loophole in the original Ordinance 1222, which outlines the basis of the historic district. When homeowner Beverly Taylor requested a demolition permit for her building at 103 S. Main St., across from Tech Bookstore, the Blacksburg Historic Design Review board cited
a clause that forced her to endure a one-year waiting period before being eligible to apply for the demolition permit. The building, having fallen into disrepair in 2005 when the Taylor’s Frames & Things business closed, needs a great deal of work to be habitable again. Taylor initially wanted to sell the building to a developer who wanted to use the land. However, the house was protected as a contributing structure under Ordinance 1222, meaning that it was more than 50 years old at the time the Historic Design Review board was created in 1999. Although Taylor has since found resolution in her particular situation — the sale on the house will be closed on later this month to a local contractor who wishes to renovate it into a
restaurant — the town of Blacksburg, through monitoring the situation, became keenly aware that there was a loophole in Ordinance 1222. At the moment, the Historic Design Review board only has advisory capacity, while Ordinance 1546 would give the board regulatory powers. Members of the Blacksburg Town Council voiced their concerns Tuesday about allowing the ordinance to pass as an amendment. Many noted both positive and negative aspects of the amendment and suggested that it be re-written. Council member Susan Anderson said she had been “concerned” during last November’s election season about the future of Ordinance 1546. Itwasoriginallysupposedtobeputtoa see ORDINACE / page two
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new river valley news editor: zach crizer universityeditor:philippkotlaba newseditor@collegiatetimes.com/540.231.9865
february 10, 2010
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blacksburg headlines
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Financial aid survey not scam attempt The Virginia Tech Office of University Scholarships and Financial Aid is conducting a student budget survey for the 2009-10 academic year. The data collected from this survey will be used to estimate the average annual cost of attendance for Tech students, and ascertain whether USFA is determining financial aid eligibility appropriately as related to costs. To complete the survey, an e-mail with the survey link and instructions was sent to a stratified sample of about 2,200 Tech students on Thursday, Feb. 4. The student participation is entirely voluntary and responses are strictly confidential. To ensure a good representation of the entire Tech student pool, USFA would strongly encourage each student who received the e-mail notification complete the student budget survey. USFA will award three $300 scholarships for the spring 2010 semester to the three randomly selected survey participants. To be considered for this scholarship, the survey must be completed by Monday, Feb. 15. Students with questions or those having difficulty logging in should e-mail finaid@vt.edu or call 540-231-6576 for assistance.
CORRECTIONS On the front page caption to “Breaking down the Cassell doors” (CT, Feb. 9), students lined up from the coliseum to Kent Street for free admission to the men’s basketball game against the Clemson Tigers last Saturday. The Collegiate Times regrets this error.
JUSTIN GRAVES -Contact our public editor at publiceditor@ collegiatetimes.com if you see anything that needs to be corrected.
COLLEGIATETIMES
Athletes: NCAA rules restrict change from page one
myths. I’ll say, ‘Well I don’t think it’s easy. You might want to do more research.’ And I can point out why. I tell them the easiest major is the one you are most interested in. There are no easy majors if the classes don’t interest you.” And just where do players hear that particular majors are easy? “Guys like to go with what they hear in the locker room,” Howlett said. “They have to be really careful with what they pick and sort. There is some good advice handed out and some bad advice handed out.” Ammons added that athletes might put too much weight on their teammates’ opinions. “They make a lot of decisions through peer conversations about things they enjoy studying, classes they enjoy taking,” Ammons said. “Sometimes students can rely too much on listening to what someone else is being successful in and it might not be what they are interested in.” But athletes seeking easy majors, and consequently clustering with peers, may be part of a much greater flaw in the rules the NCAA has put in place to promote academic success. Tim Parker, Tech’s assistant athletic director of compliance, outlined the NCAA’s rule on percentage-ofdegree, which states that a student athlete must be 40 percent through their degree going into their fourth semester, 60 percent going into the seventh semester, and 80 percent going into the ninth semester.
Senate vote shows new obstacles
KASEY STONEMAN/COLLEGIATE TIMES
Parker added that degree shopping is nearly impossible for a student athlete. “It’s very difficult to maintain your competitive eligibility,” Parker said. “In some cases we’ve had to apply for a waiver on behalf of that student.” Parker said that on a given year, he sees one or two out of 550 student
athletes apply for the waiver, which must be signed by the department head of the major where the student athlete wishes to transfer into. The NCAA does not currently have rules and regulations in place to prevent athlete clustering or help students switch majors. The NCAA did not return phone calls from the Collegiate Times.
Ordinance: Council to revise proposed amendment at work session from page one
to a vote in November; but was pushed to December to give homeowners more time to consider its contents. At that time, the vote was again pushed back to last night’s agenda. “We thought it would be fairest to delay so people could focus,” Anderson said. “It is precisely the kind of ordinance that people are either very for or very against.” Another reason the initial November vote was pushed back, Anderson said, was an oversight by the town that failed to inform the homeowners of a public meeting about the amendment in
December. “We were going to have a vote and I found out that we had not mailed out letters or postcards to the affected community members,” Anderson said. “I thought it was not fair for people not to have known about this.” Recently elected council member Krisha Chachra said that now that the issue has been resolved with Taylor’s particular building, she believes “we, as a council, don’t need to pass this (ordinance) quickly to protect one property.” “I am confident of the plans to preserve the Taylor house,” Chachra said. “Now I think we can take a little more time and find a greater
consensus from those (the ordinance) would directly affect.” Chachra and others proposed changes that would involve more members of the community in the re-drafting of a new amendment to Ordinance 1222. “I believe that maybe there’s a way we can find options we haven’t thought of yet,” Chachra said. “There is a way, I believe, to relatively and effectively address this issue. This is important.” Chachra also said she wants to find a way to avoid discussions of demolition with property owners. “I really do think one of the things we should consider is how we encourage people to upkeep their buildings,” she said. Town council member Leslie Hager-Smith concurred with Chachra, mentioning the need for
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NATIONAL
36% of all men basketball players are sociology majors. Only 0.8% of all university students are sociology majors.
Switching majors likely endangers an athlete’s eligibility. “When you change degrees, the percentages get you,” Parker said. “So if you are struggling in one degree and want to maintain eligibility and switch over to earn more hours and increase your grade point average, it’s going to kill you with the percentages.”
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homeowners to be held accountable for the state of their buildings, so that buildings do not fall into a state of disrepair warranting demolition and presenting conflict between property owners and the Historic Design Review board in the first place. “How come this town just lets buildings sit and rot?” Hager-Smith said. “Our community suffers when individuals decide to exercise their rights in this way.” Rordam hopes for a productive resolution to the question of Ordinance 1546 to be found in the future, and plans to discuss revisions for the ordinance next week. “From what I hear tonight,” he said, “we will go ahead and put this on the work session agenda for next week to continue this discussion.”
WASHINGTON — The Senate Tuesday failed to advance President Barack Obama’s nomination of a union lawyer to the National Labor Relations Board, as the debate and vote became a test of union clout in Congress. The vote on Craig Becker’s nomination — the first controversial vote since the Senate Democrats’ 60-seat majority shrank by one last week — highlighted the difficulty that Democrats will have trying to push union-friendly legislation through Congress. Only 52 senators voted to cut off debate on the nomination, eight short of the number needed, and 33 were opposed. Many senators weren’t present because of an impending snowstorm. The president could name the former union lawyer to the board with a “recess appointment,” which doesn’t require confirmation, while the Senate is on its President’s Day break next week. Still, the vote signals that Obama is in for a tough time pushing labor’s agenda. “It’s a statement that anything friendly to organized labor won’t get through the Senate as long as Republicans stand together,” said Gary Jacobson, an expert on Congress at the University of California at San Diego. “The labor wing of the Democratic Party is not going to get what they were hoping for.” Becker had served as a lawyer for the Service Employees International Union and the AFL-CIO. Obama, speaking at a surprise news conference Tuesday, expressed frustration that Becker and other nominees are getting bogged down in the Senate. “I respect the Senate’s role to advise and consent, but for months, qualified, noncontroversial nominees for critical positions in government, often related to our national security, have been held up despite having overwhelming support,” Obama said. mcclatchy newspapers
features 3
editors: topher forhecz featureseditor@collegiatetimes.com/ 540.231.9865
february 10, 2010
COLLEGIATETIMES
Students revive swing dance culture in Blacksburg
COURTETY OF DAVID MUDRE
Soley Swing was created after a national Gap ad campaign invigorated the popularity of swing dance across the country. The club sometimes holds philantropic events to aid charities such as Hokies Helping Haiti.
NEW REVIVAL OF SWING IS CELEBRATED BY A CLUB THAT ENCOURAGES THE SOCIAL NATURE OF DANCE LIZ NORMENT features reporter Swing dancing, one of the only authentic American dance forms, was created in the 1920s in Harlem, N.Y. The dance saw a massive revival in the late 1990s with the most unlikely of circumstances: a Gap commercial that featured a spring trend of cropped khaki pants and a catchy hit song by the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. It was from this nationwide swing revival that Virginia Tech’s Solely Swing club was formed more than 10 years ago. Club member John Helveston, a senior engineering science and mechanics major, recalls the effect the retailer had on dance culture. “That Gap commercial was the biggest thing. It was played all across the country,” Helveston said. “It became a neo-swing movement, referred to as the “Gap Swing Craze.” It was when the club got started here, too.” More than 10 years since the ad brought swing back into the limelight, Tech’s swing club is now recognized nationally as one of the strongest collegiate social dance clubs. Helveston recognizes the strength in Solely Swing’s popularity comes from the group’s enthusiasm.
on the web
[ ] For more information on Soley Swing’s events and a detailed explanation of the lessons offered, visit the club’s Web site at www.swingin.org.vt.edu
“There is so much energy amongst all of the dancers. At our Friday night dances there is energy just pouring out of that room,” he said. “It’s fun to be around that type of energy; it’s contagious.” The group’s Friday dances are held at the YMCA on North Main Street in a room that is rented each week thanks to the support the club gets from the Southwest Virginia Swing Dancing Club. “Because they rent the room for us, all we have to supply is the music and dancers,” Helveston said. Each dance is open to students and community members for an admis-
sion fee of $5, which includes a lesson at the beginning of the evening. Nancy Ballhagen, a recent Tech alumnus who graduated in December, was initially attracted to the social aspect of the club after attending a Friday night dance. “The people in the club are really fun both on and off the dance floor,” Ballhagen said. Ballhagen attended a dance her freshman year and now serves as the group’s president. Her desire to obtain a leadership position in the club came not only because of the close, social nature of the organization, but also for her own personal reasons. “I found that more than anything, it was such a wonderful way to relax and de-stress after a crazy week of school,” Ballhagan said. In addition to the weekly dances, the club also sponsors one larger dance held once a month in Squires Student Center’s Old Dominion Ballroom. “We get a band from out of town when we can and usually have some pretty big name instructors in the swing community do a lesson,” said A.J. Wilson, club vice resident and junior electrical engineering major. Recently, the club has added more philanthropic endeavors to its roster of events, with the ultimate goal of having one charity dance each semester. This past fall Solely Swing held “Swingsgiving,” a dance around the Thanksgiving holiday that received donations totaling more than 600 pounds of food for the local Southwest Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank. The Swingsgiving dance debuted the corps of cadets jazz band, the Southern Colonels, as the musical styling for the evening. “It was a huge hit,” Helveston said. “It made everything feel more unified because it was a 100 percent Tech dance.” The band also helped set the atmosphere for the vintage-style dancing, wearing its uniforms while playing big band music. “The band had a great time because usually they were only playing at events where people weren’t dancing,” Helveston said, “while this type of music was designed for people to
“
There is so much energy amongst all of the dancers. At our Friday night dances there is energy pouring out of that room. JOHN HELVESTON SENIOR ENGINEERING SCIENCE AND MECHANICS MAJOR
dance to.” As a result of the event’s success, the Southern Colonels have agreed to play at Solely Swing’s upcoming Valentine’s Day dance free of charge. “It’s a second-chance Valentine’s day dance, held on Feb. 20,” Ballhagen said. “With the help of the band playing free of charge we’ll be able to donate all of the proceeds to Hokies Helping Haiti.” Solely Swing’s dances hope to bring in more students interested in the swing culture. Those wishing to learn more can sign up for a five weeks of dance lessons for $20. The lessons range from absolute beginner’s basics to more intricate styles for advanced dancers. Helveston, who teaches some of the advanced lessons, recalls how his involvement in Solely Swing built his confidence and made him a more outgoing person. “Honestly I was that really shy nerdy kid who thought that guys don’t dance and now here I am teaching classes,” Helveston said. “It totally transforms you socially.” Chelsea Hover, junior marketing major who is also in charge of advertising for the club, has seen the benefits of being involved with the organization both socially and professionally. “Dancing has opened up a lot of doors for me,” said Hover. “I have gotten awesome advertising experience making fliers for events.” After seeing a dance demonstration put on by the club outside of Squires, Hover became interested in Solely Swing and has been a member ever since. She said participating in the club has highlighted her college experience. “I’ve gotten to travel up and down the East Coast dancing with some really talented people and I have met tons of people at Tech that I’m not sure I would have met otherwise,” Hover said. “It’s also given me the opportunity to discover the one thing that never fails to make me happy: dancing.”
DAVID MUDRE/SPPS
Club members teach beginner and advanced classes to students who have little experience dancing.
february 10, 2010
page 4
With new release ‘Transference,’ Spoon fails to connect Like all of Spoon’s past albums, “Transference” breaks from previous efforts toward a new direction. The direction is a collage of the song structures of “Gimmie Fiction,” the instrumentation from “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga” and the hoarse vocals from its debut, “Telephono.” While “Transference” certainly has its fair share of catchy hooks and infectious beats, the album’s initial mediocrity degrades its status from that of its predecessors. The album’s opening, “Before Destruction,” should have made a Bsides and rarities collection instead of the introduction to the album. Lead singer Britt Daniel’s vocal delivery is lacking at best and further hinders an already dull track. “Is Love Forever” picks up the pace and may seem more familiar to fans of Spoon’s past collection. Still, the repetition of staccato notes on the track is not pleasant through headphones.
“The Mystery Zone” is a fresh save for the album. Spoon’s minimal use of notes, blended with a beat one could master in a week, makes the simplistic song come alive. Track four, “Who Makes Your Money,” is an obscure track with annoying vocal effects that really lacks any redemption. Until now the album is not pleasing, but the beginning of “Written in Reverse” starts to give the album some momentum. It is certainly the strongest track on the album and its dirty blues, grabbing lyrics and a backand-forth beat marks a strong collaboration among the band members. “I Saw The Light” is another song that follows in the minimalist approach that the band hopes to master. It’s a song of simplicity, broken into two parts thanks to an unexpected change in drums. Unfortunately, the end result just feels like drummer Jim Eno seems to be suffering from a very apparent lack of craftsmanship.
Star’s felony puts dark cloud over ‘Two and a Half Men’ SCOTT COLLINS mcclatchy newspapers LOS ANGELES — Trouble and Charlie Sheen have never been strangers, but now the star’s felony rap could cause major headaches for his TV bosses. Sheen was charged Monday with felony menacing and two lesser counts in connection with a Christmas incident in which Aspen, Colo., police said he assaulted and threatened his wife. Sheen, out on bail, didn’t enter a plea and is due back for a court hearing March 15. If convicted, he could face three years behind bars. What does that mean for “Two and a Half Men,” the No. 1-rated sitcom that stars Sheen as a irredeemable cad? Well, probably nothing good. Insiders say that the producers can likely rejigger the remainder of this season’s production schedule while Sheen prepares his defense. But the long-term situation is much more uncertain. And uncertainty drives TV executives nuts when it comes to a cash cow like “Men.” The sitcom is TV’s most-watched, with an average of nearly 15 million viewers this season, according to the Nielsen Co. The situation is especially complex because the network and Warner Bros., which makes the show, have
banked so heavily on the series, in its seventh year, lasting at least through the 2011-12 TV season. “Men” over the years has become expensive to produce, in large part because of Sheen’s high salary. In 2008, a TV Guide survey ranked him the highest-paid actor on TV, making $825,000 per episode, or nearly $20 million per year. Warner Bros. sued CBS in 2008 for more than $49 million, claiming the network had failed to reimburse the studio as promised for deficits it had incurred making the show. The case was settled last year when CBS agreed to renew “Men” for three more seasons and also gave a multiyear pickup to “Big Bang Theory,” another Monday comedy produced by Chuck Lorre. However, that deal could end up going bust if Sheen winds up in prison or has to miss long blocks of production days because of trial prep. That means CBS will likely find itself in the unenviable position this May of announcing a fall schedule that relies heavily on “Men” without even knowing whether the star will be available. Through spokespersons, CBS and Warner declined to comment, as did Lorre via email. Sheen’s spokesman did not return a call and e-mail seeking comment.
If you like the obvious commercial sound of “Sister Jack,” then you will enjoy “Trouble Comes Running.” “Goodnight Laura” is the album’s slow ballad, the equivalent to “She’s Leaving Home” on the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” The track, both musically and lyrically, is well developed but seems problematic when juxtaposed to the album’s elementary writing results. “Out Go The Lights” continues the well-developed songwriting and provides an ending that is perhaps the second strongest track of the album. The guitar’s gentle run is a nice change from the album’s staccatos that consume nearly every track. Perhaps many fans are familiar with the next track, “Got Nuffin’,” which was released early. Along with the album’s lack of progression, this track again features the ever-consuming single-note droning that fatigues the song, but Britt’s vocals somewhat save
it. The album’s closing track “Nobody Gets Me But You” is nearly a rewrite of its song, “I Turned My Camera On.” It’s a good track, but it still shows a lack of innovation in the band’s now lost craft of songwriting. If you found Saves The Day’s “Under The Boards” enjoyable for a select number of tracks, but overall disappointing, then anticipate the same reaction to “Transference.” Its best bet in making it a decent entry into the band’s discography would be to eliminate some of the tracks and serve it up as an EP.
MATT CLARK -WUVT contributor (WUVT and the Collegiate Times are a part of EMCVT.)
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Spoon
“Wilco (The Album)” by Wilco Probably the group’s strongest release since “Yankee Foxtrot Hotel,” 2009 self-titled release shows Jeff Tweedy and company doing what they’re best at.
“Embryonic” by The Flaming Lips The band may be weird, but its never boring. The Flaming Lips’ latest combines its pop sensibility with whatever space themed circus is going on up in Wayne Coyne’s head.
“Team Dream” by Beach House The pop duo harness its atmospheric sound and received high praise for this January release.
Album: Transference Bottom Line: While some tracks keep the album afloat and even give it some life, overall Spoon’s most recent effort falls short of expectations.
‘Faces of America’ reveals family ties MATEA GOLD mcclatchy newspapers NEW YORK — When Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. started his latest genealogical project for PBS, which used historical archives and cutting-edge genetic research to trace the ancestry of a dozen famous Americans, he already had one hoped-for outcome in mind. “I wanted to pick someone who is Jewish and someone who is Muslim and pray we get the same result in their DNA,” he said. Sure enough, genetic testing revealed that director Mike Nichols, of Eastern European Jewish heritage, and surgeon and television host Mehmet Oz, the son of Turkish Muslim immigrants, had a common paternal ancestor thousands of years ago. “That is like affirming the story of Abraham,” Gates said delightedly. The finding is one of the discoveries featured in “Faces of America,” a fourpart series premiering Wednesday night on PBS. The spinoff of Gates’ series “African American Lives” seeks to tell the story of American immigration by unearthing the heritage of the likes of comedian Stephen Colbert, writer Louise Erdrich, actress Meryl Streep and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi. Producers relied on local genealogists as well as the extensive records
kept by the Mormon Church to ferret out birth certificates, land deeds and shipping manifests. But perhaps more powerful was the genetic road map in each subject’s DNA. With the help of some of the country’s top geneticists, Gates’ team used technology developed to determine genetic risk for disease to identify each person’s ethnic makeup. Technological advancements made in the last two years now allow scientists to capture the ancestry of each person’s great-grandparents, rather than just following a person’s maternal line and paternal line, said Anne Wojcicki, co-founder of the genetic testing firm 23andMe. That means distant cousins can be identified. In fact, 11 of the program’s subjects discover they are related. Aside from revealing intriguing family ties — including that director Nichols is related to Albert Einstein and that cellist Yo-Yo Ma and actress Eva Longoria Parker are distant cousins — the program uses the surprisingly entangled relationships to illustrate the interconnectedness of all Americans. “The message is really that at the heart of human biology and human genetics, our ancestry is all intertwined, and nowhere in the world is that clearer than in America,” said Mark Daly, senior associate member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Gates decided to do another ances-
try series after receiving thousands of letters from viewers in response to “African American Lives,” which aired on PBS in 2006 and 2008. While that program focused on tracing the lineage of black Americans, whose ancestors can be difficult to identify because of slavery, he said he was surprised by how many people of all backgrounds asked for help tracking down their forbears. “I thought, why not experiment and do something bold and try to do the rest of the world?” he said. He signed up his first subject at a dinner party at Harvard, where he was seated next to Ma, who said his family tree went back only to his great-grandfather. Gates’ team did much better than that. A Chinese professor who took on the challenge of researching Ma’s heritage visited the musician’s ancestral village and found the entire clan genealogy of Ma’s family, which had been hidden in a wall of a house during the Cultural Revolution so it wouldn’t be destroyed. After the bamboo papers were meticulously restored, researchers followed Ma’s lineage back 18 generations, to the year 1217. Oz discovered that a female relative in the 1850s was a member of the sultan’s harem in the Ottoman Empire. He was so taken by the findings — particularly his connection to Nichols, a personal friend — that he hired one of the researchers from the
series to keep digging. “The revelation gives the notion of ‘six degrees of separation’ a whole new meaning,” he wrote in an e-mail. Poet Elizabeth Alexander was stunned to learn that her family tree stretched back to Charlemagne and King John I of England on one side — and a 2-year-boy sold into slavery in Jamaica on the other. “I was shocked and ironically amused, because it’s not like I would jump up and down and say, ‘Fabulous, I’m a princess,’” she said. “There’s a reason that that heritage is one that was interrupted,andthatsignalssomething much darker.” “Faces of America” is Gates’ most high-profile project since he was embroiled last July in a heated national debate about race after he was arrested by a white police officer investigating a report of a break-in at Gates’ Cambridge, Mass., home. If there is a message from the series that could be extrapolated to that situation, the African American studies scholar wouldn’t say, declining to discuss the case. But he was unreservedly exuberant about the implications of the program for a broader understanding of American identity. “No matter what laws of segregation, the one thing that DNA shows is that when lights came down, we were all getting down,” Gates said. “We are all mulattos.”
opınıons 5
editor: debra houchins opinionseditor@collegiatetimes.com/540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES
february 10, 2010
The Collegiate Times is an independent student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903
Your Views [letter to the editor]
An open letter to all Tech fans
I
am writing to encourage all Virginia Tech fans to find creative — and “clean” — ways to express emotions at our sporting events. I am reacting to Thursday’s exciting win over the North Carolina Tar Heels in men’s basketball, a game where objects were thrown on the floor — something that is only supposed to happen at WVU. I thought the game was one of the most poorly officiated I have ever seen — call after call seemed to go against the Hokies — yet our players maintained their composure and came through with a must win. The game was so close that it could have easily swung the other way on a technical foul. Once something hits the floor, the next time it is an automatic “T” even if some creative fan
of the opposition is the perpetrator. All of us in the Hokie Nation are affected by whatever reputation we collectively earn, and up until now, that reputation has been pretty solid. Contrast it against WVU’s reputation as battery-throwing, couch burning fans. I think I prefer where we are, and I think most of you do too. Did the referees (particularly the one guy with hair) stink that night? Yep. Is it worth getting so frustrated that our actions could impact not only our reputation but also the outcome of a game in a season in which the team has a legitimate shot at the NCAA tournament? Nope. Someone knows who threw those objects last night. Please help get them on board.
Stephen Skripak associate dean for graduate programs
[student orgs]
T
he dictionary defines “education” as the “act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.” With that in mind, I am not sure how the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program has been able to keep the “E” in its name. The “general knowledge” the group imparts upon the public is based far more on myths and scare tactics than on factual evidence. The organization certainly does not encourage reasoning and judgment, instead relying on the students of the program to take everything presented to them at face value without even considering contrary scientific evidence. Nothing makes this farce clearer than DARE Chairman Skip Miller’s Jan. 28 column in the Los Angeles times titled, “Don’t Legalize Marijuana.” In the column, Mr. Miller makes several claims about the psychoactive drug, which have been hotly contested by both scientific and legal authorities, as if they were authoritative facts. While it is important to educate children about the dangers of drug use, the education should give an honest and balanced perspective as opposed to a presentation of unverified claims. The first claim Mr. Miller makes in the article is that legalization of marijuana in California would “almost certainly would bring with it additional substance abuse in the state.” There is much evidence to the contrary of that statement. According to the former Surgeon General Joyce Elders, marijuana use among teens actually dropped by more than 40 percent in the five years following the legalization of medical marijuana in California in 1996. Furthermore, when Portugal instituted a full-scale decriminalization of all drugs in the early 2000s, not only did aggregate drug use not increase, but there was an increase in people seeking treatment for their drug problems. The majority of 12th graders surveyed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Bethesda, Md., reported that legalization of marijuana would have very little impact on their personal habits regarding the drug. With all of this evidence, I wonder how Mr. Miller can make the claim that additional abuse would “almost certainly” happen. The chairman goes on to claim that the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the primary substance in marijuana) has quadrupled since the 1970s, thus making the drug
more dangerous. It should be noted that the samples taken by the Drug Enforcement Agency in 1977 to determine the THC content of marijuana were very small in number and not representative of the majority of the population. More reliable data from the early 1980s and beyond shows that marijuana potency has remained more or less constant for about thirty years. The claim that increases in THC make the drug more dangerous has never been scientifically substantiated. However, in 1994, Dr. Jack Henningfield from the National Institute of Drug Abuse made a chart that said THC as a whole is about as dangerous as caffeine and is less dangerous than both alcohol and nicotine. Other spurious claims made by the article include that marijuana is a “habit-forming drug,” and that the costs associated with legalizing marijuana are greater than the costs currently spent on enforcement of drug policy. I will let the readers research that information for themselves, as evidence to the contrary is easily accessible. However, my point is very clear. DARE often presents propaganda in order to scare children. There is a very dangerous consequence of doing this sort of thing, because it has the potential to raise skepticism in children. Once children realize their teachers are telling lies about marijuana, they might also assume that they were being lied to about other more dangerous drugs such as cocaine or heroin. Dishonesty can only work until children are old enough to start questioning authority. Another point should be raised: If DARE needs to resort to falsities in order to attempt to prevent marijuana use, why do they push said agenda in the first place? DARE as a program has been largely proven to be ineffective. In 2001, the Surgeon General reported that DARE “does not work.” Moreover, research by the Government Accountability Office determined that the program is often counter-productive. Nevertheless, the agenda of DARE is still pushed by schools and law enforcement agencies all over the country. While education is an imperative aspect of preventing drug and alcohol abuse, it is both ineffective and immoral to lie to children in order to do so.
Mark Goldstein president of Students for Sensible Drug Policy at Virginia Tech
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MCT CAMPUS
Pay more attention, reflect in the grocery store aisles A
s the first round of exams descends upon thousands of students, some of you may find yourself under obscene amounts of stress. You may find yourself twitching involuntarily, grinding your teeth in your sleep, smoking dozens of cigarettes, or even yelling at strangers simply to release some tension. Everyday tasks become perverse, torture-filled nightmares. Your mind will instantaneously flood with pure white rage in a fraction of the time it takes the person who bumped into you to say, “Excuse me.” Fear not dear reader, there is hope. In my extensive travels, I have found a Shangri-La that is as near to you as your local grocery store. In fact it is your local grocery store. Like any type of store, grocery stores are designed in such a way that presents their merchandise in the most visually appealing way. However, the grocery store has a significantly greater amount of merchandise and brands for sale than just about any other type of store. The grocery store provides a shelf space for several of the same products and allows you to choose. Which brand of potted meat will be your next meal? You decide. The decision of a particular product over another usually depends heavily on its price. Kroger-brand white bread sells for $.78, God bless America. But how does one decide when the price negligible? Will the can of baked beans with the familiar logo be victorious over the can with the retro, “I think this is a collectible” label? Once again it is your decision. As you stroll casually up and down
the carefully engineered and well spaced, precise aisles, just take a look at all of the labels aimed at attracting your attention — each one different and designed to sell the unique product underneath it. Every jar of spaghetti sauce or bottle of clam juice is screaming “BUY ME!” Beyond the pre-packaged food that is imported to the grocery store shelves, many stores prepare and sell their own food. The baked goods, fried chicken and potato salad, just to name a few, are some of the ready-toeat foods sold at grocery stores. While made in the store, these items have the taste and feel of being homemade. The idea of something being homemade or having a homemade flavor invokes a wide range of emotion on an even greater range of people. For instance, homemade barbecue ribs may remind someone of the Fourth of July picnic when her hair caught on fire and she was forced to wear a wig for the next six months — in which time she fell in love with a Panamanian carpet salesman named Fernando, only to have her heart broken when Fernando learned that his love was not naturally bald. And to somebody else, those same exact barbecue ribs may only recall thoughts of diarrhea. A much more common emotion, while as subtle as it may be, is the feeling of love attached to the grocery store’s homemade food. When most of us were young, we had someone older who cooked food for us. In the majority of cases, that older person also loved us. The next time you eat a store bought oven baked chicken,
you might think to yourself, “This is pretty good,” but subconsciously be reminded of your dear old mother with the nine lip rings and the inverted cross-cornea tattoos. Finally, the last aspect of the seemingly ordinary grocery store is the connection to nature. Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels ranted about how dehumanizing modern labor was because workers were separated from nature. The grocery store is the perfect example of the union between man and nature: natural products grown, produced, packaged, distributed and put on display thanks to man’s mastering of science. Food items from all over the world are brought to your local produce aisle just for you. This is more than the union of man in nature but a display of capitalism and the benefits of globalism. Your local grocer is more than just a place to buy food, it’s a place to relax and reflect. When the pressure of absolute failure engulfs your soul and you can see a life of abject poverty as clear as day before your eyes, take a walk down the soup aisle. Look at all the hard work that has been done for your benefit. Enjoy the attention that modern grocery stores dispense to its customers, and feel one with nature.
VINCENT GUIDA -regular columnist -ISE major -sophomore
A ‘ vatar’ critics show continuing religious intolerance in people S
uccess breeds contempt. No surprise, then, that when James Cameron’s “Avatar” broke through the $1.8 billion box-office record set by his earlier “Titanic,” public and critical adoration would be countered by naysayers. Most such comments hail from the political-cultural right, including claims that “Avatar” conveys “anti-military” and “pro-environmentalist” themes. Not that the far left remains quiet. Anti-smoking activists complain about Sigourney Weaver’s otherwise enlightened character continually “lighting up.” Like most artists, Cameron deals honestly rather than idealistically with characters. As with every person in real life, each of his has a flaw. This is hers, making Weaver’s heroine less a perfect role model but more an empathetic human. The film is hardly anti-military, though it does come out against exploitive use of independent mercenaries (rather than official forces) for purposes of imperialist exploitation rather than necessary national defense. The “pro-environmentalist” theme is present. But what’s wrong with that? Why do so many contemporary “conservatives” recoil in horror from principles of “conservation” when those two terms derive from the same word? This wasn’t always the case: former President George H.W. Bush proudly stated, “I’m a conservationist. Always have been. Always will be.” Another Republican president, Teddy Roosevelt, initiated our environmental policies. So if Disney’s “Pocahontas” (1995) were released today, would it likewise come under scrutiny for projecting the same supposedly “liberal” themes? Speaking of Disney, in its Florida resort area sits a 500-acre site called Animal Kingdom, a theme park dedicated to “nature and conservation.”
On its opening day, sign-wielding demonstrators from the left massed to complain that animals were exploited there. Yet this modern zoo and rehabilitation center for harmed beasts has no bars. Should those protesters now be replaced by rightists, angry about efforts made there to protect the natural world? The epicenter of Animal Kingdom is The Tree of Life, 14 stories high, 50 feet wide. Visitors resemble the indigenous blue creatures in “Avatar,” who gather around their own, similar tree. This brings up the most heated attack on “Avatar” — i.e., that Cameron’s film is “anti-religious.” Is there any truth to that? Actually, answering “yes” or “no” depends on how an individual defines the term “anti-religious.” Positive symbolic use of the tree does run directly against the grain of the Judeo–Christian Bible. Those anonymous figures who set down the moral fables of Genesis set out to reverse the meanings of pagan icons, which celebrated nature in general, the tree in particular. With roots burrowing down into the earth and leaves that reach toward Heaven above, the tree was worshipped as a natural bridge between here and there. But in the Garden of Eden, that vicious snake makes his home in the tree, slithering down to corrupt mankind through naive Eve. Just as that first woman was depicted as the weaker of the sexes by early Hebrews and modern religions derived from their teachings, so did pagan peoples — from the Druids to African nations to American Indians — perceive the female of the species as superior. In time, their beloved Mother Nature gave way to male sky gods such as Zeus and Yahweh. The Vatican newspaper L’osservatore Romano attacked “Avatar” owing to
its “spirituality linked to the worship of nature,” while Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi warned of the danger inherent in “turning nature into a new divinity.” But nothing could be older than such thinking! Does, “Avatar” then challenge biblical values? Absolutely. Does that mean AVATAR is “antireligious?” Only if one takes a tunnelvision approach — a bunker mentality which holds that an appealing portrait of anyone else’s religion constitutes an attack on one’s own. This is not unlike Fox newsman Britt Hume insisting that disgraced sports idol Tiger Woods should reject Buddhism and find Jesus. Likely, Hume knows a great deal about his own Christian religion and its ability to help. Clearly, he knows nothing about Buddhism, a legitimate alternative faith that can and has achieved precisely such positive ends for its true believers. Hume’s position is identical to that of critics complaining about “Avatar”: “If you don’t believe in my religion, then you aren’t religious.” This represents an intolerance that’s oppositional to the American attitude toward freedom of choice in religion that’s been the hallmark of our country’s greatness since its inception. According to one point of view, “Avatar” and Animal Kingdom are dangerous examples of popular culture. Yet if that’s so, then why do so many millions of Americans, the vast majority of them of Judeo-Christian heritage, dearly love Disney’s theme park and Cameron’s film — yet still diligently return to their synagogues and churches after visiting with no apparent harm done.
DOUGLAS BRODE -mcclatchy newspapers
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ACROSS 1 Struggle (through), as a tedious book 5 Leatherworking tools 9 Sheriff’s star 14 Incur additional cell phone charges, perhaps 15 Profound 16 Gonzalez in 2000 headlines 17 Nice retinue? 19 Mel, “The Velvet Fog” 20 Slob’s opposite 21 Nice nonpro? 23 Filmdom’s Lupino 24 ’Hood bud 25 Prefix with mom, coined after historic 2009 births 26 Nice keepsake? 30 Dying-out sound 32 Riddle 33 More apt to be picked 35 “Dropped” drug 38 Space bar neighbor on a PC 39 Nice stand? 41 Wall St. news 42 Spoil 43 “Thanks __!” 44 Old beaker heaters 46 Within: Pref. 48 Nice behind? 50 Actor Morales 52 Phillies’ div. 54 Tiny amount 55 Nice rubdown? 57 Played some jazz numbers, say 61 “__ be seeing things” 62 Nice walk? 64 Ship-finding acronym 65 Overhang 66 Folk singer Burl 67 Refuse 68 “__ in Rome ...” 69 Site of a Lincoln profile DOWN 1 Small songbird 2 Primo 3 Entered material
By Don Gagliardo
4 Eliciting feeling 5 Vikings running back Peterson who holds the NFL record for yards rushed in a single game 6 Unsound, as an argument 7 Relay race part 8 Asparagus unit 9 __ blocker 10 Umpteen 11 Privileged connection 12 Whole range 13 It began on viernes in 2010 18 Take in too little 22 One with a long face 24 Nice squad? 26 Cybertrash 27 “Return of the Jedi” greenskinned dancer 28 Govt. note issuer 29 “Dies __” 31 Full scholarship, e.g. 34 With 53-Down, French toon who would be right at home in this puzzle?
2/10/10 Tuesday’s Puzzle Solved
(c)2010 Tribune Media Services, Inc.
36 Have heated words 37 Two tablets, say 40 It doesn’t cover much of a 48-Across 45 Ill-fated vessel 47 Maxima maker 49 Cleanup hitters, briefly 50 Actor Jannings and pianist Gilels
2/10/10
51 South Pacific island nation 53 See 34-Down 56 Periodic table fig. 57 Peace symbol 58 Put away 59 “East of __” 60 Means of determining proficiency 63 Cheer syllable
sports 7
editors: joe crandley, alex jackson sportseditor@collegiatetimes.com/540.231.9865 COLLEGIATETIMES
february 10, 2010
Hokies hope to make Wolfpack roll over tonight in Raleigh MICHAEL BEALEY
ACC Standings
sports staff writer
TEAM
The Virginia Tech men’s basketball team hopes to accomplish something they have not done since Ronald Reagan was President — beat North Carolina State away from Cassell Coliseum. The Hokies (18-4, 5-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) are 2-6 against the Wolfpack (1410, 2-7 ACC) since joining the ACC and have not defeated them away from home since the 1983-84 season. Tech is also seeking its third straight ACC victory in less than a week after victories over North Carolina and Clemson. While the Hokies boast a 12-0 record at Cassell Coliseum this year, they have a 1-3 record against ACC opponents on the road. Their last ACC road game resulted in a loss to Miami on Jan. 31. “We’ve got eight games left and like I’m going to tell our guys now, those past eight games have nothing to do with the next eight,” said Tech head coach Seth Greenberg. “We’ve just got to try to continue to get better, and obviously we need to improve offensively. I don’t think we’re going to win too many more games where we shoot 15 percent in the first half.” NC State sits at the bottom of the ACC standings, but has dealt with its fair share of bad breaks in losing four of their last five games. Back on Jan. 3 against Florida, the Wolfpack lost on a 75-foot overtime buzzer-beater by Chandler Parsons. In their last game against Georgia Tech, NC State had two clean looks at the basket to either tie or beat the Yellow Jackets but could not hit either. “We shot the ball well (in their win against No. 6 Duke) and that has been a major problem here lately; just not making shots,” said NC State head coach Sidney Lowe. “I think the execution the guys have done a good job of … getting those looks and it’s just been unfortunate.” The Hokies are all too familiar with NC State’s late-game woes. Last season, Tech was 4-8 in games decided by four points or fewer. So far this season, however, the Hokies are 3-0 in those close contests. “I think once you win a couple of those, the kids have a sense that what they’re doing, and obviously ... your practice the next day is a little better,” Greenberg said. “The energy just in terms of their approach and how they feel about themselves is better. You feed off of that and it’s sure nice to be on the right end of
[
on the web Listen to the Coaches’ Lounge podcast with women’s basketball coach Beth Dunkenberger online at 7 p.m.
]
some of those. “You’ve got to be a little lucky and you’ve got to make some plays at the end of games. You got to get some stops and you’ve got to stop people from banking them in from half-court and everything else that has happened to us.” Last season, the Hokies and Wolfpack met once during the season at Cassell Coliseum. Jeff Allen scored 21 points and pulled down eight rebounds in Tech’s 91-87 overtime victory. NC State’s top-3 scorers from last year all graduated or entered the NBA Draft. The combination of Brandon Costner, Ben McCauley, and Courtney Fells contributed 37 points per game, or 50.7 percent of NC State’s offense.
CONF.
1 DUKE 2 MARYLAND 3 WAKE FOREST* 4 VIRGINIA TECH 5 VIRGINIA 6 FLORIDA STATE 7 GEORGIA TECH 8 CLEMSON 9 BOSTON COLLEGE* 10 NORTH CAROLINA 11 MIAMI 12 N.C. STATE
7-2 6-2 6-3 5-3 5-3 5-4 5-4 4-5 3-6 2-6 2-7 2-7
OVR.
19-4 16-6 16-5 18-4 14-7 17-6 17-6 16-7 12-11 13-10 16-7 14-10
*record does not reflect last night’s game
KELLY HARRIGAN/COLLEGIATE TIMES
This year, the Wolfpack looks to another experienced crowd to lead them in scoring. Junior forward Tracy Smith leads the Wolfpack with 17.6 points per game along with 8.3 rebounds per game. Smith hails from Mt. Zion Christian Academy in Durham, N.C., which has cultivated a number of NBA products including Tracy McGrady and Brandon Rush. Besides Smith, the Wolfpack rely on senior forward Dennis Horner, who adds length at 6 feet 9 inches tall. He also adds versatility, shooting 37.3 percent from three-point range. Junior guard Javier Gonzaelz also contributes 10.2 points per game and shoots 39.8 percent from downtown. “I like their team. I mean, Tracy Smith is a terrific low-post scorer,” Greenberg said. “I think they’ve got a number of guys around him that can make shots. Horner is always a tough matchup. Scott Wood, when he’s making shots ... seems like the game gives him really good speed. “I think they’re getting some contributions off the bench, so you’ve got to figure out how you’re going to guard their sets and how you’re going to defend the post.” This season, the Hokies have benefited as of late from the contributions of starters Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen. Delaney failed to register a field goal until early in the second half against Clemson. Nevertheless, he managed to knock down 20 of 23 free throws in the game en route to his third 30-point outing of the year. “Delaney could be one of the top guards in the country, no question about that,” Lowe said. “He just causes so many problems for you. Any guy that can score 30 points and get 20 of them from the free throw line as a guard is absolutely amazing. He certainly makes them go. “His ability to get to the free-throw line is a tough thing to deal with. Not only is he getting free shots, but he’s also putting a foul on your team, and he’s putting a foul on your players.” In his last two games, Allen recorded eight steals and earlier this season cracked the top10 in career steals at Tech, passing former teammate Deron Washington. “The biggest thing to me is for Jeff to enjoy playing,” Greenberg said. “When he’s enjoying playing, he’s doing things to help us win. “I think he’s in a really good place. I think he feels good about our team, and I think he’s proud of where we are and he’s excited about the potential of where we could be in the next four weeks.” Tech will look to make it three-straight ACC wins as they travel to NC State on Wednesday. HANNA TEACHEY/SPPS Tipoff is set for 9 p.m., and the game will be Tech junior guard Dorenzo Hudson elevates over a Clemson defender during Tech’s 76-71 victory Saturday afternoon in Cassell. televised on ESPN.
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february 10, 2010
page 8
Boys of summer a hit in Cape Cod League ED LUPIEN sports reporter
LUKE MASON/SPPS
Once the long and draining collegiate baseball season draws to a close, players must find other ways to keep their edge and maintain their playing state. Many join summer leagues, although few are fortunate enough to compete in the storied Cape Cod Baseball League, which has hosted a slew of future major leaguers since its inception more than 100 years ago. This past summer, six members of Tech’s baseball team — pitchers Justin Wright, Matthew Price, Jesse Hahn and Ben Rowen, as well as catcher Anthony Sosnoskie and first baseman Austin Wates, accepted invitations to play in what is known by many major league scouts as the best amateur baseball league in the country. Not only did they receive the opportunity to play alongside and against many of the best players in the country, several of the halfdozen Hokies stood out from the competition with their performances.
Hitting for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox at one point in the season, Wates led the league before finishing with a fourth-best .312 average. His performance produced numerous league accolades, including a midseason All-Star selection. Wates was also named the 15th best pro prospect in the league by Baseball America. “It’s always a pretty cool feeling just knowing that you’re doing that well against the best prospects in the nation,” Wates said. Price was also named a midseason All-Star, making three starts in 12 appearances for the Harwich Mariners and going 2-2 with one save and a 2.97 ERA. He struck out 34 batters in 36.1 innings of work. “I was a little intimidated when I first got out there, but I just reminded myself that I was facing the top prospects in the nation,” Price said. “If they get a hit, they get a hit. That’s why they’re the best. I tried not to put pressure on myself.” Fellow pitcher Jesse Hahn was perhaps the most scrutinized Hokie in the league, appearing in nine games as a reliever and going 1-1 with a 5.28 ERA and one save. He was ranked the eighth-best pro prospect in the league by Baseball America, who also declared him to be a first round draft pick in 2010. “It doesn’t mean that much to me,” Hahn said of the acknowledgements. “I know I
have high expectations right now and obviously it’s a good thing, but I’m not too worried about it right now.” Most players take playing in front of major league scouts in stride, asserting that the fans are the ones who provide the most pressure. “The most nerve-wrecking experience I’ve been a part of was pitching at Florida State with their 10,000 fans,” Price said. “Major league scouts are something you can get used to. The fans sometimes get under your skin.” Much like the major league personnel that pack the stands, the talent of the competitors also had little effect on the mindset of the Tech players, who treated every game like a part of their regular collegiate season. “I’m always going to go out there thinking I’m going to dominate,” Hahn said. “It was fun up there, and when you’re having fun, you’re confident.” “It’s definitely a good league, but I wouldn’t say it’s any different than playing in the ACC every weekend,” said Sosnoskie, who played alongside Price at Harwich. “You don’t get those midweek games out there, but it’s ACC-SEC baseball every day of the week.” Despite the lack of difference in the level of competition between the two leagues, the Cape Cod League is distinct in one major way — the usage of wooden bats in games. “It’s always an adjustment moving from aluminum to wood, but it’s something that
you need to learn how to do,” Sosnoskie said. When asked for a preference between the two types, most players quickly chose wood over the aluminum, which is typically used in college sports, citing knowledge of accuracy. “I know my swing’s going right when I’m using wood,” Sosnoskie said. “You can get away with some stuff when playing with aluminum bats.” “I like the feeling of a wood bat more when you hit it solid,” said Wates, who usually hits with wood bats in his free time. In Sosnoskie’s case, the playing time in the league was immeasurable simply because he was able to work more with Price and Wright, catching both pitchers in most of their outings. “It was good for me as a catcher to get to work with Price and Justin and to learn more about them as pitchers,” Sosnoskie said. “Hopefully, we can take that into this upcoming season and help us get outs.” But the catcher was also able to learn a lot about his collegiate teammates who he faced on opposing teams, most notably Wates. “I was definitely interested in trying to get Austin out and seeing how he adjusted to things we did,” Sosnoskie said. During their time in New England, perhaps the freshest experience for the players was what occurred off the field rather than on it. Each player stayed with a host family, sharing the household with three to four other players on the team. “It’s pretty new,” Price said. “It was really my first time going out there and living with a host family for a whole summer. It’s something I never experienced before and something I enjoyed. I lived with three other players in the same house so it was kind of fun. You always had someone to hang out with, and it added a sort of excitement to the day.” Some partakers in the league return to campus and the world of college baseball as changed men. Despite the potential occurrence of being rejoined by a slew of overly confident players, Tech head coach Pete Hughes ultimately sees the summer league as a positive. “You go to the summer league and you beat the wooden bat and this scout is saying this and this publication is saying that, you might start to think you’re better than you really are,” Hughes said. “Then, you have to go back to beating the metal bat, and it’s completely different. But, I’ve also seen the leagues take guys who are struggling with their confidence who then experience success against the best players in the country in the league, and they come back different. They still have the same stuff when they return, but they’re much more confident.”
look down.
pick up.