The Cauldron - Issue 15 by Steve Thomas

Opening Statements

Nobody Comes Close In League To Beating Softball

Page Three

The Cauldron Photo Spotlight: Springfest 2010…Page Six

Monday, May 3, 2010

The Melting Pot

Gay? Fine by Me By Lisa Sanchez

News

New Co-Ed National Honor Fraternity Colonizes CSU By Alexes Spencer

Arts & Entertainment

Pixel Perfect

U.S. Supreme Court takes on Video Games By Justin Brenis

SPORTS

Columbus Crew Beats Réal Salt Lake In Downpour By Robert Ivory

Page 13

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Issue 15 | FREE

Coventry Village:

A journey through the bohemian-chic neighborhood B y K risten M ott

Page two : Monday, May 3, 2010

Contents V olume 1 1 0 • I ssue 1 5

The Melting Pot

03 Opening Statements: 03 Review of Rate My Professors 04 IllumiNation: Oil covered birds the right price for offshore drilling? 04 Gay? Fine by Me 04 Last week, I was scolded for trying to overpay for coffee

News

05 Student Orgs Experience Problems with Conference Services 05 Weekly Events Calendar 05 New Co-Ed National Honor Fraternity Colonizes CSU 06 Photo Spotlight: Springfest 2010

Coventry Village:

A journey through the bohemian-chic neighborhood B y K risten M ott , T he C auldron C opy E ditor

Samantha Shunk Editor-In-Chief

Managing Editor Reid May

10 BioShock 2 This is why we can’t have nice things… 11 A New Hope Braving the frontier of independent gaming 11 Pixel Perfect U.S. Supreme Court takes on Video Games 12 Concert Picks

Advertising Manager Jayson Gerbec Copy Editor Kristen Mott Copy Editor Justin Brenis

Sports

News Editor Alexes Spencer

13 Nobody Comes Close In League To Beating Softball 13 Tennis Win HL Title, Tennis Win HL Title, Tennis Win HL Title!!! 14 Columbus Crew Beats Réal Salt Lake In Downpour

Sports Editor Rob Ivory

Arts & Entertainment Editor Jonathan D. Herzberger Layout Editor Steve Thomas Business Manager Anne Werner Student Media & Web Specialist Daniel Lenhart Faculty Advisor Dr. Rodger Govea

Mission Statement As Cleveland State University’s student run, managed, and operated alternative weekly paper, The Cauldron is dedicated to delivering information to the student and professional body of CSU; doing so without bias, without constraints, and without fear.

Home City Ice Co. Wa l t o n H i l l s , O h .

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Looking for Witnesses

On September 15, 2009 at approximately 8:50 a.m., a bicyclist traveling eastbound on Prospect Avenue at East 21st Street was hit and killed by the driver of a utility truck. The accident occurred at the southwest corner of Prospect Avenue and East 21st Street. If you witnessed this accident, please call (216) 696-3232.

Presenting news, entertainment, opinion and other media that originates organically from within the student body, our distinctive media will organically flow and adapt to suit that body’s needs. The Cauldron prints according to sound journalistic principles of accuracy, accountability, integrity, transparency and with a recognition of press freedom and student expression. The Cauldron shall remain a forum; maintaining a strong connection to the diverse campus community, regarding but not limited to Cleveland State University, the city of Cleveland, the United States, and the Global Community.

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The Melting Pot

This Week’s

Opening Statements

Monday, May 3, 2010

“As an English major, I feel that reading is important, and I don’t just mean reading that textbook for class”

By Samantha Shunk, The Cauldron Editor-in-Chief

Reading… You are obviously doing just that as you sit in that chair with The Cauldron in your hands or in front of the computer screen as you browse csucauldron.com. Although you are making an effort to read even just an article or two, there are other students who do not regularly read for pleasure. As an English major, I feel that reading is important, and I don’t just mean reading that textbook for class, unless you really like to read it. Reading for pleasure is important. It matters not so much what you choose to read; what matters is that you are reading. I know that in college with all the reading required for class it can be hard to find time to read for fun. It is way easier to just sit in front of the television after a long day of

Courtesy: guardian.co.uk

class and work, but reading will keep your brain sharp for years to come. And, it can be just as fun. Plus, there are no commercials! When I was in high school, my favorite teacher taught me the importance of reading for fun. Ms. Geisler assigned us all to read a certain amount of pages of books each quarter aside from our readings for classes; it may have been something like 50 pages each week. It really was not that much extra reading, but it did make everyone take some time out of busy schedules to read something they enjoyed. By reading, vocabularies are expanded, empathy can be gained, and it is just a time to get away from the stress of life as a college student. There is so much to be gained from reading that it seems silly that some people choose not to

read at all. There are even students that admit to not reading even for their classes and being satisfied with just passing. I guess that is their prerogative, but it seems kind of sad that people do not care about gaining the education as much as passing the classes and getting the degree. I guess all my peers do not feel that the actual learning that goes on in college is what is important. Some people just want to basically pay for the degree and do the least amount of work possible. Now back to reading for fun. Just do it! It is important to make time for oneself, and reading can be that time, so try it out, or join a book club so you can feel like you are making friends while reading. Most importantly, read and enjoy it.

Review of Rate My Professors By Erin Leonard, The Cauldron Contributing Writer The internet has changed communication dramatically over the past 15 years, making mass media more interactive and information reporting more collaborative than ever. What trade magazines did in the early 1990s, rating sites do for us today. If I wanted help deciding which vacuum to buy in 1991, I would have had to check out the latest Consumer Report edition at my local library. Today, I can search for user reviews online from my computer. The internet is full of user review sites; rating everything from books and doctors to hotels (I’m an avid hotels.com user myself). But one site every student should know about is RateMyProfesors.com. RateMyProfessors.com (RMP) is an online database of user-generated reviews of over 1 million professors teaching in over 6,000 schools in the United States, Canada, Scotland, Wales and England. I first heard about RMP from another Cleveland State University student this semester and decided to check it out myself. After typing in the address, the first thing I noticed was that the site was slow to load—not exactly a ‘deal breaker’ though. When the homepage finally did load, I felt like I had entered a secret club. From there I was able to search for my current professors’ ratings. Ratings were divided into four categories: overall quality, helpfulness, clarity and easiness. Individual ratings also listed another category called interest, in which the student reported their interest level in the subject being taught. All ratings are based on a scale of one to five (one being the worst and five being the best). RMP provides a university professor average. The average of all 941 professors reported for Cleveland State University is a 3.25. Knowing this figure can be a helpful tool to evaluate a CSU professor in seeing how he or she stacks up against the school average.

However, using the university score by itself is not a good idea. I checked out Yale University and Harvard University expecting to find higher ratings, but actually found them to have scores of 2.59 and 2.95, respectively. I believe the Harvard and Yale ratings are lower than CSU because the average easiness scores (one of the four contributing ratings) may be lower than CSU. This made me question whether easiness should even be rated. While the ratings are helpful, I found the comments listed by students to be even more helpful. Most of the time, they were ‘right on’—whether good or bad. I found myself saying, “Omg! That’s so true!” All comments are subject to review and raters are warned when making posts with this phrase: “Ratings are reviewed for inappropriateness and libel.” RateMyProfessors.com also gives professors the opportunity to rebuke any comment made by a student. MTV University, the college web site of MTV, even does mini videos linked from RateMyProfessors.com website called “professors strike back.” Finding out your current professors’ ratings is a great way to satisfy curiosity. It can also be a useful tool when making scheduling decisions. I asked Christian Wolff, a senior at CSU, about his use of RateMyProfessors.com. He said that he was an avid user of RMP and would make his class schedules around reviews when multiple sections of a class were offered. “College costs way too much money to get stuck with someone you can’t stand for weeks at a time,” Christian said. However, Luisana Rojas, a senior at CSU, does not schedule her classes based on RMP reviews. At the beginning of the spring 2010 semester, she found herself deciding whether to schedule a class in which the professor had a very low RMP rating and multiple bad comments. “A lot of people

told me to drop this class, but I’m fine with him,” said Rojas. “RateMyProfessors.com at times is on point. But other times it’s a bad way to judge people.” RateMyProfessors.com has plenty of advantages. But there are some serious (and not so serious) issues with the site. The first directly ties back to a good thing about the site: anyone can post a comment. This is an essential feature and responsible for the growth of RMP. Since 1999, the site has generated over 6.8 million student reviews! However, the most conscientious student and the biggest slacker can make comments that have the same weight on a professor’s rating. Comments posted by students could be unsubstantiated, or worse, completely false. Another downfall is that the average teacher—not superb, nor horrible—has relatively few posts. For example, a high scoring professor (4.7 out of five) in CSU’s School of Communication had 48 reviews. In the same school, a low scoring professor (2.3 out of five) received 37 reviews. However, one communication professor that had the same rating as CSU’s overall professor rating (3.25) had only five reviews! My advice about RateMyProfessors.com: use it like you would use Wikipedia—as a good starting point, but not the final say. RMP does not replace talking to advisors and other students who have already taken the class before making scheduling decisions. Stay skeptical and remember that you may have to ‘suck it up’ and take a class taught by a professor you won’t like. That’s okay, it will probably be a good learning experience. Want to become a RateMyProfessors.com junkie? RMP offers iPhone applications, forums and RSS feeds to get you started.

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IllumiNation: Oil covered birds the right price for offshore drilling? By Reid May, The Cauldron Managing Editor

In early April, President Obama announced plans to pursue expansion plans for offshore oil drilling, attributing the difficult decision to the need to stimulate economic growth and job production, while keeping businesses competitive. However, the price for such additional drilling continues to come into focus this week as a massive rig accident is sending about 1.6 million gallons of oil oozing toward the shore of southern Louisiana and the rich wetland area the in the Gulf of Mexico, according to CNN. On Friday, the first oil-covered bird was found offshore. This bird, described by Louisiana news station WLFI as a young northern gannet, is normally white with a yellow head and long pointed beak. On Friday, the animal was covered in black oil. The diligent workers at Tri-State Bird Search and Rescue will now work to clean the bird with dawn dishwashing soap, clear its eyes with eye drops give it doses of PeptoBismol to help with any ingested oil.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard and the State of Louisiana are working diligently to divert water from the Mississippi river to flush the approaching oil masses out of the wetlands. WLFI cited the National Weather Service predicting high winds and tides, which will push the oil deep into ponds, lakes and inlets, which line the coast of the state. Obviously, this is an enormous problem for the United States and for independent oil companies, which are the groups ultimately responsible for the fate of their rigs, their ships and their oil. It cannot be acceptable that accidents like this occur. Given the times, our advances in technology and our new discoveries of alternative fuels—these types of life-altering events should never be a topic of discussion. Yet, we see this problem occurring all over the world. Recently, a Chinese oil tanker ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef (a pretty big thing to forget about) and has slowly been leaking oil into the most sacred aquatic habitat in the world.

Gay? Fine by Me By Lisa Sanchez, The Cauldron Staff Writer

A few weeks ago was Day of Silence (April 16), a day to remember members of the gay community who had been killed due to hate crimes. This day is marked by participants pledging silence for the entire day, to commemorate those whose voices were silenced, but not forgotten. This is a solemn day that should at the very least be acknowledged as valid to participants, and therefore should be respected. Sadly, this does not seem to be the case at our Cleveland State University home. Many participants in Day of Silence were harassed openly, either by being called derogatory names, by being followed and leered at, or in the most shocking instance I’ve heard of, being threatened physically. All of these instances raise a much needed question: why is this an issue? I personally participated in Day of Silence and had no overt confrontations. However, after hearing the problems some of my friends encountered, I was forced to reflect on why nothing had happened to me. Was it because I am a smaller girl? Was it because I wasn’t wearing duct tape over my mouth like some of the other participants? Or, was it simply because during that day, I was surrounded by friends to protect me? Sadly, this is the only conclusion I could come up with. The idea that I didn’t get harassed because I’m not gay didn’t cross my mind, because to my knowledge, a technology to detect sexual orientation has not yet been invented. So, I’m forced to ask once again, in more specific terms, why are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students more likely to get harassed on CSU property? Perhaps it is because that none of these people are protected under CSU’s discrimination policy. I would hate to think that this is a reflection of a larger problem in society, considering the gay population accounts for 8.8 million people living in the U.S. Granted, this may sound like a small

figure, considering it’s less than 3 percent of the U.S. population. However, the gay community outnumbers both the Jewish and Muslim community in the U.S. (6.5 million and 5.2 million respectively). This is not to say that gay people should be more respected or protected than Jewish or Muslim people, the numbers are just to demonstrate the population as a whole. The difference is, religious persecution is strictly prohibited by CSU. Granted, last time I checked being gay was not a religion (although I’m sure it would be a fun one), but the principle remains the same. Gay and transgender people deserve the same amount of respect as anyone else. I feel very silly writing that in a college paper. I’m not sure that is a difficult concept to grasp, but sadly it sometimes seems that way. Going back to my thought about not getting harassed on Day of Silence, I was fortunate to have my friends supporting me. In light of this, I think of those individuals who harassed participants of Day of Silence when they were alone. What a faceless coward one must be to provoke anyone based on their sexuality. The greatest insult is, those people would do so on a day that is specified to commemorate those who paid the ultimate price for hate crime violence. However, there is always a silver lining. That silver lining is that the vast majority of students and staff supported participants in Day of Silence, and even those who may not have approved didn’t say anything. Want to know why? Because it doesn’t affect them, and they at least have enough sense to realize that. Another good point in all of this is, none of the people provoked by hate responded to it. They all kept their oath to be silent in memory of those who lost their lives to violence. Those people who retained their passivity in the face of violence, those are the true people who should be given respect. Hopefully, I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Now this disaster in the Gulf, which has been ongoing since the sinking of the rig on April 22, threatens to become the worse oil disaster since the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska, 20 years ago, according to CNN. All this only just after our President announces a plan to increase offshore drilling. Something about this just does not sound right. If the government wants to increase the competitiveness of the United States, why not invest in new technology and new energy. Despite all the conversation in recent years regarding new fuel sources, little has actually been done to take hold of new methods. Our car companies still make vehicles that are mostly reliant on gasoline. Yes, hybrid models are becoming more popular, but the full on initiative that is necessary for success just is not present yet. This massive disaster should be viewed as a wake-up call to those advocating for additional offshore drilling, so more problems can be prevented in the future.

Last week, I was scolded for trying to overpay for coffee By Reid May, The Cauldron Managing Editor

Last week I was in the Fenn Shoppe acquiring a cup of coffee before my first class of the day. In an effort to be sustainable, cost effective and consider the environment, I took a reusable thermos with me. Naturally, this effort was not without complications. My thermos is about one and a half times the size of the coffee cups that come standard issue with a meal swipe. Since there is no accurate way to fill the thermos up to the equivalent level without wasting a coffee cup as a measuring device, I arrived at what I considered a logical conclusion. I asked the young woman at the Fenn Shoppe subtract two of my swipes. This is nothing new. Customers use multiple meal swipes at once all the time. Many shoppers use a second swipe to increase the size of their sandwich (from six-inch to foot long), and get an extra beverage and side as well. What I was really asking for was two cups of coffee and a raspberry pastry for two swipes. I had not even attempted to take a second pastry, nor either piece of fruit that my two meal swipes entitled me to acquire. You would never know that I had just tried to overpay. In fact, it seems my actions were akin to theft of the cash register. I cannot see the problem here. Everything I did helped dining services. Instead of using two of their cups and generating more waste for their trashcans, I brought my own thermos, which I would have taken with me, washed and returned with the next day. There was no malicious attempt to sneak an entire thermos of coffee on one meal swipe—instead I paid too much. Let us break down the cost of my breakfast. The meal plan I possess costs $1,775 dollars per semester and provides 240 meals and $200 dining dollars. To analyze the cost of one meal swipe, I will take the overall plan cost to $1,575 dollars and eliminate the dining dollars from consideration. Now, divide the new cost of the plan by the meals provided ($1,575 / 240) and we get $6.56 per meal swipe. That is not a lot of money, and clearly if we were talking about two scoops of caviar, an extra glass of champagne or even a can of delicious Mexican peanuts, the policy of dining services would be completely understandable. However, in this situation, we have a problem. What I tried to do was pay $13.12 for a large cup of coffee and a pastry. Anyone who has ever gone to the supermarket knows that coffee is available for approximately one nickel and the lint in your back pocket while a George Washington (dollar) or two should supply that pastry. According to the Caribou Coffee Company, which supplies Fenn Shoppe’s coffee, a one-pound bag of the Daybreak Blend (the blend I was seeking on the morning of the incident) is $12.99. One-pound is Continued on Page 12

News

Monday, May 3, 2010 Courtesy: cckitcentre.org.sg

Student Orgs Experience Problems with Conference Services

By Kristen Mott, The Cauldron Copy Editor With more than 200 student organizations on the wasn’t functional for what she needed. She said that she CSU campus, it is often difficult to coordinate all of their continued trying to work with them but “after 10 minutes of activities. Organizations are constantly arranging meetings telling them what I wanted, they told me to fill out a form.” or setting up events. The task to handle all of these demands Taylor-Wilson commented that Single-Parent Student Network, another student organization that she is involved is left up to Conference Services. Conference Services works to provide facilities for with, has had “plenty of issues with them, from mix-ups meetings and events. In addition to handling requests from with days and times to rooms still being locked when we student organizations on campus, Conference Services arrived to setup.” Kelli Stilgenbauer, secretary of GLASA, also mentioned works with businesses and non-profit organizations to provide meeting space. that rooms have been locked for their organization. In order for a student organization to reserve a room, the However, this was due to a problem with campus security, group must fill out a request form a minimum of 15 days so it seems that Conference Services is not the only group prior to the event. Sasha Clarke, an employee of Conference to blame. Clarke pointed out that most of the problems occur Services, notes that the organization must receive approval from the respective department to use the facility. when student organizations fail to get a confirmation for A section for equipment request and preferred room the room they requested. She said that Conference Services setup is included on the form. Dining options are also tries to ensure that any equipment is set up properly and all included on the form, but Clarke points out that the doors are unlocked. “We do a good job of making sure the students get what they want,” Clarke said. organization must contact Catering services separately. If a group needs to cancel their request for a room, they Although this sounds like an effective system, members of student organizations have recently mentioned problems must do so within three days before the event in order to not be held financially responsible. Clarke said that if there in dealing with Conference Services. Ramona Taylor-Wilson, president of Students Today, are any issues with the room when the students arrive, they Alumni Tomorrow (STAT), said, “My personal experiences should immediately contact Conference Services. with them [Conference Services] have been bittersweet.” Amongst the problems, there were still some positive When reserving a room, she said she has been “bumped words toward Conference Services. Taylor-Wilson said that from rooms before within a week of the event” and noticed the room was always set up properly and she said the food that there were sometimes issues with technical setup. was “always like we wanted and priced reasonably.” Jess Walsh, a member of Chi Delta Epsilon, had a As to how to fix current problems, Walsh offers the similar difficult experience. She claimed that the forms were solution of “having Conference Services tell me the rooms confusing to fill out, so she decided to call them instead. they have open in advance.” Clarity of the forms and Walsh said that she explained to them what she was looking increased communication were also cited as ways to reduce for and they offered her one of the art history rooms, which issues. Photography by Holly Jackson

New Co-Ed National Honor Fraternity Colonizes CSU By Alexes Spencer, The Cauldron News Editor

Phi Sigma Pi colonized Cleveland State University on April 21. Fraternity members celebrated their colonization by planting a tree on Earth Day between the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and the Nance College of Business. Starting a CSU chapter of Phi Sigma Phi took over eight weeks, says chapter president Holly Jackson. During this time, founding members worked to memorize the greek alphabet and to learn the history, mission, and ideals of Phi Sigma Pi. All members were then required to pass a mandatory national exam. “[Member] Ayanna Wilson aced it, and collectively we averaged 96.2% out of 100,” Jackson said. The day after colonization, members planted two trees purchased from Pettiti’s in Strongsville. Jackson said that they did this to promote CSU’s efforts in sustainability in addition to celebrating Earth Day. The fraternity plans on continuing this as an annual tradition. Currently, Phi Sigma Pi has 12 members at CSU including Jackson. To join, students must have at least a 3.00 GPA upon completing at least one semester of college work. Jackson stresses that Phi Sigma Pi is not a social fraternity, and members of other Greek Life organizations are therefore welcome to learn more

W eekly E vents C alendar 5/4 - “Is Belief in God Rational or Irrational?” in MC 134 @ 4 p.m. - Zeta Phi Beta Bake Sale in MC Atrium from 12-2 p.m. 5/5 - The Vindicator 40th Anniversary Celebration in MC 101 from 11 a.m - 3 p.m. 5/6 - Phi Sigma Pi Luau in MC Atrium from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. 5/7 - Viking Expeditions Meeting in MC 134 from 3:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. - Elements Wine Tasting @ 5:30. $40 per person. - SGA Meeting at Rooftop Garden from 5 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 5/8 - Greek Awards Banquet in CE 102 @ 7 p.m. Weeklong Events: Live More, Spend Less in MC Atrium from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. (Only Wed-Fri)

about the fraternity or join themselves. According to Jackson, the fraternity stands for scholarship, leadership and fellowship. “Our purpose is to bring together some of the brightest and most motivated students on campus and work together in a spirit of excellence to encourage three ideals,” Jackson said. As a part of their national and local philanthropy, they will work with Teach for America. A National co-ed honor fraternity, Phi Sigma Pi was founded in 1916 in Missouri. According to the Phi Sigma Pi Web site, the fraternity became a national fraternity in 1921. The fraternity became co-educational in 1977. CSU’s Phi Sigma Pi chapter will receive their Official Founding Charter at a ceremony at the fraternity’s national convention this August in Harrisburg, Penn. Members will also work in conjunction with SGA, Operation Smile and STAT to hold their 1st Annual Luau in the MC Atrium on May 6 from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. For more information on Phi Sigma Pi, visit www. phisigmapi.org. To contact the CSU chapter, e-mail initiate advisor, Kelly Bray or recruitment advisor, Josh Malek at psp.csu@live.com.

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Photo Spotlight: Springfest 2010 Photography by Samantha Shunk

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Coventry Village: A journey throug By Kristen Mott, The Cauldron Copy Editor

Photography by Kristen Mott

Monday, May 3, 2010 : Page nine

gh the bohemian-chic neighborhood

egin walking down this road and you’ll encounter Mohawks, skateboards, students from local universities, artists, and patrons dressed in tiedye shirts. No, you haven’t been teleported back to the 1960s; instead, you’ve found yourself in Coventry Village. Coventry Village is located in Cleveland Heights between Mayfield Road and Euclid Heights Blvd. Located just 15 minutes from the CSU campus, a short car ride or bus trip will take you to this art-centric neighborhood. Coventry traces its roots back to 1919 when the Heights Theatre was built. Soon after, businesses began to grow, and by 1922 Coventry was filled with banks, restaurants and retail stores. The neighborhood has attracted many different groups throughout its history. In the 1940s and 1950s it was home to a flourishing community of Jewish immigrants. In the 1960s, it attracted hippies and members of the counterculture. Although it has evolved since then, the area still holds on to its free spirit and bohemian influence. Today, Coventry is home to more than 50 independent businesses, restaurants and retail stores. The neighborhood has become a destination of local college students and shoppers looking to find unique items. One of the staple businesses in Coventry is Tommy’s, a restaurant which specializes in vegetarian and vegan cuisine. Tommy Fello, the owner, began Tommy’s back in 1972. The business was originally a 7-seat soda fountain in a beverage store and became a full-blown restaurant in 1978. Fello said that he began the venture by himself: paying the bills, cooking, cashiering and cleaning. Due to this, Fello notes, “What makes us unique is that practically our whole menu was created by customers.” The initial customers would order the same vegetarian meals each time, so Fello said that he would remember their orders by writing down their names or initials. These names still appear on the menu today. Tommy’s is known for its vegan and vegetarian choices. From falafels to homemade peanut butter to vegan cookies, there is something on the menu for everybody. Their acclaimed milkshakes are a delicious treat and were even voted “Best Milkshake East of the Mississippi” by Rolling Stone magazine. “Everyone in a family, regardless of whether they are omnivores, vegans, macro-biotics, or vegetarians, can sit down to a meal at the same table and have a rewarding dining experience,” Fello said. If the vegetarian lifestyle isn’t for you, Coventry boasts many other dining options. For Asian cuisine, you can find Japanese food at Pacific East, Chinese entrees at Hunan Coventry, and a mixture of Japanese, Korean and Thai options at Tree Country Bistro. BD’s Mongolian Barbeque provides stir fry selections that are cooked right in front of you with metal “swords.” For the all-American customer, sandwiches and wraps can be found at Jimmy John’s and Dave’s Cosmic Subs, as well as pizza at Guy’s Pizza Co. In addition to restaurants, Coventry has a wide array of local independent retail stores. A fan favorite is Big Fun, a toy store that has been open for 20 years. Steve Presser said that he has been a toy collector all his life, and decided to open his own store after visiting an exceptional toy store in Chicago. Presser said he chose to open his business in Coventry because, “Coventry Village was the right vibe, the right neighborhood, and the right eclectic mix that I wanted.” Presser’s motto for Big Fun is “Come Shopping, Leave Smiling,” which is hard not to do upon entering the store. Big Fun is home to pop culture memorabilia, collectibles, oldschool video game consoles, comic books, action figures, and so much more. The store is constantly changing and acquiring new products. “You can find things here that you can’t find anywhere else,” Presser comments. Animal lovers will want to visit Coventry Cats. Founded in 1988, the store began selling cat items and soon added cat food,

collars and toys. The store eventually added a “Canine Corner” in 1996 which included dog items. The store currently sells catthemed mugs and jewelry, animal furniture, dog clothes, and many similar items to keep your pets happy. Music-aficionados will be immediately drawn to Record Revolution. The store, which opened in 1968, was a favorite of hippies and punk rockers. Many rock stars have visited and autographed the walls, including members of Led Zeppelin, The Who, and Bruce Springsteen. Record Revolution is one of the few music stores left that still sells vinyl records, in addition to posters and T-shirts of bands such as The Beatles and The Ramones. After browsing the store, walk on down to The Grog Shop and the B-Side Liquor Lounge, where talented bands are always playing live shows. Mac’s Backs is the neighborhood’s new and used bookstore. Jim McSherry and Suzanne DeGaetano opened the Coventry location in 1982. The store features three floors of books and magazines open for browsing. The store also hosts book signings, a monthly book club, and a monthly poetry reading. DeGaetano said the monthly poetry reading “has been ongoing for over 25 years and features local and regional poets, followed by an open mic.” DeGaetano recognizes the importance of local businesses and how strongly Coventry supports that sentiment. “The businesses here encourage a buy local ethic and we are lucky to be a part of a community that understands the importance of supporting local institutions,” DeGaetano said. City Buddha and Passport to Peru highlight treasures from around the world. City Buddha was opened by Larry Collins in 1998 after a trip to the Far East. The store has an assortment of handmade earrings from Indonesia, statues of Buddha, grass handbags from Ata, and mosaic tile bowls. Similarly, incense, moccasins, dream catchers, and bohemian style clothing can all be found across the street in Passport to Peru. The north end of the street has become the spot for clothing stores. Blush Boutique is easily recognizable by its pastel pink storefront. The boutique sells colorful scarves, screen printed T-shirts and silk dresses. Across the street is American Apparel, which specializes in cotton tees, spandex leotards, and sequined dresses. The products are made entirely in America and are sweatshop free. Coventry provides a variety of services as well. Crazy Mullets and the Laura Lee Salon offer haircuts for an affordable price. While in town, you can pick up tools from Heights Hardware, the oldest business on Coventry Road, or do some dry cleaning at Heights Cleaners. Coventry Village has worked to improve itself over the past years. The Coventry Village Special Improvement District has worked with Heights Arts, a non-profit organization that brings public art to Cleveland Heights, to provide intricate and artsy benches, fences and signs that adorn the street. A parking garage was added several years ago and the Coventry P.E.A.C.E Park was recently completed. Heights Arts worked with artist Barry Gunderson to create the Coventry Arch which marks the entrance to the park. Each summer, Coventry also hosts a Street Arts Fair. The fair brings in local vendors, artists and street performers who work together to create a celebration of art and music. After the fair, a movie night is usually held in the park, along with music from local bands. The fair will be held this year on June 17 and July 15. What makes Coventry so impressive is that all the store owners are passionate about their businesses and the neighborhood. They all work together to attract customers and make the area a friendly neighborhood. Being local businesses means they can give back to the community and support other local artists and merchants. DeGaetano observes this by adding, “Coventry is unique; you will not find this mix of shops in any other place in the world. It is important that people recognize and support that uniqueness.”

Arts&Entertainment

Monday, May 3, 2010

“if the first game wasn’t for you, nothing about this return to Rapture is going to change your mind, so FRY IT.”

BioShock 2 This is why we can’t have nice things… By Justin Brenis, The Cauldron Copy Editor Who would have thought that a place called “Rapture” could possibly become mundane and boring? I know I certainly hadn’t, but somehow 2K managed to make it possible in their newest return to Andrew Ryan’s underwater dystopia, BioShock 2. If you haven’t played or beaten the first game (and plan to in the near future), would you kindly just avoid this review altogether? There really isn’t any fair way to review this game without discussing major spoilers from the first, much like the one in the previous sentence…didn’t catch it? Then this review isn’t for you. So, when the game begins we find ourselves in the large, metallic boots of one of the original test subjects for the Big Daddy program, named Delta. Assumedly right before the fall from grace that Rapture inevitably suffers, we are found protecting our dear Little Sister when suddenly you are attacked by a group of Splicers who manage to separate you from you Little Sister long enough that a mysterious woman gets the jump on you. Using the Hypnotize plasmid, and claiming your Little Sister is actually her daughter, who she feels you kidnapped, she forces you to place a gun to your head… and well, generally that doesn’t end with flowers and rainbows. (Editor’s note: there are in fact, no rainbows) You mysteriously awaken well after the events of the first game, and clearly things have changed significantly. That mysterious woman who forcefully acquainted you with the business end of a pistol, one Sophia Lamb, seems to have become the person in charge. As it turns out she was brought to Rapture, much to the dismay of Andrew Ryan, because the multitalented populace began to suffer duress in their underwater Utopia and needed the leading doctor in the field of psychological medicine. It wasn’t long before she began a political uprising, and once Ryan was no more, she easily assumed control, deciding it was her destiny to rebirth Rapture. Enter the Big Sister, essentially a series of more agile (and deadly) female Big Daddies, who she has sent to the surface to kidnap any young girl foolish enough to stand too close to the shoreline without proper supervision, thus turning them into new Little Sisters. So why the abnormally long synopsis? Mostly because outside of the semi-unique plot, there isn’t a whole lot else I can find to say about BioShock 2. The main campaign sort of felt like the sequel that never needed to exist. Perhaps I am biased because I found the first BioShock to be one of the greatest experiences I have ever had with a video game controller, at least in the First-Person Shooter (FPS) genre. Rapture was a new, vibrant world, with a handful of good scares around every turn. Even

Courtesy: forums.3dtotal.com

the Splicers, the basic enemy fodder, the Big Daddies and the Little Sisters felt like they would go down in gaming history as some of the most uniquely frightening enemies and most disturbing moral choices, respectively. Then comes BioShock 2, a game that I feel came to be mostly because, like most successful franchises, it was easier to ride the wave of profit than to actually consider the need for another game. Yes, the concept IS cool, after spending hours fighting Big Daddies in the first game, the idea of getting to BE one seems awesome. However, at no point during the game do you really FEEL like a Big Daddy. Despite having a hand that interchangeably swaps from drill to various other painful weapons, you are seemingly too vulnerable when paired up against other Big Daddies in the game. Now, some may argue that this is because you are one of the original prototype Big Daddies and therefore lack the same upgrades that the newer models have, but I feel like while the game may have tried to humanize the Big Daddies through Delta, he ended up very much being the same guy from the first game, just with a more advanced arsenal at his disposal. The other problem I had with being a Big Daddy, on the flip side, is that while he seemed too humanely vulnerable, his massive presence, and ability to toss Splicers around like ragdolls sort of neutered the entire fear-packed experience Rapture is, or rather was, known for. I guess what I am trying to get at is a better balance could have been struck in the end. I know the developers at 2K didn’t want you to be an unstoppable force, and that the plot deals a lot with the what it means to be human and how much of that can honestly be taken away from you, but the scale ends up flipping so wildly back and forth between the two extremes that it’s a very awkward experience to try to engage. Especially where the last game you fit so fluidly into the protagonist’s shoes. Along these same lines is my problem with Rapture as an environment. The first time around, Rapture gave off a particularly endless feel, and the scenery felt like nothing I had ever seen before, an interesting mix of late-1950s Art Deco and steam-punk futuristic. This time around though, I was left wholly unimpressed. Yes, you get to visit new areas of Rapture you have never seen, and yes you get to walk outside underwater (which gives off the most frightening feeling of being alone the game offers), but there was a familiar, boredom-laced sense of “seen it” during my entire stay there. I think a large part of this was the emphatically linear approach the game decided to take by placing

the transition between stages along the previously undiscovered Rapture train line. You get off the train, rampage through stop A, find the leader, decide to kill them or not, re-board the train, go to Stop B, lather, rinse and repeat. The closest you get to an unexpected change from this happens in the last stage, signaling an obvious (and disappointingly short, mind you) end to your train ride through Rapture’s countryside. Finally, the one thing that I was left ultra-sensitive to the entire time, was the question of who exactly I could or couldn’t trust. Obviously, after the way the first game ended, anyone who has played it would be wary of who exactly they agree to help and listen to the second time around. With Atlas out of the way, you are introduced by Dr. Tenenbaum to a man named Sinclair, who, riding comfortably in the back of the train the whole time asks you to do this, that and the other. You do it, with only a modicum of flexible choice…which I exercised at any chance to prove that while I may have blindly obeyed the first time around I would sooner give Mr. Sinclair a swift “would you kindly” that he wouldn’t soon forget. The downside to this though was while it left an element of suspense concerning if I would be betrayed, it made me overly cautious of my actions while I was playing, and this constant guessing game of if I was being manipulated or not pulled me out of the experience on more than one occasion. In the end though, I certainly can’t fault 2K for choosing not to repeat the same old song and dance in every instance. So, with all that considered, what exactly are we left with as gamers? For lack of a better pun, it feels very much like an old, watered-down BioShock experience. I don’t necessarily think this is the fault of the game however, so much as it is the fault of the people who made it. Not EVERY successful game absolutely needs a sequel…if you disagree I would gladly suggest you give Final Fantasy X-2 a spin and then get back to me. Sometimes a game’s success is because there is nothing else like it out there, and trying to create an experience worthy of continuing that game is almost a self-defeating prophecy. To be fair though, it is worth mentioning that despite its lack of originality, this is still a true to form BioShock experience, and at its roots, that’s generally going to be a fun experience. So fans of the first BioShock, I would definitely give this a TRY IT rental, especially to check out the interesting multiplayer aspects (which strangely don’t offer co-op). But, if the first game wasn’t for you, nothing about this return to Rapture is going to change your mind, so FRY IT.

Monday, May 3, 2010 :Page eleven Every Day the Same Dream Courtesy: molleindustria.org

Galax-E-Mail

Courtesy: marketplace.xbox.com

A New Hope

Braving the frontier of independent gaming By Jonathan “Killstring” Herzberger, The Cauldron A&E Editor Pac-Man was designed by three dudes. A young Shigeru Miyamoto was handed his first assignment: make something for Americans. He slapped together something called Donkey Kong. Howard Scott Warshaw made a game to coincide with a litte film called E.T. in all of six weeks; however, the end result was so bad that millions of copies are buried in the New Mexico desert to this day. Once upon a time, this is how games were made: A handful of people in a room, or maybe one programmer by their lonesome, consuming ridiculous amounts of caffeine, and making games based around simplified concepts, tweaking them for a few months, and releasing them into the wild. Contrast this with something like Grand Theft Auto IV, which boasted a development team in the neighborhood of one thousand souls, took something like three and a half years, and $100 million dollars to complete - and the shift in dynamics becomes difficult to ignore. True, some could argue that bigger equates to better, and the rich, multi-layered, complex interactive worlds found in Shadow of the Colossus, Mass Effect 2 or Heavy Rain are something you just couldn’t make on a shoestring budget. Still, can’t we have our cake and eat it too? The answer is yes, yes we can. From simple flash games programmed by undergrads, to former big-studio developers striking out on their own, small-studio projects – often called “indie games” are literally everywhere these days. Some, like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, are great. Some, like E.T. can barely be called functional. Here’s a few of the former. Super Mario Crossover – Free browser-based game, newgrounds.com Have you ever put so much time into a game, that

Pixel Perfect

U.S. Supreme Court takes on Video Games By Justin Brenis,The Cauldron Copy Editor

Courtesy: imageshack.us

Courtesy: newgrounds.com

when you move on to a different game, you can’t help but wish for use of your old protagonist in this new setting? Jay Pavlina - the developer of SMC - must have had this thought a lot as a kid, since this game allows you to play the original Super Mario Brothers in its entirety – as several different classic characters. Whether you select Link from the Legend of Zelda, Mega Man, Simon Belmont from Castlevania, Samus Aran from Metroid, The Guy With Blue Pants (Bill, I guess) from Contra – or, if you’re feeling boring, Mario. Words cannot describe how novel and fun this is. Immortal Defense – $10, Windows, studioeres.com So, let’s get this out of the way: this is possibly the most pretentious game I’ve ever played. In my life. It’s a psychedelic tower defense-shooter hybrid, in which you’re a disembodied spirit who manifests your neurosis in ironic ways to blow the crap out of aliens. Also, it’s deliriously pretty: lots of light and geometry at play in the frantic action, and a philosophical take on what it means to be human, and how to communicate when your only language is violence. I mentioned that you blow things up by virtue of giving your neuroses life, yes? That’s important. If ten bucks seems like too much; the demo is free, has I think 50 levels or so, and provides a complete narrative arc that stretches about 4 hours or so. Even if you don’t like it, you should experience it.

In some games, you blow up aliens. In this one, you stop to catch falling leaves, and pet cows. It’s touching, haunting, and sad. It’ll kill fifteen minutes of your time, and leave you thinking about it.

Every Day the Same Dream – Free, browser-based, molleindustria.org Fresh from the Roger Ebert Is a Cranky Old Man desk, EDtSD is an art game – I don’t know what else to call it, really – where you ‘play’ through the odd and crushingly banal life of an office worker, trying desperately to break from the cycle of monotonous repetition that is your life.

Galax-E-Mail – 200 MS Points or $2, Xbox Live or Windows XP When you punk kids where nothing more than various types of grain alcohol, waiting to be consumed and thereby influence people into thinking they liked each other enough to make a Bouncing Baby You, us unlovable bitter old curmudgeons walked among the primordial ooze, riding dinosaurs, and playing games on something called the “Commodore 64.” When we weren’t busy fighting woolly mammoths and living in caves, there were a great many level-based space shooters, that instilled in my primitive brain a sense of joy in exploring these increasingly difficult levels. It was kind of wonderful, in its strange alien way. Then this game comes out of nowhere, and manages to convey that same sense of adventure even to my bitter, jaded, 27-year-old self. Adjustable difficulty, based on your performance? Infinite replay based on random level creation? Command a small fleet of transforming spaceships with dual analog sticks? Ridiculous quasiplot based around a mythology that every e-mail needs brave digital pilots to get it from point A to point B through untold peril? This is by far and away the best two bucks I have ever spent on videogaming. Okay, so that’s all the room I have for now – but if you think we’ve so much as skimmed the tip of the iceberg here, you are miles from the truth. Stay savvy crew, and we’ll have this talk again real soon. Until then, keep your wits sharp, and your thumbs blistered.

Video games must have pissed off the powers that be. I mean, seriously, first Roger Ebert revisits his argument making it known that video games are not, and may never be an acceptable art medium, and now they are on the forefront of the United State’s highest court? According to USA Today, the state of California is looking to appeal, “a decision that struck down a state law prohibiting the sale or rental of violent video games to minors.” Essentially this is a law that will possibly shed new light on the First Amendment’s test of what qualifies or does not qualify as a “disturbing image.” The law in question, that was overturned by a federal appeals court last year, defined violent video games as, “[games] that [depict] “killing, maiming, dismembering or sexually assaulting an image of a human being” in a way that appeals to a deviant interest of minors and lacks “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.” The court of appeals felt the law was too broad saying, “Even if the state had a compelling interest in preventing psychological or neurological harm allegedly caused … by violent video games, the law was not narrowly tailored

to further that interest.” Strangely enough the case, Schwarzenegger v. Video Software Dealers Association, if you haven’t guessed it, was brought about by the Gub-enator himself. So what you are looking at here is a case that will determine whether or not video games can still be afforded First Amendment rights, all initiated by a man who kids can watch brutally attack people, on network television, in any of his three current Terminator films. Obviously, if you haven’t already guessed, my opinion is that the law should remain overturned. Having worked as a video game salesman, I feel that the current ranking system initiated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB ) is more than adequate and equitable with a movie’s G-R rating system, or television’s TV-Y to TV-MA system. I always managed to take a brief second and, as required by company policy, check the ID of the person purchasing the game, or inform the parents of the meaning of the rating system whenever checking out a potential customer. While it is the responsibility of the Continued on Page 12

Page twelve: Monday, May 3, 2010

Concert Picks By Alexes Spencer and Jonathan Herzberger, The Cauldron News and A&E Editors

Tired yet? As the semester draws near it’s thunderous conclusion, building up to the final conflict between the forces of good, and the forces of, well, bubble sheets; we at the Concert Picks Indestructible Battle Fortress have your back. Stay true to the course, hold steady, and if it feels like your brain is about to explode, we’ll unleash the full power of these fully operational concert picks! Really. There’s some choice music coming to provide respite from the final dash of studying. Good enough to necessitate overblown death star metaphors. Alexes’ Anti-Pick: 5/8 AP Tour w/ NeverShoutNever, Hey Monday, The Cab, Every Avenue, The Summer Set @ House of Blues Hey, Alternative Press, do you guys remember when you used to have integrity? You used to give a hoot about what constituted as good music. What happened? Since you’ve started the AP Tours, I’ve seen slew after slew of popular, recycled music. I’ll admit, the first tour was sort of appealing. I love 3oh!3, and I love Family Force 5, but after that, things just went downhill. Pop punk band after pop punk band appeared on your tours. And now, you’ve gone as far as to put NeverShoutNever, arguably one of the worst musicians in history on tour with Every Avenue whose album you completely trashed in the pages of your once hallowed magazine. There are other acts out there, guys. They’ll sell tickets just as well while actually playing real music. You should give them a shot. As for you, dear reader, save your 15 dollars and spend it on some real musicians. Killstring’s Pick: 5/5 Frightened Rabbit w/Maps and Atlases, Our Brother the Native @ The Grog Shop “Hold on just a second there,” you say. “I read your review - doesn’t Frightened Rabbit’s new album suck mildew-encrusted toe jam?” First off, wow. That’s just... wow. Quite the paraphrase. I’m a little scared of you now, to be perfectly frank. Secondly, yes - their new album The Winter of Mixed Drinks hardly set my world on fire. Still. The main criticism I hold of Drinks is that it aims too high, shooting for highfalutin orchestral grandiosity, and in doing so, lacks the intimacy that makes their peculiar machine really go. Try pulling that in the Grog. This venue is small enough that I doubt you could avoid an intimate performance if you were trying - which is good, because I think on Drinks they were really trying - so I imagine the songs will do nothing but benefit from the context; in fact, I predict nothing less than a breathtaking performance, similar to when Jeremy Engik brought his (successfully) orchestral songs to the same venue. If you missed it, well, that’s more than a little tragic. But there’s hope - and that hope lies in the hands of four dudes from Selkirk, Scotland. That, and it’s only thirteen bucks. Get up ons. Feel as though millions of brain cells cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced? We’ve got just the thing for that 5/3 The Glitch Mob w/Free The Robots, Deru @ the Grog Shop, $15 5/4 Kaki King w/An Horse @ the Beachland Ballroom, $15.50 5/4 Eye Alaska w/Rookie of the Year, Conditions, The Manhattan Scene @ Peabody’s, $10 5/6 Sky Eats Airplane w/Drop Dead Gorgeous, Attila, Sleeping With Wolves @ the Grog Shop, $12 5/6 Tyr @ Peabody’s, $13 5/7 Converge w/Black Breath, Lewd Acts, Above This Fire @ the Grog Shop, $12 5/7 Leon Russel & Band w/Red Water Rojo @ the Beachland Ballroom, $26.50 5/9 Murder By Death w/Ha Ha Tonka, Linfinity @ the Grog Shop, $12

Pixel Perfect

U.S. Supreme Court takes on Video Games Continued from Page 11

salesperson to do that, I also feel a lot of the responsibility rests with the parents when it comes to this. The ESRB’s system operates on a scale of “eC” which are “early childhood” games to “Ao” which a game intended for Adults Only, and since no retailer in the US will sell an Ao rated game typically this rating is ignored in favor of the step below it known as “M” or “mature” which contains material not acceptable for anyone under 17 years of age. In between are games rated E (everyone), E10 (everyone 10 and up), and T (teen). While the movie rating system may be better known in the average household, the ESRB system is no more complicated, and therefore just as easy to learn or remember. While kids may think they have the upper hand on their technologically non-savvy parents, I don’t think responsible gamers should have to bear the burden of their indiscretions. Instead of complaining, or, out of fear, assigning blame to the store employees, or game designers themselves, parents should be more active in their children’s lives and learn about video games, their content, and most importantly their rating. Also, I feel it is important to note that I find it ludicrous that parents and others look to blame video games whenever an adolescent gamer with a few screws loose decides to do something extremely stupid. I won’t say the game may or may not have been a contributing factor, but it is not the fault of the game designer that it occurred. If game designers had to account for the mental stability and moral framework

of each individual gamer every time they made a game we’d all be stuck playing Peter Molyneux games for the rest of our lives (for those of you who don’t know what that means, trust me, it’s terrible). If they put just a little more effort into these kinds of things than perhaps the Supreme Court wouldn’t have to waste their valuable time determining whether or not video game designers are allowed to practice their rights to free speech and create games that, outside of being interactive media, are no different than a R-rated movie or CD with a “Parental Advisory Sticker” on it. So, what exactly is at risk if the Supreme Court reverses this decision? While it may not seem like a big deal that people under 18 will be disallowed to purchase or rent “violent video games” but in the big picture it is a problem. The law’s definition of violent games is terribly broad, and in my opinion will quickly lead to even more broad legislation every time a new game comes out that the government disagrees with. Some of the most pervasive legislation starts out controlling something seemingly small and appropriate. For now, keep your eyes peeled to your news outlet of choice, or become active, like I have and join the Video Game Voter’s Network at http://www. videogamevoters.org. They provide gamers across the nation with the resources to make your local, state and federal government representatives aware that gamers, on the whole, are responsible and considerate people, and that may be the most powerful evidence to keep more cases like this from coming to be.

Last week, I was scolded for trying to overpay for coffee Continued from Page 4 a lot of coffee—a heck of a lot more than my thermos can hold. For now, let us say that one bag of the Daybreak Blend makes 12 thermoses of coffee (again for the noncoffee brewer, this is grossly understated). That means my thermos full of coffee costs about a dollar, plus brewing water and the offset cost of equipment. I will be generous and call it $2.00. In order to compare the pastry, I will use the pricing of another coffee shop that features similar type danishes— Café Ah Roma. Now, for a danish at Café Ah Roma, you pay about $1.20. Since Café Ah Roma’s danishes are about six hundred times better and come without the feeling of eating baked rubber, $1.20 per danish should be a fairly accurate estimate. However, in order to avoid allegations that my pricing comparisons were bogus (at least in the direction that would provide a reasonable defense), I will also determine the pastry to be worth $2.00. I tried to pay $13.12 for a meal that was worth (approximately) $4.00. FOUL! This I simply do not understand. Dining services wants its patrons to be more environmentally friendly— or at least they write that everywhere. So why tell a patron with a thermos who is clearly willing to overpay in order to save the environment that he cannot do so? The bigger problem is that had I gone to the Fenn Shoppe, swiped twice, taken two pastries, two apples and two, separate cups of coffee there would have been no problem whatsoever. Except the cost of my meal would now have to include two apples (approximately $1.50, for really good apples) and a second pastry. At this point, dining services is letting me walk away with an additional $3.50

(approximate) in food AND two of their cups. Those two cups will both be in the garbage in less than 60 minutes. Why would a company like Chartwells not support the effort to be more sustainable by bringing a thermos to the Fenn Shoppe? What is even more confounding is the Fenn Shoppe advertisement for a discount when bringing a thermos back for a refill after your first cup of coffee. This is great initiative—I think all trash-reducing, environmentsaving initiatives are—but it cannot work when students are not allowed to fill a thermos in the first place. I have no doubt that there is some screwed up logic behind this, probably along the lines of the following: You see that last sentence? I stared at it for a minute, but realized that nothing, nothing, could sound logical in this situation. I am so tired of seeing “green” campaigns where the cost of environmental friendliness is assessed to the consumer, while the multi-million dollar corporation takes credit for the success. This is the same as a WalMart selling reusable bags to patrons in the checkout line. At the next big green-convention, Wal-Mart’s overpaid executives will talk about how their stores are using less plastic because of special green initiatives. You bet they take credit for the money you spend to be environmentally conscious. Chartwells does the same thing. They track the number of cups they use, the number of bags they use and they will boast the second their footprint gets smaller. I applaud that—those are great initiatives. However, telling a 21-year-old college student that he cannot pay (approximately) $8.00 over market price for a thermos of coffee so that two less cups are used is just stupid—and it should rectified immediately.

Sports

Monday, May 3, 2010

Nobody Comes Close In League To Beating Softball

By Robert Ivory, The Cauldron Sports Editor

With 38 wins overall on the year and 18 coming in the Horizon League, the Cleveland State softball team has secured the Horizon League regular season title with a win in the windy city this weekend. This is an accolade that got away from the team last year, but was merely a bump in the road as they won the Horizon League to head to the NCAA tournament. The Vikings put another winning streak together last week to put them two wins and five losses better than instate rivals, and current second place holders, Wright State. The Vikings have won eight of their last nine games against Horizon League opponents, sweeping Green Bay in Wisconsin, winning two out of three at Youngstown State and keeping the home diamond tough to play, as they swept Butler this week. If the Vikings are doing well, you know Amanda Macenko’s name has to be mentioned, as the ace received the Horizon League player of the week for the week of April 26, ‘only’ her fourth time she has received that award this year. She now holds the league record for being selected as the Pitcher of the Week 14 times. During the record-breaking week, Amanda went 5-1 and fanned 44 opposing batters, improving her record against the conference to 14-2 this year. Macenko is just the second pitcher in Horizon League history to win 30 games in a season, and her 110 career wins has brought her to 25th on the NCAA career wins list. To update her stats for the 2010 season, Amanda leads

Photography by Robert Ivory

the league in strikeouts (283; with 82 looking, which also leads the HL), wins (30), appearances, games started, and is sixth with an 2.29 ERA. Cleveland State is also hitting the ball, as Tess Sito continues to have a monster freshman year. She leads the Horizon League in almost every offensive statistical category (batting average, slugging percentage, on base percentage, runs scored, hits, RBIs, homeruns, total bases, and stolen bases).

The Vikings will end their 2010 regular season with a home stand starting Tuesday, May 4 against the Dayton Flyers and ending with three games against Valparaiso (May 8 and 9). With their game against Dayton, the Vikes are holding a barbeque for all Viking fans. By showing your CSU id card for the 3 pm game, you can get a free hotdog or hamburger, chips, and soda for free. A hotdog and Cleveland State softball on a sunny day; what else can a Viking fan ask for?

Tennis Win HL Title, Tennis Win HL Title, Tennis Win HL Title!!! By Robert Ivory, The Cauldron Sports Editor

The headline is a little redundant, but at least it’s true! The Cleveland State men’s tennis team has won the Horizon League Championship for the third year in a row. To make it taste better, the Vikings beat the University of Illinois-Chicago Flames for the third time in three years and get by on their play from their No.1, Phil Orno.The Vikings ended the year 7-0 against the league and keep intact their record of 25 straight wins against Horizon League opponents. “It was a great win, we were playing for several different things,” Horizon League’s Coach of the Year, Brian Etzkin said of the championship match. “We were playing for our alumni, the ones that never got a ring, we were trying to become the first team in history to win three championships, and we were playing to give Athletic Director Lee Reed a little good-bye gift.” The head coach has some history with Reed, as both we’re brought in the same week eight years ago. Etzkin added that Reed had been very supportive of the tennis squads. The coach also remarked how he and Reed helped the team and the program grow. Although Reed will soon leave for Georgetown, his support for Viking tennis will show when

the continual talented players enroll at CSU and that play at Malaga Tennis Center in the near future. “This year was the most resounding win we had in the finals,” the coach added. “There were a couple of close calls there, but we got ahead and stayed ahead.” The Vikings were able to beat the Flames with another quality win and have won eleven out of their last twelve matches, which was a loss to Ohio State, the team the Vikings lost to in the NCAA Tournament in 2008. “UIC did a good job of getting into the finals,” the coach said. “In the middle of the season they were not the team I thought was going to be in the finals. They battled all season and got some key wins and they have come in second the past few years, they are getting hungrier each year, which is scarier each time.” As for this year’s championship, the Vikings beat the Flames 4-0 last Sunday in Indianapolis and continued their historic year. Cleveland State was led by seniors Phil Orno (and a selection to the All-League First Team) and Ryan Hamning (All-League Second Team), who won their singles matches 6-4, 6-4 and 6-4, 3-6, respectively and both teamed

up to win their doubles match 8-6. “At the top of the lineup we’ve had Phil (Orno) and Ryan (Hamning). Those two guys came into together four years ago and have developed each other,” the coach said of his seniors. “It was only fitting that Phil was able to clinch the championship for us because he, along with Ryan, have done so much to build this program since they arrived four years ago, “I thought it was huge winning it for the alumni, but it was special to have them there,” Orno said of the title. Hamning agreed and added, “Having the alumni there that did not win was reminder that it doesn’t come for everybody.” Cleveland State will now have to wait and see which tennis powerhouse they will play in the first round. The first year they won the Horizon League title, they faced the second best team in the country, Ohio State and last year they faced the twelfth ranked Wildcats of Kentucky and lost 4-0. With that said, the team is ready this year. “We will get a team that is equally as good this year, unless we get a lucky draw,” the coach said. “We are ready, we know that we are not supposed to win the match, but we have some tremendously talented Continued on Page 14

Page fourteen : Monday, May 3, 2010

Columbus Crew Beats Réal Salt Lake In Downpour

Photography by Robert Ivory

By Robert Ivory, The Cauldron Sports Editor

The Columbus Crew was able to revenge last year’s MLS playoff defeat to Réal Salt Lake last weekend. The Crew got a penalty kick from their star, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, in the 38th minute and were able to hold off Réal. The unbeaten Crew now have seven points with two wins and a draw. The Cauldron was there is catch all the rain-soaked action.

Tennis Win HL Title, Tennis Win HL Title, Tennis Win HL Title!!! players on this team who on any given day beat any one of those (highly ranked) players. I like to think there’s a chance, but we definitely know where we stand.” Coach Etzkin also has his players thinking about an upset, too. “One of the reasons I have belief right now,” Orno said, “is because at the beginning of the year we set a list of goals and we have almost accomplished every single one of them. A couple of those were unrealistic when we started out, it grew on us, and I feel there maybe something different this year.” “One of the goals was to win the first round at NCAAs, and with that goal comes some luck in the draw, as you don’t want to play the number one or two team in the country,“ Hamning explained. “If everyone brings the energy and believes that we can do it, I say that goal is accomplished. You can do things if you set unrealistic goals and go after them, that’s why you set lofty goals.” But, the Cleveland State tennis team will have to be at their best, as they will once again play their best opponent

of the year, after the celebrating has begun. The Vikings will know their destiny May 4th, as that is the day that the NCAA brackets are announced. Despite their fantastic finish, the women’s tennis team failed to make the Horizon League Championship game, as they lost 4-1 to Detroit. “The loss in the tournament was heart-breaking,” Etzkin said of his women’s squad. “It was something I do not want to experience again.” The team played their hearts out and finished the regular season in second place, after sitting in the middle of the pack. Out of their last ten matches, the Vikings won eight of those, which included wins against Horizon League foes Green Bay, Milwaukee, Valparaiso, Butler, and the team that would knock them out of the tournament, the Detroit Titans. Senior Charlotte Gibbons knew that going out strong was the only way to go, “It was important to show the other teams that we were going to fight. “We really put in a big effort to get that number two spot and it was great to achieve that accomplishment,” she added.

Continued from Page 13 “Looking back at the season, we finished second which is our best finish, ever,” Etzkin said, but was not happy with how the season ended. “I thought we were the second best team in the conference but that did not quite happen. I am really proud and I will remember all the successes before I remember the slip-ups.” The biggest disappoint the coach had was not getting his team to the finals. “The girls played for each other. There was much comroderry and passion on the team and that what you need if you do new and better things. That was the best men’s and women’s team we ever had at Cleveland State.” “I was really emotional after my match. We envisioned bring in the finals for so long, then just to not have it in the end, it was just heart-wrenching.” After her four years at Cleveland State, Charlotte has seen what her coach has been able to do to get them one step away from their goal. “Coach’s enthusiasm and his dedication and motivation to push us to get to the championship, it’s a variety of being strict and fun at the same time.”