MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2014 SPORTS
FOCUS
UConn to host several big name speakers this semester
COMMENTARY
Prepping for the ponies
page 5
NEWS
U.S. arms shipments to Syrian rebels harmed Geneva peace talks
page 12
Sugar tied to fatal heart woes; soda’s culprit
page 4
page 2
UConn files denial in sexual assault suit Volume CXX No. 73
AP
Attorney Gloria Allred, right, hugs University of Connecticut student Rose Richi, left, at a news conference in Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, in Hartford, Conn. Four women who say they were victims of sexual assaults while students at the UConn have announced they are filing a federal discrimination lawsuit against the school.
By Jackie Wattles Associate New Editor
The University of Connecticut formally responded to allegations lodged by five students that the school failed to protect them after being sexually assaulted or harassed. The response is a firm denial and was filed Monday with the U.S. District Court that is hearing the case. The response is the next step of the civil lawsuit filed by female students in the fall last year. The document is a standard part of legal procedures and formalizes the stance the university has already taken regarding the suit, refuting claims that the administration acted with “indifference” to sexual assault and harassment complaints.
The plaintiffs’ “claims are barred whole or in part by her failure to sufficiently exhaust her administrative remedies,” the response reads. The complaint, which was filed last fall, includes a list of damages the plaintiffs stated they sustained due to the university’s inaction — including anxiety, fear, inability to attend classes or work and the necessity to seek out counseling or therapy. In response to those claims, the university denies it deprived any of the women of their “educational opportunities” and denies that the instances occurred “in a context that was subject to UConn’s control and where UConn could have taken remedial action.” UConn’s general counsel, Robert Orr, released a statement
Monday reiterating what UConn President SusanHerbst has already said: the plaintiff’s complaints are unfounded. “The University strongly denies that it acted with deliberate indifference to any of the plaintiffs,” Orr said. “That is the basic legal claim underlying each plaintiff’s allegation, and the University vigorously disputes that claim.” Orr added that the defense has not yet disclosed information that may help its case because it includes information from student records that is protected by federal privacy laws. In complaints made by the plaintiff Kylie Angell, a former UConn student whose rapist was “found responsible” in a 2010 community standards case, UConn’s statement confirmed it sanctioned her assailant by expulsion. However, the document denies that it represented to Angell that she would no longer have to see him again on campus. Angell alleged she saw her assailant again on campus two weeks after his expulsion on Nov. 1, 2010. The student’s expulsion had been reversed on an appeal, and the complaint states the university failed to inform Angellof the reversal and the man in Northwest Dining Hall where he sat next to her. The university admitted it failed to inform Angell of the appeal, but the response file states the student was on campus impermissibly because he had not yet met with the Office of Community Standards to
accept probation conditions. The university also denied Angell’s allegation that when she reported the incident - and the expelled student’s presence on campus - to the police, she was told by Officer Linda Lougee that “women have to stop spreading their legs like peanut butter,” or else rape is going to “keep on happening ‘til the cows come home.” The university also denies Lougee advised Angell not to report the rape with police because the process is “emotionally and psychologically exhausting for a survivor.” (Angell ultimately chose not to press charges.) The university also denied several allegations made by Carolyn Luby that claimed the university had an apathetic response after Luby was threatened after issuing an open letter she wrote to UConn President Susan Herbst. Luby’s letter criticized the university for rebranding athletic teams with new gear and a new logo and failing to address criminal behavior among its male athletes, and it elicited violent threats on Barstool.com from anonymouscommenters and - according to Luby - some male UConn students. The university denied the allegation that the university “made no [...] official announcement following Ms. Luby’sordeal, however, refusing to make clear to the UConn community that the threats, stalking, and harassment Ms.Luby experienced in retaliation for speaking out would not be
tolerated.” The allegation response also denies that the university did not respond to an online petition with 1,200 signatures pressing for the UConn administration to take action. It also denies Luby’s allegation that three professors inUConn’s Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department were informed their contracts would not be renewed after they published an article “imploring the administration to respond.” The university did not confirm or deny an allegation by Luby that an officer at the UConn Police department responded to her report that she had been threatened by saying she should “put up her hair, wear a hat, and not draw attention to herself.” The document also denies an allegation from Erica Daniels that the school “has done nothing to address [her] allegation that she was raped by a fellow UConn student and co-worker, other than issue a no contact order.” Allegations made by Rosemary Richi that she was raped by a UConn football player and, after the incident was reported by the director of the UConn Women’s Center Kathleen Holgerson, the Office of Diversity and Equity never contacted Richi about the report. The allegation response also denies that Detective James Deveny told Richi he did not believe her account of the rape.
Balancing a part-time job Questioning the with a full course load ‘full time’ graduate student policies
By Melissa Rosenblatt Campus Correspondent
In today’s economy, students all over the UConn campus are being forced to take on a full class schedule as well as a part-time or full-time job. Because UConn is such a large campus with plenty of businesses and offices there are many employment opportunities for students looking for an income. Though jobs are accessible to students in terms of location, making the time to work with such busy class schedules can be difficult. Julia Lachut, a 6th-semester elementary-education major, currently has to juggle a full-time NEAG schedule, which includes student teaching, with an on-campus job. Lachut works as an office assistant at the Office for Sponsored Programs, and is required to work 10-15 hours a week. According to the Student Employment office website, on average, students work six to 12 hours a week. The number of hours a student works is typically based on a number of considerations including the students class schedule and the department’s needs. Ten to 15 hours of work a week coupled with five classes and a full day of student teaching in a local Connecticut elementary school makes Lachut an early riser. On this particular Thursday, Lachut awoke at 6:30 a.m. to make it to her 8 a.m. class in the Castleman building, stopping at the dining hall to have a full breakfast before
By Jackie Wattles Associate News Editor
FILE PHOTO/The Daily Campus
Student workers at Putnam dining hall.
her long day. Once her morning class had finished, she rushed over to the Whetten Graduate Center to work for two hours before an afternoon that included four more classes. While at the Office of Student Programs, Lachut files papers, runs errands and creates excel spreadsheets, all common tasks for an office assistant. Working while attending classes full-time has helped Lachut in more than just financial ways. “Working has given me a sense of
responsibility while also helping me to manage my time,” Lachut said. “I don’t know where I would be without my planner.” Though taking five classes, student teaching and working part-time has left her with less free time, Lachut makes sure to find time to exercise at the gym and join clubs such as SUBOG Concert Committee and serves on the board of the Teacher Education Student Association.
Melissa.Rosenblatt@UConn.edu
At UConn today
High: 31 Low: 26 Intervals of clouds and sunshine
Jacqueline.Wattles@UConn.edu
11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
In a sparsely attended forum on student fees, one commenter questioned the University of Connecticut’s graduate school policy of requiring international students to be enrolled in three credits to be considered “full time” and stay compliant with their visas. Josef Ma, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology, told the Student Fee Advisory Committee that he felt graduate students are put at a disadvantage by being required to take three credits and aren’t given the necessary flexibility to work a job or spend time doing research. “We want to find a good job and get things published. In social sciences it takes more years to get things published,” he said. “I could graduate this year, but it would mean I wouldn’t have enough time to do my own research.” But Kent Holsinger, the graduate school dean, said requiring international graduate students to be enrolled full time is not a UConn policy. Federal law stipulates foreign students must be enrolled full time in order to retain their visa. Specifically how many credits a student must be enrolled in to be deemed “full time” is
up to the university. “I think that the graduate school would be uncomfortable deeming anyone full time who was taking less than three credits,” Holsinger said. “But it’s something we can look in to.” Ma said international Ph.D. students are typically granted six to seven years to complete their degrees, but–in his fourth year–he has already completed the necessary course requirements. Now, he said, he wants to spend time researching and trying to get articles published. Instead, Ma said he took on a job as a teaching assistant in order to stay compliant with his I-20 student visa. Holsinger said the complaint is one that he has heard before, but feels the federal mandate leaves little room to change university policy. The forum was part of a series of public forums hosted to receive comment about the fees that students and faculty must pay the university. Currently, undergraduate students pay about $2,766 in fees. A public hearing about the fees for the school year beginning in fall of 2015 will take place on Feb. 11 in room 331 of the Student Union. Hearings will begin at 11:30 a.m.
Jacqueline.Wattles@UConn.edu
Storrs, Conn.
UConn bus collides in snowstorm By Stem Spinella Campus Correspondent
At approximately 2:30 p.m. today a car slid into a UConn bus at the stoplight of the Buckley/ Shippee intersection. The car also made contact with another car in the lane next to the bus. Second-semester biology major Jonathan Skoog said that he “felt a jolt” and that the car “couldn’t stop” in time to evade the accident. Skoog also mentioned that the bus then had to turn into the Buckley parking lot and everyone on board had to wait for the police to file a report. Despite the inclement weather, buses and commuters continued to travel and attend their classes today on and around the UConn campus. A tweet from UConn student Marcea Stilson reiterated Skoog’s comments. “A car just slid and slammed into my bus,” she tweeted. “So maybe now you should cancel classes UConn.” In an unrelated situation, 2ndsemester nutritional science major Ari Alvarez also had trouble stopping and subsequently rear-ended the vehicle in front of her. “It was about 12:30 (p.m.). I was right by Gampel coming down, so the Co-op would be on the right,” she said. “I was going no more than 5 mph and I got to a stop and there was just so much slush I kept sliding and my breaks didn’t even work. I tried turning a little but couldn’t stop and hit the car in front. We got out and there was no damage so we just left.” UConn transportation services said they had no comment on the incident.
Gay rights activist arrested Sten.Spinella@UConn.edu
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Police arrested dozens of gay rights activists Monday after a protest that blocked entrances to the Idaho Senate chambers for more than two hours. Idaho State Police said they took 43 people into custody on suspicion of misdemeanor trespassing after demonstrators stood shoulder to shoulder and prevented lawmakers from getting past. Former state Sen. Nicole LeFavour, the Idaho Legislature’s first openly gay lawmaker and an organizer of the protest, was among those arrested. Ahead of the demonstration, she had said the group would block the entrances until lawmakers agreed to take up a bill adding antidiscrimination protections for gay and transgender people or until protesters were removed by authorities. After she was released, LeFavour said she was treated respectfully by law enforcement.
Greek Challenge Blood Drive
2:15 to 3:15 p.m.
4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
6 to 8 p.m.
Dan Foltz gives MCB Seminar
UConn IDEA Grant Workshop
True Colors Conference Organizing Meeting
Student Union Ballroom
Biology/Physics Building 130
Rowe 131
Student Union 403
Sugar tied to fatal heart Connecticut cuts $49M from utility’s woes, soda is a culprit The Daily Campus, Page 2
CHICAGO (AP) — Could too much sugar be deadly? The biggest study of its kind suggests the answer is yes, at least when it comes to fatal heart problems. It doesn’t take all that much extra sugar, hidden in many processed foods, to substantially raise the risk, the researchers found, and most Americans eat more than the safest amount. Having a cinnamon roll with your morning coffee, a super-sized sugary soda at lunch and a scoop of ice cream after dinner would put you in the highest risk category in the study. That means your chance of dying prematurely from heart problems is nearly three times greater than for people who eat only foods with little added sugar. For someone who normally eats 2,000 calories daily, even consuming two 12-ounce cans of soda substantially increases the risk. For most American adults, sodas and other sugary drinks are the main source of added sugar. Lead author Quanhe Yang of the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention called the results sobering and said it’s the first nationally representative study to examine the issue. Scientists aren’t certain exactly how sugar may contribute to deadly heart problems, but it has been shown to increase blood pressure and levels of unhealthy cholesterol and triglycerides; and also may increase signs of inflammation linked with heart disease, said Rachel Johnson, head of the American Heart Association’s nutrition committee and a University of Vermont nutrition professor. Yang and colleagues ana-
News
AP
A bottle of soda is photographed in Washington Thursday, Jan. 23, 2014. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it is conducting new studies of the safety of caramel coloring in soft drinks and other foods, even though previous research has shown no identifiable health risk.
lyzed national health surveys between 1988 and 2010 that included questions about people’s diets. The authors used national death data to calculate risks of dying during 15 years of follow-up. Overall, more than 30,000 American adults aged 44 on average were involved. Previous studies have linked diets high in sugar with increased risks for non-fatal heart problems, and with obesity, which can also lead to heart trouble. But in the new study, obesity didn’t explain the link between sugary diets and death. That link was found even in normal-weight people who ate lots of added sugar. “Too much sugar does not just make us fat; it can also make us sick,” said Laura Schmidt, a health policy specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. She wrote an editorial accompanying the study in Monday’s JAMA Internal Medicine. The researchers focused
on sugar added to processed foods or drinks, or sprinkled in coffee or cereal. Even foods that don’t taste sweet have added sugar, including many brands of packaged bread, tomato sauce and salad dressing. Naturally occurring sugar, in fruit and some other foods, wasn’t counted. Most health experts agree that too much sugar isn’t healthy, but there is no universal consensus on how much is too much. U.S government dietary guidelines issued in 2010 say “empty” calories including those from added sugars should account for no more than 15 percent of total daily calories. The average number of daily calories from added sugar among U.S. adults was about 15 percent toward the end of the study, slightly lower than in previous years. The authors divided participants into five categories based on sugar intake, from
lion in food stamp cuts in this five-year farm bill, another $11 billion will be slashed over three years as stimulus funding for the program expires,” wrote Erika Eichelberger at Mother Jones. “And yet, despite the $5 billion in cuts that already happened and the guarantee of $6 billion more, Republicans succeeded in getting their Democratic peers to cut food stamps further. This is the first time in history that a Democratic Senate has even proposed cutting the program. Now the upper chamber is expected to pass cuts twice the level it approved last year.” What does this mean in real numbers? Last November when funding from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ended, SNAP recipients lost nearly $30 dollars a month from their benefits. Now they could lose another $90 in benefits. Do we need to do the math for you? “It’s very difficult for those families in need and it’s really sad to see that budget issues and financial problems are being resolved at the expense of people who are missing one of the most basic of human needs and that’s having enough food to eat,” Linda Scheid, executive director of the Food Bank of Siouxland, told the Sioux Land News. “Think about giving up
nearly $100 worth of benefits and that might be half of your food budget or more and knowing you don’t have a way to replace it. It’s not like ... well we just will put less money into our rent payment or less money into our car payment or not put as much gas in the car. It’s one of those situations that’s critical.” In Vermont more than one in five children and nearly one in seven households are food insecure, leaving families to rely on federal and state programs such as SNAP (known as 3SquaresVT in the Green Mountain State), Woman, Infants and Children, and the federal school lunch and breakfast programs. Enrollment in 3SquaresVT has nearly tripled over the last decade, with more than 100,000 Vermonters now receiving benefits. And, as Rick Cohen, writing for Non Profit Quarterly, noted “Increasingly, recipients of food stamps are no longer children and the elderly, but working-age people, many of them working in minimum wage, poverty level jobs. The working poor are now the face of the food stamp program. The positions of the various critics of the farm bill that passed the House reveal not just attitudes toward food stamps and ‘entitlement programs,’ but the
less than 10 percent of daily calories — the safest amount — to more than 25 percent. Most adults exceed the safest level; and for 1 in 10 adults, added sugar accounts for at least 25 percent of daily calories, the researchers said. The researchers had death data on almost 12,000 adults, including 831 who died from heart disease during the 15-year follow-up. They took into account other factors known to contribute to heart problems, including smoking, inactivity and excess weight, and still found risks for sugar. As sugar intake increased, risks climbed steeply. Adults who got at least 25 percent of their calories from added sugar were almost three times more likely to die of heart problems than those who consumed the least — less than 10 percent. For those who got more than 15 percent — or the equivalent of about two cans of sugary soda out of 2,000 calories daily — the risk was almost 20 percent higher than the safest level. Sugar calories quickly add up: One teaspoon has about 16 calories; one 12-ounce can of non-diet soda contains has about 9 teaspoons of sugar or about 140 calories; many cinnamon rolls have about 13 teaspoons of sugar; one scoop of chocolate ice cream has about 5 teaspoons of sugar. Dr. Jonathan Purnell, a professor at Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cardiovascular Institute, said while the research doesn’t prove “sugar can cause you to die of a heart attack”, it adds to a growing body of circumstantial evidence suggesting that limiting sugar intake can lead to healthier, longer lives.
New England editorial roundup The Brattleboro (Vt.) Reformer, Jan. 31, 2014 After more than two years of partisan squabbles, a $100-billion-per-year compromise farm bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 251 to 166. In the end, 89 Democrats in the House voted for the bill and 66 Republicans voted against it. President Barack Obama has indicated he will sign the bill if the Senate approves it as well, which it appears will happen. The bill contains cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (also known as food stamps) but leaves intact most crop subsidies. The bill cuts about 1 percent, or $800 million a year, from the $80-billion-per year SNAP program. House Republicans were asking for a 5 percent cut. Last June, the House approved a farm bill with $4 billion in cuts, but the legislation never made it through the Senate, where Democrats wanted to limit the cuts to SNAP to $400 million. While some political observers lauded the farm bill as a sign Congress may be on the path of learning to work together again, not everyone is happy that the bipartisan agreement is coming at the expense of those who can least afford it. “In addition to the $9 bil-
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different approaches of political leaders toward overcoming the nation’s stubbornly growing income inequality.” Even if we can swallow the bitter taste of the SNAP cuts, the fact the House left in other programs that stick in our craws is particularly nauseating. While the bill eliminates a $4.5 billion-a-year farm subsidy called direct payments, which are paid to farmers whether they farm or not, it will continue to heavily subsidize major crops — corn, soybeans, wheat, rice and cotton — while shifting many of those subsidies toward more politically defensible insurance programs, noted The New York Times. The bill includes a boost in money for crop insurance popular in the Midwest; higher rice and peanut subsidies for Southern farmers; and renewal of federal land payments for Western states, according to The New York Times. “They also backed away from repealing a catfish program — a move that would have angered Mississippi lawmakers — and dropped language that would have thwarted a California law requiring all eggs sold in the state to come from hens living in larger cages,” noted The New York Times.
Monday, February 4, 2014
storm cost request NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (AP) — Regulators have cut $49 million from a request by the state’s largest utility for ratepayers to pay for work preparing for and recovering from five destructive storms. The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on Monday issued a preliminary decision allowing Connecticut Light & Power to recover $365 million for preparation and response to Tropical Storm Irene in August 2011, a Nor’easter two months later, Superstorm Sandy in October 2012 and two major storms in June 2011 and September 2012. CL&P may recover the costs over six years. It asked for permission to dun ratepayers for $414 million. The Berlin-based utility said it was still reviewing the decision. “Many of the storms included in this filing were historic, causing unprecedented damage to our electric system, which is costly to repair,” CL&P said. “Restoring and rebuilding the electric system after storms is a time-consuming process that involves thousands of employees as well as out of state crews and other resources.” Regulators said an agreement allowing parent compa-
ny Northeast Utilities to purchase NStar in Boston in 2012 required CL&P to freeze distribution rates until at least Dec. 1 and absorb the first $40 million in storm costs. The state said CL&P’s storm reserve account request totaled $414 million in storm costs, after regulators applied $8.3 million in storm cost reserve funds and the $40 million writedown as part of the agreement with Northeast Utilities. State Attorney General George Jepsen said the $49 million cut was not as much as he asked for but he was pleased with the amount. He calculated the total amount at $89 million, including the $40 million that was negotiated in the settlement with Northeast Utilities. “While companies are entitled to recover reasonable storm costs, we are pleased the authority has disallowed $89 million of the more than $400 million that CL&P sought for these storms,” he said. Jepsen criticized CL&P last year, saying it knew it could not keep a promise to restore nearly all electricity following the October 2011 snowstorm, which cut power to hundreds of thousands of customers for up to 11 days.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Cuts to food stamps, continued subsidies to farmers and victories for animal rights advocates. The massive, five-year farm bill heading toward final passage this week has broad implications for just about every American, from the foods we eat to what we pay for them. Support for farmers through the subsidies included in the legislation helps determine the price of food and what is available. And money for food stamps helps the neediest Americans who might otherwise go hungry. The legislation could reach President Barack Obama this week. The House already has passed the bipartisan measure and the Senate was scheduled to pass the bill Tuesday after the chamber voted to move forward on the legislation Monday evening. Five things you should know about the farm bill: WHERE THE MONEY GOES: Most of the bill’s almost $100 billion-a-year price tag goes to the nation’s food stamp program, now known as SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. One in seven Americans, or about 47 million people, participates in the program. The legislation cuts food stamps by about $800 million, or 1 percent, by cracking down on states that seek to boost individual food stamp benefits by giving people small amounts of federal heating assistance that they don’t need. Much of the rest
of the money goes to farm subsidies and programs to protect environmentally sensitive lands. SUBSIDIES MAINTAINED: Farmers will continue to receive generous federal subsidies that help them stay in business in an unpredictable environment, but through revamped programs. The bill eliminates a fixed $4.5 billion-a-year subsidy called direct payments, which are paid to farmers whether they farm or not. New subsidies would require farmers to incur losses before they could collect from the federal government. The bill would also overhaul dairy and cotton subsidies and transition them into similar insurance-style programs. Most farmers would pick between a program that would pay out when revenue dips or another that pays out when prices drop. The legislation would also spend about $570 million more a year on crop insurance, which, on top of subsidies, protects farmers in the event of major losses. CRACKDOWN ON FOOD STAMP FRAUD: The Agriculture Department has been aggressively tackling food stamp fraud in recent years and the final farm bill will add to that. It would step up efforts to reduce fraud by retailers who sell food stamps, track SNAP trafficking and ensure that people who have died do not receive benefits. The bill would also prohibit lottery winners and convicted murderers and sex offenders from receiving food stamps.
Five things to know about the massive farm
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UConn flu clinics may have helped Europe on the hunt prevent an epidemic this season for ‘zombie banks’ The Daily Campus, Page 3
News
Monday, February 4, 2014
With flu season now in full swing at UConn, Student Health Services Director Michael Kurland said that reported cases of the flu have been “steady” but not “overwhelming,” and that high turnouts at UConn-sponsored flu clinics in recent months could be helping to stave off an epidemic. “We knew the flu was moving in because we had heard from the Health Department before students came back from break that people were testing positive for the flu throughout the state,” Kurland said. “And so we expected students to come back with the flu, and they have been.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of Jan. 25, Connecticut is one of 36 states in which flu activity is listed as “widespread,” which means that 50 percent of geographic regions or counties in a state have reported flu activity. Kurland said that as of Jan. 20, Student Health Services had 47
cases of “flu-like illness” encoded into its system, a number that does not reflect more recent cases reported after students returned from winter break, nor the number of sick students who spoke to Student Health Services advice nurses on the phone. “A significant number of students are coming in with flu symptoms, but I would not say it’s by any means an epidemic,” Kurland said. Kurland said one possible explanation for the flu not reaching epidemic proportions was the record student turnout for free flu shot clinics sponsored by Student Health Services last Fall. “This year the student response to flu shots that we give out in October and November was the highest that it’s ever been,” Kurland said. “We administered about 2,000 flu shots, and we gave them away for free.” Kurland added that the num-
ber of flu shots administered by Student Health Services at its clinics is not indicative of the true number of students who received flu shots in recent months, as students could have also been immunized at a pharmacy, at their physician’s office or at SHS on a walk-in basis. Kurland said that a high number of students receiving flu shots can often minimize the risk of contracting the virus for the entire population. “We did notice that it was a much higher number of students who took advantage of the flu shots this year,” Kurland said. “We do believe that is mitigating the number of cases that are coming in.” Kurland said he credited the elevated response to last fall’s flu shot clinics to more active and widespread social media campaigning on the part of UConn’s Student Health Outreach Team
(SHOT), a student-led group that communicated on behalf of Student Health Services via Twitter, Facebook and the UConn Daily Digest. “They did an awful lot of marketing – they tweeted, they put up Facebook pages, they were very active in terms of getting [the clinics] noticed, putting it out through residential life, reaching out to every single residential student,” Kurland said. “I have to give most of the credit to our students.” Kurland said that although Student Health Services is encouraging students who have contracted the flu to go home, he and his team have been working with Residential Life to “identify housing alternatives” to accommodate either healthy students who have a sick roommates, or sick students who do not want to infect other students.
Jackson.Mitchell@UConn.edu
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — In Europe, the zombie hunt is on. Not for undead humans, that is, but zombie banks — the walking dead among lenders, too financially troubled to loan money to an economy that desperately needs investment, growth and jobs. The European Central Bank, the lead crisis-fighter for the 18 countries that use the euro, is embarking on an extensive search through the books of the biggest banks. It’s an arcane exercise — but one whose results will impact people’s jobs, businesses and lives. The idea is to restore the system’s ability to lend by weeding out lame banks. Previous efforts in 2009, 2010 and 2011 — by other EU offices with fewer powers —didn’t do the job. Some banks passed simulated “stress tests” on paper but needed bailouts soon afterward. So the ECB is putting its reputation on the line. Together with national regulators and the European Banking Authority, the ECB will first go through thousands of files from 128 of Europe’s largest banks to hunt for hidden, soured loans and investments. That will be followed by stress tests that simulate how a bank would fare in a recession or crisis. Once the verdict is delivered in October, national bank regulators will be asked to push problem banks to raise capital by selling new shares to investors, restricting dividends — or even by being restructured or bailed out. That should help the economy in the long run. But it’s tricky. Forcing banks to fix their problems could temporarily destabilize financial markets and cost investors and governments more money. “The object is, no more doubts about European banks,” said ECB Vice President Vitor Constancio, as he laid out the technical details of the exercise at a news conference Monday with Daniele Nouy, chair of the
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Republican governors and lawmakers who now control a majority of state capitols have been pushing aggressively to cut spending and shrink government — with one glaring exception. Many are pumping new money into preschool programs at a rate equaling or even exceeding the Democratic-dominated capitols stereotypically cast as big spenders. The push reflects a conclusion among conservatives that one part of the social safety net deserves more government help, not less. If it continues, the move could be a step toward creation of a new educational entitlement at a time when both parties are concerned about the costs of the current programs, such as Medicare and Social Security. For the GOP, the spending could have political consequences. Research indicates that pre-school help appeals to blue-collar voters who are important to broadening the party’s base of support. State funding to help families afford pre-school plunged a couple of years ago because of the lingering effects of the
recession. But it has surged back and is now $400 million higher than before the economic downturn, according to a recent report by the Education Commission for the States. In the 2013-2014 school year, funding rose in 30 of the 40 states that provide preschool aid. The three largest increases occurred in Republican dominated states — a $65 million spending hike in Michigan, nearly $48 million in Texas and about $27 million in South Carolina. Republicans are putting their own twist on the preschool programs. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has framed it as a “voucher” for lowerincome parents to send their children to the public, private or parochial preschool of their choice. Mississippi has launched its first state-funded preschool program through competitive grants. And Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature, which cut preschool grants while reforming eligibility a couple of years ago, now will be considering whether to triple funding. Some state preschool programs are reaching into the middle-class. Michigan, for
example, provides free preschool to a family of four earning up to about $59,000. Preschool is popular “with a bunch of different economic groups” in urban, suburban and rural areas alike, said Michael Griffith, a school finance consultant for the education commission. “So I think that’s the reason why we’ve seen Republican governors and legislatures embrace it as much as we’ve seen the Democratic ones embrace it.” Fewer than half of the nation’s 3- and 4-year-olds attend publicly funded preschool programs, according to one report. The case for preschool is increasingly being made on economic terms. James Heckman, a Nobel Memorial Prize winner in economics at the University of Chicago, has calculated that the money
spent on quality preschool programs for disadvantaged children generates an annual 7 percent to 10 percent return by boosting their eventual wages and reducing their likelihood of winding up in prison or costly social welfare programs. At the same time, Republicans, who control the legislatures in more than two dozen conAP states, tinue to rein in other social programs. Most are refusing to expand Medicaid, the government health insurance program, as part of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who faces re-election his year, has asked legislators to pour an additional $65 million into preschool programs for the 2014-2015 budget. That comes despite significant cuts to public universities during his tenure and is aimed at reducing a backlog of low-
income families seeking state preschool aid. “We’re going to make it a no-wait state for early childhood education,” Snyder said in his recent State of the State address. South Carolina’s surge in preschool funding extended state-paid, full-day classes for 4-year-olds to more than a dozen additional impoverished school districts. The money is expected to boost the number of children enrolled by greater than 50 percent. In reliably Republican Indiana, which currently has no state preschool program, Pence recently rolled out a preschool “voucher” initiative even while announcing cuts to higher education. Mississippi is funding preschool for the first time by setting aside $3 million for competitive grants this year. Legislative leaders hope to double funding to $6 million in the next budget. One of the primary sponsors in Mississippi is state. Sen. Brice Wiggins, a freshman Republican from Pascagoula who was a youth court prosecutor. “I got tired of seeing children going to prison for
ByJack Mitchell Campus Correspondent
FILE PHOTO/The Daily Campus
Student Health Services sponsored many free for student flu shot clinics in the fall semester of 2013. Many students turned out for these events which seem to have helped keep this seasons flu epidemic small.
ECB’s supervisory board. He said the review would leave bank finances “totally robust and transparent to all investors.” HERE WE GO AGAIN This is Europe’s latest try at sorting out the problems in its banking system left over by the global financial crisis and Europe’s ensuing turmoil over government debt. The United States tackled its banking troubles earlier, in 2008-09, pushing banks to take new capital from the government. That helped the U.S. recover from the recession. At the height of their debt crisis in 2012, European leaders decided to create a centralized supervisor to oversee banks. The idea was to take regulation away from national officials, who can be overly protective of their domestic financial institutions. They gave the job to the ECB, which now needs a clean slate in the banking industry before its supervisory board takes over the function in November. Asked about the danger that the ECB might take it too easy on the banks, Constancio said, “We will uphold the reputation of the ECB, we will not put it at risk, and we cannot put it at risk.” BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A LOAN? Because so many banks are still in financial trouble, they are not able to lend much to businesses and households. That’s preventing the economy from growing and reducing unemployment from a painful 12 percent. For instance, a bank that has made loans that aren’t being repaid may extend the loan or otherwise take it easy on a struggling borrower in hopes they’ll eventually pay. But that practice means the bank may not have money to make new loans. In particular, it is small- and medium-sized companies that can’t get the credit they need. Yet it’s those companies that provide some 80 percent of the jobs.
crimes, and the big thing was their lack of education,” he said. Mississippi’s efforts pale in comparison with some of the initiatives being proposed by Democrats. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to create a citywide all-day preschool program funded by an income tax surcharge on the wealthy. And all three of Maryland’s leading Democratic gubernatorial candidates are pushing to expand preschool, including one who wants to fund it by legalizing and taxing marijuana. Yet Republican states such as Oklahoma, Florida and Georgia rank among the nation’s leaders in the percentage of 4-year-olds enrolled in state preschool programs. “At the state level, this is not a cut and dry partisan issue — it’s governors really kind of looking at the data and investing the funds where they know it’s going to do the most,” said Megan Carolan, policy research coordinator at The National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University.
A new entitlement? The right to preschool
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Kimberly Wilson, Editor-in-Chief Kayvon Ghoreshi, Commentary Editor Kristi Allen, Associate Commentary Editor Daniel Gorry, Weekly Columnist Victoria Kallsen, Weekly Columnist Gregory Koch, Weekly Columnist
» EDITORIAL
U.S. arms shipments to Syrian rebels harmed Geneva peace talks
O
n Jan. 31 the Geneva II Conference on Syria ended in Switzerland without producing anything remotely resembling a firm agreement between the Syrian government and Syrian opposition forces. The effectiveness of the summit has always been dubious, as Ahmed Jarba, president of the Syrian National Council, does not represent Jabhat alNusra or ISIS, which are two al-Qaeda affiliated Islamic militant forces with arguably the most successful – and horrifically violent – track record amongst the various opposition forces. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry opened the conference with Washington’s position that Assad had no option other than to step-down as President. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem countered that no power has the right to depose Assad except the Syrian people, which he followed up with the accusation that the West is trying to destabilize Syria – and the Middle East as a whole – by arming al-Qaeda affiliated terror groups. Though the United States has in fact been providing extensive lethal aid to Syrian rebels in the form of “light arms,” the exact identity of recipients is unknown, and this lends a sort of credence to Assad’s regime which ultimately harms the peace process. A New York Times article by CJ Chivers and Eric Schmitt details extensive arms shipments supplied and orchestrated by the CIA, which are then airlifted through U.S. client states, such as Turkey or Saudi Arabia, into the hands of Syrian rebel factions. The shipments began in 2012, but intensified over the course of 2013, even during the period in which President Obama vowed to stop providing lethal aid to opposition forces. As many as 160 clandestine airdrops of munitions were orchestrated by the CIA in which Arab client states, such as Croatia, purchased U.S. arms to be flown into Syria by predominately Qatari vessels. Now the exact contents of these shipments remain unknown, but “light arms” was a term used to describe lethal aid given to “moderate” Libyan militias in 2011. In the aftermath of the Algerian hostage crisis from January 2012, investigators found that most of the weapons used by the al-Qaeda hostage-takers were weapons gifted to Libyan militiamen by the US. The arms included AK-104 carbines, Belgian anti-tank mines, and C-5 missile launchers, all of which were used to kill 40 innocent workers. Similar U.S.-supplied arms are being used by al-Qaeda in their ongoing attempt to destabilize northern Mali, which has displaced at least 374,000 people. Syrian Minister Muallem may actually be telling the truth, which poses a serious blow to U.S. credibility, and will continue to mar the Syrian peace process.
Addiction: Yeah, it’s an actual problem
I
n the wake of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death by probable heroin overdose this past Sunday, perhaps the idea that addiction is an actual disease, a medical problem that has to be treated, rather than a choice, should be revisited. Though the great Bill O’Reilly would disagree and passionately spit out that drunks and addicts chose their own path to destruction, perhaps understanding the disease and biological model of addiction can resolve these ramblings. There is a complicated debate of addiction versus personal responsibility. I posit that addiction has basis in biological causation and should be treated like any By Victoria Kallsen other disease Weekly Columnist rather than framing addicts as degenerates. Addiction is characterized as a brain disease and relates to a person’s brain chemistry the functioning of their “reward center.” There is often a “voluntary” choice to try a drug or other addictive substance, or as voluntary as the decision can be in certain environments. Psychology Today describes it as a compulsive behavior issue often in terms of reaction to an “emotionally significant event,” according to Dr. Lance Dodes. Before you start blaming, let’s also remember than many become addicted to perfectly legal substances like alcohol; addiction happens where it wants to happen.
Regarding brain chemistry, the “reward center” is the non-medical term for the limbic system. It reinforces beneficial behavior for our bodies such as eating, drinking or having sex, all for survival. Unfortunately, substances like cocaine and methamphetamine ramp up the number of natural neurotransmitters (like dopamine) in one’s brain and overindulges the reward center for using drugs. Because of this boost to the system, the brain becomes accustomed to higher levels of dopamine. As a result, it stops producing as many of those neurotransmitters, and previous activities that made one happy no longer have as strong an effect. More of the drug is needed to achieve the high. Over time, drugs can affect “areas of the brain that are critical to judgment, decision making, learning and memory and behavior control” according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, further exasperating the problem. Is this an article to get you to be antidrug? Not quite. I’m merely endeavoring to provide a more scientific understanding as to why addiction happens and why it can be so hard to overcome. When O’Reilly declares on Fox News, “If you’re an alcoholic or heroin addict or a drug addict and you can’t hold a job, alright, and you can’t support your children...then it’s your fault, you’re bringing the havoc,” you have to ask yourself, do you really believe people are asking to be addicted? Thinking of both Philip Seymour Hoffman and Cory Monteith, both individuals had been to rehab in the year before their death to treat their addictions. Hoffman had been sober for approximately 22 years before succumbing. Both had families and loved ones. They weren’t asking to relapse
or remain slaves to their addictions. Is there a personal responsibility component? Sure. But when you’re in your 20s and at a party and someone offers you coke, or maybe you’re 16 and you start drinking for the first time and then can’t stop, you’re not thinking you’re going to be one of the 38,239 deaths that occur due to drug overdose, the leading cause of accidental death. You think you can survive it because some people do survive it, tiger’s blood or not. We’re seeing minorities getting punished and thinking this is just an African American problem–it’s not my problem. According to the NAACP, “African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at 10 times the rate of whites,” but 14 million whites have reported using drugs compared to 2.6 African Americans, so about a 5-to-1 white to African American ratio of usage. So what is the problem? We’re seeing victims of addictions and thinking, “pathetic.” We’re forgetting what is happening to their brains and throwing them in prison. We are constantly neglecting the individual wrapped in addiction’s chains who may want to escape. It’s time to stop standing on the moral high ground simply because we were able to avoid addiction or that we only tried pot that one time, so we’re cool. It’s time to stop acting like there’s a huge divide between us, when it all comes down to biology, environment and development. It’s time to take morality out of it and help those in need.
Victoria.Kallsen@UConn.edu 6th-semester mechanical engineering @Oh_Vicki
School choice could expand opportunity for poorest students
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Classes ran as scheduled today despite the roads... Thanks Susan. “Stupid is as stupid does, sir.” Is it cancelled or canceled? UConn men back in the polls. Could make a big statement with a win against Cincy “Why do people get mad when I don’t remember them? Do people not get alcoholism or is this 2013” The GPS problems editorial in yesterday’s Daily Campus was so on point. They should stop giving traffic tickets until they get that resolved. PSA: One ton sundae is coming up at the end of this week. Get there early. Heard on campus: “I was joking with my mom and said that my drug dealer was arrested and some random girl turned around and said ‘oh my god, you too!?’”
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t’s not the rich or even the middle class that our current education system is failing. Education is a major, if not primary, driver of inequality of opportunity. The question is how to fix the education system. Is the answer more standardized tests? Could it be that our education system is underfunded? Surely, the United States education system lacks neither of those things. Instead, education must be opened up to the same free market principles that have made this country great. By Devin Keehner Last week Sen. Lamar Staff Columnist Alexander introduced an education proposal that would do just that. His plan would free up $21 billion for 11 million children from low income families. States would be allowed to opt in to the program. In these states existing federal dollars would be redirected towards children in the form of vouchers. These reforms can then be expanded upon by state voucher programs – something a third of all states have already done. This is beneficial because voucher systems and charter
schools open up educational institutions to market forces. Currently, if a school is failing, low income families are trapped. However, if federal and state dollars are made to be portable, then schools will no longer be able to take their enrollment for granted, and families will be able to choose a new school without moving. Schools that provide a good service will benefit while schools that do not will have no choice but to improve. This shouldn’t be controversial. Even Sweden – hardly a conservative stronghold – has embraced the idea of competition through voucher programs, installing their own version of the program in 1992. Critics argue that Sweden’s voucher system has been ineffective. One such critic is Professor Henry M. Levin, director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Levin surmises that Sweden’s decreased test scores and increased economic inequality are in part due to school choice. However, what the professor failed to take into account was the influx in asylum seekers from Eastern Europe and Iraq
that has occurred over the same time period. According to Reuters roughly 15 percent of the Swedish population is foreign born. This would inevitably drag down test scores and increase inequality, because these immigrants will often face language barriers and decreased economic opportunity. What is most promising about voucher programs is that public schools are improved by the competition as well. The Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU), a research group operating under the Swedish Ministry of Employment, found that the program led not only to higher test scores, but also a higher probability of attending college in districts with high percentages of voucher usage. Furthermore, the study stated that, “these positive effects are primarily due to spill-over or competition effects and not that independent-school students gain significantly more than public school students.” This means school choice makes public schools better. In this respect Alexander’s bill is likely superior to Sweden’s. Unlike Sweden, which extends school choice to everyone, Lamar’s proposal
is targeted towards those who need choices most. Upper class families can already afford private schools while middle class families will choose to live in districts with good schools. It only seems fair to try to boost competition for those who are stuck in failing schools before extending school choice to everyone. This is vital to the political success of such a proposal. The problem many conservative proposals face is that they cause improvement across the board. From a purely utilitarian standpoint this a good thing, but it represents a political problem. For example, if you double real incomes across the board everyone is better off. However, you have also increased income inequality. This is a fact that is shamelessly exploited by liberal politicians. Making more limited proposals like Alexander’s politically powerful. Alexander’s proposal is a serious solution to a serious problem. It should lead to a bipartisan proposal that can satisfy both sides of the aisle.
Devin.Keehner@UConn.edu 6th-semester communications @DevinKeehner1
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THIS DATE IN HISTORY
BORN ON THIS DATE
1974 Patty Hearst, the 19-year-old daughter of newspaper publisher Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley, California.
UConn to host several big name speakers this spring semester www.dailycampus.com
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
1913-2005 - Rosa Parks 1948 - Alice Cooper 1977 - Gavin Degraw 1982 - Kimberly Wyatt
The Daily Campus, Page 5
By Katie McWilliams Staff Writer
Last week, UConn President Susan Herbst announced the university will host Hilary Rodham Clinton, Richard Dawkins and Art Spiegelman as guest speakers for the spring semester. While UConn has brought prolific figures to campus before, this array of speakers is by far the most impressive attempt to bring intellectual discussion outside of the lecture hall. The first speaker event will take place on March 3 with Spiegelman’s visit. Spiegelman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and author for his graphic novel account of the Holocaust, “Maus.” Tying into UConn Reads’ selection of Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis,” Spiegelman will likely speak about teaching history with graphic novels and the importance of the medium in modern culture. A cartoonist for “The New Yorker,” Spiegelman is an apt commentator on modern culture with a keen wit and a firm belief that comic literacy is an important aspect of literacy. If you have no exposure to Spiegelman’s work, his graphic novel trilogy “Maus” is a good place to start, as well as “In the Shadow of No Towers” his work on Sept. 11. Tickets to this event will be free to all UConn students. A month later, evolutionary biologist and vociferous advocate of secularism, Richard Dawkins, will speak as part of the president’s Distinguished Lecture Series. Dawkins rose to acclaim after the publication of “The Selfish Gene.” The 1976 book criticized the notion that evolution focuses on genes and not the group of organisms. The book was a best seller, with more than a million copies sold in 25 languages. In addition to the “The Selfish Gene,” Dawkins has authored other best sellers such as “The God Delusion” and “The Extended Phenotype,” both of which discuss evolutionary biology. Dawkins is an emeritus fellow at Oxford University in England and the vice president of the British Humanist Association, a group that focuses on being good humans without the influence of religion. Tickets to the event will be free. The culminating event in the
Thoughts on Rowling reveal
setback in her marriage, Clinton has remained resolute in her relationship with former President Clinton. In 2008 Clinton became Secretary of State, succeeding Condoleezza Rice. Presently, Clinton is campaigning for a presidential nomination from the Democratic Party for 2016.
By Alex Sferrazza Staff Writer
Awards (22 of which were earned competitively) out of a grand total of 59 nominations in his career. But before “Mary Poppins,” Walt had never before had one of his films nominated for Hollywood’s grandest prize. Although the film would lose the Oscar to “My Fair Lady,” Disney still regarded the nomination as an honor and a true validation of his talents by Hollywood as a true filmmaker not simply a “cartoon producer.” It would remain the only time Walt Disney would ever receive such an honor. “Mary Poppins” was one of the very last films in which Walt maintained an active role in the production before passing away just two years after the film’s release in 1964. In 2013, in commemoration of the film’s upcoming 50th anniversary, “Walt Disney Pictures” released “Saving Mr. Banks,” a wonderful film that tells the story of Walt Disney’s struggle to acquire the rights to “Mary Poppins” from author P.L. Travers. Despite receiving acclaim and high praise for lead actors Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson, due to an exceptionally crowded awards season, the film was not nominated for any major Academy Award. Fifty years after its release, “Mary Poppins” remains a crown jewel of the Walt Disney Studios and remains one of the finest musicals in the history of American cinema. It is a film every child should see at least once and even more importantly, one that families young and old can enjoy together.
Alex.Sferrazza@UConn.edu
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Images courtesy of jorgensen.uconn.edu
From top to bottom: Art Spiegelman, author of the ‘Maus’ graphic novel trilogy and cartoonist for “The New Yorker,” Richard Dawkins, evolutionary biologist and vocal advocate of secularism and Hilary Clinton, former First Lady and Secretary of State. UConn will be hosting a lecture by each of these distinguished individuals this semester.
series will be the Edmund Fusco Contemporary Issues Forum, featuring former New York Senator, First Lady and Secretary of State, Hilary Rodham Clinton. According to Herbst’s email, the Fusco Forum strives to bring scholars, leaders and policy makers to impart their wisdom with students and community members. Clinton began her political career at a young age, canvassing
in Chicago for Republican candidates such as Richard Nixon and Barry Goldwater. At Wellesley College her political orientation was changed by the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. Throughout her relationship with former President Bill Clinton, she remained politically active, campaigning for her husband and working on social projects such as the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
Hoffman among thousands of addiction victims LOS ANGELES (AP) — Philip Seymour Hoffman suffered from a chronic medical condition that required ongoing treatment. An admitted drug addict who first sought professional help more than two decades ago, Hoffman apparently succumbed to his illness with an overdose despite a return to rehab last March. A father of three with a thriving career, the Oscar winner died Sunday with a needle in his arm and baggies of what appeared to be heroin nearby. New York City medical examiners were conducting an autopsy on Hoffman’s body Monday as investigators scrutinize evidence found in his apartment, including at least four dozen plastic packets, some confirmed to have contained heroin. His death, which came after a long period of sobriety that ended last year, “epitomizes the tragedy of drug addiction in our society,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Here you have an extraordinarily talented actor who had the resources, who had been in treatment, who obviously realized the problem of drugs and had been able to stay clean,” she said, adding that Hoffman’s case shows how devastating addiction can be. Success has no more bearing on drug addiction than it does on heart failure, doctors say: Both can be fatal without consistent care. And while rehab
Breaking social norms of the 70s and 80s, Clinton retained her maiden name “Rodham” officially and became the first woman to become a partner at Rose Law Firm. Until Michelle Obama, Clinton was the only First Lady to hold a postgraduate degree. During her husband’s presidency, Clinton remained politically active and famously was subpoenaed to testify during the Whitewater scandal. Despite this
One of the many aspects of the Harry Potter series that I love is how J.K. Rowling has always been very forthcoming with additional information about the characters that extend beyond the text. I remember finishing “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” and reading article after article of interviews with Rowling. I learned so much more about the character’s lives after they were liberated from Voldemort’s reign of terror. As the years went on, I picked up additional facts every time I went on mugglenet.com, my favorite Harry Potter website. Then came the launch of Pottermore in 2012. This website allows users to have an interactive reading experience, a sort of reading and computer game hybrid. The perk of using Pottermore was that it contained new writing by Rowling. Backstories of characters we knew little about, histories of wizard families and random tidbits were hidden all over the website. I have never heard of an author that expanded upon her story for so long after the books were published. The information has been fantastic … until the newest piece came to my attention this past weekend. “Harry Potter should have married Hermione, admits J.K. Rowling,” “J.K. Rowling questions Ron and Hermione’s relationship” and “J.K. Rowling admits Hermione didn’t really belong with Ron” – these headlines from The Telegraph, hyable. com, and Entertainment Weekly stunned me. Why is Rowling suddenly changing her mind? In an article on hyable.com, Rowling is quoted as saying, “For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it, Hermione ended up with Ron.” Even though Rowling feels this way, is it right that she essentially changed a plotline that we have all known and accepted since “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” has been published for seven years? It isn’t simply the new idea of Hermione with Harry, but it is also the idea of both Ginny and Ron married to someone else. Would Ron have reconnected with Lavender Brown and Ginny with Dean Thomas? Or would entirely new wizards be brought into the story for them to marry? Rowling’s one statement has a snowball effect on the other characters’ lives. Harry and Ginny were together in “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince,” and it was clear that Ginny liked Harry ever since she met him. Rowling foreshadowed Harry and Ginny’s relationship for a long time before anything actually occurred between them. If Hermione were to have married Harry, Harry’s relationship with Ginny, and Ginny’s infatuation with Harry, would have needed to dissolve early in order to bring Hermione and Harry together romantically. Personally, I wanted Hermione and Harry to be together so I have a small feeling of satisfaction that my wish came true in a small way. However, I accepted Hermione and Ron as a couple as Rowling’s matchmaking became evident. I even found reasons why they should be together instead of with anyone else. From now on, though, Rowling’s announcement will change how I read the books and watch the movies. When the author admits they should have written differently, you can’t help but think what could have been had she followed through with her other idea.
may be part of treatment, it’s no antidote. Amy Winehouse and Cory Monteith had both been to rehab before eventually dying from overdoses. “Addiction is a chronic, progressive illness. No one can be cured,” said Dr. Akikur Reza Mohammad, a psychiatrist and addiction-medicine specialist who works as a professor at USC’s Keck School of Medicine and is founding chief of Inspire Malibu Treatment Center. “If someone is suffering from addiction, they cannot relax at any time. The brain neurochemistry changes... so these people are prone to relapse.” The younger a person begins using drugs, the more likely he is to develop an addiction, Volkow said. Hoffman wasn’t specific about his poisons when he told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in 2006 that he used “anything I could get my hands on” before cleaning up with rehab at age 22. He said in interviews last year that he sought treatment for heroin addiction after 23 years of sobriety. Addiction causes chemical changes in the brain that remain long after a person stops using the substance, said Volkow, who described the condition as “a chronic disease with a very long duration.” Abstinence or substitute medication is often required to prevent the addict from losing control around his desired substance. And just as someone who
hasn’t ridden a bike for 20 years will still know what to do with a bicycle, an addicted brain exposed to its drug — even after a long break — will relapse to its old levels. Studies have replicated this in animals, Volkow said: “Give them a tiny amount and they immediately escalate to same levels of drug taking as before” — which is why addiction is considered a chronic disease and overdose is common. Hoffman’s “is a story that unfortunately is not infrequent — to have an individual who takes drugs in (his) 20s and stops for 20 years relapse in (his) 40s and overdose,” she said. It’s not clear what motivated the actor’s return to drugs and what, if any, ongoing treatment he received after his rehab stint in 2013. Director Anton Corbijn, who was with Hoffman at the Sundance Film Festival last month to promote the film “A Most Wanted Man,” said Hoffman’s death “came as much as a shock to me as to anyone else I’d imagine.” He said that when he spent time with the actor two weeks ago, he “seemed in a good place despite some issues he had to deal with,” but Corbijn did not elaborate. Hoffman spoke to The Associated Press about the film at the festival, where he was dogged by paparazzi but other-
» HOFFMAN’S, page 7
Kathleen.McWilliams@UConn.edu
Mary Poppins, a Disney great Here’s a fun fact: “Mary Poppins” is the only live action film ever released under the “Walt Disney Pictures” banner in the 90 year history of the Walt Disney Studios to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, just the fourth overall (following “Beauty and the Beast,” “Up” and “Toy Story 3”). Fifty years after the film’s release, no other live action film from “Walt Disney Pictures” has received a nomination; although a fair share of more-than-worthy candidates (including 2013’s “Saving Mr. Banks”) have been arguably snubbed in that time. “Mary Poppins” is considered by many critics and film historians to represent the pinnacle of everything Walt Disney had accomplished in the film industry. Combining everything Disney had strived to perfect in his Hollywood career, from the art of animation, to world class musical numbers, groundbreaking special effects and clever gags, with “Mary Poppins” Walt Disney put all his cards on the table. Iconic performances by Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, pioneering use of pre green screen technology, and an absolutely unforgettable soundtrack by the Sherman Brothers full of timeless classics from “Feed the Birds” to “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and ”Chim Chim Chee-re” made “Mary Poppins” an instant classic upon release in 1964 and 50 years later the film continues to stand the test of time. Disney accumulated an unpar-
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Tuesday, February 4, 2014
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MOVIES
‘Labor Day’ fails to tell romance without romance
Upcoming Releases » FILM REVIEWS By Joe O’Leary February 7 Focus Editor
The Lego Movie The Monuments Men Vampire Academy
In memory of Phillip Seymour Hoffman
February 14 About Last Night (2014) Endless Love (2014) Robocop (2014) Winter’s Tale February 21 3 Days to Kill Pompeii
The Best of Bad Movies Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
AP
This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Kate Winslet as Adele, Josh Brolin as Frank and Gattlin Griffith as Henry in the feature film, “Labor Day.”
By Randy Amorim Staff Writer
Sharknado (2013)
Clue (1985)
Road House (1989)
Batman & Robin (1997)
There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who know that bars, clubs and wild parties are not the right place to meet people in search of a relationship and those who do not. “Labor Day” is a film for the latter. We’d all like to believe that anybody can fall in love anywhere at any given time or place, but this is essentially a film for those who do not stop to think that perhaps that isn’t such a great thing. “Labor Day” tells the story of Adele (Kate Winslet) and her son Henry. Henry’s father left Adele and married his secretary. Henry chose to live with her since she has nobody else. She is a depressed and very lonely woman who is not at all stable. She leaves the house only once a month to buy groceries. The obvious question that the writers didn’t feel they needed to address is what this woman does for a living since she has a house and we never see her do anything all day besides sitting around being miserable. The Thursday before Labor
Day, Adele and Henry make their monthly trip, during which they meet escaped convict Frank (Josh Brolin) and he somewhat forces them to take him home with them. I say “somewhat forced” because Frank asks them and insists in a crowded store and only places his hand on Henry’s back to intimidate Adele. She is concerned for his safety, but doesn’t seem to realize she can scream for help and the man would probably run. After getting a ridiculous amount of chances to call for help and avoid what could possibly be their murder, Adele arrives at the house with Frank and Henry. Long story short, he doesn’t really force them to do anything and she doesn’t really try to make him leave although she worries for her son’s safety. She has a phone, but doesn’t even try to use it. If you’re thinking that doesn’t make sense then you understand my two hour experience with this movie. The rest of that day he cleans up around the house, does all her chores, fixes things that need fixing and plays catch with her son. It’s clear that
Adele at this point is already in love with him despite the fact that he is an escaped convict put in jail for murder. He says there is more to the story than you’ll read in the paper, but strangely Henry and Adele never ask and do not seem at all interested. When we finally see the culmination of annoying flashbacks throughout we understand that his wife cheated and left him alone with his kid all the time. So he puts the baby in the shower, forgets the water is running because he wants to accuse his wife of cheating, then shoves her causing her to crack her head and die and the baby drowns in the water before he can stop it. Director Jason Reitman, who has made great movies before, seems to think this qualifies him as an innocent man. It’s a good thing he chose to be a director and not a lawyer. While very well directed and decently acted, the writing and basic story are so poorly written and ill conceived that it is impossible to ignore. The romance is very sudden and forced. Truth be told, there isn’t much romance at all. We hardly see them touch, kiss
Labor Day 4/10
or even flirt. The film never even tries to imply that they are physically intimate in any way. For that matter, we never see them be emotionally intimate. It’s a romance movie without romance. The film is degrading to women and sets a bad example. This man is a murderer who kidnaps Adele and her son, but he shows some signs of being OK so she instantly falls in love with him. The film depicts and literally says through her son’s narration that she is lonely and needs a man. She is depicted as a weak female who cannot do a single thing on her own and falls head over heels for the first guy to show up who does everything for her. As if all a husband must do is do things around the house, cook, clean and do laundry while the wife sits back and relaxes. It doesn’t matter if they’re in love or not because I certainly don’t believe that Frank and Adele are at the end. Both men and women alike should avoid significant others who found this film to be “cute;” they likely have unrealistic expectations of relationships and love.
Matt Damon’s best movies By Randy Amorim Staff Writer
This Friday, “The Monuments Men” will be released into theaters after being previously postponed. Matt Damon stars in the film adding another major release to his impressive resume. Here is a look back at Matt Damon’s best movies. “Good Will Hunting”: This is the movie that made Matt Damon the household name he is today and earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. ‘Good Will Hunting’ tells the story of a gifted Boston janitor working at MIT with a genius IQ. Although he has a brilliant gift for math, he chooses instead to ignore his talent. After a professor discovers him, he arranges for him to meet with a psychologist (Robin Williams) to help him sort out his issues. While he at first refuses his help, the psychologist never gives up on him and eventually discovers the harsh life he had to endure. The film was written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and established careers for both. “The Talented Mr. Ripley”:
Matt Damon plays Tom Ripley, a mysterious and unstable man who is sent under false pretenses to bring home a wealthy man’s son from Italy. When he fails to do so, Tom takes matters into his own hands and assumes his identity. Something of an overlooked and underrated gem, the film showed a very dark side of Matt Damon. “Saving Private Ryan”: In what is perhaps the most epic movie ever made, Damon plays a soldier whose brothers have all been killed in WWII. A group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to find him and bring him back home. Although he is only present in the last third of the film, Damon gives a strong supporting performance in Steven Spielberg’s epic masterpiece. “The Departed”: Martin Scorsese leaves his typical New York City setting behind for a look at the Boston criminal underworld. This best picture winning film tells the story of an undercover state police officer in the mob and an undercover criminal in the state police both searching for each other’s identities. Damon plays a ruthless sociopath pretending to be a cop. His Boston
Maurilio.Amorim@UConn.edu
Image courtesy of whatcanilearntoday.wordpress.com
Robin Williams, left, and Matt Damon, right, in a scene from ‘Good Will Hunting,’ the film that launched Damon’s career.
accent may not be the most impressive, but he brings a lot to his character and manages to stand up against an ensemble cast comprising Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin among others. The “Bourne” Series: I never would have thought Matt Damon could be an action star after “Good Will Hunting,” but I suppose a good actor can pull off anything. Damon plays Jason Bourne, a CIA assassin who finds himself hunted after a fall gives him amnesia causing him
to fail a mission. “The Bourne Identity” was a solid action movie, but its’ sequels, “The Bourne Supremacy” and “The Bourne Ultimatum,” really stand out as two of the best espionage action thrillers of all time. The two sequels made Jason Bourne the cultural icon that James Bond is and showed us that just because Matt Damon looks like he would cry if you punched him in real life, it doesn’t mean that he can’t convince you on screen otherwise.
Maurilio.Amorim@UConn.edu
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, an infallible talent whose presence made any film that featured him instantly compelling, is dead at 46. Hoffman’s abilities on the screen made him an icon of contemporary cinema and a movie star. His figure wasn’t muscle toned, his face wasn’t carved from granite, he could never be called a heartthrob, but that did not prevent any film bill with his name on it, starring or supporting, from instantly being worth attention. He appeared in few blockbusters, and those he did are the least notable of his esteemed filmography. But at the end of almost every year for two decades, at least one of his films would be on the retrospective radar, and his name was seldom absent from any awards discussion. He worked with a multitude of respected, high-caliber directors including Spike Lee, the Coen brothers and Sidney Lumet. Phillip Seymour Hoffman became a name as household as Tom Cruise or Robert Downey Jr. He earned every scrap of his fame with his talent. What made Hoffman brilliant was his ability to be ambiguous. He could completely alter our impression of him simply by manipulating the corner of his mouth. His smile was versatile and dangerous. He could appear vulnerable and tender-hearted, then duplicitous and sleazy; his best performances (“Doubt” and “Happiness”) were when he mixed so many elements of character, one could never assume where his performance was headed. You knew at once whether you wanted to trust or distrust him, but became conflicted as to which is the proper option. He way of speaking was collected and deliberate, and whomever he conversed with, his character was either the smarter man, or certainly thought as such. His characters were unpredictable and not to be taken lightly; he would never shed the shrouds that surrounded them. There wasn’t ever a casting decision for him that could be called a surprise because he could fit on every space of the hero-villain spectrum. His mantra was humble. Almost no film was advertised as a “Phillip Seymour Hoffman Movie,” and he never used a grand entrance preferring to stroll casually into view and become the most interesting person on screen. Hoffman achieved his breakthrough in 1992 with “Scent of a Woman.” He worked with acclaimed director Paul Thomas Anderson thrice in the decade, first in “Hard Eight” and then in “Boogie Nights” and “Magnolia.” They collaborated again for “The Master” in 2012, which earned Hoffman his fourth and likely final Academy Award nomination. His only Oscar win came in 2006 for his portrayal of writer Truman Capote in “Capote.” He also earned nominations for “Doubt,” and “Charlie Wilson’s War.” Other highlights include “Cold Mountain,” “25th Hour,” “Owning Mahony” and “Almost Famous.” Hoffman also acted on the stage, his most recent role being Willy Lorman in the Broadway production of “Death of a Salesman,” for which he received a Tony nomination. Posthumous releases will be “A Most Wanted Man,” “God’s Pockeet” and the two remaining films in “The Hunger Games” series.
Brendon.Field@UConn.edu
NYC mayor makes debut on ‘The Daily Show’ Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Hoffman’s addiction relatively common
The Daily Campus, Page 7
Focus
from HOFFMAN, page 5
AP
Mayor Bill de Blasio, center, and New York City’s first lady, Chirlane McCray, mark the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday by bagging meals with Girl Scouts from Brooklyn Troop 2260 at the Distribution Community Kitchen and Food Pantry in run by New York’s Food Bank the Food Bank in New York’s Harlem neighborhood Monday Jan. 20, 2014.
NEW YORK (AP) — Bill de Blasio took part in a New York City political rite of passage Monday, appearing on a late night talk show to tout his record and poke fun at a few gaffes that have provided fodder for comics during his first month as mayor. De Blasio guested on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” where host Jon Stewart tweaked the mayor for his handling of a recent snow storm and his use of a knife and fork to eat pizza. A photo of the liberal mayor using utensils instead of the traditional New York method of grabbing a slice with his hands went viral last month and sent Stewart into a spasm of mock outrage, saying “you’re a man of the people, eat like one!” During the taping of Monday’s show, Stewart presented de Blasio with a pizza, but the
mayor responded to the goodnatured test with a prop of his own, whipping out a knife and fork from his jacket to laughter from the studio audience. “As mayor of Napoli — I mean, New York City — we are always ready for our pizza,” de Blasio said in the show that was set to air Monday night. The mayor had explained his pizza consumption style as a nod to his “ancestral homeland” of Italy. De Blasio then used his hands to bite into a slice as Stewart slurped on a giant soda that the mayor’s predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, had tried to ban. As snow fell outside the Manhattan studio, Stewart noted that it was already the third storm since de Blasio took office on Jan. 1, saying it “never snowed once” during the billionaire Bloomberg’s 12 years
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in office. “I think he paid the right guy,” de Blasio responded. “I mean, he has the money.” De Blasio, a Democrat, had acknowledged that the city had not done a good job plowing the Upper East Side during a recent storm and played along with a bit that he had ordered more snow dumped in the wealthy neighborhood. He also added that “we have an experimental effort to get locusts up in there.” Unlike the normally staid Bloomberg, de Blasio frequently jokes around at his press conferences. His jokes, which often fall under the heading of “Dad humor,” have a mixed success rate with the press corps, sometimes eliciting chuckles, other times groans. He was eager to show off his wit to Stewart, who suggested that the mayor’s strongly liberal views had him putting up “posters of Lenin, Stalin” at his City Hall office.
“The Che Guevara posters are very popular, they really are,” de Blasio retorted. This appearance was de Blasio’s talk show debut. Bloomberg did the late night talk show circuit with some frequency, chatting with hosts ranging from Stewart to David Letterman to Jimmy Fallon and making an appearance on “Saturday Night Live.” Stewart, who once was a college roommate of failed mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, has frequently joked about his love for de Blasio and his Afro-sporting teenage son. De Blasio was far more serious earlier in the day when he said he will soon unveil new steps in his campaign to combat income inequality. De Blasio told WNYC radio that he plans to improve the city’s living wage policy and will reveal other proposals during his first State of the City address next Monday.
wise calm. The actor, who could transform so convincingly into such varied characters on stage and screen, was generally a private person — something he said went with the job. “If they start watching me (in roles) and thinking about the fact that I got a divorce or something in my real life, or these things, I don’t think I’m doing my job,” he said in the “60 Minutes” interview. “You don’t want people to know everything about your personal life, or they’re gonna project that also on the work you do.” Because addiction has a genetic predisposition, celebrities are as likely as anyone else to suffer, though working in a field that may be more tolerant of drug use can increase a person’s chances. “Addiction does not discriminate, the same way high blood pressure and diabetes do not discriminate,” Mohammad said, adding that 100 people die in the U.S. each day from drug
overdoses. Those numbers are increasingly fueled by prescription painkillers, which tend to be opiates, like heroin. Recovery from drug addiction is possible with treatment, lifestyle changes and awareness, doctors say. They may recommend inpatient rehabilitation for up to six months, followed by ongoing therapy and self-help meetings, such as those offered by 12-step programs. While intensity and type of treatment vary according to individual needs, Volkow said continuous treatment over five years has yielded the best results in studies so far. “Continuity of care improves outcomes for individuals who are addicted to drugs,” she said, adding that it can be a “graded approach” that changes with time. “But you need continued awareness of the possibility of relapse. No matter how long you’ve been clean, if you take the drug, you’re at high, high risk of relapse.”
Sign of the times: Super Bowl ads safer and staid NEW YORK (AP) — As Super Bowl ads go, so goes America. The A-list advertisers who aired commercial spots during Sunday’s big game steered clear of controversy while trying to appeal to weary consumers with iconic American images and family-centered topics. Those safe themes were evident in many of the ads, from Toyota’s Highlander ad featuring singing Muppets to Chrysler’s two-minute Bob Dylan spot focused on American engineering, and Bud Light’s ad which showed Arnold Schwarzenegger playing “tiny tennis.” Super Bowl ads can be a bellwether for the economy because they show which companies are willing to spend $4 million on a 30-second spot. In 2000, for instance, at the height of the dot com boom, 13 technology startups advertised in the Super Bowl.
By 2001, after the bubble had burst, there were just three. This year, fewer websites and software companies aired ads compared to the past four years and more ads appeared from packaged food and luxury auto makers, according to research firm Ace Metrix, which measures the effectiveness of ads. Absent were edgier companies willing to take risks, such as E(asterisk) Trade and Groupon, while more staid brands like Cheerios and Heinz joined the mix. Super Bowl ads are also an indicator of consumer attitudes. Advertisers used nostalgia and family-heavy themes on Sunday to play to viewers who are fatigued from a depressed economy and tepid job market. “We’ve had an extended recession and psychologically we’re not back into a mode where people are comfortable with heavy consumption,” says Ray Taylor, marketing professor at the Villanova School of Business, Villanova, Penn. “A lot of consumers have been hit financially for an extended period of time. As a result, returning to things people are familiar with or appealing to their emotions will tend to work. It’s a particularly good time to be nostalgic with consumers.” The timing helps explain why Budweiser’s reassuring “Puppy Love” ad won the USA Today Ad Meter, which gauges the popularity of Super Bowl Ads. The spot depicts a budding friendship between a yellow Labrador puppy and a Clydesdale. Microsoft’s “Empowering” tear-jerker ad was dubbed most effective by Ace Metrix. The spot, narrated by former professional football player Steve Gleason, shows how technology can help change people’s lives. Gleason, who is living with ALS —a disease of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement, uses a Microsoft Surface Pro tablet running eye-tracking technology to speak. Advertisers across the spectrum toned down their messages. Godaddy.com, a 10-year-old Web hosting company made its name producing racy Super Bowl ads that made a splash — positive and negative. But this year they went relatively tame, depicting a woman who quit her job during the ad so she could start up a small business. “A lot of years, the ads reflect the national mood, and now we’re in this ambivalent state,” says David Berkowitz, chief marketing officer at digital ad agency MRY. “There’s still a lot of that American pride and self-confidence, but we’re realizing that we aren’t in that dominant position. The whole ‘We’re No. 1’ attitude feels less assured than it has in the past. So I think that’s led to a lot of these safe choices.” Even so, this year’s game wasn’t without its luxury advertisers. Chrysler’s high end Ghibili Maserati, which goes for $67,000, made a splash with a darkly lyrical 90-second spot featuring narration about defeating “giants” by “Beasts of the Southern Wild” actress Quvenzhane Wallis. And Jaguar advertised its $70,000 F-Type car with a big-budget ad featuring a car chase.
The Daily Campus, Page 8
Comics
Tuesday, February 4, 2013
PHOTO OF THE DAY
Meek Beesk by Meewillis
NATALIA PYLYPYSZYN/The Daily Campus
Officers from SUBOG hosted the “SUBOG Cafe” in the Student Union, an informational meeting for people interested in getting involved with the committee.
Fuzzy and Sleepy by Matt Silber
HOROSCOPES
Today's Birthday (02/04/14). Get out and play this year. Grow physically and spiritually by actively pursuing fun, dreams and passions. Express your vision. Home renovations flourish around March and April, while your eventful love life opens a new door around the June eclipse. You can balance desires for freedom and partnership, travel and domesticity. It's possible to have it all. To get the advantage, check the day's rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging. Aries (March 21-April 19) -- Today is an 8 -- Navigate a disagreement about priorities. Don't over-extend. Notice where the cash is going. Create or grow a nest egg. Check for errors in your assumptions. Point out the potential. Postpone your trip until conditions improve.
Lonely Dinosaur by LG
UCONN CLASSICS: ACTUALLY, COME TO THINK OF IT WE’RE NOT SORRY AT ALL ABOUT MISATTRIBUTING LAST WEEK’S ‘STICKCAT’. IF IT BOTHERED YOU THEN TOUGH BREAK, HOMBRE.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO DRAW OR MAKE GAMES FOR THE DAILY CAMPUS COMICS?!
Taurus (April 20-May 20) -- Today is a 6 -- Discuss how to allot resources. Slow and easy does it. Take care not to step on toes. Prepare documents. Don't touch savings. Postpone purchases if possible. Get everyone aligned on it first. Focus on romance. Gemini (May 21-June 20) -- Today is a 6 -- Postpone household chores. Focus on making money, or it could fall short. Hold your temper, and handle a family matter privately. Carefully choose the course of action. Not everyone agrees. Wait a few days for a romantic tryst. Cancer (June 21-July 22) -- Today is a 6 -- Hand over some of the cash, but be careful. Don't fund a fantasy. Spend intelligently. Set priorities. Others vie for your attention. Get yourself a useful treat, and relax into a peaceful pursuit. Take it easy. Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Today is a 7 -- Confront a barrier. Take notes. Stick to your budget. Be respectful and polite. Stay home instead of going out. Don't play poker, either. Stay cool. Postpone a celebration. Get involved in a passionate, relaxing (inexpensive) diversion. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- Today is a 6 -- Expect some resistance, with the possibility of error high. Don't talk about work in progress. Use caution, and don't push (no matter how much your partner wants it). Stash away enough to keep the budget. Rest. Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) -- Today is a 7 -- Take care of important details. Your partner applauds your effort. Push your personal agenda. New information disrupts old assumptions. Keep an open mind. Magnetic personalities come together. Work could intrude on family bliss. Postpone a private moment. Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) -- Today is an 8 -- Don't borrow or lend today. Others could get confrontational. Energetic friends stir emotions. A better time will come. Consider options carefully before choosing the right path. Put the oxygen mask on yourself first. Calibrate your power. Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) -- Today is a 6 -- Don't spend your money on entertainment alone. Wait for a better time. Get into creative work. You obsess over finishing touches. Be honest, above all. Modifications may be required. Take care traveling. Quiet productivity can be fun. Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- Today is a 5 -- More planning is required at home. Seek answers from a professional money manager. Go to extra trouble to keep costs down. Voice your opinions. Favor optimistic approaches. Relax into domesticity, and leave big decisions for another day. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) -- Today is a 6 -- Don't let a discouraging remark stop you. Don't talk back, or gossip. Improve morale by indulging in simple pleasures. Be careful not to double-book. Finish an important job before relaxing. Get productive in peace and quiet. Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) -- Today is an 8 -- It looks like everything works. Ask probing questions to check. Advance planning helps. Don't throw your money around. Leave it stashed. Quietly assume more responsibility. Not everyone needs to agree. Eat well, and rest mind and body.
by Brian Ingmanson
EMAIL US @ DAILYCAMPUSCOMICS@GMAIL.COM!
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
The Daily Campus, Page 9
Sports
Seattle LB Malcolm Smith, Super Bowl MVP? 'No way' NEW YORK (AP) — Three words raced through Seattle Seahawks linebacker Malcolm Smith's mind as he streaked toward the end zone in the Super Bowl, returning his interception of a pass by Peyton Manning: "Don't get caught." That, Smith explained Monday at a news conference, would be the "typical thoughts a defensive player (would have) with the ball." And he heeded his own advice, going 69 yards for a touchdown on that play. He added a fumble recovery later and earned MVP honors as Seattle beat Manning's Denver Broncos 43-8 for the Seahawks' first NFL championship. At no moment during Sunday's action did Smith think he would take home the award. His teammates did. "Even during the game," Smith recalled, "guys were like, 'You might be MVP.' And I was like, 'No way. No way. Not me.' But to be here, it's just pretty cool."
Smith is not one of those players who long ago seemed destined to wind up getting the keys to a new vehicle the day after the Super Bowl, a sponsor's prize for the big game's best player. Coming out of college at Southern California — where he was coached by the Seahawks' current boss, Pete Carroll — Smith wasn't invited to the NFL combine, where top prospects are measured and evaluated. Then, when the 2011 draft rolled around, he wasn't taken until the seventh round, the 242nd player chosen. Seems to fit right in with the Seahawks, more than a third of whom weren't even drafted at all. "He didn't like it, but he had to go in the seventh round. He's proven otherwise, just like a lot of other guys in our program," Carroll said. "I think it was extraordinary last night to see Jermaine Kearse score a touchdown, and Doug Baldwin score a touchdown, and
Malcolm gets in the end zone and scoops up another fumble," he continued. "Guys that are not the heralded guys coming in competed in our program and found a way to contribute in enormous ways." By way of explaining in a euphoric locker room Sunday night why he was an appropriate choice for an MVP from these Seahawks, Smith said: "I'm just fortunate to be a part of it, fortunate to get opportunities. I'm happy to be amongst a bunch of guys that play with attitudes and chips on their shoulders. I'm happy to represent that." He went on: "You might have been overlooked. You might feel like you can make plays and never got the opportunity." Truth is, the Seahawks were the lucky ones. Because even though Smith was not supposed to be a starter this season, a player with zero interceptions in his first two years in the league, he always was ready when called upon.
Pegged mainly as a special teams guy, Smith earned notice with his speed and ability to handle both outside linebacker slots. When Bruce Irvin was suspended for four games in May for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing substances, it was Smith who filled in as a starter. When Bobby Wagner was sidelined, and K.J. Wright slid over to middle linebacker, Smith got another opportunity to start. And when Wright broke his right foot late in the season, guess who Seattle called upon: Yep, Smith, of course. Then suddenly, on Sunday, there he was at the Super Bowl, in the right place and right time, as usual. It was Smith who wound up with the victory-sealing interception at the end of Seattle's NFC championship game victory two weeks ago, grabbing the football after Richard Sherman deflected a pass in the end zone.
VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) — James Bell is Villanova's old guy. He's the only senior starter, the one counted on to steady the Wildcats, with a big bucket or a wise word. Bell answered the call again, hitting six 3-pointers and scoring 27 points and Darrun Hilliard had 17 to lead No. 6 Villanova to an 81-58 win over Xavier on Monday night. "I told him, 'This is your team, man. And look what they're doing,'" coach Jay Wright said. They're making a run at a pretty nice seed in the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats (20-2, 8-1 Big East) never trailed and have won four straight games since a 28-point loss to No. 12 Creighton on Jan. 20. Bell made 6 of 10 3s, was 10 of 14 overall from the floor and grabbed eight rebounds. He scored 21 points in the second half to the Wildcats hit the 20-win mark at the second fastest point in program history. The 2009-10 team opened 20-1. "Everything's pretty much on me, good or bad," Bell said. "I think they respect me for it and that makes us a better team."
Bell was never better this season than he was in the second half. With Xavier slumping from the floor, the Musketeers tried to get physical. Semaj Christon shoved Daniel Ochefu after on Xavier possession, then trash talked his way off the court after nailing a 3 that pulled Xavier to 57-45. Wright's call for a technical was ignored by the refs. Christon's conduct wasn't forgotten by the fans, who booed him each time he touched the ball the rest of the game. Bell pulled Ochefu aside to ease rising tensions. Bell put the focus back on basketball, hitting consecutive 3s from the same corner spot for a 65-50 lead, and the rout was on. "He takes responsibility off the court. He takes responsibility on the court," Wright said. "There are times I can just go at him and I don't have to go crazy on anybody else. He just gets it done on the team." Wright matched Rollie Massimino, who led Villanova to the 1985 national championship, with nine 20-win seasons.
Christon led Xavier (15-7, 5-4) with 17 points and Matt Stainbrook had 14. The Musketeers have lost three straight. "We've got to be a better secondhalf team," Xavier coach Chris Mack said. The Wildcats wore gray uniforms for the first time this season, making them look more like Georgetown than the traditional beasts in blue. "I just love our blue and white," Wright said. "I've got to get used to it. Thank God it says Villanova on the front." No matter the color, the Wildcats were stout in holding off Xavier's second-half run. Justin Martin hit consecutive 3s that trimmed Nova's lead to 31-28. Hilliard steadied the offense with a 3-pointer. Bell hit two straight 3s — making Villanova a solid 7 of 17 — to open up a 10-point lead. Dylan Ennis fed Bell for a dunk on the break, and Ennis followed with a monster dunk of his own that put the crowd on their feet and a 51-36 lead heading into a timeout. Ennis' next shot rattled around the rim before it plopped
through the net. A winter storm dumped several inches of snow on campus, the Philadelphia area ranged from 3 to 9 inches, and school was closed. But the game went on, and the Wildcats opened 750 tickets to students without any, with a valid ID, keeping the student section full. The fresh faces were impressed early with the home team. JayVaughn Pinkston's first 3-pointer made it 9-0 and forced Xavier into an early timeout. His third 3 of the half made it 20-9. Pinkston entered the game only 5 of 24 on the season from 3-point range, but made all three attempts in the first half. About the only part of the game Pinkston couldn't master was slam dunks — he botched two. Hilliard also misfired on a dunk, giving the Wildcats more missed slams (3) than free throws (2). Bell, Hilliard and Pinkston are the three key upper classmen that have turned Villanova from a 19-loss program two seasons ago into conference contenders this year. "We're not going to stop coming at you," Hilliard said.
lines in the city. New York’s resident hockey teams are making waves as well, as both the Rangers and Islanders are reportedly considering big moves in the near future. The Rangers, who currently find themselves in second in the Metropolitan Division, are currently in contract negotiations with Ryan Callahan, and rumors have been swirling of the Blueshirts dealing
their captain if negotiations go south. The Rangers reportedly allowed Callahan’s representatives to speak to teams about acquiring the 28-year-old forward, although speculation has cooled on the Rangers dealing a player that many see as their heart and soul. Despite moving away from the toughness and grit that has defined the team over previous seasons, Callahan is still a player that can contribute to the newly technical and precise Rangers, as the right winger is seen as valuable enough to earn a call up to the USA’s Olympic squad. However, if Callahan’s contract negotiations fizzle out, the Blueshirts may be left with no option other than to try and cash in on their captain. The Rangers cross-town rivals, the Islanders, are also dealing with personnel issues of their own, as the Isles have been backed into a corner by star Thomas Vanek. Vanek, who was acquired via a trade with Buffalo just this season, turned down a
long-term deal from the Islanders and declared his intentions to test the market when his contract expires this summer. The Islanders have been left with little choice other than dealing the 30-year-old winger, even though Vanek hasn’t ruled out resigning over the summer. Vanek would prove to be one of the NHL’s top rental players for the rest of the season, as a contender would be sure to pursue him in an effort to bolster their roster for a Stanley Cup run. Both New York franchises are facing a tough personnel choice in the coming weeks. It’s always a fine line to walk when it comes to moving a top player, and both teams risk fan backlash if the wrong move is made. Once again, all eyes are on New York, as the Rangers and Islanders will both have decisions to make in the next few weeks.
Ryan.Tolmich@UConn.edu
City (17-5-2), which is ahead of Chelsea (16-3-5) on goal difference. Mourinho said he left his club's masseur, Billy McCulloch, to make the prematch team talk. Ivanovic then scored on a 25-yard, left-footed shot when the ball rebounded to him after City captain Vincent Kompany slid to block Ramires' shot, and the Blues ended Manchester City's streak of 61 home league matches since November 2010 in which it had scored. Samuel Eto'o, Nemanja Matic and Gary Cahill all struck the goal frame for Chelsea. City has 115 goals in all competitions and had been 15-0 at Etihad Stadium this season in domestic matches, including 11-0 in the league.
HARTFORD (AP) — A man who alleges he was shot in the face by former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez in Florida was shot again, this time outside a Connecticut nightclub, where he then opened fire, police said Monday. Alexander Bradley was part of a disturbance involving money Sunday that spilled outside of the Vevo Lounge Bar & Grill in Hartford's South Meadows neighborhood, police Lt. Brian Foley said. After the 31-year-old was shot multiple times in the right thigh, he retrieved a gun from his car and tried to enter the nightclub, Foley said, before he opened fire. No other injuries were reported. Responding police officers stopped a car that sped away from the club, and an injured
Bradley got out and fell on the street, Foley said. He was taken to a hospital under police guard and his condition wasn't released, but he's expected to survive. Bradley was charged with criminal possession of a firearm, criminal use of a firearm and other crimes. His Connecticut lawyer, Robert Pickering, hung up the phone on a reporter without commenting Monday. Detectives recovered 11 shell casings from outside of the club, Foley said, and Bradley's gun was reported stolen from Springfield, Mass. Foley said the investigation into who shot Bradley is ongoing. Bradley, an associate of Hernandez, alleges in a Florida lawsuit that he lost his right eye when Hernandez shot him in the face as they argued outside
AP
Seattle Seahawks linebacker and Super Bowl XLVIII MVP Malcolm Smith answers questions during a news conference at the Super Bowl Media Center on Feb. 3, 2014, in New York.
And then, in the biggest game of all, Smith's pick-6 off a fluttering ball — after teammate Cliff Avril made contact with Manning during the throw — made it 22-0 late in the first half Sunday, and Seattle was on its way. "I was like, 'Again!? No way.' I didn't believe it," Smith said.
He grabbed a fumble later, too, capping quite a late-season surge. "I've always just been taught to run to the ball and good things will happen for me," Smith said. "I played running back as a kid, so it's always been the most exciting thing to have the ball in my hands."
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — The Green Bay Packers expect to offer a "pay as we play" option for postseason tickets after fans complained about the team's playoff ticket policy, the team said Monday. The Packers also announced plans to increase seat prices next season. The Packers had trouble selling out the Jan. 5 home wild-card game against the San Francisco 49ers before sponsors stepped in and bought the remaining tickets, ensuring the game would not be blacked out in most Wisconsin TV markets. Team policy required the purchase of two possible home playoff games, with any games that are not played credited to next year's season ticket purchase. While the policy is still under review, the Packers said they anticipate having payment applied only when a game is certain to occur. The Packers, Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals all needed an extra day to sell out their home playoff games this past season. In each case, corporations stepped up to buy big blocks of the remaining tickets, including retailer Meijer in Indy, Associated Bank in Green Bay and P&G in Cincinnati. NFL Commissioner Roger
Goodell was asked why it was so difficult to sellout a playoff game. "Those were mistakes that were made by us, the NFL and our clubs," he said last week." What we have to do is recognize that technology has changed and that we have to use technology more efficiently and more intelligently to make sure we don't put our fans in that kind of position. ... We shouldn't be in that position, and that's on us, and we have to fix it, and we will." The Packers also said there will be $3 increase for each general seating and suite ticket next season. Invoices were sent to season-ticket holders this week. Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy said the team wanted to stay below the league average. With the increase, the Packers are now 17th in the league for average ticket prices, Murphy said. The new ticket prices are $77 for the end zones, $85 for the south end zone and 700 level, $88 for the end zone to the 20-yard line, $92 for the south end zone and 600 level, $100 for seats between the 20-yard lines and $100 for a suite ticket. Payment is due in the Packers' ticket office March 31.
Bell leads No. 6 Villanova past Xavier, 81-58 Packers to offer 'pay as we play' playoff plan
Personnel decisions looming for New York teams
AP
New York Rangers right wing Ryan Callahan (24) tries to get a shot in an NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden in New York, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014.
By Ryan Tolmich NHL Columnist The lights are always bright in the city that never sleeps. New York sports are always under a microscope. The press is vicious, the fans are rabid and the pressure is high. This past weekend’s Super Bowl brought a new level attention to The Big Apple. However, the gridiron isn’t the only place making head-
Beckham to discuss effort to bring team to Miami MIAMI (AP) — David Beckham will take part in a news conference Wednesday to discuss his progress in trying to bring a Major League Soccer expansion team to Miami. MLS Commissioner Don Garber and MiamiDade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez also will attend the session, which was announced Monday. The league has discussed placing its next two expansion teams in Miami and Atlanta. Expansion in Miami is contingent on securing a financing plan and location for a new stadium. Beckham has scouted possible sites and is
seeking investors to assist with startup costs such as stadium construction and player acquisitions. Among those who might become involved is Beckham's friend LeBron James, who has had recent conversations with the retired soccer star about bringing a team to Miami. "It's looking very promising," James said Monday. "Hopefully they can go in the right direction as we all planned. It's a great place for soccer." MLS's Miami Fusion played in Fort Lauderdale from 1998-01 before folding because of poor attendance.
a Miami club last February. Hernandez is detained on a murder charge in the death of Odin Lloyd, a semi-professional football player whose body was found June 17 near Hernandez's North Attleborough, Mass., home. Hernandez has pleaded not guilty. Boston police, meanwhile, have linked both Hernandez and Bradley to a double homicide in July 2012. Police believe Hernandez and Bradley were in an SUV when someone inside the vehicle fatally shot Daniel Jorge Correia de Abreu and Safiro Teixeira Furtado in Boston's South End, according to a search warrant filed by Bristol, Conn., police. The warrant doesn't say who investigators believe pulled the trigger in the double killing or suggest a motive. No charges have been filed in the case. The
warrant sought recordings of phone calls made by Bradley while he was jailed in Hartford in October for failing to appear before a Massachusetts grand jury investigating the 2012 shooting. Investigators say they found the SUV wanted in the Boston homicides at the home of Hernandez's uncle in Bristol. Police say surveillance camera recordings show Hernandez and Bradley going into a Boston nightclub shortly after the shooting victims went into the club. The recordings also show Hernandez driving the SUV out of a nearby parking garage with Bradley as a passenger shortly before the shootings, police said. Boston police called Hartford police Monday about Bradley's shooting as part of their investigation, Foley said.
Chelsea beats Man City Man allegedly shot by Aaron Hernandez shot again 1-0 in EPL showdown MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Despite a pair of victories over Manchester City, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho thinks the northern rival is the class of the Premier League. Branislav Ivanovic scored in the 31st minute, and Chelsea neutralized the England's most potent attack with a 1-0 win at City on Monday night in a key Premier League showdown. Chelsea had defeated City 2-1 at Stamford Bridge in October. "We beat them twice but they are the best team," said Mourinho, the Chelsea manager. "It's two horses and a little horse — a little horse that still needs milk." Arsenal (17-3-4) regained the Premier League lead on Sunday and is two points in front of
The Daily Campus, Page 10
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Sports
No. 1 Syracuse beats Notre Dame 61-55 behind Cooney's 33 SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Trevor Cooney scored a career-high 33 points, matching a school record with nine 3-pointers, and top-ranked Syracuse beat Notre Dame 61-55 on Monday night in another matchup of former Big East foes. Syracuse (22-0, 9-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), which moved to No. 1 this week after its scintillating 91-89 overtime victory over Duke on Saturday night, extended its school record for most consecutive wins to start a season. Notre Dame (12-11, 3-7) has lost seven of nine. Two days after one of the most emotional wins in Boeheim's 38 years as head coach, Syracuse played its first game as the nation's top team since the 2011-12 season. Two years ago, the Orange were unbeaten and ranked No. 1 when they went to South Bend, and Notre Dame upset them 67-58. It was the eighth time Notre
Dame had beaten a No. 1 team and turned out to be Syracuse's lone loss of the regular season. Cooney made sure there was no repeat, hitting five 3-pointers in the first half as the Orange gained a 13-point halftime advantage and barely held the Irish at bay in the second half. Cooney, 9 of 12 from long range, matched the record set by Gerry McNamara in the 2004 NCAA tournament and equaled by Andy Rautins in 2008 and James Southerland in 2012. Jerami Grant and C.J. Fair, who combined for 54 points against Duke, combined for just 15 as Fair struggled, shooting 2 of 13. Tyler Ennis finished with six points and eight assists. Garrick Sherman led Notre Dame with 16 points, Steve Vasturia had 13 and Pat Connaughton 11, while Eric Atkins had nine on 3-of-10 shooting. Notre Dame closed within
38-32 on a 3-pointer from Atkins with 14:19 to play, but Syracuse responded with seven straight points. Grant slammed home a dunk after his block on Sherman and Fair followed with a slam off a Grant miss. Cooney completed the run with his seventh 3-pointer, which tied his personal best. The Irish have four longrange threats in Atkins, Connaughton, Jackson and Vasturia, who had combined for 127 on the season entering the game, and Notre Dame's long-range attack came alive in the second half after going 1 of 6 in the first 20 minutes. Two 3-pointers by Atkins, Vasturia's three-point play and a slam dunk by Tom Knight moved the Irish back within 43-40 with 8:41 to go. Grant responded with a spinning drive through the lane and Cooney hit another 3. Grant then fed Cooney for a reverse layup and three-point play and Cooney hit his ninth 3 for a 54-44 lead with 4:14 to play.
Notre Dame refused to wilt, pulling back to 54-49 on Connaughton's three-point play at 2:52. Grant's layup off a feed from Ennis and two free throws by Ennis boosted the lead back to eight, and the Orange made it interesting when Ennis and Fair each missed the front end of 1-and-1s in the final minute. Atkins missed a floater and Connaughton was off on a 3-point attack in the final seconds. Against the Syracuse zone, the 6-foot-11 Sherman was the focus of the Irish attack early, and he responded by hitting a pair of hooks and scoring seven of Notre Dame's first 12 points. Syracuse attempted only four shots from behind the arc in its win over Duke, preferring to pound it inside. Not on this night, not with Cooney red-hot. He hit four straight 3-pointers in a span of just over six minutes to propel Syracuse to the lead.
By Matthew Kren Campus Correspondent
roster. Although he said the process in creating the team was not too strenuous he noted that “the most frustrating part for our team is, by school rules, we are not able to become a school recognized club team until we run as a student organization for one year.” Since they are not an official club team yet, they are not funded by the school, which is the goal for next year. Club Sports is a growing Tier II organization at UConn with 1,200 athletes and 43 teams as of 2013. As a result of club teams being a Tier II organization, they are similar to other clubs and groups at UConn that appear at the involvement fair. Club Sports as a whole relies on a council that allocates funds to each team, with every team getting a spot on the council after they get through the one-year probation. All the teams draft a collective constitution by which the play-
ers must abide and follow in order to remain a team and receive funding. In order to stay a team, each team has to perform two community service events, demonstrate leadership, pay club dues, attend weekly meetings and follow a point system that ensures they remain engaged. Although most people think club teams are just made up of undergraduates, graduate students and community members can join any club team. According to Kimberly Sadowski, the Program Coordinator for club sports, a men’s basketball team “would benefit the school.” She was shocked that there was not a men’s club basketball team at such a big school, and thinks this new team led by Alex has “a good chance to become a club team, if they can stay organized and keep with it.” Although the process takes awhile, it is not improbable, as shown by the women’s club
basketball team, which is in their second semester of being an official club team. Unlike Division I, club teams are not put in set conferences such as the American Athletic Conference or the Big 12, but rather are with other teams in more geographically friendly conferences. This new club team will be playing in the Eastern Conference League, which is home to top-ranked teams such as Ithaca, Sacred Heart, Syracuse and SUNY. UConn’s roster currently boasts 10 players, all of which are under classmen. While the future is uncertain for this team, its members are committed to making it stick. “If I see my idea come to life and become recognized by the school, I will breathe a sigh of satisfaction,” Askinazi said, “I know my staff and teammates will as well.”
Junior aims to establish club basketball team With UConn being a powerhouse school in regards to Division I athletics, its club sports can often be overshadowed and underreported. Club basketball, until now, was non-existent – but junior Alex Askinazi started the process to create a team this year. Alex is currently a 6thsemester communications major. Basketball and sports have always been a part of Alex’s life. As he said, “growing up I have always had a passion for sports and being physically active.” When he got to UConn, he joined intramural basketball, but longed for something more competitive and long term. With the help of some of his friends, including the club’s CFO Zach Thomas, he was able to get people to sign up, try out and create a
Fontenault: Game at Rent gives momentum to Conn. soccer from RENTSCHLER, page 12 2010 was part of a twogame sendoff before the FIFA World Cup, and the next match against Costa Rica in 2013 was part of the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament. The women’s most recent visit was a friendly in 2012 against world power Germany, and nearly 20,000 fans came out despite awful weather. Milan and Olympiacos would be playing the first club friendly at the Rent in 10 years. Liverpool beat Celtic 5-1 in East Hartford in 2004, 10 months before overcoming a 3-0 halftime deficit against Milan to win the UEFA Champions League. Why did I even bring that up? Why does U.S. Soccer keep coming back? Why does the ICC feel that Rentschler is a fitting place for a big club friendly? History proves that Connecticut is a great place to put a on game. The state loves its soccer and has proven it when given the opportunity. Looking at other factors provides even more evidence. Youth soccer clubs like Oakwood, Foundation, CSC and Ajax are becoming increasingly popular options for young players in Connecticut. Oakwood has become so popular that a couple years ago, it had to build a new facility on Route 17 in Portland. Every time I go home, I drive by and look in awe, wishing that I had the chance to play at such a facility. Supporters groups are also essential to the growth of soccer in any state. In Connecticut, the Hartford chapter of the American Outlaws, the national supporters group for the U.S. national team, continues to grow. Founded in 2010, the Hartford chapter is now one of the largest of the 100-plus official chapters around the country, with over 200 members. Hartford’s chapter, of which I am a proud member, may soon be one of two official chapters in the state, as a group of fans in New Haven are looking to build a large enough following to become an official chapter. Regardless of geography in
the state, members of both of these groups want to see a professional club in Connecticut. That is why a group called Nutmeg Nation came to fruition last week. Their goal is to build enough support and work with some investors to bring a professional club to Connecticut. It is unlikely that an MLS club would be the immediate result of this work, which is expected to provide some serious results by this summer. But with the news that MLS and David Beckham are set to move forward with a plan to bring a club back to Miami, which would bring the league’s future total to 22, growth is expected to be rapid. The league has set a mark of 24 clubs, which would mean two more clubs after Miami, over the next few years, but with serious interest in Minnesota, Atlanta, San Antonio, Sacramento, Indianapolis, St. Louis and seemingly Connecticut, it is hard to see 24 being the final number. That is why matches like Milan-Olympiacos are so important and why they speak volumes about soccer in Connecticut. A match like that gives momentum to the cause. And obviously, Rentschler has proven that it can be looked at as a quality soccer stadium. Look at the expansion projects in MLS right now. New York City FC and Orlando City SC, both set to begin play in 2015, need stadiums built. Part of the holdup with the BeckhamMiami dream is finding a location to start building a stadium. Some of the aforementioned candidates for an MLS club need to build stadiums as well. Connecticut has Rentschler Field. It may be unconventional compared to the new stadiums around MLS like Sporting Park and BBVA Compass Stadium, but it does a great job with soccer matches. Let’s show it off and get the soccer powers that be to keep coming back. Follow Tim on Twitter @Tim_ Fontenault
Timothy.Fontenault@UConn.edu
Matthew.Kren@UConn.edu
AP
Syracuse's Trevor Cooney runs back on defense during an NCAA college basketball game against Notre Dame in Syracuse, N.Y., Monday, Feb. 3, 2014.
United States to play Turkey in basketball World Cup group BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The United States will play Turkey in the group stage of this summer's World Cup of Basketball in a rematch of the 2010 final. The rest of the opposition in Group C looks a lot easier, with the Americans also drawn on Monday to play the Dominican Republic, Finland, New Zealand and Ukraine. The U.S. will open its title defense on Aug. 30 against wildcard entry Finland, with the Group C games played in the northern Basque city of Bilbao. The U.S. beat Turkey in the final four years ago, when the tournament was known as the world championship. "We have some tough teams in the group," said Team USA's executive director Jim Tooley. "Turkey is very strong. But we can't overlook anyone. We have learned that from the past." The U.S. and Spain are in
groups on opposite sides of the bracket, meaning the title favorites can't meet until the Sept. 14 final. The draw ceremony was held in the picturesque Palau de la Musica Catalana, an emblematic concert hall in Barcelona known for its beautiful Art Nouveau decorations. But the home audience groaned when France was placed in Spain's path after the hosts had already drawn Serbia and Brazil. Spain coach Juan Orenga said that the group has "four teams that can fight for a medal," but that might not necessarily be a bad thing. The top four teams in each group advance to the knockout rounds to be played in Madrid and Barcelona, with the medal games in the Spanish capital. Two weeks ago, Team USA named a 28-man pool it will later use to form 12-man rosters for both the World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games.
Nationality should not matter in allegiance By Robert Moore Soccer Columnist
As an American supporter of an English based soccer club, the amount of grief I receive on a daily basis for being a “plastic” supporter is utter nonsense. Then I realize I just said “soccer” and, well, that doesn’t go over with too kindly with those football supporters in Manchester, England. So what? Working under the guidance of Manchester United’s digital media team, I’ve come to love Manchester United even more. While it’s a learning process, you come to appreciate the world’s most beautiful game. And while younger generations may have experienced the trophy-laden careers of our beloved clubs such as United, Chelsea and not so much for the Gooners – there is absolutely no reason to down us for living across the ocean. While we Americans may not be in the Etihad Stadium, drink a pint in the Britannia, or see Tom Huddlestone chop off his hair at
the KC Stadium; we are attentively watching. Whether in our dorm rooms, in the bars or in the darkened rooms as our sounding alarms awoke our neighbors–rise and shine, it’s football time. Those in the United States may have never seen the streets of Manchester or the pub of Paddy Crerand or even the goggles that Edgar Davids once sported – but so what? Where does this entitlement come into play when it’s the world’s game? I thought it was natural for supporters from all around the world to love a club with every ounce of their being. Are the supporters who file into stadiums in Japan, Russia and Indonesia a load of fake supporters as well? I’d imagine the likes of Piers Morgan being quite upset if someone explained to him that Arsenal supporters are only from London. Then again, I’d be surprised if he welcomed back Robin van Persie with open arms as well. It should not matter that I’m from Connecticut or that we’re
from a different culture. Last I checked, there was never an option to check off “Manchester, UK” on my birth certificate. Yes, another thing to blame my mother and father for. From sea to shining sea our fellow Americans watch at the edge of their seats. As David Beckham smashed home his free kick to send England to the World Cup against Greece, or Steven Gerrard and Liverpool’s thunderous three-goal comeback against AC Milan in the Champions League final, supporters throughout the world erupted in joy. While proximity may play a key factor in the discrimination against foreign supporters, it appears quite unnecessary. Professional soccer clubs are meant to be global entities; clubs with fan bases which spread far and wide and into the most remote sections of the world. Who doesn’t know who Cristiano Ronaldo is? Who has not seen Wayne Rooney’s spectacular winner against Manchester City in the derby?
Or who hasn’t heard of Bayern Munich? My point exactly. In any sport there are plastic supporters who only occasionally glance at the television when their respective club is winning. And again, from my experiences with meeting fellow Americans who support clubs abroad, I’ve seen my fair share of distasteful images. I’ve seen a grown man with Chelsea bottoms and a Ryan Giggs shirt. I’ve even seen a Juventus jersey with the name “Kaka” plastered on the back – talk about an oxymoron. Those isolated incidents make any true supporter hang his or her head in shame. However, I have also seen are those who wake up at 6:30 a.m. to watch a North London Derby or a relegation battle between Bolton and Middleborough. Whichever part of the globe you may be from, never let anyone try and detach you from the club you love.
Robert.E.2.Moore@UConn.edu
Shockers ready for toughest week of season WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — There aren't a whole lot of statement games on Wichita State's schedule this season. Two of them are coming up in a matter of days. The unbeaten Shockers are headed to Indiana State on Wednesday night, followed by a trip to Northern Iowa on Saturday. Those two teams are the closest contenders behind the fourth-ranked Shockers in the Missouri Valley race. Perhaps more important, they're arguably the two teams with the best chance of dealing Wichita State (23-0, 10-0) a defeat before the start of the conference tournament March 6. "It's the week that everyone's been talking about and pointing at, arguably two of the best teams in our league, back to back, on the road," Shockers coach Gregg Marshall said. "I know they'll be great atmospheres coming up and we'll have to play really good basketball." The only other team from the Missouri Valley to win its first 23
games was Larry Bird's Indiana State team, which went 33-0 before losing to Magic Johnson and Michigan State in the 1979 NCAA championship game. The last team to enter the NCAA tournament undefeated was UNLV in 1991. Poll voters have been largely unimpressed by the Shockers' relatively weak schedule, which is why they remained No. 4 this week — behind the Wildcats, who dropped to second, and Florida, which has already lost twice this season. Wichita State has only one victory against a current Top 25 team, beating No. 13 Saint Louis before the Billikens were ranked. Otherwise, the Shockers have been pounding away on a schedule that offers very few chances to pick up marquee victories. It's not entirely the Shockers' fault, of course. Marshall has found it increasingly tough to schedule games against high-profile opponents after their run to last year's Final Four — many of those teams don't want to risk losing to a so-
AP
Wichita State's Cleanthony Early celebrates after during an NCAA college basketball game in Wichita, Kan., Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014.
called "mid-major" program. Then there's the fact that the Missouri Valley has weakened considerably this season. Creighton proved to be the Shockers' toughest rival, but they moved to the Big East and left few contenders for conference superiority. The Sycamores (17-5, 8-2) may be the closest thing, but even they were routed by Wichita State 68-48 when they met Jan. 18.
The Shockers beat the Panthers 67-53 in their first meeting this season. Even with a weak schedule, Wichita state is still firmly in the top 10 of the RPI, a key factor when the NCAA selection committee begins to seed teams. But their schedule also means that any slip along the way would likely dash the Shockers' chances of earning a No. 1 seed.
TWO Tuesday, February 4, 2014
The Daily Campus, Page 11
Sports
Stat of the day
PAGE 2
24.9
What's Next
» That’s what he said
Home game
Away game
Men’s Basketball Feb. 6 Cincinnati 7 p.m.
Feb. 12 USF 7 p.m.
Feb. 9 UCF 6 p.m.
Women’s Basketball Today SMU 7 p.m.
Feb. 9 Louisville 1 p.m.
Feb. 16 USF 4 p.m.
Feb. 20 Temple 9 p.m.
Syracuse is new No. 1 in AP poll
AP
Peyton Manning
» Pic of the day
Curl so hard
(23-0)
Feb. 19 UCF 7 p.m.
» NCAAB
“It’s not embarrassing at all. I would never use that word.” -Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning on the Super Bowl loss
(17-4) Feb. 15 Memphis Noon
Super Bowl XLVIII set a record for the biggest U.S. live TV event on Twitter with 24.9 million tweets.
Feb. 22 Houston 5 p.m.
Men’s Hockey (13-8-4) Feb. 7 Bentley 7:05 p.m.
Feb. 14 Feb. 11 Feb. 8 Feb. 15 Bentley Providence Holy Cross Holy Cross 7:05 p.m. 7:05 p.m. 7:05 p.m. 7:05 p.m.
Women’s Hockey (7-19-2) Feb. 8 Boston College 2 p.m.
Feb. 9 Feb. 16 Feb. 21 Feb. 15 New Northeastern Northeastern Maine Hampshire 2 p.m. 2 p.m. 2 p.m. 2 p.m.
Baseball Feb. 14 Ohio State 5 p.m.
Feb. 21 Wichita State 4 p.m.
Feb. 15 Feb. 16 Indiana Auburn State Noon 11:30 a.m.
Softball Feb. 21 Hofstra Noon
(0-0) Feb. 22 George Mason 5 p.m.
(0-0) Feb. 21 DePaul 2 p.m.
Feb. 22 College of Charleston Noon
Feb. 22 Feb. 23 UMass Illinois State 2 p.m. 11 a.m.
Men’s Track and Field Feb. 8 Skykes Sabock 10 a.m.
Feb. 28 AAC Champ. TBA
Feb. 14 Feb. 22 Lafyette/ Alex Wilson Ryder Invitational Invitational 12:30 p.m.
March 1 AAC Champ. TBA
AP
Yukon/Northwest Territories skip Sarah Koltun calls a shot during her match against Team Canada at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in draw 6 curling action, Monday, Feb. 3, 2014 in Montreal.
Florida’s Walker to make much-anticipated debut
Women’s Track and Field Feb. 7 Feb. 8 Feb. 15 New New Brown Balance Balance Invitational 9:30 a.m. 9:30 a.m. TBA
Feb. 28 AAC Champ. 9 a.m.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Syracuse’s reward for winning one of the best college basketball games of the season was a spot on top of The Associated Press Top 25 poll. Combined with No. 1 Arizona’s first loss of the season last weekend, the Orange’s 91-89 overtime win over Duke on Saturday moved them up one spot to the top. Syracuse (21-0) received all 65 first-place votes from the national media panel Monday, making the Orange the first unanimous No. 1 since Duke was for six weeks in 2010-11. “We’re happy to be No. 1,” coach Jim Boeheim said Monday, hours before the Orange met Notre Dame. “Obviously, it’s taken a lot of hard work. It’s an honor. We’ll try to keep playing well.” Syracuse, off to the best start in school history, is on top of the poll for the first time since a six-week run in 2011-12. This is the 15th week all-time Syracuse has been No. 1. Syracuse is the fourth team to hold the No. 1 ranking this season. Kentucky was on top for the preseason poll and one in the regular season while Michigan State was No. 1 for three weeks and Arizona, which lost to California hours after Syracuse beat Duke, for the last eight. Arizona (21-1) and Syracuse, which were 1-2 for the last eight weeks, switched spots this week. Florida, Wichita State, the only other unbeaten in Division I, and San Diego State remained third through fifth and were followed by Villanova, Cincinnati, Kansas, Michigan State and Michigan. Duke, which also won at Pittsburgh last week, was 11th, a jump of six spots from last week’s poll. No. 20 Virginia, No. 22 Connecticut and No. 23 Gonzaga returned to the rankings. They replaced Ohio State and Wisconsin, which both reached as high as No. 3 this season, and Massachusetts. The Duke-Syracuse game drew a Carrier Dome-record crowd of 35,446 and it was a record for wins between competing coaches with Boeheim at 941 with the victory and Mike Krzyzewski, the all-time leader with 973. Duke’s Rasheed Sulaimon beat the buzzer in regulation with an off-balance 3-pointer that tied it at 78 and Jerami Grant scored eight points in overtime to lead the Orange in the first meeting between the schools as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The teams meet again in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Feb. 22 which means a crowd of about 26,000 fewer people, but it could be just as good a game. “We don’t want to just settle on that one,” Syracuse guard Trevor Cooney said after the Duke game. “We want to keep moving and keep winning and keep playing well.”
March 1 AAC Champ. All day
What's On TV NCAAM: No. 17 Iowa vs. Ohio State 7 p.m., ESPN Roy Devyn Marble (left) and the Hawkeyes look to gain ground in the Big Ten when they host the Buckeyes Tuesday night. Devyn Marble is averaging 16.3 points per game for his team while LaQuinton Ross leads OSU with 14.1 ppg. The Buckeyes, ranked as high as No. 3 in the AP poll at one point, will look to rebound after falling out of the rankings for the first time this season. AP
NCAAM: Baylor vs. No. 8 Kansas, 7 p.m., ESPN2 Freshman phenom Andrew Wiggins and the Big 12-leading Jayhawks visits Waco, Texas for a conference showdown against Baylor. Wiggins is one of four Kansas players to average double figures. The Thornhill, Ontario, Canada native is scoring 16.0 points per game. Baylor is led by Cory Jefferson and his 12.5 ppg. The Bears will look to make up ground in the Big 12 as they stand at 2-6 in the conference so far. AP
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida coach Billy Donovan has done all he can to quell expectations for highly touted freshman Chris Walker. Last week, Donovan made it clear that the 6-foot-10 Walker won’t be Kevin Garnett this season. On Monday, the coach insisted Walker won’t play like Wilt Chamberlain when he makes his debut Tuesday night against Missouri. But Walker will get on the court for the first time since arriving on campus in mid-December, which should help the third-ranked Gators (19-2, 8-0 Southeastern Conference) as they near the halfway mark of league play and start getting ready for the postseason. “The expectations on him as a player are way, way up here, and he can’t reach them,” Donovan said. “He can’t. I just want people to know. This is not going to be a guy that you’re going to say, ‘Billy, you really, really downplayed this thing. This guy came out and played like Wilt Chamberlain.’ It’s not going to happen. “He’s a good player that’s got a lot in front of him, a lot of growing and maturing that’s got to go on. I really don’t know how much he can do. He can go in there and do some really, really good things and really help our team or he could go out there and really be lost in the game and get going too fast and the emotion of the game will overwhelm him.” Florida has not made Walker available for interviews. School
officials anticipate Walker will answer questions after the game. Donovan gave no indication how much Walker will play against the Tigers (16-5, 4-4), saying it will be “predicated on what he’s doing to help our team with foul trouble, fatigue and those things.” Teammates said Walker is eager to finally get from under the NCAA cloud and off the bench. “He’s extremely excited,” center Pat Young said. “Just think about everything he’s gone through. To get to now and it’s finally here as far as school, things he had to do over the summer, missing the first semester, finally here and going through practice and then not hearing from the NCAA. It’s probably a 15 on a scale of 1 to 10 how excited he is right now.” A forward from Bonifay in Florida’s panhandle, Walker sat out 12 games, or 40 percent of the season, because the NCAA determined he “received preferential treatment from five people, including two agents.” The NCAA said Walker and people close to him accepted free cellphones and service, airfare, lodging, meals and apparel while he was a prospect. He was ordered to donate the $270 received from the agents to a charity of his choice and serve 80 hours of community service. Walker, who failed to qualify academically and spent the fall taking online classes to gain eligibility, joined the team Dec. 14 and has been practic-
AP
In this photo taken on Jan. 14, 2014, Florida’s Chris Walker plays around on the sideline in Gainesville, Fla. The NCAA cleared the freshman on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2014.
ing since. He is a talented shotblocker, rebounder and finisher who won the dunk contest at the McDonald’s All-American game last year. Since arriving on campus, he has gained about 10 pounds while learning Donovan’s complex offensive and defensive schemes. But is he ready to make an impact? “He is definitely a guy who brings a lot of energy ... as far as running, jumping around, being active and grabbing a bunch of boards,” Young said. “You shouldn’t have too high expectations. This is the guy’s first college game he gets to play in and we’ll see how he does from there.” The Gators could use some
help. Forward Casey Prather, the team’s leading scorer, has been slowed by a sprained left ankle. And guard DeVon Walker sat out the last game with a hip pointer. Even with both healthy, the Gators have had just eight scholarship players available. Walker makes it nine, adding some much-needed depth and possibly increasing Florida’s chances of making another deep run in the NCAA tournament. “He can be the best runner in the world, the best jumper in the world and the best rebounder in the world, but if he can’t do the things inside the game plan of what we need to get done, then it becomes very difficult to play,” Donovan said.
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Rentschler the soccer ground
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
www.dailycampus.com
PREPPING FOR THE PONIES Before Louisville, UConn hosts SMU in conference tilt By Matt Stypulkoski Associate Sports Editor
Tim Fontenault Over the past decade, European soccer teams have made preseason visits to the United States an increasingly popular occurrence. Soccer is growing in the United States, and these preseason visits from some of Europe’s giants, the teams many Americans have latched on to as Major League Soccer continues to grow, have only helped the process. I have seen a lot of great matchups between European giants in the U.S. in recent years. Friendlies I have been to include AC Milan-Inter Milan, Chelsea-Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool-Roma and MilanReal Madrid. But now those friendlies are starting to take on more meaning. If these teams are coming to the United States, their large followings over here want to see them play in games that mean something, even if teams still follow the friendly guidelines of unlimited substitutions. That is where the International Champions Cup comes into play. The ICC debuted last year with some of the world’s biggest clubs – Real Madrid, Milan, Inter, Chelsea, Juventus, Everton, Valencia and Los Angeles Galaxy – squaring off in a tournament played across the country. After a strong debut, it appears that the ICC will return in 2014, and a report has surfaced revealing that eight elite clubs and 12 cities have been selected for this year’s tournament. The official announcement is expected Tuesday, but according to World Soccer Talk, Milan, Inter, Roma, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Real Madrid and Olimpiacos will play in this year’s tournament. Among the selected cities are some familiar faces for the summer soccer circuit: Washington, St. Louis, New York, Philadelphia, etc. But there is one on there that is bound to open some eyes: Hartford. If the report from World Soccer Talk is correct, Rentschler Field will play host to one of the opening round games, and in my completely biased opinion, it is one of the best ones: Milan against Olimpiacos. My bias comes from the fact that I have been a Milan fan for as long as I have been a soccer fan, which is a long time. I have been fortunate to see my beloved seven-time European champions in person in both Boston and New York, but now, all I need to do is make a 15-minute drive from my house to the Rent to see them play. But this column is not about me being excited for my favorite club to be playing in my backyard. This column is to celebrate Rentschler Field and the future of soccer in Connecticut. Rentschler Field is obviously home to the UConn football team, but apart from seven home games and the Spring Game, it often sits empty. The Rent has shown, however, that it is as good, or even better, as a soccer stadium. The United States men’s and women’s national teams have paid countless visits to Rentschler Field since the stadium opened in 2003, and the attendance continues to rise with every match. Lately, the matches have been getting bigger. The men’s national team’s visit to play the Czech Republic in
» FONTENAULT, page 10
A marquee national championship rematch between UConn and Louisville looms on the horizon. Southern Methodist, however, comes first. The Mustangs (14-7, 5-5 American Athletic Conference) are the lone new conference opponent that the top-ranked Huskies have yet to play. Thus far, UConn (23-0, 10-0 American Athletic Conference) has knocked off each of its new American foes. Central Florida, Memphis, Houston and Temple – twice – have all fallen victim and accounted for half of the first-place Huskies’ conference wins. SMU, which sits fifth in the conference and the highest of those five new opponents, seemingly presents the biggest challenge to UConn among that group. The Mustangs have twice given the No. 4 Cardinals a competitive game, losing by margins of 20 and 15 points, and played a respectable South Florida squad to a 14-point defeat. To date, SMU’s most impressive wins have been a double-overtime victory over Memphis and a 66-47 win over Cincinnati that came last week. UConn also enters Tuesday night’s matchup having recently played the Bearcats – an 86-29 drubbing on Saturday was the most recent of the Huskies’ wins. In contrast to recent wins that saw Breanna Stewart and Bria Hartley take over and lead the way, UConn’s win over Cincinnati was a more balanced effort. Five players–Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Moriah Jefferson, Saniya Chong, Stewart and Hartley – all posted double-digit points in the blowout. Stewart, Jefferson, Chong and Brianna Banks all contributed with at least three assists. Tip-off between the Huskies and Mustangs is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Gampel Pavilion. The JON KULAKOFSKY/The Daily Campus game can be seen on SNY. UConn sophomore forward Breanna Stewart takes a shot against an USF defender in the teams’ game on Jan. 26 at the XL Center in Hartford. The top-ranked Huskies are set to face the SMU Mustangs on Tuesday at Gampel Pavilion for a 7 p.m. tip.
Matthew.Stypulkoski@UConn.edu
No. 7 Bearcats have highest ranking in 10 years CINCINNATI (AP) — It’s been a long time since the Bearcats have reached such heights. Cincinnati had another breakthrough on Monday in its impressive start, moving into the top 10 of the Associated Press college basketball poll. The Bearcats came in at No. 7, their highest ranking in 10 years. They’ve won 14 in a row since a lopsided defeat to crosstown rival Xavier. Their 21-2 mark represents their best start in 12 years. And they’re in control of the American Athletic Conference with a 10-0 mark, in line to win its first regular season title. “We’re not done yet,” senior forward Justin Jackson said, after a 50-45 win over South Florida on Sunday put them in position for their big jump from No. 13 in the poll. “We want to be on the big stage come March. That’s our focus: When we come to March to have a good seed and do what we need to do.” They’ve got one more
month to make their case for a high seed that could help them advance deep into the NCAA tournament. The challenge is to keep the momentum going with a short-handed roster that might be starting to wear down. The Bearcats haven’t been ranked so high since the 200304 season under coach Bob Huggins. They made it to No. 6 before losing to Louisville. The Bearcats won the Conference USA tournament that season and lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Huggins was forced out before the 2005-06 season in a power struggle with the school president, leaving the program in disarray. The Bearcats were ranked No. 25 for one week that season under interim coach Andy Kennedy. Mick Cronin returned to his hometown to start rebuilding the program the following season. The Bearcats made it back to the Top 25 during the 2009-10 season. They went 26-11 in 2011-12 and reached
the Sweet 16 before losing to Ohio State. They’ve reached the tournament each of the last three seasons, making it to the round of 16 only one time. “We understand the importance of seeding in the NCAA tournament,” Cronin said. “The last three years, we’ve had terrible draws.” They’re in line for a good one, provided they can keep the momentum going. Cronin’s biggest concern is his lack of depth on the front line. Jackson has developed into one of the conference’s top forwards, providing a front-line complement to senior guard Sean Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick leads the AAC with 19.4 points per game and was honored as the conference’s player of the week on Monday. He scored 28 points during a 69-66 win at No. 12 Louisville on Thursday night. Despite an illness, he had 18 points during the win over South Florida on Sunday. Kilpatrick moved up to third
on Cincinnati’s career scoring list with 1,891 points, trailing Oscar Robertson (2,973) and Steve Logan (1,985). “He’s maybe the most underrated great player who has ever played here,” Cronin said. “I think Thursday (against Louisville) it woke people up nationally to who he is. He has definitely not gotten the attention. “He’s clearly the player of the year in this league, 10 games in, with everything he does for this team.” Freshman forward Jermaine Lawrence has missed the last month with an injured toe, leaving Cincinnati with nine scholarship players available. The Bearcats’ bench contributed only two points in the win over South Florida, a trend that can’t continue. The front line seems to be wearing down. “I worry about fatigue with this team, especially with Jermaine Lawrence (injured),” Cronin said. “As much as (Jackson) tells you he’s a machine, he’s tired.
There’s three times somebody jumped over him to get an offensive rebound, and that never happens.” Lawrence is expected to resume workouts this week, but the Bearcats have to go slow with him to avoid a setback. The Bearcats are playing two freshmen and a sophomore regularly. Kilpatrick thinks one of the keys to keeping the momentum going is to make sure the young players don’t get caught up in the success. Last season, Cincinnati made it up to No. 8 with a 12-0 start. The Bearcats went 10-12 the rest of the way, including a loss to Creighton in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. “The young guys pay attention to that (rankings) because they’re young,” Kilpatrick said. “The older guys, they understand we’ve been in this position before and it went downhill. We’ve got to keep working to come out with a better effort every night.”
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter has taken on-field batting practice for the first time since his 2013 season was cut short by injuries. Jeter hit with authority to all fields during a five-round, 39-swing session Monday at the Yankees’ minor league complex. Jeter also took grounders at shortstop for the first time this year, fielding 34 balls at his usual position. “Everything is good so far, knock on wood,” Jeter said. Jeter, who turns 40 in June, had hit in an indoor batting cage and fielded grounders on infield grass the previous two weeks. He was limited to 17 games last year after breaking an ankle during the 2012 playoffs. The Yankees captain is not
worrying about those who doubt his ability to return from the severe injury. “My job is to be ready to play,” Jeter said. “I remember when I was 35, everyone said that was it. He can’t play anymore. End of my career. So, it’s really nothing different. Eventually, somebody is going to be right, you know what I mean? You’re going to run out of numbers.” Jeter broke his left ankle during the 2012 AL championship series. He played in just five spring training games last year and broke the ankle again in April during rehabilitation. “This offseason is like a normal offseason,” said Jeter, who was in a walking boot until early January last year. “I’m four months ahead of where I
was last year. Last year, quite honestly, I want to forget about it.” Jeter missed the first 91 games of the 2013 season, then felt pain his right quadriceps when he returned July 11. He went back on the DL, returned July 28 for three games, then strained his right calf. Back in the lineup on Aug. 26, he played through Sept. 7, when he left for a pinch runner after singling against Boston. Four days later the Yankees said his season was over. Jeter wound up hitting .190 (12 for 63) with one homer and seven RBIs. Yankees pitchers, catcher and injured players start workouts Feb. 15. Jeter said he’ll remain at the minor league complex until the first full-squad big league workout on Feb. 20.
New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter has resumed on-field work Monday Jan.20, 2014, for the first time since his 2013 season was cut short.
Derek Jeter hits on field for first time this year
AP