Volume CXIX No. 87
» INSIDE
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Thursday, February 7, 2013
Newtown scholarship fund raises $900K By Stephen Underwood Staff Writer
AUTHOR INSPIRES MIDDLE SCHOOL AND UCONN CO-OP Author Mike Lupica visits and talks about “game changer” series. FOCUS/ page 5
UPROOTED AT THE GARDEN Huskies come back, fall after late Red Storm run. SPORTS/ page 12 EDITORIAL: A CHANGE IN ATTITUDE IS THE NEXT STEP IN THE GUN CONTROL DEBATE
AP
This undated photo provided by the Gay family shows Josephine Gay, killed Dec. 14, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown.
More than $900,000 has been raised or pledged for the UConn Sandy Hook School Memorial Scholarship Fund from more than 5,100 donations, according to the UConn Foundation. The Sandy Hook Memorial Scholarship Fund will offer financial aid to Sandy Hook students, and siblings or relatives of the deceased who decide to attend UConn in the future. In addition to the donations already received, the Connecticut Education Association (CEA), which represents some 43,000 teachers, has announced a $1 million dollar donation drive for Sandy Hook students, which eventually will be donated into UConn’s scholarship fund. Stephanie Reitz, university spokesperson, said the scholarship has experienced tremendous success. “After the Newtown shooting there was a strong feeling of wanting to give back and Geno Auriemma was the first one to kick off the memorial with an $80,000 donation,” Reitz said. “Since then, the community response has been enormous.” Reitz also thanked the
Connecticut Education Associations for their offer to donate the money they collect into UConn’s own scholarship fund.
“There are many ways to give and people are happy to be able to help out.” – Stephanie Reitz UConn Spokesperson “The Connecticut Education Association has pledged to donate the money they collect into UConn’s own Sandy Hook Memorial Scholarship. We certainly thank the CEA for their generosity in allowing more Sandy Hook students and those affected to be able to achieve their educational goals through the money raised.” UConn President Susan Herbst also expressed her gratitude. “We are deeply moved by the CEA’s support of the scholarship fund,” Herbst said in a UConn Today press release. “So many
Goal Line girls recognized by athletes
Pro-gun advocates need to address the debate. COMMENTARY/page 8 INSIDE NEWS: RESEARCHERS ID LARGEST PRIME NUMBER YET University of Central Missouri used 1,000 computers in its search.
NEWS/ page 3
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PHOTO COURTESY OF STEPHANIE BOHANNON
Members of East Hartford’s Goal Line for girls visits the Mark Edwards Freitas Ice Forum before being recognized at the women’s basketball game on Tuesday night.
By Jackie Wattles Staff Writer Eighteen beaming middle school girls from East Hartford were recognized at the UConn women’s basketball game Tuesday night. They are members of a group of middle school students that are visited each month by UConn athletes. This year, 30 boys and 30 girls were selected by their teachers, gym teachers and guidance counselors at East Hartford Middle School to participate in Goal Line. For their monthly visit, a group of UConn student-athlete volunteers board a bus and spend two hours in East Hartford reading with underprivileged children. Stephanie Bohannon, the Goal Line coordinator at UConn, said the goal of the program is to give
the kids role models and “instill a motivation to go to college.” “They read stories together about overcoming adversity, sportsmanship, opportunity, gratitude, and friendship,” Bohannon said. “The kids love it. It engages them with people they really look up to. It gets them excited and sometimes star- struck. The teachers feel it’s really made a difference in them.” The program was founded six years ago by former UConn head football coach Randy Edsall. Originally, the project included only a group of boys and volunteers from the UConn football team. Since then, the program has been expanded to include volunteers from all UConn varsity sports teams, and, last year, a separate program for girls began.
Donna Kehoe, the executive director of ChildPlan, a non-profit organization in East Hartford that helps plan the Goal Line curriculum, said that Tuesday night marked a momentous event for the young girls in the program. “The girls had a phenomenal time. It was the first time a lot of them have ever been to a [UConn sports] game or been on a college campus,” Kehoe said. “The impact has been tremendous on them. The athletes really connect with the kids, and their stories relate to them. It really starts to put that seed in their mind at an early age about the importance of education.” It won’t be the last time the group of girls visit the UConn campus. In March, SBM Charitable Foundation, the charity that provides the funds for Goal Line,
will provide transportation for the girls to attend a softball game and campus tour. The boys’ Goal Line group will be able to attend a baseball game and tour in May. Junior Natalie Carlone, a human development and family studies major and co-captain of the women’s varsity crew team, has been a regular volunteer for Goal Line. “The girls that we work with get so excited to share their lives with the volunteers,” Carlone said. “As the girls hear stories from me and my teammates, they begin to open up and relate to us. Goal Line is a great experience because it gives students the attention and role models they need to feel encouraged and motivated in school and relationships.”
Jacqueline.Wattles@UConn.edu
people have been searching for ways to help in the wake of this horrible tragedy, and this effort speaks volumes about CEA’s concern and commitment.” Reitz also addressed ways people can donate, which can be located on the UConn Foundation website. “A lot of people are donating directly through our Sandy Hook website but there are many others who are sending money through text messages and also through the mail. So there are many ways to give and people are happy to be able to help out,” Reitz said. Reitz also mentioned how the scholarship reflects upon the universities mission statement and its commitment to public outreach and civility. “The university feels strongly in transformative education, and that means helping out others in our communities,” Reitz said. “After the Newtown tragedy everybody felt something needed to be done. Setting up the scholarship felt like the right thing to do, and with the help of Geno Auriemma, who kicked off the initial donation, the scholarship has only been increasing.”
Stephen.Underwood@UConn.edu
» NEMO
Blizzard could bury NE’s bare grounds
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A blizzard heading to New England could make travel nearly impossible and dump up to two feet of snow on a region that has seen mostly bare ground this winter. The snow will start Friday morning, with the heaviest amounts dumped on the region that night and into Saturday as the storm moves through New England and upstate New York, the National Weather Service said. A blizzard watch for parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island said travel may become nearly impossible because of high winds and blowing snow. “This has the potential for being a dangerous storm, especially for Massachusetts into northeast Connecticut and up into Maine,” said Louis Uccellini, director of the weather agency’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction. Uccellini, who has written two textbooks on northeastern snowstorms, said Wednesday it was too early to tell if the storm would be one for the record books. But he said it will be a rare and major storm, the type that means “you can’t let your guard down.” The storm would hit just after the 35th anniversary of the historic blizzard of 1978, which paralyzed the region with more than 2 feet of snow and hurricane force winds from Feb. 5-7. No one is wishing for a repeat, but skiers, snowmobilers and other outdoor enthusiasts were hoping for just enough snow to turn around a disappointing season. The snowmobile season in northern New England started off strong, but after rain and warm temperatures last month, many trails in Maine turned essentially to thick sheets of ice, said Maine Snowmobile Association Executive Director Bob Meyers.
What’s on at UConn today... Black History Month Lecture 4 to 5:30 p.m. Alumni Center Professor Imani Perry of Princeton University will deliver a lecture called “50 Years After ‘4 Little Girls:’ Racial Justice Yesterday and Today.”
Information Session 4 to 6 p.m. Babbidge Library, EC2 Discover more about UConn’s Copenhagen, Denmark summer study abroad program, which focuses on art history and architecture.
Job Search Boot Camp 4:30 to 6 p.m. Laurel Hall, 206 This workshop will help upcoming CLAS graduates discover the best way to approach the job search.
Branford Marsalis 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Jorgensen The Branford Marsalis Quartet will perform with pianist Joey Calderazzo for an evening of contemporary jazz. – VICTORIA SMEY
The Daily Campus, Page 2
DAILY BRIEFING » STATE
Malloy: Budget continues plan to grow Conn. jobs
HARTFORD (AP) — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy promised Wednesday to keep moving Connecticut closer to recovery from the national recession by continuing investments in education and job development as he unveiled the second, twoyear budget of his administration. Acknowledging criticism from the General Assembly’s minority Republicans, Malloy defended his multi-milliondollar efforts to help lure companies to the state, arguing it’s “incumbent upon state government to pursue jobs” and stimulate economic growth. “Burying our heads in the sand is not a strategy. And sitting still is not an option,” the first-term Democrat said, mentioning companies such as Amazon and NBC Sports that have recently announced plans to open facilities and create jobs in Connecticut.
US Supreme Court nixes nursing home bid on strike
HARTFORD (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request by a nursing home company that asked for delay reinstating striking Connecticut workers. The court responded Wednesday to HealthBridge Management, which argued that a federal court’s recent decision to strike down three of President Barack Obama’s appointees to the National Labor Relations Board calls the board’s decisions into question. In December, a federal judge approved an injunction requested by the board ordering the Parsippany, N.J.-based company to reinstate 600 striking workers at five nursing homes. A federal appeals court rejected HealthBridge’s request for a delay. District 1199 of the New England Health Care Employees Union said it’s past time its members were back at work.
Conn. couple named ‘longest married’ in US
FAIRFIELD (AP) — John and Ann Betar weren’t supposed to get married. Her father had arranged for her to wed another man, but she and John fled Bridgeport and eloped in New York. That was more than 80 years ago. The couple is still happily hitched, a fact that has led to their naming as the “longest married couple” in the U.S. for 2013 by Worldwide Marriage Encounter, a Christian marriage group based in San Bernardino, Calif. The Betars are scheduled to receive a plaque and other gifts from the group at their granddaughter’s home in Fairfield on Saturday. They told the New York Daily News that there are no secrets to a long marriage, only a few simple rules. “We just live with contentment and we don’t live beyond our means,” John Betar said. “Just go with the flow.”
» NATION
NJ Gov. Christie to ex-White House doc: ‘Shut up’
SEA GIRT, N.J. (AP) — Gov. Chris Christie lashed out Wednesday at a former White House doctor who said she worries about him dying in office because he is so heavy, telling her to “shut up.” Dr. Connie Mariano, who served as White House physician from 1992 to 2001, told CNN she’d like to see Christie run for president in 2016 but he needs to lose weight. She said she worries he could have a heart attack or stroke. “I’m worried about this man dying in office,” the doctor, who has a practice in Scottsdale, Ariz., told the network. During a visit Wednesday to a shore town devastated by Superstorm Sandy, Christie was asked about the doctor’s comments. Unless Mariano gives him a physical exam and learns his family history, “she should shut up,” the Republican governor said.
New whooping cough strain in US raises questions
NEW YORK (AP) — Researchers have discovered the first U.S. cases of whooping cough caused by a germ that may be resistant to the vaccine. Health officials are looking into whether cases like the dozen found in Philadelphia might be one reason the nation just had its worst year for whooping cough in six decades. The new bug was previously reported in Japan, France and Finland. “It’s quite intriguing. It’s the first time we’ve seen this here,” said Dr. Tom Clark of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. cases are detailed in a brief report from the CDC and other researchers in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine. Whooping cough is a highly contagious disease that can strike people of any age but is most dangerous to children. It was once common, but cases in the U.S. dropped after a vaccine was introduced in the 1940s.
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News
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Boy Scouts delay decision on policy excluding gays IRVING, Texas (AP) — Caught in an ideological crossfire, the Boy Scouts of America is putting off a decision on whether to ease its policy of excluding gays. Whatever the organization eventually does, it’s likely to anger major constituencies and worsen schisms within Scouting. The delay, which the Scouts attributed to “the complexity of this issue,” was announced Wednesday after closed-door deliberations by the BSA’s national executive board. Under consideration was a proposal to ease the longstanding ban on gays by allowing sponsors of local troops to decide for themselves on the membership of gay Scouts and adult leaders. As the board met over three days at a hotel near Dallas, it became clear that the proposal would be unacceptable to large numbers of impassioned Scouting families and advocacy groups on both the left and right. The iconic youth organization is now deeply entangled in the broader cultural and political conflicts over such issues as same-sex marriage and religious freedom. Tilting toward either side will probably alienate the other, and a midway balancing act will be difficult. Gay-rights supporters contend that no Scout units anywhere should exclude gays, and vowed to maintain pressure on the BSA’s corporate donors to achieve that goal. Some conservatives, including religious leaders whose churches sponsor troops, warned of mass defections if the ban were even partially eased. They urged supporters to flood headquarters with phone calls. “In the past two weeks, Scouting has received an outpouring of feedback from the American public,” said the BSA’s national spokesman, Deron Smith. “It reinforces how deeply people care about Scouting and how passionate they are about the organization.” The BSA “needs time for a more deliberate review of its
AP
Surrounded by area scouts, Jonathan Saenz, president of Texas Values, reads the press release to that crowd announcing that the Boy Scouts of America will be postponing its decision to admit gays at the “Save Our Scouts” Prayer Vigil and Rally in front of the Boy Scouts of America National Headquarters in Irving, Texas, Wednesday.
membership policy,” Smith added. He said the board would prepare a resolution to be voted on by the 1,400 voting members of the BSA national council at a meeting during the week of May 20 in Grapevine, Texas. The organization had announced last week that it was considering allowing Scout troops to decide whether to allow gay membership, ensuring that the executive board meeting would be in the national spotlight. Learning that a decision would be deferred, gay-rights leaders assailed the BSA. “Every day that the Boy Scouts of America delay action is another day that discrimination prevails,” said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign. “Young Americans, gay and straight, are hurt by the inaction associated with today’s news.” “A Scout is supposed to be brave, and the Boy Scouts failed to be brave today,” said Jennifer Tyrrell, an Ohio mother ousted as a den leader of her son’s
Cub Scout pack because she’s a lesbian. “They failed us yet again,” she told The Associated Press. “Putting this off until May only ensures other gay kids and gay parents are discarded.” Tyrrell was among several current and former Scouts and supporters who rallied outside BSA national headquarters Monday and delivered petitions opposing the policy. Conservative leaders made clear they would keep pressure on the BSA ahead of the May meeting. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said his group would continue warning the BSA “about the grave consequences that would result if they were to compromise their moral standards in the face of threats from corporate elites and homosexual activists.” About 70 percent of all Scout units are sponsored by religious denominations, including many by conservative faiths that have supported the ban, including the Roman Catholic Church, the
Miami woman jailed after flipping off judge
MIAMI (AP) — A Miami woman has been jailed on contempt charges after flipping off a judge during a drug possession hearing. Miami television station NBC 6 reported that 18-year-old Penelope Soto laughed Monday when Circuit Judge Jorge RodriguezChomat asked how much her jewelry was worth as he inquired about her financial assets. The judge told Soto to be serious and Soto said she was being serious. He set Soto’s bond at $5,000 and said bye-bye. Soto laughed again and replied, “adios.” He summoned her back and reset her bond at $10,000. Soto asked whether the judge was serious and he said, “I am serious. Adios.” Soto flipped him off and blurted an expletive as she
AP
In this image taken from video from the Miami-Dade Circuit Court, Penelope Soto, who is charged with drug possession, right, reacts after Circuit Judge Jorge Rodriguez-Chomat, left, reset her bond from $5,000 to $10,000, in Miami.
walked away. The judge summoned her
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again and sentenced her to 30 days in jail.
Southern Baptist Convention and the Mormon church. The delay was welcomed by Southern Baptist leaders, some of whom had said they would urge their churches to seek alternatives to the Boy Scouts if the ban were eliminated. In comments to the Baptist Press, the denomination’s official news agency, SBC President Fred Luter suggested that “prayers of the righteous” played a role in the BSA decision. The National Catholic Committee on Scouting said it would join in the BSA’s consultations over the coming months. Whatever the outcome, the committee said, “Catholic chartered units will continue to provide leaders who promote and live Catholic values.” Michael Purdy, a spokesman at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints headquarters in Utah, said the BSA “acted wisely in delaying its decision until all voices can be heard on this important moral issue.”
Postal Service plans Saturday delivery cut
WASHINGTON (AP) — Saturday mail may soon go the way of the Pony Express and penny postcards. The Postal Service said Wednesday that it plans to cut back to five-day-aweek deliveries for everything except packages to stem its financial losses in a world radically re-ordered by the Internet. “Our financial condition is urgent,” declared Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe. But Congress has voted in the past to bar the idea of eliminating Saturday delivery, and his announcement immediately drew protests from some lawmakers. The plan, which is to take effect in August, also brought vigorous objections from farmers, the letter carriers’ union and others.
Corrections and clarifications This space is reserved for addressing errors when The Daily Campus prints information that is incorrect. Anyone with a complaint should contact The Daily Campus Managing Editor via email at managingeditor@dailycampus.com
Thursday, February 7, 2013 Copy Editors: Christian Fecteau, Kim Wilson, Grace Vasington, Kate Ericson News Designer: Victoria Smey Focus Designer: Julie Bartoli Sports Designer: Andrew Callahan Digital Production: Zarrin Ahmed
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» MATH
Researchers ID largest prime number yet
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Mathematicians at the University of Central Missouri have identified the largest prime number yet, but good luck remembering it. The university said Wednesday that a group led by computer science and mathematics professor Curtis Cooper found the 17 million-digit prime number last month. It is the 48th known Mersenne prime and is the third discovered at the 11,800-student university in Warrensburg, about 50 miles east of Kansas City. Primes are numbers such as 3, 7 and 11 that are divisible only by themselves and 1 without leaving a remainder. Mersenne primes are named after the 17th century French mathematician who discovered them, Marin Mersenne. They’re expressed as 2P-1, or two to the power of “P’’ minus one. P is itself a prime number. For the new prime, P is 57,885,161. The number was independently verified using different programs running on different hardware, according to the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search, or GIMPS, a cooperative in which underused computing power is harnessed to perform the calculations needed to find and verify Mersenne primes. The university, which is affiliated with the worldwide computing project, used about 1,000 campus computers in its search. Special software allows students to check email and write papers on campus computers while the machines’ excess computing capacity searches for the elusive numbers. The school also found thenrecord prime numbers in 2005 and 2006. Mathematicians at UCLA broke the Missouri school’s record in 2008 with a 13 million-digit prime number. Cooper, whose group’s latest finding is eligible for a $3,000 research award, said each subsequent prime number is tougher to find. “Every time I find one it is incredible,” Cooper said. “I kind of consider it like climbing Mount Everest or finding a really rare diamond or landing somebody on the moon. It’s an accomplishment. It’s a scientific feat.” Mike Breen, a spokesman for the American Mathematical Society, said the large prime numbers are exciting for mathematicians and computer scientists. He noted the latest number discovered is so enormous that is would take reams and reams of paper to print it out.
News
Mexico rapes may hurt peak tourist season ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) — The tourism world turned its eyes on Mexico after six Spanish women were raped by masked gunmen during a vacation in the long-troubled Pacific coast resort of Acapulco. While there has been talk of reviving the golden era of the ‘40s and ‘50s, international tourists have long steered away from Acapulco, even before the drug violence of recent years, as the city fell into disrepair and glitzier Cancun and Los Cabos gained favor. The question now is whether the attack will affect other resorts as Mexico prepares for its annual spring break onslaught and peak season. The hours-long assault was carried out by a gang of masked gunmen who burst into the beachfront home before dawn on Monday and tied up the six men inside, then raped the women. A seventh Mexican woman was unharmed. “We are really sorry about what happened with the Spanish tourists because ... it is something that affects Mexico’s image,” said Juan Carlos Gonzalez, tourism secretary of Quintana Roo, the Caribbean coast state where Cancun is located and which hosted about 17 million tourists last year. But, he added, “we are definitely not as contaminated with the crime issue as other states in Mexico.” Acapulco barely registers on U.S. tourists’ radar anymore,
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Earth-like worlds may be closer and more plentiful than anyone imagined. Astronomers reported Wednesday that the nearest Earth-like planet may be just 13 light-years away – or some 77 trillion miles. That planet hasn’t been found yet, but should be there based on the team’s study of red dwarf stars. Galactically speaking, that’s right next door. If our Milky Way galaxy were shrunk to the size of the United States, the distance between Earth and its closest Earth-like neighbor would be the span of New York’s Central Park, said Harvard University graduate student Courtney Dressing, the study’s lead author. “The nearest Earth-like planet is simply a stroll across the park away,” she said at a news conference in Cambridge, Mass.
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AP
State police stand at a roadblock due to stepped up security after masked armed men broke into a beach home, raping six Spanish tourists who had rented the house in Acapulco, Mexico, Tuesday.
in Mexico like the victims, however, flock to Acapulco during Easter week and other long holiday weekends, such as Monday, when the country celebrated its Constitution Day. Local tourists believe they can distinguish unsafe areas of the city, and even foreign travel warnings say it’s safe for those who don’t wander far from the beach. “For us, this is an incredibly safe zone,” said Rafael Gallego Nadal, president of the
Spanish Confederation of Travel Agencies. “This was a terrible attack, but it’s not the first time that something bad has happened in that part of Mexico.” He said there has been no talk of travel agencies reducing package tour prices. Some press reports Wednesday suggested a drug purchase could have played a role in Monday’s rapes, but Marcos Juarez, the chief investigator for Guerrero state prosecutors, said there was no evidence of that.
Still, the attack exposed a dangerous security situation in areas that had been considered safe, such as the laid-back stretch of beach dotted with restaurants, small hotels and homes southeast of the city’s center, where the Spaniards had rented a villa. The five attackers held the group at gunpoint, tying up the six men with phone cords and bathing suit straps, then raping the six women over a three-hour period, authorities said.
Closest Earth-like planet ‘stroll across park’
FOr sale
for rent
said Kathy Gerhardt, a spokeswoman for Travel Leaders, a network of independently owned and operated travel agencies in the U.S. “Those individuals trying to lump Acapulco into the list of top Mexico destinations for U.S. travelers are simply misinformed,” she said. In a recent survey of over 1,000 travel agency owners, managers and agents, “not a single individual chose Acapulco as a top international destination they are booking for their clients,” Gerhardt said. “We do not see any spillover effect,” she added, for areas like Cancun, which Travel Leaders lists as the No. 2 foreign destination for U.S. travelers, after Caribbean island cruises. From a 2009 shootout that killed 18 near Acapulco’s fabled Flamingo Hotel to this week’s attack, the resort once celebrated in Frank Sinatra songs and Elvis Presley movies has been the scene of body dumpings, beheadings and taxi-driver killings as gangs vie for drug transport routes once controlled by the now-decimated Beltran Leyva cartel. Oceania and Regent Seven Seas Cruises – some of the last lines making port calls in Acapulco – canceled those in December, before the latest attack. An estimated 50,000 Spaniards travel to Mexico each year, but mostly to the Caribbean coast, not Acapulco. Mexicans and Spaniards living
» SPACE
Classifieds Classifieds Dept. U-189 11 Dog Lane Storrs, CT 06268
Thursday, February 7, 2013
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Small, cool red dwarfs are the most common stars in our galaxy, numbering at least 75 billion. The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics team estimates 6 percent of red dwarf stars have Earth-like planets. To qualify, the planet must be roughly the size of Earth and get as much light from its star, as Earth does from the sun. This high rate of occurrence should simplify the search for extraterrestrial life. As the report’s co-author, David Charbonneau, noted, he’s an astronomer, but hopes to become a biologist if that search succeeds. These planetary candidates are quite different than Earth because of the differences between their red dwarf stars and the sun, Charbonneau told reporters. Because the red dwarfs are so much smaller, potentially habit-
AP
This artist’s conception provided by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows a hypothetical planet with two moons orbiting in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star.
able planets would need to orbit much closer than the Earth does to the sun. They likely would be rocky, the astronomers said, but
different types of atmospheres could lead to different types of life. Red dwarf stars also can be old – far older than our sun –
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which means their planets could be much older than Earth and their potential life forms much more evolved.
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The Daily Campus Editorial Board
Elizabeth Crowley, Editor-in-Chief Tyler McCarthy, Commentary Editor Jesse Rifkin, Associate Commentary Editor Chris Kempf, Weekly Columnist John Nitowski, Weekly Columnist Sam Tracy, Weekly Columnist
» EDITORIAL
A change in attitude is the next step in the gun control debate
I
t has been about four months since the terrible tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown that left 28 people dead. That day, President Obama gave a tearful speech to the country in which he said that there had been far too many of these kinds of tragedies in our country and that something would need to be done. Unfortunately, the president did not specify what the cause of these “tragedies” was. As a result, there has been an effort by Second Amendment advocates to steer public discourse away from the issue of guns. In the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, the U.S. has engaged in a new, very important debate on gun control. For the first time in years, new regulation and change might be possible for American gun culture. However, that effort is being diminished in the public eye as people try and find alternative scapegoats. According to various pro-gun advocates, video games, violent movies and the mental health care system are the root of these tragedies. This is an irresponsible and unnecessary distraction from an otherwise very important issue. Gun regulation and safety have been a problem in our culture for years, and if Sandy Hook is not allowed to be the wake-up call for the country, then what will be? What needs to happen is a shift in Americans’ attitude toward guns. There is nothing wrong with the Second Amendment. Responsible citizens should own guns if they wish to make that their hobby or sport or to feel secure in their homes. However, pro-gun advocates are looking to turn the debate away from guns because they are worried that if the current tide in the gun-control debate continues the way that it is going, then they will finally lose the “big fight.” The problem is not with the idea of citizens owning guns. It is the idea that no one feels safe unless they are armed at all times. The more guns floating around in people’s day-today lives, the more chance that those weapons will be turned to in times of stress or will be accidentally misused. Americans are getting on board with the idea of gun safety and regulation, especially when weapons are in the hands of citizens. This is a debate for change that the country has desperately needed for quite some time. Sensible gun policy appears to be on our horizon. If we allow these other random issues to play a distraction, we will have succeeded in learning nothing from Sandy Hook and will find ourselves revisiting this debate years from now, possibly after another horrific tragedy. The Daily Campus editorial is the official opinion of the newspaper and its editorial board. Commentary columns express opinions held solely by the author and do not in any way reflect the official opinion of The Daily Campus.
Definitely wouldn’t have survived college if I stayed too scared to eat in the middle of a crowded lecture hall. Waking up today and realizing I still wasn’t Beyonce was enough to send me back asleep through my 9 a.m. class. People really need to stop talking about who’s in the Illuminati. IF YOU TALK ABOUT THE ILLUMINATI, YOU’LL NEVER GET INVITED INTO THE ILLUMINATI. Ya can’t stop a quitter from quitting. Found out this morning that my psychology class today was cancelled. You could say that I was pretty PSYCHED to find out. I’ll just show myself out... I need a black and white picture of myself in a suit adjusting my tie, if only because it seems to be what all the famous ones are doing these days. There are some days where I just can’t understand it. How could anyone just punt Baxter off the bridge like that? Just pooped looking at the weather forecast. Please be careful checking the weather people. Studying has been going bad. Breaking Bad, that is. Now if only my exam tomorrow was in Chemistry... UConn bball really knows how to get me so excited at the opportunity of a comeback, and then rip out my heart with a minute remaining. I was feeling nostalgic last night so I put on 8 Mile...I had a pretty strange and rap-filled childhood. Illuminati tryouts are this Saturday at 7. We hope to see you all there.
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No dipping your toes in the water
A
s many of my regular readers know, this is my last semester at UConn. In just a few months, the real world will begin and I’ll be left with nothing but the memories of writing my column every week, getting a Grab-n-Go wrap and finding places in the Union to sit with friends and waste time. Every graduate who I speak to tells me how important it is to cherish these last few months because the family that you make here – and make By Tyler McCarthy no mistake, it is a family – will Commentary Editor soon be scattered to the wind. It is my most humble opinion that finding a group of people on campus to share these four years with is the most important part of the collegiate experience. It is also my opinion that stories are the best ways to convince people of something, so here’s a story about how I met one of my UConn families: During my sophomore year I was a campus change student from UConn’s Avery Point campus in Groton. While it’s a fine campus filled with intelligent and committed educators, it isn’t heavy on extracurricular activities. When I moved away from home and up to Storrs I decided, for reasons I cannot remember, to attend a meeting of the improv group “Scared Scriptless,” formerly
“Molotov Improv” and before that “UC Improv,” which was a pun on the phrase “You see improv.” I quickly learned that puns are highly regarded as the Cadillac of improv jokes. I walked into the fully windowed room across from the Blue Cow in the Union. Here I was, looking to attempt doing something on stage for the first time in my life, and we had to meet in a room that makes the inhabitants seem like a zoo exhibit. The only difference was that people weren’t shy about tapping on the glass. All of the returning members were there looking incredibly relaxed, like they didn’t even notice the people walking by and staring. It was clear that sitting idly wasn’t the most embarrassing thing they’d be doing that night. I sat there for the better part of two hours and watched as some of the most talented human beings of my age created comedic gold out of thin air. Two brothers in the group caught my eye because they seemed to have mastered improv comedy as an art. That night they and the group leader taught me about always saying “yes” no matter what, never making my partner in a scene look bad and understanding the keys to not thinking but just believing in your own sense of humor and trusting it in real time. I was assured that I could go, sit in the corner and just watch if I wanted to just dip my toes in the water instead of just diving in. However, the dirty little secret about improv is that there’s no such thing as dipping your toe in the water. There isn’t even a shallow end of the pool – you either stand up to perform
a scene from nothing or you don’t. I remember my first joke. It was during a theater game called “Scenes from a Hat.” We were given the premise of “worst ways to propose.” I got up my courage, stood in the middle as the humble “new guy” bent down on one knee and said “you’ll do.” It got a laugh. Not much of one, but enough to make me fall into an obsessive love afair with improv. That was the first semester of my sophomore year. Here I am, about three years later, still showing up every week without fail to feed my addiction. It’s become more than that, though. I’ve been in some difficult scenes on stage with an audience waiting on baited breath to either laugh with us or at us. We’ve grown together, and I truly can’t imagine a time at UConn when these people didn’t have my back, either on stage or in life. Ask anyone at UCTV, in an a capella group or even at The Daily Campus, and they’ll tell you that when you spend some of the most difficult times of your life with people, you’re bonded forever. If you’re a freshman or sophomore and you haven’t yet found a place like this, I highly encourage you to look for one. Your college experience is about much more than academics.
Commentary Editor Tyler McCarthy is an 8thsemester journalism and English double major. He can be reached at Tyler.McCarthy@UConn.edu.
Second guessing the harsh use of drone strikes
I
t is hard to imagine a terrorist attack affecting the U.S. more than the ones that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001. Our sense of security is forever shaken by the Americans we lost on that fateful day. It only strengthened our resolve to project American power and ideals abroad while ‘preemptively’ eliminating future threats from terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda. By Anthony Naples H o w e v e r , it is far Staff Columnist away from our homes, in the distant Middle East, where our values are being jeopardized by the increased focus on drone strikes in the military’s strategy to eliminate terrorist insurgency. The Justice Department, in a recently released memo, provides a legal defense for the use of drone strikes on American citizens as long as they are “senior operational leaders in Al-Qaeda or an associated force,” or give highlevel military personnel reason to believe they present an imminent threat or have been recently involved in potentially dangerous activities. The memo goes on to conclude that such action would only be warranted if capture of the American is not feasible.
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While I agree that an American who is actively attempting to kill other Americans should be treated no differently than Al-Qaeda members in the Middle East, war is an arena where truths are not always evident and information is incomplete. Death is, of course, inherent and necessary in winning the War on Terror. Vague language in the memo, with no definition of which activities imply imminent danger, or even what imminent means, is a scary notion when it comes to the death of Americans at the hand of their own government. In fact, just the idea that the Justice Department is actively seeking legal avenues for justifying American-on-American assassinations should be a gigantic red flag. If I cannot even understand the government’s wavering definition of imminent, how can I be convinced that everyone targeted, especially if they are Americans, don’t deserve due process or are guilty of organizing Anti-American violence? It is important to note that simply threatening to kill Americans or making empty promises does not warrant these individuals being summarily executed by drones. The use of drones has been central to counter-insurgency mainly for two reasons: they
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are unmanned aircraft and therefore do not put our soldiers in harm’s way, and their stealth and intelligence-gathering capabilities are state-of-theart. They are as detached from the ground war. But perhaps that is my concern with the use of drones and this administration’s rationalization of such tactics: detachment. Let’s face it – it is too easy for the military to kill people. And in a world where eliminating enemies can be done with extreme precision while posing minimal danger to troops, intense focus must be placed on the merit and moral repercussions of such actions. With drone strikes, the war being played out in the Middle East is much like playing poker without having any chips in the middle of the table. When people become dots on a radar screen or necessary peripheral civilian casualties, it is no longer a war – it becomes a game where the stakes are secondary but the reason you are playing is placed center stage. Our involvement in the Middle East appears to be twopronged: defending America and innocent victims of terrorism in the Middle East while defending and implanting democratic ideals in the region. This is exactly why being connected to invisible death
machines in the sky can’t be good for the image we project in places like Yemen, where these strikes are so prevalent. If I was a person from the Middle East looking to commit to a democratic form of government in my region and had drone strikes occur my area, I would not say to myself, “Now that is what my nation should strive to become: one that is willing to sacrifice its principles in the name of victory.” Drone strikes in no way present us as merciful and sparing. Rather, we liken ourselves to Big Brother. In this modern war, the line between combatants and civilians is sometimes as blurred as the one between terrorist and activist. Perhaps such precision killings never give us a reason or the time to examine this reality. But it’s important that we do not blur a seemingly unblurrable line between just and unjust killing. Rather than looking to justify the deaths of Americans abroad, the Justice Department should be looking for any excuse not to do so.
Staf f Columnist Ant hony Naples is a 6t h - semester polit ical science major. He can be reached at Anthony. Naples@UConn.edu.
director of J ewish outreach for the W hite H ouse announced that he is stepping down . H e says it ’ s time to move on , while his mother says he ’ s still a real catch and other presi dents would be lucky to have him .” – J immy F allon
THIS DATE IN HISTORY
BORN ON THIS DATE
1964
Pan Am Yankee Clipper flight 101 from London Heathrow lands and “Beatlemania” arrives. It was the first visit to the United States by the Beatles.
www.dailycampus.com
The Daily Campus, Page 5
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Author inspires middle school and UConn Co-op By Zarrin Ahmed Campus Correspondent
Children and parents carried in copies of Mike Lupica’s newest addition to the Game Changers series, “Play Makers,” for autographs at a book talk given by Lupica on Wednesday evening. Earlier the same day, Lupica made an appearance at Mansfield Middle School, where he spoke to a crowd of 600, including 580 children, and received a standing ovation. Some of the students from the middle school traveled to UConn to see him again. After facing some parking issues, Lupica grabbed a coffee at the Co-op Café before jogging into the bookstore. After a quick introduction by a student worker, Lupica thanked the crowd for coming out. A native of New York, Lupica spent his childhood in New Hampshire and later attended Boston College. Lupica had his own column with Esquire magazine for 10 years, writes regularly for Travel + Leisure Golf, ESPN the Magazine and the Men’s Journal. He writes several sports columns during the week for Daily News as well as a Sunday column called “Shooting from the Lip,” and broadcasts daily on EPSN New York. In the midst of a busy journalist career, Lupica dedicates time to writing mystery and sports books. “The best part of my day is writing books that young readers love to read,” Lupica said. He explained how writing was a lot easier than getting through the rest of the day and how he functioned better behind his desk. He also told
Garth Brooks – 1962 Chris Rock – 1965 Steve Nash – 1974 Ashton Kutcher – 1978
» FROM THE WRITER’S DESK
Something old to something new By Jason Wong Senior Staff Writer
Zarrin Ahmed/The Daily Campus
Mike Lupica, an American newspaper columnist and author, has written sports autobiographies and screenplays, but he is also known for his young adult sport-themed novels. These books include “Heat,” “Travel Team,” “Summer Ball,” “Miracle on 49th Street” and, most recently, the “Game Changers” series.
the children in the crowd that seeing them read his books reinforced his passion. Lupica writes from the perspective of 12-year-olds in his Game Changers series, focusing on the importance of friendship, loyalty and being a good teammate. Lupica’s inspiration for his first sports novel, Travel Team, came from his youngest son, who was cut from his school’s basketball team. The first line of the book, which Lupica recited, reads, “He knew he was
small but he just didn’t think he was small.” Knowing his son’s situation, Lupica put together a team that included other kids who didn’t make the school’s team. This “Bad News Bears” team got better and better. This is the underlying story of Travel Team. Play Makers, Lupica’s newest book, follows the life of Ben McBain, who struggles to keep his position as the best point guard when a new kid who is better, stronger and faster challenges him.
Focused on out-doing his competition, McBain loses sight of the importance of friendship and being a good teammate. Having grown up reading books like the Hardy Boys and Mark Twain novels that were about loyalty and friendship, Lupica realized that he had to write books about the same things. Lupica feels lucky that in fiction he can make sports come out the way he wants them to, and that he doesn’t have to say goodbye to the characters at
the end of each book, but can create an entire series based on them. Before a short questionand-answer session, Lupica made a deal with his young readers – if they continue to read his books, he will continue to write them. After answering questions ranging from subjects like his childhood to sports predictions, Lupica signed all of his fans’ books.
Zarrin.Ahmed@UConn.edu
‘The Gronk’ Popovich to bring his famous pets to Jorgenson comes to UConn
By Julie Bartoli Senior Staff Writer
By Matt Gantos Campus Correspondent
The world-famous Popovich Comedy Pet Theater will be performing at Jorgensen on Feb. 10 at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. The act features Gregory Popovich along with his troupe of clowns, jugglers, 14 house cats, 12 dogs, 10 doves and six white mice. The cats and dogs were originally strays that Popovich took in and trained. They now tour with him and perform onstage skits and stunts. Little do those once-strays realize that they are receiving more attention than they could ever imagine. The Popovich Comedy Pet Theater received national attention after appearing as a top 20 act on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.” To audition for the show, the troupe did a trained cat act in L.A. They were accepted and during semifinal rounds did a skit titled, “The Homeless Clown.” Before “America’s Got Talent,” The Popovich Comedy Pet Theater was simply a father-daughter act from Las Vegas, Nevada. Though they did not win the show, the exposure certainly broadened their audience and gave the troupe a level of fame they had not reached previously when performing in Las Vegas. They have since done a world tour of over 20 countries. They have also appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “Late Night with David Letterman.”
Fans of the New England Patriots know the name Rob Gronkowski. Gronkowski, or “Gronk,” as he is also well known, will be paying a visit to the Jorgenson on Thursday Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. Tickets are available now at $1 for students. Gronk is a star tight-end for the Patriots, and also every bit as much eye-candy for the audience. He is a player known throughout the league for his strength as well as agility. This lecture by Gronk will not be his first. In March 2012, Gronkowski visited the University of Rhode Island for a similar event. The event was very casual and intimate, especially the question-andanswer segment, which he will be doing again. The event at URI included sections with giveaways to audience members, such as signed t-shirts, gift cards and hot-wing sauce from Buffalo near his hometown of Amherst. According to ESPN, in the 2011-2012 season, Gronk set multiple single-season records for the Patriots, including most receiving touchdowns as a tight end (17), most total touchdowns as a tight end (18) and most receiving yards as a tight end (1327). Despite his impressive résumé on the field, many students are more excited to hear about Gronk’s partying lifestyle, and if he will be
Image courtesy of examiner.com
A promotional poster of Gregory Popovich’s world-famous Popovich Comedy Pet Theater. The troupe will be performing skits and stunts at Jorgenson this Saturday.
The group performs several skits, one of the most noteworthy being “Working on the Railroad,” in which Gregory Popovich acts as an old west railroad porter that falls asleep on the job. Popovich is awoken by his dog companion, Rex, and along with several other animals, the group manages to protect the railroad from bandits. In another sketch called “Dreamdogs,” Popovich auditions pets to join his troupe. His judges include Rex the dog and Sebastian the cat.
The show also often features the feline circus that Popovich used to audition for “America’s Got Talent.” In conjunction with Popovich’s juggling, the performance is a fan favorite. Tickets for the show are on sale now and can be bought at the box office window or mailed or faxed in. Adult tickets are $15, children are $13 and UConn students with a valid ID will only have to pay $10 to see the Popovich Comedy Pet Theater.
Julie.Bartoli@UConn.edu
sticking around for a taste of UConn’s nightlife, as he is only 23, not much older than most students. Students can expect a tangible, but not overwhelming, amount of motivational speeches and discourses on work ethic. It is more likely that Gronk will offer some relatable stories of things college students could only dream of. Gronk is not infamous for his partying ways, but he is in no sense an exception the athlete-party-animal stereotype. This is to be expected from a former student of University of Arizona, a recognized party school. But just like every athlete, Gronk talks how important it is to maintain a healthy lifestyle, especially after sustaining an injury. Gronkowski reinjured his forearm during the playoffs against the Texans this past season. The prior injury took place in November against the Indianapolis Colts. Despite his forearm being broken in two places after the second incident, in an ESPN interview with Hannah Storm, Gronkowski said he “will be ready for the start of next year for sure.” Gronk also said he will be doing everything he can to rehabilitate himself, including eating healthily, exercising when cleared by his physicians and just making good decisions in the 20-plus weeks until training camp.
Matthew.Gantos@UConn.edu
As an English major, I am often asked, “So, do you want to teach?” Usually people are taken by surprise when I say I do not. One of the myriad reasons I can cite is this: I fear that the majority of papers that I’d have to read would abound with poorly structured sentences and, perhaps more awfully, the dreaded cliché. As somebody who ranks good storytelling as one of the top three reasons to be alive, I find clichés unacceptable. I’m not saying that using a cliché automatically makes a piece of writing bad. However, it is generally wise to use them sparingly and out of necessity. So what about a cliché makes people like me cringe? It certainly isn’t that the clichés are poorly constructed turns of phrase. In fact, a large amount of clichés became clichés because they were written by great writers (and were not clichés at the time). If you’ve ever declared “It’s all Greek to me,” that something “vanished into thin air” or proclaimed something an eyesore, you’re quoting Shakespeare. You get the idea. There are a lot of clichés, and they aren’t bad at conveying meaning… they’re just trite. I have no doubt that many an earnest (and budding) writer has been truly distraught and wept enough to fill buckets, and then proceeded to describe the unfortunate event as “crying a river of tears.” Simply put, there are better ways of saying that without me wanting to drown my sorrows in a bottle of Schnapps. Now I’m not saying that you should hold off on writing that epic novel about a young protagonist who’s going to save the world with only a MacGuffin and an aged mentor in tow. There are plenty of stories that have been extraordinarily successful that all tell essentially the same story: The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc. The trick is they do it with a certain unique style that gives it a quality beyond your average cliché. What I’m trying to say is that people like old stories with new faces. Plot structure will hardly vary, but the way a piece of writing is written and presented should be new. Clichés take away from that sense of novelty, and as I said earlier, they make a piece more boring to read if they are numerous. If there’s anything you don’t want your story to be, it’s predictable. You want to present what you have to say in a way that’s new and novel. You want to say a probably old idea in an original way. So in the future, try to refrain from referring to sad skies and towers of strength, to people sly as foxes and blankets of snow. It’ll make your writing more interesting by leaps and bounds. Or, if all you’re interested in is a fat paycheck, I recommend going the complete opposite direction and throwing every cliché in the known universe with an abusive relationship or two, and bam – New Twilight.
Jason.Wong@UConn.edu
The Daily Campus, Page 6
FOCUS ON:
Album Of The Week
MUSIC The Grammy playlist
“The A Team” Ed Sheeran
“Call Me Maybe” Carly Ray Jepsen
“Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
Kelly Clarkson
“We Are Young” fun.
“Somebody That I Used To Know” Gotye ft. Kimbra
“Sexy And I Know It” LMFAO
Want to join the Focus review crew? Come to a Focus meeting, Mondays at 8 p.m. Your name could be on the Music page!
Get Happy!!
» CD REVIEW
Joe Budden’s hip hop return is underwhelming
By Emily Herbst Staff Writer
“Adorn” Miguel
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Focus
No Love Lost
Following high anticipation and a lot of chatter from the hip hop world, Joe Budden has just released his fifth solo studio album after a three-year span since his last, “Escape Route.” A regular member of the rap group Slaughterhouse (Royce Da 5’9, Joell Ortiz and Crooked I), Budden has once again taken time to focus on his individual career. However, few would guess that after listening to this EP. 14 of the 17 tracks are collaborations, which is simply too much. Every hip hop/rap fan recognizes the value in a collaboration; some even turn out better than if the rapper had done it solo. Joe Budden, however, chose the worst in rap to share his songs with. Additionally, it seems that Budden has taken a turn for the worst in relation to lyrics and substance – or lack thereof. “No Love Lost” is teeming with the worst characteristics rap can have; the trash-rap conception seems to have produced a figurative child of Lil Wayne, post-quality Wiz
Joe Budden
By Thomas Teixeira Staff Writer
2/5/13 17 tracks
4
A very varied group here has five worthy choices. Country star Hunter Haynes and Memphis blues outfit Alabama Shakes are just here for fun, as they don’t have any real shot, barring a major upset. It’s fun. versus Frank again. Can “Some Nights” and “Carry On” take on “Pyramids” and “Sweet Life”? Whichever way the voters lean this year will decide it…and they should side with Ocean. The underdog Lumineers have a small shot at the award, as their song “Ho Hey” managed to blow up just in time for every voter to be bombarded with it.
The supposed music industry equivalent of the Oscars – the Grammy Awards – are taken each year with a grain of salt. The importance of the award genuinely goes unquestioned, yet fans, critics and artists typically watch the show from the corner of their eyes. The integrity and merit of the Grammys are contested every year. While the Oscars generally select the best films and artists and almost always nominate a satisfying ensemble, the Grammys disappoint consistently. Personally, I hate the Grammys. I really thought, and wanted, this column to read like a rant, but when I started researching, I found insufficient evidence to justify my discontentment and snobbery. The Grammy Awards themselves, like the Oscars, are stratified; some awards are worth more than others. Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year are comparable to film awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and the four Best Actor/Actress prizes. A quick scroll through the winners of these awards in the past actually surprised me. The academy’s choice for their big four awards were almost always at least plausible.Take for example the award for Album of the Year: Adele’s award in 2012 made sense, just like Outkast’s victory in 2004 for “Speakerboxx/ The Love Below,” Paul Simon’s “Graceland” in 1987 or Stevie Wonder’s for “Innervisions” in 1974. Only time can judge Adele, but the other three winners’ legacies have been cemented over the years. Realizing that my problem wasn’t with the winners, I looked to the nominees. This year, 2-Chainz’s debut, “Based on a T.R.U. Story” is nominated for “Rap Album of the Year.” Ratings website Metacritic, which averages critic’s reviews from across the country, have it an aggregate score of 55/100. HipHopDX, a well-respected online publication, called the album, “bare and buffoonish.” While 2-Chainz was nominated, Ab Soul’s “#controlsystem,” Big K.R.I.T.’s “Live From The Underground” and Killer Mike’s “R.A.P. Music,” all critically acclaimed, were ignored. Nominating 2-Chainz seems like the movie-equivalent of nominating “The Hobbit” over a small, yet fantastic film such as “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” Year in and year out, the Grammy nominees reflect popularity and albums sales. In many cases, some of the best artists, songs and albums aren’t even nominated. The difference between the Oscars and Grammys lies in contrasts between their nominating processes, academies and goals. The Oscars claim to award excellence in cinema, while the Grammys award achievement in the music industry. Oscars award artistic achievement, Grammys award industry success. The nominations and award winners reflect that vision and I think therein lies my gripe with the Grammys. As a fan, it bothers me that Killer Mike could never win a Grammy; his album was an artistic achievement, but a commercial flop. On the contrary, 2-Chainz released a generic, albeit gold-certified album and got the nod for Rap Album of the Year. I don’t care about industry success. I don’t care about sales, executives, A&Rs or professional songwriters, engineers or producers. I care about music, lyrics, creativity, content and honesty. The Grammys award none of these qualities and, as such, I don’t care about the Grammys.
Joseph.O’Leary@UConn.edu
Thomas.Teixeira@UConn.edu
/10
Khalifa and the ignorant garbage of 2-Chainz and Chief Keef– if one could imagine such a fiasco. You might call it a ratchet smoothie. And sorry, but French Montana doesn’t help the cause. Joe Budden has never been coined as a “conscious” rapper, but neither has been labelled an “unconscious” one, which is why this album is both a surprise and downer. Rap connoisseurs should stay away … far away. The only permissible place for this is the club. It’s difficult to think while listening to the bulk of the album. The intro is pretty appealing to the ears, a 30-second track with a female vocalist, entitled “Our First Again.” But it’s really just a repeated phrase, and doesn’t drop hints about the subject or point of the album. It effectively leads us into the smoothness of the next song, “Top of the World,” a song featuring Kirko Bangz. “She Don’t Put It Down” features Lil Wayne…which alone should keep potential listeners away. In his usual garbled and half-conscious vocal “style”, Wayne adds about as much to the song as expected: he doesn’t. Conversely, Tank (the other feature), has real talent and real vocals and in turn compensates
Photo Courtesy Amazon.com
The cover of Joe Budden’s fifth studio album, “No Love Lost,” released Feb. 5, 2013.
for his colleague. The three of them scoff at a female character, but do so with jealousy. Finally, we get to the sixth track “Castles” – the first which features Joe Budden and only Joe Budden. “Love can’t be lost, I know exactly where I put it” is the major line of the song, and also the way by which we enter Budden’s mind for a moment. He expresses disdain towards his own lack of commitment. It’s sort of a “one that got away” tale. As we all know, the life of the rap artist has trials of its own, and having to tear oneself away from many women is often one of
them. Altogether, the song is decent. A similarly tolerable one is “Tell Him Somethin,” the other slow jam of the collection. Maybe that’s the style Joe Budden should’ve stuck with. There’s not too much to reflect upon within the remaining tracks. By the last one, Budden may have put most listeners to sleep and defeated the purpose of a “full” album – which in this case is more like “overcapacity.” Skip this one and instead wait patiently for a quality rap album drop.
Grammys: Predictions for the big categories Joe Budden’s “Castles”
Emily.Herbst@UConn.edu
By Joe O’Leary Focus Editor
“Payphone” Maroon 5
“Hold On” Alabama Shakes
“I Will Wait” Mumford & Sons - Julie Bartoli
Photos Courtesy Amazon.com
Upcoming Shows Jeff Mangum Friday, February 8 Union Station Hartford, CT Passion Pit Saturday, February 9 Agganis Arena Boston, MA Mumford & Sons Tuesday, February 12 Barclays Center Brooklyn, NY
Sunday’s Grammys will be very different from last year, where there was a clear winner in Adele, whose “21” took six awards. They might look more like 2010, where a bunch of huge genre hits clashed and Arcade Fire’s sprawling alternative epic “The Suburbs” topped Eminem, Ladies (Antebellum and Gaga) and Katy Perry for Album of the Year. We won’t know who won until they’re over (yes, that is obvious), but here are some fairly educated guesses. Record of the Year Record of the Year and Song of the Year are two completely different categories. Song lauds the craftsmanship of the writers, while Record is about the finished product as a whole: producing, performance and success all factored in. So Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin Bout You” seems to be at an early disadvantage, as it only topped out at number 32 on the Billboard charts. It’s a critical favorite, but that probably can’t carry it to victory. The Black Keys’ “Lonely Boy” and Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” are both fairly dated at this point, “Boy” especially. The duel in this category seems like it could come down to which flavor of pop the voters liked best: “We Are Young” by fun. was one of the year’s unavoidable smash hits, as were “Somebody That I Used To Know” by Gotye and “We Are Never Getting Back Together” by Taylor Swift. My sleeper pick is Gotye, who spent eight weeks topping nearly every chart in early 2012.
Image courtesy of stereogum.com
R&B artist Frank Ocean, who is nominated for Record of the Year with the song “Thinkin’ Bout You,” Album of the Year with “Channel Orange” and Best New Artist.
Album of the Year fun., Mumford and Sons, The Black Keys, Jack White and Frank Ocean. One of these artists is not like the other: Frank Ocean is the only R&B artist in this category. While “Babel” was a huge seller and the Keys were one of the best acts of 2012, there’s simply no way Ocean doesn’t get this one. “Channel Orange” was best as an album, anyway; its 16 tracks are a pretty cohesive experience. By the way, why did everyone suddenly love “Blunderbuss”? I don’t remember White’s first solo album getting reviews better than “pretty decent but nothing special.”
Grammy Business
Song of the Year The production on “Stronger” and “We Are Young” aside, they’re both fantastically written songs, which explains why they made it into both major song categories. They’re joined by Ed Sheeran’s pop hit “The A Team,” Miguel’s “Kaleidoscope Dream” single “Adorn” and the likely winner, Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.” It was the perfect piece of pop perfection in 2012, and it shone through Jepsen and her songwriters’ talent and composition. She should have it, barring the Grammy voters having a lot of fun. this year. Best New Artist
Thursday, February 7, 2013
The Daily Campus, Page 7
Focus
An indie look at Fans mark Marley’s birthday in Jamaica the Grammys
By Alison Koontz Campus Correspondent The 55th Annual Grammy Awards are right around the corner, and music fans everywhere are pumping up to see the flashy performances and celebrities and, of course, find out who takes home the coveted gilded gramophone. This year, though, there is a striking rise in the number of nominations claimed by bands or artists who deem themselves independent or alternative. The trend arguably began in 2011 when Arcade Fire, who up until then was little known, walked away with a Grammy for Album of the Year for their album “The Suburbs.” They snagged the award away from such competitors as “The Fame Monster” by Lady Gaga, “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry, “Need You Now” by Lady Antebellum and “Recovery” by Eminem. Fans were shocked, not only because such eminent albums had lost, but also because they had lost to a band that seemed to appear out of nowhere (even though the band has actually been active since 2001). The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has also been awarded to unfamiliar artists in the past two years. In 2011 the award was given to Esperanza Spalding, an extremely talented – albeit relatively unknown – jazz bassist and singer. Her low public profile can best be exemplified by the fact that she was awarded in 2011 for being the “best new artist” when she has been an active recording artist since 2000. Spalding’s win made her the first jazz musician to ever win the award, and she beat out contenders such as Justin Bieber for it. Indie-folk artist Bon Iver’s
Image courtesy of zimbio.com
Bon Iver, winner of the Best New Artist award in 2012. Bon Iver beat out nominees like Skrillex, The Band Perry and even Nicki Miinaj.
reception of the Best New Artist award in 2012 also shocked many. He won over such nominees as Skrillex , The Band Perry and Nicki Minaj, who are all artists with much more radio play and larger audiences. Justin Vernon, the lead singer and arguably the core of the group, even acknowledged the oddity of his win due to his independent style and attitude in his acceptance speech. “It’s really hard to accept this award. There’s so much talent out here ... and there’s a lot of talent that’s not here tonight,” he said. “It’s also hard to accept because, you know, when I start-
Image courtesy of last.fm.com
The Lumineers, one of the 2013 Grammy Nominees. The Lumineers released their self titled debut on April 3, 2012, and since then the album has gone gold.
ed to make songs I did it for the inherent reward of making songs, so I’m a little bit uncomfortable up here.” Bon Iver also took up the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album that night. Looking at the list of 2013 Grammy nominees, it is easy to see that there are many bands and artists that have seemed to appear out of the woodwork. They rose from relative anonymity to becoming nominees for the most prestigious music awards. Such artists as Gotye, The Black Keys, Jack White, fun, Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers all have backgrounds in the indiegenre, whether it be indie folk, pop or rock. Yet this did not hinder them from receiving a Grammy nomination. Is independent music on the rise? Is popularity for the “hidden” artists growing in the United States? The Grammy recipients of the past few years in such eminent categories as Best New Artist and Album of the Year seem to support this notion. It is unclear whether the pattern of surprise wins from artists with little radio play and presence in the media will continue this year. However, if the list of nominees is any indication, there is a good chance that on Feb. 10, 2013 on CBS at 8 p.m. there may be some surprises in store for music fans when the most popular artists of the day and those who dominate the Top 20 charts lose to bands with humbler beginnings and presence.
Alison.Koontz@gmail.com
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Hundreds of tourists joined dreadlocked Rastafarian priests, leading reggae musicians and some of Bob Marley’s relatives at the late reggae icon’s old house in Jamaica to mark the 68th anniversary of his birth Wednesday. Since his death from cancer in 1981 at age 36, Marley has become more than Jamaica’s most famous musical export. The trailblazing reggae songwriter’s message of unity and respect for human rights remains a beacon of hope for some in this Caribbean nation chronically struggling with a sputtering economy and high rates of violence. “It’s the same struggle now as when he was alive. So his music, when you hear it, it’s like he’s singing today even though he died some 30 odd years ago,” said Mutabaruka, a famed dub poet who attended the celebration along with reggae singers like Sizzla Kalonji. In the early morning light, some of Marley’s relations and old friends danced and chanted to the pounding of Rastafarian drums in the yard of his Kingston home, which is now a family-run museum displaying his guitar, clothing and other memorabilia. Later in the day, Marley’s songs were blasted from big speakers as people danced and chatted amid clouds of marijuana smoke. Donisha Prendergast, a documentary filmmaker and artist who is Marley’s eldest granddaughter, said her grandfather’s message of “one love” and social revolution remains alive and well. But she said more Jamaicans need to heed it. “I don’t think most people here are really hearing it, you know? They know that his
AP
A Rastafarian drummer leads a chant during the celebration of reggae music icon Bob Marley’s 68th birthday in the yard of his Kingston home, in Jamaica.
music is around and they are proud of it, but they don’t live it. Because if they did, then we would be a stronger people, we would be stronger characters,” Prendergast said. The Caribbean country has struggled the last 40 years, due in large part to political mismanagement by the two main political parties. Good jobs are scarce, the local currency is sliding and the government is so swamped with debt that about half of the budget goes to loan payments. There were 1,087 slayings last year, which was touted as the lowest number of killings in nine years on the island of
about 2.8 million people. When Chicago, with roughly the same population, chalked up 506 homicides last year, the bloodshed put the city at the center of the U.S. debate over guns. On Wednesday, Culture Minister Lisa Hanna encouraged Jamaicans to listen to Marley’s lyrics, saying they called for Jamaicans to create a “more wholesome, caring, peaceful and progressive society.” Most young people in Jamaica listen to the brash reggae-rap hybrid of dancehall, but there is a new generation of music lovers who have turned to Marley’s albums.
Chris Brown returns to court
LOS ANGELES (AP) — With the woman he assaulted throwing him a kiss, Chris Brown walked into court Wednesday to face allegations he failed to complete his community labor sentence for Rihanna’s 2009 beating. A judge asked for more information and scheduled another hearing in two months. Rihanna, the glamorous singer whose bruised face became a tabloid fixture after she was beaten by her then-boyfriend on the way to the Grammys, has been dating Brown again. She arrived with the R&B star, his mother and two other women and blew him a kiss as he entered the courtroom. They left together after the short proceeding in which Superior Court Judge James Brandlin set the next hearing for April 5. Brown’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, said he was disturbed about the way the district attorney handled the matter and said he would be filing a motion opposing the prosecution’s move to modify Brown’s fulfillment of his community labor sentence.
Prosecutors, who said they could find no credible evidence that Brown had completed his community labor in his home state of Virginia, asked that he start all over and put in 180 days in Los Angeles County. Prosecutors have suggested there was either sloppy record keeping or fraudulent reporting. The judge noted during the brief court session that a prosecution filing did not request revocation of Brown’s probation and he, therefore, would not revoke it. A motion filed Tuesday also raised for the first time in Brown’s felony assault case several incidents that prosecutors said demonstrate Brown has ongoing anger management issues. The motion cited a Jan. 27 fight between Brown and fellow R&B star Frank Ocean, and a 2011 outburst in which Brown threw a chair through a window after he was asked about the Rihanna attack on “Good Morning America.” The filing represents a dramatic shift in the case against
Brown, who was repeatedly praised by the judge overseeing his case for his completion of domestic violence courses and his community service work in his home state of Virginia. That changed in September, when prosecutors raised concerns about Brown’s community service after he logged 701 hours in seven months — an amount that had previously taken him more than two years to achieve. Los Angeles investigators traveled to Richmond, Va., to investigate Brown’s service, which was only described in broad strokes by Richmond Police Chief Bryan Norwood, who was overseeing the singer’s community labor. “This inquiry provided no credible, competent or verifiable evidence that defendant Brown performed his community labor as presented to this court,” Deputy District Attorney Mary Murray wrote. Brown’s attorney Geragos blasted the court filing, saying the prosecutor ignored interviews “where sworn peace officers stated unequivocally that Mr. Brown was supervised and did all of the community service.” “I plan on asking for sanctions from the DA’s office for filing a frivolous, scurrilous and frankly defamatory motion,” he said Tuesday. Brown’s case was transferred to Brandlin after a recent shuffling of judicial assignments. After pleading guilty to the Rihanna attack, Brown was given permission to serve 180 days of community labor in his home state of Virginia, but only as long as he performed manual labor such as graffiti removal and roadside cleanup. Given problems with documentation and statements from some witnesses who contradict Brown’s claims of work, prosecutors asked Brandlin to order Brown to repeat his service in Los Angeles.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
The Daily Campus, Page 8
Comics
COMICS
PHOTO OF THE DAY
Kevin & Dean Adam Penrod
NATALIA PYLYPYSZYN/The Daily Campus
A presentation by Graciela Quinones-Rodriguez was given Wednesday at the International Center discussing “Culture Shock”. People from 16 different countries were in attendance for her lecture. I Hate Everything by Carin Powell
Lazy Girl Michelle Penney!
Monkey Business by Jack Boyd
Horoscopes
by Brian Ingmanson
Aries (March 21-April 19) -- Today is a 6 -- Things could seem glued shut. Take extra time with hot, soapy water. Let things sit, and then the next time you try, there’s progress. Use a gentle touch. Taurus (April 20-May 20) -- Today is a 7 -Slow morning relaxation that glides into a comfortable afternoon would be delightful. Things could seem rough, so go with an easy flow. It all works out. Gemini (May 21-June 21) -- Today is a 7 -- A brilliant scheme could lead to more coins in your pocket. Assess your wins and losses, and get organized. Schedule for success, and plot your moves. Cancer (June 22-July 22) -- Today is a 9 -- Think of ways to make money with new technology. If you don’t try, you won’t know if it works. Finish up a big project. The rewards of diligence are sweet. Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Today is a 9 -There are plenty of opportunities to prove yourself today. Change your perspective and try again. Put down roots with a commitment. Work smarter, not harder. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- Today is a 6 -- Your ability to make others think is attractive now, but you may not want to overdo it. Don’t overlook a loved one’s needs. Keep up the good work. Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) -- Today is a 7 -- If you don’t fight off demons, you’ll never know if you’re capable of courage. You don’t have to look far to find them. They’re cruel to you. Succeed anyway. Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) -- Today is an 8 -- Distractions are coming at you left and right. Focus on what’s really important for you. Trust your intuition and a good friend. Listen consciously. Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) -- Today is a 6 -- Think things over, just not too much. Be patient with your instruction. Odds are you’re forgetting something, so write it down. It’s okay if it goes slowly. Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- Today is a 7 -- You’ll find out what’s needed. Trust in your ability to overcome obstacles, just like you’ve done before. A partner helps you communicate feelings. Relax. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) -- Today is a 7 -- Fine-tune your routine, and consider a someone’s suggestion. You can’t always get what you want, but don’t let that stop you from trying. Review the instructions. Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) -- Today is an 8 -- Disruptions may threaten your busy schedule, but it’s nothing that you can’t navigate. Try a new approach. Great reflexes and imagination come in handy.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
The Daily Campus, Page 9
Sports
With Rondo hurt, should Celtics' GM Danny Ainge remake Boston's roster? from SHOULD, page 12 ing to the basket, cannot shoot a jumper or a free throw to save his life. This really hurts his team, because opponents can just stack the paint against the Celtics and force them to take low percentage mid-range shots. That sort of weakness separates Rondo from better PGs like Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, a healthy Derrick Rose, Kyrie Irving, Stephen Curry and Tony Parker. The Celtics’ offense does not contain a recipe for success. As for last year and their relative success, Boston had to play historically good defense to even stand a chance against other playoff teams – let alone a Boshless Miami Heat for the majority of the ECF. If you can’t score points, what’s the point of playing slowly? They need to trade Pierce and Garnett. Scott: Many critics contend that the Celtics must act promptly and trade either one or both of their incumbent All-Stars, Pierce and
Garnett. However, this move is not as simple as it seems. Garnett has a no-trade clause in his contract, allowing him the power to veto any trade he dislikes. In addition, KG is guaranteed $18 million over the next two years, making him extremely costly and risky for any team interested in acquiring his services. Of course, even at the elderly age of 37, Garnett remains one of the best defensive big men in the league, a master of positioning and forcing bad shots at the rim. Averaging nearly 15 points per game and seven rebounds per game, Garnett remains a two-way player and cornerstone for this Celtics squad. Trade rumors earlier this week included a possible package of dynamic point guard Eric Bledsoe, UConn alum Caron Butler and young center DeAndre Jordan. On paper this isn’t a bad trade, and it certainly helps both teams out, but taking on another point guard doesn’t make much sense if Rondo can return for next season. One must also consider
Jordan’s shaky defense and the fact that Butler is a very poor man’s Paul Pierce. Speaking of “The Truth,” do any Boston fans want to see him in any other jersey? Easily the most important Celtic since Larry Bird, Pierce remains a fixture in green, as well as in the record books alongside Bird and John Havlicek as the only Celtics in history to have notched 20,000 points. He certainly has value even at 35, and why risk alienating a fan base by shipping their cornerstone, for a player or two who will undoubtedly never be able to escape Pierce’s enormous shadow? Anokh: KG still plays at an elite level defensively, and while he isn’t a great offensive player anymore, a team like the Clippers could really use him and will definitely be willing to pay him. Keep in mind that I am a Celtics fan; I would ideally love to see Pierce, a man I have followed throughout his career with Boston, retire in a green uniform. But if the Celtics
get an offer that involves promising people for the future like Eric Bledsoe or DeAndre Jordan, they have to do it to save money. Teams are not usually built on giving contracts to aging veterans and ignoring young players. Even if the Celtics worsen as a result of the trade, it won’t matter because they are not good enough to win a championship. Moreover, they should look to the future, because they can deal with young players that not only can get better, but won’t be as expensive. Scott: Boston’s supporting cast has been sub-par at best this year, which has also contributed to their slow start. However, since the Rondo injury and loss of rookie stud Jared Sullinger, the Celtics have gone 4-0, with wins over title contenders such as the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Clippers. Players such as Brandon Bass, Avery Bradley and Jason Terry have begun to shoulder more of an offensive load with the absence of Rondo, driving and dishing,
finding the open man for a spot-up shot and playing with a greater sense ofurgency. Pierce and Garnett are known for being great distributors for their positions and as the team gels into their new identity, easy opportunities will become available. An unheralded aspect of this Celtics squad under Doc Rivers is its defensive prowess that seemingly defies the age of its roster and keeps them afloat when the offense stagnates in tight spots. In fact, Boston has allowed 96.1 points per 100 possessions in the calendar year of 2013, slightly below what the leagueleading Indiana Pacers’ defense is allowing. This extremely stingy defense has kept the Celtics in the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, with a three-game lead in both columns over the 76ers. While this season hasn’t gone the way Boston had planned, and they still have some final hurdles to overcome, they have demonstrated their strength on both ends of the court. It seems
highly unlikely that shredding a shamrock will produce any form of good luck. Anokh: A four-game sample size is not enough to make actual conclusions about how a team performs. Either way, I never denied that the Celtics are a great defensive team. It is marvelous watching Garnett anchor a defense, as well as Bradley and Pierce locking down people on the wings. But in terms of offense, the Celtics are below even the Milwaukee Bucks. This isn’t just an Achilles’ heel – it’s a hole in their game. Because of their offense, their record is barely eighth in the Eastern conference. Their point differential and SRS (which adjusts for strength of schedule and pace) is actually negative – even worse than pretenders like the Atlanta Hawks. This team will never go anywhere. The sooner they realize this and accept that their time is over, the more they can move onto the future with a better outlook.
» NBA
Lakers' Pau Gasol has torn plantar fascia Stern says Seattle group files to relocate EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Pau Gasol was diagnosed with a torn plantar fascia in his right foot Wednesday, indefinitely sidelining the 7-foot Spaniard at a key point in the Los Angeles Lakers' belated rally to get in playoff position. Gasol felt a pop in his foot Tuesday night late in the Lakers' 92-83 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. An MRI in Boston revealed the injury. The Lakers (23-26) are losing Gasol right when their mostly miserable season is starting to improve with six wins in seven games, including three straight on their longest road trip of the season. Los Angeles also played the last three games without AllStar center Dwight Howard, who has a torn labrum in his right shoulder, and top backup big man Jordan Hill is out for the season with an injured hip.
"I'm hoping to recover asap so I can be back with the team and keep fighting until the end of the season," Gasol tweeted. Gasol will fly to Los Angeles on Thursday to be examined by team physician Steve Lombardo and foot specialist Kenneth Jung. The Lakers announced they will give a timeline for Gasol's return after the examination, but the injury conceivably could keep Gasol out for several weeks or more if he undergoes surgery to repair the damage. Gasol has been bothered by tendinitis in both knees and fasciitis for at least two months, hindering his progress since shortly after new coach Mike D'Antoni took over. The four-time All-Star big man also missed five games in January with a concussion, and Gasol largely has been coming off the bench for the Lakers since then.
Gasol is averaging a careerlow 13.4 points per game and 8.0 rebounds while playing in just 36 of the Lakers' 49 games. The Lakers finish their sevengame road trip with three games in four days, starting Thursday in Boston and concluding Sunday in Miami. Rookie center Robert Sacre is available to D'Antoni, and Howard isn't certain when he'll return from an injury that's troublesome, but likely manageable. Salary cap-strapped Los Angeles could sign a replacement for Gasol after getting a disabled player's exception last week for Hill, who had seasonending hip surgery. But the pool of available free-agent big men is awfully thin, including Lakers retreads such as Troy Murphy and Brian Cook.
NBA Commissioner David Stern said Wednesday night that the group that has reached agreement to purchase the Sacramento Kings has formally filed to relocate the franchise to Seattle. Stern spoke in Minneapolis before the Timberwolves hosted San Antonio. He called the Seattle group, led by Chris Hansen and Steve Ballmer, "very strong," and said the appropriate committees have been convened to look over the proposed sale of the Kings and the prospective move to Seattle. "We have had submitted a signed agreement to have the team sold to a very strong group from Seattle," Stern said. The deadline for teams to file for relocation is March 1. It's been expected that the Hansen/Ballmer group would file to move the team, but Stern's comments were the first time that decision has been verified. The filing for relocation
is ultimately a procedural step, but a big one in the efforts to bring professional basketball back to Seattle. Hansen's group reached agreement with the Maloof family last month to buy 65 percent of the franchise, which is valued at $525 million, and move the team to Seattle and restore the SuperSonics name. The deal will cost the Hansen group a little more than $340 million. The Kings' sale price of $525 million would surpass the NBA record $450 million the Golden State Warriors sold for in 2010. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has been making efforts to find investors with the financial means and could attempt to match the sale price, keep the Kings in Sacramento and help on the construction of a new arena in California's capital city. Johnson said on Tuesday that
he planned to attend the NBA AllStar Game in Houston and lobby anyone he could on the merits of keeping the Kings in Sacramento, but he has yet to reveal any of the large equity investors he's attempting to pull together. Johnson said Tuesday he hoped to be able to announce them next week. Stern said Wednesday he didn't feel the situation between Seattle and Sacramento would turn into battle to see who can make the most lucrative bid. "I don't think it's a bidding war," Stern continued. "There's a series of issues that are defined by our constitution that have to be considered. One of the things that our board is mandated to consider is the support for the team in the prior city. So there are real issues for the board to consider, about the buildings, about the likelihood they will be built, about the support from the cities."
» NFL
Packers WR Donald Driver calls it a career
On Wednesday, the popular Green Bay Packers wide receiver celebrated his 14-year career during an event at Lambeau Field with family, friends, a handful of teammates and 1,500 fans who filled the atrium and lined balconies to get a glimpse of him. "I told myself I wasn't going to cry today, so I'm going to hold the emotion back as much as possible. I love you all so much," said Driver, who retired after catching 743 passes for 10,137 yards after making the team as a seventh-round draft pick out of Alcorn State in 1999. "It was a tough decision, but my family and I felt it was time for the next chapter in our life." Driver praised the fans who stood in line in subzero temperatures last week for a chance to get tickets to the event, which drew more than 10,000 viewers to the Packers. com online stream and was also carried live on television stations across the state. Team president Mark Murphy said it was the first time in franchise history that a player had held a public retirement news conference. If there is another, that player will have a hard time topping Driver, who is the franchise's all-time leading receiver. "To the fans, I want to thank you all for the love, the joy, the cheers, the ups and though we haven't given you too many downs," Driver said. "This day is not just for me, this day is for you. "Twelve years ago, I signed my first big contract for the Green Bay Packers and I promised you all that I would never wear another uniform. So today, we make that official. I keep my promise to you. The loyalty you all have instilled in me and my family, I have to keep my loyalty to you and not play for another team and to retire in the green and gold." He said Wednesday that he'll be guest-hosting Katie Couric's talk show and appearing on
AP
Green Packers all time leading receiver, Donald Driver, listens as Packers head coach Mike McCarthy speaksd during Drivers' retirement ceremony Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis.
ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition with Chris Powell", among other off-thefield endeavors. Governor Scott Walker announced Wednesday was "Donald Driver Day" in the state of Wisconsin, and Mayor Jim Schmitt announced that a downtown Green Bay street will be renamed "Donald Driver Way." In addition, the statue, "The Receiver," will be repainted to represent Driver, replacing the generic player wearing No. 88 it now depicts. "I was the same guy who walked in 1999 and I'm the same guy who walks out in 2013," Driver said. "Sometimes people say that sometimes success changes who you are — success has not changed me. I'm the same skinny little kid
who walked in 1999. I'll be the same skinny kid — well, grown man — who walked out in 2013. Nothing changes for me. I'm the same person and never will change." Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Driver's 61-yard touchdown against the San Francisco 49ers during the 2010 season embodied the player he was. Driver caught the ball at the San Francisco 39-yard line and broke several tackles en route to the end zone. "My picture of Donald, the memory I'll have is the touchdown against the 49ers — with the throwback jersey and (where he) breaks Lord knows how many tackles," McCarthy said. "If you're looking for a picture of what Donald Driver
means to your football team, what he means as a player, that's the picture. That's the one I'll always remember." Driver finished his career as one of the most popular players in franchise history, alongside Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr, who was among those who appeared in a video tribute to Driver. "When I walked in here in 1999, I felt like I could do anything if I believed that anything was possible," Driver said. "All the great guys who played before me, it was truly an honor to stand up there and play with those guys. I had the work ethic and I wasn't going to let it slip away. Look at me now, I'm the all-time Packers' receiver in history."
The Daily Campus, Page 10
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Sports
Callahan: No matter the controversey, Recapping the Rockets' historic night sports will always provide hope
» NBA
from HOPE, page 12
Houston Rockets' James Harden signals to the crowd after shooting a 3-point basket Tuesday against the Warriors.
By Eddie Leonard Western Conference NBA Columnist The Houston Rockets had one of the greatest shooting nights in the history of their franchise Tuesday night against the Golden State Warriors. They beat the Warriors 140-109 at home. That is amazing shooting performance. The game looked like an early rendition of the All-Star game with all the downtown buckets. How many teams can say they lost by 30 when they scored 109 points in the game? Very few. The Rockets made 23 three-pointers on 40 shots attempts. Everyone on the team made at least half of their three-point attempts and three players on the team made at least three from beyond the arc. The Rockets were on fire. They were hitting threes like layups. Sounds like a bizarre blowout, right? You don’t know the half of it. There was less than a minute left in the game and the Rockets were up by almost 30. They had already hit those record-tying 23 three-pointers, but that was not enough for the Houston Fans. The fans in the arena began to chant, “One more three!” They wanted the record about as much as they wanted the win. The Rockets’ scrubs tried to
deliver it to them but came up short. Marc Jackson, the Warriors’ head coach, had his team intentionally foul the Rockets’ bench players over and over. The fans in the arena erupted with anger and boos to the cowardly move. Jackson said after the game, “We’re not going to lay down. If you’re going to try to get the record, we’re going to stop it.” Well, if you were trying to stop it, here is an idea: play defense. The Warriors gave up 140 points in the game. They looked more like the suckers who play the Globe Trotters than professional basketball players. In both of the coaches’ post-game press conferences, they explained why their team executed the way they did and how they were indifferent to how the opposing team ran their plays. These same opinions were not shared by fans and sports analysts, however. Neither one of the coaches did anything against the rules, but Marc Jackson looked foolish in his approach to intentionally foul with under a minute left in the game when he was down by almost 30. Do you think anyone will remember who the Rockets played if they broke the record? No, of course not. But do you think people will
AP
remember that the Rockets tied the record against the Warriors and beat them so badly that the Warriors were too afraid to let the Rockets bench players dribble down the floor? Yes, people will remember that embarrassing Warrior moment. Some people may say that the Rockets were running up the score, but in fact they were just finishing the game. Just because a team is up by 30 does not mean the time clock expires. The bench players have to earn their paycheck, too. They cannot just lay down so that they don’t hurt the opposing teams feelings. The Warriors played so bad defensively that they made the old D’Antoni Suns teams look like the ‘07 Detroit Pistons. I found it humorous that Mark Jackson thought it would be less embarrassing if they intentionally fouled scrubs, admitting they couldn’t defend them rather than giving up a record whose previous hold was unknown. This was a very surprising move on Jackson’s part, considering that he is a very strong candidate for Coach of the Year. This was not a Coach of the Year type of move.
Edward.Leonard@UConn.edu
» NCAAB
Providence beats no. 17 Cincinnati
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — 55-52 on a 3-pointer by Bryce Kadeem Batts scored 25 points Cotton with 2.2 seconds to go and Providence narrowly won its after blowing a nine-point lead second straight game after hold- with 4:34 left. ing a late lead, beating No. 17 The Bearcats (18-5, 6-4) lost for Cincinnati 54-50 Wednesday the second time in seven games night. and for just the fourth time in 16 The Bearcats had cut their games in which they allowed 60 biggest deficit, 47-34 with 6:49 or fewer points. And they lost just left, to 49-48 on their second game in two free throws by the 10 they've played Cheikh Mbodj with away from home. 2:28 remaining. Providence 54 P r o v i d e n c e It was 52-50 when improved to 4-9 after 40 an 8-2 start. Batts missed two Cincinnati free throws with The Friars led 13.4 seconds to go and Justin 26-21 at intermission despite a Jackson rebounded for Cincinnati. scoreless first half by Cotton, But Sean Kilpatrick, who led who entered the game averaging Cincinnati with 13 points, lost 21.4 points, first in the Big East the ball on a backcourt violation and sixth in the nation. He went with 2 seconds to play and Batts 0-for-4 from the field, all 3-point finished the scoring with two free attempts. throws. Cotton, who finished with 11 On Saturday, Providence (12- points, hit two 3-pointers and 11, 4-7 Big East) beat Villanova three free throws in just over
NCAAB
Football finalizes 2013 recruiting class with six defensive linemen from UCONN, page 12 conference. The team announced six linemen — Michael Boland from Dunmore, Penn., Foley Fatukasi from Far Rockaway, N.Y., Sha-ki Holines from Springfield, Mass., Cole Ormsby from Windsor, Conn., Cameron Stapleton from Staten Island, N.Y. and Jalen Stevens from Goose Creek, S.C. Defensive linemen are one of the things which Pasqualoni loves to have in bulk. He said that he can’t have enough defensive linemen on the team. Joining the six defensive linemen are three linebackers – Chris Britton from Harrisburg, Penn, Cory Jasudowich from North Branford, Conn. and Joseph Junior form Sinking Springs, Penn. – and two cornerbacks – Javon Hadley from Miami, Fla. and Thomas Lucas from Silver Springs, Maryland.
Pasqualoni made it a point to reiterate that the recruiting process is more of a marathon than it is a sprint. Even with the players who declared verbally to play for the university back in the summer had to be spoken to on a regular basis to be sure they wouldn’t change their mind. But at the same time, he said that there is a fine line between being professional and being a nuisance. He said in the past week, not only has Pasqualoni and his assistants had to finalize the 2013 class, but they’ve had to try and get a jump start on the 2014 class. UConn's season opener is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 29 against the Towson Tigers at Rentschler Field. Time of kickoff is TBA.
Daniel.Agabiti@UConn.edu
three minutes early in the second half, helping the Friars take their 13-point lead. Then the Bearcats rallied by scoring the next 12 points on a 3-pointer by JaQuon Parker, two free throws and a layup by Kilpatrick, a free throw by Parker and two layups by Shaquille Thomas. That made it 47-46 with 3:25 remaining. Vincent Council gave Providence a three-point lead with a 15-footer from the right baseline before Mbodj made his free throws. Cincinnati's only leads were 3-0 and 6-6. With the score tied 8-8, Providence scored the next 10 points starting with a followup by Josh Fortune. Lee Goldsbrough hit a layup, Council sank a basket and, Goldsbrough and Batts made layups for an 18-8 lead with 8:29 left in the half.
overblown coverage with the power of a Category 4 hurricane. Thousands of websites are dedicated to seeing where these athletically gifted 17- and 18-year olds choose to go to school, listing more personal details than you could ask for. ESPN parades National Signing Day as a few hours where programs can get turned around in one fell swoop. But, as we know, it takes months and months to even reach this point. The prospects are also heralded as heroes, despite the fact that not a single one of them has yet played a down of college football. And the four- and five-star rankings given by Rivals.com and others, so coveted by fans and recruiters, hardly hold any real meaning. They’re just temporary estimations used to shape the high school football scene of the time, and have no impact on the college gridiron. The only way to know how good a player is, is by evaluating him once he's on the college gridiron. Think about this: in 2011, this year’s Heisman winner, Johnny Manziel, was rated the 14thbest dual-threat quarterback. He wasn’t even considered in Rivals’ top 250. Did that inhibit him in any way from gashing the best defenses in the college ranks this season? No. On the flip side: did the No. 2 overall prospect ranking that year help linebacker Curtis Grant get on the field this season as a sophomore for Ohio State? No, of course not. But in this age of 24/7 news networks, small news bits are made into huge stories, and questions whose true answers may not be revealed for quite some time, get debated about and decided upon now. Sure, a day like yesterday deserves some attention. Without good recruits, good teams and especially ones that win champion-
ships wouldn’t exist. However, the attention paid to this process has gone too far. We can be happy the kids have gotten athletic scholarships, but what truly matters comes much later – not when a pen is put to paper in February, but rather when a placekicker’s foot is put to a football. This same kind of media molestation can also be seen with events like the NFL Combine and Draft. Thus, even on a joyous day like yesterday, people get annoyed because of the hype. And it takes away from the core of the event. This is not to say we feel the same way about National Signing Day as we do about Lance Armstrong or A-Rod. But our feelings do begin to sour. It is at this point where I’d like to draw the line. With all of the recent lying, cheating and warping of what we hold dear about sports, National Signing Day serves as an important reminder that hope is built into sports. No matter what story tears down our goodwill towards the goodness of professional and collegiate sports, there’s always something up next to smile about. Think about it. Spring Training. Free Agency. NFL Kickoff weekend. The NCAA Tournament. A kid , who might otherwise not have had the chance to attend college, getting a full scholarship to play football at the school of his choice. One of the greatest things about sports is that they keep on giving. Fans’ calendars aren’t measured by months that begin and end, but rather seasons that roll right into the next. We don’t have to worry about this quarter’s profits or performance because sports will always be there. If a team has a poor season, they work towards the next. If a roster becomes riddled with injuries, the players get healthy knowing they can give it a go once again the next year.
If a school unfairly gets denied the opportunity to go to the post-season, they make the most of their current opportunity and know that next season the playoffs will be there. If a college football team can’t win a single game, its coaches can hit the road in search of the next best class of players to change that. All of these things give us hope. That’s part of the reason people spend thousands of dollars on their teams and schools; the reason they get tattoos representing these same clubs; the reason that no matter how many times we are betrayed by even the greatest of heroes, we return to sports because we have hope for what’s guaranteed to come next. Truthfully, no one deserves all the flattery, attention and benefits the high school players in the country receive during this time. But, given the way in which college football recruiting has evolved, it’s become a necessity for coaches everywhere. These players may not be heroes to us yet, if ever. They are, however, important potential pieces of a much bigger puzzle, just like coaches, managers, scouting departments and administrators. And it is the synergy of these pieces, each irreplaceable in their own way, which makes up the teams we love and provide the special moments we are eager to witness. We all have bones to pick with the Armstrong, Rodriguez, the NCAA and others. You and I can have disdain for and debate all the hype involved with how sports are nowadays portrayed. But, there’s something you can almost never, ever argue with, that's not going away no matter how a year starts or ends– Hope. Follow Andrew on Twitter: @ACallahan24
Andrew.J.Callahan@UConn.edu
» NCAAB
No. 12 Michigan State tops No. 18 Minnesota EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) tier performances in my career." — Michigan State is banged Appling left the court with up, and it keeps getting worse 1:17 left, holding his right shoulfor the 12th-ranked Spartans. At der after getting tied up with least they're winning while they Joe Coleman. He returned to pile up the injuries. the bench in the final minute, Gary Harris scored 15 points but couldn't play because of his while playing through a back ail- shoulder injury. ment and Keith Appling added "It popped out, then went right 14 points before back in," Appling leaving with an injusaid. ry, leading Michigan The Spartans State to a 61-50 Michigan St 61 lack depth in the victory over No. backcourt because 50 Travis 18 Minnesota on Minnesota Trice, Wednesday night. Appling's backup, Harris played after being hasn't been cleared after followknocked out of the previous ing a head injury last week and game with back spasms and was Brandan Kearney transferred to limited in practice early in the Arizona State. Their frontcourt week. took a hit when Adreian Payne "Gary hit a couple big shots, got elbowed in the face, and left the guy has ice in his veins and the court with a bloody nose for is tougher than nails," Spartans part of the second half, while coach Tom Izzo said. "He could Branden Dawson was slowed by barely go. It was one of the gut- a sprained right ankle.
NCAAB
"I might have to play a little different with three games in six days," Izzo said. The Spartans (19-4 8-2 Big Ten) moved into a second-place tie with No. 3 Michigan, which visits East Lansing on Tuesday night after playing Saturday night at Purdue. They picked up their eighth win in nine games since losing the conference opener against the Golden Gophers on the road. Minnesota (17-6, 5-5), meanwhile, has lost five of its last seven games. "We still believe," Gophers forward Trevor Mbakwe said. "We've got five losses, but we still are going to win — and win out." Michigan State took control of the rematch with a 21-4 run, after trailing by five points early in the second half, to take a 41-29 lead.
TWO Thursday, February 7, 2013
Stat of the day
PAGE 2
What's Next Home game
5
Away game
Feb 13. Syracuse 7 p.m.
Feb. 16 Villanova Noon
-Paul Pasqualoni on his incoming recruiting class.
Feb. 18 Baylor 9 p.m.
Feb. 23 DePaul 8 p.m.
Feb. 15 Holy Cross 7:05 p.m
Feb. 9 Bentley 7:05 p.m
Sorry, bro
Feb. 23 Seton Hall 4 p.m.
Feb. 16 Holy Cross 7:05 p.m.
Feb. 22 Army 7:05 p.m
Women’s Hockey (3-22-3) Feb. 12 Feb. 9 New Northeastern Hampshire 7 p.m. Noon
Feb. 16 Boston College 2 p.m.
Feb. 17 Boston College 2 p.m.
Feb. 23 Boston University 3 p.m.
Men’s Track and Field Mar. 2 IC4A Championships All Day
Women’s Track and Field Feb. 16 BIG EAST Championships Alll Day
Feb. 17 BIG EAST Championships All Day
Men’s Swimming & Diving Feb. 16 UConn Open TBA
Feb. 9 Colgate 1 p.m.
Women’s Swimming & Diving Feb. 9 Colgate 1 p.m.
Feb. 16 UConn Open TBA
Softball Feb. 15 FIU Tournament 11 a.m.
Can’t make it to the game? Follow us on Twitter: @DCSportsDept www.dailycampus.com
AP
(2003-2006)
» Pic of the day
Men’s Hockey (11-12-3) Tomorrow Bentley 7:05 p.m.
Josh Boone
Pasqualoni
Feb. 21 Cincinnati 7 p.m
Feb. 16 Rutgers 4 p.m.
Where are they now?
“I think there are some athletes here.”
Women’s Basketball (21-1) Feb. 10 Feb. 12 DePaul Providence 3:30 p.m. 7 p.m.
The number of Connecticut natives in this year’s UConn football recruiting class.
» That’s what he said
Men’s Basketball (15-6) Feb. 10 Seton Hall Noon
The Daily Campus, Page 11
Sports
By Mike Peng Campus Correspondent
With UConn’s pedigree in college basketball, it is no surprise that this school has produced many promising players for the NBA. However, not every one of them has been able to reach the level of success that Ray Allen, Rudy Gay or Caron Butler had, and those three didn’t even win national titles with the Huskies. Josh Boone, on the other hand, is an example of one of those less fortunate players. His first season with the Huskies during 2003-2004, Boone started in 37 of his 38 games, played at the forward/center position and averaged 5.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. He played a major role alongside Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon in helping the Huskies to capture their second national championship in school history while on his way to being named to the Big East All-Rookie Team. Boone went on to have a breakout sophomore season, averaging 12.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game and was named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year. However, in spite of his splendid season, he and the Huskies weren’t able to get past NC State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament that year. As a junior, Boone’s numbers suffered a slight drop, but he was nevertheless still solid. His 10.3 ppg, 7.0 rpg and 2.0 bpg were enough to earn him All-Big East Honorable Mention and helped the Huskies to reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, where they would suffer a heartbreaking overtime loss to George Mason. After the season, Boone, together with Rudy Gay, Hilton Armstrong and Marcus Williams, would all declare for the 2006 NBA Draft, where they were all selected in the first round. The New Jersey Nets would use both their 22nd and 23rd pick on Williams and Boone, respectively. However, Boone seemed to be unable to translate his collegiate success consistently onto the next level. In his four seasons with the Nets, Boone averaged 5.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg and 0.7 bpg. Following the 2009-2010 season in New Jersey, Boone decided to take his career overseas to China and play for the Zhejiang Chouzhou of the Chinese Basketball Association, where he enjoyed mild success for two seasons. Since then, Boone has returned stateside and signed a contract with the NBA D-League’s Iowa Energy last month, but not before losing his season to a knee injury shortly after. The Energy is a developmental team with affiliations with the Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Hornets, Washington Wizards and the Denver AP Nuggets.
Davide Santon of Italy writhes on the ground after a challenge by Dirk Kuyt of The Netherlands during the international friendly soccer match Netherlands versus Italy at Arena stadium in Amsterdam.
Michael.Peng@UConn.edu
» NFL
Giants release Ahmad Bradshaw, Chris Canty
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — The New York Giants continued their roster purge after missing the playoffs, cutting leading rusher Ahmad Bradshaw and defensive tackle Chris Canty. The salary cap-saving moves on Wednesday came one day after New York let starting weakside linebacker Michael Boley go after four seasons. The Giants also waived defensive tackle Martin Parker, who spent this past season on injured reserve with a back injury. Bradshaw, Canty and Boley were all veterans who contributed to the Giants’ Super Bowl win over the Patriots a year ago, but they all had big contracts and battled injuries. Bradshaw, who has had knee and ankle injuries, was to earn $4.25 million. He became expendable with the play of rookie David Wilson. Canty, who had knee issues with the Giants after never missing a game with Dallas, was to earn $6.5 million next season. Boley, who had shoulder and hamstring injuries last season, was to make $4 million this season. The biggest surprise might have been the release of Bradshaw, who was one of the emotional leaders of the team.
The 26-year-old, who played on two Super Bowl championship teams with the Giants, led the team in rushing each of the past three seasons, gaining 1,015 this past season. “Pound for pound, Bradshaw is one of the toughest football players that I’ve been around,” said general manager Jerry Reese, who took Bradshaw with the 250th pick in the 2007 draft. “Ahmad played football like Giants football should be played.” One of the moments fans will remember is Bradshaw yelling at coach Tom Coughlin during a game this past season, saying he wanted the ball more. Coughlin had no problems with his fire. “He is not only an exceptional football player, but he is the epitome of line up and play,” Coughlin said. “Regardless of the circumstances, he’s going to give you everything he’s got. If you give the ball to him, he’s going to get every inch of what is there — and sometimes when it’s not blocked, he still gets it.” Bradshaw is sixth on the franchise’s career rushing list with 4,232 yards and seventh with 921 rushing attempts. He rushed for 32 touchdowns, the ninth-highest total in team history. In his six seasons, he played
AP
Giants fans will now cheer for a backfield consisting of David Wilson and Andre Brown.
in 84 regular-season games with 33 starts. He also caught 132 passes for 1,087 yards and three touchdowns. The Giants’ first-round draft choice in 2012, Wilson rushed for 358 yards and four scores and also set a franchise record with 1,533 kickoff return yards. He will be backed up by Andre Brown, who rushed for 385 yards and a team-high eight touchdowns before breaking his leg in late November. Canty was signed in 2009 and played in 49 regular-season
games with 45 starts, including all 20 games in the 2011 Super Bowl run. He had 155 tackles and nine sacks. “Chris is a pro’s pro, a true team player and competitor,” Reese said. “He helped us get to the top in 2011 and it was a pleasure having him here during his time with the New York Giants.” Canty missed the first six games of last season after having offseason knee surgery. He had 31 tackles and three sacks this past season, missing the finale because of a knee injury.
» INSIDE SPORTS TODAY
P.11: Giants release Ahmad Bradshaw, Chris Canty / P.10: Providence tops No. 17 Cincinnati, 54-50 /P.09: Packers WR Donald Driver retires
Page 12
Thursday, February 7, 2013
www.dailycampus.com
UPROOTED AT THE GARDEN
Hope, not hype
Huskies come back, fall after late Red Storm run
Andrew Callahan Lance Armstrong. Alex Rodriguez. Manti Te’o. Fingerprints of organized crime all over international soccer. Daily breaking news about PEDs in the NFL and MLB. NCAA investigators overstepping their bounds and then the organization’s bigwigs lying to cover their own hides. Boy, sports in 2013 have been as cheery as a marriage proposal rejection on your birthday. Except for yesterday. National Signing Day—a day of rebirth and celebration for college football. Thousands of high school players officially declared where they would go play collegiately as close to millions watched. Coaches, media members and die-hard fans grew giddier than the grandmas of these kids because fresh talent was about to be pumped into their programs. Some of the most highly anticipated 24 hours of the year came, and then like most years, fizzled out. But, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the culmination of college football recruiting, a very brief overview: National Signing Day is built upon months and months of college coaches scouting the best high school players in the country. They judge, visit with and rank potential prospects from coast to coast, before paring all of them down to a list of targets. These targeted kids are then chased and fawned over more than a pretty girl at a Star Trek convention. Persuasion techniques work over time, as recruits receive endless texts, calls, letters, offers and basically everything but nude pictures from coaches right up until early February. Then, the most highly touted players sit in front of hoards of media and a table holding a few baseball caps, each sporting a logo to represent their final college choices. The high school phenom then puts on a hat, family and friends cheer about and a Letter of Intent is faxed to the selected school. The player is signed, sealed and delivered to a football-happy campus hoping he becomes the next guy who won’t ever have to pay for another drink in town. Now, as with many things in the sports world today, National Signing Day has become incredibly overhyped. We’re talking
» CALLAHAN, page 10
`
NEW YORK (AP) — JaKarr Sampson had 18 points to lead St. John’s to a 71-65 victory over Connecticut on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, the Red Storm’s sixth win in seven games. Marco Bourgault and D’ Angelo Harrison had 11 points each for the Red Storm (15-8, 7-4 Big East), who gave away all of a 15-point lead but recouped to hold on by going 11 of 12 from the free throw line over the final 2 1-2 minutes. Not bad for a team that entered the game 15th and last in the Big East at 63.2 percent. Omar Calhoun had 21 points for the Huskies (15-6, 5-4), who had won their last three games while Shabazz Napier had 14 — all in the second half — and Deandre Daniels added 12. St. John’s took advantage of another poor shooting game by Connecticut to lead by as many as 15 points — the last time at 39-24 with 16:20 to play. Napier, who did not start because he violated a team rule, was the key to the Huskies’ 15-1 run that got them within 40-39 midway through the second half. Napier, who entered the game about 7 1-2 minutes in, hit three 3-pointers in as many attempts during the run. Connecticut took the lead for the first time on two free throws by Ryan Boatright that made it 53-51 with 4:30 to play. St. John’s scored the next nine points to take control of the game and the brilliant performance from the free throw line sealed the win.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
71
65
AP
UConn guard Ryan Boatright tries to pass against St. John’s Marco Bourgault and Phil Greene IV during the first half of last nights game in New York.
» FOOTBALL
UConn adds 22 new Huskies on National Signing Day
By Dan Agabiti Sports Editor EAST HARTFORD — After months of speculation, rumors, cutthroat competition and “what if” scenarios, the dust has settled. The University of Connecticut has announced the 22 players who signed National Letters of Intent to attend the university and play football. There were two more who had already enrolled in the school for the spring semester, bringing the total up to 24. However, perhaps the more discussed player was one not on the list of high school seniors – quarterback Richard Lagow of Plano, Tex. During the press conference, UConn head coach Paul Pasqualoni would not refer to the quarterback by name, but simply said that he was unable to comment on the situation
until a later date. He was not for 295 yards and five toucheven willing to confirm or deny downs. that the school was finished Boyle is one of 13 offensive with recruiting quarterbacks. players who intend to join a What Pasqualoni was excit- UConn offense that struggled ed to talk about was a quar- greatly this past season. In terback who’s been 2012, the Huskies on his radar since averaged just under he first arrived at 18 points per game Connecticut a few and a mere 230 yards years ago – quarterper game. back Tim Boyle of Including Boyle, Xavier High School UConn is bringing in Middlefield, Conn. in one other quarterNotebook back, Kivon Taylor “I’m extremely excited to have Tim from Atlanta, Ga. Boyle come to the University According to Pasqualoni, of Connecticut,” Pasqualoni Taylor originally thought of said in a press conference at himself as a basketball player Rentschler Field. first but then came to believe Boyle was named the that he’d like football player. Connecticut High School The Huskies also signed Coaches’ Association Player of three wide receivers — Brian the Year during his senior sea- Lemelle from Harrisburg, son when he passed for 2,500 Penn., Dhameer Bradley from yards and threw 24 touch- New Castle, Del., and Noel downs. He also ran 60 times Thomas from Norwalk, Conn.
FOOTBALL
— as well as three tight ends — Jordan Fuchs from Malver, N.Y., Thomas Myers form Coventry, Conn. and Quinn Thompson from Edinboro, Penn. “There’s no question that we’re excited about all of those kids,” Pasqualoni said of the future tight ends. “There’s very good size there and there’s a chance for there to be excellent size.” Rounding out the 13 offensive players were three offensive linemen – Thomas Hopkins from Hawthorne, N.Y., Kyle Schafenacker from Cooper City, Fla. and Chasz Wright from Woodbridge, Virginia – one running back – Joshua Marriner from Chesapeake, Virginia – and one fullback – Matthew Walsh from Madison, Conn. Pasqualoni expects each of the players signed to come in
ready to play for a spot on the traveling team for the Huskies. He said that he never thinks about red-shirting players right off the bat. “I have never ever in recruiting said to a player, ‘you’ll come in and redshirt.’” Pasqualoni said Wednesday. “I’ve never said that. I’ve never wanted that type of mentality regardless [of the situation] ... I’m going to play the best players we have. It doesn’t matter if they’re 5th year seniors or if they’re freshmen.” The offensive players will come in and play with UConn’s new Offensive Coordinator, T.J. Weist, who came from the University of Cincinnati. On the defensive side of the ball, the Huskies are adding 11 players to a unit that was already one of the best in the
» FOOTBALL, page 10
Should the Boston Celtics break up their roster? Yes
By Scott Bernier Campus Correspondent There comes a time in each team’s history when they need to realize that their window for winning a championship is closed. Tthe Celtics’ window has been shut. Though they remain strong on defense, their offense is severely lacking. A lot of this has to do with KG and Pierce growing old. Neither player can consistently create his own shot anymore. This current Celtics team doesn’t have an offensive identity, and without a franchisechanging superstar, they will never win. Now is the perfect time to blow up the core and give their players away when their value is still high. Should the Celtics trade away their stars...
Scott.Bernier@UConn.edu
» POINT/COUNTERPOINT Scott: Isn’t age merely a number, though? That’s what this Celtics squad has believed since 2007, when Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett joined Paul Pierce to create the original “Big 3.” Of course, Rajon Rondo’s emergence as a premier point guard and gifted young talent does provide some aid to this aging roster. The offensive identity of this team for the past few years had been proper spacing. This allows Pierce to operate on the wing, Allen to come off multiple ball screens for smooth catch-and-shoot opportunities and Garnett to anchor the post and pull defenders out with his above-average jump shot. Meanwhile, Rondo runs the show, finding open looks for everyone while steadily improving his own jump shot to compliment his ability to get to the rim. With Allen gone, this strategy
has shifted to a slower, half-court offense that still can be productive. The nucleus of this team (minus Allen) came within one game of the NBA Finals last year. Is roster demolition really necessary with a window of opportunity still open? Anokh: Spacing? Rondo as a premier point guard? Um, what? Rondo kills spacing on the floor, and that’s why the Celtics offense has been so underwhelming for the last two years, earning them a ranking of 27th in the league’s offensive rating both years (meaning they ranked 27th in the league for how many points they scored every 100 possessions). In today’s game, spacing and the ability to shoot a jumper are incredibly important. Rondo, while great in transition and driv-
» WITH, page 9
By Anokh Palakurthi Campus Correspondent
No
Much talk has been made about this year’s Boston Celtics and their precarious situation. However, this squad still has the potential and personnel to make a run in the Eastern Conference playoffs. This team still has two of the “Big 3” playing at an All-Star level, despite their age and that the core of new recruits and role players has yet to really mesh, the Celtics are riding a five-game winning streak since Rondo’s injury. At this point in the season, it makes more sense to let this Celtics team finish out the year with low expectations that can certainly be exceeded.
Anokh.Palakurthi@UConn.edu
...or should they be hopeful and keep KG?