The Minaret 10/17/2013

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MINARET UNIVERSITY OF TAMPA’S NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1933

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Student Partying Disrupts Nearby Neighborhoods By KIRBY JAY News Writer

It didn’t take long for the school year’s house parties to stir up controversy in neighborhoods surrounding UT. Not even halfway through the semester, UT parties have skyrocketed, causing numerous complaints to both UT and the city of Tampa. “We have had numerous neighborhood complaints about the parties,” said Andrea Davis, a spokesperson for the Tampa Police department. “We made great progress there last year, but it’s a new year with new freshmen, and our education starts again.” Though the party locations are scattered, a house at 1311 W. Nassau St., known to many students simply as the “Nassau House,” has drawn the attention of the Tampa Police Department. “People just come up and down [the street], dropping cups everywhere, and a lot of cursing,” said neighbor Bill Bailey, a mason construction worker who lives two doors down from the house. One time he heard students say “F**k the police,” which aggravated him, saying that the kids in the neighborhood shouldn’t be hearing crude words at such young ages. An overflowed party that caused a scene

Doha Madani/The Minaret

The “Nassau House” has drawn the attention of Tampa PD and has become a place for UT students to frequently attend loud, late night parties.

occurred a few days before fall term began, when almost 200 people were strewn around the house, street and neighborhood lawns, according to students who attended as well

as the residents of the home. “These are established, residential neighborhoods, so house parties create quite a disturbance when cabs line the streets,

masses of students gather in the yard, trash and cups are strewn about and students See PARTIES Page 4

Wellness Center No Longer Providing Notes as of Spring 2014 By KHADIJAH KHAN News Writer

Some students will do almost anything to get an excused absence from class. It appears that some have gone to great lengths to achieve this, which will soon result in notes no longer being provided at the Health and Wellness Center. Between the first day of school and Sept. 24, the Wellness Center had received 290 absence note requests. This is a 40.7 percent increase when compared to the amount of notes requested in the same time span last year, according to Gina Firth, associate dean of wellness. However, there was an increasing number of cases in which students weren’t sick, but they just made an appointment in order to get a note for their professors. According to the Health Center, this has caused three large problems. Students who are actually sick might not get an appointment, the liability on the Health Center staff increases and students sometimes make up or exaggerate symptoms in order to

In Other News...

be seen for a note, which makes it difficult to evaluate what is actually occurring. Due to the abuse of this policy, starting in the spring of 2014, notes will no longer be given to students to confirm that a visit to the Health Center actually took place, according to Firth. “If there is concern, however, regarding contagious disease, for example, testing positive for influenza, an electronic message will be sent to the professors,” Firth said. “The Health Center will work with students for the rest of the semester on a case-by-case basis.” Students who worked at the Health Center were approached but had no comment. Many other UT students were outraged by the change in policy. “Professors are very strict about absences, and it could affect our grades, and for the Health Center not to give us notes could possibly affect us negatively when we are sick,” said Nicole Mascenik, a UT senior and elementary education major. “So yes, I disagree on [the policy change], and we should not be punished for others’ stupidity.”

9 Restaurant BT Mixess 3 Friends and Supporters Remember Health and Originality Sam Cross 11 Lack of SNL Cast Diversity Offends 7 The Walking Dead Viewers Returns to Roots in Season Premiere

While some students think they should not have to suffer because of the carelessness of others, some feel indifferent about the subject. “ln my opinion it doesn’t matter,” said freshman and industrial psychology major Amanda Lee. “People should just go to class,” Lee said. “It’s not that hard and you’re paying for it. If you’re sick then maybe it’s different, but since people abused it they ruined it for actual sick people.” UT does not have any specific policy on the amount of absences a student may have. UT allows each instructor, according to the needs of their class, to make their own rules on attendance. Students who don’t show up to class enough and do not withdraw receive a failing grade in the course. While there are varying views on how this change in policy will affect students as time goes on, students fear that those who are actually sick may have a more difficult time getting excused from class. Khadijah Khan can be reached at Khadijah.khan@spartans.ut.edu

Sarah Eichler/The Minaret A student enters in her information and symptoms. in the Wellness Center Database in order to set an appointment.

13 Pittsburgh Student Dressed as Joker Suspended, Arrested 20 Minaret Writers’ Experience: Rays Post-Season Game

See NOTES Page 4

News..................................2 Diversions.........................6 A+E....................................7 Opinion............................ 11

Sports..............................16


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OCTOBER 17 2013 | THE MINARET

MINARET

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jessica Keesee

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MANAGING EDITOR Mia Glatter

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NEWS + FEATURES Lauren Richey, Editor

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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT Justine Parks, Editor

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Jordan Walsh, Asst. Editor

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SPORTS

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NEWS + FEATURES

UT Professors: Adjuncts, Tenure and the Process By VALARIE LARA News Writer

Several weeks ago, an article on CNN came out that discussed the adjunct faculty in universities nationwide. When asked if they knew what an adjunct professor was, or if they knew what type of professor their teacher was, 16 out of 20 UT students said no. Teachers are the core of any school. Many students don’t know the people who are teaching the lessons that could help them excel at their chosen careers. “The other day, I was at work for 14 hours, and I think there’s this misconception that professors teach three classes and they’re done,” said Kacy Tillman, an Assistant Literature Professor at the University of Tampa. “There are a thousand things behind the scenes that I think students never see.” There are many different types of professors at the university, that include adjuncts, assistant professors, associate professors, and full time professors. Being an adjunct means working under a contract and usually without any benefits. The University of Tampa hired Kacy Tillman in 2009 as a tenure track Assistant Professor. Before she came to UT, she was an adjunct at the University of Mississippi. “When I was an adjunct I didn’t have a lot of job security. So, at the end of each semester I had to wonder if I was going to be able to pay my bills. When I was an adjunct, we didn’t have any health benefits. It was really scary, I remember being sick and not being able to go to the doctor,” said Tillman. Sumi Ham, a Japanese language professor, started teaching at UT in 2008. She is currently facing a similar situation to Tillman’s. “I’m an adjunct professor with no benefits. Every year I sign a contract, if my contract gets renewed.” As adjuncts, teachers don’t have a say in the curriculum or how any department is run, because they don’t have voting privileges. This means that if they have a problem with the number of classes being offered, or the way something is being run, they are voiceless. “Here I don’t have that. I have health insurance and I get to participate in meetings and I have a voice. At least for these six years,” Tillman said. Tillman was hired under the tenure clock. This is what people in the teaching business call the sixyear countdown where they have to complete and meet the requirements of the tenure track for them to keep their job and if accepted, become an Associate Professor. Achieving tenure is different for every department and involves excellence in a number of categories. According to the UT Faculty Handbook, faculty must have the criteria met and will be reviewed by “the department committees, the college committees, the dean, the provost, the president, the Educational Affairs Committee of the Board, the Board of Trustees, or any other groups or individuals who serve as part of the formal review process.” One of these categories involves the process of teaching, and UT places a lot of emphasis on this. “When the tenured faculty members come and visit your class, they write evaluations of your performance and then they also read those end of year evaluations that students fill out,” Tillman continued. Usually the dean comes up with a teaching score based on the student

evaluations, but the score is also based on things beyond what a student thinks of the professor. Another category is service. In this case service isn’t volunteering and working in homeless shelters. In academia, service means serving on a committee within a department or without.. Contributing strengths to that committee works to make the university a better place to work, and a better place for students. Service also entails going out into the community

academic freedom. You can stand up and say things that other people can’t say,” said Colombe. According to the American Association of University Professors, adjuncts or non-tenure tracks now account for 76% of all faculty in American higher education. From 1975 to 2011 there has been about a 30% increase in part-time faculty and a about a 25% decrease in full-time tenured faculty. Many adjuncts have worked for

Graphic by Wendy French/The Minaret

and doing something good for the city you live in. All of this goes into consideration when a teacher is up for tenure. Unlike Tillman, Associate Professor Audrey Colombe, who also teaches literature, was hired full time but not tenure track. She was later offered to start the “clock” and achieved tenure in 2008. “Tenure here [at UT], really focuses on teaching,” said Colombe. “This is considered a teaching institution, which is slightly different than a state institution, which might be more research oriented.” This emphasis on teaching makes UT teachers have to constantly show evidence and demonstrate that they’re good teachers and being effective. A lot of work goes into teaching for university professors who are going through tenure. If teachers are denied tenure at their final review, they must leave the institution after a one year period and search for another job. These are the challenges that teachers face to attain job security and to gain the liberty to confidently share their own ideas. “The idea of tenure is that you have

years at UT and they don’t get health insurance or even office space. “We don’t have good spaces for adjuncts to hold office hours. We have a crazy low percentage of academic space,” said Colombe. Some students have also had strange meeting places with their adjunct professors. “Yeah, I had this one teacher that would meet his students in the cafeteria,” said Stanya Palmaro, a sophomore and a management major at UT. Part-time faculty members have the obligation to provide students with office hours but without any office space it has proved challenging to help students with questions. Adjuncts don’t go through tenure, but many agree that it doesn’t make them any less qualified as teachers. “They are all excellent teachers. I’ve gotten many teaching ideas from adjuncts that have attended workshops and share what they are doing in their classrooms, so I admire them quite a bit,” said Tillman. Valerie Lara can be reached at valerie.lara@spartans.ut.edu


NEWS + FEATURES

THE MINARET | OCTOBER 17 2013

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Friends and Supporters Remember Sam Cross

Photos courtesy of Nick Bogannam

Students show their support and gather with friends of Sam Cross in Plant Park to tie-dye shirts and enjoy the good vibes in his honor. By KATHERINE LAVACCA Asst. News Editor

The sun sets over the minarets of Plant Hall while music rolls through Plant Park as friends and supporters gather in honor of Sam Cross. Sam attended the University of Tampa as a freshman, but was tragically murdered on June 10, 2013 in his hometown Easton, Maryland. Steve Napolitano, a sophomore sports management major, was his roommate last semester and was shocked when he got the news. “A friend had texted me and was like what happened to Sam? I looked at his Facebook and was just like whoa. I was at work and I kept trying to text and call people to find out what was going on,” Napolitano said. While Sam was at UT he was able

to inspire a few students with his laid back, positive attitude. Christina Troupe, a senior criminology major, remembered the first time she met Sam. “We got him to come to a festival with us and I was just drawn to him. He was always happy and could make others feel joy,” said Troupe. Allie Flaherty, senior art major, who met Sam at the festival with Troupe said that he was always smiling and could bring joy to anyone he met. “He was the most gentle of souls. And a hidden gem. His smile just lights up the whole world,” said Flaherty. His friends on campus decided to put together a small memorial for him in front of the Sticks of Fire on Oct. 12. Sam’s friends were able to get the word out via Facebook and many students came to show their support.

There was live music, bracelet making and tie-dying. Everyone was feeling the good vibes and enjoyed the cool Florida evening. “We chose to do tie-dying because he always wore tie-dye. Anytime I saw him he was in a tie-dye shirt. He was really into stuff like that and enjoyed going to small festivals,” said Troupe. His close friends on campus all agree that the gather at Plant Park was the best way to remember Sam, and he would have loved it if he was there. “He’s here right now, shining in this sunshine. This is Sam, “said Troupe while gesturing to the live music and drying shirts,” this is how he would have liked to be remembered.” Katherine Lavacca can be reached at katherine.lavacca@ theminaretonline.com

From the Sept. 7 to Oct. 13 reports

Unicyclist Attacks! On Oct. 7, a student reported his bicycle’s front wheel was stolen on the east bike rack of the Syke’s College of Business. Tower of Terror On Oct. 8, Brevard elevator #3 malfunctioned and the door had to be manually opened to let students out. Yo Mama..is Such a Nice Lady On Oct. 7, the mother of a student complained about threats to her daughter.

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired On Oct. 7, a student was disruptive with Wellness Center Staff. #SWERVE On Oct. 8, a grounds golf cart struck a parked car in Thomas Parking Garage. Reports compiled by Katherine Lavacca

After meetings with Sodexo, starting Monday, Oct. 21 guacamole will not be extra money anymore at Salsa Rico! Plus, hot chocolate will be a meal exchange at Jazzman’s! Orientation and Conduct is putting together the lyrics to the UT fight song. There will be a competition to see who can come up with the best lyrics. UT residence halls will be decorated for Halloween, and local Tampa kids are going to come and trick-or-treat! If you wish to volunteer and make it a safe Halloween for kids, then contact Tyrone Bridgemohan. Student Government is throwing a white-out themed pool party on Nov. 6, from 8p.m.-11p.m. Come out and swim!


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NEWS + FEATURES

As parties continue, Tampa P.D. cracks down PARTIES from Page 1

behave poorly,” Dean of Students Stephanie Krebs said. Connor Duff, sophomore communication major and one of the three residents living in the “Nassau House,” claims they never predicted such chaos since they only invited familiar faces. Since then, the residents of the Nassau House have been more careful, but it seems that the reputation the previous owners established has not been undone. “Last year it was pretty rowdy,” Bailey said. He made it clear that many neighbors are fed up with the noise and litter. “The address looks very famous from the big parties last year,” Duff said. “We just want to have a few people over, but people just keep showing up, and it’s hard to deny them.” Duff said the previous residents hosted out of control parties, which have resulted in an ongoing bad reputation. According to Duff, police have come by the house 10 other times since the school year started, in attempts to stop parties

before they start. Duff and his two roommates made peace with next-door neighbors after their first party, giving out their phone numbers and sharing storage spaces. “We’re trying to change our reputation,” Duff said. “We’re part of the community, and we’re trying to be a positive part of the community.” A couple of weeks ago, police questioned the residents during a controlled party at the house. Duff believes they were trying to capture evidence that the students didn’t actually live at the house and only rented the house to throw parties. “It’s not just the ‘Nassau House’ where parties happen; it’s a place where people live,” Duff said. Davis from the Tampa Police Department says it is standard to determine who lives in the home during these investigations. They want to determine if the residents are over 21 years of age as well as the students’ names in order to provide this information to UT. Student residents of the Newport Townhomes about a quarter mile from campus have also been formally warned about the parties. They reported that they recently received a long list of complaints

in an email sent by the Townhome association. The warning reiterated the facility restrictions of no partying, littering and destruction or altering of property near the building. “There are usually a substantial amount of beer cans and bottles smashed outside in the street or thrown near the dumpster,” said Briana Murphy, a junior studying allied health who lives in one of the townhomes. “People have a hard time figuring out how to throw away their garbage.” Murphy says about half the homes are student-rented, but there are also several families with young children living in the complex who have complained about the ongoing disturbances. “There are parties usually going on every weekend,” Murphy said. According to the email, the facility has threatened to have the Tampa Police crash the next unruly party and expose the studentresidents to the dean of UT. Since UT resides directly across the bridge from downtown, the controversy between students and local residents is bound to continue. While there are Tampa

families and residents who get up early to go to work everyday, student disturbances will linger. “There are parents, grandparents, children, people who have to go to work in the morning living on the same streets as our UT students,” Krebs said. Even though the school cannot tell students “no partying,” they will continue educating students on the importance of respect and safety. “We try to educate our students on the safety and liability issues of these type of large scale parties,” Krebs said. “In addition, we try to educate students on what it means to be a good neighbor.” Krebs has also attended several neighborhood meetings to discuss the university’s response to off-campus house parties and says the school will continue to respond to community concerns. She tells students to be smart and aware of their surroundings, not getting themselves in environmentally dangerous situations. “Have fun, be safe,” Krebs said. Kirby Jay can be reached at Kirby.jay@ spartans.ut.edu.

By RACHEL BARANOWSKI News Writer

Oct. 11 6-8pm Vaughn Courtyard Rebecca Vaclav: Community Service Chairwoman, Chemistry Major, Junior This is the third annual event, Kristine Zambito started it in October 2011. “In the past, I believe we have raised around $200 annually, and the money has gone to different places. This year I’m hoping to start the tradition of keeping the money local, and donating to breast cancer research at Moffitt Cancer Center,” said Zambito. She hopes to up the amount to $300 this year, and its her first year running the event.

Casey Budd/The Minaret

“Honors Council decided to begin this tradition in 2011 because we’ve always been sort Sororities’ table in the Vaughn center to spread the word and support the Pink Tie Affair. of a limited presence on campus, only participating in events with other Honors Program students,” said Zambito. They also have a Community Service Committee that frequently volunteers.

Oct. 16 6:30pm Plant Hall Music Room Lumaris Franco: Member of Sigma Lambda, Major Adult Fitness, Senior

Mitchell Barlett/Flickr

The volleyball team puts on an annual event to raise money for breast cancer awareness.

Oct.11th 7-9pm Martinez Gym Arielle Speert: Volleyball Player, News Media Production Major, Junior Dig in Pink is an annual event, put on by the volleyball team. The goal for this year’s volleyball game was to raise $200 dollars toward the Susan G. Komen Foundation. “The Dig in Pink event raised about $120,” Speert said. “The LiveWell Club, Alpha Chi Omega, Watch Your BAC, and the volleyball team participated in the event.” Because October is breast cancer awareness month they find it necessary to have a theme night fully dedicated to the cause. All theme nights are stressful and hard to plan, but Speert said this night in particular is extra difficult since they plan on making a profit to donate to a charity or foundation. It is a huge night that requires a lot of work. The team also ask for donations for promotional prizes which is uncommon for other nights as well so it involves more people and organizations such as NYM Hair Brand.

Breast cancer awareness is one of Sigma Lambda Gamma’s philanthropies. One year they dedicated their theme week to breast cancer awareness and they hosted an event called “Strolling for a Cause.” Different organizations paid a small fee to perform. Sigma Lambda Gamma also sold different breast cancer items (water bottles, key chains, scarfs) and all proceeds were donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. They also participate in the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure or Making Strides Against Breast Cancer every October. “The last two years our event has had a great turn out,” said Franco at the second annual Pink Tie Affair, “We were able to raise $515 through donations and raffle ticket sales for items donated from various companies. This year, at our 3rd annual Pink Tie Affair, we were able to have tshirts made, and the raffle items combined are worth more than $1,000.” This year they also have an arts and crafts section where guests made bracelets, and cards for survivors. All proceeds will go to the Florida Breast Cancer Association Guest speakers from The Florida Breast Cancer Association came last year and were here again this year. At the first annual event there was music by DJ Special Ed from Pink 94.1 and he was also there again. This year there were ten ‘Pink Tie Guys’ from different fraternities who helped with several tasks such as: holding the doors for guests as they arrive, taking pictures, and selling raffle tickets. “Our ultimate goal is to raise breast cancer awareness while giving hope to those who are affected. We want to show them that they are not alone in the fight against breast cancer,” said Franco. Lambda also wants to educate the University of Tampa and Tampa Bay community, and raise funds for the Breast Cancer Association. Hopefully, we can make this event bigger and better each year.


NEWS + FEATURES

THE MINARET | OCTOBER 17 2013

5

Who were the most famous people to ever come to UT? When the Plant Hotel was alive and thriving back in the day, it cost anywhere from $5.00-$15.00 a night when a night at any other hotel in Tampa cost between $1.00 and $2.00. With such a posh price it’s no surprise that many celebrities of the time spent a few nights there. Aside from the people that everyone’s heard aboutRoosevelt or Babe Ruth- there are some other noteworthy people that spent some time in the lavish Plant Hotel. Clara Barton was a famous American teacher and nurse who is credited with founding the Red Cross. Sarah Bernhardt is a French stage and theater actress who was extremely famous around the world. Stephen Crane is an American author who wrote the American classic, The Red Badge of Courage. The only thing these people have in common is that they have at one time graced the grounds of the Plant Hotel.

Since becoming the University of Tampa, our school has had its fair share of celebrity visits as well. That white statue of John F. Kennedy out front is there because JFK made a visit to the school 4 days before his assassination in 1963. Kennedy Street was also given his name after his visit and assassination. The Queen of England spent 25 minutes at a reception in Plant Hall in 1991 where she only sipped Florida orange juice, because the queen doesn’t eat in public. Liberian President Ellen Sirleaf delivered the commencement address for the graduating class of May 2009. Finally, on a slightly less impressive note, 3OH3 performed here last year and they’re considered pretty famous. Want a question answered by UT FYI? Send your question about anything UT or Tampa related to ut.minaret@gmail.com

BernieCB/Flickr

“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” -JFK

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Howl-O-Scream is a separate-ticketed night event. Thursday 4-pack walk-up admission price $40 per person plus tax. Savings on advance purchase. Valid for 4 or more admissions on Thursdays, October 3, 10, 17 and 24. Some restrictions apply. Event dates and times are subject to change or cancellation without notice. Parking is not included. No costumes allowed. Warning: This year’s event contains intense adult content such as violence, gore & blood. © 2013 SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved.


6 OCTOBER 17 2013 | THE MINARET

Diversions

Sudoku

The Weekend Update Halloween Open Mic Night Neon October 17

Vaughn Center Lobby 8 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Hillsborough County Fair Ranch Rodeo October 18 - 19

Hillsborough County Fairgrounds 7 p.m. $10

Student Productions Film Night The Conjuring October 18

Falk Theater 8 p.m. Free

The Lumineers October 19

USF Sun Dome PrintableSudokuPuzzles.net

Picture

WEEK of the

Photo by Casey Budd/The Minaret The women’s basketball team promotes school spirit at Midnight Madness.

7:15 p.m.

$22.50 - $42.50

Spartans 5K Challenge October 19

Pepin Stadium 8 a.m. $35

Men’s Soccer vs. Saint Leo October 22

Pepin Stadium 7 p.m.

Free with UT Id

Make a Difference Day October 23

Vaughn Center Lobby 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. Free

Women’s Self-Defense Training October 23

David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts 8 p.m.

$27.50

The Lion, The Witch, The Wardrobe October 22

David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts 11 p.m. Free


Arts + Entertainment

THE MINARET | OCTOBER 17 2013

7

The Walking Dead Returns to Original Roots in Season Premiere By JORDAN LLANES Sports Editor

The last time we saw Rick, Carl, Michonne and the rest of the prison gang, they were welcoming the former residents of Woodbury behind the walls of their fortified home. The season three finale of The Walking Dead was one filled with surprising twists, cathartic closures and unanswered questions. Andrea’s death was a heroic one, while the Governor’s descent into madness continued with the slaughter of his own people. On Sunday night, the season four premiere of Dead continued the story of Rick and Co. by going back to the tone that Seasons one and two followed: one of darkness and hope. We see our favorite former cop for the first time this season when we waltzes out into the prison yard to do some chores. As he digs out some weeds to the tune of newfound headphones, he finds an old handgun. After cleaning the weapon off, he looks to the fence where walkers have gathered to growl at our hero. A grimace and subsequent tossing away of the rusted weapon ends the opening scene. The rest of the episode showcases how much the prison group has grown in the past month since the Woodbury population has joined them. The place has become a functioning community of its own. Showers are regular for the citizens, and the growth of crops and breeding of animals in order to feed its population has become commonplace. There are classes for the children, and select members

The Walking Dead/Facebook

New episode of The Walking Dead takes a focus on development and introduction of characters as a foundation for an anticipated season.

of the group go on supply runs to gather whatever the group can’t grow or obtain inside the prison walls. Furthermore, character development and introductions have taken center stage. We see more of Tyreese and his sister, Sasha, as well as the introduction of Bob, a former Army medic. We see Rick become even more of a father to Carl (by telling him to do his chores and read comics, not go out and kill more walkers) and baby Judith. The division of leadership is also apparent, as a council of leaders comprised of Herschel, Sasha, Daryl

and others help Rick carry the load. However, the threat of the Governor still looms. Even though he doesn’t make an appearance in the episode, his whereabouts are unknown. The loss of his population and quarrel with Michonne and the rest of the group has driven him off the deep end, which will make him an even more dangerous opponent. As the season progresses, expect to see a lot of him and his cronies. Who knows what the writers have in store for them? So far, this season looks to be the best one yet. The combination of hope

seen in earlier seasons and last season’s bleakness was on full display in the premiere. The promise of a new threat even greater than a growing number of walkers and the Governor was promised by new showrunner Scott Gimple and Robert Kirkman, who wrote the comics and has a heavy hand in how the show is run as well. This is teased at the end of the premiere, and it is a definite threat. How will Rick, Glenn, Daryl and the rest of the group handle these threats? I guess we will have to tune in to find out. Jordan Llanes can be reached at jordan.llanes@theminaretonline.com

Miley Cyrus Album: All Bombast and No Substance By TEVIN CHRISTOPHER Arts + Entertainment Writer

“I’m a female rebel, can’t you tell?” Miley Cyrus rhetorically asks in her song “4x4” off her new album, Bangerz. The aggressive question begs for an answer. This album has a raunchy promotion that hopes to continue to launch Cyrus out of her clean teen audience. It is, however, a more successful declaration of rebelliousness compared to her previous album, Can’t Be Tamed, which released in 2010. Bangerz is a celebration of the past eight months of Cyrus’ life. From her unapologetic and sexually-charged image that has rendered the general public helpless and charmed, Cyrus may have finally created the image of a viable pop princess that she wants. Does the music compare to her Goody Two-Shoes days? It’s almost as good or even better—Mike Will Made It, Pharrell and other producers have hand-crafted an album complete with soon-to-be party song staples and emotional, cry-along ballads. While the vulgar language is shocking and at times seems to be forced just for the shock factor, it is interesting to see Cyrus take on pop, country and hip-hop all in one album. Miley shines during her country-influenced songs like “Drive” and “Someone Else.” In “Love, Money, Party” the singer narrates a life of decadence and debauchery that’s even too much for her to handle. Can you imagine having too much love, money or party? I

couldn’t. The last laugh goes to Cyrus who mockingly sings about her wealth and fame over the staccato, eardrowning beat. It’s at moments like this when listeners are reminded how easily Cyrus makes it look to create hit s “#GETITRIGHT,” made with the help of Pharrell, reads as the voice of the video girls from Robin Thicke’s music video for “Blurred Lines.” Cyrus is comfortable with being objectified and takes on the watchful eyes of the male gaze as she announces “the thirst pouring out of me” (These are actual lyrics). The production is classic Pharrell, but it outpaces his past collaborations like “Get Lucky” with youthful and southern twangs that only Cyrus could contribute to this record. As a female who is in control of her image, the newly rebellious and sexualized Cyrus takes center stage on “Do My Thang,” where she ambitiously taking on rap material that even Nicki Minaj would consider. However, ridiculousness ensues once the singer raps over the clap-echo production and warns skeptics to “stay in yo lane, b***h.” The songs sound great, but they are not “Miley songs.” Where the singer sounds her most honest is on the other half of the record. We are reminded of the Hannah Montana chanteuse we were introduced to on the Disney Channel. What’s left of the old Miley is apparent in “Wrecking Ball” and the reflective “Maybe You’re Right.” They are introspective responses to her critics who question her recent behavior.

Miley Cyrus/Facebook

Miley Cyrus has succeeded in revitalizing her image, but her return to music offers a mixed bag.

Bangerz is appropriately titled. The music is loud and full of repetitive lyrics that radio programmers will love. At best, there are a lot of singles on Bangerz worthy of heavy rotation, but the actual substance remains subpar. What will keep her relevant is Miley The Celebrity (not Miley The Musician), the girl who continues

to

keep herself in the spotlight. Tevin Christopher can be reached at tevin.christopher@spartans.ut.edu

2.5 out of 5 stars


8

OCTOBER 17 2013 | THE MINARET

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

Based on a True Story: Fact vs. Fiction in Film By SELENE SANFELICE Arts + Entertainment Writer

Some of the greatest and most proclaimed movies in cinema have not been original ideas but simply film adaptations of reallife experiences. Most recently, films like Gravity, Jobs and The Social Network have led audiences to misinterpret these adaptations as the absolute truth. In reality, these are just works of fiction, and if audiences really wanted to know the facts they’d do their homework and find out the difference. One of the most recent based-on-a-truestory movies, Gravity, stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock as astronauts working on the Hubble Space Telescope. This movie shows how filmmakers use their artistic license to skew the truth in small ways that end up having a big effect on the movie itself. In the film, director Alfonso Cuarón makes a point to represent the physics of gravity in exact precision as well as utilizing extremely detailed props in order to make the viewer believe they are actually part of the NASA space program. However, he does not accurately portray NASA’s safety procedures and many of the space locations that the characters travel to. Cuarón’s simplification of NASA procedures isn’t an attempt to falsely portray NASAas being unsafe but just a way of simplifying the plot. “In the frame of the fiction, we wanted to be as respectful and accurate as possible, but, obviously, we had to take a big, big leap and a big, big freedom to tell the story,” Cuarón told collectSPACE.com. He added that the creators of Gravity attempted to stay true to all of the procedures and include travel times between locations, but the end result was a massive and complicated script. In The Social Network, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg is portrayed by Jesse

Gravity/Facebook

Films such as Gravity, Jobs and The Social Network are accused of not accurately portraying their factual and real-life counterparts.

Eisenburg as a narcissistic genius battling two different lawsuits and a broken heart. In reality, thelegalbattlewithhisbestfriendandthebreakup with his girlfriend never actually happened. In a CBS article, Zuckerberg said, “They framed it as if I wanted to get girls or into some social institution… I’ve been dating the same girl since before Facebook.” People depicted in Jobs, such as Steve Wozniak, are also displeased with the representation of their characters. After the first promotional clip for the film premiered on Gizmodo, Wozniak declared that the “personalities are very wrong, although mine is closer... our relationship was so different than what was portrayed.” Not all celebrities, however, are concerned with accuracy in their movie portrayals. The 1976 movie All The President’s Men tells the story of how The Washington Post reporting team, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, uncovered the truth about the

Watergate scandal. In the pre-production stages, Carl Bernstein specifically had a fictional scene written in, in which he majorly violates the ethics of journalism. Movies such as Gravity, Jobs and The Social Network do not broadcast themselves as documentaries. They’re simply stories taken from real life. If the creators of these films wanted to generate an entirely accurate account, they would put together an autobiography or a nonfiction work instead of spending millions of dollars creating a film. Movies are supposed to be works of art. Their main purpose is to serve as entertainment. If the audience was truly interested in the evolution of Facebook’s creation, they would put the time into doing their own research on the matter and not pay $20 to see Jesse Eisenberg make snarky remarks. If filmmakers did not take creative freedoms with the stories they depicted,

movies like Gravity would be major flops. Although the stories would be completely accurate, there is no guarantee they would be nearly as interesting. If The Social Network depicted Mark Zuckerberg precisely, it would end up being a mind-numbing two and a half hours of court scenes and flip-flops. Basedon-a-true story movies aren’t meant to retell history but celebrate it instead. The celebrities that claim films like Jobs and The Social Network are committing libel against them, and those worried about small details like Gravity skipping NASA’s safety procedures need to calm down. These films are just for entertainment. They’re not meant to give viewers a false impression of who a person is or what a company is like. They’re simply there to tell a story. Selene SanFelice can be reached at selene. sanfelice@spartans.ut.edu

Look Like Scandal Actress Without Breaking The Bank By AMANEE CABBAGESTALK Arts + Entertainment Writer

ABC’s Scandal is the most talked about show on Twitter on Thursday nights. A record breaking 10.5 million viewers tuned into the season three premiere along with the dedicated cast and fearless creator, Shonda Rhimes, who live tweets everyThursday night during the show. A recurring theme in the tweets directed to Kerry Washington, the first AfricanAmerican female lead on a network television show in almost 40 years, are about what she is wearing during the episode. “Who makes the coat @kerrywashington wears in the flashback?” tweets @Leeci87. “It’s @burberry,” Kerry Washington responds. Another recognizable trend in the show are the notable fashion brands Olivia Pope [Washington] wears each week. Burberry, Armani, Dior, Max Mara, Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford, Tory Burch, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Prada… the list goes on.

Does this remind you of anyone? Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw, one of fashion’s favorite fictional characters, instantly came to mind. Both leading ladies have inspired viewers not only by their fierce personalities and supportive group of friends but by their fabulous name brand wardrobes as well. “The Burberry trench coat [Pope] was wearing in the season premiere was to die for,” said Aryn Dixon, freshman sports management major. “I love Olivia’s wardrobe but I could never afford it. She’s so strong and fashionable. I just love it.” Here’s the catch: You don’t have to be a high-paid crisis management lawyer to afford these trendy looks. The women behind Olivia Pope’s trendsetting wardrobe provide their insight on how to do it for less. Lyn Paolo, Scandal’s Emmy awardingwinning costume designer, provided Allure magazine readers with a few tips on how to get Olivia Pope’s look without breaking the bank. Her first word of advice is to get

a large leather handbag. This is a staple in Olivia Pope’s wardrobe. She carries a Prada handbag every show. Secondly, she says to find a pair of gray trousers that you really love. “Olivia wears the same classic Armani pants all the time, and no one notices because we switch up her tops. The pants are highwaisted and wide-legged to make her look taller.” In an earlier interview with E! Online, Paolo stated that because Olivia Pope literally and figuratively wears the pants, they wanted to make her a character that hardly wears skirts or dresses. “We wanted to make sure that the clothes were tailored, feminine and body conscious while still being the kind of clothes that you can wear anywhere.” Thirdly, she says that oversize collars and big lapels are mandatory. “If you’re petite, like Kerry, strong shoulders give you a presence.” Another very important woman behind the scenes of Scandal is key costumer, Kristine Haag. Her job is to shop for the clothes that Washington wears on the show. She turns

Paolo’s vision for Olivia Pope into reality. “You can really find the right things in almost any store if you know what you’re looking for. It’s not about the label—it’s about picking the right pieces and taking it to the tailor to have it fit for your body,” Haag said. “This will make all the difference in any off the rack garment. Everyone is different and having it nip and tucked to fit you and will make a lower price garment look like a designer piece.” Olivia Pope’s fashion sense doesn’t just revolve around her clothes but also her signature Movado watch. The watch has been renamed as the official Olivia Pope Movado Concerto Watch and is featured in gold, rose gold and silver. For college students or working women on the go with a smaller budget, there is always a way to look like a million bucks without spending it. Department stores such as Macy’s, Dillard’s and JCPenney offer collections featuring business attire at a lower price point to match your budget. Amanee Cabbagesalk can be reached at amanee.cabbagestalk@spartans.ut.edu

Scandal/Facebook

Olivia Pope, actress from the TV series Scandal, sparks sophisticated fashion trends, similar to those in Sex in The City, that are easily recreated in budget friendly stores such as JCPenney’s and Macy’s.


ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

THE MINARET | OCTOBER 17 2013

9

Restaurant BT Mixes Health and Originality By MADISON IRWIN

Arts + Entertainment Writer

Eating healthy should be easy with all of the different food options available to us today. However, finding healthy food that is fresh can be quite difficult sometimes. At Restaurant BT, Chef BT Nyugaren combines fresh ingredients with authentic flavor. The outcome? A healthy concoction of delectably swank food. Located on 2507 S. MacDill Ave., Restaurant BT has been around since October 2010. The food here is not your typical cuisine. Traditional Vietnamese and classic French fare make up the menu. Their theme is “Eat Local, Think Global.” BT, the owner and chef, has a garden in which she incorporates into her dishes. It’s no wonder this place is famous for their freshness. She even makes efforts to support local farmers. “I came from Vietnam and I have traveled all over the world, which inspired the concept,” Nyugaren said. “I have been in the restaurant business for 25 years and still enjoy making people happy with my food by offering something that is unique and also healthy.” If I could describe Restaurant BT’s atmosphere in two words, it would be elegantly quaint. The restaurant is on the smaller side, but it makes up in decor. The front of the place is adorned with beautiful plants and the walls are lined with artwork as well as a big spice rack. It has an earthy yet polished vibe. Boy, was I glad I didn’t wear jeans. The attire is more on the dressy side. It’s a great place for a business lunch or a romantic date but certainly not the place for kids or a loud group of people.

LEFT TOP: Restarant BT/Facebook LEFT BOTTOM: Madison Irwin/The Minaret. RIGHT: Restarant BT/Facebook

Restaurant BT offers a variety of unique dishes made with fresh and healthy ingredients.

When it comes to the menu, Restaurant BT really knows how to intrigue you. There’s a variety of exotic appetizers and meals displayed, and unless you have eaten at a Vietnamese restaurant a decent amount of times beforehand, you will most likely end up asking your waiter for recommendations A few of their popular dishes include the shaken beef, the Vietnamese duck pho and the snapper a la saigon. This is not the place for a picky eater, although they do offer some traditional dishes like

salads and sandwiches for lunch. Their meals are on the pricier side (ranging from $23-$36). However, I went for lunch which is much cheaper (ranging from $11 to $16) than their dinner menu. I’m pretty adventurous when it comes to trying new foods (How many people can say they’ve tried cow tongue?), but I wasn’t in the mood for something unusual. Being from New Jersey, I’m all about the deli sandwiches when it comes to lunch, so I went the French route and ordered the galangal chicken baguette for $12.

I thought it would be cool to compare it to the real baguettes from France. Since I went there this past summer, I was able to determine the similarities. And I must say, you won’t find a more authentic taste of France anywhere else in Tampa. The meal comes with a side of chilled Japanese hydroponic cucumber salad. If you don’t like chicken, you can choose between grilled pork, beef tenderloin and duck. The service here is impeccable. My meal came out about five minutes after I ordered. The presentation of the meal was fabulous, with it’s different shaped plates and a flower on top for decoration. Then it was time for the first bite. Some might wonder how delicious a sandwich could be, but this was divine. The chicken was so tender and juicy, and the veggies tasted like they were just picked out of the garden. But I think it was the bread that stole the show. It was crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, just the way I like it. It tasted just like the ones I ate fresh out of the bakeries in Paris. The mayo held all of the flavors nicely together. I enjoyed the cucumber salad just as much. The rice wine vinegar used in it was sweet and refreshing. Overall, the meal was incredibly fresh and enjoyable. Restaurant BT excels in exquisite food as well as upscale decor. I would definitely love to come back for dinner and try some of their more unique dishes. Madison Irwin can be reached at madison.irwin@spartans.ut.edu

4 out of 5 stars


10 OCTOBER 17 2013 | THE MINARET

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

Haunted Evenings: A Frightful Experience At HHN

By ALYSSA HINGRE

Arts + Entertainment Writer

Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights is the place to be for all fearseeking enthusiasts. You can hear plenty of screams this year both in the streets and in the houses. In the streets, people run for the safe zones when confronted by roaming hordes of zombies from The Walking Dead. The eight haunted houses are especially terrifying and should not be taken lightly by those who prefer to close their eyes and pray for it all to be over. As you first walk through the gates of Universal, you are greeted by The Walking Dead theme song and a swarm of walkers. The street experience this year is excellent, and, no matter what, you can’t escape the terror. “It is scary,” said Alyssa Kane, a senior secondary math education major. “Just walk quickly and with purpose, and as long as you look like you’re not scared, they won’t bug you as much.” The Walking Dead zombies have intricate costumes and always remain in character, truly acting like the unnerving undead. Brandon Coleman, a junior marine biology major, said, “It was cool how the zombies looked like normal people and would sneak up on you.” With zombies on the loose in the streets, Woodbury is also crawling with zombies in The Walking Dead house. They take scenes and sets from the last season of the show, which makes the house feel authentic. The scare actors are modeled after zombies from the show and stay in character as they throw themselves against fences and launch out of dark corners. The Cabin In the Woods house is one of the favorites this year. Justin Nuzzi, a junior accounting major, said, “Cabin In the Woods was my favorite. It was the one that scared me the most, and the costumes were really well-designed.”

Halloween Horror Nights - Universal Orlando /Facebook

Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights features haunted houses based on popular films and TV shows such as The Walking Dead and Evil Dead.

The Evil Dead house has one of the best character designs out of all the haunted houses. It feels like you are stepping into the movie. The scare actors are utterly terrifying with possessed glowing eyes and mutilated bodies. The Resident Evil house is another big name haunted house. However, it doesn’t compare to the other houses. This house followed the design of the video game franchise rather than the various movies. With wide open areas and not as many scare actors, it isn’t nearly as frightful as the other houses. The An American Werewolf in London house isn’t as well-known because it’s not based off a recent popular horror movie, but it definitely shouldn’t be ignored. The werewolf popping up in this house has the power to scare. The werewolf is very detailed, and its monstrous scream will make you jump as it tears through the wall. The three original houses this year are Afterlife: Death’s Vengeance,

La Llorona and Havoc: Derailed. When trying to hit as many houses as possible, many visitors pass these houses to get to the houses that were better advertised. Even as original houses, these three have a lot to offer. The Afterlife: Death’s Vengeance house is unique in that the entire house is in 3D. You trip as you walk through a maze of glowing lights and 3D clowns and demons running out of nowhere. The La Llorona house has one of the most intricate and detailed sets out of all the houses. This house follows the urban legend of the weeping woman who drowned her children and now wanders the earth as a lost soul sharing her torment. La Llorona’s cries carry through the house as she appears before you with only chilling black pits for eyes. The Havoc: Derailed house is filled with murderous super soldiers who have gone on a crazy killing rampage in this military facility. This house has an interesting concept, and

the scare actors are more interactive. They scream and torment you, waving their machine guns in your face as you walk through the house. Of course the haunted houses of Halloween Horror Nights are beautifully constructed and executed perfectly to bring about the best of scares. Even the long wait doesn’t take away from the experience. Along with the houses and the street experience, many of the rides in the park are still open. There are also showings of the classic Rocky Horror Picture Show and a hilarious pop culture parody show called Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure that happens every year. If fear isn’t for you then both of these shows are worth seeing. Halloween Horror Nights has outdone itself this year and I believe if you ever thought of testing out your nerves of steel, then this is the year to go. Alyssa Hingre can be reached at alyssa.hingre@spartans.ut.edu.


THE MINARET | OCTOBER 17 2013

Opinion

11

Tattooed Jesus Upsets Texas Residents

jessustattooorg/Facebook

A billboard depicting Jesus with tattoos provoke both positive and negative responses; while many believe it represents a modern outlook on forgiveness, others find it offensive. By JAKE KONISZEWSKI Opinion Columnist

Billboards depicting Jesus posted in West Lubbock, Texas have sparked controversy among residents. What’s different about this billboard from the countless other religious ads across the state? This Jesus is covered in tattoos. The ad from those at jesustattoo.org, “shows a man, ostensibly Jesus Christ, with outstretched arms tattooed with such words as ‘outcast,’ ‘addicted,’ ‘jealous.’” Texasmonthly. com reports that 59 of these billboards exist within a 50- to 60-mile radius of West Lubbock. The billboard caused immediate commotion. According to ABC News, an unnamed local resident said, “I don’t like the picture. I think it’s derogatory.” Maybe it is, because I was not raised in a religious family, but I was not angered or upset by the picture. To be fair, there is a verse in the Bible that forbids tattoos. According to Biblesources.org, it is stated in Leviticus 19:28, “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord.” There are also verses that compare a person’s body as a temple for God. According to biblesources.org, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which

is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Since the Bible says we are made in God’s image, it ropes the human race together in one big group, but some people want to stand out. Tattoos can be a way to do that. Besides, I have a hard time believing God would be angry enough to not admit someone into Heaven for having a tramp stamp. However, others were fine with the image. David Wilson, a senior pastor at Southcrest Baptist Church in Lubbock, told ABC News, “I thought that it was cleverly done because, basically, it’s a visual of Jesus taking the sins of people and covering them and taking them from an outcast or something and giving them a new start, which is what the gospel is all about.” Wilson has the right idea. It is important not to get carried away by confusion or anger when you first react to something. By taking a second to discover the deeper meaning of something instead of taking something for face value, you may find something interesting. Jesustattoo.org did not stop with billboards. If you go to their website, you will find a short video. In the video, Jesus is a tattoo artist. Various people enter the tattoo parlor: men, women, young people, old people, black people and

white people. They have tattoos saying negative words like “fear” and “addicted.” Jesus tattoos over the negative words with positive words like “trust” and “freedom.” After fixing the tattoos of various customers, Jesus takes off his shirt. All of the negative words that were on his customers are now on his torso, arms and back. This video is a great idea. Advertising with both audio and visuals is a nice change of pace from reading a book with hundreds of really thin pages. The video gave Jesus a modern look while still imparting the messages taught in the Bible. When I was in Catholic school, I was often bored by how the teachers and priests taught religion classes. I got the gist of “be a good person,” but I did not want nor did I need to hear the ins and outs on how a book expected me to be a good person. Mass was even worse. Having to listen to a priest drone on about Jesus’s love and having to sing about it was mind-numbing. Even more excruciating than that was when teachers or priests attempted to modernize their lessons. I remember one particular assembly when the priest had us watch various rap videos that preached anti-abortion messages. The people behind jesustattoo.org found a nice balance between capturing the interest of others while

still imparting Jesus’s teachings. Their video shows that not only will God not judge you for the negative titles you hold, but he can help you overcome those negative titles, find self-worth and therefore become a happier person. According to jesustattoo.org, the people behind the website say, “We are a small group of people humbled by the love of Jesus. We are not a church. We are not selling anything. We encourage you to tell as many people as possible. That’s it.” If that is the case, churches should contact outside sources in order to make advertising. From my experience, priests are so busy focusing on their faith that they do not keep up with modern times. Again, this is only my experience with priests. I am sure there are priests and nuns in the world who are better at connecting with modern people, especially teens. I hope the people behind jesustattoo.org create more videos or that similar types of videos, ones that connect to a more modern audience, are made. According to ABC News, Wilson said, “You know, I use the analogy — I like to fish, and I use different baits for different fish, and to me this is fishing for people who would never walk in the door of a church.” Jake Koniszewski can be reached at john. konizewski@spartans.ut.edu

dancing actors––the color of their skin. As an avid fan of the show, I’ve always thought that SNL hires based solely on talent. Beck Bennett, one of the new featured players, is the center of AT&T’s current ad campaign that features him asking logical questions to a group of adorable kids. Kyle Mooney stars in HBO’s “Hello Ladies” and has appeared on “Parks and Recreation.” John Milhiser was a previous writer for SNL, and Brooks Wheelan is a stand-up comic that hails from the Midwest. I have no doubt that Lorne Michaels, the show’s creator, made the right decision in hiring them, for he is the same man responsible for hiring legends like Martin Short, Chevy Chase and Bill Murray. The show is and has always been chock-full of talent but short on diversity. Last season, the amount of men overpowered women 9-5. This season, it’s 10-6. According SNL Archive, over the last 38 years, the cast has included 90 male actors and only 45 women. With the likes of Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig (all SNL alumni), it’s clear that women can be just as funny, if not funnier, than men. According to Today, Tina

Fey’s 2008 impression of Gov. Sarah Palin increased SNL’s ratings by 46 percent, digging them out of the hole they had fallen into the year before. SNL has always had a predominantly male cast. The majority of their targeted audience is male. Still, I believe there should be some kind of equal balance between talented women and talented men within the cast. For Jay Pharoah, who joined the cast in 2010, the issue is not just lack of women – but women of color. In a recent interview with The Grio, Pharoah stated that actress Darmirra Brunson belongs on SNL. “Why do I think she should be on the show? Because she’s black first of all, and she’s really talented.” While cast member Nasim Pedrad is of Iranian descent, Saturday Night Live has not cast any other woman of color since 2000 when Maya Rudolph joined and left in 2007. As of 2013, Pharoah, Pedrad and actor Kenan Thompson are the only actors of color on the show. Lorne Michaels himself even made fun of this factor in the opening episode when he appeared in a sketch asking whether or not he could tell the difference between a cast member he had recently hired

and a member of the musical guest band Arcade Fire. Instead of picking between the new member or the band member, he answered, “Is it the black guy?” in reference to Thompson, who has been as cast member for almost 10 years. According to the LA Times, SNL producer Lindsay Shookus stated in response to the controversy, “SNL has a history of many hosts, musical guests, and cast members with different backgrounds. When we scout the show, we always look for diverse voices and representation.” It’s possible that Saturday Night Live has the right mix of talent this season, but they should consider scouting a different variety for next year’s season. Saturday Night Live has been under fire for the past few seasons, more recently by New York Magazine and Breit Bart, for being “not funny anymore.” The solution? A more diverse cast. It would provide a broader range of impressions, characters and sketches, which I believe would raise the show’s quality in addition to showcasing new and different kinds of talent. Thirty-eightyearshavepassed.It’stimetomix it up. Lauren Milici can be reached at lauren. milici@spartans.ut.edu

Lack of SNL Cast Diversity Offends Viewers By LAUREN MILICI Opinion Writer

“Our show is too white,” Saturday Night Live cast member Jay Pharoah recently told MSNBC’S The Grio. NBC’s live comedy sketch show has received heat for lack of diversity in casting over the course of its 38-year run, but the controversy has bubbled up to the surface again after the premiere of its 39th season. Five new featured players have joined the team, four men and one woman. The problem for some is that every new member is white. When Tina Fey opened the first episode with a monologue that featured the new cast members dancing around her, my initial reaction was to scream for Noel Wells. I became a fan of Wells nearly three years ago after discovering an audition tape for Saturday Night Live that showcased her strongest impressions. I’ve always held the belief that SNL needed stronger female cast members after the departures of Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig and was elated to see Noel on the show. A minute or two into the monologue, I realized the blatant similarity between the


12 OCTOBER 17 2013 | THE MINARET

OPINION

Recently Passed California Law Grants Nurses and Physican Assistants New Role in Abortions

By AVERY TWIBLE Opinion Columnist

Seeing California stand up in support of women’s rights instead of belittling them is a breath of fresh air. Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill into law allowing medical practitioners who are not doctors, such as nurses and certified midwives, the ability to perform early abortions, according to Los Angeles Times. This new law called AB 154 can make abortions more available to women seeking one within the first trimester of pregnancy. This move by the most populous state in the country could be an inspiration to others in supporting women’s rights. The procedure is called “aspiration,” according to the Washington post, and it involves inserting a small tube through the cervix to remove the fetus early in the first trimester. The bill has been a year in the making, testing it out on more than 11,000 women who got abortions in the first trimester of their pregnancies, reports Los Angeles Times. Half of the abortions were performed by doctors and half were performed by other medical professionals such as nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and physician assistants. The results were promising. Los Angeles Times reports that less than 2 percent of the 11,487 patients required any additional care post-abortion. Only six women out of the entire study needed hospital based care, three of whom had their abortion done by a doctor, and the other three by other medical professionals. Los Angeles Times writes “‘The first major conclusion is that abortion is incredibly safe no matter who performed it,’ wrote Tracy Weitz, a medical sociologist and researcher at UC San Francisco’s Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, which oversaw the program.” The study showed that the aspirations performed by other medical professionals were just as safe as ones performed by doctors, proving them well qualified to do the procedure. The bill was initially sponsored by Assembly Majority Leader Toni Atkins, D-Calif., who released this statement

about the law: “Timely access to reproductive health services is critical to women’s health ... AB 154 will ensure that no woman has to travel excessively long distances or wait for long periods in order to obtain an early abortion. I appreciate Governor Brown’s support of women’s health.” Four other states in the country (Oregon, Vermont, Montana and New Hampshire) already allowed nurse practitioners to perform abortions using a tube and suction, according to New York Times. In addition, some states, including California, allowed nurse practitioners to provide drugs to terminate an early pregnancy. New York Times writes, “By contrast, 68 restrictions on abortion have been passed by states so far this year, according to Elizabeth Nash, the state issues manager for the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that studies reproductive health issues.” When other states passing abortion laws lately all seemed to be going right, California decided to go left. “We are trending in a different direction, and we’re very proud of it,” Atkins said. Not surprisingly, with progression comes resistance. Several Republican figureheads and anti-abortion groups have come forth in opposition to the new law, but no argument was as shocking as a few made by Steve Macias, a California Republican Party officer and executive director of the anti-abortion group Cherish California’s Children, according to Los Angeles Times. Last May when the bill was still in the works, Macias came out saying in a YouTube video “This isn’t about whether abortion is wrong or right… We believe that this bill will hurt and potentially even kill women in this state…. We were told that abortion should be legal so that we can prevent back-alley abortions, but what this bill does is create back-alley abortions. It’s taking what they consider safe and legal and making it dangerous and dirty.” Where he is getting this information from, no one knows, but he seemingly has nothing backing up this statement. If the opposition was “not about whether

Abortion Laws Physician & Hospital Requirements

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require an abortion to be performed by a s e licensed physician. tat

s

20

require an abortion to be performed in a s hospital after a e t sta specified point in the pregnancy. require the involvement of a s e t second physician sta after a specified point.

18

State-Mandated Counseling

17

mandate that s women be given e t counseling before sta an abortion that includes information on at least one of the following: the purported link between abortion and breast cancer (5 states) the ability of a fetus to feel pain (12 states) long-term mental health consequences of the woman (8 states)

abortion is wrong or right” then he would have facts and evidence to back up his statements. The trial run on more than 11,000 women shows excellent standards of health in the women who had abortions, and, according to Weitz, none of them experienced any long term physical harm. Brian Johnston, director of The National Right to Life’s western regional office, had a similar statement to make on the new law, saying “It will massively expand the number of abortions and at the same time reduce safety. For those who say they care about women’s health, they’re doing the opposite, reducing the medical standards for abortion,” according to the New York Times. I think any nurse practitioner or certified nurse midwife can be taught to do the procedure as well as any doctor could. Who is he to say the medical standards would be reduced from being performed by a fully qualified nurse? The audacity of these opponents who make up these arguments based on no facts at all is mind boggling to me, but even more ridiculous is that their followers blindly agree with them without a desire for any evidentiary support at all. At least the California Catholic Conference (CCC) tried to make a logical argument against the bill. According to Los Angeles Times, the CCC emphasized that California was in no need for more accessibility to abortion providers. “Although 22% of California counties have no abortion provider, only 1% of women live in those counties. In addition, in June and July of 2013, volunteers called abortion facilities all over the state and were offered appointments on the same day or in a few cases, within a week,” they wrote on their online blog last month. The statistics of their post is questionable since Atkins, the initial assemblywoman who wrote the bill, said more than half of the counties in the huge state don’t have an abortion provider. It seems to me that allowing abortions to be done by other medical professionals would free up more time for licensed doctors to see other patients and make other diagnoses as well as create more

jobs in abortion clinics and hospitals. Now for the doozy of a comment made by Macias last May: “We looked up the statistics for jumping out of an airplane in a parachute,” he said in the YouTube video. “And the rate of mortality there — 1 in 100,000 people die from jumping out of an airplane with a parachute. Then we looked at what this bill is trying to do. [AB] 154 is trying to allow aspiration abortions, and the risk there is 1 in 100 women will suffer bleeding, tearing, infection from this type of an abortion. So it’s 1,000 times more dangerous to have this aspiration abortion than it is to jump out of an airplane with a parachute.” The statement is so ridiculous it hardly needs any explaining. He is comparing death by jumping out of an airplane to minor complications by abortion. Of course it is almost guaranteed a person is going to die if something goes wrong when jumping out of an airplane. I repeat: they are jumping out of an airplane. And as with any procedure, it can be expected that something minor may go wrong; something is being removed from the body and the body is going to react. Even so, out of the study of 11,487 women, less than 2 percent experienced any complications, all of which were minor. It is preposterous that he would even try to relate and compare skydiving with aspiration abortions. So far, allowing medical professionals such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants to perform aspirations has proved exceptionally safe for women, all while increasing accessibility for them to obtain abortions. Opponents will inevitably continue to release statements based on no factual support, but hopefully more people than not will see through them. California has proved to be a role model for women’s rights by supporting their choices of what happens to their bodies. Hopefully other states will follow suit and stop allowing men to make controlling decisions on what a woman does with her body; that’s her right. Avery Twible can be reached at avery.twible@spartans.ut.edu

Other States Waiting in

Periods

26

require a woman seeking an abortion s e t to wait a specified sta period of time, usually 24 hours, between when she receives counseling and the procedure is performed.

*

9 of these states have laws that effectively require the woman to make two seperate trips to the clinic to obtain the procedure.

Gestational Limits prohibit abortions, generally except tes when necessary to a t protect the s woman’s life or health, after a specified point in pregnancy, most often fetal viability.

41

Statistics from guttmacher.org Graphic by Wendy French


THE MINARET | OCTOBER 17 2013

OPINION

13

‘Bing It On’ Exposed: Yale Study Finds People Prefer Google By SAMANTHA BLOOM Opinion Columnist

As a person living in the age of the Internet, you’ve probably said the words “I don’t know, I’ll Google it!” at least once. The Google search engine is such a powerful, widely-used Internet resource that its name has become synonymous with its function. “Google,” a bonafide verb, was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2006, according to cnet. com. Google is a powerhouse, carrying out 67 percent of the Internet’s search engine use, according to comscore.com. Bing, Microsoft’s response to Google, is the second-most popular search engine, but Bing only carries out 18 percent of web searches, says comscore.com. In order to presumably boost this statistic, Bing launched a campaign in 2012 to try to dismantle Google as the Internet’s preferred method of searching, according to theverge.com. This campaign, cleverly titled the “Bing it On” Challenge, had users search for a term and choose which search results they preferred without knowing which results came from which search engine. The test works by giving participants side-by-side results of five different searches then gives participants the choice of which set of results they prefer. At the end, they receive a list of the terms searched and which search engine was selected for each, and a winner is declared. The ads outline how the “Bing it On” Challenge works and claim that in these blind comparison tests, users choose Bing over Google by nearly 2:1. For some, including myself, these results are hard to believe. That’s a pretty big claim to make, especially against the most-used search engine on the Internet. A Yale University law professor named Ian Ayres found these ads to be “a little fishy,” so he conducted his own research, as reported by huffingtonpost.com. According

to their study, Ayres and his team found that “a statistically-significant majority of participants preferred Google search results to Bing search results (53% to 41%).” His team also found that the preference for Bing went up when participants were using terms suggested by the bingiton.com website rather than terms they decided upon themselves. Ayres concluded that because he believes his study was conducted on a similar sample size to that of Bing’s published findings and he was unable to replicate Bing’s results, Microsoft’s claims that Bing is the superior search engine may be false and could warrant legal action. Curious to see if I fit in with the findings of the Yale team, I undertook the “Bing it On” challenge myself. As a frequent user of Google’s services, I must admit that I was skeptical of Bing’s claims. I was interested to see if the suggested search terms by Bing made a difference as well, so I took the test twice-once with terms suggested by the bingiton. com site and once with my own search terms. The first time through, Bing suggested that I search “Cory Monteith,” “elephant kills zookeeper,” “Nobel Peace Prize,” “Doctor Who” and “woman gives birth on lawn.” Bing won this round, as I chose the Bing results for every search term but one-Google won the round with Doctor Who. The text on the results page read “Hey, look at that. Bing won! Not surprising. Wherever we go, people prefer Bing for the web’s top searches.” I remained skeptical, sure that I would prefer Google when I provided my own search terms. After doing some other work in order to give myself some time between tests, I returned to complete the second half of my experiment. I thought of the search terms myself this time, searching “Game of Thrones,” “United States Postal Service,” “iPhone 5S,” “inventor of Post-it Notes”

populardemand007/Youtube

A study found that users only prefer Bing when it came to their suggested search terms.

and “poisonous snakes.” Surprisingly, at least to me, Bing also won four of the five searches with “inventor of Postit Notes” being the only Google win. I was surprised. I was expecting results very similar to the Yale study in that I would prefer the Bing results for the terms they suggested but not for terms that I came up with on my own. I was definitely not expecting Bing to win by such a landslide with Google clinching only one win in each test. Perhaps I am an outlier, and my results are uncommon. My own results are not enough to definitively say whether or not Bing really is preferred over Google at 2:1--one girl’s search engine preferences do not equal a scientific study. But, I can’t say the ads were blatantly false--I did prefer Bing. If Bing is padding their statistics and my results are more uncommon than Bing has

led people to believe, Ayres’ claims that his study “might provide the basis for a viable Lanham Act claim by Google.” The Lanham Act, according to the Cornell University Law School, is the federal statute that governs unfair competition as well as protects against trademark infringement. Ayres believes that Google could invoke this particular statute against Bing “for making advertising claims with misleading ‘necessary implications’” and make a case for false advertising. For more definitive proof, more studies like Ayres’ should be conducted and compared. If the results of the Yale study are accurate, similar studies should yield similar results, and a few studies claiming Bing’s results are inaccurate would make much more substantial evidence than a single study. Samantha Bloom can be reached at samantha.bloom@spartans.ut.edu

said he felt like killing police,” reports the Post-Gazette. He was then temporarily committed to a nearby psychiatric institute. It wasn’t acceptable for Smith to wear the Joker outfit into a college classroom. Not only would it be distracting to students, but would also be a bit disturbing. If I was walking to class and I came across a man wearing black and white face paint− even black lipstick, I would be terrified. Jacob Garman, a sophomore marine biology major, believes that Christian Smith’s reason for not removing his makeup was completely valid. “Unless there was something within the school policy that didn’t allow it, it was totally fine. Makeup is makeup,” Garman said. “If it was a female who painted her face like that, there would be no repercussions. We had a girl in my high school who wore makeup like that all the time and nothing happened.” I disagree with the fact that all makeup should be treated equally. Being a woman, I do wear a bit of foundation and mascara to class, which is a huge difference from wearing black and white face paint. If everyone else in the room was dressed in costume, maybe his point would seem more legitimate. However, something like eyeliner and lip gloss just can’t compare with Joker makeup. Even if it was a female who came to class dressed as the Joker and I wasn’t aware of the reason, I would still call campus security, just because the makeup is so alarming. Smith should’ve just taken the makeup off when he was asked to by the police. Even if I disagreed with what I was being asked of me, I would’ve been compliant because the police are an authority figure and should be respected. However, it seems that Smith didn’t have too much respect for the law enforcement since he spit on them and later claimed that he wanted to kill them. While it seems unlikely that someone would

be so furious at the police for just asking them to remove their face paint, Smith had a reason for why he thought he was confronted. He believes that he was unfairly targeted because of his race. According to CBS News, when the officers arrived, Smith claimed that “the police are picking on me because I’m black.” He was just “singled out and roughed-up by police.” Smith plans on filing a lawsuit against the university. Phil DiLucente, his attorney, told WPXI: “This is probably one of the most egregious actions I’ve seen by the police at Carlow University in this kind of situation.” “I feel like the situation doesn’t have anything to do with race,” said Kristin Zulaica, a junior psychology major. “I’ve seen a picture of him with the makeup on, and I couldn’t even tell what ethnicity he was. He was pursued because he was dressed like the Joker, not because of his race.” It does feel like Smith has the wrong idea as to why the police approached him. As the Gazette noted, campus police were given complaints about a person in a black hoodie and face paint. There doesn’t seem to be mention of anything that identified his race. Smith was most likely arrested because he was being unruly with the police, not because he was back. This entire lawsuit and ordeal could have been avoided if Smith just took off the makeup or didn’t come to class wearing it. He could have skipped class so that the faculty and students weren’t alarmed, or he could have left class early so he would have time to get all of the face paint on before his convention. As for his arrest, Smith shouldn’t be complaining or filing a lawsuit. The police did what they thought was necessary. Hopefully other students can learn from Christian Smith’s actions and not only avoid wearing face paint in class but also refrain from attacking law enforcement officers. Jessica Forte can be reached at jessica. forte@spartans.ut.edu

Carlow University Student Dressed as Joker Suspended, Arrested By JESSICA FORTE Opinion Writer

When walking around a college campus, it would be no surprise to see students dressed in jeans, t-shirts or sweat pants; but what about a gothic version of the notorious super villain, the Joker, from the Batman series? Last week, that was exactly how 21-year-old Christian Smith walked into his classroom at Carlow University in Pittsburgh. The art major argued that the reason he was walking around campus with the terrifying makeup was because he was attending a comic book convention later that day with his girlfriend, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Due to his alarming appearance, campus security was called to assess the situation. The Gazette reported that the Carlow police were alerted before 11 a.m. on Sept. 27,

specifically for the complaint of a man in a black-hooded sweatshirt and face paint. Police entered Smith’s classroom and asked for his ID then for him to remove the makeup at which point he refused and became agitated. “Smith claimed he didn’t have to leave because women in the class also had makeup on,” wxpi.com said. “The criminal complaint alleged Smith head-butted an officer and spit on another.” Smith is now facing a number of charges such as disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and terroristic threats. The costumed student was then arrested and “later brought to a hospital for an evaluation. Smith has now been suspended from the university,” according to huffingtonpost.com. During the evaluation, Smith continued to make threats towards law enforcement. “At the hospital, police wrote, Mr. Smith

geminiangelus/Flickr

The student defended his Joker makeup, equating it to the everyday makeup worn by girls.


14 OCTOBER 17 2013 | THE MINARET

OPINION

Intern Can’t File Sexual Harrassment Complaint, Sues Company By VANESSA RIGHIMER Opinion Columnist

A couple weeks ago, 26-year-old Syracuse graduate Lihuan Wang, filed a sexual assault lawsuit against her former boss. However, since Wang was an unpaid intern, the lawsuit had to be dropped, because under New York law, unpaid interns are not considered employees and therefore are not given the same workplace protection as full time employees. In fact, according to CBS News, Oregon and Washington, D.C. are the only states in the U.S. that have laws to protect their interns in situations like this. In today’s generation, it is strongly encouraged for students to have internships as a way to boost their resumes when it comes time to apply for entry level jobs after graduation. Dr.StephanieTripp,assistantcommunications professor at the University of Tampa, gave some insight as to why colleges push for internships. “I think it’s a combination of the weak job market over the past several years and the increasing social emphasis on career preparation in college,” Tripp said. “Students feel a lot of pressure from many different sources to build their resumes… so much so that many are willing to take on extra debt or even have their academic work suffer in order to do so.” However,withmanyoftheseinternshipsbeing unpaid and lacking general employee benefits, it almost feels as if employers are taking advantage of students trying to secure a job for their future. This incident with Wang and her alleged assaulter, Zhengzhu Liu, is an example of a more extreme way that an employer has taken advantage of an intern. It absolutely repulses me to see that in today’s society there are not labor laws to protect unpaid interns or to demand employers to monetarily compensate them. As a communications major, I’ve heard time after time how important it is for me to secure an

internship during the summer or school year to help fluff up my resume for future employers. For the past three summers leading up to last summer, I have worked 40 hours a week as a nanny to save up money to pay off student loans and other expenses. I was annoyed to come to the realization that I was going to have to pick up an unpaid internship this past summer to help better my chances of landing a job after graduation. This summer, I worked as a social media intern for a small start-up company back home in Chicago. Initially I was expected to

[

and occasionally running errands to buy food for models. As a social media intern, how am I learning anything from that? It’s one thing if I’m being paid to be a gopher, but I wasn’t, and it was frustrating to know that businesses could get away with this and brush past the lenient laws that claim to protect the rights of interns. I reached out to another UT student and Advertising/Public Relations major, Sam Silver, who had a similar experience during the summer. Silver interned with a company where he was not compensated. He admitted his disappointment of

It absolutely repulses me to see that in today’s society there are not labor laws that protect interns or demand employers to monetarily compensate them.

]

work five days a week, but after measuring out the cost of gas from commuting and not being able to earn money during those days, I came to an agreement with my boss that I would only come in three days a week. However, even with that schedule it was hard to secure a part time job so I ended up working temp jobs throughout the summer. I felt taken advantage of from day one, but I knew I had to stick with it to have some experience to jot down on my resume. When companies are attacked for not paying their interns, they defend themselves by stating they are doing a service to the interns by providing them with experience that you can’t put a dollar amount on. According to the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, “The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern” and “the employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern.” I have to disagree with this as some of my work tasks included pulling clothes during photo shoots, being asked to steam them

not being paid but also pointed out the benefits. “I’d rather have made some money, but it gave me some experience, looks good on my resume, and I think it was a good investment of my time,” Silver said. Silver acknowledged that even after working two additional jobs that were paid, he still made less this past summer than the summer prior to his internship, in which he devoted all his work time as a paid employee. Though it is true internships can and usually provide valuable experience, students are still devoting their time to help benefit a company and should be at least paid minimum wage for their efforts. Aside from the unjust (yet surprisingly legal) laws regarding intern pay, the incident between Wang and her boss Liu is now serving as a very public example of how reforms must be made to the laws that protect interns. U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel was forced to throw out Wang’s lawsuit stating, “Because Ms. Wang was an unpaid intern, she may not assert claims under the cited provisions of the

that price to the accumulative cost of all the school supplies students need to buy in middle through high school, the iPad might be cheaper. But while iPads save more money in the long run, they are much less economical in the short run. The school is also trying to promote a “paperless classroom ecosystem.” According to the school’s website, the new iPad 1:1 policy introduced 80 percent of textbooks in digital format. Also, students use applications to take notes in class and Google forms to take quizzes in place of their conventional paper forms. Some parents are happy with the school’s new policy. Edesa Scarborough, Director of the First Year Baccalaureate Experience at UT, has a daughter named Carly who attends Tampa Prep. “So far, she loves it,” Scarborough said. “It seems all her [eighth grade] classmates love it,” she continued. “They took to it very easily. I was surprised.” Scarborough commented on the iPad’s benefits: “It is much more interactive. Not only is [it] loaded with books, but it also has videos, podcasts, a mountain of information in all types of formats so she can pick and choose how she wants to learn the material. It doesn’t have to be the same for every class or even every lesson.” Most homes now have at least one computer. The mentioned benefits of iPads are mostly included in computers as well. While computers can replace iPads and do everything an iPad is capable of, an iPad can’t replace a computer. So a student does not really need to own his or her iPad to be able to use such capabilities. Another advantage of having the iPad, according to Scarborough, is that it is “good for several years, maybe until she graduates and loading books to it each year is much less expensive and we save trees... win win for everyone. Additionally she has all her books and material saved... like her own library. No more selling back books at the end of the year.” Unlike some parents who had to but their children iPads specifically for school, Scarborough says she and her husband had bought their daughter the iPad; it is hers. “I did

not feel forced,” Scarborough said. “We had to buy books every year and they were just as expensive and heavy to carry in her backpack.” Since the iPads are the students’ property and will be used both at home and in school, monitoring students’ iPad usage would be very difficult. Of course, students would not only have scholar and academic applications on their iPads, but would most likely have games too. Lassacher explained that there is currently no iPad management in place to block any games or apps on the students’ iPads, however, all students are required to fill out an “honor code” when they enroll to promise academic integrity. Still, this makes it fairly easy for students to get distracted and tempted to use such applications. How many students would rather learn about fractions than play candy crush or angry birds? My guess is not many. According to Scarborough, the school has an in-house IT department that did a one-week orientation for students and parents on the change and how they would monitor everything. However, this might prove to be difficult. It is almost impossible for a teacher to monitor every single student in class and make sure they are not using any other application than what they are supposed to. The school’s website states that the “iPads will be the property and responsibility of the student and his/her family” and that the school will not be responsible for broken or stolen iPads.“We require that parents send the iPads to school in protected cases,” Lassacher said. “We also recommended getting insurance or extended warranty.” This makes sense as the school should not be expected to have the responsibility of taking care of each student’s iPad. However, 11 to 14-year-old middle school students should not be expected to take care of such objects either. iPads are fragile; if you drop an iPad face first and it hits the screen, it will probably break. So it makes sense that you should not trust a child with an object that is mainly glass, especially considering that they will have to carry it around all day to school and back.

[New York State Human Rights Law] and the [New York City Human Rights Law].” Though it looks like Wang will not be able to win this lawsuit, it definitely has lawmakers talking and showing signs of making reforms to these laws. Public advocate and mayoral front runner Bill de Blasio told the New York Daily News, “[n]o one should ever be denied protection against sexual harassment in the workplace. Period.” Furthermore, New York State Assembly members Joe Borelli and Linda Rosenthal plan to address the issue on a state level to bring changes in legislation. When I discussed this incident with Tripp, she pointed out the exploitation of interns in today’s workplace, stating, “Interns are among the most vulnerable people in the workplace, and they should be entitled to the same workplace protections as other employees. It’s bad enough that so many interns aren’t being paid for their work, but to hold up that unpaid status as justification for second-class treatment is not only exploitative, but it defies common sense.” The bottom line is that internships involve labor, even if learning is involved in the process. Because of this, it should be treated like any other type of employment where a worker is compensated and protected under law. At fast food joints, you can start at the bottom earning minimum wage and slowly work your way to the top to earn a substantial salary. The same goes with interns who start at the bottom and as they gain experience, slowly work their way to the top to earn an entry level position and salary. There is no difference between these two instances, which reiterates the fact that the loophole made in labor laws concerning internships needs to be rethought and reformed. Vanessa Righeimer can be reached at vanessa.righeimer@spartans.ut.edu

Tampa Preparatory Students Required to Use iPads in Class

By RAWAN ELZAYAT Opinion Writer

Tampa Preparatory School, which serves grades six to 12, announced on its official site tampaprep.org that starting this past August, every student in all grades is required to have the latest version of the Apple iPad with at least 64 gigabytes of memory. On the site, Tampa Prep states that “students will utilize multimedia and interactive textbook content that the school will blend into its curriculum and students will be required to create, produce and store multimedia projects. Device memory will be critical in storing all of this curricular content.” The school also refers to factors such as portability, battery life, digital resources and operating syste bm as reasons why iPads are effective. They enable teachers to create assignments that support different learning styles. Now, students at Tampa Prep use iPads in class to create presentations and ebooks. It is undeniable that using iPads in classes is helpful to the students’ learning experience, but I don’t believe that their use should be mandatory. Suzy Lassacher, Student technology support coordinator at Tampa prep, explained why the school came up with the new policy: “Tampa Prep used to be a ‘bring your own device’ school. In order to stay current we wanted to provide [students] with these skills for them to use in the near future, for example in college and the work force, by going digital. Despite upfront expenses, it would save parents in the long run. E-reader, calculator, camera, iPads contain all this.” She also says iPads are a more economical and more portable option. While it is great to increase the use of technology and technological knowledge in schools and reduce the use of paper, I think Tampa Prep is taking it too far by making it mandatory. For one, it should not be mandatory considering some parents cannot afford buying an iPad for each of their children, especially if they have several children who go to middle or high school. For example, the iPad with retina display costs $499, according to apple.com. If you compare

While I find typing easier and faster than writing, writing is proven to be more effective when it comes to study-related habits. According to huffingtonpost.com, evidence from studies have shown that the skill of writing is a process that needs an integration of visual, motor, as well as cognitive or perceptive parts. The perception allows one to remember the shape of the letters that is written, while sight and motor skills of the hand enable the writing. Consequently, writing notes is more effective than typing. So maybe the school’s decision to let students use typing instead of writing for taking notes in class was not the best method after all. Also, the regular use of typing as an alternative to writing diminishes spelling and grammar skills. When people are typing, they depend on spell check to detect their spelling and grammatical errors and fix them rather than using their own skills and memory. This means that as time passes, the students’ regular use of typing would cause an unwanted effect on their learning experience. Instead of strengthening their grammar and spelling skills, it might decline them. While I am for the constant development of methods used in schools and the introduction of technology in education systems, I believe that such policies like using iPads in schools should not be mandatory. It’s a great idea in theory, but maybe it should start with high school, considering that high school students would be more receptive with using and taking care of iPads better than middle school students. Rawan Elzayat can be reached at rawan. elzayat@spartans.ut.edu


THE MINARET | OCTOBER 17 2013

OPINION

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16 THE MINARET | OCTOBER 17 2013

Sports

Soccer Reaches Midway Point

Alex Jackson/The Minaret

The men and women’s soccer teams battled the Lynn University Knights this past weekend. The men’s team lost a close match by a score of 1-0, and the women’s team drew even with a score of 2-2.

Men’s Soccer Slides into Skid

By GRANT PAWLAK Sports Writer

The start of the season saw a great winning streak for the Spartans as they won three of their four first games in a row. The first two victories ended up being complete shutouts with a score of 4-0. The first game of the season, however, ended in a 2-2 tie against Clayton State. Their vicious winning streak was finally broken against Nova Southeastern in another tie game. Even though the game went into overtime, the score still ended up 0-0. After the tie, the Spartans hit a patch of bad luck as their game against West Palm Beach Atlantic was cancelled due to unfavorable weather conditions. The streak of bad luck continued into their next game as the Spartans suffered their first loss of the season against the Florida Southern Moccasins in a 3-0 shutout. This put the Spartans at 3-1-2 while the Moccasins were 2-3 overall. While the first half started and ended without any scoring, Tampa was able to outshoot Florida Southern with a 5to-3 shot ratio while also maintaining strong defense. The Moccasins were finally able to score on a penalty kick past Spartan goalkeeper David Niepel. Things began looking up again as the Spartans won their next matchup against Eckerd with an astounding 5-1 score. This victory was short-lived as

the Spartans were soon plagued with two more losses of a 3-2 score against Rollins and Florida Tech. Before the two losses, the Spartans were on their way to a top ten ranking. “I am really not concerned about a ranking three weeks into the season. In this conference and region, there are no days off,” head coach Adrian Bush said. Being so close to the top ten this early in the season is an accomplishment in itself, and while the past few losses have been setbacks, the Spartans still have hope of making it. For now the Spartans are going to have to make do sitting at No. 11 in the rankings. With the Sunshine State Conference Tournament drawing closer, the Spartans have much to prepare for to keep their record in check. With Bush standing a t 93 career wins, he could become the third head coach in program history to surpass the 100 career victories mark, joining other coaches such as Tom Fitzgerald and Jay Miller in their triumphant record breaking victories. The Spartans have much to look forward to as the season continues to progress and much to live up to. Currently standing at an overall record of 4-4-2, the Spartans still have time to recover from their losses and make it into the top ten. Grant Pawlak can be reached at grant.pawlak@spartans.ut.edu

Women Continue Great Season

By PAIGE SHALLCROSS Sports Writer

With almost two-thirds of the season over, UT’s women’s soccer team is still working hard to finish the season strong in addition to preparing for the games ahead. After a recent loss to Rollins, coach Lucey and the Spartan team are focusing on upcoming games and how to prepare. “I think we’ve been playing well, but we have more room to grow, and I don’t think we have reached our potential yet,” Lucey said. “I think a lot of players are performing at a higher level, and we have a group that is underperforming and underachieving, and we still have some younger players that are kind of finding their feet.” Senior defensive player Shannon Walish agrees with coach Lucey and knows there are things they can improve. “Personally, as a senior, I’m trying to play every game like it’s my last since it will be over soon,” Walish said. “I think, for the most part, I have been playing well, but I can always grow and become a better player.” Walish has been working hard to make sure she ends her college soccer career on a high note. “I’m working on playing smarter and looking to go forward instead of side-toside defensively, because we need to use the opportunities of going forward more,” Walish said. “This summer I worked 10 times harder to become stronger and a better soccer player all around.” Freshman midfielder Chelsea Martin has also been putting forth her best efforts on the field. “I’ve been working really hard to gain a

starting position, and I am trying to get used to the way the returning players play,” Martin said. “I’m learning to fit in with the team and the way they play the game.” One thing Lucey wants to work on with the team is building and playing through the middle along with shaping the team defensively, but he has other things he wants the team to focus on. “We have had an awful amount of injuries so we haven’t been able to train or push as hard as we’d want to,” Lucey said. “At the same time, I think the group of players that are healthy have been working extremely hard.” With the team in great focus for the rest of the season, they are looking to push forward and continue to play strong. “Coming up are mostly conference games, which will place us for NCAA tournament and the conference tournament,” Walish said. “Every game is going to be a straight battle from here on out, so we have to bring our intensity high from the start of every game, and every team is out to get us, so from here on out so it is all straight business.” Even with the focus set for the rest of the season, the team is still enjoying themselves and making every minute count. “I love playing for Tampa, it’s really exciting,” Martin said. “I’m looking to get a lot out of playing for Tampa: friendships, leadership, the ability to work hard, stay focused and hopefully a National Championship somewhere in there. That would be awesome.” Paige Shallcross can be reached at paige. shallcross@spartans.ut.edu


17

OCTOBER 17 2013 | THE MINARET

Swalls Reaches Quarter Century Mark at UT By KEVIN BARASIA

Sports Writer

National championships don’t come easy. Neither does losing. Behind every franchise, there is a man behind the scenes initiating all of the plays, moves and functions. Meet Gil Swalls. Swalls, a former Southern IllinoisCarbondale graduate, arrived at UT in 1989. A native of Zeigler, Ill., Swalls spent many of his post-college years working in Oklahoma. Here is a timeline pre-UT: At the University of Tampa, athletics aren’t always talked about with regards to the entire institution as a whole. “I have a passion for helping kids through their career,” Swalls said. When he came here 25 years ago, there were 1,250 students, only 300 of which were student athletes. Many changes have helped the university grow in the past 25 years. But why would someone want to come to Tampa of all places to play a sport?

“We are always vying for a national championship, and the tradition of winning here just doesn’t compare to anywhere else,” Swalls said. “Also, there is hardly any coaching turnover, which means the staff that recruits you will be there when you leave UT.” The University of Tampa has proven itself to the rest of its competition that it is not a stepping stone by any means. As academics are a priority at any university, athletics here at UT are on its way to being on the same level. The newly constructed all-purpose stadium, which hosts games for the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams, is a tremendous improvement for the school. Swalls is a main component here at the University of Tampa and runs a tight-knit group. Promoted to assistant athletics director in 1999, his main duties involve marketing for the athletics department in addition to other associate AD duties.

Swalls also teaches a course, Sports Management 290, along with running the Athletics Marketing club. The marketing club continues to grow and currently has 46 members. “I am most proud of that organization. When I first got here, we had two kids and now we have 46. Marketing the sports here at UT is a big challenge because of all of the other things that there is to do here in Tampa,” Swalls said. “We just want to continue the winning culture here,” Swalls said. “With the upgraded facilities, bigger enrollment and campus improvement as a whole, the campus is really thriving right now. The vibes around campus and the excitement has never been this high and we just want to continue to market our products on and off the field.” Kevin Barasia can be reached at kevin.barasia@spartans.ut.edu

Photo courtesy of UT Athletics

Swalls has worked at the school for 25 years.

FIFA 2014: A Revolution in Gaming By MARCUS MITCHELL

Sports Writer

EA Sports released their 16th installment of FIFA and the title is taking the world by storm. FIFA 14 is out and remains the most popular soccer gaming platform in the market. The Minaret is here with an in-depth analysis of what the game has to offer and whether or not you should follow through with the $60 purchase. The game pulled out all the stops in terms of content and features accurate and updated rosters after one of the busiest transfer seasons in history. jualgame/Photobucket FIFA 14 features the top leagues in Impressive graphics are one of many game upgrades featured in the latest installment of FIFA. the world such as La Liga, Bundesliga, and Premier League as well as new inclusions of Serie A of Brazil and the Polish national team. You can possess placed on possession and passing. cheering for a corner or yelling at the nearly any team you wish in the entire Crosses, corners, and free-kicks referee for giving the other team a free world and sport your favorite kits with are much easier to execute which kick. Before you complain about the ease. correlates to the real-world values of difference in the mechanics, just sit The most appealing component set pieces which seemed toned down in down and put some serious effort and of the game remains in its game the past. Shielding and skill moves are work into your game. play, which got a complete overhaul much more effective in the game than Many of the classic game modes compared to previous generations. in the past and holding the ball longer returned, such as Career Mode and Players can no longer pace-abuse led to more goal scoring opportunities Head to Head seasons, including a opponents with quick through balls and than the overpowered counter-attacks new co-op mode. Along with them are its much more difficult to formulate from last year. unranked head to head matches, which attacks. The AI has also increased have been brought back from FIFA 12, I found myself frustrated at the new substantially in intelligence as and Pro clubs which have been fixed mechanics but with a few alterations computer controlled players will make up to appeal to gamers of all kinds who to the settings and more reliance on smarter runs off the ball and catch wish to form a squad with their friends. my own actions rather than the aided opponents offsides more often. The most exciting game mode is options I quickly got the hang of it All-in-all, the gameplay is much till the widely popular Ultimate Team. after a few hours. The field has been more realistic to the beautiful game Ultimate Team allows players to start slightly shrunk and the game play has itself now, but not too realistic to the an award winning club from scratch become slower and more methodical. point of boredom as the game offers and I was quickly drawn in and found It takes much more strategy to players much excitement through more myself playing for hours on end trying compete as more emphasis has been rewarding play. I often found myself to perfect my squad.

More emphasis has been placed on chemistry and I focused more on finding a player to fit into my club's theme (half-Korean and half- Bundesliga) than finding skilled players. The introduction of chemistry styles allows gamers to form their players into different role players such as poachers and maestros, which places a larger focus on gamers trying to get a personalized style on the game. Besides the skill games, which were seemed to be designed by Satan himself, the appeal of FIFA 14 to casual gamers remains high due to top-class entertainment and aesthetic values. The menu got a complete overhaul and resembles a Windows laptop than a video and the main menu will constantly fill with your most recent game modes. The music is as exotic and exciting as ever with over 36 songs from over 30 countries which gave a global feel and I found myself with many indie sports songs stuck in my head after playings. FIFA 14 has given gamers a perfect compromise between realistic mechanics and engaging gameplay. With a lot of effort it is more than possible to compete with the best of them. FIFA 14 has put the power back in the hands of the players and, while they made many changes, all of the adjustments have made the game better as a whole. I have no regrets in the $60 investment, and neither will you. Marcus Mitchell can be reached at marcus.mitchell@spartans. ut.edu

Sound Off PRO ATHLETES SPEAK THEIR MINDS

“If I was telling you I was thinking about hitting a grand slam, I’d be lying to you.” -David Ortiz after hitting a game tying grand slam in Game 2 of the ALCS

“I wasn’t sure who the Colts were playing this week, all the ads I saw.” -Philip Rivers before the anticipated MNF matchup against the Colts

“I think we have the opportunity to be better. I think we’ve just scratched the surface.” -Drew Brees on the Saints 5-1 start to the season


18 OCTOBER 17 2013 | THE MINARET

SPORTS

Pro Sports

NBA Western Conference Preview 2013

The Rocketman has arrived

By CONNOR ANTHONY Sports Writer

For the first time since the 2006 season, the Los Angeles Lakers face uncertainty heading into the season. There has been no timetable given for Kobe Bryant’s return from a torn Achilles tendon. After losing center Dwight Howard in free agency to the Houston Rockets, it’s now time to panic in Los Angeles. Veteran point guard Steve Nash and power forward Pau Gasol will have to step up their leadership roles until Kobe can return to the court. Both Gasol and Nash battled injuries during the 2012 season, which is even more cause for concern for an already Kobe-less team. The Western Conference is anyone’s conference. The Los Angeles Clippers were able to pry Doc Rivers away from Boston, giving them a much needed presence at the head coach position. With Rivers leading

the deadly duo of Blake Griffin and James Harden gives the Rockets two that they can get everything clicking Chris Paul, this could very well be the LAD0t/Flickr year that the Clippers finally overtake Can veteran Center Dwight Howard lead a talented young Houston Rockets team to a title? the Lakers as Los Angeles’ team. After a heartbreaking loss to the Miami Heat in the finals, the San top ten players in their starting five. and make a Finals run. Antonio Spurs have finally raised the If point guard Jeremy Lin can recover Despite finishing with a record question: Are they too old to compete in from last season and perform at the of 60-22 and the No. 1 seed in the the NBA? Most critics would have said level he was while he was with the Western Conference, the Oklahoma “yes” last year, but the Spurs played like Knicks, this team could win it all. City Thunder won’t finish with the a team far younger than they are. Even though the Rockets are best record in the West again. However, with the emergence of the favorite to win the Western A year after trading away James Memphis and the Rockets adding the Conference, it won’t be a walk in Harden to Houston, the Thunder played aforementioned Howard, the days as the park. The Memphis Grizzlies like this trade had little effect on the best team in the Southwest Division have made a name for themselves stopping their dominance in the West. may be coming to an end for the Spurs. as a legit contender the last two However, Russell Westbrook tearing Speaking of the Rockets, it’s hard years. With the trio of Mike Conley, his meniscus wasn’t the way that the for them not to be considered the Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, the Thunder wanted to start this season. favorite in the Western Conference. Grizzlies only finished two games With Westbrook’s return time unknown, Over the offseason they landed the behind the No. 2 seed Spurs. it’ll be interesting to see how far Kevin most prized player in the free agent As a team that has gradually Durant can carry this team alone. market in Howard. improved the last three seasons, one Connor Anthony can be reached at Pairing him with shooting guard has to wonder if this is finally the year connor.anthony@spartans.ut.edu

Tumultuous Times in the Sports World By GRIFFIN GUINTA Asst. Sports Editor

With all the excitement going on in sports, it’s easy to overlook some of the tragic events that have been occurring off the field. Instead of focusing on the usual thrilling games and matches that ensued this weekend, I wanted to touch on two events that take precedence over any game: the death of Adrian Peterson’s two-year-old son and the theater incident at Ole Miss. Both stories have major ramifications in the sports world that should be recognized and understood. Fridays are normally lighthearted days for me. I seldom have much work to do, the cafeteria is always rocking and good vibes are in the air. After a quick workout this past Friday, I decided to scroll through Google News to see if anything interesting was abuzz in the world. As I thumbed through dreary stories about the government shutdown and other national issues, I noticed a headline that hit me in an odd way. “Adrian Peterson's 2-year-old son dies after alleged beating by mother's boyfriend.” For those of you that don’t know, Adrian Peterson is the reigning NFL MVP. He plays running back for the Minnesota Vikings and is widely recognized as the best tailback in the game. Upon reading this, all the food I had just eaten instantly soured in my stomach. I felt nauseous thinking about a poor, defenseless twoyear-old child being murdered by a man with no self-control. After reading more and more about the story, that initial feeling of unnerving sadness transformed into a boiling anger. According to the New York Daily News, “The 2-year-old son of Minnesota Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson died Friday of injuries suffered when

he was beaten two days earlier, allegedly by his mother’s boyfriend.” To fight another man who is fully capable of defending himself is one thing, but to attack an innocent young child who has just entered this world is simply disgusting. Any time a fully grown adult performs an injurious act upon a child, it is indicative of a lack of maturity and rational thought within the adult. Wanting full blown justice imposed upon this man, I desperately hoped that he would be locked up for life. After all, he robbed another human being of his life and should have to reflect on that for a very long time. To my dismay, though, I read that Joseph Patterson, the man alleged with beating Peterson’s son, “faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted with the murder.” 40 years? That would mean Patterson, 27, would leave jail at the age of 67. True, the sentence would chew up most of his life, but to not receive a life sentence in the wake of killing a child is truly baffling to me. Adrian Peterson still plans on playing Sunday against the Carolina Panthers. “Football is something I will always fall back on,” he said. “It gets me through the hard times.” Nonetheless, Peterson will have an immense burden to carry on his shoulder this season. On top of all his team’s on field struggles, Peterson must grapple with a member of his own flesh and blood’s passing. In times of tragedy, it is hard to see the silver lining, but it always exist. Countless other athletes have flocked to Peterson’s side to offer their comfort and support, and to remind him that he is not alone in this struggle. Athletes from opposing teams have set aside their allegiances to aid Peterson in any way they can.

In the aftermath of the incident, Miami Heat All-Star LeBron James tweeted “deepest condolences go out to Adrian Peterson and his family.” Peterson, a man who has been very vocal about his faith, told reporters from CBS Minnesota that “The good Lord never gives you more than you can bear, can handle — so I’m built tough.” My thoughts and prayers go out to Peterson and his family. The second story I mentioned happened a few weeks ago, but I feel it was a bit understated in the sports world. The scene was as follows: a group of students at the University of Mississippi were performing a production of “The Laramie Project,” the story of a gay student at the University of Wyoming who was murdered. Several members of the Ole Miss football team were mandated to attend the performance for one of their classes. According to ESPN, “A group of 20 University of Mississippi football players disrupted an on-campus play Wednesday night by yelling gay slurs at cast members, missing the entire point of the play a theater class required them to attend.” The actions of these players is outright ridiculous, to say the least. It’s completely unfair to the actors because a) they worked for weeks preparing for the performance and b) the offensive comments spewed by the players can never be taken back. What if the shoe was on the other foot? What if these players, after months of training, had their game disrupted by a pack of angry theater majors? It sounds comical to say, but imagine if a rampant group of students marched onto the field and began calling the athletes “dumb jocks” or “meatheads.” Point is, it’s not fair on either side

to behave in this way- especially for a college student who is supposed to be an “adult.” To the Ole Miss players that disrupted the play: You don’t have to enjoy theater as an athlete. Hell, you don’t even have to go to another play in your life. But to display blatant disrespect and completely trash fellow classmates who are working on a project is completely uncalled for. I write this article as someone who has been on both ends of the spectrum. I’ve played on a bevy of sports teams and I’ve also appeared in numerous theatrical productions throughout my life. In both cases, I would cringe at the thought of someone ridiculing me for participating in either activity. The fine arts are often overlooked in colleges throughout the nation. While I absolutely love sports, I felt compelled to stress that theater is just as time consuming as athletics and on principle, operates in a very similar manner. Being involved in a production is synonymous to being on a team. It requires hard work, practice and dedication just like football does. College is a place where students should support one another. Any time a group of students work hard for a certain goal, they should be respected enough to achieve that goal. I apologize for the heavy subjects this week, but fellow editor Jordan Llanes and I felt it was necessary to highlight these pressing issues in the sports world. Griffin Guinta can be reached at griffin. guinta@theminaretonline.com


SPORTS

THE MINARET | OCTOBER 17 2013

19

And Then There Were Four: MLB Postseason in Full Swing

All photos by Keith Allison/Flickr

David Ortiz (Boston), Miguel Cabrera (Detroit), Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles) and Yadier Molina (St. Louis) will be heavily relied on going forward in the postseason. By JAMES BELLUSCIO Sports Writer

The Detroit Tigers head into Boston to take on the new look Red Sox. This has the makings of a series to remember. After the Sox dominated the AL East and handled the Rays with ease in the first round, they are looking for their first World Series appearance since 2007. Head to Head Advantages: Pitching: Even It all comes down to the starting pitching in this year’s ALCS. The Tigers staff features the soon to be announced Cy Young award winner, Max Scherzer and already two-time winner of the award, Justin Verlander. Add in the American League leader in ERA, Anibal Sanchez and you have a team that’s destined to win. These two pitching staffs are as good as it gets. Red Sox ace Jon Lester will pitch Game One at Fenway Park. They will follow up with a combination of Clay Buchholz, Jake Peavy and veteran John Lackey. Clay Buchholz had one of the best starts to the season in baseball. He was a dominant 9-0 until he missed over two months with an irritation in his AC joint. Lets face it, when this guy is healthy he can be one of the best pitchers in the league. At times, he looks untouchable. He is my X-

factor for the Sox in this series. Offense: Tigers The Tigers offense brings an explosive factor the Red Sox can’t match. They have the deepest lineup in the American League, and Miguel Cabrera is a special player. Cabrera may have fell short of his remarkable 2012 season, but he still hit a career high .348 to become the first player in more than two decades to win three straight AL batting titles. His 44 home runs were second to the 53 by Baltimore’s Chris Davis, and he finished second in RBI, with 138. He batted .330 during last year’s Triple Crown season with 44 homers and 139 RBI. His presence in the lineup- while being protected by Prince Fielder batting behind him- is something teams have yet to stop. The Red Sox are still led by 37-yearold designated hitter David Ortiz, who had another 30-homer/100-RBI season. Outside of that there is not the punch you expect to see from a 97 win team. They win by playing all-around good baseball. They get the timely hits, and grind out victories. They are a rugged, grimy but great baseball team. It is the entire persona of the team; hence the teams “playoff beard” look. But, I don’t see them manufacturing enough runs to keep up with Detroit. They may have slumped a bit

against the A’s in the ALDS, but they got the hits when they needed it. (Cabrera’s bomb in Game 5, Peraltas 3-run shot in Game 4.) My Prediction: Tigers in 7. The Los Angeles Dodgers look to take down the NL Central Champion St. Louis Cardinals. The Dodgers are coming into the playoffs as the league’s hottest team, ending the year on a staggering 53-13 run. Both franchises have won 18 National League pennants. However, the Cardinals have been here far more often than the Dodgers. They won the World Series in 2011 and 2006, while L.A. hasn’t been to an NLCS since 2009 or to a World Series since winning it in 1988. There’s no clear favorite in this series, yet it appears the two best teams in the National League are playing. Key Matchup: Clayton Kershaw vs. Michael Wacha Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers ace and the best pitcher in the NL, won two games in the NLDS over the Braves. He will most likely pitch games two and six against Cards rookie Michael Wacha. Wacha has pitched his last two starts into the 8th inning, giving up no hits. He has allowed just one run and seven hits in 29 innings, which works out to a 0.31 ERA. The Dodgers have yet to face Wacha this

season. He was called up on May 30 and only appeared in 15 games this year. We will see if he can match the recent success of other young pitchers in the playoffs. Pirates’ Gerrit Cole and the A’s Sonny Gray (combined 14 IP, 1 R) showed just how effective a talented pitching prospect could be against a team that has never seen him before. Player to Watch: Yasiel Puig Andre Ethier hasn’t played the field since Sept. 13 due to a sprained left ankle. He has been used in only pinch-hitting scenarios and hit 3-13 in the NLDS. Hanley Ramirez has been the Dodgers’ best hitter whenever he has been healthy enough to be in the lineup this season, with six extra-base hits and going 8-for-16 with a team-best six RBIs. Unfortunately, for the Cardinals, Yasiel Puig is playing just as good. He went 8-17 and showed the world he can live up to the hype. His rocket-arm, ridiculous range in the field and relentless base running is what I think will put the Dodgers over the hump. On the backs of Puig and Kershaw winning games 2 and 6, I can’t see the Cardinals playoff magic continue. My Prediction: Los Angeles in 7. James Belluscio can be reached at james.belluscio@spartans.ut.edu

Cloudy Days for Football in the Sunshine State

By GREG PRAVER Sports Writer

Five weeks in the National Football League have quickly gone by. The three Florida teams: the Miami Dolphins, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Jacksonville Jaguars, are on losing streaks. The biggest difference between the teams is the Dolphins are inconsistent, while the Buccaneers and Jaguars are simply terrible. The Miami Dolphins loaded their roster with quality talent this offseason during free agency. They signed former Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace, Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes, Jets tight end Dustin Keller, Ravens linebacker Dannell Ellerbe and resigned receiver Brian Hartline, safety Chris Clemons and backup quarterback Matt Moore. They came into this season with high expectations because they signed seven of the top 100 free agents listed by “Pro Football Talk.” They came right out of the gate with impressive wins as underdogs at Cleveland and at Indianapolis. They also won at home against the Falcons in a late game comeback. However, football nation has seen a completely different Dolphins team during the past two weeks. In Week 4, they lost in New Orleans by 21 points

and then lost in Week 5 by three points at home in a winnable game against the defending champion Baltimore Ravens. Their rushing game is very disappointing. Dolphins running backs Daniel Thomas and Lamar Miller have not rushed for more than 69 yards in a game this season. In fact, in Week 1, Thomas led the team in rushing with 14 yards, while in Week 5, Miller led the team with 15 yards. Their rushing attack must improve in order to maintain a winning record. They currently have a 3-2 record. The second best team in Florida is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They are 0-4. There has been drama both off and on the field with the Bucs. Three players on the team have been diagnosed with MRSA, a staph infection: starting guard Carl Nicks, kicker Lawrence Tynes and rookie cornerback Johnthan Banks. Nicks had a recent recurrence of the staph infection that he dealt with during the final week of the preseason. The outbreak of MRSA in the Buccaneer’s locker room might cause this weekend’s matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles to be postponed. Recently released quarterback Josh Freeman, who signed with the Minnesota Vikings this past week, struggled in his

first three games this season. In his three weeks as a starter, he had a 45.7 completion percentage, a 26.8 quarterback rating, two touchdowns, three interceptions and a total of 571 passing yards. Head Coach Greg Schiano decided to bench the four-year pro and give rookie Mike Glennon the starting job in Week 4 against the Arizona Cardinals. Glennon posted Freemanlike numbers. He had a 55.7 completion percentage, a 18.3 quarterback rating, one touchdown, two interceptions and a total of 193 passing yards. He threw two late interceptions to cornerback Patrick Peterson of the Cardinals, which lead to a 13-point comeback by Arizona to win the game. However, the situation in Tampa should get better. Running back Doug Martin is among the best in the league at his position, and the defense of the Buccaneers is one of the tops in the league. All the Buccaneers need to do is score 20+ points instead of 10-14. They may be extremely disappointing right now, but they should be able to win games because they have a talented team. At least their defense keeps them in almost every game. The Jacksonville Jaguars sit at 05. They have become a laughingstock

in the NFL, and one reason may be because they were a 28-point underdog in Denver against the Broncos. That spread differential is tied for the highest in NFL history. They average 10.2 points per game. Former All-Pro running back Maurice Jones-Drew has taken a major step back this season, only rushing for about 200 yards total in his first five games. Both quarterbacks Blaine Gabbert and Chad Henne have completion percentages under 60 percent and struggle to throw touchdowns for their team. Gabbert has thrown for one touchdown and seven interceptions so far, and Henne has thrown for two touchdowns and two interceptions in 95 pass attempts. The rushing defense of the Jaguars is ranked last in the NFL. It is a mess in Jacksonville. Florida is lucky to have three NFL teams play in the state. However, nonfaithful fans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Jacksonville Jaguars may not want to spend money to see them lose live. Florida teams have a combined 3-11 record. At least the weather is nice during the season at those games. Greg Praver can be reached at gregory. praver@spartans.ut.edu


MINARET

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SPORTS

MLB Postseason [19]

Red Sox: 3 Rays: 1

Writers Recall Their Postgame Experience at the Trop KwongYeeChang/Flickr

Tropicana Field only sells out against big name opponents or during the playoffs. Games against Boston always draw a large crowd due to Northerners who now reside here. By CONNOR ANTHONY Sports Writer

The atmosphere in Tropicana Field was upbeat. Everyone seemed to be in a different mood. The Rays were down 2-1 to the Boston Red Sox in the ALDS, but no one seemed to notice. Maybe it was because the Rays won on a walk-off home run the night before. The crowd realized that if there was a team to come back, it was the Rays. They had been playing with their backs against the wall for the last week, defeating Toronto, Texas and Cleveland along the way. The tone of tonight was different. The crowd continued to grow every passing minute, and you could tell from the players’ reactions. They were laughing and enjoying batting practice. They had no problem throwing balls into the stands and almost made it a goal to make sure as many people as possible would leave the game By KEVIN BARASIA Sports Writer

The never-say-die Tampa Bay Rays finally ran out of gas. Starter Jeremy Hellickson didn’t even make it out of the second inning in Game 4, as manager Joe Maddon could not wait to see if he was going to get it together. Already managing to fight off one elimination game against the heavily favored Boston Red Sox, the Rays came into Game 4 with momentum to try and pull off another late-season miracle. Using all of nine pitchers in a nineinning game (albeit the most in franchise history), the bullpen was nearly flawless. Despite managing to get out of some meniscal jams, there was no real scare as far as runs were concerned.

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Writers Predict Weekly Matchups Week 7

with a ball. The way the Rays were swinging their bats in batting practice made it seem like we were going to be in for a great game. There to throw out the first pitch was Rocco Baldelli, a former player drafted by , the Devil Rays in the 2000 MLB draft. He started off his career putting up solid numbers and grew very popular with the fans. Sadly, injuries plagued his career, and he ended up having to retire at the age of 29 with many questions about his potential and what could have been. Even though his injury-riddled career was cut short, he still became one of the most popular players to ever play for the Rays franchise. When it was announced he was throwing out the first pitch, he received a standing ovation from the crowd of 32,807. The fans weren’t afraid to let the Red Sox fans know whose stadium this was. Tropicana got loud. At times I almost wanted to put my

hands over my ears to block out the sound. Whenever a Rays pitcher was ahead in the count, the fans would stand up and continue cheering. It felt like I spent half of the game on my feet. It was a very nerve-racking game early on, with the Rays getting themselves into a few jams. For instance, Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson had loaded the bases in the top of the second when manager Joe Maddon pulled him in favor of reliever Jamey Wright with no outs. Wright then proceeded to strike out Boston catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia and get an inning ending double play. You could have cut the tension with a knife. They would get out of the innings without suffering any damage, then the tension would dissolve and the cheering would continue. No runs were scored until the sixth inning, when shortstop Yunel Escobar was about two

feet away from hitting a homer. The crowd was roaring and the cowbells were out in full swing. The Rays scored in the sixth inning, but that was the only run that would come across the plate. The Red Sox ended up scoring two runs in the seventh and an insurance run in the ninth. The fans never gave up hope until Evan Longoria struck out to end the game. Even though the Rays were eliminated from contention, this season was an accomplishment, and furthered the notion of the Rays being one of the best teams in the MLB. After attending this game, it really highlights the concept that the Rays need to move their stadium to Tampa. The fans are there, and when they all come out, it is an awesome experience. The only thing that every Rays fan is thinking right now is, can Opening Day hurry up and get here? Connor Anthony can be reached at connor. anthony@spartans.ut.edu

From Hellickson to Jamey Wright, Matt Moore to Alex Torres, Chris Archer to Wesley Wright, Jake McGee to Joel Peralta, and, finally, to Fernando Rodney, an entire lineup of pitchers were used to try and stifle the bats of some of the hottest hitters in the game one-by-one. The Boston Red Sox ended up moving onto the American League Champion Series, and the Rays went back to the drawing board once again. This is a major turn of events from last year when the Sox went 69-93 and finished dead last in the American League East Division behind the Rays, Yankees, Orioles and even Blue Jays. This year, after an overhaul of both the roster and management, the Sox finished 97-65 to end the regular

season tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for the best record in all of baseball. The Rays (92-71) finished second in the division and managed to scrap themselves yet again into postseason play after fighting off the Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and the Kansas City Royals for the wild-card. After it was all said and done, the Rays managed to make it to the ALDS where they were rewarded with facing arguably the best team in baseball. Where do the Rays go from here? Will former Cy Young pitcher David Price be back despite the lowbudget tendencies of the front office to manage player salaries, or will he bed shipped off for another package of young talent, much like former staff

ace James Shields was last offseason? With Evan Longoria, Wil Myers and Ben Zobrist returning, another bat would be preferable to ensure Longoria has another monster year. The saddest time of the baseball season is the first week after your team is eliminated. That is the time when questions loom surrounding the current roster and whether or not the squad will all stay together, which usually never happens.As much as you hate to see the Boston Red Sox celebrate victory to the elimination of the Rays (and on their home turf, no less), it’s a much sadder picture knowing that you might have just seen key players like Price wearing a Rays uniform for the last time. Kevin Barasia can be reached at kevin.barasia@spartans.ut.edu

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