10-12-09

MUsTANG dAILY TOMORROW: Rain High 70˚/Low 60˚

CA L I F O R N I A P O LY T E C H N I C S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y Historic “Laramie” event to take place tonight in Chumash Auditorium.

IN ARTS, 6

Volume LXXIV, Number 23

Cal Poly students express views on Obama’s peace prize.

IN NEWS, 4

Cal Poly’s defense contains Montana until second half.

IN SPORTS, 12

Monday, October 12, 2009

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Construction begins: Ground breaks on Simpson Strong-Tie building Friday Will Taylor mustang daily

The Cal Poly College of Architecture and Environmental Design, already known for its inroads into the construction industry, is adding one more benefit for its students and their future employers. Construction on a new and unique lab is slated to begin on Oct. 16 next to the Construction Innovations Center.

The Simpson Strong-Tie Materials Demonstration Lab will focus on the materials students will be working with or designing in the industry upon graduation.

“One of the main things we’re looking at in this lab is the assembly, because it’s the stuff in between the different materials where the problems develop,” Allan Hauck, construction management department head, said. “Knowledge of these materials is what’s central to all

COURTESY IMAGE

the majors in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design.”

Students agree that experience in the field is important.

“Some students don’t get to work in a hands-on environment,” Dominic Cacciatore, a construction management senior said. “I think that’s crucial for someone working in the industry.”

The building itself is meant to be ‘part of the pedagogy’ and is one of only a handful of these labs across the country, the nearest being at Boise State, Hauck said. The lighting, wiring and connections will all be apparent and exposed so students from the College of Architecture and Environmental Design will be able to study and understand the interaction of the materials.

Some architectural engineering students are taking advantage of the see Strong-Tie, page 2

University Housing still in debt Saudi Arabia won’t despite increase in revenue work with Cal Poly Leticia Rodriguez mustang daily

University Housing received approximately $36 million in revenue this year from on-campus residents and other smaller services, an approximate $10 million increase from last year. This boost in earnings is a result of the phase II opening of Poly CanyonVillage Apartments, which opened up 1,100 more beds to students.With the final phase opening, Poly Canyon alone is expected to bring in approximately $14 million. But even with this additional money, University Housing retains much debt and many fees to pay.

Receiving no additional aid from the university or the state, Executive Director Preston Allen said it’s up to University Housing to make what money it receives from students and other smaller services work.

“Housing kind of floats its own boat,” Allen said. “Whether it sinks or fails is housing’s responsibility (so) the money (we) have needs to cover everything.”

With about 6,500 students living on-campus right now, Poly Canyon Village, Cerro Vista Apartments and

the residence halls are at full capacity.

The on-campus housing fees reflect a 4 percent increase from last year for each living facility.Allen said the jump is based on the Higher Education Price Index (HEPI), which University Housing uses as a benchmark when deciding living fees. Calculated by the Commonfund Institute (a subdivision of non-profit organization, Commonfund, that provides investment information and promotes informed financial management), the HEI is a price index meant to aid schools in creating future budgets. This year, the index, which is free to all colleges and universities in the United States, recommended a 3-5 percent jump based on eight categories, such as staff salaries, operating costs and utilities.

“Whatever I can do to keep costs low, I want to do it,” Allen said. “Part of my purpose is to offer affordable housing to students.”

But even with the 4 percent increase and the additional money coming in from Poly Canyon, University Housing still has a large debt to pay.

This year, alone it is required to pay about $15.8 million, which will go toward paying off the more than $300 million debt from building Poly Can-

yon and Cerro Vista.

Each student pays a quarterly or yearly fee according to where they live. Students in Poly Canyon Village Apartments pay $6,365, Cerro Vista Apartment occupants pay $6,218 and students living in the residence halls pay $5,383 a year. The price difference is based on the relative newness of each living area.

Two other obligations that University Housing has to meet are payments to the Chancellor’s Office and into a California State University (CSU) pool. The Chancellor’s Office payment is for general work done on all the 23 CSU campuses and to support the Chancellor’s Office of Operation.

The CSU pool is a yearly contribution from every campus’ university housing section to aid other CSU oncampus housing facilities.The amount owed is based off a percentage of how much each on-campus housing facility is bringing in, and can change every year. The goal of the pool is to help a campus’ university housing pay off costs when it can’t do so alone, proving that what affects one campus, affects all.When one campus’s universee Housing, page 2

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A contract long in the works between Cal Poly and Jubail University College (JUC) in Saudi Arabia has come to a close, and not with the resolution many were expecting.

The contract in question would have developed a unique program in engineering education between Cal Poly’s College of Engineering and JUC, for an information exchange of sorts.

About 15 months ago, Cal Poly officials signed their end of the contract and sent it to Saudi Arabian officials, who did not send their part back. The contract did have to go through Saudi Arabian government officials, not simply university administrators.

The deal between Cal Poly and JUC stood to bring to Cal Poly approximately $6 million over a period of five years. Mohammad Noori, the current dean of the College of Engineering’s, personal Web site said, the collaboration

was initiated by Cal Poly. (Other collaborative efforts have been underway between Cal Poly and UCSB, USC and a South Korean engineering program.)

Noori’s assistant, Jo Ernest, stated that “the agreement was not signed by all the parties,” and consequently did not come to fruition.

Dean Noori was unavailable to comment on the end to the collaborative effort.

Dean of Research and Graduate Programs Dr. Susan Opava said Saudi Arabian officials informed Cal Poly in June 2009 that the deal would not be going through.

Opava said Cal Poly officials believed a draft of the goals of the program was ready, but after Cal Poly officials and Saudi Arabian officials went back and forth over changes in language, the outcome was not successful.

“We thought we had a draft... acceptable to them,” Opava said, though the Royal Commission see Saudi, page 2

2

Housing continued from page 1

sity housing needs help, the other 22 campus housing facilities are billed.

“It reflects the enormity of the housing community on the CSU campuses,” Allen said.

Even then, University Housing still has a list of facility projects that need to get done. With Poly Canyon still being so new, the majority of these projects are aimed at maintaining the residence halls and Cerro Vista. For the 2009-10 year, University Housing estimates spending $715,000 on projects, including a restroom renovation in Yosemite and a volleyball court renovation in Sierra Madre. Business freshman Jamie Dehn said she is happy with the condition of Sierra Madre for all the money University Housing puts into it.

“Our bathrooms are always really clean,” she said. “Everything is always very well kept (and) works really well.”

Even though there is an almost $1,000 difference between Poly Canyon Village and the residence halls, agricultural science sophomore James Neumann said it’s worth it to pay a little more.

“You pay more, but you also have your own room, your own privacy, better accommodations, and you don’t have to share your own bathroom,” he said.“I lived in CerroVista last year for the same reason.”

Despite these expenses and other dues for the on-campus housing pool, staff salaries and basic operating costs, University Housing had enough money from operating costs to install Direct TV and add the NFL package

News editor: Tim Miller mustangdailynews@gmail.com

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to the televisions at Einstein’s Bagels in Poly Canyon. While Neumann said he doesn’t believe it’s a good use of student money, Dehn said she doesn’t mind as long as it doesn’t increase student housing costs.

“I personally don’t watch NFL,” she said, “but I know there’s a ton of people who are into football so I think it’s fine.”

After all fees, project payments, the Poly Canyon mortgage, operating expenses and salaries are paid, Allen estimates to have an $8,000 surplus. This $8,000 is then immediately split into seven reserves, which are used to build additional housing facilities, maintain residence halls, pay for damage done during a natural disaster and upgrade and add new technology to student facilities, among others.

The amount that is allocated to each reserve is dictated by a housing reserve policy put in place by the Student Housing Task Force in 1994.

Overall, Dehn said she is happy with the way University Housing is handling her money and doesn’t mind the extra cost to live in the residence halls because she wanted to get the dorm experience.

“I think one of the most important things about college is learning how to live with people,” she said. “You learn how to share your space when you live in the dorms (so) I think it’s totally worth it.”

University Housing prevents community advisors from talking to the Mustang Daily without permission, so they were unable to comment.

News Saudi

Strong-Tie

continued from page 1

continued from page 1

(part of the Saudi Arabian government, which is the “contractwing agency” of the deal, said Opava , rather than JUC itself) ultimately did not approve. The Royal Commission (of Jubail and Yunbu) returned a draft “so different from the previous version... just the reformatting alone,” Opava said. “We had to basically start from scratch.”

The Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu assists in city and regional planning for its specified growing industrial regions, and has been charged with that task for over three decades.

“The Royal Commission decided they couldn’t use a contract like the one they developed” for Cal Poly, Opava said.

Opava pointed out that it was not just Saudi Arabian officials who were to blame for the prolonged process. “We have to look carefully at our contribution to that delay,” she said.

The entire back-and-forth process lasted the span of about two years before the deal fell through.

The Royal Commission treated the collaboration as more of a business deal than an academic exchange, putting language into the contract, which would provide for deadlines and financial penalties if Cal Poly officials did not “deliver” on promised services by a certain date.

University officials couldn’t agree to the terms, which treated the university like a private business.

The contract has been under scrutiny because of Saudi Arabian policy toward a number of groups represented on the Cal Poly campus, including women, Jewish students and LGBT students. Opava pointed out that in the final contract from Cal Poly to the Royal Commission, any kind of discrimination based on gender, religion and so forth was specifically outlawed.

building before and during the process. Kimberly Orth and Joseph Klimczyk are doing their senior project on the construction process behind the new lab. “It’s pretty important to know what goes on in the industry besides just in (architectural engineering),” Orth said. “You have to understand the scheduling and timing beyond the

I think (working in a handson environment) is crucial for someone working in the industry —Dominic Cacciatore construction management senior

engineering and in the office.”

Orth also mentioned that materials testing is something that students don’t get to do often enough. There is a concrete testing lab, but Orth said that they are “pretty limited on what (they) can test in the lab.”

The framing of the building Orth and Klimczyk are studying is the first of its kind for a public, institutional building, Hauck said. The frame is a “heavy timber brace frame” composed of 6-by-6 timbers and larger. Under national and state building codes, public buildings (including all state university buildings) must adhere to higher safety standards regarding hazards like fires and earthquakes.

Before, timber was excluded for

Monday, October 12, 2009 these safety issues, while traditionally, other buildings on campus are composed mostly of steel and concrete because of their strength and fire resistance. A new code was put in place about a year and a half ago that allowed the building to be built with a timber frame, which can handle seismic loads and is fire resistant, Hauck said.

The goal of the timber frame is to use more environmentallyconscious materials. “What we’re trying to do with this building as well is the use of a sustainable, recyclable material, which is timber,” Hauck said.

The building, which has been in the planning stages for four to five years, is finally ready to break ground, Hauck said. The contract was given to San Luis Obispo construction management company Newton Construction for $1,675,000, less than the Cal Poly estimate. “The trend over the last year is that all projects have been coming in lower on their estimates,” Perry Judd, project manager under the Facilities Management Department said.

The project will cut off half of the thoroughfare between the Construction Innovations Center and the Engineering West building and will close the road in between the Center and the Graphic Arts building, although the sidewalk will remain open, Judd said.

It is a benchmark in the construction industry, Alan Hanson, Simpson Strong-Tie’s West Coast representative said. Simpson donated $500,000 to have their name on the lab. They have worked closely with Cal Poly for years and have hired 15 to 20 graduates, Hanson said.

“We want to further the relationship that we’ve had for a long time,” Hanson said. “It’s been great for us, because Cal Poly is considered by many people the premier engineering school West of the Rockies.”

The building is scheduled to be finished for the beginning of fall quarter 2010.

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Monday, October 12, 2009 www.mustangdaily.net

Wire Editor: Jennifer Titcomb

News

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Officials: Obama advisers are downplaying Afghan dangers Jonathan S. Landay, John Walcott and Nancy A. Youssef mcclatchy newspapers

WASHINGTON – As the Obama administration reconsiders its Afghanistan policy, White House officials are minimizing warnings from the intelligence community, the military and the State Department about the risks of adopting a limited strategy focused on alQaida, U.S. intelligence, diplomatic and military officials said.

Recent U.S. intelligence assessments have found that the Taliban and other Pakistan-based groups that are fighting United States -led forces have much closer ties to alQaida now than they did before Sept. 11, 2001, which would allow the terrorist network to re-establish bases in Afghanistan and would help Osama bin Laden export his radical brand of Islam to Afghanistan’s neighbors and beyond, the officials said.

McClatchy Newspapers interviewed more than 15 senior and mid-level U.S. intelligence, military and diplomatic officials, all of whom said they concurred with the assessments. All of them requested anonymity because the as-

sessments are classified and the officials weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

The officials said the White House is searching for an alternative to the broader counterinsurgency strategy favored by Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, and Gen. David Petraeus, the head of the U.S. Central Command.

White House officials, they said, have concluded that McChrystal’s approach could be doomed by election fraud, corruption and other problems in Afghanistan, by continued Pakistani covert support for the insurgency, by the strains on the Army, Marine Corps and the federal budget, and by a lack of political and public support at home, which they fear could also undermine the president’s domestic priorities.

One phrase that always comes up in the administration’s strategy sessions is “public opinion,” one participant told McClatchy Newspapers.

However, the officials said in their effort to muster domestic support for a more limited counterterrorism strategy that would concentrate on disrupting and dismantling

al-Qaida, White House officials are neglecting warnings from their own experts about the dangers of a more modest approach.

“McChrystal and Petraeus are ignoring the problems their (counterinsurgency) approach would face in Afghanistan and here at home,” said one intelligence official with extensive experience in South Asia and counterterrorism.

“We don’t have a reliable partner in Afghanistan or Pakistan; doubling the size of the Afghan army is a pipe dream, given the corruption and literacy problems; and neither Congress or the American people are likely to give it the money, the troops or the decade or so it would need to work, if it would work.

“Now the White House is downplaying the dangers of doing the only thing that they think Congress and the public will support – a limited war against the guys who hit us on 9/11. The truth is, both approaches have huge problems, and neither one’s likely to work.”

The White House, as well as Congress and U.S. military, “have got to level with the American people, and they are not doing it,” said Marvin Weinbaum, a former State Department intelligence

Briefs

State

National

International

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.

(MCT) — Nearly one-third of students in San Luis Obispo County were considered truant last year.

Enough students to virtually fill the Cal Poly football stadium -10,078 – were either absent or late to school without a valid excuse at least three times in the 2008-09 school year, exceeding the state average. And the number is growing.

The unexcused absences cost local school districts more than $925,000 last year and more than $4 million in the past five years.

Besides this increasing truancy rate, suspensions and expulsions have also grown during the past five years, a Tribune analysis found. There were 3,837 suspensions and 203 expulsions issued countywide last year, up 73 percent and 49 percent, respectively.

Concern about the number of students missing school prompted the county’s Children’s Services Network to create a task force in April to study the issue.

••• LOS ANGELES (MCT) — Marc Monte, the Aptos grocer who for 15 years has hosted an annual fireworks fundraiser for cash-strapped schools,says he’ll never again ask Hollywood into his small-town event.

Last weekend, an estimated 30,000 people crowded onto Seacliff State Beach for the 15th annual Fireworks Extravaganza to catch a glimpse of actor Matthew McConaughey, model Marisa Miller and several musical acts – namely hip-hop impresario Kanye West.

MINNEAPOLIS (MCT) — The desperation in Thomas Wirt’s plea is palpable.

“My wife would donate a kidney, but she has had breast cancer and is not a candidate,” he wrote. “I do not drink or smoke and will take the best care possible of your kidney. Can you give me back my life?”

That kind of entreaty can be found all over the Internet – on CaringBridge sites, personal Web pages and Craigslist. What makes Wirt’s plea distinct is that he paid $600 for the privilege of posting it on MatchingDonors.com.

The nonprofit Web site, created in 2005 by an Internet businessman and a physician in Boston, is the poster child for what many bioethicists say is tragically wrong with living donation in the United States – it’s unfair. The Web site, they say, is comparable to an Internet dating site that succeeds best for those who have money, media savvy or plain old-fashioned emotional appeal.

••• GREEN FALLS, N.Y.(MCT) — For retailers,the scariest thing about Halloween could be the average consumer’s conservative spending plans.

A new survey from the National Retail Federation says spending for Halloween will drop 15 percent – from about $66.50 per person last year to $56 this year.

Young adults, who were the big spenders for Halloween in 2008, plan to scale back dramatically, according to the survey.The average 18- to 24year-old will spend about $68.50, 21 percent less than last year’s $86.50.

BAGHDAD (MCT) — The bombers who attacked the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Sunday seemed determined to make sure none of their targets survived.

First, they bombed a crowded parking lot outside the provincial government’s headquarters.

Seven minutes later, they detonated a car bomb aimed at the rescue workers. An hour later, a third bomb exploded outside the hospital where survivors were receiving treatment.

By the end of the day, at least 23 people, mostly civilians, were dead and more than 80 were wounded in the attacks – two parked-car bombs and a suicide bombing, according to local authorities.

•••

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (MCT) — The nerve center of Pakistan’s vast security establishment came under bold assault Saturday, with terrorists storming the military headquarters, killing six army personnel and holding up to 15 hostages late into the night.

The drama at the sprawling headquarters complex in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, began Saturday morning and continued all day and into the night, watched live on TV by an appalled nation. Late Saturday, commandos were preparing to storm a building in the headquarters, where four to five gunmen were holding their captives.

It was the third major terrorist attack to hit Pakistan in six days.

mcclatchy-tribune

Results of a recent Gallup poll showing that Americans are about evenly divided on sending more troops to Afghanistan. analyst now with the Middle East Institute. “They are taking the easy way out by focusing on the narrow interest of protecting the homeland” from al-Qaida.

Some U.S. intelligence and military officials expressed deep frustration with what they see as the administration’s single-minded focus on al-Qaida’s threat to the U.S., saying it’s not discussing publicly other, more serious consequences

of a U.S. failure in Afghanistan as identified in some assessments.

A U.S. withdrawal or failure could permit al-Qaida and other groups export their violence from Afghanistan into Pakistan’s heartland, the Indian-controlled side of the disputed Kashmir region and former Soviet republics in Central Asia whose autocrats have been re see Afghanistan, page 5

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Monday, October 12, 2009

News

Obama vows unprecented support for gay and lesbian rights Steven Thomma mcclatchy newspapers

mcclatchy-tribune

Opponents to Proposition 8 march down Market Street to City Hall in San Francisco, California, Wednesday, March 4, 2009. for a protest the night before the Supreme Court was to hear arguments to overturn Proposition 8.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama vowed his unwavering support for the full gay rights agenda Saturday night, saying that he’ll push Congress to repeal the ban on gays serving openly in the military.

He also said that he’ll work to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as solely between a man and a woman, to guarantee that gay and lesbian couples get the same benefits as straight couples, and to ban anti-gay discrimination in the workplace.

“There are still laws to change and hearts to open,” he told the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gayrights group. “This fight contin-

ues. And ... I’m here with you in that fight,” he said to applause and cheers.

It’s not an easy fight, he said, because questions of equal rights for gays and lesbians still “raise a great deal of emotion in this country.” But he said “these issues go to the heart of who we are as a people.”

He acknowledged that he hasn’t delivered as fast as gay rights activists want.

“I appreciate your support,” he said. “I also appreciate that many of you don’t think progress has come fast enough. ... It’s not for me to ask you to be patient,” he said, any more than it was right for anyone 50 years ago to ask African-Americans to be patient.

Joe Solmonese, the president of the group, introduced Obama with praise for his commitment to the

Word on the Street

What do you think about Obama winning the Noble Compiled and photographed by Jennifer Titcomb Peace Prize ?

“There are a lot of different variables in this competition. I think there is some kind of bias. I don’t agree or disagree. I would have to look at the facts.”

“I used to think the Nobel Peace Prize was about actually doing something. It just seems like his ideology of bringing hope isn’t as substantial.”

-Nick Rosner, electrical engineering senior

-Hunter Ringrose, civil engineering junior

“I think it’s good because people don’t realize the steps he’s taken to (achieve) peace.”

“He’s definitely going in the right direction talking to people and bridging gaps.”

-Raj Nichols, environmental management and protection

-Javier Garza, forestry senior

gay rights agenda.

“We have never had a stronger ally in the White House – never,” Salmonese said.

But he added that many gays and lesbians are eager to see quicker results from a president who has long been on their side.

Obama insisted that some progress has been made on the gay agenda, noting last Thursday’s vote in the House of Representatives to expand federal “hate” crimes laws to include additional penalties for crimes based on “sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability.”The federal government now calls for tougher penalties in crimes motivated by a victim’s race, color, religion or national origin.

“This bill is set to pass, and I will sign it into law,” Obama said.

On the question of gays serving openly in the military, he said that he’s working to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy adopted in 1993 that allows gays to serve as long as they keep their sexual orientation secret.

“I will end ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’

That’s my commitment to you,” Obama said, to loud applause.

Last year, more than 600 people were forced out of the armed services under the policy.

“We are moving ahead on ‘don’t ask don’t tell.” Obama said. “We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who’ve stepped forward to serve America ... especially at a time we’re fighting two wars.”

He said he’s working with the Pentagon and congressional leaders to enact legislation repealing the policy, apparently referring to a bill introduced by Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., that so far has 176 cosponsors.

Obama also put the White House squarely behind efforts to protect gays and lesbians from workplace discrimination. “Nobody in America should be fired because they’re gay ... We’re going to put a stop to it,” he said.

For gay and lesbian couples, he said he’s already ordered the federal government to grant as many of the benefits offered married couples as possible under current law. And he said he’s prodding Congress to do more.

“I’ve called on Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage act and pass the domestic partners benefits bill,” he said.

Despite his vows, Obama did not spell out how much political capital he would, or could, use to push the gay rights agenda at a time he’s reworking the war strategy in Afghanistan, pushing for a health care overhaul and struggling to save a climate bill in the Senate.

“I understand the president has a crowded agenda, but I have been serving under this law for 16 years,” said Air Force Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, before the speech. He’s an Iraq war hero who is set to be discharged under the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, and he went into the evening looking for a more solid commitment from the president.

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News

Terrorist attack in Pakistan shows how vulnerable it is in aftermath Saeed Shah

mcclatchy newspapers

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – The devastating terrorist assault on Pakistan’s military headquarters, which ended early Sunday after nearly 24 hours, exposed the threat of extremist groups operating in the heart of the country and the vulnerability of its most sensitive sites, raising concerns over the security of its nuclear arsenal.

“The only thing that stands between al-Qaida and nuclear weapons is the Pakistan army,” said Shaun Gregory, a professor at Britain’s Bradford University and an expert on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. “It is an incredible shock that terrorists can strike at the heart

Afghanistan continued from page 3

pressing Islam for decades, the U.S. officials said.

Allowing the Taliban to prevail, the officials said, could reignite Afghanistan’s civil war, which was fought largely on ethnic lines, and draw nuclear-armed India and Pakistan into backing opposing sides of the conflict.

“It is our belief that the primary focus of the Taliban is regional – that is, Afghanistan and Pakistan,” one senior U.S. intelligence official said. “At the same time, there is no reason to believe that the Taliban are abandoning their connections to al Qaida, which has its sights set beyond the region.”

“The two groups ... maintain the kind of close relationship that – if the Taliban were able to take effective control over parts of Afghanistan – would probably give al-Qaida expanded room to operate,” the official added.

Pakistan has long patronized Afghanistan’s dominant Pashtun ethnic group, which constitutes

of GHQ (general headquarters)...

Terrorists could mount this sort of assault against Pakistan’s nuclear installations.”

U.S. officials hope the attack on the seat of Pakistani military power will help convince the country’s top military and intelligence officials to stop supporting militant groups fighting in Afghanistan, which is essential for the Obama administration to achieve even limited progress there.

However, the attack also could deepen some Pakistani officials’ conviction the American war against al-Qaida and the Taliban is a catalyst for Islamic extremism in the region and to keep hedging against an eventual U.S. withdrawal by continuing to support some the Taliban. India – whose Kabul, Afghanistan, embassy was hit Oct. 8 by a car bomb for the second time in 16 months – supports the U.S.-backed Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai. India backed the ethnic minorities who fought the Taliban before the 2001 U.S. invasion.

“The region right now is as volatile as I have ever seen it. The tension is not waning; it is on the rise,” another senior U.S. intelligence official said. “The Indo-Pakistan issue looms like a dark cloud on a horizon that might look clear blue, but it is actually a tidal wave that is rushing in.”

Finally, failure in Afghanistan would deal a massive blow to U.S. international standing to the benefit of Iran, Russia and China, and undermine the NATO alliance, the U.S. officials said.

The intelligence assessments and the U.S. officials’ views are in stark contrast to briefings and statements made last week by administration officials who downplayed the threat al-Qaida that could pose if the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan.

militant groups while fighting those it deems a threat to Pakistan.

The raid and ensuing hostage crisis resulted in 11 army personnel and civilians dying inside the military complex in Rawalpindi, while nine terrorists were killed and their ringleader was captured, injured but alive. A rescue operation early Sunday brought out 39 hostages, but left three others dead.

The onslaught came just before the army begins a planned U.S.backed offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in the country’s wild Waziristan region on the border with Afghanistan, the hub of extremism in Pakistan.

Evidence suggested the assailants came from Pakistan’s core Punjab province, rather than eth-

nic Pashtuns from Waziristan or elsewhere on the northwest fringe.

Some experts said Pakistan’s military establishment, long accused of backing some extremist groups while cracking down on others, should now be forced finally to abandon its deadly game of “good” militant, “bad” militant, as onceloyal groups have turned repeatedly against the Pakistani state.

The ringleader of the attackers, Aqeel alias Dr. Usman, came from Punjab province, almost certainly from a militant outfit that was once patronized by officials and that had linked up with Taliban groups from the northwest. Punjab is untouched by the military’s antiextremist operations.

With the Obama administration

reportedly weighing whether to shift its Afghanistan focus to a Pakistan first policy, the attack highlighted Pakistan’s fragility, while many commentators in the country concluded it would escape the wrath of the jihadists only if Islamabad broke its alliance with Washington. Pakistan, not Afghanistan, houses al-Qaida’s leadership, which ought to make it a bigger priority, according to some U.S. officials.

Most of the terrorist attacks seen in Pakistan over the last two years have been suicide bomb strikes, often by young or mentally disturbed men, but the GHQ attack on the weekend was a commando gun and grenade assault by well-trained jihadists against a highly protected target.

Monday, october 12, 2009

arts & Entertainment editor: cassandra keyse

Poly to participate in historic “Laramie” event tonight

www.mustangdaily.net Always in color

Kara Dimitriou mustang daily

Cal Poly, and more than 100 other schools nationwide, will participate in a historic event tonight to commemorate the life of a young college student, Matthew Shepard, the victim of a hate crime.

“The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later” is a staged reading examining the attitudes of the residents of Laramie, Wyoming, Shepard’s hometown. It also examines the progress made since the original “Laramie Project.”

“Being as this event will be a part of history, it’s a chance to see something that more than 130 schools will be watching at the same time,” Steve Lerian, director of Cal Poly Arts said.

In 1998, Shepard was a student at the University of Wyoming at Laramie. On Oct. 12, 1998, two students kidnapped him, tied him to a fence, beat him and left him to die because he was gay. He died see Theater, page 7

courtesy photo

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Theater continued from page 6

as a result of the hate and discrimination against him. He has since become and icon for equality and minority acceptance.

In the original production, Laramie residents were interviewed and their reactions to the horrific event were recorded by the Tectonic Theater Project — an award-winning company that performs all over the world — which produced the play on Shepard’s behalf. It was later adapted as an HBO movie and nominated for four Emmys in 2002.

In 2008, the Tectonic Theater

Project went back to Laramie to re-interview the town concerning Shepard’s murder. The purpose was to see what progress has been made, if any, within those 10 years.

Each performance will take place tonight on the 12th anniversary of Shepard’s death.

At Cal Poly, there will be a staged reading with ten actors sharing information from the town after those 10 years. Furthermore, the recording from the New York production will be played, showing Judy Shepard, Matthew Shepard”s mother, and followed by a question-and-answer session.

Jeffrey Azevedo, a Cal Poly electrical engineering and theater graduate, is directing the event. He

Arts

Arts editor: Cassandra Keyse mustangdailyarts@gmail.com

first heard of Shepard’s death in the sixth grade and still remembers talking about it in class. It’s important to have this performance and to see how far we’ve come in the last 10 years, he said.

“This is so unique and (it’s) great to be a part of something of this magnitude,” Azevedo said. “Hopefully this will generate discussion and give people a better understanding of what’s going on.”

“The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later” is a free event, and donations will be accepted for the Matthew Shepard Foundation, Cal Poly Arts and SLO AIDS Support Network.

The performance will be held at Chumash Auditorium at 8 p.m. tonight.

“The Path Less Traveled”

mcclatchy-tribune

Actors from the City Lights Theater Company in San Jose prepare for their production of “The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later.” The production will be performed by more that 100 schools and theater companies tonight on the 12th anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death.

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Monday, October 12, 2009

Arts

video game column

music column

Califone’s latest inspires New game soon-to-be-released film shows “Batman” I’ve got to tell you right now, I was more than just a little tempted to do this week’s article on the new They Might Be Giants children’s album, “Here Comes Science.” I wanted to do it really badly, but it was too sad for me. It’s hard to admit in a full article with a really big picture of my face right next to it that I was amused by music about the sun, rainbows and the scientific method, all of which are meant to get children excited about going to school. It really is hard to publicly admit that I liked the album.

So much so that I’d write an article about it thinking that you might be so intrigued that you would actually go out of your way to listen to a kids’ album. It was a sad couple of minutes, but, in the end, as I decided against it, I felt like a grown up, like I had the ability to practice restraint and demonstrate to my peers refined taste and matured views of the world and art. So now, I’m in my room, wearing a tweed sports coat, smoking a pipe and developing my understanding of the human condition and its relationship to rhythm and tonality by listening to Califone’s newest album, “All My Friends Are Funeral Singers.”

The album is itself a very fine example of the Califone tradition with its restrained and sensibly mixed acoustic folk and experimental electronic breakdowns. It’s the kind of thing you can genuinely enjoy and still feel unnecessarily pretentious about.

Also, it’s a useful album to put on for a lady late at

the respect he deserves Karen Howell

the reflector (mississippi state u.)

courtesy photo

Califone’s newest album, “All My Friends Are Funeral Singers,” was released Oct. 6 by Dead Oceans Records. night when you want to prove that you have emotionally evolved beyond all the other people at the party you just came from.

In fact, I give you my personal guarantee that you will, at the very least, get a cuddle out of her before the sun comes up.And, oh yeah, she’ll swoon hard when songs like “Funeral S i n g ers” and “Brunuel” start to play.

They are the kind of things that make the heart swell and the body writhe in hyper-sensitive ways, especially for us

20-something hipsters with easily provoked libidos.

My favorite thing about this album is the way it seamlessly switches from desperate loneliness to sincere nostalgia to fun-freakfolk-hoe-downs. It’s a truly eclectic album without erratic transitions. It is masterfully arranged and composed so that each song has its place within the album as a whole, creating this honestly beautiful and amazing collection of songs.

“All My Friends Are Funeral Singers” also serves as the conceptual soundtrack to a soon-to-bereleased film of the same name.

The film will be released sometime next year, starring the members of Califone and Angela Bettis (“Girl Interrupted”), and will be accompanied by live performances by Califone during next year’s tour.

Written and directed by Califone front man, Tim Rutili, the “AMFAFS” movie looks like a hipstered-out musical version of “The Others” (that movie where Nicole Kidman is a ghost and is stuck in the house, but doesn’t know she’s a ghost and therefore inadvertently terrifies children) and will most likely be good Jack LaPorte is an English senior, a KCPR DJ and “Hipster Bullshit” contributing columnist.

Have you ever wanted to dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?

Whether you recognize this question from 1989’s “Batman” or not, you can enjoy Rocksteady’s newest addition to the world of comic book hero video games, “Batman: Arkham Asylum.”

This latest incarnation of Batman — released on the PS3 and Xbox360 last month and just recently on the PC — is a must play. Its sales worldwide have already earned it a Guinness World Record for “Most Critically Acclaimed Superhero Game Ever.”

The game opens up with the Batmobile racing through the streets of Gotham, Batman has once again caught the Joker and is delivering him to Arkham Asylum. The tone of the game is dark and sinister, even creepy at times, taking place entirely on Arkham Island and features an original story written by author and five-time Emmy award winner Paul Dini, who has also worked on “Lost” and “Batman: The Animated Series.” Many of the characters from the comic make an appearance, and even more are alluded to.

While I applaud the use of Mark Hamil to voice the Joker, I don’t really like what they did to Harley Quinn; I remember her character being more of an acrobat than an S&M Amazon playing nurse. However, they did a great job with Poison Ivy and Killer Croc, and I think they actually improved Scarecrow.

Right out of the gate, you are Batman. You don’t have to level up or acquire weapons, although you do get more skills and gadgets as the game progresses. But unlike many other superhero games, you start out strong.

The game does not offer a tutorial, but then again I didn’t see a real need for one. The basic controls are really quite simple: Y counters, B stuns, A evades and X kicks ass. The combat system is similar to games like “Devil May Cry” — you can chain your attacks and go from kicking one thug in the teeth to delivering an elbow into the chest of the thug who thought

he would sneak up behind you.

Your enemies also get smarter throughout the game, and some will be armed with various weapons.

One of the more interesting features, in my opinion, was the ability to truly put the fear of the bat into your enemies.

The Joker has outfitted his men with technology that gives him their biological information and location, presumably to let him know who is out of commission or running scared. The player can use it to their advantage.

For instance, swoop down from the rafters and take one thug out without being seen or heard. Use the batclaw to return to the shadows and wait for the other guys to find the body. You can see the heart rates jump up as the thugs start to freak out. Plus the Joker’s comments over the intercom system stir them up even more; for example in one scene, Joker told them where to look for bodies and mocked their incompetence.

Now you have gone from a room with four calm brutes to three skittish punks who shoot at any random noise.

There is a perfect balance between stealth and action here.

Explore your inner ninja, crawl through the air ducts, hide in the shadows and strike down your enemies when the time is right.

Actually, it might be more appropriate to say “predator” instead of stealth because Batman is not hiding from his enemies, he is hunting them.

Or maybe your ideal Batman stomps the miscreants into submission. If so, you can jump right into the action and take the whole gang on barehanded. You also get to upgrade your equipment in whatever way you think complements your playing style best. Many of Batman’s gizmos and gadgets will be at your disposal.

But Batman is not all about pummeling enemies; there are mysteries to unravel and puzzles to solve. They can range from something as tame as taking care of the henchmen without being detected to something harder, like the figuring out the Riddler’s Challenges.

After many attempts, someone finally made a good Batman video game. The graphics are beautiful, the voice acting is well done, the story is in line with the Batman universe and the game play is superb.

The big, bad Bat has certainly come a long way since his 8-bit appearance in 1988’s “Batman: The Caped Crusader.”

opinion/editorial Monday, October 12, 2009

Editor in chief: Emilie Egger Managing Editor: Alex Kacik

mustangdaily@gmail.com

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mustang daily The voice of Cal Poly since 1916

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Obama’s Nobel is a prize for America and a sign things have changed mcclatchey-tribune

Unfortunately, there are many health insurance misconceptions.

There are actually many options for health insurance in California that can meet different needs.

The health insurance companies are also coming out with new plans and incentives to try to make coverage more affordable, including for college students and recent graduates. Also, many people make the mistake of viewing their health insurance payment as just another bill at the end of the month or year. Plans should be read very carefully and understood what you are covered for.

Update your plan annually, and doing so will ensure that the individual or family has the right plan to best fit changing needs —Emily Response to “Uncovered: Many students don’t plan ahead for health coverage” I only choose to dispute one point. Not there is ample room in your treatise for argument.

And that is your statement that morality is religious. You are rather unequivocal here, but have nothing with which to back it up.

I tire of this inane conclusion, by extension, that atheists such as myself, by our nature are amoral.

And I reiterate my comment from last week. Dude! Brainwashed!

—Anonymous Response to “No education, just indoctrination” Mr. Tsoi‘s arguments and ideas are contrary to practical reality, and are obviously based on reasoning founded in a religiously indoctrination. This is especially true with respect to his opinion on the practical reality of evolution. Evolution has been debated thoroughly by academics and laymen alike for 150 years.

Biologists agree that evolution is the most well supported idea in modern biology, and that almost all other ideas in biology support and tie into the theory of evolution. Our country fails to provide enough education in science and mathematics currently, and I fear for what would happen if our country was controlled for a long period of time by people who share his irrational skepticism of evidence-based, practical reality —Anonymous Response to “Uncovered: Many students don’t plan ahead for health coverage” NOTE: The Mustang Daily features select comments that are written in response to articles posted online. Though not all the responses are printed, the Mustang Daily prints comments that are coherent and foster intelligent discussion on a given subject.

Barack Obama has inspired.

He has elevated. He has brought hope to people around the world. He has reinvigorated dialogues that seemed long dead, or hidden on back burners.

For that, on Friday, he was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

Obama's work for peace is still promise. Critics, even some supporters, suggest it's too early to hand this young president the world's most prestigious award.

After all, it's a frighteningly exclusive club; it doesn't, for instance, include Gandhi.

But Obama does share something with many who have accepted this award before him including Nelson Mandela, Elie Wiesel, Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr. and Lech Walesa: The ability to

lift eyes upward, to prompt dreams of a better future.

The prize is only sometimes given out for accomplishments. As commonly, it is awarded to give strength to a position, to provide gravitas for a noble individual struggling for peace against a corrupt system.

Obama was chosen as a way to welcome the United States back into the global community after years of unilateral policy.

This award is therefore not just to the man, but his nation. And it's focused as much on what we can do, and what with Obama as president we seem to have the will to do, as on what he's already accomplished in the short time he's been in office.

He humbly acknowledged that in his acceptance announcement.

Already, his administration has reopened discussions with Iran, addressed nuclear disarma-

ment and confronted the Western-Islamic divide, the source of so much that is wrong with the world today.

So maybe Obama, to date, hasn't earned a Peace Prize for sealed deals. But he brings hope.

And, sometimes, hope is worth rewarding.

Nobel tribute would mean more if it could cite achievements mcclatchey-tribune

"Who, Obama? So fast? Too fast — he hasn't had the time to do anything yet."

Even some of the president's admirers must have shared the puzzled reaction of Poland's Lech Walesa, the 1983 Nobel Peace Laureate, upon learning of President Barack Obama's selection as this year's recipient.

Europe loves Obama because he's not George W. Bush, whose war-on-terror policies are reviled, but is that really a prizeworthy distinction? It shouldn't be.

His selection is an honor for this country, yet the word premature springs to mind. Obama has made some eloquent speeches, most recently reaffirming a commitment to diplomatic engagement before the U.N. General

letters

to the editor Mr. Tsoi has once again managed to write a thoroughly uneducated editorial about things he does not understand. I agree that primary school teachers should not teach evolution as a fact, but that is only because science, unlike religion, does not claim to be infallible. The theory of evolution (and before you start complaining about the term, let me remind you that gravity is also 'just a theory') should be

Assembly. And he has done some good things, too, like ordering the eventual closing of the prison at Guantanamo and outlawing waterboarding.

That's a good start, but no more than that. The Nobel Peace Prize should represent more than a pat on the back for good intentions.

There is as yet no grand political achievement that compares to finding a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland (John Hume and David Trimble, 1998).

He has not reached the level of Nelson Mandela, who shared the prize with F.W. de Klerk in 1993 for bringing reconciliation to South Africa. He is not a worldwide symbol of the capacity of the human spirit (Elie Wiesel, 1986), nor a personification of peace (Mother Teresa, 1979; the Dalai Lama, 1989).

The Nobel committee cited as his key accomplishment bringing "a new climate in international politics." It is to Obama's credit that he has inspired such great expectations around the world, and perhaps the award is a way to encourage him to keep at it. But the prize would mean more if it could point to concrete achievements.

Obama's comments on Friday seemed to reflect his own surprise, describing his selection "a call to action for all nations to work toward peace" and "an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations." He seems to understand what the world expects of him. Now he has to deliver on those great expectations. As he is fond of saying, "It's not going to be easy."

taught in primary school science classes because it is, in fact, a science. In contrast, Intelligent design is a circular explanation supported by no scientific evidence. To teach it alongside evolution would be an insult to 100 years of study and research.

If you are interested in teaching religion in schools, why make it exclusively Christianity? Granted, your hero Thomas Jefferson was a Christian man, but not everybody in the 13 colonies was. Consider the hundreds of thousands forced 'immigrants' brought over from Africa. Why not teach the multiple religions that they brought

with them? Why not teach the from Mormonism, a religion founded in the US? Why should every newcomer to the US have to learn the religion of everybody that came before him but not be allowed to teach his own?

Jefferson's freedom to exercise religion protects them, and any atheist who wants to actively practice no religion, as much as it protects your version of Christian morality.

Cover yourself, Mr. Tsoi. Your hypocrisy is showing.

Guy Shani biological sciences senior

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Defense continued from page 12

defensive players and coaches do to each other, everyone is quick to point out that the success of the defense isn’t just a result of the relationship between the defensive unit, but between the entire team as a whole. What frustrates coach Shotwell is that the common fan can’t see just how effective the offense actually is during games. While a lot of the talk concerning the soso playing of the offense is a result of the game against South Dakota, coaches Shotwell and Lupfer want fans to see that Cal Poly’s offense was in possession of the ball more than South Dakota’s and was effective in moving the ball down the field.

“I think that people are slow to catch onto success and quick to catch onto failure,” coach Shotwell said. “(In the) game of football, it’s more about controlling the field, and the offense did that against South Dakota.”

Cal Poly leads the Great West conference in scoring defense and interceptions, but stumbled in Saturday’s loss to Montana, allowing 35 points. Contrary to past games, the offense got things rolling in the first half.

Montana had 453 yards of total offense compared to Cal Poly’s 317.

Conference leader in tackles, Marty Mohamed (36), added 10 take downs, and defensive back Scottie Cordier brought his conference-leading interceptions total to four with a pick. Cal Poly built 10-0 and 17-7 leads in the first half by capitalizing on four turnovers before Montana gained momentum with a score in the final minute, closing the gap 17-14.

Quarterback Tony Smith capped an 83-yard, 10-play drive with a one-yard sneak with time waning in the first quarter and added a a field goal early in the second. But the Grizzlies recovered quickly from the 10-0 deficit as Justin Roper hooked up with Mariani on an 84yard touchdown pass. Late in the second, Cal Poly took advantage of South Dakota’s special teams’ miscue after a Mariana fumble that was capped off by a Jordan Yocum rushing touchdown. He had 119 yards on 24 carries.

It took Montana just over three quarters to capture its first lead of the game, 21-17. Five minutes later, the Grizzlies added another when quarterback Andrew Selle hit Mariani with a a 68-yard touchdown pass.

Cal Poly responded with its own long touchdown pass, but Montana struck right back with 3:24 left, solidifying its 35-23 victoty.

Quarterback Tony Smith was hurt earl with a thigh bruise, but limped through most of the game.

With two lineman out for the season, running back Jon Hall out for at least another week and wide receiver Dominique Johnson out indefinitely Smith was a tough loss to swallow.

The Mustangs fall to 2-3 in conference while Montana improves its undefeated record to 5-0. But, it’s the close-knit family atmosphere that can transform a tough loss to something to build on.

“Everybody’s busting their ass, everyone has the same mindset to do so well,” Kyle Mohamed said.

“The defense has their little bond and the offense has their little bond, but as a team, we’re striving for the same goal.”

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mustang daily

Monday, October 12, 2008

sports

It’s all sweeps in Los Angeles

mcclathcy-tribune

The Los Angeles Angels and the Los Angeles Dodgers both swept their way into the second round of playoffs this weekend.

David Lennon newsday

BOSTON — Their ancient rivals now are history. But the Yankees, should they advance to the American League Championship Series, might end up wishing for those grudge matches with the Red Sox once they get there.

That’s because the Angels not only are a dangerous group but look like a team of destiny, too.

With a 2-0 lead over Boston in the Division Series, the Angels really had nothing to lose Sunday at Fenway Park.

But rather than buckle beneath 3-0 and 5-1 deficits, the Angels saved their best for last, rallying for three runs in the ninth inning against Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon for a seriesclinching 7-6 victory.

Papelbon had two outs, none on and an 0-and-2 count on Erick Aybar before five straight Angels reached

Dan Clasgens st. louis post

ST. LOUIS — September’s fade officially turned to October black Saturday night at Busch Stadium.

Once armed with its league’s best record, the Cardinals fell in eerie quiet, 5-1, as the Los Angeles Dodgers concluded a three-game sweep of a Division Series that offered the NL Central champs some early suspense but ultimately little but profound disappointment.

Three extra-base hits by right fielder Andre Ethier, a revival by meandering left fielder Manny Ramirez and a continuation of the Dodgers’ pitching dominance sent the Cardinals home with only their second Division Series loss in eight tries under manager Tony La Russa.

“I don’t like the stigma attached to being swept, but that’s what happened,” La Russa said upon exiting his office more than an hour after the loss. “The series was more competitive than that. But that’s what it is.”

The Dodgers, who finished with the league’s best record but lost five of seven to the Cardinals during the season, emerged after handing Chris Carpenter his roughest start of the season in Game 1 and then exploiting left fielder Matt Holliday’s ninth-in-

base. In three consecutive at-bats, the Angels were one strike from defeat.

“We never surrender,” said Bobby Abreu, who lined a 1-and-2 pitch off the Green Monster for an RBI double that moved the Angels within 6-5. “We never give up. We’ve had comebacks many times. And it’s huge doing it against Papelbon. We hit it hard and we celebrated. That’s what happened.”

Vladimir Guerrero supplied the two-run single to center that decided the game, after an intentional walk to Torii Hunter that loaded the bases, but it was the Angels’ resilience that got them to that point.

With two outs, Aybar singled, Chone Figgins worked a full-count walk and Abreu doubled home a run, putting runners on second and third. That’s when the Sox chose to put Hunter on and take their chances with Guerrero, who had not driven in a run in nine previous playoff games against Boston.

“It’s tough to walk the bases loaded,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said.“But Pap throws strikes and he had a lot of success against Guerrero. I guess, to put it in a nutshell, we thought it would put us in a better chance to win. It didn’t work.”

Guerrero was 2-for-12 with a walk and three strikeouts against Papelbon, who had entered with two outs in the eighth inning to clean up Billy Wagner’s mess. Papelbon threw Guerrero a first-pitch fastball and he drilled it to centerfield in front of Jacoby Ellsbury for the winning single.

“Things happened quick,” Papelbon said. “More than anything, I wasn’t really able to stop the bleeding.

Your team fights to put you in that situation, to call upon you, and you let them down.”

Papelbon had not allowed a run in the first 17 postseason appearances of his career, spanning 26 innings, before he was called on Sunday for the fourout save with the Red Sox clinging

to a 5-2 lead. Juan Rivera cut it to 5-4 with a two-run single on Papelbon’s first pitch, those runs were charged to Wagner, and after Mike Lowell’s twoout RBI single in the bottom of the eighth gave Boston a two-run lead, the Angels chipped away at Papelbon in the ninth.

The Angels beat the Red Sox in a playoff series for the first time in five tries, and it also was their first postseason sweep. They advanced to the ALCS for the sixth time in club history and first time since 2005.

“We’ve had a rough go,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “Part of it is Boston, they’re a deep club. We didn’t match up well with them a couple of years. They took it to us.

Personally, I feel good for our guys because this series was important for them. Not only to beat Boston, but to beat a club of their caliber. I think the way we did it in the sweep on the road with two outs in the ninth has to give us a lot of momentum.”

ning error in Game 2. Saturday’s win was more thorough, as they jumped Cardinals starter Joel Pineiro for four early runs and never offered an opening to a struggling offense.

“They came out on fire, and we didn’t,” Pineiro said.

The sweep concluded a stretch in which the Cardinals lost 11 of their last 13 while futilely searching for an offensive spark. Dodgers manager Joe Torre successfully gambled that walking first baseman Albert Pujols at every turn would allow his team to avoid big innings. The Cardinals scored one run in five of 27 innings.

“We beat a very good team,”Torre said.“And we won the two games that Carp and Wainwright pitched, which certainly did a lot for our personality and our confidence.”

The Cardinals played with less outward verve and committed more mistakes. Defensive missteps and a hit batter contributed to three runs in a 5-3 loss in Game 1. Holliday’s losing battle with the Dodger Stadium lights became the pivot point for a 3-2 loss in Game 2.

Starter Vincente Padilla and a dominant bullpen smothered the Cardinals in Game 3.

“They just beat us to the punch all night. Give them credit,” La Russa said.

“Sometimes that happens. It’s hard to explain. It’s baseball,” Holliday said.

“You wish it was something you could put your finger on. We didn’t get enough hits with runners on base.

That’s part of the game.”

The Dodgers neutralized the largest crowd ever to watch a game at the new Busch Stadium (47,296) when Ramirez roped a two-out double in the first inning and Ethier followed in the third with a two-out, two-run homer.

The Cardinals never brought the tying run to the plate after the second inning. “Their bullpen was outstanding,” said catcher Yadier Molina.

“They have some guys who throw very hard right on the corners. They pitched good.”

A sinkerballer who reported for his first postseason start Saturday without sink, Pineiro couldn’t keep the ball on the ground and got his eviction notice after surrendering a fourth run in the fourth inning.

After going three for 22 with runners in scoring position the first two games, the Redbirds left the bases loaded in the first inning and failed to score in the fourth after Colby Rasmus’ one-out double.

The Dodgers contrasted the Cardinals’ futility in the clutch by scoring all their runs with two outs. Ramirez

and Ethier contributed five extra-base hits worth 13 total bases. The Cardinals managed eight total bases.

Ethier helped wreck the game by coming within a single of the cycle.

He tripled and scored off John Smoltz to make it a 5-0 game in the seventh inning before doubling in the ninth.

La Russa hoped to avoid having a flat, tense team by playing down their late swoon and then quarantining them from the media on a lengthy workout day. He ultimately got what he feared the most.

La Russa tried to explain the team’s late-season fade as a natural byproduct of a double-digit lead in a mediocre NL Central. However, his Sept. 29 reminder in Cincinnati that no team can “flip the switch” at a whim proved more prophetic.

A review of the season will begin immediately and, according to club sources, heap heavy scrutiny on the team’s inconsistent offensive approach. The Cardinals managed only four runs in the last 22 innings.

Including his 10 at-bats in the series, Pujols exits the season having gone without a home run for a career-most 89 at-bats.

Saturday’s wipeout concluded a rebuttal of Cardinals teams’ 20-5 success under La Russa in previous Division Series.

mustangdaily.net Monday, October 12, 2009

SPORTS

sports editor: Brian De Los Santos

mustangdailysports@gmail.com

MUSTANG DAILY

Cal Poly defense develops swagger on and off the field, but comes up short in loss to Grizzlies Leticia Rodriguez mustang daily

When the Cal Poly football defense got together to prepare for the fall season, change was taking place.

New coaches were introduced, a new defensive scheme was put into action and a new video scoreboard was installed. Along with this change, success has come for the Mustang defense in a period when the offense has been struggling to find their footing.

Thanks in part to their new defensive coordinator, a more traditional lineup at the line of scrimmage, team chemistry and a ‘school-first’ mentality, the Mustang defense is trying to reclaim its defensive prowess of years past.

While some have attributed the triumphs of the defense to strong leadership and more experience, head coach Tim Walsh believes the success is a combination of factors.

“I really believe in how (defensive coordinator Greg Lupfer) coaches and his teaching abilities. On the other hand, you’re only as good as the players that play for you,” Walsh said. “The team chemistry here is outstanding. What we do and who does it and how hard they practice and play on Saturday allow us to be as successful as we have been.”

Many of the defensive players attribute their chemistry to Lupfer and the winning attitude he instilled early on.

“Right from the get-go it was a family aspect of accomplishing something,” defensive end Ryan Shotwell said. “Coach Lupfer has kind of instilled an attitude to be the best we can be, and coach Lupfer wants us to be the best in the country. No matter who we’re playing, I think I have a chance to win because I go to Cal Poly. It’s all about attitude.”

Ryan Shotwell and linebacker Carlton Gillespie also point to Lupfer’s mandatory linebacker meetings and the defense barbecue he held at Pismo Beach days before the team left for football camp in August. At the barbecue, the defensive unit introduced themselves to each other and discussed goals for the upcoming season.

“I’d never been to a barbecue like that before,” Gillespie said. “It showed he’s committed to us.”

In addition to pushing the defense, Lupfer has changed the de-

nick camacho mustang daily file photo

Despite its recent success and four first-half turnovers, the Mustang defense gave up over 400 yards of total offense to Montana Saturday. Senior linebacker Marty Mohamed talied a game-high 10 tackles in a 35-23 loss. fensive scheme to a more traditional style. Under former head coach Rich Ellerson, the Mustang defense showcased a complicated 3-4 Double Eagle Flex alignment. Under Lupfer, the team has switched to a more traditional 4-3 formation with two tackles and two defensive ends at the line of scrimmage and three linebackers behind.

But as anyone who has ever played sports undoubtedly knows, a team is nothing if the players don’t trust and respect each other, a sentiment felt wholeheartedly by defensive assistant coach Kyle Shotwell.

“I think what we have on the defensive side now is that we’ve got a group of guys who have bought into Lupfer,” he said. “On defense, it’s a lot about sacrifice and doing your role so we can be successful as a whole.”

It’s easy to see what the coaches are talking about when discussing friendship, family and brotherhood.

It’s seen in the smirks at a private joke, the friendly ordering around of a redshirtted freshman to take a DVD to

a senior’s car and in the chuckles at the mention of linebacker brothers Marty and Kyle Mohamed and their

Everybody’s busting their ass, everyone has the mindset to do so well.

—Kyle Mohamed Cal Poly Linebacker

matching orange Crocs. It’s seen in the head-tossed-back laughter at the mention of Michael ‘Bandini’ Santini who always wears a bandana, in the topic of Quentin Greenlaw’s do-rag and in the nicknames given to coach Shotwell’s younger brothers Ryan

and Troy: Little Shotty and Littler Shotty.

Coach Lupfer said the strong team bond was apparent from the first meeting.

“I’ve never seen a group of guys that get along as they do,” he said.

“Nothing makes a difference (with these guys). It’s a pretty special deal, and I”m lucky to be a part of it.”

More than simply feeling a connection with their teammates, coach Shotwell said the players feel comfortable with the coaches on and off the field.

“The players know we have their backs,” he said. “(We) keep a close watch on them to be as successful as they can in their lives and in the SLO community, and the guys are receptive to that and that makes it fun.”

All players participate in Academic Game Plan (AGP) during breakfast.

Here, position coaches look over their players’ notebooks, notes, quizzes, tests and papers to make sure all players are in top form academically.

Lupfer said a major reason for this is

the players are students before athletes. When asked what happens if a player slacks off academically, coach Lupfer’s immediate response is a sly smile, a slight chuckle and to say that’s why the coaches look at the player’s work a week early.

“They can’t play football forever,” he said, “but their degree lasts forever.”

It seems that most of the Cal Poly football team understands this and works hard to dispel the stereotypical jock image.

“I participate in class probably more than people like,” Gillespie said, “(and) I’m in my teachers’ office hours probably more than my teachers are in their office hours. My education is important to me, and I’m probably going to continue it after I graduate here.”

Likewise, Ryan Shotwell said he is usually one of the first to speak up and raise his hand in class.

“I never miss class, I always participate. I like to be involved in class,” he said.“I’m not one of those players that likes to sit in the back of class and wait for it to end, I want to get the most out of it. I’m blessed to be here.”

While the coaches are respected by the team for pushing the players academically, there’s still a sense of comradarie and playfulness between them. The time Saadat fainted from screaming too hard is a strong memory in Ryan Shotwell’s mind, he said, but both Gillespie and Kyle Mohamed agree that the coaches this season aren’t without their quirks either. Gillespie and Marty Mohamed mention when coach Lupfer who almost broke his hand smacking it on a table, not from anger, but from excitement and energy.

“We think (Lupfer’s) like a frustrated cowboy,” Gillespie said. “Because he’ll be yelling and say ‘ya’ll’ a lot.”

Kyle Mohamed also enjoys coach Shotwell’s personal flair when delivering signals. One in particular is the “cowboy call,” in which coach Shotwell has been known to tip his hat forward, bend at the hips and position his right foot behind his left.

“When coach Shotwell gives the signals, he always gives them a little spice,” Mohamed said.

For all the joking and jabbing the see Defense, page 11

First-half goal stands up as Mustangs defeat CS Fullerton sports information report

Morgan Miller’s third goal of the season in the 39th minute of play was all the Mustangs would need in defeating Cal State Fullerton 1-0 in a Big West Conference women’s soccer game on Sunday at Alex G. Spanos Stadium. With the win the Mustangs improve to 9-5-0 overall and 3-1 in conference play while the Titans fall to 3-7-3 and 1-2-0 in the Big West conference Miller’s goal came in the 39th minute when Afton Thulin beat a Cal State Fullerton defender about

30 yards out and fed the ball to Miller who caught the Titan goalie off line and fired the ball into the right-center of the net from 12 yards out. For Miller it was her third goal of the season.

The Titans had two solid scoring chances in the first half with the first coming in the 27th minute off a corner kick. The ball was settled and CSF’s Jackie Hovda fired a pointblank shot at Coral Hoover who made the save.

In the 32nd minute Stacey Fox tried to get the Titans on the board with a header that was gathered in by Hoover.

Cal Poly had its chances to improve on the score in the 25th minute when Cici Kobinski fired a ball from 18 yards out only to have goalie Jordan Santos make a diving save deflecting the ball away.

The half ended with the Mustangs holding a 1-0 lead. Cal Poly outshot the Titans 6-5 with three Mustang shots on goal compared to two for CSF. The second half saw the Mustangs take seven more shots while Fullerton managed four with the Mustangs having the best scoring chances coming in the 80th and 85th minute.

Bianca Burright in the 80th minute played a header in front of the goal but was handled by Santos while in the 85th minute she fired a ball from 20 yards out off the top of the bar.

Overall the Mustangs had 13 shots with seven on goal while CSF managed nine shots four on goal.

Hoover earned her ninth win of the season in goal for the Mustangs and her sixth shutout when she tallied four saves. Santos took the loss for CSF with six saves.

The Mustangs return to the field on Thursday, Oct. 15 when the team hosts UC Davis at 7 pm.