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Volume 51, Issue 101 | wednesday, march 8, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com
‘Grandfather of NFL analytics’ ND Sports Analytics Club hosts data analyst to discuss innovation in field By AIDEN LEWIS News Writer
Mike Eayrs, a data analyst for several college and NFL football teams, spoke about the innovative practices that led to him being termed the “grandfather of NFL analytics” at Mendoza College of Business on Tuesday night. Eayrs started out as an assistant coach in the NCAA College Division, where he said he and the other coaches were constantly arguing over new ways to gain a competitive advantage. “I was trying to think, ‘What’s the lowest common denominator we have in our staff room?’” Eayrs said. “The answer was everybody wants to win.” In response, Eayrs said he started to study game statistics and how they were
connected to the team’s wins and losses. In this study, he said that turnovers were the factor that had the strongest impact on the outcome of a game. “For the first time since I’d been hired, we actually agreed on something,” Eayrs said. “Everybody agreed that if we could lower turnovers on offense and raise them with our defense and coverage teams, we would have a much better football team.” As a result, Eayrs said he began catering drills in practice towards ball security, so that players could become better at handling the football and would be less likely to turn the ball over with fumbles. “The more you repeat something successfully, the better the neuroconnections become, see ANALYTICS PAGE 3
Activist recounts civil rights era By SELENA PONIO Associate News Editor
American civil rights activist Diane Nash — who led the first successful campaign to desegregate lunch counters, was a part of the Selma voting rights movement and co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee — shared her personal experiences with racism and her integral efforts in the civil rights movement Tuesday. Nash was first exposed to the full extent of overt, statesponsored racial segregation as a college student at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, she said. During the fall of 1959, Nash said she was shocked into the reality of Jim Crow laws in the south. Originally from the south side of Chicago, she said she was always aware segregation existed but did not know its severity until she moved to the
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south. “When I obeyed segregation rules, it felt like I was agreeing that I was too inferior to go through front doors or [to] restaurants, swimming pools and other public accommodations,” Nash said. In downtown Nashville, African Americans could only purchase food in restaurants on a take-out basis, she said. When she walked down the streets during lunchtime, African Americans lined the curbs and alleys, eating the lunches they brought from home or bought as take-out, she added. Nash said she was dissatisfied with the word “nonviolence” as it pertains to the civil rights movements of the 1960s. “Nonviolence means absence of violence,” she said. “[I] wanted a term that encompassed more than the see ACTIVIST PAGE 4
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Sexual assault MOU signed Observer Staff Report
EMMET FARNAN | The Observer
Mike Eayrs educates students on how he achieved success in modernizing analytics practices in professional football.
University President Fr. John Jenkins, Saint Mary’s President Jan Cervelli and Holy Cross President Br. John Paige signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) Tuesday declaring their commitment to a “collaborative approach in [their] attempt to eliminate sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, stalking and any other form of sexual harassment” from the community, according to a see MOU PAGE 4
SMC professor confronts immigration myths By MARTHA REILLY Associate Saint Mary’s Editor
As part of Saint Mary’s annual Diverse Student Leadership Conference, which aims to establish an awareness and appreciation of diversity, assistant professor
of philosophy and director of the Justice Education program Andrew Pierce dispelled misconceptions about immigration Tuesday. According to Pierce, today’s political climate consists of contrasting viewpoints regarding President Donald
Trump’s immigration proposals, from his support of a wall separating the U.S. from Mexico to his executive order banning the entry of nationals from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and see MYTH PAGE 4
Visiting professor connects Lenten habits, ‘Laudato si’’ By NATALIE WEBER News Writer
Clemens Sedmak, visiting professor of Catholic Social Tradition and community engagement at the Center for Social Concerns, discussed “Laudato si’” — Pope Francis’ encyclical on environmental issues and consumerism — and how to integrate
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its teachings into Lenten practices. Sedmak said a monk told him Lent was meant to be a time to form habits which will last throughout the year. “I once met a Benedictine abbot, as one does, and he told me that Lent is something like intensive exercise time for the monks, and it means you try to take something
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very seriously which will help you throughout the rest of the year,” Sedmak said. “So the idea is that your Lenten exercises and sacrifices will sustain you through the rest of the year, trying to establish habits that you hopefully will bring into your life after Easter.” see LENT PAGE 4
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