Thursday, February 24, 2011 - The Daily Cardinal

Gasser, Badgers screw Ann Arbor

Madison pet therapy programs help alleviate students’ stress FEATURES

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Buzzer beater propels Wisconsin to 53-52 road win against Michigan

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Thursday, February 24, 2011

Taylor: Return of Senate Democrats up to Walker

By Adam Wollner the daily cardinal

Ben Pierson/the daily cardinal

State Rep. Brett Hulsey, D-Madison, took over the podium after Gov. Scott Walker finished his press conference in the Capitol Wednesday, in an attempt to rebut Walker’s claims about his budget repair bill.

Walker defends bill, Hulsey takes spotlight

By Patrick Tricker the daily cardinal

After Gov. Scott Walker continued to defend the budget repair bill in a press conference Wednesday, Rep. Brett Hulsey, D-Madison, unexpectedly took the podium to rebut the governor’s statements.

“We’re doing this budget repair bill in anticipation of our budget,” Walker said, “giving those local governments the tools they need to balance their local budgets, with the reality that they’re going to see less in terms of state aid.”

Walker said the bill would save

$300 million for the state government and $1.44 billion for local governments in the next biennium starting July 1. He warned that not passing the bill could result in 1,500 layoffs this year and 10-12,000 layoffs of state and local employees in the next budget period.

Walker said he would be willing to talk with the 14 missing Democratic senators who left Wisconsin to deny Republicans a quorum, but he said the bill had to come to a vote.

After the press conference, Hulsey took over the podium in what appeared to be a spontaneous move

Anthropology professor to retire in response to budget repair bill

By Kayla Johnson the daily cardinal

UW-Madison Anthropology Professor Sharon Hutchinson sent in her letter of retirement to the university Feb. 20 in response to Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill.

Hutchinson, who has worked at UW-Madison for 21 years, said she was concerned if the bill passes there would be no opportunity for faculty to resign before the bill affected their benefits.

“Maybe I didn’t need to jump, but I won’t know that until much later.

HUTCHINSON My concern was that there will be no window allowed for people to actually make an informed decision,” Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson said the redefinition of the term “emergency” in the bill would allow for the firing of anyone who walks out, holds a

strike or calls in sick.

“I find the clauses so depressing and threatening that I decided that it’s impossible to determine, it’s just too tense for me, and I know of no other way to protect myself for sure,” Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson said she will finish out the semester teaching courses for no pay and said she is sad to leave the university.

“I am deeply, deeply saddened, because Wisconsin is a wonderful place. There are all sorts of wonderful people who try to be very civil people and want everyone to have a good day,” Hutchinson said. “The discourse that is developing that is trying to divide people against each other is truly disheartening. But I’m hopeful and I’m sure the Wisconsin spirit of community, of empathy, of sanity will resurface.”

Hutchinson emphasized her decision was a personal one, and that she does not advocate it for other faculty.

The Department of Anthropology did not immediately respond for comment.

Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, one of the 14 Democratic state senators who have fled Wisconsin to delay the proposed budget repair bill, spoke out against the bill and Gov. Scott Walker Wednesday, saying she hopes he will eventually be recalled.

“I want people to see him for what he is, so that they will ultimately recall him and take him out,” Taylor said in a phone interview with The Daily Cardinal.

Taylor did not say when she or the other senators would return to Wisconsin, saying it is up to Walker.

“We know we’re not coming today,” Taylor said.

She said Walker’s bill is unnecessary and is not about the budget, saying if it was, “he could take the concessions the unions gave him and he would meet whatever budgetary issues he wants to meet.”

Taylor said a third of the items in the bill are not budget-related, and that she fought to take those items out.

Recently, Walker said if the Senate does not vote on the bill by Friday, he will have to lay off 1,500 public employees and warns that if it doesn’t get passed before July 1, he will have to lay off more.

“When the governor says he has to lay people off, it’s a lie,” Taylor said.

She said other alternatives exist to solve the state’s budget issues and it is Walker’s choice to explore them.

Taylor also criticized the way Walker introduced the bill. She said Walker refused to consult Democrats or union leaders, instead only listening to members of his own party when constructing the bill.

“He’s not the king, he’s the taylor page 3

to rebut Walker’s statements.

“What you just heard was unaltered, complete nonsense,” Hulsey said of Walker’s statement.

As Hulsey spoke Walker’s aides opened the doors to the press conference, letting protesters’ chants obscure his words. Outside, crowds chanted “Where is Scotty?”

“The budget ‘despair’ bill that we have right now, according to our nonpartisan fiscal bureau, does not have to happen,” Hulsey said. “We do not have a budget emergency in this

Governor tricked by prank call from Buffalo news site editor

conference page 3

prank call page 3

By Scott Girard the daily cardinal

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker thought he received a call from a billionaire campaign financier Tuesday afternoon, but it turns out the editor of an online news site pulled a prank on him.

Ian Murphy, editor of Buffalo, N.Y., based online newspaper The Beast, introduced himself as bil-

lionaire David Koch when Walker answered, and asked Walker how the situation involving the budget repair bill was going. Walker told him things were going well, according to the audio released by the website.

“Well, we’re actually hanging pretty tough,” Walker said on the

MARCH TO MONONA

kathryn weenig/the daily cardinal

Protesters opposed to Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill marched to Monona Terrace Wednesday, where the governor was scheduled to speak to a business conference.

“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”

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Thursday, February 24, 2011

An independent student newspaper, serving the University of Wisconsin-Madison community since 1892

Giada, Paula fill void created by reality TV

Volume 120, Issue 95

2142 Vilas Communication Hall 821 University Avenue Madison, Wis., 53706-1497 (608) 262-8000 • fax (608) 262-8100

News and Editorial edit@dailycardinal.com

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News Team Campus Editor Kayla Johnson City Editor Maggie DeGroot State Editor Ariel Shapiro Enterprise Editor Alison Dirr Associate News Editor Scott Girard Senior News Reporter Adam Wollner Opinion Editors Dan Tollefson • Samantha Witthuhn Editorial Board Chair Hannah Furfaro Arts Editors Jeremy Gartzke • Todd Stevens Sports Editors Mark Bennett • Ryan Evans Page Two Editor Victoria Statz Life & Style Editor Stephanie Rywak Features Editor Stephanie Lindholm Photo Editors Ben Pierson • Kathryn Weenig Graphics Editors Dylan Moriarty • Natasha Soglin Multimedia Editors Erin Banco • Eddy Cevilla • Briana Nava Page Designers Claire Silverstein • Joy Shin Copy Chiefs Margaret Raimann • Rachel Schulze Jacqueline O’Reilly • Nico Savidge Copy Editors Corinne Burgermeister, Rachel Rubenstein, Ben Siegel, Stephanie Wezelman

Business and Advertising business@dailycardinal.com Business Manager Cole Wenzel Advertising Manager Alyssa Flemmer Accounts Receivable Manager Amanda Frankwick Billing Manager Katie Breckenfelder Senior Account Executive Taylor Grubbs Account Executives Nick Bruno • Alyssa Flemmer Matt Jablon • Anna Jeon Dan Kaplan • Mitchell Keuer Becca Krumholz • Daniel Rothberg Shinong Wang Web Director Eric Harris Public Relations Manager Becky Tucci Events Manager Bill Clifford Art Director Jaime Flynn Copywriters Dustin Bui • Bob Sixsmith The Daily Cardinal is a nonprofit organization run by its staff members and elected editors. It receives no funds from the university. Operating revenue is generated from advertising and subscription sales.

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rebecca alt ctrl+alt+delete

W

ith all of the reality TV shows on these days, I tend to stick to one faithful channel—The Food Network. It is the only channel that never makes me wonder, “What is happening to American culture?” and “When did we all became such mindless simpletons?” I mean, honestly, how can anyone seriously feel the need to drop everything he or she is doing to tune into “The Real World” every SINGLE Monday night at 9 p.m.? I can predict exactly what is going to happen: Amanda, the house trollop, slept with Terrance and now there is tension looming throughout the house. Then, the prick comes home with some floozy he met at the bar that night, and Amanda spends the night with Molly, the good girl from a farm who didn’t drink until she came on the show, spying on Terrance and his new tart (of course the camera goes into night vision mode and all you see are some ruffling sheets and a few lines across the screen that say something like: “No one’s

listening, calm down.”) The next morning, she confronts him, and Sarah, the girl who don’t take shit from no one, backs Amanda up, resulting in Terrance getting bitch slapped and a proliferation of people dropping f bombs. Shocking.

Whatever happened to shows like “Arrested Development?” How in the name of all that is holy did that show only last three seasons?!

Why the hell weren’t people tuning in to see Lucille drinking martinis at 9 a.m. while her thirty-something year old son Buster begs for a juice box and fights with their adopted Korean son, Annyong, for attention from their mommy? Or when Tobias and Lindsay file for divorce because Tobias is a nevernude and can’t land an acting gig for the life of him? How about when George Michael and Maeby think they aren’t cousins, so they hook up? Seriously, any film or TV show with Jason Bateman is fricken fantastic, and I fully intend to open up a “Bluth Frozen Banana Stand” of my own because a chocolatey, frozen banana sprinkled with nuts is just sheer genius.

Even more disappointing is the fact that “Summer Heights High” only had ONE season. Excuse me, what? How could a show in which one man plays the role of Ja’ime, a private school biotch, Mr. G,

a quirky and incredibly offensive music teacher, and Jonah, a punk middle school kid whose language is appalling is just down right entertaining. Just to quote a few memorable lines from the show…

Ja’mie: “Wife beaters and rapists are nearly all public-school educated. Sorry, no offense, but it’s true.”

Jonah: “Puck you miss!” “Are you on your period miss?”

Mr. G: “She’s a naughty girl with a bad habit, bad habit for drugs. She’s a party girl with a bad habit, bad habit for drugs. Ecstasy, Ecstasy, E E E E, Ecstasy!” (From the school musical).

Need I say more? Please, if you haven’t seen this show, get it on Netflix ASAP. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

The single greatest travesty to happen to television in the past decade, though, is the replacement of Nickelodeon’s classic cartoons with “iCarly,” “Big Time Rush” and other ridiculously corny shows with awkward pre-teens that are singer/ actor/dancers, but are not very good at any of those careers. How I cherish the days of waking up at 7 a.m. to catch “Rugrats” (before they were ‘all grown up’), followed

by “AHHH!” “Real Monsters” and “CatDog” while eating a fat bowl of Count Chocula. Then in the afternoon, after heatin’ up some gourmet Chef Boyardee ravioli or Mac n’ Cheese in the microwave, I’d settle into the couch for a solid four hours of “The Wild Thornberries.”

Now the only good show still left is “Spongebob Squarepants,” and the first few seasons were hands down exceptionally better. How do you top the “Pizza Delivery,” “Snowball Effect,” or “Squeaky Boots?” And “Squidville,” “F.U.N.,” and “Idiot Box?!” Brilliance like that can’t be topped.

Today, I stick with “Giada at Home” and “Paula’s Best Dishes,” because at least with those shows, I learn something other than who slept with whom, and who didn’t get a rose on “The Bachelor.” For realz, I can’t take another series of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” or “American Idol.” And I loathe the day I notice there’s a new season of “Bad Girls Club,” with trash-mouthed and, shall we say “loose,” twenty-something year old girls showing their hooters and kaslopis to the whole bar on a stripper pole.

You should be able to infer what “kaslopis” means. If not, consult Chelsea Handler. If you want to chat about your favorite Food Network shows, consult Rebecca at alt2@wisc.edu.

NEW BEER THURSDAY Furthermore Three Feet Deep

2/5 This week I picked up a six-pack of Furthermore’s Irish peat fueled Three Feet Deep. This brew should be taken in like a meal. It leaves your mouth feeling like you just ate a pound of boxty and its substantial peatiness can easily take over your palate, leaving little room for other flavors.

The strong and sometimes overpowering peat-roasted malt may return you “to the warmth of the Irish hearth” like the bottle claims, but instead of a quaint brookside cottage’s hearth, it returns you to a machine shop’s dark burly furnace, caked with coal and horse manure. It is a tough brew and sometimes gets a little heavy-handed with the shillelagh.

This beer is pretty rough, but not so rough that you would never cross it. That is to say, it’s a strange beer. I do not love it, but I would enjoy it on occasion, in the same way that I do the obscure, harsh and potent Swedish liquor Jeppson’s Malört. It is kind of grimy; kind of acetic, and it has a definitely unique flavor.

The beer is black as the peaty sod used to roast the malt and smells rich and malty. Fairly watery in texture, it has the perfect natural carbonation to complement the flavors. With much more carbonation it would be like drinking a peat-roast soda, and with much less, it could come off like drinking watereddown swamp mud. There are just enough hops to balance the flavorful malt—at least on the first part of a swallow. But when breathing in through the nose I find the peat takes over. My friend and drinking partner Simon put it this way, “It’s like peat and repeat went

out in a boat and peat fell out.” At moments I feel like a little leprechaun is lighting slowburning, smoky fires under my tongue.

That said, there is something missing in this beer that would make it more satisfying.

Perhaps a little chocolate malt, maybe a little less peat. With a bit of tweaking, this beer could become a classic, but currently it is a middling, over-flavored stout. I respect Furthermore Brewing Company. They have some incredible beers like Fallen Apple, Oscura, Fatty Boombalatty among others, so this beer is no game changer; I’ll keep buying their beers on a regular basis. But this one, like its blended sister Makeweight, comes off a little rough around the edges. If there aren’t better stouts about, Three Feet Deep has the potential for an appearance or two over the course of a winter night. Just take care, or your tastebuds might be impaired for the rest of the evening.

—Benji Pierson

dailycardinal.com/news

Thursday, February 24, 2011

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UW releases more details of Madison split from System

By Kayla Johnson the daily cardinal

Amid confusion regarding the proposed split of UW-Madison from the UW System, a summary of the proposal to be included in Gov. Scott Walker’s budget was posted to the New Badger Partnership website Wednesday.

The document confirms there is legislation in place to separate the Madison campus from the UW System under a public authority model in Walker’s proposed 20112013 budget bill.

The separation “will provide greater flexibility in key areas to allow UW-Madison to maintain its excellence and to preserve and enhance its ability to serve the state of Wisconsin,” the document said.

Under the proposal, UW-Madison would be governed by a 21-member board of trustees for which Chancellor Biddy Martin would serve as a non-voting member. The governor would appoint 11 board members, with the rest chosen by UW-Madison and university affiliates such as the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

The board would set and manage tuition rates.

UW-Madison would no longer be considered part of the executive branch of state government, but would remain a public institution, according to the document.

Currently, the Board of Regents

controls much of UW-Madison’s spending. If Walker’s budget passes, UW-Madison would receive its money in block grants from the state to be allotted at the university’s discretion.

In addition, UW-Madison would be allowed to internalize non-state revenue such as gifts, tuition and program revenue.

The summary is based on a final draft of the state budget from the Legislative Reference Bureau from Feb. 18.

The New Badger Partnership and the public authority model that it now includes have sparked debate over the past week. While Martin has emphasized that she has been open about the planned split, the Board of Regents and others claim she has left them in the dark.

UW System Spokesperson David Giroux said although there has been a great deal of conversation about the New Badger Partnership over the past year, only recently has the conversation entailed splitting UW-Madison from the UW system.

“This is a big change, not just for UW-Madison but for the state as a whole,” said Giroux. “As such it should be discussed statewide and with all of the faculty members and all of the students who deserve to have a voice in that discussion.”

The Board of Regents is holding a special meeting Friday for Martin to present the proposal.

ben pierson/the daily cardinal

State Rep. Brett Hulsey, D-Madison, surprised media when he took the podium for an impromptu response to a press conference Gov. Scott Walker concluded moments earlier.

conference from page 1 state, except the one he is creating by creating union busting.”

Hulsey called Walker a “dictator” and a “megalomaniac,” and accused him of being more inter-

taylor from page 1 governor,” Taylor said. “He tends to believe he is a one-man government.”

Taylor said she appreciates the

ested in talking to Fox News than negotiating with Democrats. The representative promised to continue to fight, saying he had a sleeping bag and three days’ worth of food in his office.

“This dispute can go on for-

ever,” Hulsey said. “The senators have given us vital time to fight this tyrannical rule that we’re seeing here.

“It’s the tyranny of the majority.

The senators are very brave for doing what they’re doing.”

groups taking part in protests, especially students and organizations that endorsed Walker during the election.

“That’s meaningful, because it’s one thing for it to be indi-

viduals that didn’t support him, but it’s another thing that there are so many individuals who did support him who are shocked to see he has overreached and gone so far,” Taylor said.

With Democrats gone, Republican senators plan to vote on other pieces of legislation that do not use state funding, and thus require a smaller quorum that they can meet without any Democrats present. Taylor said this is not the time for the Senate to vote on other bills.

“It is sad that instead of trying to figure out how to be leaders to prevent this divisiveness that this governor has created, they are trying to go forward with major pieces of legislation,” Taylor said.

Republicans have also looked into making senators pick up their paychecks at the Capitol, in hopes of bringing the Democrats back to Madison.

“That threat doesn’t work for me,” Taylor said.

ASM removes two-year term limits, appoints new reps

By Anna Duffin the daily cardinal

The Associated Students of Madison unanimously voted to remove its two-year term limit for representatives at its meeting Wednesday.

Representatives could not serve more than two years on ASM as the ASM Constitution stood.

But with the change, a term served during a student’s first year at UW-Madison will no longer count towards the limit. Additionally, undergraduate terms will not count towards a student’s career as a graduate student, professional student or special student.

At previous meetings some ASM members expressed concern that such a change would prevent new people from becoming involved in ASM, but Vice Chair Adam Johnson does not think that will be the case.

“I have seen firsthand many good people leave ASM prematurely simply because they couldn’t be on council, and I think this helps solve some of that problem while the natural check of the collection assures

that everyone still has a chance,” Johnson said.

Also at the meeting, Mudit Kackar was appointed to serve as a Student Council Representative for the School of Engineering, and Ellen Leedle was appointed to serve as a Student Council Representative for the School of Letters and Science.

Leedle said although she did not have any specific ideas in mind, she was excited to be able to speak her mind on Student Council.

“I think that not enough students on campus are involved and you don’t really need to have a project in mind to be involved,” Leedle said. “That’s kind of a misconception about this organization.”

In other business, ASM agreed to give the Wisconsin Alumni Student Board $25,000 to fund the All Campus Party scheduled for April 14-21.

The All Campus Party is a free, alcohol-alternative party that seeks to bring together UW-Madison students based on their mutual appreciation of UW, according to the event’s website.

ben pierson/cardinal file photo

State Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, spoke with The Daily Cardinal from an undisclosed location outside of Wisconsin.

prank call from page 1 call. “I mean-you know, amazingly there’s a much smaller group of protesters—almost all of whom are in from other states today.”

Walker then explained plans to get the 14 Democratic senators who left the state back by bringing up non-fiscal bills for the Senate to debate.

“The state Senate still has the 14 members missing, but what they’re doing today is bringing up all sorts of other non-fiscal items, many of which are things members in the Democratic side care about,” Walker said.

Walker also said he does not

plan to negotiate with Democratic leaders, but if they come back, the Senate can then take up the bill as long as a recess is called before they leave again.

Walker said if the senators do not come back and the bill does not pass, he will be forced to cut 1,500 public authorities.

“I’ve got layoff notices ready,” Walker said.

Walker’s spokesman, Cullen Werwie, released a statement after the call was posted online.

“The phone call shows that the governor says the same thing in private as he does in public and the lengths that others will go to disrupt the civil debate Wisconsin is hav-

ing,” Werwie said in the statement.

Walker talked about Ronald Reagan, MSNBC being “off the deep end” and a possible trip to California if the bill passes, which the man acting as “Koch” offered to pay for. Walker also indicated he had “thought about” planting troublemakers amongst the protesters, but decided against it.

Koch and his brother are billionaires who own an energy company based in Wichita, Kan. The political action committee the Koch brothers fund was the second biggest donor to Walker’s 2010 campaign, and their business recently set up a lobbying office in downtown Madison.

Madison’s vending committee makes changes to vending regulations during football gamedays Taylor Harvey the daily cardinal

The Madison Vending Oversight Committee approved a proposal to improve football gameday vending regulations for safety purposes Wednesday.

Committee members essentially formalized the current Southeast Campus Vending Area ordinance,

agreeing to make vending policy stricter on Badger football Saturdays to enhance public safety and relieve congestion, particularly on Regent Street.

“We are simply formalizing and institutionalizing what has existed for years,” committee member Warren Hansen said.

Hansen will consider the locations for vendors and said the improved

ordinance would make vending policy “more official.”

“Now vendors have a site they can depend on going to every single gameday,” Hansen said.

He said the ordinance would not displace many of the vendors who have been regularly cooperative on football Saturdays. Hansen said he intends to place most vendors where

they have traditionally been, but has also adjusted the location of some vendors violating city laws, such as those who set up too close to a fire hydrant.

Also, southeast campus area vendors would not have to pay the $475 fee that is required for other vendors to obtain a site on a football Saturday.

In the future, Hansen said he hopes there will be more basic street vendors

along Regent Street because the committee has created stencils for 57 different sites.

The south border of the southeast campus vending area begins at West Washington Street and stretches to the Breese Terrace, including a block or two of Monroe Street. The ending property line is on the sidewalk on the south side of Regent Street.

featuresstudent health 4

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dailycardinal.com/features

Thursday, February 24, 2011

While still considered an alternative approach, pet therapy programs in Madison are proving that it’s an effective stress reducer.

Story by Stephanie Lindholm • Graphics by Natasha Soglin

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wice a week, four or five temperament-tested dogs make visits to pediatrics patients at UW Health’s American Family Children’s Hospital. The dogs, which work as part of a pet therapy program called Pet Pals, visit sick children, even those who have been immuno-supressed because of chemotherapy or transplants.

“There have been a lot of parents that have said to us, ‘That’s the first time I saw my child smile in a week,’” said Linda Sullivan, Pet Pals coordinator and review coordinator at the School of Veterinary Medicine at UW-Madison.

In total, the program works with 25 dogs and visits approximately 1,000 children each year, Sullivan said. The program, which started making visits in 1996, crafted a medical protocol for testing dogs to ensure they would be safe around children who were hospitalized for more severe illnesses.

Pet-assisted therapy, while still considered alternative therapy, is proving to have positive effects in the Madison area.

“There have been a lot of parents that have said to us, ‘That’s the first time I saw my child smile in a week.’”

Linda Sullivan review coordinator School of Veterinary Medicine

Pet therapy and children “There have been studies that have shown benefits for adults,” Sullivan said. “Self-esteem increases, increased self-worth, general happiness, feeling of belonging, those sorts of things.”

But the lack of research into the emotional relationship between pets and children,allowed Pet Pals to fill that gap, Sullivan said.

In fact, the Pet Pals program was part of research conducted by the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics that was published in a study called “Play and Pets.”

The study revealed that the children involved in pet therapy displayed significantly more

positive effects 57 percent of the time, than children engaged in child-life therapy.

Toni Schriver, founder of Pawws to Heal, a non-profit organization that provides animal-assisted therapy to children who have suffered physical or sexual abuse, also believes pet therapy works.

“It’s kind of like art therapy, where conventional therapy may not be reaching them, we use animals,” Schriver said.

Pawws to Heal, like Pet Pals, is an outreach program that uses animals as tools to engage with children. While Pet Pals restricts their volunteers to temperamenttested dogs, Pawws to Heal works with a variety of animals.

“It’s not like they come in and just play with the animals,” Schriver said. “It’s the dynamic of trying to re-establish social boundaries.”

Schriver works with two children every week and hosts programs on alternating months for 25-30 children. Davian, a child Schriver has been working with consistently for two and a half years, wouldn’t even make eye contact with her when Davian first started engaging in pet assisted therapy. According to Schriver, after six months, Davian showed a lot of progress.

“He started opening up, he started interacting, he started engaging in activities,” Schriver said. “And that’s a huge step for a child that’s endured the things that he’s endured.”

Davian now helps as a mentor for other children in the Pawws to Heal program.

Pet therapy and student life While Pet Pals and Pawws to Heal uses pet therapy specifically with children, Bob McGrath, coordinator of Mind, Body and Health at the University Health Services created Counseling Canines, a program that allows students to engage with animals therapeutically on campus.

Ten to 12 staff-owned dogs who have been temperamenttested for Counseling Canines make an appearance each May during finals week, to help students relax, by serving as a stress reducer. During their two hours on Library Mall, the program usually sees about 400 students, McGrath said.

But for Schriver, the relation-

ship between humans and animals is something that cannot be recreated.

“It’s like an unconditional trust, patience and love,” she said. “You can beat the crap out of a dog and it will still be loyal to you and we can’t understand why that is.”

Schriver says this can be characterized simply by a pet that shows happiness when its owner arrives home from work or school.

UW-Madison junior Dan Wirz is familiar with the therapeutic effects of owning a pet.

Wirz adopted Nanook, a Siberian husky, at the beginning of the school year before moving into a pet-friendly house on campus.

“Nanook is always there and happy simply because I am walking, talking and breathing, which is always reassuring after a long class day,” said Wirz.

Like the dogs Pawws to Heal works with, according to Wirz, Nanook doesn’t judge him.

“The only thing Nanook judges me for is not getting up fast enough when he wants to go on a walk,” Wirz said. “But by the time I pick up his leash he’s already forgotten.”

Facing obstacles on campus McGrath considers pet therapy effective for students on the UW-Madison campus, however he recognizes its possible drawbacks.

“It’s kind of like art therapy, where conventional therapy may not be reaching them, we use animals.”

Toni Schriver founder Pawws to Heal

“Pets can be a stress reducer,” McGrath said. “But if you have to be responsible for [a pet], it can sometimes be a stressor as well, if you consider stress any demand on your time.”

However, Wirz finds Nanook helps him become more responsible about following his daily routine.

“Rather than waking up 15 minutes before class and racing,

I have to consider the fact that [Nanook] is being affected directly by my scheduling,” Wirz said.

Besides time management, McGrath sees other obstacles in housing on campus and the amount of space in apartments and residence halls.

“I think that’s part of the student culture,” he said.

But Schriver thinks that if students can financially support a pet, the experience would be very rewarding.

“You’re still going to be stressed, you have exams and papers, but it’s more of a calming effect,” she said.

Sullivan saw this effect in a class at the UW School of Veterinary Medicine, as the students were able to interact with a service dog that accompanied a hearing-impaired student to class each day.

“I think that class was one of the happiest, most well-adjusted classes that we’ve had at this school,” Sullivan said.

Pet therapy is still considered alternative, but unlike different types of stress management, Bob McGrath sees pet therapy as a relaxing and likeable activity.

“Our experience is that students really enjoy [pet therapy] and actually miss their pets a lot,” he said. “Like most therapies, some people respond more to one type than another.”

Graphic by Natasha Soglin/The Daily Cardinal

arts

dailycardinal.com/arts

WEEKEND MUST-SEES Smith Westerns Fri. Feb. 25 at 10:00 p.m.

The Frequency The Smith Westerns caught on with their light, poppy lo-fi sound in 2009 with the self-titled debut LP. Now that they’ve released their sophomore album Dye It Blond to critical acclaim, it would be a crime to miss them when their tour stops in Madison. With two albums under their belt the band of freshmen-aged kids has developed a mature sound many music vets would envy. Check it out and “Weekend” will be stuck in your photo COurtesy FAt head all, well, weekend.

photo COurtesy The Weinstein Co.

Thursday, February 24, 2010

Finding art all around

By Kyrie Caldwell Wisconsin union directorate

Possum Records

AMC Best Picture Showcase Sat. Feb. 26 at 11:00 a.m.

AMC Star Fitchburg 18 Want to follow the Oscars this year but haven’t seen any of the movies nominated?

You can take care of at least half of the films up for best picture in one fell swoop at the AMC Fitchburg, which is showing “Winter’s Bone,” “Black Swan,” “Inception,” “The Social Network” and “The King’s Speech” all in a row this Saturday. Grab an extra large popcorn, strategically plan bathroom breaks and you’ll be an Oscar expert in no time.

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As a preface, I am not an artist. I am, however, an art appreciator. Yes, to some extent, this means I’ll be that person museum-hopping and giving impromptu tours and opinions to anyone brave enough to accompany me (usually my hapless, science-steeped boyfriend). But that is not the limit of my artistic appreciation; I look for the artistry, the aesthetic and symbolic beauty, in every moment as I move through my surroundings. I fully believe that one can find this artistry in anything and everything, if one looks close enough. Perhaps this means I am a contemplative observer of our visual culture––or just a sight junkie.

Either way, I am not alone. I share this scrutiny and/or addiction with artists that use found objects in their work. One such artist, Tad Gloeckler, is UW-Madison’s artist in residence this semester. During his time here, he is teaching an interdisciplinary course and will be giving numerous talks and presentations, including one this Friday, Feb. 25, entitled “Rethinking the Everyday,” in which he will discuss found art’s main idea–– seeing mundane objects in a new way, looking for the underlying symbolism in each. However, even if you cannot make it to his talk, or its accompanying, reservation-only workshop on Saturday, I do recommend you ponder this for a day, or even longer. Look around you, at your dorm room or apartment, your classroom, your favorite library or study area. Think about

each object that defines that space–– its aesthetics, then its meaning to you or the people who might use it, the possibility that lies underneath how it looks. Maybe it’s a worn stuffed animal you got from a family member years ago, or a candy wrapper from your Valentine. Through our subjectivity, these objects, usually already deemed aesthetically pleasing by the people who designed and manufactured them, gain a new tenor.

If art is considered the communicative outcrop of human experience, then none of these things is outside the realm of art.

For me, this doesn’t stop with tangible objects, though the work of found objects artists might. I hear this interpretative shift constantly in music. The musicians may have written a song for one purpose, but through a song’s tones I hear instead the voices of the people closest to me, the percussion of the early spring rain on my window, or the resonance of my own feelings and sentimentality. Indeed, those feelings themselves may be like found objects, such as

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the unexpected rush of pride felt by seeing thousands of people gathering in Madison’s Capitol Square, the center of my hometown, to demonstrate peacefully for something in which they believe. Even the melancholy stirred by the loss of a family member might be such an “object.”

These “objects” are not just physical things that constitute our visual culture. They are sounds, thoughts, emotions, and sensations that constitute our very selves. If art is considered the communicative outcrop of human experience, then none of these things is outside the realm of art. Yet, they surround us everyday. Does this make art meaningless through ubiquity, or does it endow art with universality, wresting it from an elitist, lofty concept and placing it into the hands of all those who listen to their emotions?

My own metaphysical journeys aside, found art has been around for some time (i.e. Dada’s ready-made works like Duchamp’s Fountain) and hasn’t always enjoyed the presence it has today. It challenges the parameters of art and the art historical canon, and for this, it has garnered criticism since its inception. The debate between found art’s critics and its supporters may indeed never be settled. Thus, as with all art, I encourage you to experience it yourself, and let your own subjective reaction be the judge.

Tad Gloeckler’s “Rethinking the Everyday” will be hosted in the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art lecture hall at 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Feb. 25.

A brief guide to judging musical taste Kyle Sparks total awesome

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ne of my brothers is eight years older than me, which means I had someone feeding me sage advice from a very young age. And because of who my brother and I are, most of this advice has manifested in fantasy sports and, certainly, pop music. For my 13th birthday he gave me a full book of CDs (what a concept), which has continued to inform my personal preferences to this very day.

Os Mutantes wasn’t included in that birthday gift, and I had never really been exposed to them before they headlined one night of the Pitchfork Music Festival in 2006. At that time he and his friend Andy were nice enough to let me know that “No dudes actually like Os Mutantes, they just put their posters on their walls so girls will think they’re cultured and sensitive.”

I’m only a few years younger now than Andy was then, and already my role has started to switch. Now I have friends who ask me which Wilco album to tell someone is the best if they want to sound sensitive (Being There), mature (Summerteeth), hip (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) or factually correct (A.M.). All of these conversations ostensibly take place in house parties or bars, because those are the only times you’re involved in a social setting casual enough to argue about music and drunken enough that you won’t be expected to support it.

Most of the times it wouldn’t matter, anyways. Broad musical preferences—the kinds you’re likely to exchange with total strangers—are often just

social products (what you are exposed to depends greatly on with whom or where you locate yourself). But in order to parse out how a person fits into that social construct all you have to do is parse out which aspects of the social preferences are most apt—that’s how we as social animals are able to fight through this mess.

Everyone has heard of Modest Mouse, if only because “Float On” still gets more airplay than Leonardo DiCaprio in “Catch Me If You Can.”

Obviously, some bands lend themselves to this exercise better than others. I’ve already mentioned Wilco, but the one I like to walk through most is Modest Mouse, because it allows the most room for error. Everyone has heard of Modest Mouse, if only because “Float On” still gets more airplay than Leonardo DiCaprio in “Catch Me If You Can.” And as it turns out, that song’s source album, Good News For People Who Love Bad News, is the fulcrum of this whole project.

Good News was the definitive point at which the angular, insolating mess found a voice in very rounded, softened production. Good News was the big breakthrough, even though its predecessor, The Moon & Antarctica, did all the same things, but with more raw emotion and delivery. The only difference is how badly you like your songs to sound like they’re made for a movie soundtrack. They also had an album hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, 2007’s We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, but anyone who says that is their

favorite probably likes Death Cab For Cutie too much for their own good.

But before all of that, on both 1996’s This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About and 1997’s The Lonesome Crowded West, frontman Isaac Brock traversed more challenging and more engulfing thematic terrains while the rest of the band indulged in more natural and emotive textures. They can certainly get unsettling and difficult, but they’re exactly the kinds of things you would embrace if you like songs that feel organic and without pretension.

And if you eschewed their entire discography and answered the collection of B-Sides and rarities Building Nothing Out of Something, then we should probably meet up for drinks sometime.

No doubt, this is a form of superficial judgment I’m not altogether proud of. But inside the context of a bar or a house party there’s little room for much else. So if you’re talking about folk music and you mention Edward Sharpe or Devendra Banhardt, don’t be surprised if you get a beer dumped on your head.

And if you’re caught in a circle trying to impress someone who doesn’t seem to understand how pop music works, or if you are overwhelmed by interrogations and fearful of namedropping the wrong French no-wave outfit, just turn it around and change the subject to how it’s a shame that Bono is able to get away with writing such shitty music just because he’s a humanitarian. That’s one thing we can all agree on.

Don’t like to associate with people who prefer Kyle’s spring semester columns over his fall semester columns?

They’re just posers trying to look hip anyway. Tell Kyle you’re a true believer at ktsparks@wisc.edu.

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Thursday, February 24, 2011

Seize the day! Before playing the Dark Knight, Christian Bale sang and danced in the Disney movie “Newsies.”

dailycardinal.com/comics Getting into the Capitol

Today’s Sudoku

Evil Bird

By Caitlin Kirihara kirihara@wisc.edu

© Puzzles by Pappocom

Eatin’ Cake

By Dylan Moriarty EatinCake@gmail.edu

Solution, tips and computer program available at www.sudoku.com.

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9.

The Pipesmokers

By Joseph Diedrich jsdledrich@wisc.com

Today’s Crossword Puzzle

Wizard Buddies

By The Graphics Editors graphics@dailycardinal.com

By Dan Tollefson dtollefson@wisc.edu

Hoop Dreams Classic Answer key available at www.dailycardinal.com pizza party

ACROSS 1 Wile E. Coyote patronizes this co.

5 Cry loudly 9 Gilpin of “Frasier” 13 ___ onto (take hold of) 14 Strike a bargain 16 Tiny powerhouse 17 Smoky state 18 Like Frosted Flakes, to Tony the Tiger 19 Whoopee-cushion activator 20 Wood-shop tools 22 Pizza topping 24 Fine things?

26 Was bright, as the sun 27 Green on JetBlue?

30 Beam of light 34 Type of deer 35 Undercooked, as eggs 38 Upholstery fabric 39 They swoop down on mice 41 Went out with 43 Old Norse poetry collection 44 About half of the population 46 Plant family that includes Jacob’s ladder

8 Household animal 4 49 Like a clock with hands 51 Walks clumsily 53 Pat down, as for weapons 56 Insect’s feeler 57 Pizza topping 61 Tenth-graders, briefly 64 Wrinkly Jamaican fruit 65 Failing to win or lose 67 Blubber 68 Stashed dough 69 Cause of many a bad decision 70 ___ Major (constellation) 71 See in the distance 72 Site of Maxwell Smart’s phone 73 Sound that will get your attention DOWN 1 Turkish title 2 Not naked 3 Pizza topping 4 Arabian rulers (Var.) 5 Something to tote 6 Taj Mahal city 7 Loud songbirds 8 Robin of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” 9 Female upstart 10 Toiletries case 11 Forum site

2 Troublemaking tykes 1 15 Societal standards 21 Prepare paint 23 Cross to bear 25 Missile famously fired in 1991 27 Bouquet 28 Dweller along the Skunk River 29 “Sack” attachment 31 Pizza topping 32 Viper 33 “The Second Coming” poet 36 To the ___ degree 37 Scream bloody murder 40 It’s often wallowed in 42 Prettify 45 Sensitive to the touch 47 Present day?

50 Round-about measure?

52 Temper tantrum 54 Versatile beans 55 Potato turnover 57 Whine and whimper 58 Traits for blowhards 59 Sit clumsily (with “down”)

0 Following heavily 6 62 Dame of the piano 63 Young oyster 66 “___ whiz!”

Washington and the Bear

By Derek Sandberg kalarooka@gmail.com

opinion dailycardinal.com/opinion

Thursday, February 24, 2011

view Cardinal View editorials represent The Daily Cardinal’s organizational opinion. Each editorial is crafted independent of news coverage.

dems: come back and keep fighting

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t’s been a week since the 14 Democratic state Senators fled Wisconsin. Tens of thousands of different protesters have marched at the Capitol but one thing remains unchanged: Gov. Scott Walker refuses to negotiate on his budget repair bill.

Republicans argue the premise of the bill is not a political ploy to bust unions, who historically have been major contributors to Democratic election campaigns.

They say it’s about balancing the budget. Walker’s bill increases public employee contributions to health care and pensions, while eliminating collective bargaining rights outside of salary increases tied to the consumer price index.

The bill also prohibits employers from charging union dues, so union members won’t be required to pay them.

Walker claims local governments won’t be able to balance their budgets if they have to deal with a lengthy collective bargaining process. However, local leaders like Mayor Dave Cieslewicz have held emergency sessions to extend city union contracts where they drafted a letter to Walker urging him to rethink the bill’s collective bargaining provision.

Removing collective bargaining isn’t about the budget deficit. It’s

not about local governments. It’s a political power play meant to weaken future union election influence.

Union leaders have nonetheless publicly agreed to the governor’s concessions with the exception of losing collective bargaining rights.

Yet Walker’s intransigent attitude will have nothing to do with competing arguments.

Now threats are coming from both sides. Unions across the state are warning of a strike. And the governor says there will be 1,500 layoffs by June 30, unless the Democratic senators return to pass his bill, which includes refinancing millions in state debt. In the meantime, Republican senators are moving forward with other bills that only require a simple majority to vote on. They’re also planning to withhold direct-deposit payments from the Democrats in an effort to force them to return to the senate floor.

So far, the Democratic senators haven’t flinched. That’s admirable. They fled as a last resort to prevent a vote that would have destroyed fifty years of fighting for Wisconsin labor rights. That too is worthy of commending.

But now it’s time to come back to Wisconsin. That’s not meant to diminish their accomplishments.

By evacuating the state, at the very

least they’ve extended the debate on a bill that would have otherwise been rammed through without public input.

Moreover, their actions have mobilized public employees across the nation. The national media is fascinated by Wisconsin, and elected officials around the country are rethinking their policies because of the enormous backlash in Madison.

Republican Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, proposed a sunset clause on the collective bargaining provision. Even law enforcement officials regret their endorsement of Walker. Wisconsin legislators worried about re-election will likely think twice before agreeing to everything the governor proposes.

From day one, the ball has been in Walker’s court, but he’s refusing to play. He’s asking the Senate Democrats to do their job and return home but he would be wise to take a dose of his own medicine. It’s his job as governor to negotiate with all of his colleagues in the legislature—individuals who represent the taxpayers of Wisconsin.

Unfortunately, the senators don’t have much incentive to return.

They simply don’t have the votes needed to influence any legislation in the senate. But the governor will announce his budget next Tuesday, and there will be plenty of opportunity to debate his proposals. Wisconsin needs the voices of Democratic senators to speak strongly for them.

Retaining collective bargaining rights is just the first of many battles. There will be cuts in education and health care. Voter ID and other social legislation will be placed on the table. The Democrats proved their toughness, and now they have the attention of the nation and the support of citizens throughout Wisconsin. A return to the senate won’t mark defeat. It will show they’re ready to fight again.

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dissent: dems wrong to flee Todd Stevens Daily cardinal editorial board member

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he way the Senate Democrats tell the story, they’re heroes. They’re appropriately pulling a Lincolnesque move by fleeing to the Land of Lincoln. But I find that version hard to swallow.

I agree with the Senate Dems’ opposition to the bill —stripping away state workers’ collective bargaining rights is too extreme, especially considering the fact that unions have agreed to accept Walker’s proposed benefit cuts. But in using a technicality to prevent a vote indefinitely, the Senate Democrats are circumventing our established government process, and that shouldn’t sit well with any Wisconsin citizen, be they in favor of the bill or against it.

All the Senate Dems have done is sink themselves to Walker’s level of political engagement for nothing.

The sad fact is that November’s elections placed Republicans in power. Protesters have done an admirable job trying to sway Gov. Walker to their side. But when the time comes for a vote, even a rushed vote, senators need to take their licks

and accept the results of the democratic process. Breaking quorum is not a tool of the democratic process—if it were, the Capitol’s Sergeant of Arms and Wisconsin State Troopers would not have the authority to forcibly bring them back to the Capitol within state lines.

This is a poor man’s version of a filibuster, which, despite how much Jefferson Smith may differ, is not a fabulous display of democracy. It is a sham when Republicans do it to block health care legislation, and it is a sham when Democrats use it as well. To view one as vile and one as heroic, as many supporters of the senators do, is blatantly hypocritical.

The editorial board describes the senators’ escape as “admirable,” but it never was. It was wrong and foolish. Walker holds too many cards to give in at this point. Senate Dems will not be able to out-stubborn him. Any sunset clause inserted into the bill can easily be wiped away by Walker’s line-item veto power.

Not to mention any Democratic state senator will face cries of “coward” and “runaway” when it comes time for re-election.

All the Senate Dems have done is sink themselves to Walker’s level of political engagement for nothing, as he can easily call their bluff.

But the editorial board is right about one thing: The Senate Democrats should return to the state as soon as possible.

Their constituents need representation—and their reputations need some salvaging.

Banning funds for Planned Parenthood threatens sexual education mike kujak opinion columnist

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ast Tuesday night in Madison, a 21-year-old woman was attacked after leaving her appointment at Planned Parenthood. A stranger allegedly put her in a choke hold and said, “You better watch what you do.”

After reading about this incident, I’ve been repeating that sentence in my head. You better watch what you do? The stranger had no idea what she was doing there. In 2008, PP reported that 35 percent of total services dealt with contraceptive requests, 34 percent constituted STD testing and treatment and 17 percent was allocated toward cancer testing and screening. Other women’s health procedures made up 10 percent of PP’s services, including pregnancy, prenatal, mid-life, and infertility. Only three percent of visits involved abortions. Even if the appointment was abortion related, how in the hell is it any of the attacker’s business?

Hatred has surrounded PP since it started 90 years ago, and that anger has recently surfaced in Congress. Last Friday, the House

passed a measure to ban all funding toward Planned Parenthood—a leading organization in realistic 21st century sexual education and women’s health. This lack of funding only means that sexual education is about to become an even bigger joke than it already is.

First, let’s brush up on how the country has handled teen pregnancy and sex ed over the last 10 years.

During the Bush administration, the federal government spent $1.5 billion on religiously-oriented programs that focused on abstinence and delaying sex until marriage, approaches that were more concerned with a certain ideology and failed to educate teens about safe sex or the use of condoms in the age of an HIV epidemic.

Last October, President Barack Obama started to reform some of these past mistakes by attempting to fund organizations that have a history of showing results. That, however, was before the 2010 elections. It’s a different Congress now.

Last Thursday, The House voted 240-185 to kill government funds supporting Planned Parenthood, which provides a variety of services, including health care services to a huge majority of women and children, many of them poor. Other services include cancer screening, family planning, general OB-GYN services and STD testing.

Voices that supported Planned Parenthood were obviously upset by the news. Just a few days ago Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wisc., put it plain and simple in the House: “Planned Parenthood is healthy for women, healthy for children and healthy for our society.”

PP is a rare organization that helps solve one of this country’s most polarizing problems, whether you’re pro-choice or not. Even anti-abortion Democrat Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts said that, despite his beliefs, he supports the organization.

Teen pregnancy isn’t going to “tighten its belt” or “pull itself up by its own bootstraps” in these hard economic times.

“This is about the ability of Planned Parenthood to conduct women’s health care, to offer services that are deeply needed in many communities where no other source of health care is available…I don’t have many friends in the Planned Parenthood community. They don’t support me. I am pro-life. But I respect the good work that they do,” Lynch said.

But hey, these arguments are

nothing new. So what’s got GOP members in Congress like Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy co-sponsoring a bill to kill PP funding? Well, if you haven’t heard, the national economy has gone down the drain and fiscally responsible politicians are looking for programs to flush. Despite the cold economic reality, PP funding is one of the few private organizations that are absolutely essential for women’s and sexual health. There’s no doubt some tough cuts need to be made, but cuts to PP will be horribly counter-productive for two main reasons.

First of all, teen pregnancy isn’t going to “tighten its belt” or “pull itself up by its own bootstraps” in these hard economic times. Teen pregnancy and STDs are the result of bored and uneducated teenagers locked in a government building five days a week. Scare tactics thrust upon kids by health teachers are not going to inspire teens to practice safe sex. Only proper education will reap real results.

The second and most important reason why these cuts are a major mistake is the fact that the United States can’t afford not to fund organizations like Planned Parenthood. The United States has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and births in the western industrialized world. According to the Washington, D.C. Urban

Institute, teen pregnancy costs U.S. taxpayers at least $7 billion annually. Planned Parenthood, however, is doing more to fix these issues than any other organization out there. Government funding can be a complex sewer of deception and greed. So when an organization like Planned Parenthood comes around with an appropriate and fully realized solution to one of the nation’s biggest problems, the government shouldn’t think twice.

At the end of the day, I try to respect the GOP’s views on issues like abortions, women’s rights and sexual education. However, we have a fundamental disagreement on how to fix the problem of teen pregnancy. In the last few days I have seen the passion that Madison has used to protect workers’ rights. I only hope that in the upcoming weeks we can find the same passion to support women’s rights.

If you’re against the House’s recent vote or are just interested in the cause, PlannedParenthood.org has launched an impressive online campaign called “I stand with Planned Parenthood.” The website features an online petition in which you can sign digitally and make your voice heard.

Mike Kujak is sophomore with an undeclared major.

Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.

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Thursday, February 24, 2011

Men’s Basketball

Bank bails out Badgers

By Jeremy Wodajo the daily cardinal

As the final seconds ticked off the clock Wednesday night in Crisler Arena, the only sound heard was the blare of the final horn. And then shock rang through the air. The Michigan faithful fell silent as freshman Josh Gasser’s three-pointer sailed through the basket, propelling the Wisconsin men’s basketball team to a stunning 53-52 victory.

“I knew it was banking in right away.” Gasser said. “When it was in the air, I called it.”

The Badgers have been walking a fine line all year long on the road. Against the Wolverines, Gasser’s three-pointer as time expired propelled the Badgers (11-4 Big Ten, 21-6 overall) to yet another come from behind victory.

“I knew he was gonna get a shot off,” junior point guard Jordan Taylor said. “Josh is a tough kid and I knew he was gonna give it a good shot.”

Gasser scored the final five points for UW Wednesday night with his last basket the biggest as UW walked out of Ann Arbor with the Badger’s third come back victory of the season.

“I’ve had some buzzer-beaters in my life, but not on a stage like this,” Gasser said. “And I’ve certainly never banked in a winning three before.”

Junior point guard Jordan Taylor scored 11 of his game-high 20 points in the first half. He also contributed five assists, the fifth coming on Gasser’s game winner after the Wolverines (7-9, 17-12). doubled Taylor on the right wing off an inbounds play with five seconds left in regulation.

“Taylor is so talented, I think we’d all agree,” Michigan head coach John Beilein said. “We’ve seen a lot of point guards come into Crisler, that guy’s gotta be at the top of your list of guys you’ve seen recently that are efficient.”

Senior forward Jon Leuer scored just two points in the second half, but recorded his eighth career double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in 37 minutes of play.

UW struggled defending Michigan’s sets at times in the first half and saw the Wolverines take a one-point lead heading into halftime on a pick-and-roll lay-up by Evan Smotrycz.

A minor shooting slump slowed UW down going into the second half. Leuer started the half with

his final bucket of the night, but the Badgers then missed six straight shots. To Wisconsin’s advantage, Michigan also came out cold in the second half and the Badgers remained within striking distance throughout the first five minutes.

After senior forward Keaton Nankivil ended the drought with two quick buckets, UW traded baskets with the Wolverines as the two saw three lead changes and no lead exceeding four points the entire rest of the half.

“We got a lot of resilient guys on our team,” Taylor said. “Nobody on our team had the best game of their lives tonight, but we found a way to win.”

The Badger relied on Leuer, Taylor and Nankivil who combined for 45 of the Badger’s 53 total points. Although the Badgers committed five costly turnovers, they were able to force Michigan into 11 and were able to score 18 points off of the Wolverines carelessness.

“Didn’t shoot it great, played good defense for the most part,” Taylor said.

“We just stuck together and found a way to win.”

—uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.

Gasser’s big shot only adds to young but impressive freshman journey

By Max Sternberg the daily cardinal

There are certain things in this world that are pretty well established: The sky is blue, the grass is green and Wisconsin freshmen have to ride the bench before they earn their way into head coach Bo Ryan’s lineup.

Banking a game-winning shot in a crucial conference match on the road?

Unthinkable.

But for UW freshman guard Josh Gasser, the conventional wisdom doesn’t seem to apply.

This whole season, Gasser’s contributions seem to have always come in the most important moments, an especially rare accomplishment for a freshman.

“As a freshman, to make the kind of plays he does, it gives us a huge lift,” senior forward Jon Leuer said earlier this season. “He’s helped us out a lot, and he’s going to continue to help us out.”

No play has been bigger, however, than the one Wednesday night. As he has all season, Gasser was at his best when the Badgers needed him most.

“He makes those kind of plays all the time that you might not see in the box score,” junior guard Jordan Taylor said after the Badgers’ win over Ohio State Feb. 12. “He is just a kid that is hard-nosed and will stick his face. He makes those plays consistently, and those are winning plays. He is a great all-around player and that is what makes him so good.”

After catching some eyes at the sea-

son-opening “Field House Madness” scrimmage, Gasser worked his way into the rotation before exploding onto the scene with a 21-point, ninerebound debut in the season-opener against Prairie View A&M. “I wasn’t expecting that at all,” Gasser said at the time. “I was just out there doing whatever I could to help us win.”

As much as it flew against the foundations of the Bo Ryan system, the second best debut in program history left Ryan with little choice but to give Gasser the start against North Dakota.

“I didn’t think I’d have this much impact even two or three years down the road.”

Josh Gasser freshman guard UW men’s basketball

In today’s college basketball landscape, starting a freshman is commonplace. But at Wisconsin, it’s breaking news. With the start against the Sioux, Gasser became just the third player in the Bo Ryan era to start a game as a freshman, the other two carrying the last names of Harris and Tucker.

“I didn’t think I’d have this much impact even two or three years down the road,” Gasser said. “I just came in wanting to find my role, and my role is bigger than I thought it would be, but I’m fine with it.”

But being thrust into the lineup and into the spotlight took a bit of adjustment for the freshman, not only in terms of his on-the-court play, but perhaps even more so in his transition into the life of a college basketball player.

“It’s a lot more mental. It takes more focus and you’ve got to study the game a lot more [than you do in high school],” he said. “It’s a grinding season [and] it takes a toll on your body, but once you get past that, it’s alright.”

For the first 112 years of Wisconsin basketball, no Badger player had ever posted a triple-double. Gasser certainly topped the list of unlikely candidates to break this drought. His previous career high in assists was just four and, after all, he was just a freshman.

But on Jan. 23 at Northwestern, in front of 100 fans bused in from his home town of Port Washington, Gasser quickly put up 10 first-half points, nearly matching his previous Big Ten total of 13. Gasser finished the game with 10 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists.

Just a footnote in Wisconsin basketball a year ago, Gasser rewrote the history books.

In just his first year, Gasser has burst onto the scene with a tripledouble, a game-tying three against the top-ranked team in the nation, and a buzzer-beating game winner on the road against Michigan.

And yes, this is still Bo Ryan basketball. And yes, the sky is still blue.

But for Josh Gasser and the next three years, that sky’s the limit.

Wisconsin edges out Indiana in Kohl Center season finale In their last game on the Kohl Center court, seniors Lin Zastrow and Alyssa Karel stepped up big for the Wisconsin women’s basketball team, sealing a 65-57 victory over the struggling Hoosiers. For a full game recap, log on to

dailycardinal.com/sports.

ZASTROW

BEN PIERSON/cardinal file photo

Josh Gasser hit the winning shot as time expired against Michigan.