Tuesday, March 3, 2009 - The Daily Cardinal by The Daily Cardinal

POP, LOCK AND DROP IT: New student group ‘Freestyle Funk Sessions’ offers outlet for freestyle dancing on campus ARTS

University of Wisconsin-Madison

BECOMING THE CENTERS OF ATTENTION Nankivil and Leuer’s growth has helped ﬁll the void left by last years’ seniors SPORTS

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What are you giving away online? By Ashley Davis THE DAILY CARDINAL

ocial networking websites are an undeniable facet of college life, an observation made obvious by the numerous laptops in any lecture hall, where Facebook can take precedence over academic notes. Users of such sites have been voluntarily surrendering their privacy. Now more than ever, students are posting incriminating pictures, disclosing personal information and using social networking sites without reading the terms of use they are bound by. The consequences are proving to be both signiﬁcant and permanent. Social networking sites

Philosopher promotes evolutionary reﬂection THE DAILY CARDINAL

Faculty Senate reviews budget effects on salaries, tuition By Brandice Altﬁllisch THE DAILY CARDINAL

Members of the UWMadison Faculty Senate met Monday to reaffirm their stance on domestic-partner benefits in the state and how budget cuts might affect the university. Topics of concern included tuition, faculty salaries and domestic-partner benefits.

Proposed UW System cuts 1. UW-Madison: $63,390,268 2. UW-Milwaukee: $19,810,460 3. UW-La Crosse: $11,004,374 4. UW-Eau Claire: $8,658,360 5. UW-Extension: $8,521,512 Source: UW System

Chancellor Biddy Martin said Gov. Jim Doyle’s budget included a proposed government deficiency reduction for the UW System. A 1 percent reduction in all funds, except for federal funds, will be administered throughout the UW System. “This is the division of the governor’s budget that’s most difficult for us to grasp at this point,” Martin said. “What we don’t yet know is whether we’ll be responsible for the total amount of the 1 percent cut on all funds even though some of the funds will be exempt from the cut.” The total amount of reduction for the entire UW System is estimated at $150 million dollars. However, Martin said depending on the nature of bargaining rights and rise of tuition over the next two years, a specific amount of the reduction will be re-set. Despite the budget cuts, Martin stressed it is “absolutely not” necessary to declare a fiscal emergency. senate page 3

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

BECCA LI THE DAILY CARDINAL

By Beth Pickhard

JENNY PEEK/THE DAILY CARDINAL

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Daniel Dennett, an American philosopher, spoke to students and faculty Monday about his evolutionary and biological beliefs.

including Facebook, MySpace and YouTube all have thorough, legally binding terms of use and conditions that each user accepts upon creating an account. According to the various agreements, users are also accepting any changes in the terms of use if they continue to use the sites’ services. According to the MySpace terms of use, modiﬁcations to the agreement are effective upon online posting and users should therefore routinely check their agreement. The legalities of social networking sites’ terms have rarely been questioned, until Facebook networking page 3

UW-Madison community members gathered in the Wisconsin Union Theater Monday to listen to what some called a radical evolutionary perspective. Daniel Dennett, an American philosopher and noted atheist, spoke to students and faculty as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series. Dennett spoke primarily about evolution and how it can explain the existence of current life-forms by both biological and social means. According to Dennett, Charles Darwin’s ideas were revolutionary because they took into account different aspects of the human universe. “Darwin’s idea, more than any other idea anyone has had, is a uniﬁer,” Dennett said. “It unites the world of purposeless causation, physics, with the world of meaning.” UW-Madison student Catherine Arnold noticed Dennett combined ideas from different evolutionists and did not rely solely on Darwin’s ideas.

“He puts all of these ideas together and adds his to make one really good theory,” she said. According to Dennett, natural selection leads to objects that have specific purposes in life, but those organisms do not necessarily know what their purpose is. “[An organism] can have the competence without the comprehension,” he said. Dennett said brains are virtual machines, leading to higher purposes like the formation of groups, which allow greater things to be accomplished. “Designed by natural selection, these virtual machines, which give us powers to take versatility up a level, [allow for us to] form larger, organism-like entities like universities, armies and religions,” he said. According to Dennett, evolution is inﬂuenced by society through memes, which are speciﬁc parts of our culture, like words. He said words and society have both evolved to take advantage of their previous

design, just as biological evolution has in humankind’s past. “Words evolve from other words that are direct descendants of other words,” he said. UW-Madison philosophy professor Lawrence Shapiro said Dennett is sure to have left an impression on many because he presented unique arguments. “While Daniel’s positions will strike many as radical, there’s no denying that the prose he uses to defend himself are simple, eloquent and compelling and, above all, accessible,” he said. Anjali Misra, a UW-Madison student, said she was intrigued by Dennett’s lecture. “I thought his whole approach to evolution is really interesting,” she said. “I’m not a student of philosophy, but he really made me think.” Dennett stressed the importance of looking at the other processes in life and discovering how they came to be. For more information on upcoming lecturers, visit www. union.wisc.edu/DLS.

Mayor Cieslewicz endorses Eagon for Common Council seat Bryon Eagon, one of the two District 8 candidates for the Madison Common Council, announced his endorsement from Mayor Dave Cieslewicz Monday. “I’m honored to have Mayor Dave’s support, and I think it shows that we EAGON will work together to address issues here in Madison,” Eagon said. “It’s a great motivator to keep working hard.”

Eagon said Cieslewicz’s support shows he looked at each candidate and what kinds of issues they are prioritizing. “He understands that I did my homework and that he thinks we can work together to address student issues,” he said. According to a statement, Cieslewicz said Eagon has all the tools needed to be a great alder. “He’s bright, works hard, understands his district and cares deeply about the people he will represent,” he said. Although Eagon has received support from Cieslewicz, he

acknowledged that the campaign process is far from over. “There’s always more work to do and campaign, so having a continued presence on campus is going to be vital to the success of the campaign,” he said. Eagon said he would continue to meet students face to face around District 8, as well as knock on doors to further conversations on how best to address student issues in Madison. Eagon will face off against Mark Woulf in the District 8 election April 7. —Caitlin Gath

“…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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Tuesday, March 3, 2009

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It’s time to seriously question Dante’s logic

Volume 118, Issue 104

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News and Editorial edit@dailycardinal.com Editor in Chief Alex Morrell Managing Editor Gabe Ubatuba Campus Editor Erin Banco Rachel Holzman City Editor State Editor Megan Orear Charles Brace Enterprise Editor Associate News Editor Caitlin Gath Opinion Editor Nick Dmytrenko Jon Spike Arts Editors Kevin Slane Justin Stephani Sports Editors Ben Breiner Crystal Crowns Features Editor Diana Savage Food Editor Sara Barreau Science Editor Bill Andrews Photo Editors Kyle Bursaw Lorenzo Zemella Graphics Editors Amy Gifﬁn Jenny Peek Copy Chiefs Kate Manegold Emma Roller Jake Victor Copy Editors Hope Carmichael Kevin Mack, Lydia Statz

Business and Advertising business@dailycardinal.com Business Manager Alex Kusters Advertising Manager Sheila Phillips Mindy Cummings Billing Manager Accounts Receivable Manager Cole Wenzel Account Executives Katie Brown Ana Devcic, Natalie Kemp Tom Shield Web Directors Eric Harris, Dan Hawk Marketing Director Heath Bornheimer Archivist Erin Schmidtke The Daily Cardinal is published weekdays and distributed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and its surrounding community with a circulation of 10,000. 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. Capital Newspapers, Inc. is the Cardinal’s printer. The Daily Cardinal is printed on recycled paper. The Cardinal is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press and the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. All copy, photographs and graphics appearing in The Daily Cardinal are the sole property of the Cardinal and may not be reproduced without written permission of the editor in chief. The Daily Cardinal accepts advertising representing a wide range of views. This acceptance does not imply agreement with the views expressed. The Cardinal reserves the right to reject advertisements judged offensive based on imagery, wording or both. Complaints: News and editorial complaints should be presented to the editor in chief. Business and advertising complaints should be presented to the business manager. Letters Policy: Letters must be typewritten, double-spaced and no longer than 200 words, including contact information. Letters may be sent to letters@dailycardinal.com.

Editorial Board Nick Dmytrenko Dave Heller Alex Morrell Frances Provine Jon Spike Gabe Ubatuba Hannah Young l

Board of Directors Vince Filak Alex Kusters Mikhail Hanson Nik Hawkins Dave Heller Janet Larson Chris Long Alex Morrell Sheila Phillips Benjamin Sayre Jenny Sereno Terry Shelton Jeff Smoller Jason Stein l

KIERA WIATRAK taking kiera business

few months ago, after a particularly lengthy phone conversation with a sexually frustrated friend, I decided her exploits would be the perfect ice breaker while driving with my brother on the way to lunch. I knew he’d listen because, well, I was driving, and everyone realizes my driving is a delicate state deserving of the utmost respect and fear. “You know,” I said, “lust is a completely underrated emotion. It’s way more dangerous than it gets credit for.” My brother shrugged. “Well,” he said, “it’s better than fat people.” He told me that he had just read “Inferno,” the ﬁrst part of Dante’s “The Divine Comedy” for high school English. The Inferno depicts the different circles of hell—as you move

inward, the crimes of the sinners inhabiting them worsen and the punishments become harsher. The circle reserved for gluttons is deeper in hell than the circle for adulterers. In other words, Dante advises you to participate in a massive orgy before you dare indulge yourself in a bowl of ice cream. The punishments Dante chose for the two groups of offenders reinforce his screwed up sinning hierarchy. Dante sentenced the adulterers to ﬂutter about aimlessly for eternity to the whims of the wind, and the gluttons must lie motionless in the mud and feces beneath constant rain and hail. Does anyone else see a serious problem with this? The disparity is alarming. They’re not even close. Dante must have been one skinny sonovabitch to so conﬁdently condemn all who enjoy food to an eternity of eating their own crap. Or maybe they just didn’t have cake back then. Otherwise, I’m out of explanations. Hell gets even more complicated,

however, when you account for contemporary lifestyles that Dante obviously didn’t consider. Today, there are very few people who don’t commit both lust and gluttony in their lifetime. And, when examining such devices as edible underwear, flavored condoms and the overarching use of whipped cream, it becomes obvious that it is also quite common to engage in both at once. Consequently, Dante must be turning over in his grave wondering what to do with such bi-sinners. He could combine the two punishments to the effect of floating around, caked in mud and, well, other bodily secretions. But, aside from the bodily secretions, it sort of sounds like one eternal, gravity-defying mud wrestling match, which doesn’t seem so bad. Or maybe he would’ve just put the two together, with the floating sluts soaring above the hungry mud people. Modern Dante might’ve elected the reality TV route, like “Survivor: Hell,” or VH1’s “I Love Money” turned “I Wish I Hadn’t

Loved Hot Ass and Dessert.” And what about Dante himself? I think he should somehow be punished for obsessing for so long over lust and gluttony and the like. Obviously he put a lot of time into studying and analyzing gluttons and adulterers to come up with such elaborate punishments for them. Isn’t over-indulgence in pondering sin, in some sense, a form of gluttony itself? And if you look at it that way, are gluttony and lust really that different? They’re both just a form of yielding to temptation. Dante’s just as guilty as the rest of us—he consumed and lusted for ways to punish us horny, hungry people. But on the bright side, he’s probably rolling in the ﬂoating mud in hell and eating whatever comes out of your body in the underworld, wondering what he was thinking in his living years. At any rate, we can ask him when we get there after a few good orgies and a lot of dessert. If you’d like to bake Kiera a cheesecake, e-mail her at wiatrak@wisc.edu.

ASK THE DEER CARDINAL Life is hard. The Deer Cardinal is here to help.

Deer Cardinal, How can I get my deadbeat roommates to wash their damn dishes? —Mably P. Monamuloola Mably, Mably, is that even a real name? It doesn’t sound like one. Maybe, Mably, your roommates don’t wash their dishes because you have a fake name and they can’t respect you. But we don’t want to explain their behavior, we want to change it. Unfortunately, “Mably,” you can’t change people. That’s something you’ll learn with your ﬁrst husband. But at least with him you will never have expected that he would wash the dishes, because he’ll be a man. When it comes to college living, there are always going to be some freeloaders who leech of their roommates’ higher standards of cleanliness. You can’t beat them at their own game, but

you can get even. Start by throwing their socks away. If they ask you if you’ve seen their socks, give a sly look and tell them not lately but that maybe they should do their dishes every once in a while. Then escalate things. Put bad tasting chemicals on their toothbrushes, like PineSol. Eat their frozen pizzas. Poop in their shoes. The dishes might only pile up, but you’ll be nobody’s fool. Except your parents’, for giving you that name. Deer Cardinal, People keep changing the music at my house. I listen to what they pick when I’m at their place, WTF? —Meg F. Meg, You have really shitty taste in music, Meg. The music sets

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the tone, and I’m guessing your choice of Bread and Fleetwood Mac aren’t really setting the mood that your friends are looking for. Pay attention to when people start changing the song; I’m sure it was right when you played “Baby I’m a Want You” during ﬂip cup. Or maybe it was when “Landslide” started playing during that power hour. You get the picture. Try playing something sweet, like Prince’s “You Don’t Have to be Rich to be My Girl” and see how many people rush to switch playlists. None. Unless you lock your speakers in your room and guard them with a shotgun, people are going to either leave or change the song when you play Creed’s “With Arms Wide Open,” just as girls have begun to dance on tables during the wet T-shirt contest. Become a better DJ and 90 percent of your problems will be solved.

Deer Cardinal, Have you noticed some of the female police ofﬁcers on campus here? I feel like I should given them all noogies or something when they pass by. Well, not all of them... —Steve M. Steve, To answer your question, Steve, yes. I don’t know if you were looking for something more there, but yes. Got a question for the Deer Cardinal? E-mail page2@dailycardinal.com.

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Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Report: spending on corrections climbs By Megan Orear THE DAILY CARDINAL

A new study by the Pew Research Center suggests a need for reform in the nation’s correctional programs, highlighting a growing number of people under correctional control and the rising cost to states. According to a report released Monday, one in 31 adults in the United States is currently under some sort of correctional control, compared to one in 71 adults 25 years ago. In Wisconsin, spending on corrections has increased from $557 million in 1997 to $1.08 billion in 2008, according to the report. In addition, one in 39 Wisconsin adults is under correctional control, the majority of whom are not in prison but are on parole or probation. Of the $1.08 billion spent in Wisconsin in 2008, only $174 million went toward probation and parole. According to the report, these supervision programs cost significantly less than incarceration and decrease the rate of repeat offenders. The report recommends measures for states to help avoid prison expansion for punishing prisoners, including basing a prisoner’s punishment on his or her risk to public safety. “There always will be a need for prisons to house violent criminals who pose a threat to public safety, but the Pew Center’s report reafﬁrms that we need to invest in

strategies beyond prison expansion to curtail corrections spending and reduce recidivism,” Department of Corrections Secretary Rick Raemisch said in a statement. DuJuan Walker, who is on the board of directors for the group Prison Action Wisconsin, said a major reason for the skyrocketing costs of corrections is the fact that many prisoners are being “recycled” into prison because of small parole violations. The report also shows a racial disparity in the corrections system, with 9.2 percent of black adults, 3.7 percent of Hispanic adults and 2.2 percent of white adults under correctional control nationally. Gov. Jim Doyle’s recently announced budget plan includes a proposal to release some nonviolent felons from prison into rehabilitation programs early as one way to cut spending on corrections and combat the state’s projected $5.9 billion budget deﬁcit. Kimberly Liedl, spokesperson for state Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said Fitzgerald is very concerned about the potential effect on public safety from the early release of felons, as well as the governor’s plan to discontinue the GPS tracking of some sex offenders in the state. “There are ways to try to balance our budget other than cutting corrections and putting the safety of the public at risk,” Liedl said.

Metro bus crashes, injuring three inside A Madison Metro bus accident Monday morning injured three passengers and left the fate of the bus driver’s job undetermined. According to a police report, the driver was heading outbound on Aberg Avenue and attempting to turn onto Packers Avenue around 11 a.m. when a clipboard fell from the dashboard. When the driver went to pick it up, he lost control of the vehicle. The Route 21 bus jumped the median in the road and crossed westbound traffic lanes before hitting two walls and coming to a halt. Fewer than 10 people were on the bus at the time. Metro Transit spokesperson Mick Rusch said three passengers were transported to a local hospital

with non-life-threatening injuries. The bus driver has been cited for inattentive driving, but the fate of his job remains in the hands of the safety supervisor. “In these cases, the standard procedure is that the driver is taken immediately to get drugtested,” Rusch said. “The safety supervisor will then go through many different reports to make a determination whether the accident was preventable or not.” Metro must then follow procedures outlined in its contract with the driver to deal with either type of accident. The results of the driver’s drug test have not been released, and the accident is under investigation. —Rachel Holzman

Man arrested for beating 22-year-old A Madison man was arrested and tentatively charged with battery Friday night after allegedly attacking a 22-year-old man the prior Tuesday. According to a police report, a Madison police officer located the suspect inside a residence in the 400 block of West Wilson Street. The suspect, Jason “New York” Moore, 28, is accused of attacking the victim in the same apartment building in which the arrest was made. Moore reportedly said he believed the victim had threatened a mutual female acquain-

tance, at whose apartment both men had slept. When the victim arrived at the apartment Feb. 24, Moore reportedly attacked him upon arrival. The victim says Moore punched him around 15 times in the face and head. After going to a local emergency room, the victim called police to report the incident later Tuesday night. He suffered facial bumps and bruises and had a chipped tooth. Moore was arrested and tentatively charged with substantial battery.

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networking from page 1

CHARLIE BAKER/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Students attended a Campus Antiwar Network event Monday. The event focused on the need for troop withdrawals from Middle East areas.

CAN holds teach-in, stresses need for change in Middle East By Kayla Torgerson THE DAILY CARDINAL

The UW-Madison Campus Antiwar Network held a teachin Monday in opposition to the violent conflicts in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan. The talk featured several speakers from various coalition organizations like Justice for Palestine and Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice. Jehad Algharabli, a UW-Madison student originally from Palestine, recently co-founded Justice for Palestine, which is a new grassroots organization on campus. Algharabli said the mission of the organization is to help educate students about the Israel-Palestine conflict. He said the media do not portray the conflict realistically. He said the media often present Gaza as a free and sovereign territory, but “Gaza has been under direct Israeli control—the borders of Gaza, the air space, the waters ... have been controlled.” Algharabli stressed the need for an equal distribution of blame among all parties involved in the Israel-Palestine conﬂict. Christina Taber, a Wisconsin alum and member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, offered a different resolution regarding the Iraq war. Taber cited a need for “immediate and complete withdrawal ... withdrawing all mili-

senate from page 1 Several members of the senate responded to questions regarding future tuition and faculty salaries with the proposed budget cuts. “Tuition should not be at the bottom [of the peer group] given the quality of this institution, nor should faculty salaries be at the bottom of the peer group,” Martin said. “We have to work hard to make improvements.” Though Martin is not “suggesting everything is rosy,” she anticipates “we will be in about as

tary troops [and] defense contractors and closing military bases.” Taber and IVAW support the goal of immediate withdrawal. “The Iraqis deserve the dignity of full sovereignty and control of their own nation,” she said. Taber fears President Obama’s recent decision to keep 50,000 troops in Iraq until 2011 will result in “3 more years of unjustiﬁed military occupation.” During the 2008 election, IVAW produced a commercial opposing the occupation, which was broadcast throughout the United States. The goal behind the commercial was to remind the public a change in presidency does not necessarily mean an end to the war. Steve Burns, a member of Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, said President Obama is not as large of an opponent to the war as many people may think. He said Obama views the war in Afghanistan as the “good war,” compared to the “bad war” in Iraq. Although Burns was a strong proponent of peace over war, he differed from the other speakers because he did not support immediate troop withdrawal. He supported his decision by saying that the majority of Afghanistan’s citizens support forces in the Middle East and hope troops will be withdrawn only after political stability is gained. good a position as one could hope to be in this environment.” At the end of the meeting, professor of human ecology Ann Hoyt addressed the inclusion of domestic-partner benefits in Doyle’s recent budget proposal. “We’re very pleased to see that the governor’s budget includes them, and we feel that it’s important to cross the professional representation of the Faculty Senate.” The Faculty Senate voted unanimously in support of including domestic-partner benefits in the budget.

announced its agreement modifications Feb. 4. After extensive public backlash, the site has reverted back to its original terms until a new agreement can be reached. Many users, however, are still unaware of the original legal agreement by which they are currently bound. “We don’t even read the terms of use anymore; we kind of just accept the fact that it’s normal ... [Consequently] we’re giving away more privacy and more personal information now than we ever have in our past,” UW-Madison journalism professor Dhavan Shah said. According to the Facebook terms of use, last updated Sept. 23, 2008, users are solely responsible for the photographs, profiles, messages, notes, text, information and other content that they upload, publish or display. However, when people post user content to the site, they automatically grant “to the company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt, and distribute such User Content for any purpose.” MySpace, whose terms were last updated Feb. 28, 2008, explicitly states it does not claim any ownership rights to user content, but by submitting pictures, information, etc. “you hereby grant to MySpace a limited license to use, modify, delete from, add to, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such content solely on or through the MySpace services.” MySpace terms of use differ in that the aforementioned “limited license” does not grant the site rights to sell or otherwise distribute content outside of MySpace services and that after removing content from the site, the license will terminate. Similarly, YouTube’s terms state the user is solely responsible for submissions and retains all ownership rights of content, yet grants YouTube the license to display, reproduce and distribute submitted content. Without specifying such rights, YouTube would be unable to circulate the videos users seek to share. Youthful users of social networking sites are becoming increasingly aware of the repercussions of overexposure, but there is still a lot more to learn. “I think [social networking sites] hold great promise, but they can also be abused and misused,” UW-Madison journalism professor Katy Culver said. Such sites have also borne social and professional implications and changed the face of communication. “They are examples of the remarkable capabilities of the Internet and the kind of human creativity and interaction it has stimulated,” UW-Madison journalism professor Robert Drechsel said. There is no telling what technological developments will impact communication in the coming years, but if users stay informed of their rights, they can continue to reap the sites’ benefits while entertaining themselves during class.

opinion l

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Tuesday, March 3, 2009

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

vendor move is for the best

ending a discussion with the Board of Estimates and a likely vote at a Common Council meeting on March 17, latenight vending on Frances Street may look a lot different in a few months. No longer will you have a flock of people shuffling out of Wando’s and other nearby bars to get their end-ofthe-night Jin’s Chicken & Fish. Well, they may be heading to Jin’s, but they’ll have to trek to Library Mall to get their fix. That, at least, is what the Vending Oversight Committee hopes to achieve. Last month, the VOC spent hours revising late-night vending ordinances. These revisions would move large vending carts, such as Jin’s, to assigned spots on Library Mall, while allowing smaller carts like hot dog stands to remain on Frances. If the Common Council chooses to go ahead with the revised ordinances, late-night vending carts would begin serving out of Library Mall as early as April 15, which is when the new vending season begins. The VOC’s changes to late-night vending have been a long time coming, and we applaud their revisions to the ordinances for both safety reasons and for eliminating—though some may consider it a recent Madison tradition—what really is just a crowded,

public nuisance on Frances Street. The changes combat the potentially rowdy bar crowd clogging Frances Street, which Jin’s employee Tevis O’Hare said can get “a little rough with people ﬁghting in line.” New lights will be up in Library Mall by the time the carts begin serving there, and VOC member Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said there would be an increased police presence in the area. This offers a safer, speciﬁcally designated area for patrons to get their favorite late-night food by concentrating a chunk of the after-bar crowd away from the main bar-time strip, but not far enough away of a walk to make it an unreasonable move. Additionally, tenants of the Eleanor Apartments at 405 N. Frances St. have complained numerous times to owner Rebecca Anderson about the smell and noise levels created by the vending carts. Although a moderate amount of noise will remain because of the crowds still piling out of bars, the crowds may linger less and the oily stench that clouds the area around Jin’s will disappear completely. We encourage the Common Council to pass the VOC’s changes to the late-night vending ordinances to reduce the congestion and improve the safety—and odor—in the Frances Street area.

Obama’s budget offers a better direction for U.S. TOM HART opinion columnist

obin Hood the Socialist. How many times this week has this phrase been uttered by conservative pundits in response to President Barack Obama’s proposed budget plan? If Rush Limbaugh’s nightly prayers are answered, Obama’s proposed budget might just be headed for failure. I left last Tuesday’s State-of-theUnion-style address feeling invigorated and proud to be an American citizen. Obama delivered a moving speech, as expected, but not because of his brilliant oratorical skills. This time it ﬁnally felt as if there was some truth coming from the pulpit. After years of veiled statements and confused utterances, it was refreshing to hear the executivein-chief deliver a clear, substantive appeal to the public. A new mode of thinking was born on Capitol Hill. People have talked about this agenda since its proposal, but it actually came to fruition when Obama delivered his speech. He put forth bold new initiatives. He planned to end tax cuts for the wealthiest five percent of Americans. He addressed climate change. Lastly, he enacted steps to finally reform health care. Intelligence has returned to the White House, especially

regarding science. The newly proposed carbon permit program will force carbon-emitting companies to pay for every ton of carbon released into the atmosphere. These permit fees will be funneled into new research initiatives including a $15 billion subsidy for clean energy technologies. Additional carbon tax profits will provide up to $800 in annual tax credits to low-income consumers in order to offset the projected rise in utility fees. The “Robin Hood” and “Socialist” labels are laughable at best. If Obama is Robin Hood, wouldn’t that make George W. Bush the Sheriff of Nottingham? At least Obama is “robbing” from the rich to give to the poor. This accusation comes as a result of the new redistribution of wealth arguments, but if one truly studied the tax increases on the wealthy, they would ﬁnd Obama is simply letting Bush’s tax cuts expire on their set 2010 date. Obama may be extending the Bush tax cuts for families who make under $250,000 per year, but in actuality the wealthy will be returning to the same tax levels they saw under the Clinton administration. If the United States was a Socialist country in the 1990s, this is news to me. These cries of “socialist” and “Robin Hood” are simply unfounded scare tactics that have become the norm for fear-mongering politicians since September 2001. Another unfounded fear is that the United States will be weakening the military through decreased

defense spending. This is a flawed method of thinking. The U.S. Defense budget currently accounts for 48 percent of the world’s annual defense spending. It’s time we reduced this figure considerably. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made it clear in the journal Foreign Affairs when he wrote that the U.S. cannot “eliminate national security risks through higher defense budgets, to do everything and buy everything.” Extravagant weapons programs will be scaled back while troop levels will increase along with military pay and benefits. Eliminating the costs of an extravagant war in Iraq and refocusing our troops in Afghanistan will not weaken our domestic security. Obama is keeping a residual force of 50,000 troops in Iraq to help with the rebuilding process, a decision that has had Nancy Pelosi up in arms for the past several days. The proposed budget is extremely ambitious and it will take all of Obama’s political capital to push it through in its entirety. Corporations will protest their tax increases. Industrial sectors will protest the carbon permits. Oil companies will protest extra fees for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and on federal lands. Defense contractors will protest decreased military spending. But, as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-La.) said last Tuesday in his best Ms. Lippy impression, “Americans can do anything.” Tom Hart is a senior majoring in history. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com

Constitution rejection means ASM has more work to do By Jamie Stark THE DAILY CARDINAL

The recent rejection of the proposed ASM constitution was nothing short of a failure for all students on campus. The Associated Students of Madison, which every UW student is a member of, lost this election. I won’t spend too much time complaining about how much our school

needed (and still needs) the reforms of that constitution, but right now, ASM is a headless torso without the direction provided by a clear executive. A president would bring more visibility and accountability to our government. More students would run for ofﬁce, and the actions of our elected classmates would be more visible. Increased accountability and

involvement are the prescription for ASM’s current ailments. ASM Student Council had its hands tied in promoting the constitution, despite unanimously voting twice to approve the referendum. According to the current constitution, we could not lobby for or against ballot initiatives, so instead we focused on efforts to bring students to the polls. The Student Elections Commission worked with the Outreach Committee on more getout-the-vote efforts than in any recent election. However, both campaigns were difﬁcult to run with the volunteers limited to a small pool of interested elected ofﬁcials.

ASM is a headless torso without the direction provided by a clear executive.

The 15 percent student turnout in the election was phenomenal, and is clearly attributed to the three campaigns: “Yes”, “No”, and the unbiased efforts I worked on and privately referred to as “Vote Maybe.” By energizing 1,300 more students to vote than the constitutional proponents, the “Vote No” crowd deserves applause. They worked their butts off to make sure students kept our government the same. My main concern with the “Vote No” reasoning was that it appeared

to argue that the last 15 years of ASM were all rainbows and puppies. I would disagree. Even as a freshman, I know there is high demand for improvement in our government. If the “grassroots” structure we supposedly have is so great, why haven’t outside groups utilized it for reasons other than getting money? There was also a great deal of misinformation about presidential powers and student group funding propagated during this election. I blame no one but ASM itself for not doing even more to inform students about the constitution and fight the smear campaign. Our perfect plans were laid to waste by the perennial problem of insufficient student involvement and lack of volunteers. Yes, we should have started campaigning earlier and yes, we should have tried harder to get more volunteers. However, exorbitant amounts of time were consumed crafting the constitution and by-laws while listening to student suggestions and making changes that pandered, disproportionately, to speciﬁc groups’ demands. These groups then campaigned more against the writers of the constitution than the document itself. ASM needs reform, no doubt, but this change is especially imperative because our government is necessary. ASM funds most Registered Student Organizations on campus, providing services and opportunities I do not want to see disappear. ASM appoints students to Shared Governance positions that place students on equal footing with UW administration.

Through state statute, all Wisconsin students get a seat at the table whenever administration makes decisions affecting student life. This makes ASM one of the most powerful student governments in the country. If we don’t work harder to improve and expand our student government, we risk losing those vital services and rights.

Increased accountability and involvement are a prescription for ASM’s current ailments.

Over the next few weeks, there will be plenty of reforms and by-law changes proposed to the current constitution on issues such as increased power for the Student Council chair and more accessible Student Council meetings. Both sides of the recent campaign agreed on a majority of the proposed constitution’s reforms. Now we must work together to make some changes in a less radical manner than a brand new constitution. My one hope is that you get involved: Follow ASM in the news, run for ofﬁce this spring and most importantly, vote. Let’s quit watching and start doing. In the end, the world is run by those who show up. Jamie Stark is a member of the Freshman Student Council and ASM. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.

arts

dailycardinal.com/arts

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Bono needs help ‘on the horizon’ DALE MUNDT croco-dale rock

PHOTO COURTESY BECCA LI

Even though UW has several existing dance groups on campus, none emphasize freestyle dancing like the new group Freestyle Funk Sessions.

Get funky for free By Claire Wiese THE DAILY CARDINAL

When Jeff Vinokur left New Jersey for college in Madison, he brought a relatively new love for dancing with him. Soon after arriving, he had an idea: to teach Madison how to dance. But not just any style of dance, a speciﬁc type of freestyle dancing, also known as popping and locking. Vinokur, along with Chicago native James Gavin, started “Freestyle Funk Sessions,” a free, once per week outlet to teach this rare style to students in Madison. “We’re just trying to spread freestyle dancing.” Vinokur said. “There is break dancing on campus; UW Break Dance Club and Hypnotiq does choreographed hip hop, but nothing for the in between ground of freestyle dancing.” “I had no previous dance experience at all. I was actually that kid who was afraid to step foot on the dance ﬂoor.” Jeff Vinokur Freestyle Funk Sessions

According to Vinokur, their goal is “to foster a dance community here in Madison.” Freestyle Funk Sessions recently became a Registered Student Organization, and has its ofﬁcial kickoff meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Student Activities Center multi-purpose room in University Square. Vinokur’s teaching philosophy follows his own experiences with learning how to freestyle dance. “I had no previous dance experience at all,” he said. “I was actually that kid who was afraid to step foot on the dance ﬂoor.” Vinokur credits starting slowly and taking advantage of the opportunities around him for learning to love this type

of dancing. “I’ve only been dancing a year and a half, and I actually learned how to dance from YouTube,” he said. “Living in New Jersey, New York is only about a half hour away. So I started going there, and I learned from some of the best in the world.” Freestyle Funk Sessions is free of charge—at least for now. Because of the group’s recent acceptance as a student organization, Vinokur has been hard at work looking for funding. “We’ve talked to ASM, and right now I’m working on an Event Grant that would work on a weekly basis,” Vinokur said. “If the grant doesn’t work out, we will probably have to charge a membership fee. But we really don’t want to do that because it’s part of our mission to teach dancing completely for free.” Vinokur added that he also plans to apply for an ASM Operations Grant to fund the 2010-11 school year. He also said, “Dancing is an expression, and we think that people shouldn’t have to pay for that.” For those who want to go beyond just learning freestyle dancing, Freestyle Funk Sessions also provides the opportunity of a performance group that meets twice a week. The group’s ﬁrst performance is Friday, March 6, in Memorial Union’s Great Hall. Overall, Vinokur emphasized the ease of learning this type of dance. “It’s a dance style that most people learn when they don’t have any other dance experience,” he said. “It’s really welcoming to beginners, and not too difﬁcult to pick up. It just takes practice. It’s a lot of fun.”

Freestyle Funk Sessions Kickoff Meeting where: Student Activities Center multipurpose room, University Square when: Tuesday, March 3, 7 p.m.

Sunday’s New York Times featured an interview with U2. On the eve of the release of their twelfth studio album, No Line On The Horizon, the article focused on the band’s struggle to maintain legitimacy in the face of their own 30-plus year history, the political associations of their lead singer and the commercial culture of the music today. Unsurprisingly, U2 turns out to be the hero of this story, valiantly making great music in the face of insurmountable cultural odds, all while staying true to their roots. But the puffiness of the piece belies its insights. Bono’s quotations give a unique perspective on art and commercialism in music. In this article, Bono treats art as a political tool. The author quotes Bono as saying “I feel as an artist that my job is to try and understand the forces that are shaping the world that our songs occupy. And maybe, if you get a chance, try to shape it.” Essentially, Bono claims that art itself is dependent on a specific cultural environment. He echoes the importance of cultural context when he suggests “your first job as a songwriter” is to “puncture pop consciousness with a tune.” Not surprisingly, one of Bono’s most important artistic relationships is with the audi-

ence. At one point, Bono expresses uncertainty over the reception of the upcoming album, despite his conﬁdence in the music. “I know the quality of the work is there, but will it be taken? I really don’t know.” Even his philosophy of artistic responsibility that I already mentioned is followed with audience reinforcement. One sentence after his grand vision of art shaping culture, Bono says, “They thought ... daring to want to play with the big boys, philosophically and every other way, would frighten our audience away. But actually our audience feels much more powerful.” It seems the vision itself needed to be validated by audience approval.

Isn’t making good music the way musicians ﬁnd exposure in the ﬁrst place?

Perhaps the most interesting quote of the entire article deals with getting the art to the audience. The article reads: “Bono put it bluntly. ‘I’m interested in commerce,’ he said. ‘The excuse for bigness is that songs demand to be heard if they’re any good. And without the kind of momentum of being in a big rock ‘n’ roll band, you won’t get your songs heard.’” Bono apparently approaches all of this—the interviews, the weeklong Letterman gig, the politi-

cal appearances, the coffee table books—as a method of delivering the music to the listeners. According to this article, Bono believes the artist makes a song that reflects an understanding of culture. Once the artist delivers that song to the listener, the song can begin reshaping culture. Therefore, the artist is responsible for the first two stages, but dependent on the audience for the final phase. This vision, like Bono’s music, is ambitious in its attempt to change the world. The problem is that it sells music short. Bono fails to trust that good songs do “demand to be heard,” instead depending on “momentum” to publicize the music. Isn’t making good music the way musicians find exposure in the first place? If the music is good enough, why emphasize the publicity? Bono also fails to grasp the breadth of music. Music isn’t merely about finding a way to understand the forces of a culture, but rather about finding ways to speak to the human experience. Joshua Tree is not an amazing album for the historical value of its commentary on 1987 politics. Joshua Tree is good because it universally touches human hopes and realities. I enjoy U2’s music, and I appreciate the message they are trying to communicate. But music is so much more than just a political tool. Bono would do well to remember that. Tell Dale about your unrequited old man crush on Bono at dpmundt@wisc.edu.

comics 6

Holy Moly! There are approximately ﬁfty Bibles sold each minute across the world! dailycardinal.com/comics

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Simple Jack

Today’s Sudoku

Anthro-apology Classic

By Eric Wigdahl wigdahl@wisc.edu

Angel Hair Pasta

By Todd Stevens ststevens@wisc.edu

Sid and Phil

By Alex Lewein alex@sidandphil.com

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 Daily Code

Alpa Chino

a b c d e f g h i

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

“Aolf’yl ibzapu’ jhwz sprl h tbaohmbjrh kvdu aolyl. Aopz pz M.B.I.H.Y. P zhf dl qbpjl ‘lt, doha kv fvb aopur?” Quote from Tropic Thunder Each letter of the alphabet is shifted by a fixed number of places. For example, with a shift of 1, every ”A” becomes a “B”, every “B” becomes a “C” and so on.

How to solve:

Today’s Crossword Puzzle

The Graph Giraffe

Evil Bird

By Yosef Lerner ilerner@wisc.edu

By Caitlin Kirihara kirihara@wisc.edu

Answer key available at www.dailycardinal.com TIES THAT BIND ACROSS

1 Course activity 5 Wranglers, e.g. 10 A ﬁle that can’t be opened 14 “Hard ___!” (helm command) 15 Inuit domicile 16 With the bow, in music 17 Is in session 18 Tips 20 Freed group of ’81 22 Piglet’s progenitor 23 Cinches or clinches 24 Offered resistance 26 Harvard and MIT, e.g. 30 First course, generally 31 Streamlet 32 Square dance participant 35 Pickler’s herb 36 Delete 38 Irritate 39 Capone and Pacino 40 Novel necessity 41 Conestoga, for one 42 Greek organizations 45 Generally 48 Steinbeck’s “___ of Eden” 49 Father-in-law of Jacob 50 Regulations against Sunday drinking

54 Monopoly possessions 57 Eye part 58 Instrument for a Marx 59 Actress Dunne 60 Aerie 61 Feed the pot 62 One of Columbus’ trio 63 Empty spaces 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 19 21 24 25 26 27

DOWN

Bad cut A little of this, a little of that Gives the green light Film event Cocktail recipe measure Barnum’s exit “Unfortunately ...” Word with “waste” and “want” Five-centime piece of old Sine, cosine and tangent Botanical coverings Tantrum, e.g. Acted (as) Drive forward Served perfectly Elevator guy Good amount of money Meat-inspecting org. Tooth’s partner

28 Troubles 29 Livid 32 Movie musical based on a Colette novel 33 Shaving cream additive 34 Optician’s creation 36 Carrier to Tel Aviv 37 Mechanical learning method 38 Shaking, saber-style 40 Plum form 41 Sagacious 42 Frozen, fruity dessert 43 Yield 44 Queasiness 45 Homer’s ﬁrst letter 46 Plastic wrap brand 47 Scrub, at Cape Canaveral 50 Muy ___ 51 Neighborhood 52 Smoke trace 53 Sleek jets 55 Legendary sleeper 56 “State” starter

Frugal Gnome

By Lindsey Heinz and Emily Villwock lheinz@wisc.edu

sports

dailycardinal.com/sports

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Men’s Basketball

Sophomore big men Nankivil, Leuer step up for UW By Justin Dean THE DAILY CARDINAL

Heading into the 2008-’09 season, Bo Ryan and the men’s basketball team had some big shoes to ﬁll. Left with the difﬁcult task of replacing Brian Butch’s low post scoring and Greg Stiemsma’s defensive tenacity on the frontline, Ryan and the Badger coaching staff had a talented but largely unproven crop of young, big men to choose from. Luckily sophomores Jon Leuer and Keaton Nankivil both wear

LORENZO ZEMELLA/CARDINAL FILE PHOTO

UW sophomore forward Keaton Nankivil has started in 20 of the Badgers’ 27 games this season.

big shoes, and both have stepped up in a big way to help the Badgers turn a supposed rebuilding year into what now looks like their 11th straight NCAA tournament birth. The 6-10 Leuer is averaging just over nine points and four rebounds a game while Nankivil is shooting 50 percent from the ﬁeld and 60 percent 3-pointers. “I feel like we’ve progressed a lot since we came in as freshmen. Keaton, I can’t even tell you how much better I think he has gotten,” Leuer said. “Mentally and physically he’s just a lot stronger.” Strength and experience, according to associate head coach Greg Gard, are two key areas of improvement that have allowed Leuer to increase his minutes to 20 minutes a game this year. Leuer gained over 15 pounds last off-season, and the extra weight has allowed him to bang around down low with the Big Ten’s scruffy frontlines. “Jon, I think, has made strides from last year,” Gard said. “You look at ﬁlm from last year how skinny he looked, and he’s not Hercules by any stretch, but he’s made strides.” Meanwhile, the 6-8 Nankivil bulked up to 240 pounds this off-season to add more strength to his already impressive leaping abilities. But Gard said Nankivil’s most important improvement has come through getting the consistent game action he rarely saw last year. Nankivil has started 20 games this

season and is averaging just over 14 minutes a game. “Once they have that experience, they are able to get a taste of what it’s really like and how physical it is and how strong you have to be,” Gard said. After 26 games this year, both Leuer and Nankivil know quite well how strong you have to be to match up against Big Ten big men. But Leuer cites spending their freshman year practicing against Butch and Stiemsma, two of the conference’s best big men last year, as some of the most beneﬁcial experience of his college career. The two seniors were a driving force in Wisconsin’s back-to-back 30-win seasons, whose aggressive post play earned them the nicknames “The Big Water Buffalo” from ESPN announcer Steve Lavin. Leuer and Nankivil draw more than a few comparisons to Butch and Stiemsma, the most common being their size and soft shooting touch for big men. According to Leuer, this is no coincidence. “I think we both deﬁnitely learned a lot from those two guys,” Leuer said. “They were two of the best. I can remember several times in practice having one of those two guys pull me aside and show me if I wasn’t doing something right.” Although Leuer and Nankivil have shown vast improvement from last year, they are still far from reaching their potential as

ISABEL ALVAREZ/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Wisconsin sophomore forward Jon Leuer is averaging 9.2 points and four rebounds per game for the Badgers this season. game-changing players. That’s why Gard said this upcoming off-season will be crucial for both players to add even more strength and stamina to play physical Big Ten basketball. Gard pointed to Leuer in particular, saying he could gain ten more pounds of muscle to help maintain his balance when being pushed and shoved around the rim and ﬁnish more on lay-ups and offensive rebounds. “Any way they can improve their body to help their stamina and to help their conditioning,” Gard said. “Especially with guys on the front

line having to play as physical as we play.” Although Leuer and Nankivil see continued improvement in the future, their immediate sights are on helping the Badgers continue to improve down the stretch and make a run in the post-season tournaments. “Being a young team, we’ve deﬁnitely progressed over the season and we’ve learned a lot,” Leuer said. “I feel like everyone on the team just knows that if we want to do some of the things we wanted to do this season, we all have to get better.”

Men’s Tennis

Wisconsin brings down Notre Dame and North Carolina State over weekend By Emma Condon THE DAILY CARDINAL

After trailing almost the entire meet, the Wisconsin men’s tennis team rallied to defeat Notre Dame for the first time in 18 meetings 4-3 in four hours of intense play Sunday afternoon at Nielsen Tennis Stadium. With three singles matches finished, the Badgers came from behind to level the meet at 3all, and all eyes fell to the No. 3 singles match and freshman

Patrick Pohlmann battling Notre Dame’s sophomore Daniel Stahl in the third set for the deciding meet point. “I was just so nervous,” Pohlmann said. “I tried to be emotional, to be loud, to be ﬁred up, so that I don’t show that I’m nervous.” Stahl picked up an early break but Pohlmann brought the match back on serve, breaking at 5-4 to stay in it and eventually force a tiebreaker to determine the meet. “I just couldn’t believe there was

STEPHANIE MOEBIUS/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Wisconsin freshman Patrick Pohlmann picked up the deciding point in three sets to pull the Badgers ahead of Notre Dame Sunday.

lions from page 8 ing of inept general manager Matt Millen last season was a step in the right direction, and of course they have secured a ﬁrst overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft. Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford is clearly the frontrunner for the ﬁrst overall pick in the draft, and the Lions could certainly use a player like

Stafford on their squad. But with a season like the Lions had in 2008, one would imagine Stafford might pull a John Elway or Eli Manning and refuse to be drafted by them. Fortunately for Detroit, Stafford said in a report last two weeks ago, “I think I’m doing everything that I can to prove to people that I’m a good football player and worthy of the [ﬁrst overall] pick, and if that

one set for the match. It had already come down to 3-all, so it was deﬁnitely a long time being out there with all that pressure on,” assistant coach Evan Austin said. “It’s a few points here and there when you go into a tiebreak like that, and I just couldn’t believe it that, at 5-all in the tiebreaker, he hit that backhand winner up the line. It was gutsy, and he deserved the win, the way he stepped up right there at the end.” Pohlmann moved up to 6-5 with a forehand winner, and finally, Stahl surrendered the match on a double fault. “I played a bit tight today in the tiebreaker,” Pohlmann said. “He was tight too, and I had better solutions for the situation.” The No. 25-ranked Irish (7-7) took the doubles point, sweeping all three matches and handing Wisconsin No. 18-ranked pair, junior Moritz Baumann and sophomore Marek Michalicka, their first loss of the season to No. 13 senior Brett Helgeson and sophomore Tyler Davis. The duo only gave their opponents two break chances in the first games, but the Irish took both to move up 3-1 early in the match. Unable to convert their own break points, Baumann and Michalicka held serve to fall 8-6. The No. 2 pair Pohlmann

and junior Luke Rassow-Kantor dropped their match 8-5, and juniors Michael Muskievicz and Michael Dierberger lost a tight tiebreak to also fall 9-8(7), ensuring the Notre Dame point. Unaccustomed to losing the doubles point, the Badgers moved into singles play trailing 0-1. “I told the guys, ‘Listen we’re good enough to win this match without the doubles point, and it’s going to test us today to see how we’re going to respond to losing the doubles point,’” head coach Greg Van Emburgh said. “They responded just like I thought they would.” Baumann started the Badgers’ comeback with a straight set victory over Notre Dame sophomore Stephen Havens, 6-4, 6-2. The No. 36 Baumann remains undefeated in singles play moving to 11-0 and collected his third Big Ten Player of the Week honor in the past month. Sophomore Peter Marrack also contributed a point to the Badger offensive with his straightset victory 7-5, 6-4 at No. 6 after No. 60 Michalicka upset No. 18 Brett Helgeson at No. 1. Michalicka stormed through the Irish serve to move up 5-0, before Helgeson fought through a deuce to hold only his last service game. Michalicka went on to take the

match coolly with a steady second set and a score of 6-1, 6-4. “[I] just stay solid and … basically hit every ball over the net, and let’s see what the guy can do,” Michalicka said. It was the agonizing thirdset struggle between Pohlmann and No. 122 Stahl at No. 3 that decided the match, and with his final-hour, tiebreaker victory Pohlmann improved to 5-1 his first season at UW. “It’s accurate of the talent level of our team and of the things we can accomplish this year in general. We’re looking for guys to step up, and Patrick did that today,” Van Emburgh said. “He’s only a month into his college career, and the potential he has is just unending, so it’s great to see him clinch that match and get us the win.” The men improved to 9-2 this weekend with a victory against No. 40 North Carolina State Saturday as well, putting down the Wolf Pack 5-2. The Badgers led the Pack (6-6) throughout the meet, earning the first point with a doubles sweep and adding singles wins from Baumann, Michalicka, Pohlmann and Marrack. The Badgers open Big Ten play next weekend away with meets against Illinois and Indiana Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.

so happens to be the ﬁrst pick to the Detroit Lions, I’d be more than happy to be there.” That the best quarterback in the draft would be more than happy to go under center for a team that did not have a single win last year is a strong indication Bobby Layne’s curse is no more. So not only will the team get a great quarterback and a good sport in Stafford, they will ﬁnally

have a complement to wide receiver Calvin Johnson, whose potential has been squandered so far thanks to the likes of John Kitna, Daunte Culpepper, Dan Orlovsky and Drew Stanton. Not only that, but the unknown and fresh faces of Martin Mayhew at general manager and Jim Schwartz at head coach might do for the beleaguered team what Thomas Dimitroff and Mike Smith

did for the Falcons this year. That, and as of 2009, the monkey of Bobby Layne’s curse will finally be off Detroit’s back. I would not predict any sort of miracles, but it may finally be time for the rise of the Lions. Do you believe in the curse of Bobby Layne, and do you think the curse is finally being lifted? E-mail Andy your thoughts at avansistine@wisc.edu.

sports 8

dailycardinal.com/sports

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Layne’s 50-year curse beginning to lift ANDY VAN SISTINE sistine’s chapel

ack in November, a month before the end of the NFL’s regular season, I wrote about the Detroit Lions and their march towards infamy as the only team to ever accrue a 0-16 record in the NFL. As we all know, they proceeded to lose their remaining games last season, securing their place in history as the shame of the football nation and the only team to ever end a 16-game season without a win. What most are unaware of is the fact that the Lions have fulﬁlled destiny. Rewind to the 1950s, an era that was very good for Detroit Lions

football. Following the acquisition of future hall of fame quarterback Bobby Layne from the New York Bulldogs in 1950, the team went on to appear in four league championship games, winning three of them in 1952, 1953 and 1957. During the last championship season, however, Layne suffered an injury the Lions felt compromised his ability to perform on the ﬁeld. Consequently, they traded him away to Pittsburgh in 1958, feeling they had gotten everything they could out of the damaged veteran quarterback. According to legend, Layne, bitter towards Detroit for sending him packing after so many great years with the franchise, declared that the Lions would “not win for 50 years.” Eerily enough, the Lions have not experienced another league championship since then. Not to mention, they also

Men’s Basketball

have accumulated the worst winning percentage of any team in the league, have been managed by incompetent front ofﬁce personnel, have a history of poorly performing draft picks, and have only made it to the playoffs nine times, winning only one playoff game in 1991. Worst of all, in 2008, 50 years after Layne was said to have made that foreboding remark, the Lions failed to win a single game. It is no wonder many believe the curse of Bobby Layne is real and that the fateful move to trade him 50 years ago was quite possibly the worst thing to happen to the onceprominent organization. But signs that the Lions have done their time and that the curse may ﬁnally be lifted are beginning to surface. Obviously, the oustlions page 7

ISABEL ALVAREZ/THE DAILY CARDINAL

Wisconsin senior forward Marcus Landry and the Badgers’ defense have been performing solidly over the season’s ups and downs.

UW’s defense remains strong By Scott Kellogg THE DAILY CARDINAL

Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan addressed the media Monday, one day after his team’s 60-55 victory over Michigan. Much of the discussion revolved around Wisconsin’s success and emphasis on defense this season. Ryan commented that even though record-wise the Badgers have been a streaky team this season, their defense has been a constant. “Really, it hasn’t changed that much,” Ryan said. “The results move to the [loss] column in a string there … [but] we haven’t done anything differently. Every team is trying to improve too as the season goes along, so it’s the team that can improve the most that will tell the story.” Ryan believes his team’s defensive performance in their conference losses has still been solid, including the team’s defeats against Minnesota, Iowa, Purdue and Illinois. He is also pleased with the progression of his team’s defense. “Everybody that’s been back a year has been better defensively. I don’t see guys going back defensively. Looking at the way [Krabbenhoft] and [Landry] were playing some of the ball screens were really good,” Ryan said. Ryan also discussed how, whether his team was winning or losing, the leadership by seniors such as guard Joe Krabbenhoft and forward Marcus Landry has been steady. “[Leadership] doesn’t start during a streak. It’s every day; it’s September, it’s August, [and]

it’s June,” Ryan said. “It’s not a sometime thing or an all of the sudden thing. They’ve always been there.” The Badgers began their conference schedule with a three-game winning streak before losing six games in a row. Since falling to 3-6 in the Big Ten, Wisconsin has won six of its last seven contests. Ryan also commented on the progress of his red-shirt players and players whose predominant role is on the scout team. “Ryan Evans had two practices where we couldn’t stop him,” Ryan said. “[Evans] just lit us up. But there are some other days when we don’t even know if he’s on the floor. But that’s part of redshirting, finding your niche.” Ryan has also been pleased with the scout team and how it has sufficiently challenged players in the rotation. Ryan said Evans did a solid job of preparing the Badgers for Michigan’s top scorer Manny Harris by playing his role in practice. Ryan also mentioned senior forward Morris Cain and sophomore guards Brett Valentyn and Wquinton Smith as key contributors to the Badgers’ scout team. After a seven-day layoff before facing Michigan Sunday, Wisconsin will have only a twoday break before their contest at Minnesota Wednesday. Ryan does not believe the short rest for Wisconsin will be an issue. “The subject wasn’t even brought up,” Ryan said. —uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.