Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

OSU tennis players, coaches embrace rivalries throughout sport

her want it more.

Not many care about others’ rivalries, but to those who spend years involved, a rivalry can mean everything. A rivalry means more to those who have been exposed to it the most; that leaves transfers and freshmen between two extremes.

Alana Wolfberg, a senior player on OSU’s women’s tennis team, said rivalry games were among her favor-

ite memories. On senior night, after sweeping West Virginia and receiving a ceremony honoring her time at OSU, she said when she defeated No. 5 Pepperdine in 2022 and No. 12 Texas this season were her favorite memories as a college player.

In 2022 against Pepperdine, she was the last match on the court with the dual tied. She won her match to give her team the win.

“It was just so surreal with everyone being here and I was last on, and 3-all pressure is indescribable,” Wolfberg said. “I can’t describe the

The Herb and Succulent Festival brings vendors and community together

Plant lovers unite at the Herb and Succulent Festival for Earth Day.

The Botanic Garden at Oklahoma State University held its annual Herb and Succulent Festival on Saturday, getting everyone in the spirit for Earth Day.

Despite the clouds and chilly weather, vendors, volunteers and garden management kept the event alive offering unique hand-made

treasures and plants that they had spent time cultivating over the last year. Garden manager for the Botanic Garden, Connor Schmitz, graduated from OSU with a degree in public horticulture. Schmitz said he is passionate about plants and people and enjoys bringing the two together by putting events like this into action for a memorable collaboration between the two.

“My interest is in public gardens and that’s kind of the interface between plants and people, a public place like a public

garden,” Schmitz said. “That’s really evident today where we have everyone showing up and everyone really seeing that we have a place out here. A lot of people call the gardens a hidden gem because they don’t know that it exists out here.”

This year’s festival was the largest event the garden has put together so far, and Schmitz said volunteers at the Botanic Garden, otherwise known as ambassadors, are the main reason the event was possible.

See Festival on 6

feeling of being the last one on court and everything on the line.”

She added a third memory.

“I hope that one of the memories that hasn’t happened yet, that will be my favorite, is beating OU on Friday,” Wolfberg said.

Wolfberg holds Bedlam on such a pedestal she is ready to slot it in over beating Pepperdine. She won her match to clinch the overall dual win over a top five team, and it is second place to a hypothetical win against the Sooners. Wolfberg has never beaten the Sooners, and she said that makes

“We didn’t play them my freshman year because of (COVID-19) and we lost the last two years,” Wolfberg said. “So I’m, like, so hungry to beat them because we can’t lose to OU.”

Teammate Ayumi Miyamoto, another senior who has yet to beat the Sooners, said winning Bedlam was important to her as well.

“We have to beat them, for sure,” Miyamoto said.

on FTC proposal banning noncompete agreements

Michael Clark Staff Reporter

Spears School of Business’ associate professor legal studies Griffin Pivateau and several professors of law from across America are joining together to comment on the Federal Trade Commission’s ban on noncompete agreements.

A noncompete agreement is a clause in employment contracts that can stop employees from working for a competitor or starting their own business for a period of time after leaving their job. The FTC’s proposal protests that these agreements can harm workers by reducing opportunities and earning potential. This clause also harms business growth and competition.

Pivateau agrees that the FTC proposal is long overdue and will protect workers and competition. The professors point out that this proposed ban aligns with the views of an increasing number of people, many states are already enacting laws to ban noncompete agreements.

OSU

“I am proud to join my colleagues in supporting the FTC’s proposal to ban noncompete agreements. These agreements are harmful to workers and to competition, and they are long overdue for reform,” said Pivateau, the Puterbaugh Professor of Legal Studies at Spears Business.

Griffin Pivateau is an expert on employment law and has received national recognition for his work in law journals. He frequently speaks out about employment law issues such as this.

While the proposal is just starting out, and may ultimately end up disregarded, the proposal has been met with controversy from businesses. These corporations argue that noncompete agreements protect company secrets and other information that should be kept under wraps. However, workers feel that they are unnecessary and harmful.

Regardless, this development is a significant step forward. If the proposal ends up passing, this will have a major impact on the American workforce.

Courtesy of

Griffin Pivateau speaks out about the Federal Trade Commission’s ban on noncompete agreements. Pivateau, law professors comment

Jax Thompson Staff Reporter

Emi Norton Staff Reporter

Wolfberg and Miyamoto have spent years as a part of the rivalry between the Cowgirls and the Sooners. That time is what forges the desire to beat the other side, more so than any other team. For a long time, college sports involved primarily teams of players who had spent their careers facing their rivals and building up animosity.

But collegiate sports are changing. With the arrival of Name, Image and Likeness deals, the transfer portal has become an ever-present aspect. Senior Martina Zerulo transferred to OSU from Arkansas in 2021. Zerulo was honored on Senior Night along with Wolfberg. Like Wolfberg, Zerulo said the wins against Texas and Pepperdine were at the top of her list. Unlike Wolfberg, there was no mention of the Sooners.

Bedlam wasn’t a part of Zerulo’s experience until 2021. Even after a few years at OSU, the match against the Sooners wasn’t at the forefront of her goals as it was for Wolfberg and Miyamoto.

Alex Garcia, a senior who transferred to the Oklahoma State men’s tennis team in 2022 from Baylor, said matches against OU don’t mean more to him than matches against any other team.

“I want to win Bedlam, but I want to win every match,” Garcia said. “Maybe if I had a bad feeling for them, it would make me want it more, maybe I would feel more pressure, but I really treat every match the same way.”

Freshman Carl Roothman found himself in a similar space when the Cowboys played the Sooners this year. Although he is not a transfer, incoming freshmen

go through the same process of inheriting rivalries. For Oklahoma State fans, Bedlam is a word that brings back years upon years of memories. For Roothman, this was his first Bedlam. The matchup between the Cowboys and the Sooners meant nothing to him until he arrived at OSU.

“It’s interesting because you come in and see, like, ‘Oh, [you don’t like] OSU and vice versa,’ and you have no beef with them,” Roothman said.

Of course he wouldn’t come in having beef with the Sooners. Roothman is from South Africa; he didn’t grow up watching the two teams clash. Roothman will spend the next few years playing the Sooners. The crowds in Norman will boo him; he will see the glee of the Cowboy faithful when he beats them. The rivalry will grow to mean something to him.

Transfers come into these rivalries the same way a freshman does, but they come into the program later in their college career. The transfers who come in as juniors and seniors will have one or two years with the team; not nearly as much time to get to know the school’s rivalries.

Dustin Taylor, coach of the Cowboys, said it takes time to get into a rivalry.

“I’d say you need a year under your belt to really understand the rivalry,” Taylor said.

Rivalries won’t fade from the hearts of fans and schools, but it could dull if half the players on a team don’t have any personal connection to it.

For the players who come in and play one year, they might never get the full experience, but Taylor said he doesn’t think that prevents them from making an impact. If transfers and freshmen take the time to learn about the rivalry and draw on their experience, they can pump themselves up even if they don’t carry a personal vendetta against their opponent.

“We’ve all had rivalries, you know,” Taylor said. “So you kind of put yourself in rivalry mode.

“It’s not so much who (the opponent) it is, it’s just understanding the history and now it’s time to not like (the opponent) quite as much.”

Transfers who have multiple years of eligibility left are more common with the extra year the NCAA

granted for those who were active during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those players have time to get invested. Ryan Livesay, a volunteer assistant coach for the Cowboys, joined the staff on March 21, so the match against the Sooners was his first. After Bedlam, he said he did not think it would take long for freshmen or transfers to acclimate..

“One match?” Livesay said. “They got to see it once and then they’ll, they’ll get it. It can be any sport really; you can go to a basketball game; you can go to a football game. They’ll see it and you know, for the guys that were a part of it tonight, they definitely have a different feeling probably going forward than they did before.”

Jaiden Daughty Alana Wolfberg returns a serve against Iowa State.

OSU’s midweek baseball game against Wichita State rained out

Allen Staff Reporter

There won’t be any baseball played at O’Brate Stadium this week. Due to rain and the forecast for continued rain and storms throughout the afternoon and evening, Tuesday’s game against Wichita State has been cancelled and will not be rescheduled. The Cowboys and Shockers met twice this season, with OSU winning

10-1 in March, and Wichita State picking up a 13-6 win in Stillwater earlier this month. This was the final game scheduled between the two. OSU (28-13, 11-7 Big 12) has won four consecutive games, including a three-game sweep of Kansas last weekend. The Cowboys sit second in the Big 12.

The No. 17-ranked Cowboys next take the field against Michigan in Ann Arbor this weekend, beginning at 3 p.m. Friday. OSU’s next home game is May 5 against East Tennessee State.

sports.ed@ocolly.com

Daniel

Arkansas transfer Rylee Langerman transferring to OSU sports

Davis Cordova Staff Reporter

2.5 points per game.

Langerman is from Christian Heritage High School in Norman and won two state championships.

“I believe her best basketball is still ahead of her,” Hoyt said. “She has been an incredible ambassador for many things in her career in the SEC andI’m proud to say that she will be someone who represents everything we want to stand for at OSU. She’s one of Oklahoma’s finest and we can’t wait to have her back home.”

This is Hoyt’s second transfer pickup, the first coming on Thursday from North Texas transfer Quincy Noble.

Hoyt has 10 players for next season, so a few more portal pickups or freshmen will be needed to fill the roster. For reference, last season

Hoyt had 14 players on roster.

sports.ed@ocolly.com

Remaining players: Hannah Gusters

Williams

Transfers: Quincy Noble Rylee Langerman

Incoming

Freshman: Stailee Heard

Courtesy Rylee Langerman’s Twitter (@rylang2)

Rylee Langerman is transferring to OSU following three years at Arkansas.

City Council selects Brady Moore selected as Interim City Manager News

Michael Clark Staff Reporter

On Tuesday, April 25, Mayor Will Joyce and the Stillwater City Council met to discuss hiring Brady Moore as a temporary replacement for former City Manager Norman McNickle after he retires on May 15.

“We appreciate Brady serving in this crucial position – continuing efforts to increase and secure economic development, enhance the quality of life, and ensure those living in or visiting our community are safe,” Mayor Joyce said on Tuesday night.

After serving Stillwater for 45 years, Norman McNickle is stepping down and retiring. He started out in 1976 as a Stillwater Police Department officer and has since climbed the ranks and worked his way up to City Manager over the years.

Some of the other positions McNickle earned across his years of experience include Patrol Officer, Investigator, Corporal, Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain and Chief of Police in 1987, Public Safety Director, interim City Manager and City Manager in 2016 where he has served for seven years.

“While I am not applying for City Manager, I am honored to fill the interim position to ensure current projects remain on track,” said Assistant City Manager Brady Moore. “We have much work to do and we want to make sure the transition of leadership is as seamless as possible.”

Mayor Will Joyce encourages potential candidates to apply as they search nationwide for someone to fill in the position.

news.ed@ocolly.com

Courtesy of The City of Stillwater

Stillwater Chamber of Commerce Headshots Taken Wednesday, February 8, 2023, Stillwater Chamber of Commerce Offices, Stillwater, OK.

Festival...

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“Our volunteers just really coordinate almost everything out here,” Schmitz said. “They come up with special projects, children’s activities. We have a volunteer who runs our nature play area, and mud kitchen that’s down on the south end. We have an ambassador who has helped us propagate all of our plants and has taken care of all that. So, you know, I

always say that our ambassadors are like the heart and soul of the garden.”

The Herb and Succulent Festival has grown to have everything from vendors to food trucks, the plant sale and children’s activities leaving multiple parking lots full this year.

Members of the Stillwater community, as well as vendors from different places, brought hand-made trinkets and home-grown plants and herbs for the public to admire and give a new home.

A lot of good business opportunities for the vendors stem from the revolving door of trendy items regarding plant life and gardening as

well as jewelry and crystals. Kristen from Ponca City participated for her third time as a vendor at the festival here in Stillwater and said she greatly enjoys the traffic of people who come through the event.

“It’s such a cute event, the traffic’s always so good because they do so good putting it together,” Kristen said. “It really helps to get my name out there to the Stillwater people because it’s different traffic from what I get in Ponca [City] so it’s good marketing for me.”

The Herb and Succulent Festival at OSU’s Botanic Garden is able to come to life every spring because of

donations and fundraisers that take place during these events. The money helps the event and also goes toward new improvements to the garden.

“A big opportunity is definitely to fundraise you know, every dollar that we bring in from these events goes straight back into the garden,” Schmitz said. “We’re either buying plants or we’re you know, able to prepare student workers for that, we’re able to have expansions of the gardens, things like that. It’s also really just a great way to get people out to see the gardens and know that they’re here, it brings a lot of attention and awareness.”

news.ed@ocolly.com

Emi Norton

The Herbs and Succulent Festival happens every spring and offers unique hand-made treasures and plants.

“Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” gives women the spotlight

Taylor Carroll Staff Reporter

The feminists from “Grease” have returned.

The original “Grease” movie came out in 1978 and is beloved by many fans.

“Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” is a spin-off prequel of the movie and shows a feminist side to the classic story. The show is centered around four women in Rydell High School trying to give power to the students who are not popular.

The show starts with the infamous drive-in movie theater shown in the original movie and introduces the characters from there. Jane Facciano starts dating football star Buddy Aldridge before school starts after being in a casual fling during the summer.

Once rumors speculate around the school about Facciano and Aldridge going “all the way,” her reputation is ruined, but Aldridge’s reputation remains intact. He wants to secretly date her to retain his popularity and be class president.

Facciano breaks up with him and runs against him in the upcoming student body president election for outcasts like her.

Like the original, this show is a musical. The songs are spaced well within the show’s episodes and sound similar to songs that came out in the original “Grease” movie.

Marisa Davila plays Jane Facciano and does a great job being the lead actress who unites the Pink Ladies. Her song “I Want More” is the most powerful in the show and displays her astonishing vocal rage with emotion behind it.

The show does a fantastic job of showing the difficul-

ties of facing sexism during that time. Women were not supposed to speak up against a man or state their ideas. Another thing this show does great is feature the different personalities besides Facciano, who helped start the

Pink Ladies.

Nancy Nakagawa wanted to be a designer with her two best friends until they ditched her to hang out with their boyfriends more often. Cynthia Zdumowski wanted to be a T-Bird, but the group would

not let her in because she was a girl. Olivia Valdovinos was cast out for being in a secret relationship with a teacher, who would not acknowledge he was dating her, and claimed she threw herself at him.

The show also calls on

Courtesy of Tribune

nostalgia by showing Francesca Alicia “Frenchy” Facciano as Jane Facciano’s younger sister in middle school. It displays her life before high school and how she grew up in the Pink Ladies.

entertainment.ed@ocolly.com

Justin Tranter attends the “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” premiere at Hollywood Legion Theater on March 29, 2023, in Los Angeles.

‘Evil Dead Rise’

of movie you’d find in the back of your local Blockbuster back in 2008, watch it, and immediately feel gross for even being in the same room as it. After seeing “Evil Dead Rise,” I felt like I had committed some terrible, unspoken sin and that’s a compliment.

When it comes to modern film, you’ll probably catch a fair share of snobby critics saying that “they don’t make them like they used to.” Sure, movies have undoubtedly changed over the decades, as it’s bound to, but movies are as good as they used to be years ago.

“Evil Dead Rise” is the exception to this. They really don’t make movies like this anymore, for better or worse. “Evil Dead Rise” is the kind

It’s an excessively violent, indulgently gory, yet extremely fun time for horror fans.

The movie strays away from the roots of Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” franchise and moves to a rural, apartment setting. Despite this, the setting works well for creating a dirty, gross and murky atmosphere as the film slowly descends into madness. The performances in this film are also shockingly good for horror standards. It’s well-directed, the editing and

soundtrack are decent and all the technical components are great. If you’ve seen “Evil Dead” you know the plot isn’t what we’re looking for. It’s relatively straightforward, a family stumbles upon a cursed book that awakens unspeakable evil, then it gets worse from there. Where the movie really shines is in its grotesque horror sequences. There’s body horror, fight scenes, psychological insecurity and mommy issues. The movie starts off slow but consistently accelerates in tension until a fantastic climax. The clean 90-minute runtime makes for a wellpaced film. While the ending isn’t quite as good as the finale to 2013’s “Evil Dead” reboot, it still managed to make me clench my fists and feel

both impressed and disgusted by the images on my screen. The entire film has a myriad of disgusting and memorable scenes that’ll stick with you long after the end credits. Once “Evil Dead Rise” starts rising, there really are no issues to be had. It’s a great time if your stomach is able to handle it. While the disjointed opening and epilogue don’t do the film any favors, and the time it takes for the film to get going could lose a few people, your patience will be rewarded as “Evil Dead Rise” does more than deliver on its violent, gnarly premise. However, if you get queasy at the sight of blood, this is a movie you should probably pass on.

Lethal fentanyl poisoning is real.

The drastic increase in opioid overdose deaths is largely due to fentanyl poisoning. Illegal fentanyl is cheaper than most other drugs on the streets and is being intentionally substituted into cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and drugs like counterfeit Adderall®, Percocet® and Xanax® as well.

Learn the facts and protect those you love.

Courtesy of PluggedIn

The movie has Lily Sullivan as Beth, Alyssa Sutherland as Ellie, Morgan Davies as Danny, Gabrielle Echols as Bridget and Nell Fisher as Kassie.

‘Excessively violent, indulgently gory, yet extremely fun’

Michael Clark Staff Reporter

Review