Vol. 105 Issue 43
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Friday, October 3, 2014 Pitt launches Indonesian arts partnership Danielle Fox Assistant News Editor
Darryl Leeper blows on the saxophone at Market square during the weekly farmers market. Christine Lim | Staff Photographer
Marx is not Dead
The University of Pittsburgh and the Indonesian College of Performing Arts in Bandung, West Java, will launch a partnership next Friday furthering the schools’ study of Indonesian music and culture. The University announced this week that Pitt’s Department of Music will host 20 administrators, scholars, musicians and dancers from West Java to witness the signing of a memorandum officiating the partnership. Indonesian ambassador Budi Bowoleksono, Indonesian College of Performing Arts director Een Herdiani, consul general
of the Republic of Indonesia in New York Ghafur Akbar Dharmaputra as well as a representative from the mayor’s office and eight faculty members will attend the event. “A formal agreement between Pitt and the Indonesian College will facilitate better communication between the two schools,” department of music chair Andrew Weintraub said in a release. The visiting performers will present a free concert, “Music and Dance of West Java: The Past, Present, and Future of Sundanese Performing Arts,”
Indonesia
Pittsburgh students keeps the revolution alive Sabrina Romano Staff Writer
Their flyers are compelling, flashing pictures of socialist icons such as Karl Marx and Malcolm X. Their message is fight capitalism and empower the working class. At a time when many young
people in America are apolitical, according to a 2014 poll from Harvard’s Institute of Politic, these are budding Marxists at Pitt. “Marxism is the idea that workers create all of the worth and the working class should run the economy,” a student at Community College of Allegheny
County (CCAC), who goes by the pseudonym Jose Manuel in fear of being blacklisted, said. “The MSA has two goals in mind. One is to have political discussions about Marxism and one is to mobilize students about local labor struggles.”
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Cavaliers Calling
Pitt looks to bounce back against Virginia
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October 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
Correction: The Pitt News published the article “Board proposes elections code revisions” on Sept. 10, 2014. In the same article , The Pitt News reported that the Board voted to change the number of votes a student can cast during the election. This is incorrect. The intent of the change in the Elections Code was to make the Elections Code consistent with the Student Government Board Constitution. The Board already changed the number of votes students can cast during a referendum in the last SGB election. The Pitt News regrets this error. The same article said that the Allocations Committee is responsible for overseeing SGB elections. This is untrue. The Allocations Committee does not oversee elections for the Student Government Board. The Pitt News regrets this error. FROM PAGE 1
MARXIST Roughly 20 students from Pitt, CCAC and Duquesne University are part of the Marxist Student Association (MSA). Since 2012, members have discussed the history of leftist politics and done outreach to local workers. They are a private group, and, at first, some of them were reluctant to provide their real names in fear of job discrimination. Some of them were skeptical of the interview process. Their weekly meetings are a roundtable discussion, except members must raise their hand and be called on before speaking. Their discussions center on workers’ rights and the failure of the capitalist system. The members are either frustrated with capitalism or doubt its abilities. The MSA is part of a larger organization. Its parent organization is the national Worker’s International League (WIL), which is headquartered in New York City and is part of the International Marxist Tendency. Student Involvement Susanna Deemer, a junior anthropology major at Pitt, joined the MSA in March and serves as its vice president. She said she has agreed with leftist ideas since she was younger, but she so-
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lidified them in college. “The Marxist group connected thoughts that I was having to something that was tangible that I could hold on to,” Deemer said. “I co-authored an article in the most recent issue of the Socialist Appeal about textbook prices and their relationship with capitalism.” Susan Hepburn, a freshman at Duquesne University, got involved with the WIL when she was 16 and then signed up with the MSA this year. A post on Facebook brought her in. “When I was in high school, I was focused on doing the readings and I feel that getting involved in these other activities, like selling paper, adds another dimension to political development,” Hepburn said. “Selling paper means we sell issues of the Socialist Appeal, the newspaper of our national organization, to educate people about our organization’s activities and our position on different current events.” Hepburn said, since high school, her involvement has intensified. “I am doing a lot more stuff now because I am pretty involved with the MSA. I try to get out and do tabling more than once a week, which is cool, and I am happy with that,” Hepburn said. The flyers handed out on Pitt’s campus to recruit members had a headline that read, “What is Marxism?” followed by, “Come to an event ... to get behind the myths and propaganda of the media and
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find out what Marxism is really about.” “At the moment, most of our efforts to recruit students are concentrated at Pitt and CCAC because those are the schools where we have already established student clubs,” Hepburn said in an email. Rogers, a junior nonfiction writing major, said he got involved during his sophomore year at Pitt. “I joined the group out of being disillusioned with the Democratic party and capitalism’s inability to sustain itself. I heard about it online on a list of student groups,” Rogers said. History The MSA has picked issues where it can make a noticeable change, such as protesting for workers’ rights in Oakland. “Last year, we founded Students in Solidarity with UPMC workers, which mobilized 40 students, which I am proud of because it was like sub-zero temperatures,” Manuel said. Manuel said the WIL has worked with the Port Authority Transit bus drivers on fighting budget cuts. “Members of the WIL founded Pittsburghers for Public Transit, which became a permanent fixture in public transit advocacy and that is still going on today,” Manuel said. Deemer said she was involved with the WIL Congress at Pitt last spring. “This year we drafted a code of conduct for the group,” Deemer said, “We were just
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in congress for two days but it built a lot of solidarity.” Deemer said this congress was especially exciting because they “reached their 100 comrade-level in the United States,” meaning that there are 100 members of the national WIL. Goals “Our aim is to mobilize and educate students and make them aware of the conditions that are going around locally and worldwide,” Rogers said. This year, they hope to help the cleaning staff at Pitt obtain better healthcare. “They have a union contract re-negotiation because their contract is up this year,” Manuel said. “They are fighting for better healthcare and better status for part-time janitors. We want to send students to meetings and events and have a student presence at their protests and events.” Jane Volk, director of employee and labor relations at Pitt, said the University was unaware of the group’s efforts to work with Pitt employees. “The terms and conditions of employment of University cleaners, including wage rates and growth opportunities, are fairly negotiated in a collective bargaining setting and voted upon by the membership before going into effect,” Volk said in an email.
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MARXIST Events On Sept. 11, the group held its first public event of the school year, which attracted a mix of 20 students and community members. The event dealt with “socialism and the struggle against racism.” A poster with the slogan, “‘You can’t have capitalism without racism.’ –Malcolm X #MarxistStudentAssociation,” hung on a wall in the room. Manuel lectured for an hour about the connection between capitalism and racism, and then students and the community members briefly discussed the lecture. “In the wake of Ferguson, having an event like that was really important,” Deemer said. “As Marxists, we are trying to explain events and how things fit into a larger trend of class conflict.” Deemer said events similar to the one in Ferguson continue to happen. “We received lots of positive feedback
October 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com from individuals who attended the meeting,” Rogers said in an email. “If we can spark interest or an impetus to get involved, I think we did a good job.” The group has five public events planned for this semester. Hepburn said one will focus on women’s and LGBT issues and another on the history of American labor. Myths and Perceptions Because of society’s negative perception of far-leftist politics, some of the members are reluctant to associate themselves formally with Marxism. Other members don’t care if their views are unpopular, because they believe they are helping the general welfare. “I don’t worry about whether Marxism fits into ‘societal norms,’” Rogers said. “The relevance of the rights of mankind isn’t contingent on popularity.” He said that Marxism has gotten a bad rap throughout history. “The Stalinist system used it to propagate its own self-image while the West used it to propagate the image of capitalism. Neither what the Stalinist system or the West has called Marxism really is
Marxist,” Rogers said. Deemer identifies with Marxism because it holds the answers to problems afflicting students today. “The question comes up, ‘What are you going to do when you’re going to graduate? I am going to have so much debt.’ It is sort of inexplicable why you have so much debt and you are just walking into this new situation,” Deemer said. Hepburn said that Marxism can eradicate issues plaguing the world. “Capitalism brings all of these horrific things like extreme poverty and racism and violence against women and all sorts of other issues and they have no way of being solved except by overthrowing capitalism,” Hepburn said. Despite the use the of pseudonym, Manuel wears his political affiliation on his sleeve. “I walk through Downtown frequently wearing socialist shirts,” Manuel said. “I would be infinitely more fearful if I was wearing a shirt that said ‘capitalist’ or ‘proud member of the 1 percent’ because, honestly, socialists are viewed better than capitalists by the youth these days.”
The Pitt News Crossword, 10/3/2014
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ACROSS 1 Tell tales 4 Animal that can learn limited sign language 9 Barely open 13 OS X-using computer 15 Invisible vibes 16 Tiny parasites 17 Project windup 19 Accident scene figs. 20 Fit to be tied 21 Romance writer Roberts 23 Baltimore Ravens mascot 24 Subject of an antique auto owner’s quest 28 Wheaties box figure 31 Take turns? 32 “Just like I said!” 33 Ambient music innovator Brian 35 Take it easy 37 Me, for one 43 Hannity of talk radio 44 “Well, of course!” 45 Washington Wizards’ org. 46 Hits a high fly, in baseball lingo 49 “Supposing ...” 52 Badlands or Death Valley 55 Brouhaha 56 “The Lion King” queen 57 Kmart section 61 “If you don’t mind ...?” 63 “Just in case” strategy, and a hint to a hidden letter sequence in 17-, 24-, 37and 52-Across 66 Slaughter with 2,383 career hits 67 Vulgar language? 68 Place in order 69 “Cream of” serving 70 Overplay the part 71 Malibu mover DOWN 1 “For the Game. For the World” sports org.
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INDONESIA in Bellefield Hall the next day. The performers will also conduct private workshops for Pitt students taking courses in world music and gamelan, which is college-credited participation in the University Gamelan Ensemble. The ensemble includes guest performers from Indonesia in their annual major concert. The official collaboration comes off of 30 years of shared projects between the schools, according to Weintraub. According to the press release, the partnership will foster artistic exchanges between students and enhance the understanding of Sundanese culture and performing arts, a core strength of Pitt’s ethnomusicology program. “Our goal is to generate collaborative research projects, a student exchange at the graduate and undergraduate levels and, eventually, the development of a Pitt in Indonesia study abroad program,” Weintraub said.
10/15/14
By C.C. Burnikel
2 Words while anteing 3 Loud noise 4 Graduation flier 5 “What?” 6 Tabriz citizen 7 Bricks-andmortar workers 8 Watch closely 9 Yard sale? 10 “The Big Bang Theory” star 11 10-Down, e.g. 12 Pedometer button 14 Winter air 18 Strings for Orpheus 22 Last Olds model 25 Cal.-to-Fla. route 26 Rowlands of “Hope Floats” 27 Hammer head 28 Nile Valley danger 29 Concert souvenirs 30 Clinking words 34 Antique 36 Big brass 38 Storytelling nom de plume
Tuesday’s Puzzle Solved
©2014 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
39 Scallion kin 40 “__ Free”: Minute Maid spec 41 Three-toed bird 42 Anti vote 47 Pave the way for 48 Peace, in Arabic 50 Mouse catcher 51 Bypasses, as online ads 52 Designates
10/15/14
53 Fictional Sicilian town in a Hersey novel 54 Milk: Pref. 58 Walk with effort 59 “Good Morning America” coanchor Spencer 60 Tolkien tree giants 62 DSL offerer 64 First-aid aid 65 Cézanne’s one
October 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
OPINIONS
EDITORIAL
COLUMN
Casual Fridays You’re going to need a bigger mouth An 8 year old from Wakefield, Yorkshire, UK, has been given the nickname “Jaws” by his classmates. Zak Brown earned the title after he and his parents noticed something fishy about his teeth: there were two sets of them. Just like a shark, Brown has grown a second row of teeth behind his original set. Thankfully, Brown’s condition doesn’t cause him any serious medical problems — he just has to spend more time brushing his teeth. Give this kid a mohawk, and he has the perfect Halloween costume. SpaghettiO-No! Ashley Huff, a 23-yearold woman from Georgia, was arrested for possession of methamphetamine after being pulled over by police. When they pulled her over, cops say they noticed she had a spoon with “some residue” on it. Huff insisted it was SpaghettiO sauce, but police weren’t convinced and put her into custody. Huff spent two weeks in jail until the crime lab analysis confirmed that the residue was indeed, SpaghettiO sauce. Unfortunately, Huff ’s dealer, Chef Boyardee, could not be
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reached for a comment. Grain Alcohol Labatt Blue has purchased a grouping of 100-foot-tall grain silos in Buffalo, N.Y. Why? They want to convert the silos into the world’s largest six-pack — they have already been painted to resemble giant cans of Labatt beer, taking the term “tall boy” to a whole new level. Shoo, fly, don’t bother me In Pensacola, Fla., a frantic homeowner made a call to 911. As featured in the TLC series, “Outrageous 911,” Norm Clausen called police because of a home invasion. But the invaders weren’t human. Instead, they were flies — really big ones, too, according to Clausen. So, naturally, police brought in the SWAT-team. Life is a highway New Mexico is hoping to limit speeding along Route 66 by creating a road that sings. Through the use of carefully placed rumble strips, a driver along these roads will hear a tune as long as the speed limit is obeyed. Rumor has it that the song produced by the strips is “I Can’t Drive 55” by Sammy Hagar.
PA Senate: New medical marijuana bill misses the point Courtney Linder For The Pitt News
An amended bill legalizing several forms of medical marijuana passed 43-7 in the Pennsylvania State Senate last week. Don’t celebrate yet, though. As it turns out, the legislation is severely lacking. The new bill, sponsored by Sen. Mike Folmer (R-48) and Sen. Daylin Leach (D-149), requires a patient to secure doctor’s authorization for use of marijuana. This authorization must also include proof of one of the 12 existing medical conditions appropriated by the legislation, and it only allows medical marijuana use in specific forms: delivered through extracted oils, edible products and ointments. However, the bill doesn’t tolerate inhalation of medical marijuana in any form, like smoking or vaporizing. Unbeknownst to the senators, there are several issues with these precise guidelines provided in the new version of the bill. The original bill included about 40 different ailments that were deemed appropriate for treatment with medicinal marijuana. However, this list was narrowed to only 12 conditions in the amended version of the bill, including post-traumatic stress disorder, cancer, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis but excluding Crohn’s disease and glaucoma. At what point, though, did legislators become more knowledgeable in medical
treatments than doctors? Those affected by the conditions that have been removed from the bill are left to wonder how these pseudo-physicians came to the decision to overrule their treatment. It is absurd for legislators to remove these conditions, considering the documented medical success of marijuana with many of the stricken conditions on the initial bill. The use of marijuana in glaucoma patients, for example, allows the intraocular pressure of the eye to decrease 15 to 45 percent. Up to 80 percent of patients achieved this effect through smoking marijuana in an ice-cooled water pipe. This means that marijuana can preserve the retina, and thus, people’s vision. So why, exactly, are we still keeping such an effective treatment from glaucoma patients? It is unfair for the state to decide who gets treatment but also for the state chooses how treatment is given. The rationale behind removing the use of a vaporizer to inhale medical marijuana is severely unsubstantiated. Sen. Folmer said that there was a “fear that [vaporization] was a sneaky way to smoke [marijuana].” This is an ignorant excuse and one that fails to recognize the benefits of vaporization over other forms of marijuana consumption. Vaporization isn’t the same as smoking. In fact, vaporization presents a number of positive effects. When the
gases from vaporization enter a patient’s lungs, they contain about 95 percent cannabinoids, the psychoactive ingredients that create the therapeutic properties of cannabis. Granted, the actual smoking of marijuana introduces harmful elements — some of which may have existed on the flower — into the lungs, and can cause cancer or respiratory disorders. Up to 88 percent of combusted smoke gases don’t contain cannabinoid elements, which creates another health risk. Eliminating the ability to vaporize medicinal marijuana is ridiculous not only because it is so effective in delivering THC, but because it is quick in doing so. Inhalation is the fastest way to achieve an effect with marijuana, taking only about four to five seconds to feel the onset and peaking within 10 to 20 minutes. Other methods of administration, such as edible products, can take up to 40 minutes to digest and become active. Edible consumption is problematic because it is not simple to control dosage. Take Colorado, where one of the greatest issues with the legalization of marijuana has been that people inadvertently ingest far too much marijuana when taken orally. For instance, in March 2014, a Colorado college student ingested six times the recommended dose of a marijuanainfused cookie and jumped to
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October 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
FROM PAGE 5
category, and it seems like an oxymoron to have a Schedule I medicine. Luckily, the bill has some wiggle room. There is space for expansion that would create a marijuana oversight board to authorize new conditions. But, this board needs to recognize the legitimate benefits of vaporization and the need for all relevant patients to get treated, beyond the 12 conditions listed. Pennsylvania cannot remain stubborn forever. Reform in the medical marijuana industry is approaching. Write to Courtney at cnl13@pitt.edu.
LINDER his death from a Denver hotel. Colorado has taken measures against over consumption of edible marijuana treats, but has had little to no issue with vaporization. How, then, is vaporization any “sneakier” than eating? Legislators need to add amendments to this bill to allow more conditions to be treated with marijuana since that is the original agenda. Patients suffering from glaucoma, Crohn’s disease, HIV, AIDS, muscular dystrophy and the like should all have the opportunity to receive the treatment necessary. While the passage of this bill is a step in the right direction for medical marijuana use, the work is not over. How can a bill such as this even pass when cannabis is described as a Schedule I drug? This means that marijuana has a “high potential for abuse with no currently accepted medical purposes.” Pennsylvania needs to recognize that marijuana does not belong in this drug
Any form of inhalation of Marijuana is strictly prohibited under this bill. | MCT Campus
October 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
FOOTBALL
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SPORTS
Panthers must beat Virginia to stop two-game skid to compete with Virginia (3-2, 1-0 ACC) at Scott Stadium Saturday evening. A win would keep Pitt’s hopes for the Capital One Orange Bowl alive. Standing in the way will be a vastly improved Virginia defense that is No. 1 in the nation in forced turnovers, with 18 takeaways through five games. UVA’s defenders have scored a total of 65 points off the turnovers, and seven different Cavaliers have recorded at least one interception. “Defensively, they got after us pretty good,” Chryst said of last year’s standoff. Led by Tyler Boyd’s 111 receiving yards, Pitt squeezed out a win at Heinz Field 14-3 in the last meeting. “And I still see that on tape, I think it’s a team that’s certainly talented.” Virginia head coach Mike London told reporters that while the defense will shadow Conner, his veteran defensive leaders remember Boyd spoiling their chance at an upset last year against the Panthers.
Ryan Bertonaschi Senior Staff Writer The Pitt football team jumped out to a 3-0 start by piecing together near-perfect performances that were highlighted by the national emergence of running back James Conner and a swarming defensive presence. But the Panthers’ on-field identity has changed for the worse in recent weeks. Teams have thinned Conner’s production by loading up their defensive lines, and quarterback Chad Voytik has struggled finding comfort in the pocket. To make matters worse, Pitt’s defense was bulldozed by two second-rate running backs as Pitt dropped its week four game at home to Iowa and its week five game to Akron a week later. “Not every game is going to be perfect,” head coach Paul Chryst said Wednesday. The Panthers (3-2, 1-0 ACC) may not have to be perfect, but they will have to improve upon their recent performances
VOLLEYBALL
Ray Vinopal leads a Pitt defense that allowed 21 points to Akron last week. Jeff Ahearn | Assistant Visual Editor
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Volleyball continues homestand against No. 12 UNC Caitlin Hinsey Staff Writer
Anyone who said the Pitt volleyball team’s 12-1 start was a fluke, because they had not yet faced tougher ACC competition, now has less to talk about. The Panthers captured their first ACC win of the season on Sunday and, after five days off, they come back to play an even tougher opponent in a North Carolina team ranked 12th in the nation. Despite facing a ranked opponent for the first time, senior Kate Yeazel has no doubts that the team can win. “We are a pretty evenly matched team, so it’s going to come down to the serving and passing game. Who can serve harder and pass better,” Yeazel, who plays opposite, said. Head coach Dan Fisher agreed, saying,
“It’s going to be about who plays better volleyball.” Pitt will host North Carolina Friday at 7 p.m. for its ninth straight home match. The visiting No. 12 Tar Heels (10-2, 1-1 ACC) come into the Fitzgerald Field House with their two losses of the year being both on the road and to ranked teams. UNC lost to then-No. 11 Illinois on Aug. 30 and to then-No. 6 conference foe Florida State last Friday. The Panthers have won eight straight matches, as well as their last 10 matches at home dating back to last year. Even with this record, Fisher said it doesn’t mean much. “I don’t know if I have a good enough sense this year with whether we’re a better home team or road team,” the second-year coach said. “I know last year for a while I thought that we were better on the road. We
were just too distracted or whatever at home. Hopefully, we’re just good everywhere.” The last time Pitt faced the Tar Heels was in Chapel Hill, where the visiting team dropped the match 3-1. But this season may be different, and the Panthers will try to add to the successful start to the season thus far. Not only does the team find itself ranked at the top of conference leaderboards, but, individually, the team has a handful of players in the top categories as well. As a team, Pitt ranks fourth in the ACC in hitting percentage with .289. The Tar Heels, who have a .175 hitting percentage, will be faced with the Panthers’ league-leading opposing hitting percentage of .084. Opponents struggle against the Panthers at the net thanks to defensive plays from Yea-
zel and junior Amanda Orchard. The opposite and middle hitter are tied for third in the conference, averaging 1.67 blocks per set. “We really want to get a lot of blocks on them,” senior opposite Mechael Guess said. “That’s one of our main goals for this game.” If UNC can get the ball past the middles, Delaney Clesen and her teammates should be able to stop them. As a team, Pitt averages 16.67 digs per set, with the senior libero accounting for 6.33 of those. According to Guess, serving should be one of the Panthers’ strengths this season. “Our serving is going to be a strong thing for us,” she said. “We’re trying to get them out of system, so that we can get plays off of that.” One way Pitt hopes to do that is not giving
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October 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
MEN’S SOCCER
Soccer faces ranked Cavaliers to try for a winning record goals had they been able to finish in the final third of the field. Pitt likely won’t get as many opportunities against a top team like Virginia (5-3-1, 1-1-1 ACC). “I think the win [against RMU] gives these guys some confidence because they played a solid game overall defensively and we created more chances than we have been,” head coach Joe Luxbacher said. “The mentality going into Virginia is better than it was a week ago ... we know we have a tough team coming into town, but I think we’ll be ready for them.” Virginia is a much tougher team to break than RMU, which plays in the NEC (Northeast Conference). The Colonials have had a rough start to the season, losing to lessthan-impressive opponents like Duquesne and Liberty. Comparatively, Virginia has beaten cross-state rival Virginia Tech and drew against the No. 1 team in the country, Notre
Mark Powell Staff Writer Returning home after a victory at cross-city rival Robert Morris, the Pitt men’s soccer team has an opportunity to create something Friday that it hasn’t had since late August: a winning streak. The Panthers, coming off of a 2-0 victory against the Colonials, will play at home Friday at 7 p.m. against the Virginia Cavaliers, ranked 19th in the nation. In order to maintain the success it had in the last game, Pitt will want to continue its reliance on the counterattack, which contributed to both goals against the Colonials. “We did a lot of things right in our last game, especially since we haven’t been necessarily clicking the last couple games,” forward Cory Werth, a redshirt senior, said. “They’re a tough team to break down, but anyone can get scored on.” The Panthers switched the field quickly against RMU and could have scored more
Cory Werth and the Panthers will host Virginia on Friday. Bobby Mizia | Senior Staff Photographer
T P N S U D O K U
Soccer
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Today’s difficulty level: Very Hard Puzzles by Dailysodoku.com
October 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com FROM PAGE 7
FOOTBALL “Everyone on the field is going to have to know where he’s at at all times,” London, who’s in his fifth year at Virginia, said. “Particularly, the entire defense is going to have to be alert to where he is because he just doesn’t run long routes, he runs short, intermediate routes. He runs crossing routes.” The matchup represents a test for both teams. Virginia has played a hellacious schedule to date, and is the only team in Division I to play three ranked schools in its first four games. UCLA, BYU and Louisville entered their respective matchups with the Cavaliers as ranked opponents. A 42-yard field goal by UVA’s Ian Frye with three minutes remaining in Virginia’s week three game helped the Cavaliers seal off an upset against No. 21 Louisville. Virginia also rushed for 114 yards on Louisville, which at the time had the nation’s best run defense. And against No. 7 UCLA, Virginia’s offense was given a golden opportunity to score a touchdown and a two-point conversion to tie the game late in the fourth quarter, but it couldn’t come through. Deep in their own territory, the Bruins were forced to punt with six minutes remaining. The Cavaliers received the ball at UCLA’s 40-yard line, and Virginia crept as far as the 17-yard line but turned the ball over on downs to end the game. Once again, against a ranked opponent, Virginia found itself down eight points at BYU in the fourth quarter, but the Cavaliers allowed a kickoff to return for a touchdown, putting the game out of reach. Pitt has never lost three straight games under head coach Paul Chryst, and UVA, which was picked to finish last in the ACC Coastal Division, could be the team to give Chryst a new career-worst streak. Led by senior safety Ray Vinopal, Pitt’s defense will have to shut down four Virginia receivers that have recorded more than 175 receiving yards on the season. Virginia’s highly-touted freshman wide receiver Jamil Kamara is not one of those receivers. Kamara, who seriously considered attending Pitt before committing to Virginia, has just one catch for six yards on the season.
“It’s pretty similar to what they did last year. It’s just they’re executing better,” Vinopal said of Virginia’s offense. “They’re just playing better team football than they were a year ago.” Vinopal added that Pitt’s defense has identified areas of concern. “Just little things that end up collectively being a big part of what happened defensively, the kind of breakdown, and it’s enlightening to see that it’s very correctable. But it’s also like we shouldn’t be making those mistakes this late.”
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SOCCER Dame. While the Cavaliers, like the Panthers, have played a tough schedule to date, they also share a similarity in offensive inconsistencies. Both Virginia and Pitt have scored nine goals in just as many games this season, averaging a lackluster one goal per game. “We just have to make sure that we stay compact, our back four has to stay connect-
9 ed to our front three,” sophomore defender Stephane Pierre said. “If we don’t leave too many holes, then I think we should be all right. UVA plays a little bit more direct, so we just have to watch out for the long ball and cover our lines.” Offensively, Virginia is led by forward Darius Madison, who has five points on the season. The Cavaliers’ No. 9 might be the biggest threat the Panthers have to contain on Saturday. Read the rest online at Pittnews.com.
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October 3, 2014 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com
COLUMN
Dallas Cowboys benefitting from parity in the NFL Imaz Athar Staff Writer
The boys are back. The Dallas Cowboys, that is. Tony Romo, DeMarco Murray and the Cowboys decimated the New Orleans Saints’ defense on Sunday night. Perfect passes, powerful rushes and strong protection carried the 3-1 Cowboys to a lopsided 38-17 victory in what was expected to be a close game. In the past, the Cowboys have faltered on Sunday nights. Interceptions, fumbles and playoff-hope crushing losses against the Washington Redskins and New York Giants immediately come to mind when you think about the Cowboys on Sunday nights. But this past Sunday was completely different. There were no mistakes, and there were no threatening comebacks. Instead, the Cowboys played an almost perfect game. Almost immediately after the game, sports media and fans began to wonder whether this will be the Cowboys’ year after three straight seasons with mediocre 8-8 finishes. Eric Adelson of Yahoo Sports expressed how this Cowboys season seemed like “more than just noise.” Jerry Jones even stated that the Cowboys’ performance during the first half of the game was the best he has seen since becoming the owner of the team in 1989. Despite all of the frenzy around the Cowboys’ victories, I’m starting to question whether the fans and the media are overstating their success. The Cowboys are built on offensive firepower, but, in the past, they
couldn’t sustain it. While the offense has carried the team to many victories, it has also failed them in humiliating losses that have prevented the team from making the playoffs. The stars on the Cowboys’ helmets can only shine for so long. So, how good have they been, really? The three teams that the Cowboys have beaten — the Titans, the Rams and the Saints — have a combined record of 3-8. The Cowboys haven’t beaten the cream of the NFL crop by any stretch. Also consider the parity in the NFL this season. Judging by the first four weeks of the season, there doesn’t seem to be a totally dominant team. The Seahawks, often considered the best team coming into this season, after blowing out the Broncos in last year’s Super Bowl, have already faltered during the regular season. Richard Sherman and the rest of the “Legion of Boom” secondary didn’t look so terrifying when the Chargers threw three passing touchdowns against them in the second week of the season. The Chargers, a 3-1 team that beat the champion Seahawks, seem to be on the cusp of being a contender, but their rushing offense is the second-worst in the league. Other 3-1 teams like the Houston Texans and the Detroit Lions don’t seem like they can sustain their success much longer either. The chances that a mediocre quarterback like Ryan Fitzpatrick will lead a team deep into the playoffs are low, and the Lions’ pass-happy offense can only carry them for so long. Read the rest online at Pittnews.com.
The volleyball team continued its hot start with its first ACC win of the year. Bobby Mizia | Senior Staff Photographer
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VOLLEYBALL UNC the chance to play the ball. Both setters for Pitt, Lindsey Zitzke and Jenna Jacobson, average almost one ace per set. UNC, however, is as strong of a competitor as the Panthers. In preparation for this match, Yeazel and the team have been watching film and scouting the visitors, trying to learn their tendencies. “All of the players are good. They don’t have a weak link,” Fisher said. Fisher said the team can’t pinpoint one area to focus on to stop the Tar Heels, who boast a seasoned roster. “Because it’s a good team, there’s not
much we can do gimmicky ... They are a balanced offense, so we need to be pretty comfortable against all their hitters,” Fisher said. “They are one of the top blocking teams in the nation, so we’re going to have to pass well to stay in system. When they do block us, hopefully we recover a lot of them.” The team knows that pulling out a win could be difficult, but said that it isn’t unattainable if the Panthers follow what they have practiced all week. “We have to worry about them a lot but we also have to worry about our side of the net—making sure we get stuff done on our side of the net,” Guess said. Yeazel agreed and said “we’re pretty well matched up against them so we’re really working on our side of the net.”