The Auburn Plainsman A SPIRIT THAT IS NOT AFRAID www.theplainsman.com
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Vol. 117, Issue 15, 24 Pages
Tigers celebrate historic season Eric Yabor WRITER
TODD VAN EMST / AUBURN MEDIA RELATIONS
Aubie and Mr. Penny do push-ups during a pep rally in Phoenix, Ariz., a day before the national championship game.
GLENDALE MEETS MR.PENNY COMMUNITY RAISES $9,600 TO SEND JOHNNY RICHMOND TO THE BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Jillian Clair
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PHILIP SMITH / PHOTO STAFF
NEWS EDITOR
f his wife would let him, Mr. Penny would paint his entire house orange and blue. Known for enthusiastically performing thousands of pushups at home football games, Mr. Penny, Johnny Richmond, is classified by many as Auburn’s greatest fan. Although Richmond claims he is a motivator for the team’s success, he was shocked when the community raised $9,600 to send him to Glendale, Ariz. for the BCS National Championship
game—something he could never have dreamed. “I want to thank people—I can’t thank them enough,” Richmond said. “They didn’t have to do that, but God put it in their hearts to do it, and so that’s what they did. I really appreciate it. I had a great, great time.” Richmond works at Dean Road Elementary School as a custodian and a crossing guard. The group of parents and students he ushers across the street as they walk to school call themselves the Penny Walkers. » See PENNY, A2
Auburn fans are preparing to party like it’s 1957 as the football team brings home the Coaches’ Trophy Saturday. Head coach Gene Chizik invited all Tiger fans to join the team in Jordan-Hare Stadium as they present the American Football Coaches Association National Championship Trophy. Lolly Steiner of the Auburn Chamber of Commerce said many hotels are booked for Saturday night as Auburn faithful pour into town to celebrate. “We typically participate in these types of celebrations and events that involve the community,” Steiner said. Two events of similar size had been planned before: Toomer’s 2000, which was a celebration for the new millennium, and a celebration for the 2004 perfect season, Steiner said. Scott Carr, senior associate athletic director, said the city plans to close off Toomer’s Corner to traffic as people will naturally flow there following the trophy presentation. “I would assume we had something like this back in 1957,” Carr said, referring to the Tigers’ last national title 53 years ago. The Tigers have come close to being awarded titles again since then, most noticeably in 1983, 1993 and 2004. Each time, bad luck in the polls doomed the team to wait another year. Now that an undisputed championship has finally arrived, the school is planning for large support to come in. Carr estimated that anywhere from 40–60 thousand Auburn faithful will attend the ceremony. “I would say this is the
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We’re going to get this thing rolling; and we’re going to celebrate this national championship.” —Gene Chizik, HEAD COACH
largest celebration of this type on this campus,” Carr said. Carr, who had previously worked on planning the FedEx Orange Bowl game, said while he’s used to coordinating large events, he has never planned a historical event such as this. Carr recommended fans also attend the men’s basketball game against the University of Alabama where the Foy-ODK Sportsmanship Award will be presented. The award is given each year to the winner of the Iron Bowl, with Auburn currently holding that honor after a 28-27 win in Tuscaloosa to finish off a perfect regular season. In keeping with the tradition of the sportsmanship trophy, Alabama’s SGA president will sing Auburn’s fight song during the presentation. The celebration, set to begin at 1 p.m., will last about one hour and will feature the band, cheerleaders, Tiger Paws, Aubie and of course, the team. Entrance is free and is through gates 2, 4, 5 and 7. Seating is first-come, first-serve. Students with an Auburn Ignited card may walk onto the field through the gates in sections 46 and 35. Parking for the event will be at the hayfields on South Donahue Drive. » See CELEBRATION, A2
Studies reveal danger-soaked side of drinking games Liz Conn ASSOCIATE CAMPUS EDITOR
Drinking games, a staple of the college lifestyle, may provide danger as well as fun. “The biggest danger with drinking games is that you lose control over how much you’re drinking,” said Chris Correia, associate professor of psychology. “You put yourself in a situation where you might be drinking more than you normally would or more than you can handle in that period of time.” Correia published a study in 2010 that showed a correlation between participation in drinking games and alcohol-related problems. Problems included having trouble studying, experiencing withdrawal symptoms and going to school or work drunk. “With drinking games, I think the reason that you see such a high correlation with those problems is because people are drinking at really elevated levels,” said Jenni Cameron, who co-authored the study. INSIDE
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Cameron graduated from Auburn in August with her Ph.D. in clinical psychology. The fast-paced nature of drinking games is also a contributing factor, according to Mark Silvestri, graduate student in psychology. “If you think of Flip Cup, for example, it’s a pretty fast and rapid game,” Silvestri said. “You can consume a good amount of alcohol in a short amount of time, and what that does is, obviously, it makes you drunk fast because your BAC spikes up much higher.” Cameron said drinkers often lose track of how much alcohol they have consumed and consequently drink more. “Consumpt i o n games” such as Century Club are especially dangerous, where participants drink an ounce of |
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beer every minute for 100 minutes, Cameron said. “The other ones that are really high are the chance games—stuff like Kings, Circle of Death, Three Man— the ones where there really aren’t any rules,” Cameron said. “What you drink literally just comes down to the flip of a card or the roll of a dice.” Cameron said the prevalence of drinking games on college campuses stems, in part, from the large popula-
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tion of students under 21. “Before you’re able to go to the bars and get in legally, it’s something that you can do when you’re hanging out and drinking with people,” Cameron said. Correia said books, video games and even national tournaments market to college students one of the most popular drinking games: Beer Pong. “There is this huge culture specifically around Beer Pong,” Correia said. Another study published by Cameron and Correia in
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2010 studied average blood alcohol content levels during games of Beer Pong. The study analyzed disparities in BAC levels because of metabolic differences between males and females. “Guys and girls drink about the same amount when they play Beer Pong,” Correia said, “but the girls are going to come away, on average, with a higher BAC.” In a 20-minute, two-player game of Beer Pong, the average male had a BAC of .08, while the average for a female was .14. “Looking at those differences in BACs, you can see some of the risks of drinking games, specifically for female participants,” Cameron said. Cameron cited a 2004 study in which participants were questioned about their motives for playing drinking games. “Some of the ones that males
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reported, that females didn’t, were that some of their motives were to intoxicate other players or to facilitate sexual contact,” Cameron said. “When you look at those differences in BACs for males and females, you can see where that could lead to some of that.” Silvestri said drinkers should give their bodies time to catch up after playing a drinking game. “You may not feel the effects of how much you drank when you were playing that drinking game,” Silvestri said, “because it usually takes your body some time to process that alcohol.” Correia said participants should avoid playing with hard liquor and, for Beer Pong, decide beforehand how much beer will go in each cup. “The No.1 thing is knowing that you can always stop,” Correia said. “That’s something to keep in mind for any drinking situation you’re in.” Recycled paper