Volume 108 Issue 20

AWA R D-W INNING CENTR A LR ECOR DER .COM Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Central Connecticut State University

Volume 108 No. 20

Stripping For A Cause

CCSU Aware Of Minor Flaws In Accessibility

CCSU Students Shed Their Clothes On Thursday Night To Benefit Habitat For Humanity

jaReD ToDD The Recorder

All of CCSU’s buildings are currently in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to Facilities Management, however some issues still arise for those who must maneuver around campus with a physical impairment.

Facilities Management says that there are always improvements to be made and more innovative, progressive thinking to be done for handicapped accessibility.

Sal Cintorino, Director of Facilities Management, said that his department focuses on making sure the campus is “convenient as well as accessible” for those with mobility impairments.

“There’s certain design criteria that we follow,” said Domenic Forcella, Environmental Health and Safety Officer.

Even though CCSU is in compliance with ADA code, it doesn’t mean that the campus is of optimal convenience for the disabled.

According to Natalie Stimpson-Byers, Student Disability Services Coordinator, the Willard Hall elevator door is too narrow for some wheelchairs. In fact, she advises her students in wheelchairs not to use it.

She also pointed out that “some of the sidewalks are buckled and broken,” which is not convenient for someone navigating campus in a wheelchair.

The 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, available at ada.gov, specifiy that each facility used by the public must be designed and constructed so at least one part of the building accommodates individuals with disabilities.

The document also states that multibedroom housing units, or dormitories, must provide an accessible route throughout the unit.

Two years ago, there was a student who experienced difficulty getting through the doors at Seth North Residence Hall, said Cintorino. Facilities Management attached remotes for the electric doors to the student’s wheelchair, making accessibility throughout the building more convenient.

Since that occasion, Cintorino said he has received “no complaints” about campus accessibility.

Forcella and Cintorino were quick to mention a new elevator that was recently installed in the production studio area of Willard Hall in order to ensure that those with disabilities have easy access to the area for their academic needs.

DiLoreto, another building that could use updates for accessibility, has one ramp and one electric door on the side of the building near Stanely Street.

“I don’t send any of my students to DiLoreto because of accessibility issues,” said Stimpson-Byers, who frequently changes the location of classes to better accommodate her students.

iRene yukasH | THe RecoRDeR

Students gathered in the Student Center circle to support Habitat For Humanity despite the cold weather. The clothes the students took off were donated. This was the culminating event of the foundation’s charity month. iRene w. yukasH The Recorder

CCSU students took on the cold and took off their clothes during last Thursday’s “Undie Run,” a unique finale to a month long clothing drive for Habitat for Humanity.

The clothing drive began on Feb. 8 and accumulated a large portion of donations.

In addition to having drop boxes in the Student Center, Elihu Burrit Library, Kaiser and Sam May, Habitat for Humanity also accepted house calls.

According to Michelle Ziogas, Vice President of CCSU’s Habitat for Humanity, the amount of clothing collected between the run and clothing drive was substantially more than she had expected.

“I didn’t actually expect as many people to get in their underwear as they did, and [with] such enthusiasm”, said Ziogas.

Students were less than intimidated to take it off for a good cause. Despite the cold, many of the runners had already stripped down before the race even began.

see ACCESSIBILITY - page 3

In this issue...

Spring Fashion Preview Page 6

Runners wore everything from three layers of clothes to merely a man-thong while running.

Zach Rubin, a CCSU student, started the race in shorts and a t-shirt and ended in boxers.

“I’ve done more embarrassing things before, so this is just one more thing on the list,” Rubin said.

Rubin saw the advertisement for the “undie run” and thought it was a better way to spend his night than playing video games.

Compared to the weather two years ago, this was a milder year. The 2010 Undie Run was during a blizzard, and students were exposed in the snowy conditions.

Korinn Taylor, President of CCSU’s Habitat for Humanity, set up the event.

Taylor participated in The Undie Run two years ago and enjoyed it so much she decided to bring it back.

According to Taylor, many of the students she ran it with two years ago returned to this year’s event.

Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit Christian group with the belief that everyone deserves an affordable place

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to live. The group enforces this belief by building houses for people in need, regardless of religious background or race.

Although it is a Christian group, Taylor said that the CCSU branch has no religious affiliation or requirements. The houses are simple and energy-efficient when possible.

Their efforts expand from CCSU all the way across the globe.

The organization is currently building houses for citizens in Romania and other countries that are being affected by severe freezing temperatures and snowstorms.

The Habitat for Humanity will be spending spring break in Florida building houses.

Members of Habitat for Humanity followed the runners closely with large garbage bags, collecting the freshly shed articles of clothing.

They even came across a pair of shoes that someone had ditched mid run.

At the end of everything, CCSU’s Habitat for Humanity described the amount of clothing received as “enough to fill an entire car.” The clothes are to be distributed among several homeless shelters in Connecticut.

2

NEWS

THE RECORDER Wednesday, February 29, 2012

House Bill Resolution Fails In Student Government senate of intelligent, able-minded leaders on campus. This is open for amendments, we can think of other ways that we can propose that can try and achieve that, but also maintain the things that we wanted a few weeks ago and bring it all together.”

Senator Jamie Canny said Marcelli’s resolution was “insane,” and that he is being inconsiderate in terms of speaking for the whole student body without asking their opinion first.

“We represent the entire student body, so are we sure what the student body feels because we are the biggest university of the four, so we are saying this entire university believes this,” said Canny. “Before we make such a big bold move, we better be sure if the majority of the people will feel this way.

I am not convinced we have heard from the student body; we should be talking to them before we represent them in such a big bold way.”

Marcelli said he was open to compromise.

“We can do both, I have no problem

doing both, this is a first step,” said Marcelli.

“I am absolutely open to talk to anyone and everyone who wants to come up with another plan. I would love to see us with our own plan. We don’t have a complete and detailed plan at this moment so we can’t, but I would love to see that happen and I see no reason why this can’t happen.”

The resolution failed with a vote of nine yes votes to 13 opposing votes with three abstentions.

Earlier in the meeting, the Student Government Association had 16 recommendations made by the Financial Committee to vote on. Thirteen recommendations were for the allocation of money to assorted clubs on campus.

The other three were to deny contingency requests.

The 13 allocations and two contingency denial requests were passed unanimously, while FC12-070, which denied the Criminal Justice Club a contingency request, failed to pass.

kenny barto | THE RECORDER

Senator Matt Hubbard speaks in favor of the general education resolution presented by Senator Chris Marcelli. joe suszcynski The Recorder

Debates in the Student Government Association meeting were enthusiastic when the House Bill 5030 and Finance Committee recommendations were brought up on the agenda, both being resolved.

Senator Chris Marcelli brought up a resolution that he wrote in opposition to House Bill 5030.

The bill states that the regional community-technical college system, the Connecticut State University System and The University of Connecticut would develop a general education core of courses for which thirty academic credits shall be given by each regional community-technical college as part

of its Liberal Arts and Sciences programs and any other degree program designated as a transfer program.

A student who graduates from any such transfer program and transfers to the Connecticut State University System or the University of Connecticut shall transfer thirty academic credits toward the general education core curriculum requirements of the Connecticut State University System or the University of Connecticut.

Senator Matt Hubbard was in favor of the resolution due to the senate’s efforts in passing President Eric Bergenn’s General Education resolution as well as Marcelli’s previous resolution.

“The majority of us had in our minds that we don’t want this,” said Hubbard. “We are a

kenny barto | THE RECORDER

Senator Jamie Canny called the resolution presented by Senator Marcelli “Insane.” The resolution failed with 13 senators in opposition.

The Future Of General Education Proves Uncertain Justin muszynski

This comes at a time when CCSU is developing its own general education system The Recorder to replace the current one. Robert Wolff, A recent bill proposed designed to Chair of the General Education Ad-Hoc make transferring amongst Connecticut Committee, says it’s impossible to know if state schools easier, and a general education this bill will influence CCSU’s plans.

“It’s not clear that it’s going to have any system drafted by the Board of Regents leaves many questions about the future of Gen Ed effect,” said Wolff. “You never know with a legislative proposal what’s going to happen at CCSU. The bill (H.B. No. 5030) calls for the with it over time. It may become something regional community-technical college that we have to talk about.”

However, if it is passed, he says the most system, the CSU system and UConn to develop a common general education core of recent draft that committee has drawn up will courses by which 30 credits must be provided more than likely fit the bill’s requirements.

The draft put together by the BOR would by community colleges and accepted by state mandate universities to accept 60-64 credits universities. if a student achieves an associate degree, 36 of which would go towards Gen Ed, and guarantee a student “junior status.”

However, SGA President New & Used Restring and Restorations...

Eric Bergenn says this may be somewhat misleading.

“If a student transfers in and is considered a junior, they expect to graduate in two years,” said Bergenn. “Just because you carry over 60 credits from community 16 Washington St. New Britain, CT college that doesn’t mean it won’t take you more than that.”

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Both proposals are designed to improve graduation rates. However, many are concerned that they are being rushed. It has already been added to H.B. 5030’s original language, stipulating that their goal must be accomplished by July 1, 2013 as opposed to July of this year. It also now includes the need for faculty input, which was another previous worry by many.

Wolff says the Ad-Hoc Committee’s primary objective is not to improve graduation rates.

“We want to improve their education,” said Wolff. “Graduation rates should be a goal, but not the primary one. Our primary goal is to provide students with the education they need.”

Bergenn also says the legislature’s proposal is designed specifically for the BOR’s sake.

“I know this bill is set up to give them [BOR] the freedom to create a transfer and articulation policy, which I think is a little bit dangerous to the individuality of the different Gen Ed programs of the different schools,” said Bergenn.

Bergenn invited Sen. Beth Bye, chairwoman of the legislature’s Higher Education Committee, to come to campus to gain student input on the matter. He also thinks it will help educate students on the

subject who may not know all that much about it.

Wolff, who is also a professor of history, says the legislature’s proposal is more realistic than one might think. He says in his department, it’s very common for a transfer student to carry over 30 credits to CCSU. “In some respects, the proposal is not as significant as supposed because a lot of students coming from the community colleges transfer 30 credits,” said Wolff.

“That’s probably something you can work with.”

Wolff says from listening to the committee at the public hearing for this bill on Feb. 14, they don’t seem to care as much that a specific system is set up offering exactly the same classes at each school but rather that students don’t lose any credits in the transfer process.

“The legislatures seem very receptive to input from the campuses,” said Wolff.

He also questions the root of the problem when students “lose” credits.

“I still don’t know how much of it is lost because of poor articulation between us and the community colleges or how much because students change majors,” said Wolff.

“That’s something that I think doesn’t always get looked at.”

3

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 29, 2012 / NEWS

The Recorder Student Center 1615 Stanley Street New Britain, CT 06050 T 860.832.3744 editor@centralrecorder.com centralrecorder.com twitter.com/therecorder Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Proch nproch@centralrecorder.com Art Director Ashley E. Lang

News Editors Kassondra Granata Justin Muszynski news@centralrecorder.com Upgrade Editor Rachael Bentley upgrade@centralrecorder.com Sports Editor Brittany Burke sportsed@centralrecorder.com Photo Editors Kenny Barto kbarto@centralrecorder.com Daniel Saunders dsaunders@centralrecorder.com

Staff Writers Danny Contreras Clement Eneh Ciara Hooks Acadia Otlowski Kyle Penn Nick Rosa Joe Suszczynski Jared Todd Eric M. Valad Dan Wanat Amanda L. Webster Irene W. Yukash

Is The UPBC Being Fairly Scrutinized By Faculty?

Justin Muszynski The Recorder

Even though they are supposed to be advising the Faculty Senate on budget matters the merits of the University Planning and Budget Committee’s suggestions have recently been been questioned by some.

Guy Crundwell, professor of chemistry, has gone on record to say the issue of transparency in the athletics department was an unpopular subject in the UPBC. But when the Senate heard of the matter they were interested enough to invite Crundwell, Athletics Director Paul Schlickmann and another member of the UPBC to a future meeting to give a more in depth presentation.

However, Margaret Leake of the Learning Center and also a member of the UPBC, says the Senate’s interest is due to the lack of information they had. She explains that the UPBC had already had several meetings in which they heard all the facts and, after being educated on the subject, only passed one of the motions that had been proposed by Crundwell.

“We had heard Guy’s point of view and also from Paul Schlickmann,” said Leake. “So we had more knowledge perhaps than the Faculty Senate. I don’t think it’s fair to say that the Faculty Senate was more interested than the UPBC was.”

Candace Barrington, President of the Faculty Senate, offers an additional explanation.

While she insists she can’t speak for the UPBC, she says the proposals may have been singling out the athletics department.

“I kind of got the sense that they felt he was targeting them,” said Barrington. “Unless there’s a sense that there have been misused funds, then why target one program. I would have preferred something coming out of the UPBC that was looking at information university-wide and not targeting one department.”

Another issue that some have had with the UPBC is the right of all members to vote.

In the Senate, administrators are present for information purposes, but they are not allowed to vote. Yet Kristine Larsen, of the UPBC and professor of physics and astronomy, likes the idea that all members have voting privileges.

“Budget is something that affects everyone and everyone should have a voice,” said Larsen.

“As long as we keep thinking it’s us versus them we’re not going to succeed. I think the UPBC as much as possible works by consensus.”

Although Barrington says the Senate is in the process of making all committees “uniformed,” which would essentially deny non-faculty members of any committee the right to vote.

Leake says too much has been made of the concern that members are swayed by the presence of administrators. Despite previous claims, she says State University Organization of Administrative Faculty members do have “academic freedom” written into their contract.

“I’ve disagreed with the Provost in meetings before,” said Leake, who is a SUOAF member.

“I can only speak for myself but I tend to speak my mind when it needs to be spoken. It’s not because management is there that I would ever hold my tongue.”

The Positive Factors Of Facebook Explored In Study acadia otlowski The Recorder

A recent study by Dr. Chris Steele of Keete University suggests that Facebook may have a positive effect on undergraduates who interacted frequently with others on Facebook.

Facebook affects many factors of your life including such things as college admissions; the same social medias may be partially responsible for an easier transition into college.

The study was conducted on 141 college students who were questioned about factors such as self-esteem and stress levels. The result of the study was that most students who reported frequent Facebook interact had higher self-esteem and were less stressed than those who used Facebook less.

Dr. Jason Sikorski, a psychology professor at CCSU, indicated that he was not surprised by these findings.

“One thing that we know in the field of psychology is that social contact and social support is a very important predictor in positive outcomes in people,” said Sikorski. “We know that people who have social contacts, or individuals that they can discuss things with, tend to live healthier lives, not just physically, but also emotionally.”

A second portion of the study was conducted midway through the academic year where 169 students completed the same questionnaire from the former part of the study. This time, the amount of social interaction that students performed on Facebook had far less of an impact on their emotional well-being.

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Copy Editors Maxine Eichen Sara M. Berry

Experts suggest that this stems from the use of Facebook as a social support structure during the adjustment period into college. When students create a social support structure in college, they become far less dependent on social media for those same interactions.

Samanthat Tanasi, a freshman, is one of those students who believes that Facebook was crucial in her transition to college life. She used the “CCSU Class of 2015” Facebook page to find out about local events and to get to know some of the class.

“I definitely went on it a lot in August to check out the CCSU page,” said Tanasi. “But now I spend a lot less time on Facebook.”

But even with such positive benefits, Facebook still has drawbacks. According to a similar conducted by the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavioral and Social Networking students that use social media, namely Facebook, tended to view others as happier and perceive that they led better lives than their own.

“People get too immersed in Facebook, such that it becomes a real distraction, to their real lives,” said Sikorski. “ I see a lot of students as a professor that they’re constantly checking their Facebook in class. They’re not paying attention, or perhaps they are spending too much time on Facebook when they could be studying.”

“We have all witnessed this as students and perhaps have done it ourselves. But social media addiction touches all parts of our lives. It interferes with our real-life social interactions even while it connects us to those that are far away,” said Sikorski. “So, it’s almost really had to predict whether Facebook contact is a good thing, because we don’t know what the future is going to hold.”

The Recorder is a student-produced publication of Central Connecticut State University and does not necessarily represent, in whole or in part, the views of CCSU’s administrators, faculty or students. The Recorder articles, photographs and graphics are property of The Recorder and may not be reproduced or published without the written permission from the Editorin-Chief. T he pur pose of T he Recorder is to approach and def ine issues of impor tance to the students of Central Connecticut State Universit y.

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Faculty Senate Collaborates With SGA On General Education kassondra granata The Recorder

CCSU’s Faculty Senate endorsed the Student Government Association’s resolution in response to the Board of Regent’s Proposal on the House Bill #5030.

Candace Barrington, an English professor and Faculty Senate President believes that this proposal gives faculty an opportunity.

“What the proposal does in essence is that there will be a core curriculum across all four institutions,” Barrington said. “It will not be measured by class, but by competencies. This core curriculum will amend department by department, major by major, and program by program to make the transition from community college to a CSU school easier. There is hope out there, we can make a change.”

According to Barrington, the systems office has created a steering committee where two provosts from the CSU schools and four academic deans from the community colleges will be charged with shepherding this proposal in response to the House Bill #5030. In parallel to that, the four CSU provosts, the four CSU senate presidents, the four CSU AUP presidents, as well as the Faculty Advisory Committee representatives and the curriculum chairs will be meeting on Wednesday to look at the house bill.

Under the Board of Regents policy, if a transfer student has 60-64 credits, equivalent to an associate’s degree, then at least 36 credits will be transferred. According to the policy, there will be a core curriculum in each undergraduate program with the goal to have students be competent in skills such as communication, quantitative and statistical reasoning, critical thinking, empirical problem solving, and personal and social responsibility.

Senator Chris Marcelli of the Student Government Association presented a resolution opposing the Board of Regents proposal early February, which President Eric Bergenn agreed to bring to the faculty senate for their support.

“I think it’s a really bad idea,” Marcelli said of the proposal at an SGA meeting in February. “I like the goals that they are trying to reach with it; I don’t think anyone disagrees with the goal of making it easier to transfer your credits, but to

me what this proposal is going to do is limit the freedom of the individual institutions to decide on their own curriculums.”

Professor of Communication Cindy White, does not agree with the Board of Regent’s proposal for core curriculum for General Education. White said that the four CSU schools are all different ranging from their departments as well as applications and practicalities.

“If you look across the four campuses you are looking at four different philosophical approaches to the field of education. One of the things I hear and see from the legislation is that this proposal is all about efficiency and articulating transfer policies,” White said. “What is being lost in all of this is the content of all the programs. It seems to me that we are framing general education as something that needs to be gotten through in order to pursue what your education is presumably about. This takes the whole point out of general education.”

Mary Ann Mahony, Assistant Professor of history said that she thinks that the proposal is a great idea in order to get communities together to try and develop different proposals for the universities. Her only concern is that she is unsure whether the Board of Regents is aware that the fall courses are already set.

“In terms of general education, many majors, especially large ones, have specific required courses in their general education,” said Mahony.

“There is a big difference between articulation, showing students what to take. Different departments have difference sizes, no amount of standardization will change it.”

Barrington said that the faculty should see it as a benefit and that they have a say on what classes are required for departments and majors.

Student Government Association President Eric Bergenn was pleased that the Faculty Senate approved Marcelli’s resolution.

“I am happy with this for two reasons,” Bergenn said. “One, it definitely helps the relationship between our senate and Faculty Senate, which I see as a bonus; I mainly have hoped for collaboration between the two. In terms of what the resolution means to the Board of Regents, we are the biggest group of students and the biggest group of faculty and since were on the same page and I think that will be a great factor.”

Accessibility On Campus Continued from page 1 According to Cintorino, Facilities Management is trying to make the campus more convenient by replacing more of the traditional round doorknobs with the flat, L-shaped handles to help those who cannot grasp the traditional knob.

However, replacing doorknobs might still be insufficient, which is why StimpsonByers submitted a request for the installation of some electric doors on the inside of buildings as well as their entrances.

She claimed that for at least one year Student Disability Services has awaited the approval of its request for more electric doors on campus. No word has come from Facilities Management on the request.

Stimpson-Byers, who has been coordinator for six years, can only help students who come to her with accommodation requests for their disabilities. Some students, for personal reasons, choose not to take advantage of Student Disability Services.

She suggested that students with disabilities and ADA advocates should be

organizing on campus to make accessibility issues more salient.

“Students have the power,” said StimpsonByers.

The Student Government Association has discussed accessibility issues before, although President Eric Bergenn said “it is not generally in the limelight.” The Student Life Committee’s duty is to occasionally check the campus for any accessibility and safety problems.

“Some of the things that this has resulted in are the blue emergency phones around campus, more on campus lighting, and some changes to handicap ramps as well as other things of the like,” stated Bergenn.

Bergenn, like Stimpson-Byers, encourages those in the student body to spotlight issues with handicapped accessibility so CCSU can solve any problems more efficaciously and make prompt renovations or updates.

“I have, and will continue to beseech students with issues such as accessibility…to contact the SGA and let us know what we can do to help,” said Bergenn.

OPINION

4

THE RECORDER Wednesday, February 29, 2012

University Bashing Helps No One Have some of us forgotten that we pay money to go to this University? In no other aspect of our lives do we pay for something and then openly bash it to the public. Sometimes we get mad at our cars when they break down, but we don’t usually trash them.

That’s embarrassing. If you say that your automobile is a piece of junk, that reflects poorly on you as a consumer.

Why didn’t you do your research and buy a better car? Why are you stuck in a lease that you can’t get out of ? Why did you buy that dog that tears up your furniture when you leave it alone? You’re not an idiot, are you?

The same logic should be applied to those who do nothing but trash this University’s name. How does that make

any sense? If you casually perused the social networks after the University released that they had a security breach, which was unintentional and not done to purposefully inconvenience any of the student body, you couldn’t help but think that CCSU was the worst educational institution in the state.

Why would anyone want to bash their own University where they pay to go to school? The people who are doing so are just feeding into the problems they perceive.

Whenever someone says, “CCSU is just a commuter school…” are the majority of the students who live on campus refuting that? No. So we’ll always have that reputation until someone stops perpetuating the idea that is all we are.

After you graduate, and you’re in a

Don’t Just Go Through The Motions

nicHolas PRocH The Recorder

After this week’s issue, I’ll have seven editions left of this publication left while serving as editor. Past May, you won’t have to look at my face somewhere above the fold. You can take the opportunity now to snicker or jump for joy at my departure.

This is by no means my farewell column, I’ll have plenty to say when that time comes, but this is a good chance for me to reflect on my time here with only a few months left.

At a certain point during my sophomore year, I was doing nothing self-fulfilling. My daily schedule consisted of going to an economics class, doing half of my graphics assignment and then taking off to my job at an electronics retail store.

What was I thinking? I’m not really positive of the chain of specific events, but somewhere along the way I became friendly with the former editor of this paper, Michael Walsh.

It was he who got me to come down and write for the paper. Now, it pains me to say that my first article was a review of Hot Tub Time Machine, but I had to start somewhere. After that, I was finally involved with something on campus.

From the beginning of the fall 2010 semester, I was fully immersed in the production of our weekly product. I had gone from someone who didn’t want to be anywhere near the Student Center, to never leaving our office.

It turned out to be the best decision I’ve made in a while. On a campus that picks itself up and goes home on the weekends, it’s become nothing but home. If this

hasn’t happened to yourself yet, then you’re missing out on what a college experience is.

If you don’t want to get involved in campus media, fine. I can’t force people to do something they don’t want to do.

However, as an aside, if you’re planning on going into the media realm and you’re not on a campus media where all you have to do is join, then you’re fooling yourself into thinking that is what you want to do.

Are you interested in cars? Go to the car club and find out when they meet. Do you want to be more involved in politics? This is a great year to join the College Republicans.

There’s a club for every passion. Why not take advantage of them?

Once all of us are past graduation and we have nothing to do besides eat, sleep and go to our jobs, we’re going to long for our college days again.

There are too many students who scramble during their last year to get experience that will look good on their post-college resumes. I’m happy that you’re at least doing that, but come on. Don’t be one of those people.

Where else can you take the skills you’re learning in class, which you are paying for, and be encouraged to use them for something that you love. This will probably be my last pitch for campus organizations, so please don’t take it lightly.

Don’t listen to me if you don’t want to. I don’t really care, to be honest, if you only read what I have to say so that you can disagree with it. At this point, I got you this far and that’s my intention.

Mission accomplished. Now go out and do something that will make your time here well-spent and not just another example of going through the motions.

room full of people talking about your life to that point, and the topic of your place of education comes up, you better want to be proud to say that you went to CCSU. If you’re not, then leave. Don’t waste your time. And in the process, if you could not relentlessly bash your school and make the rest of us look bad, that’d be great.

The school has put a lot of faith in you to make them look better. With every graduating class, we should be stronger and going on to do more important things as a group. We don’t reflect that in any way when we constantly trash the University, do we? We come off as babies. Frankly, it comes off as being uneducated, but if that’s what you’re going for, then that’s perfect.

If at any point you are not grateful that you have a degree from an accredited

university then you should have your head examined. When you’re sitting in your office, out in the field reporting, working in the arts or whatever else you end up doing with your life, don’t think that you were able to do so without that piece of paper that you may or may not have earned here.

There will always be exceptions to the norm, as in when people with virtually no education climb company ladders, but for the rest of us we should be proud of our choice in our university and not full of hate and disdain towards it.

The more you bash it now, the worse you’re going to look in the future. If you want to run CCSU’s name through the mud, you should accept the fact that you’ll be dealing with that throughout your career.

Letter To The Editor To the editor, As former managing editor of CCSU’s premiere campus newspaper, I often thumb through the digital pages of the weekly edition to stay current on ‘what’s happening’ at my alma mater. I would be remiss if I did not mention that the quality of this newspaper is ever-increasing; I am proud to count myself among the organization’s prestigious alumni.

However, a recent review of The Fray’s Scars and Stories was appalling.

Is this album for everyone? Of course not. Is it reasonable to question the merits of the album in the entertainment section of The Recorder? Absolutey. But the relatively few words used in this review, 334 to be exact, are a more damning exposition of the writer’s misunderstanding of the artistic work than of the work itself.

In one breath, Ms. Otlowski claims the opening track, “Heartbeat,” has no depth, but explains that the song was based on a Rwandan woman’s story of the genocide taking place there. “If you love someone, love them all the same.” There are powerful themes employed here, but the writer seems to avoid a competent analysis of the piece altogether. How can one legitimately claim there is no depth if one refuses to dive?

Ms. Otlowski misses the mark again by identifying the rest of the album’s subject matter as predominantly “love and heartbreak.” Not so. “Run For Your Life” is a beautiful song, perhaps the album’s most underrated, describing a painful family death and how that experience is perceived by someone on the outside. She further describes “1961” in decidedly adolescent terms as if she skipped English class during

the lesson on metaphors.

“I Can Barely Say” and “Be Still” give us an opportunity to enjoy the superb piano skills of the lead. These tracks are stripped down and simple; they require thoughtful, engaged listeners. The vocals deserve praise – not in spite of, but in large part because of – the gritty, natural quality that draws us closer to the meaning behind these heavy words.

Perhaps the greatest strength of the album is the subtle use of dynamics throughout. The Fray consistently blends in and out of heavy moments and soft moments with such ease that the listener blindly submits to the emotion when it becomes impossible to readily identify the technique. In this way, the album hangs over our hearts and minds, gripping our modest sensibilities like a philosophical conversation with old friends. The pacing and overall tone of the album rewards its listeners track after track.

Scars and Stories will not provide the over-processed, over-simplistic music that most college students seek. It will not likely take home many awards or be given a plethora of accolades for groundbreaking work. But to say that the album damages The Fray is a gross overstatement. Scars and Stories is a modern example of the bold risk-taking that led to some of the greatest albums released in the last half-century.

It is comfortable enough for fans of the band and challenging enough for music enthusiasts. It should be commended as such, and it certainly should be given the attention and analysis that the artists deserve for this fine effort.

-Mathew Clyburn

Have an opinion?

Want your voice heard?

Email editor@ centralrecorder.com

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 29, 2012 / OPINION

5

Why Lin Should Have Been An All-Star Dan wanaT The Recorder

By the time this article reaches the newsstand, the NBA All-Star Game will have come and gone with little more than a ripple on the Richter scale.

Now with all the glory and prominence encompassing NBA All-Star weekend comes the disappointment of isolated ostracism as the NBA’s most popular player is forced to watch the game next to Keanu Reeves.

Jeremy Lin has taken the NBA by storm and it is just another reminder to why it should be mandatory for everybody in the world to love sports.

The storylines that sports produce are unpredictable and amazingly beautiful. No movie producer could have ever created a script in which a 6’3” Taiwanese point guard from Harvard, who was cut by two NBA teams already during the season, could statistically transcend Magic Johnson, Shaq and Michael Jordan. But that’s what makes Lin’s fable seem so impossible.

Lin has single-handedly made it “cool” to go to Harvard again. Lin’s made us think of Taiwan as more than just a place that has monopolized all the “made in” tags on just about everything you own, and most importantly, Lin is showing not only the Asian population, but everybody, what it feels like to be an underdog and take the NBA by storm. It’s these ascending characteristics and popularity that entitle Lin to be playing in the NBA All-Star game.

Now, before I delve into the reasons why Lin should be participating in the All-Star Game, I must digress with an opinionated disclosure on my overall views of fans voting for All-Star games. Plain and simple: I hate fan voting. Fan voting depreciates the statistical value of an individual’s season and

turns an All-Star Game into nothing more than a popularity contest.

Letting fans decide these procedures meant that in 2011, Derek Jeter and his awful first-half numbers were selected to promenade around the MLB All-Star game as if he actually deserved to be there. The list of these atrocious preferences can go on and on as fans painstakingly click on the most revered name on the all-star ballot rather than the players that actually deserve it.

The last reason I have an utter disdain for fan voting is that the Hall of Fame Selection Committee uses All-Star game appearances as a pillar of judgment unto which votes are cast. That would be like if an individual were applying to Harvard and fit all the educational and extra-curricular requirements needed but Harvard didn’t allow the student in because he didn’t win Prom King.

Phew! I feel a lot better now that that’s off my chest. Unfortunately, my rant cannot undo the current popularity based format of the All-Star Game, so whether I like it or not, the most popular players in the NBA are voted in. It’s safe to presume that Lin is the most popular player in the NBA right now, thus he needs to be in the All-Star game.

For this year’s All-Star game, fan voting ended on Feb. 1 while the game itself was not played until Feb. 26. In Lin’s case, he didn’t even make his first career start until Feb. 6. With this being formulated, if the fan voting went until Feb. 14, for example, Linsanity would have been in full effect and Lin would have absolutely been voted into the All-Star Game.

Heck, it took the kid three NBA starts before his jersey was the highest selling jersey in the NBA. So I have no doubt the voters would have showed up in droves begging to make Lin a participant in the All-

Star Game.

His statistics through his first 11 career starts are all-star worthy. In Lin’s first five NBA starts, he broke Shaq’s all-time record for most points scored in his first five games by netting 136 points (27.2 ppg). In Lin’s last 12 games, which represents the only 12 games of his career in which he saw valuable minutes, Lin averaged 22.6 ppg and 8.7 apg.

From a “this season” standpoint, and I know it’s a very small sample size in comparison, but just for argument’s sake, Derrick Rose is averaging 21.8 ppg and 7.7 apg on the season. In terms of the historical magnitude, Lin holds the record for most points and assists through a player’s first 12 career starts topping Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas and John Stockton.

I must re-emphasize that the NBA is a tough and rugged sport that is always evolving so a good 12 game stretch does not make or break a career, but if Lin can continue producing at such a ridiculously high level than we may be witnessing a star in the making.

David Stern, David Stern, David Stern tsk tsk tsk. From a strictly marketing and business standpoint, it seems impossible not to have the inclusion of Lin down in Orlando this weekend. Ever since Stern took over as the commissioner of the NBA, his major goal has been the globalization of the game of basketball. What better ways to expand the probing tentacles of the NBA than to have Lin play in the All-Star Game?

The peaking interest of the NBA in Asia is at an apex that hasn’t been attained since Yao Ming entered the league.

Lin played in the Rookies versus Sophomore game and it received the highest rating in its history, and as I mentioned before, Lin has had the highest selling jersey in the NBA for the past month. Why not take

advantage of this popularity by thrusting Lin into the All-Star Game and giving global fans even more incentive to watch and become enthralled not only with Lin but with all the other star players in the NBA? At first, I was thinking that Stern was avoiding the inclusion of Lin because he would have to create an unprecedented extra roster spot which lays a crack-filled foundation down for future All-Star Games.

But Joe Johnson of the Atlanta Hawks got injured and could not play in the game leaving the decision to Stern on who to add to the Eastern Conference roster.

No need for any drumrolls or special effects with this decision because Stern picked Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics.

Seriously David? How many more fans are going to watch the All-Star Game because Rondo is in it? Now think about the global realm of millions that would have tuned into the game if you had selected Lin instead.

Fiscally, it just makes no sense.

Underdog stories have forever warmed the hearts of the American culture and that’s what makes Lin’s story so attractive. He was told in high school he wasn’t good enough to play at the college level. After college, two NBA teams cut him from their roster. His job security was so porous that he didn’t even rent an apartment in New York, choosing rather to sleep on teammates and family member’s couches.

Yet, with all this adversity cemented in Lin’s way, he has persevered through it all to produce an impact that can be felt around the globe. He has turned himself into an emanating star that no longer walks the street in obscurity but is rather the focus of a whole segment of the mass media. All-Star weekend is an event created to let the stars shine, so why not let the brightest star of them all illuminate the basketball globe.

Rick Santorum, The New GOP Flavor Of The Month joe suszczynski The Recorder

The beauty of politics is that with any given moment, anything can change.

Mitt Romney was looking pretty good in the primaries, leading in the polls. However, Rick Santorum seemed to come out of nowhere winning Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado. This was a shock to some people including myself. Recently, Santorum has passed Romney in polls, making him the new front runner.

Despite his newfound popularity, like previous front runners in the GOP, he will just be another phase in the GOP and drop back in the polls.

The reason that we haven’t seen much of Santorum was due to being near last in the polls. He hardly spoke at debates compared to Romney. The only thing that people really know about Santorum is that he reveres the idea of “family values.”

On the points of “family values” and other social issues, Santorum makes no bones about where he stands on certain issues. He is prolife, opposes gay marriage and, if he was elected

president, would ban pornography.

Now, respectfully, if the former senator doesn’t agree with abortion, gay marriage and does not like pornography, that’s fine, he has every right to his opinion. But what gives him the right to have them banned? What makes him the arbiter on what’s right and wrong?

He should not dictate what women should do with their own bodies. Nor does he have the right to tell other people they cannot marry each other because of their sexual preferences or tell people what they can and cannot watch.

It’s insane that there is a candidate in 2012 that is trying to be a crusader on what is to be determined right and wrong.

For economic issues, like the other candidates, Santorum has a conservative stance. He is for repealing Obamacare. He wants to cut taxes for corporations, cut the tax rate to zero for all manufacturers, permanently extend the Bush tax rates for capital gains and dividend tax rates, repeal the death tax and reduce the tax code for all brackets. Santorum wants to remove certain regulations such as the CO2 on the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). Along with Obamacare, Santorum wants to repeal Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-

Frank.

In his energy plan, he wants to continue to keep using oil along with coal, natural gas and nuclear energy. He is for offshore drilling, wanting to getting rid of President Obama’s restriction on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

These positions are not surprising considering these are all now dogma in the current Republican Party. The current GOP candidate has to be in favor of repealing Obamacare; otherwise the candidate will not get the nomination.

Just like with economics, Santorum has a conservative stance on foreign policy. He is for keeping the troops in Afghanistan, he says he would not have taken troops out of Iraq. He wants to make sure that Iran doesn’t get ahold of nuclear weapons, even suggesting that the scientists involved should be assassinated. He also criticizes the President on the handling of Libya. Santorum also supports the use of waterboarding to extract information from prisoners.

Again, the positions aren’t surprising.

The former senator is a chicken hawk when it comes to foreign policy, even though he has never served in the military. He is also

trying to promote torture as a good policy, referring to the act as “enhanced interrogation,” even though it has been shown to not work.

Santorum is trying act “macho” when it comes to foreign policy, trying to be the big policeman of the world. Out of the four current candidates, the only one who has gone against the grain with Republican stances on foreign policy is Congressman Ron Paul.

All in all, Santorum’s surge in the polls is going to be all for naught. He’s very headstrong about social issues; he wants to get rid of regulations, continue the Bush tax cuts and cut the corporate tax. He also wants to keep the war in Afghanistan going and wants to use torture as means of getting information.

Despite Republicans liking some of his policies, he won’t even fare well against the President. Polls have shown President Obama beating Santorum by a decent margin. In this election, Republicans just want a candidate that can beat Obama and sadly, Santorum isn’t it. It’s only a matter of time before he falls in the polls just like Bachmann, Perry, Cain and Gingrich.

Romney shouldn’t have a problem sleeping at night.

The Death Of Anthony Shadid, And What It Says About Journalism kenny baRTo The Recorder

On Feb. 16th, the journalism profession lost one of its best reporters. Anthony Shadid, a Pulitzer Prize winning writer and international correspondent for the New York Times, died from an apparent asthma attack while in Syria.

Shadid’s death is only half of the story, however. The other half is a heroic story and, in my opinion, shows why people subscribe to the New York Times, as well as showing just how important the relationship is between reporter and photographer.

Traveling with Shadid was fellow New York Times employee, photographer Tyler Hicks. Just like Shadid, Hicks was also a Pulitzer Prize winner, in addition to many

more photography awards. They new each other for several years, and were even held captive together during the Libyan revolution last year.

The two were on assignment in Syria without permission, gathering information on the Syrian resistance. They were on horseback, which is apparently what triggered Shadid’s asthma attack. Because they did not have permission to be in the country, Hicks had to carry Shadid’s body with him out of Syria and into Turkey. It’s unclear exactly what happened, but one thing is clear: Hicks is the reason that Shadid’s family has a body to bury.

It’s hard to explain, but this story seemed to ring a particular bell for me. I’ve done photography for about five years now and although I’ve never really gotten into a hairy situation, there’s no doubt in my mind

that I would never hesitate to carry one of their bodies on my back.

Most people don’t realize and don’t actually see how much a writer and photographer collaborate, but that type of close relationship is why The Recorder is able to print week in and week out.

Although most sports images are at the discretion of the photographer, news and feature stories are a lot different. I have to work closely with the writers to understand what the best image is going to be, and use their knowledge to see how I can utilize my photography to tell their story.

These types of relationships also develop lasting friendships. I can only imagine how close of friends Shadid and Hicks were, and how Hicks handled the passing of his friend and colleague. In the end, the newspaper as a whole and the individuals involved with it

mean a lot to me. I’ve worked here for two years, and I’m extremely grateful to have this job and the ability to work with some extremely talented people.

In the case of Shadid and Hicks, there’s no doubt that they learned from each other, and the things they shared with each other is what made them such good friends. I mean, how could two Pulitzer Prize winners in their respective fields not be able to feed off one another to make themselves better?

The most important thing as journalists is networking and picking up different things from different people, no matter how big or small.

For me, the lasting friendships are definitely things that I won’t forget. But, the thing that I cherish most is the things that I learn from these people, and the ability to teach them the things that I know.

6

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 29, 2012 / UPGRADE

Spring Fever: Bold, Retro And Classic ciaRa Hooks The Recorder

For fashion lovers around the world, the presentation of the Spring and Fall fashion collections was the end to an anxious wait. If you admire designers like Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang and the designers of J. Crew, Donna Karan and Alice and Olivia you would get a lot out of the upcoming Spring collections. There’s a wide range of designs in lace, sheer and bright prints to dresses, slacks and coats.

Many of the designs I’ve seen seem to be for the eye of the person with eclectic taste or an eye for high fashion, someone who doesn’t mind pushing the envelope or making a statement. Many pieces weren’t for the simplistic or people who like to be ordinary.

A lot of these collections are mostly found in boutiques and the closets of the rich and famous besides the commercial brands we know, but I did find a few pieces from a few designers that I liked and some stuff that might be similar in stores like Macy’s, Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor and Charlotte Russe.

The Alice and Olivia collection really caught my eye. I liked some pieces from it and I think other women will too. Most of the collection consisted of skirts and dresses with a few pants. Some were pleated, had ruffles or were tutu-like and others had funky patterns.

A few pairs of their shoes worn with the outfits were fabulous and this one brown leather jacket one of the models presented was really cute. Leather jackets have been in style for a few years now and are being worn more and more in a magnitude of colors.

My favorite overall outfit was a longsleeved black shirt, black and red skirt paired with a black belt and black pumps. The core of the shirt resembled a corset, the skirt hit right above the knees and it was a full waist belt; simple yet chic.

The outfit came from a collection by a woman named Stacy Bendet, a New York native and pant lover. She studied at the University of Pennsylvania and according to the Alice and Olivia website, collected tons of pants, “stacks and stacks of them” she said, trying to find the perfect pants. She eventually sought out to make her own pants, thus the birth of Alice and Olivia, which was launched in 2002 at Barney’s NY. She incorporated retro with sophistication.

This collection has pieces I could see in stores like Macy’s, Charlotte Russe and Jessica McClintock. I have seen similar patterned pants, dress pants and leather jackets at places like Forever 21.

The Cushnie et Ochs 2012 collection of spring dresses was one that I really admired.

I’d heard of this line before, but the dresses were feminine and the styles were unique. I

liked their use of lines and triangular shapes throughout each piece. I enjoyed how they used the shapes for the sweetheart neckline, different areas across the chest and the split at the bottom of the dresses.

The very first dress in the lineup I absolutely loved. It was all white, form fitting and strapless with a unique plunging neckline and knee length bottom. I just wish it was a little shorter showing off some leg, it would make it a little sexier.

The designers are Carly Cushnie, a London native, and Michelle Ochs, from Maryland.

Crushnie et Ochs first launched in 2009 with the spring collection and they have won numerous awards since. They are sold in the most exclusive boutiques worldwide. The diverse background of the two designers, through education and a strong sense of female form, result in the collection’s intricate play of shape and technical craftsmanship.

The Donna Karan Fall 2012 collection was very grown, sophisticated and consisted of a lot of black, but there was some black and white, grey, red and green. Each and every woman had some sort of headpiece like a hat,

J.Crew Spring 2012

and if they weren’t wearing a dress, they were most likely wearing a blazer with their outfit.

Blazers are a hot commodity in both women’s and men’s wardrobes. This season they’re being worn in a variety of colors and a multitude of styles and lengths. My blazer of choice is the one button hip length. It’s classy, yet sexy.

J. Crew’s Fall 2012 collection was more casual and business-like. They presented a lot of pea coats, slacks, sweaters, blazers and a few skirts and dresses. They also showcased a lot of different prints and colors.

I instantly fell in love with the guy’s clothing lines. From the cardigans and buttonups, to the suit jackets, blazers and pea coats.

The collection seemed very vintage and chic.

It had a classic look. To spice it up, one outfit did have a maroon leather jacket which gave it a modern edge.

J. Crew’s collection had many outfits, but the most memorable was a pink two- piece suit that a woman was wearing. It was a hip length blazer and slacks with a seam line running down the front. Underneath the blazer she was wearing a striped turtle neck.

Alice and Olivia Spring 2012

I loved the bathing suits from Michael Kors’ Spring Collection. They all had a similar style and shape which was a one piece bikini format, but they were in different colors and patterns and were matched with different accessories.

The one I enjoyed the most had a different design from the rest. The top portion had two straps and dipped down into a V-shape meeting the belt at the belly button. The bottom half formed a diamond, the tip starting at the belt. It was a snakeskin-like pattern worn with some knee high gladiator sandals.

For many of the designers, the style of the pieces were great, but the colors were off. They also have pieces that do feature nice colors or the top half is nice, but the rest of the outfit seems off.

The popular designers had a tendency to showcase ugly patterns and colors for their pieces. I’m in no way anti-lace, but there was way too much and way too many different colors. Despite these hinderences the Spring and Fall collections are something to look forward to and there’s a little something for everyone.

Donna Karan Spring 2012

Between The Sheets: Long Distance Relationships RacHael benTley The Recorder

“Love knows no distance.” I held onto this quote for over four and a half years, when it first became a reality that I was going to be in a long-distancerelationship. Now, I find that friends of mine are constantly asking me how I have made it work over all of those years. The trouble is, there really isn’t one definite answer or way to make relationships like this work.

The only way you can hope to make an LDR work for any amount of time is by first asking yourself some serious questions and being honest with yourself and your significant other.

The first thing that you both need to figure out is how hard you are willing to work, to make it work out in the long run. Anyone who has been in a longterm, long-distance relationship will tell you it’s HARD work. Trying to match up schedules, while also trying not to come off as over-bearing can be a tricky balance.

You don’t want to suffocate your partner with constant text messages, but you also don’t want to go days at a time without

speaking.

It’s in everybody’s best interest to lay out some ground-work before jumping head first into a relationship like this. Figure out what each of you is expecting from the other in regards to communication. For some, constant text messaging is a must. For others, a few texts a day and a phone call can make all of the difference. It depends soley on the persons involved. And let’s not forget about the amazing invention of computer programs like Skype and AIM. Another thing to think about before fully committing to anything is exactly how committed you are planning on being. There are major differences between a monogomous relationship and an “open relationship”, which in and of itself can mean different things to different people.

Are you comfortable with your partner seeing/dating other people? Do you think its healthy for someone to go six months without having physical affection (from someone other than yourself)? These are the kinds of things that if not seen eye to eye on can be detrimental to a relationship.

If you do get past this point, with all green lights, then pat yourself on the back. The hardest part is over. Just kidding. That was the

easy part.

The hardest part of an LDR is what happens when you do finally get to see each other. There can be alot of pressure to, lets say, perform. Whether that’s in the bedroom or just with conversation, it can be really stressful. But the important thing to remind yourself is that you want the experience to be fun. You are going to have to spend another three months replaying this weekend in your head, making sure these precious moments are actually worth your time. Sounds messed up, I know. But considering that this is the point in our lives when we have the ability to date and mess around freely, a lot of people

don’t want to miss out on their “prime time to shine.”

The only way a relationship will ever work long distance is if you are completely open with yourself and your partner. I’ve had to hear some pretty brutal things over the years from friends and family, even my boyfriend himself. But in the long run it has been for the best. I don’t feel like I’ve wasted my college experience on one guy, even though many would try to convince me otherwise. For those who are in the same postion that I am in, don’t let the haters get you down. If it’s what you want, go for it.

If you have any suggestions, comments, or questions that you would like to see in future columns, please feel free to email me at upgrade@centralrecorder.com

7

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 29, 2012 / UPGRADE

REVIEWS

Bookmark It: Catching Fire

20 Under 20:

Reuben’s Delicatessen This weekly segment features ideas of fun things to do that are $20 or less and under 20 miles from CCSU.

iRene w. yukasH RacHael benTley The Recorder

Suzanne Collins blew readers away with her first book of the Hunger Games trilogy, which made critics and myself wary that she would be able to out-do herself for the following book, Catching Fire. What we really should have been worried about was how we were going to prepare ourselves for Collins genius to blow us even further away from reality.

To my utmost relief, she stuck to the same type of writing style that she started the series with, writing from Katniss Everdeen’s perspective as she battles with the Capitol and President Snow for her freedom from persecution. After Katniss and Peeta tricked the Capitol into letting them both win the Hunger Games, the worst was far from over.

They now had to deal with the fact that their actions sparked a rebellion within

the 12 districts, and President Snow holds Katniss personally responsible. These turns of events turn tragic as the Capitol fights back by making Katniss enter yet another Hunger Games, only this time a male and a female past victor would be chosen from each district to fight to the death, yet agian.

To Collins’s credit, I was not expecting such a strong second novel. In trilogies, the second books tend to be a little lackluster, and mainly provides a bridge to the last and most exciting book. Although the intensity of Catching Fire does match that in The Hunger Games, the story does seem a bit rushed at times. This is partially just her writing style, and it’s something you have to adjust to, but it seemed like she was rushed into the writing process so she could get to the third novel more quickly.

But overall, I was generally very happy with this sequel and what it had to offer readers in terms of excitement and an interesting plot.

Netflix It: RacHael benTley The Recorder

Toni Collette first stole my heart in 2006 with her role in Little Miss Sunshine (2006) as Sheryl Hoover, an overworked mother of two very interesting kids, sister to a suicidal brother, and wife of Richard Hoover. After being blown away by the cast of this gem of a movie, I was particularly excited when I stumbled across The United States of Tara, now featured on Netflix, with all three seasons available to watch online. After watching only five episodes, I’ve already decided that this series is on the same playing field as hit Showtime shows like Dexter.

Toni Collette portrays Tara Gregson, a wife and mother of two, who lives in a suburb of Kansas. Despite her attempts to lead a semi-normal lifestyle with her family, Tara is far from the average woman, as she is diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder. Whenever she is stressed (which is often with two teenage kids) she transitions into one of her three alternate personalities. The first “alter” that we meet is flirty and dirty teenager, T, who likes to cause problems between Kate (Tara’s eldest teenager) and Tara.

The next alter that we meet is Buck, who is a loud, red-neck Vietnam vet who thinks his favorite appendage was blown off during

The excitement of going out might lose its luster if there’s a lack of variety. If you don’t quite feel like making the rounds to the usual lunch spots, spend some time getting to know Rueben and Rachel.

Basically any casual attire is welcome at Reuben’s Delicatessen in West Hartford where $20 goes a long way. Priding themselves on being a “true” New YorkStyle Jewish deli, they offer everything from challah french toast to chicken pot-pie.

The humble décor of chalkboard filled walls and wooden shelves that hang overhead bear glass jars of fruit, nuts and condiments.

The glass case at the front of the shop displays an assortment of meats and homemade baked goods. All of these factors contribute to a relaxed environment that makes it easy to enjoy some comfort food.

“The Brammie” can be a new addition to your list of food challenges for all of the Man Vs. Food followers out there. Two potato pancakes hold a half-pound of corned beef and a half-pound of pastrami, Swiss and

eRic m. ValaD

Interscope February 7

With an album title like A Different Kind of Truth you’d think the Pasadena, Calif. band was either being serious about changing up their sound a little bit or they were just coming up with a name that sticks out.

Let’s just go with the latter option because the way this album is designed, it’s like the band members made a time machine after they released “Panama” and “Hot for Teacher,” entered the present time and made another album with no knowledge of the change in rock styles today.

That doesn’t mean it’s an album not worth listening to. However, this is more of an album that, if you’re into the generation of music Van Halen came out of, about that sexy woman you see in the corner at a bar (that leads to love or a one-night stand), pick up a copy.

Although I felt the whole entire album resembled the music you hear at a bar or tavern (and eventually block out), if you listen to it closely the songs do provide

The Recorder

Russian; all doused in sauerkraut. If you’re not feeling bold enough for “The Brammie”, there are several varieties of Ruebens and Rachels to chose from, including “Rachel Lutzker’s” Rachel.

For the less Reuben experienced, a Rachel is a variation of the Rueben, substituting pastrami for the corned beef and cole slaw for the sauerkraut.

Living up to its New York expectations, Rueben’s also offers a small variety of beer and wine. It certainly couldn’t be associated with The Big Apple if they didn’t brew a good cup of coffee. They offer bottomless coffee for $1.95, a nice alternative to get that quick boost of energy without spending the extra cash on the bells and whistles.

For those that grew up eating grandma’s potato knish and matzoh ball soup, this menu serves up a side of nostalgia. For others, it’s an introduction to a new vocabulary and a new world of food.

Located on LaSalle Road, it is just a ten minute drive from the West Hartford Reservoir, a five minute walk from Pink Berry and it’s right next door to Starbucks. And if you’re in a hurry, they offer take out.

United States Of Tara

the war (which explains why he is able to be an alter personality to a female). Although he is grumpy and abbrasive, he seems to be the most harmless of the three alters. The final alter is Annie, a 1950’s model housewife who likes to interfere with Tara’s home life. She also constantly tries to get Tara’s husband Max ( John Corbett) to sleep with her so she can have his baby. Combine all three alters and Tara’s regular self and you get a recipe for disaster.

But, despite all of the crazy stuff they have to put up with as a family, the Gregsons are very supportive of eachother. Max and the kids make a very sincere effort to welome each of Tara’s alters into the family with open arms and try their hardest to get along with them.

It was interesting to see Tara open up as a character at the beggining of the first season. It was moving to see her develop into three totally different characters, and it was inspirational to see Collette tackle each personality with such accuracy.

Collette is easily the only reason this show lasted for three seasons. If anyone else had tried to tackle such a complicated role as this one, it would have easily been an epic failure. She won an Emmy award in 2009 for outstanding lead actress, and in 2010 won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television series.

Van Halen

A Different Kind of Truth

The Recorder

PHoTo | sHowTime

that “Van Halen sound” that you’re used to hearing. You can pick each song apart from the other ones.

The starting tracks like “Tattoo,” “She’s the Woman,” and “You and Your Blues” have the same vibes. When “Chinatown” begins with its flourishing and smooth sounding hammer-on guitar riff I thought I was going to hear a different song than the first three.

Give it a few seconds though, it’ll be the same as the first three songs, just faster paced. After being fooled into thinking you’ll hear a different song from the intro with “Blood and Fire” and “Bullethead” we’ll land with the song “As Is”. I swear I thought I was about to hear David Lee Roth sing the verse and chorus of their hit song “Panama” over and over again.

The next few tracks until “Stay Frosty” are not surprisingly distinguishable but recognizable. “Stay Frosty,” even though it’s a well-written acoustic riff, the lyrics and singing patterns are so cheesy and hilarious it’s hard to not get into a mode of laughing.

The last track “Beats Workin” is definitely a worthy track, simply because it’s different

from the rest of the album but it sounds like it’s more worthy as the introduction rather than the conclusion of the album.

Generally the whole album, which took nearly over a decade to release, you’d imagine would sound a little different given the years the band has broken apart and gotten back together. In reality, it doesn’t. It sounds almost like previous Van Halen songs tried cloning themselves and failed only slightly.

But as a whole, the album is catchy and fun to listen to (if not involuntarily comical at some parts) and if you’re on a long drive or boring day at work it’s not a disappointment.

A lot of the tracks have beginnings that sound like the song will be different than the last one but the stereotypical Van Halen will come out during the verses and choruses.

It’s not their best album, but being their 12th studio album, it’s tricky to best your prior successes. For the return of the original members this album is worth the purchase and worth feeding your ears to with its “feelgood-have-fun” sound but it’s repetitive and somewhat silly at several instances.

8

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 29, 2012

www.ccsu.edu/cace

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9

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 29, 2012 / SPORTS

Ryan Braun Won On A Technicality

bRiTTany buRke The Recorder

It’s usually this time in the winter sports season that we start talking about trade deadlines. For teams and free agents it’s a stressful time and last ditch effort to acquire big name players and from the business side of things it’s just another day on the calendar to bring the sport hype.

Usually the trade deadline could be pretty exciting, but alas this year was kind of a dud in the way of the NHL. A lot of the major trades talked about happened before the deadline, so by the actual deadline there was nothing to really get excited about.

In fact, I was so bored with the whole thing that I began reading about baseball.

Yes I thought it was so bad I broke away from hockey for baseball.

Mainly I read about the Mets and how, like every other year, they’re looking to turn this season around. I read about Fred Wilpon’s finances and the rumors about David Wright’s “inevitable” trade, but somehow Ryan Braun came up in my Google search.

Ryan Braun, who was set free of any performance-enhancing drug charges a short while ago, is still making news because he called out and accused the MLB of a breach of confidentiality and tampering with his two cups of urine evidence.

Reading the way in which the MLB handles the urine testing process was like something you’d see in a movie and was pretty entertaining, I won’t lie.

According to what I read, Braun had to be watched when he gave the sample, which was then split into two cups, in front of him. The cups of urine were also given to a handler which would take the evidence to FedEx to be shipped out for testing in Canada.

I couldn’t believe the amount of detail that went into testing for PED’s, but it makes sense. The man’s urine came back with a 20-1 ratio of testosterone and tested positive for an outer-body substance, meaning his body did not produce that testosterone, which makes sense since the usual ratio of testosterone is 4-1.

It’s obvious that he was taking something and yet he gets off ! Why? Because of a technicality. Braun was let off all because the handler took the urine sample home with him for 44 unaccounted hours because he didn’t want the samples to sit at a FedEx over the weekend.

I don’t believe athletes should be using PEDs, I think it makes a mockery out of sports and if you’re so self-conscious of your ability to play then maybe you shouldn’t be in the league.

Steroid use is talked about constantly so I didn’t really pay much attention to the Braun case, but thanks to the boring excuse for a trade deadline I was forced to.

Since I took the time to read about it I can honestly say I don’t agree with the Braun decision.

He was let go because a man thought he was doing his job to the best of his ability and now he’s accused the league, which is continuing to let him play, because of possible evidence tampering.

The MLB has come out and said that they stand firm that his sample wasn’t tampered with and they believe their process works, there’s no way it can’t, it’s that meticulous.

But let Braun deny the use of PEDs, it’ll prove interesting to see how he performs on the field this season, because all eyes are going to be on him.

SPORTS BEGINS ON BACK PAGE

Hockey One And Done At Regionals bRiTTany buRke The Recorder

The familiar beats of Mac Miller’s “Knock Knock” floated out of the locker room intertwined with celebratory cheers as the lights in Liberty Rink at the Danbury Ice Arena were shut off and the athletes were left to toast their advancement to the next step of ACHA regionals in a desolate rink.

It wasn’t the CCSU team rejoicing in the win; it was their opponents, the Bryant Bulldogs, who squelched all hopes of a Blue Devil run at Nationals in Florida with a 5-4 victory Saturday night.

Even though CCSU played a virtually clean first period, with each team only tallying one penalty each, the team couldn’t capitalize on the full strength five-on-five situations.

Bryant struck first with 15:01 and it was apparent that CCSU was having trouble.

The team couldn’t clear the puck from their own defensive zone, and once it was moved through the neutral zone and into the attack zone, the opportunities didn’t last long.

“Where we got in trouble a little bit is we struggled to get the puck out and we really didn’t move the puck up as well as we should have,” said Head Coach Ben Adams. “… From our blue line out we did a really good job at moving pucks and putting pucks in the space and generating opportunities for us. It was getting pucks to our blue lines is where I thought we struggled with a bit today.”

About midway through the period CCSU began to get better chances in their own offensive zone. The Blue Devils began to find a good rhythm and crisp passing skills in front of Bryant’s goalie, which led to Kevin Paglinco’s opening goal with 8:38 to play before the first intermission, from just beyond the right faceoff circle.

The tie was short lived however, and again Bryant began to out-skate CCSU, taking the lead back at 4:46. Much didn’t change through the majority of the second period, the Blue Devils’ power play, which is usually productive, couldn’t get anything going and soon the Bulldogs had the two-goal advantage.

As the game’s final intermission was nearing frustrations were running high and CCSU was looking for another chance to get the puck to the net. That chance came with less than three minutes to play in the period with a shot taken by Jon Knobloch from the middle and off a faceoff pass from his linemate.

The momentum continued early into

kenny baRTo | THe RecoRDeR

Kevin Paglinco brings the puck into the zone during CCSU’s season ending 5-4 loss against Bryant in the ACHA regionals. the third with a game tying score from Nick Centore, but again CCSU had trouble clearing the puck from their own defensive zone and Bryant managed to net two more goals to take the lead back for the second time.

“We did a lot of things right, they just capitalized on the one or two mishaps that we had. With a team like that in a situation like this, you never know what you’re gonna get and Bryant rose to the occasion and I give them a lot of credit,” said Adams.

With more than half of the period to play Conor Stanley capitalized on a Bryant penalty with a power play goal, but CCSU never managed to take control and inch out in front of the Bulldogs.

“As the game progressed, with the exception of the first period, I thought we did a really good job at controlling the blue lines, keeping pucks deep, keeping the pressure in the offensive zone going and really transitioning it well to the neutral zone to capitalize on their mishaps on not getting pucks deep,” Adams

said.

In a last ditch effort Adams made the decision to pull goalie, John Palmieri, but nothing came of it. CCSU continued to fight until the end and through multiple last second game stoppages, but it wasn’t enough.

The team must now look past the notion of not making Nationals for the second year in a row and look toward the Super East tournament in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., next weekend.

“It gives you something to be proud about still,” said Adams. “You’re still playing for a championship, be it’s a league championship versus a national tournament, but the same teams we’re gonna face next week would be the same caliber teams we play out there. So it’ll still be a good gauge [of play] and it’ll be our way to really sticking it to some teams that have a chance to go to nationals.”

That tournament is the team’s last attempt at a title before the 2011-2012 season comes to an end.

Horton’s Big Night Lifts CCSU Over The Mount nick Rosa

The Recorder

Senior Ken Horton had a career night last Thursday at home with a personal high of 39-points to go along with 13 rebounds, five assists and six steals as the Blue Devils went on to overpower Mount Saint Mary’s 78-63.

CCSU is now 13-15 overall and 10-8 in the conference after their victory over Wagner on Senior Day on Saturday at home.

They rank seventh going into the tournament next Thursday against Wagner.

Horton’s 39 points marks the fourth-best single game performance in school history along with surpassing 1,900 career points in the win. He was 15-20 from the field, 4-8 from beyond the arc, and 5-7 from the freethrow line.

When asked if he knew he was on a record pace Horton simply said, “Records are cool, but I’d rather have a championship.”

His teammate, freshman Kyle Vinales set a freshman school record for most 3-pointers in a single season with 69.

The only time in the game that CCSU trailed was when the Mount’s Julian Norfleet started the game with a three pointer. Vinales answered back with a three of his own, which began the Blue Devils 9-0 run. CCSU didn’t look back as they finished the high-scoring first half with a 41-33 lead.

Great offense and defense sparked one of CCSU’s best performances of the year. They assisted on 24 of 30 baskets, which was their second-highest assist total this year.

The team also only turned the ball over seven times to 12 team steals, while Mount Saint Mary’s suffered due to their sloppiness and had 14 turnovers to only two steals.

Passing the ball was another key factor that seemed to throw the Mount Saint Mary’s players off guard, giving many open looks for Central’s shooters.

Daniel saunDeRs | THe RecoRDeR

COLUMN

Horton scored 39 points on Thursday night against The Mount.

“One of the keys to the game tonight was executing on offense and making the extra pass and not forcing up shots, “ Horton said.

“Kyle was making good passes, Kyle, Robby [Ptacek] and Malcolm [McMillan], and they set it for us, and finding people.”

Head Coach Howie Dickenman was pleased with their performance. “Tonight you saw Central Connecticut at their best,” Dickenman said. “We were very unselfish, we set good screens and I really don’t think there was one questionable shot by any of

our players. We were able to drive the ball up the court and thought our defense was pretty good,” he said.

CCSU shot 53.6 percent from the field (30-56) and 50 percent from the 3-point line (8-16), while Mount Saint Mary’s shot 47.7 percent from the field (21-44) and 31.6 percent from the three-point line (6-19).

Coming into the second half, the Mount cut it to five points after shaking off an 8-2 run to make it 53-48 with 13:11 left on the game clock. This didn’t faze the Blue Devils as Horton took a deep three, missed and hustled back in to grab the offensive rebound and put it in for two, which started another 9-0 run. He was also fouled on the play but was unsuccessful for the three point play. Horton scored seven of those nine points.

This put the Mountaineers in a hole too deep to climb out of as the Blue Devils had yet another big 8-0 run to close out the visiting team. Ptacek scored six of those eight points. This was CCSU’s ninth home win of the season.

Horton led the team followed by Vinales with 13 points, 11 assists, and two steals for his first career double-double while Ptacek finished with 17 points, three rebounds, and three steals.

The Mountaineers were led by Norfleet with 20 points and by junior Raven Barber with 14 points and nine rebounds.

“Kenny was the man tonight,” said Dickenman. He also mentioned what Head Coach Matt Henry from Mount Saint Mary’s said when they were shaking hands, “If Kenny Horton plays that way you’ll win the NEC tournament,” and Dickenman didn’t disagree with him.

With impressive double-digit victories their past two games, the Blue Devils will enter tournament as the seventh seed with momentum on their side as the NEC’s begin Thursday.

10

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 29, 2012 / SPORTS

Baseball Benefits From Mild Winter Kenny Barto The Recorder

The CCSU baseball team is set to kick off their season this weekend at Navy, and will do so after benefiting from a nearly nonexistant winter.

A normal off-season for the Blue Devils is usually spent in the bubble, but head Coach Charlie Hickey is very optimistic, given his team’s opportunity to practice on the field since coming back from the break.

“Obviously the weather this year probably has been as good as we’ve had in 10 years,” he said. “This has allowed us an opportunity to practice outside on our field and in somewhat comfortable circumstances.”

Although in years past CCSU has been able to get on the field, Hickey emphasized that it usually doesn’t benefit the players due to the rough conditions. But, with most of the last two weeks finding temperatures in the 50s, the pitchers have been throwing their bullpen sessions outdoors, which allows for more preparation as the season gets under way.

“I don’t think we’ve ever been outside before we’ve gone to Navy,” senior starting pitcher Harry Glynne said. “But it definitely allowed us to prepare so we can go down there and hopefully get some wins.”

The team has also been playing simulated games, also a rarity this early in the season.

“There’s no substitute for playing an actual game,” Hickey said. “But, we’re going out there playing seven innings here, nine or ten innings there. We’ve limited our pitchers in terms of breaking balls given that it’s still February, but our offense is really starting to develop being that they’ve seen some live pitching, and have been getting a lot of reps out there.”

Leading the offense this year are seniors Mitch Wells (third base) and Jake Matuszak (center field). Both players were the top two hitters on the team, batting .360 and .328 respectively.

Sophomores Anthony Turgeon, Dylan Delacruz and J.P. Sportman return as likely starters for the Blue Devils. As freshmen, they batted .320, .308, and .289 respectively.

“As freshmen, those three carried us for a long time last year,” Hickey said. “When all is said and done, the three of them are going to be pretty darn good baseball players. With

kenny barto | THE RECORDER

Senior Harry Glynne pitches a bullpen session last week. Glynne will help lead the pitching staff in his final season, as he went 3-3 with a 2.65 ERA last season. their work ethic and ability, it’s going to be awesome to have them for three more years.”

The good weather has also allowed Hickey the time to see what lineups will work where, and who will fit into certain situations.

“I always try to build a lineup, keeping in mind the guys hitting before and after a guy to see what’s most productive,” he said.

“We’ve had a lot of chances to create some versatility, look at a lot of different things in different places.”

For pitching, the Blue Devils will lose a key piece to their starting rotation with Nick

Nuemann out for the season with Tommy John surgery. Nuemann sustained the injury during the summer while pitching in the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). Last year he posted a 5-3 record with 2.61 ERA. “He was going to be at the top end of our rotation, so it definitely hurts,” Glynne said. “But, with other guys coming back like [Todd] Savatsky, [Tom] Coughlin, along with the talented freshmen we have, I think we’re going to try our best to make up for losing him.”

Glynne is in the final year of his eligibility,

and will be a huge piece of CCSU’s rotation.

He boasted a 2.65 ERA, and let up just 51 hits in 57 2/3 innings. In terms of the entire staff, the opposition had the most trouble against Glynne, hitting just .243 off of him.

“I definitely want to build off of last year,” Glynne said. “I thought I had a good year, and I improved a lot over the summer, so I want to take that into this year and come out strong.”

As for the rest of the starting rotation, Savatsky, Jack Greenhouse, Coughlin, and freshman Cody Brown should all see starts over the course of the season. Savatsky had the lowest ERA of anyone on the staff last year, going 7-4 with a 2.57 ERA, and let up 66 hits in 70 innings pitched.

Left-hander Greenhouse missed all of last year after recovering from a torn ACL, but led the staff in ERA in 2010 at 3.86 while winning four and losing two. Coughlin will need to improve on his freshman campaign, where he went 2-2 with a 5.20 ERA. Another huge part of the 2012 baseball team is their freshmen. The Blue Devils have ten true freshmen, some of which could have a big impact in the early going.

Of the ten freshmen, six are pitchers, four of whom are left handers. There are also two brothers, Casey and Cody Brown, who are from Gloucester Catholic High School in New Jersey, who won the State Parochial B title this past year, and were ranked 24 in the nation by USA today.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a freshman class come in with so much talent before,” Glynne said. “They all have matured for the short while they’ve been here, so hopefully they continue to do well and start off good early on.”

The team opens up in Annapolis, Md. this weekend against Navy with three games against the Midshipmen, one nine inning, and two seven inning games. They will follow with a game at Hartford before they travel to Villanova to play in a tournament against Temple, St. Joseph’s and the Wildcats.

“I’m not blind to the fact that there are teams in the conference that have a two week head start, but, that being said, it hasn’t hurt us in the past, and has never been an excuse for us,” said Hickey.

The Blue Devils’ first home game will be on March 14, against Albany, followed by their first conference action on March 16-18 at Sacred Heart.

Women’s Lacrosse Gets Their First Win For the next twenty minutes of play, the Blue Devils simply dominated, with seven unanswered goals. Three of them were from Ashley Mara, two of them were from Ryan, with Perkoski and Vendel adding one each.

Perkoski also added three more assists, which gave her one goal and five assists for the game.

“I think everyone is underestimating us a little,” Perkoski said. “We practiced a lot to get where we are right now. I mean, I was happy with my performance, but I was way more happy with the team effort.”

Bryant fought back in the final minutes, but goalie Erin Delancey and the CCSU defense secured the 11-5 victory. Delancey finished with nine saves, seven of them being in the second period.

“Our defense was great,” Nangle said.

“I mean, five goals against, I can’t complain about that, I’m really proud of them.”

The Blue Devils get their first victory after suffering an 18-5 loss at Stony Brook, who is 4-0 this season.

“I think playing Stony Brook made us so much better,” Perkoski said. “To go and play a team that is as good as they are just helps us improve so much.”

The Blue Devils will travel to Iona on March 4 before their second home game of the season against Manhattan on March 7.

CCSU then goes on a three game road trip in California, facing UC Davis, Fresno State, and St. Mary’s College. They will not play a Northeast Conference match until March 30 when they host Wagner.

“This year, we’ve got new techniques, which people cannot break,” Perkoski said.

“They can try to break them, they can watch film on us, but I know we’re going to be unstoppable in the NEC’s.”

kenny barto | THE RECORDER

Above: Junior Betsy Vendel takes a shot during action against Bryant.

Right: Senior Cara Momnie gets fouled by two Bryant players. kenny Barto The Recorder

The CCSU women’s lacrosse team got its first win of the season, first conference win, first win under their new head coach and their first ever win against Bryant with the 11-5 victory over the Bulldogs .

“It’s huge, it’s big for our girls because this year is different,” said Head Coach Kelly Nangle. “It’s huge for them to see it happen, and think it’s possible, because this is something they’ve never experienced before.”

In each of the last three seasons, the Blue Devils (1-1, 1-0 NEC) lost to Bryant (0-2, 0-1 NEC) by four goals in each game. On

Sunday afternoon, there was no question that the entire team was firing on all cylinders.

“I think almost all of our goals were assisted, which is great,” Nangle said. “They’re all playing together, which is what we want.”

CCSU’s Mackenzy Ryan opened up the game with two goals at 27:27, and 26:15 of the first period, both assisted by Ashley Perkoski.

Bryant answered at 23:09 with a free position goal after a foul by CCSU. The Blue Devils added their third goal at 16:38 with a goal by Meaghan McCurry, assisted by Betsy Vendel, which was quickly answered by another free position goal by Bryant to make the score 3-2 at the 14:30 mark.

kenny barto | THE RECORDER

11

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 29, 2012 / SPORTS

Men’s Basketball Sends Off Seniors kenny barto The Recorder

For Kenny Horton, Robby Ptacek, and David Simmons, the 78-61 victory over Wagner on Saturday afternoon was likely their last basketball game in Detrick Gymnasium. The three seniors were honored in front of the crowd of 2,712 fans, the largest out of any other home game this season.

“It was overwhelming for me,” Horton said. “To know that it’s probably the last time we’re going to play in front of all those people. To have that type of atmosphere here ...

I was happy to have as many people as we had today to come out and support us.”

All three seniors started the game for CCSU (13-15, 10-8 NEC), and right off the bat the trio, along with Kyle Vinales and Malcom McMillan, wasted no time in getting ahead of the Seahawks (24-5, 15-3 NEC).

Ptacek drove to the hoop for the first basket, followed by another drive

by Simmons. Horton then made a jumpshot, immediately followed by a 3-pointer at the 17:14 mark, which ignited the near-capacity crowd and prompted Wagner Head Coach Dan Hurley to take a timeout with the score at 9-0.

Neither team scored again until the 14:56 mark when Ptacek made a basket, quickly followed by two foul shots by Vinales to put the score at 13-0. The Seahawks finally got on the board with 13:49 remaining, and wound up scoring seven points in a row.

For the rest of the first half, the Blue Devils’ defense was relentless and unforgiving. If Wagner made a mistake, a CCSU defender would capitalize. The closest the Seahawks came to catching CCSU was at the 9:20 mark when the deficit was four points.

The Blue Devils answered by going on a 12-2 run to put the score at 29-15 with 2:33 remaining. A basket

by Ptacek, three foul shots by Vinales, and another 3-pointer by Horton gave the Blue Devils a 15-point lead going into halftime.

Not much changed in the second half. To put it simply, none of the changes that the Seahawks implemented against the Blue Devils worked. Every single player continued to play as hard as they did all game, as the lead grew to 28 points with 9:18 remaining in the game, which was about when Wagner decided to use their press defense against CCSU, which finally enabled them to start a comeback.

Over the next seven minutes, Wagner was able to cut the lead to single digits at the 1:59 mark. Wagner continued to foul CCSU in hopes that they would miss free throws, which they did not.

The Blue Devils shot 23-for-24 on the foul line, the only miss by Vinales.

CCSU also stepped up their defense in the final minutes, only allowing one basket and two free throws in the final 3:17 of play.

The exclamation point came with 20 seconds remaining when Joe Efese caught a pass underneath the basket from Adonis Burbage, and slammed it home with two hands to give them the 78-61 victory.

“What you witnessed today was Central Connecticut basketball at its best,” Head Coach Howie Dickenman said. “Defensively, we followed every rule that we have in defending all types of sets.”

The defense forced Wagner to turn the ball over 22 times, even though the Blue Devils turned it over 23 themselves. Horton, who was pulled from the game against Wagner earlier this year due to a lack of defense, made the biggest impact by getting four steals and five blocks while adding 22 points. This performance follows his Thursday night performance against Mount St. Mary’s when he scored 39 points while pulling down 13 rebounds, six steals and five assists. Dickenman said

the last couple of games he had been playing like “the player of the year.”

Last year, the Blue Devils lost a heartbreaking game to Quinnipiac on Senior Day when CCSU said farewell to Shemik Thompson. This year, it was different, sending off two fifth-year seniors and one fourthyear senior, all of whom turned in impressive performances.

Simmons finished the game with 10 points and eight rebounds, while Ptacek finished with 16 points, five rebounds, and three steals. Vinales finished with the second highest point total with 21.

“It was just a nice send off for those three seniors,” Dickenman said.

“I’m pretty sure David Simmons’ 35 minutes was the most he’s had all year … All he did was battle out there.”

What is likely the most interesting part about the big win was that the Blue Devils had an extremely light practice the night before, which puts into perspective just how well prepared they were. “[Assistant Coach] Steve Treffiletti had the preparation for this game, all we did was walk through it last night,” Dickenman said. “Then, we shot 25 jump shots, walked through it again, and then we shot 24 minutes of free throws, and that was our practice. No need for any perspiration, no showering, all we did was walk through it.”

For the NEC tournament, the Blue Devils got extremely lucky travel-wise, as Monmouth defeated LIU-Brooklyn on Saturday night.

This means the Hawks get the sixth seed and travel to Robert Morris, while CCSU falls to the seventh seed and will face Wagner again on Thursday night.

“I think this was a springboard for whoever we play next,” Dickenman said. “I’m looking forward to it. I just wish we had played better earlier in the season, because what you saw the last few games was how I expected them to play during that stretch.”

Daniel Saunders | THE RECORDER

Senior David Simmons slams down what could be his final dunk in Detrick Gymnasium. He performed well on senior night, scoring 10 points with eight rebounds.

Arbogast, Babe Sisters Key In Final Two Victories brittany burke The Recorder

kenny barto | THE RECORDER

Lauren Arbogast scored 27 points while shooting 87 percent from the field. She also had eight rebounds while playing all but the final 2 minutes against Wagner.

The women’s basketball team didn’t say goodbye to just any senior this past weekend, the young team was saying farewell to a veteran leader whose accomplishments off the court mean more to the squad than anything she’s done during game time.

“This year the girls are just a great group of girls, so it’s going to be sad leaving them but, we battled.

These girls have so much heart and determination that I know they’re going to be successful after this year,” said graduating senior Rachel Chandler.

Chandler has had a lucrative career as a Blue Devil, playing for the team during some of its best seasons, but this year as the sole senior it was more about mentoring her young teammates than it was about tallying minutes and points.

“I still say I know Rachel didn’t play a lot of minutes, but the type of person she was and how hard she worked at practice all the time is a big reason we won games,” said Head Coach Beryl Piper. “It’s not necessarily that she had a lot of playing time during the games, but the things she did in practice every day and how she presented herself, those are the things that make your team into a winning team. She helped change the culture of this program.”

Despite the team being out of the running for the Northeast Conference tournament, the team still brought whatever they had to

the court and came out on top of Wagner by 13, 79-66.

The two teams were back and forth for the opening minutes of the game until they had the score tied at eight. However, Wagner went on a mid-half run which put them ahead of the Blue Devils first 21-8 and eventually 24-10.

“I think we just knew we had to pick it up and it’s the second to last game of the season. We didn’t want to go out like just not giving it our all because we could beat that team pretty easily if we played hard,” said Jessica Babe.

Babe finished the game with 11 rebounds, 11 points and 10 assists, which makes her the first women’s basketball player in the school’s history to record a triple-double.

“I think that point scoring is obviously really important, but I like that I’m able to say that I can distribute and do hustle plays,” said Babe.

The Blue Devils, despite being down by half, did manage to come back, spread out the opportunities and find a scoring drive of their own to cut the deficit to one, 28-27 headed into halftime.

At the beginning of the second half the Blue Devils took the lead from the Seahawks for the first time in the game with a layup made by Danielle Davis from the paint. The one-point advantage didn’t last long, and eventually the game was tied up again at 31.

A jumper made by freshman Johnna Fisher put CCSU up by two, which the team began to build on, eventually taking the lead for good.

Fisher had a good offensive game for the Blue Devils, tallying 16 points and seven rebounds in the weekend win.

“Johnna started out strong for us,” said Piper. “Johnna had seven rebounds and 16 points … so it was nice to see the young kids step up and I think honestly that this is what will help us next year because putting points on the board was always the thing that just crushed us.”

Another player who put up big numbers against Wagner was Lauren Arbogast. The sophomore forward posted 27 points, 18 of which came in the second half, with eight rebounds.

Arbogast led her team and the game with points made.

“I just knew we could run on this team easily,” she said. “So I just got out and my teammates did a good job at giving me the ball and my shots were just falling … I guess.”

CCSU may not have made the tournament this season, but with only one senior leaving the lineup, a healthy roster could eventually mean big things for the team.

“I said all along if we could get into the playoffs and have everybody be healthy, there’s not one team in this conference that would want to play us,” said Piper. “Unfortunately we had more people get hurt and we never really got to that point and then all of a sudden we didn’t get into the playoffs, which is really disappointing for everybody because I think this team really could’ve done some damage in the playoffs if we were all healthy…so now it’s a new season.”

The Blue Devils won their final game of the season against Mount St. Mary’s on Monday night, 72-68.

12

THE RECORDER / Wednesday, February 29, 2012 / SPORTS

Payback

Kenny Horton led the Blue Devils to a 78-61 victory over second-place Wagner. Story on Page 11

kenny barto | THE RECORDER