The Spectrum Volume 61 Issue 18

Vol. 61 NO. 18

ubspectrum.com

Monday, October 10, 2011

House May be Condemned After Housing Blitz REBECCA BRATEK News Editor

Thousands of students every year make the choice to live off campus and not on university property. But the choice comes with many risks.

The houses in University Heights, the neighborhood in the area surrounding South Campus, are years old and can be full of problems that newer houses don’t have, such as faulty wiring, lack of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and other unsafe living conditions. These problems, if not addressed, can lead to even bigger problems.

In an effort to improve the housing conditions for all students, UB and the City of Buffalo have joined forces to inspect houses in the Heights and to start holding landlords more accountable for violations.

On Sunday, The Buffalo News reported that a house had been condemned on Lisbon Avenue. The Spectrum has learned that the house – 28 Lisbon Ave. – actually has not been condemned yet, and due to Columbus Day, the earliest it can be is on Tuesday.

“There are no government offices that were open [on Monday],” said Dan Ryan, director of off-campus student relations. “There’s actually a court procedure that gets it condemned so the courts will be in session Tuesday. [We will] probably try to get an emergency order to vacate Tuesday morning.”

This will effectively leave the students living in the house without a home. The students are currently looking for friends willing to house them for a while or possibly take up lodging at a nearby hotel, according to Ryan.

This type of situation is the kind that the housing blitz is attempting to prevent early on. By catching housing problems early, the inspectors are able to fix them and avoid having to condemn the house all together.

City of Buffalo is taking the initiative to ensure safety in housing on Lisbon and Minnesota Avenues.

Andrew Wiktor, former editor in chief for The Spectrum, published an article – “Reaching New Heights” – last April that brought the safety issues within the Heights to public attention. Ryan noted that this was one of the factors driving the push to inspect more student houses and make sure students are safe.

“When he first started working on the article, we hadn’t done any blitzes yet,” Ryan said. “By the time he published [the article], we had started the blitzes. I think it did a lot in terms of raising awareness among the students and it made the students that much more willing to

let us in to take a look at the apartments. A lot of students see tragedy happen and think it’s not very closely related to them, but when they see it happen to fellow students, it strikes a chord.”

The latest round of inspections was held on Saturday on Minnesota and Lisbon Avenues.

“We’re trying to get out and see as many students as we can and get inside the apartments and take a look,” Ryan said. “We’re predominately looking for safety violations, although any complaint students have, they can share it with the building inspec-

Courtesy of Daniel Ryan

tors and they’ll take a look at it.”

Ryan – along with Lou Petrucci, chief building inspector for the City of Buffalo, and his team of five to seven inspectors – has done six inspection rounds to date, and will continue to inspect as many houses as possible to make sure students’ houses are up to city codes. The main objective is to not only inspect the outside of a home, but the inside as well.

“It’s easy to go by and look and see a broken window or peeling paint here or there, but the more dangerous problems are the ones you can only see from getting inside,” Ryan said.

Before each round of inspections, Ryan sends out a warning email telling students when inspectors will be in the neighborhood and to be available to let them inside. Students who have updated their addresses in the HUB, as per university regulations, and are living in the Heights will get an email detailing when inspectors will be present on their streets. Additionally, students have the option of calling in a request for inspection if they notice problems within their houses.

Petrucci stressed that students should always make sure that inspec-

Continued on page 2

Pop Culture, Trash TV and Serial Killers: The Work of David Schmid VERONICA RITTER Life Editor While sitting in the office of David Schmid, Ph.D., it isn’t the bookcase overflowing with books about serial killers and crime fiction that stands out. It’s the chalkboard scribbled with “You’re the Best Dad Ever!” and the ‘I heart Dad’ painted pictures that do.

This is the chamber of a man deeply fascinated with and immersed in the subject of serial killers. Although his daughters, Lucia and Liliana, are too young to understand what their daddy does – and some might even deem his research to be a bit strange – Schmid is not embarrassed by the topic that captivates his interests. He is happy to pursue his passion.

Buffalo Bests Bobcats in MAC Shootout Anderson, Oliver put up monster numbers

Ed Young (10) took a Chazz Anderson pass 90 yards to help Bulls outlast Ohio on Saturday night.

BRIAN JOSEPHS Sports Editor The anemic Buffalo offense had fans panicking and critics clamoring.

Were Chazz Anderson and Branden Oliver the men that would save the Bulls from their recent history of mediocrity, or were they just the latest purveyors of Buffalo’s long line of disappointments?

Schmid, an associate professor in the English department, has always had an insatiable curiosity to ask ‘why?’ Even as Not to be outdone, Oliver ran his way a young boy, he had taken it into his own back into the spotlight. The sophomore hands to satisfy his inquisitive mind. dominated the Ohio defense, running for a He has taught classes on subjects such career-high 179 yards and three touchas ‘Popular Culture’ and ‘Crime Fiction’ downs on 34 rushes. He also caught five here at UB for over 17 years passes for 43 yards.

Troi Williams /// The Spectrum

of breaking an eight-game losing streak against conference opponents. The Bulls rode Oliver’s and Anderson’s performance to triumph over the Bobcats, 38-37.

The two struggled last week – Anderson threw for 99 yards and Oliver ran for 61 – but they rose to the occasion and put up career-high numbers in Buffalo’s huge victory over Ohio.

Anderson remained poised throughout the pressure-packed, back-and-forth conference matchup. He threw for 106 yards in the first quarter, highlighted by a methodical 13-play, 88-yard scoring drive in which he went 6-for-7.

Schmid has authored one book on serial killers, titled Natural Born Celebrities: Serial Killers in American Culture, as well as written over 10 essays. He also has two Anderson threw for a career-high 343 other books in the works. His goal has Their doubters were silent on Saturday. yards, higher than his past two games always been to inform the public – not combined, and two touchdowns. This After suffering a 41-10 thumping last week marks Buffalo’s greatest passing output Head coach Jeff Quinn said Anderson’s per- sensationalize the subject. in Tennessee, Buffalo (2-4, 1-1 Mid-Amer- since Jerry Davis’ 302 yards against Rhode formance was a long time in the making. ican Conference) returned to MAC play Island last year.

“I think every research focus has a and hosted Ohio (4-2, 1-1 MAC) in hopes “He’s been a great leader for us,” Quinn Continued on page 2

Weather for the Week: Monday: Mostly Sunny - H: 78, L: 54 Tuesday: Partly Cloudy - H: 79, L: 60 Wednesday: Cloudy - H: 68, L: 57

David Schmid, Ph.D., captivates and fascinates his students with his odd interests. Courtesy of David Schmid

personal dimension to it, [and it’s] the reason why people end up writing about certain things,” Schmid said. “I think, obviously because of the kind of stuff I write about, people assume…that [it] means some kind of traumatic event [happened] in my time.”

However, that isn’t the case.

Beginning in his homeland of England, Schmid’s interests stem from being Continued on page 4

I N S I D E Opinion * 3 Arts * 5 Classifieds / Daily Delights * 7 Sports * 8

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Page 2

Continued from page 1: House May be Condemned After Housing Blitz

Continued from page 1: Buffalo Bests Bobcats in MAC Shootout said. “I’ve known all along that this was a quality young man who has his priorities in the right place and that he’s a great competitor. We knew he had it in him.”

Senior wide receiver Ed Young was the main benefactor of Anderson’s elevated play. He exploded for a career-high 135 yards on five receptions. He provided what proved to be the game-changing play for the Bulls. Down 31-24 in the third, Young caught a short pass from Anderson and ran 90 yards for the gametying touchdown.

The play was the second longest in Buffalo history. Young has been battling to get back in good favor with Buffalo fans since dropping two big passes in the season opener at Pittsburgh.

“I kept saying to [Ed]: ‘Don’t get down; just stay with it,’” Quinn said. “You’re going to get that moment. And look what happened tonight.”

Ohio answered with a field goal, making it 34-31, but Buffalo went on a drive that lasted 8:26 and 18 plays – Buffalo’s longest drive of the year – to retake the lead.

The Bobcats stopped Buffalo three times at the 1-yard-line at the end of the drive.

Quinn made the gutsy call to go for it, and Oliver lunged his way into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.

Quinn said he looked all his players in

the eyes and told them they were going to win the ball game. He didn’t even consider kicking the field goal.

That play was no rare occurrence; Oliver imposed his will on Ohio all game long.

Early in the game, he barreled his way past the Ohio front seven and went 12 yards to put Buffalo on the scoreboard first. His second touchdown came just five minutes later, as he punched it in from one yard out.

The sophomore struck again in the second quarter. Oliver took an Anderson handoff to the right and burst through the Ohio secondary for a career-high 58-yard run.

Buffalo’s defense wasn’t as efficient as its rejuvenated offense. Ohio rushed for 239 yards and three touchdowns, including a 67-yard reverse by wide receiver LaVon Brazill that put the Bobcats ahead, 31-24, in the third quarter. Ohio quarterback Tyler Tettleton also exploited Buffalo’s struggle in stopping the run, running for 66 yards and a 40-yard touchdown.

However, the Bulls came through in the game’s most crucial moments. Ohio had one last chance to make a comeback with 2:46 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Ohio picked up a quick first down, but the Buffalo defense tightened up.

On the next series, the ‘D’ forced a 4thand-5. Tettleton took the snap and looked for an open man, but senior defensive

Monday, October 10, 2011

tackle Richie Smith was not about to let the Bulls lose again. He shot straight through the middle and drilled Tettleton for the game-winning sack.

“The sack felt great,” Smith said. “The win felt better, though. It’s all about the defense getting off the field on fourth down and critical moments like that.”

The defense made big plays when it mattered most. At the end of the first half, the Bobcats maintained possession after a controversial roughing the kicker call. Ohio made its way inside Buffalo’s 5-yard-line with less than a minute remaining, but junior defensive end Steven Means stepped up and sacked Tettleton to force an Ohio field goal.

Means started for Buffalo even though he was still recovering from a painful root canal he received earlier that morning.

“Steven really fought hard,” Quinn said.

“After the game, he was very emotional.

He’s just a great young man, and to see him be able to fight through it just says everything you want about a kid like him.”

Buffalo will try to finally get a winning streak going when the Bulls face Temple (4-2, 2-1 MAC) at Lincoln Financial Field next Saturday at 1 p.m.

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

tors present a badge or City of Buffalo identification before entering any home, and if they are unable to present a valid form, students should not allow entrance.

Inspectors have a list of common problems to look for inside the houses. The first question inspectors ask students is whether or not they have functioning smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

“We are always going to ask if they have sufficient smoke detectors; there should be one inside each bedroom, and there should be one in the hallway outside,” Petrucci said. “And on the lowest level where sleeping occurs, they should have a carbon monoxide detector.”

If students are lacking smoke detectors, Off-Campus Student Services is able to provide detectors free of cost.

Inspectors are also looking for electrical problems, if all outlets are operable, if windows and doors open and lock, if plumbing is adequate, and if students are sleeping in proper conditions and not in basements or attics.

Ryan stressed that they are not looking for aesthetic problems.

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“One of the things I said in the email [is] we’re not looking to see if there’s pizza boxes laying around, [and] we’re not checking to see if you made your bed or washed the dishes or if there’s paraphernalia lying around,” Ryan said.

He also added that they’re not going to write up students for having beer bottles or red cups from parties lying around; the inspections are solely for health and safety violations.

Students have been willing to let inspectors in to their homes, and many have even called to place inspection requests, according to Ryan. He added that he could count the number of students who refused inspectors access on one hand.

Jonathan Spergel, a junior business major who lives on Minnesota, heard about the inspections and called Off-Campus Student Services.

“I called them because my TV blew

out twice and I wanted to see if it was an electrical problem and not just the TV,” Spergel said. “They said there were problems with my outlets, so it’s good that I called. I know that there are problems, and they’re going to do something now with my landlord.”

Casey Bok, a senior geography major, also lives on Minnesota, and was visited by inspectors during their sweep of the street. “[Inspectors] just came and knocked on the door,” Bok said. “I knew about it through an email they sent out, so I knew that people were going to be around. It’s free; [students] might as well [take advantage of the inspections]. These old houses come with old problems, and you don’t know what could happen. Just look at the house that burnt down last year just across Main Street.”

Petrucci and Ryan also stressed that unless the problem has to do with housekeeping or cleanliness, the responsibility for violations falls on the landlords, not the students.

The landlords are notified of any violations after the inspection and are expected to respond within a set amount of time. If the landlords fail to respond, the case will be brought to city court, according to Petrucci.

Inspectors noted that many violations have been minor or nonexistent, and most often, the exterior of the property is in worse shape than the interior. But the main objective is to catch violations before they evolve into serious problems, according to Ryan.

“One of the biggest areas of concern [in the Heights] is safety…but it doesn’t take just those fires to let you know that students are living in unsafe conditions,” Ryan said.

Off-Campus Student Services and the City of Buffalo will continue to perform inspections on homes within the University Heights. Students will receive an email detailing when the inspections will take place.

Email: news@ubspectrum.com

Opinion

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Monday, October 10, 2011

The Lake of Firing

EDITORIAL BOARD EDITOR IN CHIEF Matthew Parrino SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR James Twigg MANAGING EDITOR Edward Benoit, EDITORIAL EDITOR James Bowe NEWS EDITORS Luke Hammill, senior Rebecca Bratek Sara DiNatale, asst.

ARTS EDITORS Jameson Butler, senior Vanessa Frith Nicolas Pino LIFE EDITORS Akari Iburi, senior Steven Wrobel Veronica Ritter Keren Baruch, asst.

SPORTS EDITORS Aaron Mansfield, senior Brian Josephs Scott Resnick, asst.

Andreius Coleman, asst.

PHOTO EDITORS Meg Kinsley, senior Troi Williams Nyeri Moulterie Alexa Strudler Satsuki Aoi COPY EDITOR Edward Benoit CARTOONIST Patrick Boyle

Parochial schools and churches are not above civil rights

This week, the Supreme Court is weighing a significant case that pits the will of religion against the rule of law.

The suit, brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is a placeholder for the constant battle between two foundations of the modern legal landscape, namely the clauses affecting religion in the First Amendment, and civil rights laws.

Cheryl Perich taught at HosannaTabor Lutheran Church school in Michigan for five years. At first, she was not directly affiliated with the church, but after completing a course at a Lutheran university she became what is known as a “called” teacher.

She taught mostly secular classes, like math and science, and one religion class during the day.

Perich was hospitalized in the beginning of the 2004-05 school year and was diagnosed with the sleep disorder narcolepsy, and went on disability leave. Physicians said she would be out of work for two to three months while she received treatment. In the meantime, the school changed its health policy and hired a new teacher.

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When Perich decided to come back, the school claimed they were concerned about her condition possibly making an unsafe condition for students. Her doctor cleared her to work, but the school suggested that she peacefully resign from her duties.

She refused, and told the school she would sue under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which bars retaliatory firing. Hosanna-Tabor decided to fire her, claiming that all ministerial conflicts must be resolved internally according to church rules.

The school’s lawyer argues that Perich performed some ministerial duties, and that churches and churches alone decide who ministers are. Perich’s lawyers argue that all her duties, including the religious ones, are done by non “called” teachers, and even by non-Lutherans.

In some aspects, religious institutions should be exempt from certain civil rights laws. After all, it would be entirely unreasonable to expect a church to give equal opportunity to applicants to be a priest if they aren’t even the same denomination as the clergy to which they are applying.

This is not a similar case, however, to Perich’s suit. The church is asking for carte blanche against basically all types of civil rights laws. If it’s allowed to simply tack on the “minister” title to anyone it so desires, it now has the power to fire people for literally any reason they feel like.

Imagine the precedent this would set for children sexually abused by clergy.

Ruling against Perich would deter employees from exposing their employers because they fear retaliatory firing.

Some may be concerned that the government would be encroaching on the First Amendment by getting entangled in church affairs. The Court should remain weary of this, but the simple fact of the matter is HosannaTabor broke the law, and in America none are supposed to be above the law.

If the Supreme Court should decide in favor of the school, they would be telling the nation that Churches are in fact above the law.

Maybe the school should have just listened to Jesus to begin with, practice what they preach and “love thy neighbor.”

The Value of Tolerance

WEB EDITOR Matthew Parrino James Twigg

OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR Helene Polley

Page 3

GOP candidates should denounce bigots Everyone following the Republican presidential race has been waiting for this moment to arrive. It’s been a lingering question, and many polls have been taken to see whether or not it will have a big impact.

The question is of Mitt Romney’s religion. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormons.

On Friday, Dr. Robert Jeffress of the Texas mega-church First Baptist Dallas endorsed Rick Perry for president, and stated that all evangelicals should think twice about voting for Romney because Mormonism is a “cult” and that he is not a Christian.

He made these statements at the Value Voters Summit to introduce Perry, and when Perry took the stage he said that Jeffress “hit it out of the park.”

This isn’t the first time Jeffress has made some wild claims. In the past, he has made statements on television that Muslims, gays, and Mormons were all damned to hell.

Romney went on the defensive about his religion at the Summit on Saturday. He said, “Poisonous language doesn’t advance our cause. It’s never softened a single heart nor changed a single mind.” He wasn’t speaking about Jeffress, but of a speaker to follow him named Bryan Fischer who made similarly provocative statements about Mormonism.

Fischer has blamed gays for the

holocaust, suggested banning Muslims from military service, and claims the First Amendment only applies to Christians.

Most of this, ironically, will end up helping Romney. It gives him an opportunity to look like the underdog and to take a tough stance on an issue.

Some of this begins to look somewhat like the Jeremiah Wright scandal that erupted during the 2008 campaign.

Video surfaced of Wright, a pastor at Barack Obama’s church in Chicago, using inflammatory and anti-American rhetoric. The pressure mounted quickly, and Obama rebuked Wright publicly.

Now Perry and the other Republicans in the fray are caught in a similar quagmire. These are speakers at events that they are attending.

Obviously they can’t delve into the background of every single speaker at every single event that they have planned, but they have to come out against this type of rhetoric.

attack on a powerful contender for the presidency. Had these men made no statements against Mormonism, it’s highly unlikely that any news would have broken about it.

The real shame comes from accepting through silence the hate against gays and Muslims, and not being concerned until it involved a somewhat controversial sect of Christianity.

Christianity does not hold a monopoly on “values,” as this ridiculous summit implies. People from all walks of life are Republicans or conservatives, and to claim that they are no more fit to be their candidate for president is nothing short of bigotry.

The time has come to drop this obscene obsession with every little piece of a person’s religious views, and to vote for a person based on their views on the issues alone.

The ideas these idiots are perpetuating are nothing short of hate, and if Republican frontrunners continue to tacitly endorse this behavior by allowing it to happen on their watch and not making it clear that people like Jeffress and Fischer are not welcome with that kind of hate-mongering, then there is a serious problem with their thinking.

Courtesy of John Grable

Right from the headline, the author establishes what will be a common theme throughout the article—the protesters, he or she says, simply lack the direction needed to effect any real change. And while it may seem to be that way at first glance, (and while I am only one voice of many) I believe that most people participating know exactly what they are doing and why. If the noise from wall street appears unfocused, or to be comprised of such a wide array of agendas, it is only because the institutionalized injustices run so deep in our society that they infect nearly every aspect of our lives.

From health care, to electoral reform, to the wars in (count 'em now) six countries, school systems, real estate, government bailouts, income inequality, the dismantling of America's industry and persecution of it's working class, the neutering of our press, even the lack of immigration reform—all stem from

If the movement appears leaderless, it is because it was designed to be so. This was not only a philosophical decision. One only needs to look back a few years to see how easy it is for a grassroots organization with leadership, expressing their rage at exactly these types of injustices, to become co-opted into the prevailing political and economic climate of the day. The Tea Party, which was created in part in response to the then-massive bailouts of the auto industry, quickly came under the auspices of the likes of the Koch brothers and was folded in with the flock of right-wing big-business politics.

This may hurt OWS's standing in the eyes of mass media, who thrive on 3 second sound bites and issues distillable to one or two bullet points, but it is definitely to their benefit in the long run.

The goal here is not merely campaign reform. That is much too narrow an issue to draw hundreds of thousands of people out onto streets, plazas, and parks all across the country, and it is why we're not likely to see any meaningful reforms from Washington. I do not know how this is all going to turn out, but I suspect that placing faith in Washington, in an institution that has been such an intimate accom-

There’s a clear difference between quality downloadable content (DLC) and a hastily thrown together expansion that acts more like a money vacuum for the developer than an enjoyable add-on to the game. To the dismay of many gamers, the latter form tends to happen a large amount of the time.

Take for instance the upcoming DLC for Epic’s Gears of War 3, releasing on Nov. 1 – barely over a month after the game dropped. Amongst a few other things, this DLC pack will include new weapon skins to customize your guns. I’m not sure why it’s labeled as DLC, though, seeing as the weapon skins are already on the disc.

What you would actually be downloading is the key to unlock them.

So essentially you will be paying for something that you’ve already bought. This is a blatant attempt to scam gamers into coughing up a few more bucks – as if paying the initial $60 wasn’t enough. I know I won’t be buying this.

This isn’t the first time something like this has happened either. Last year 2K Games did the same thing with their release of Bioshock 2. Justifiably, gamers went into full-on rage mode and began posting their complaints anywhere on the Internet that would house them.

Granted, you can still get the most out of the game without buying DLC. It’s not mandatory and you don’t lose anything by not buying it, but if the content is on there, then why hold it back? I understand that these are companies and they have to turn a profit, but in this digital world they won’t be able to keep it a secret and ultimately the fans are going to turn rabid. In some cases, gamers have sworn off of developers entirely because of this. How does that help the business?

Still, as annoying of a marketing move as this is, it shouldn’t be taken as a representation of all DLC. There are plenty of companies that put out amazing content for gamers – sometimes even for free.

The same thing goes for campaign DLC. Thanks to DLC, games like Fallout 3 and Mass Effect, that lack any multiplayer component, are able to expand their shelf life quite a bit longer, and really make the gamer feel like the game was a worthy pick up.

What’s saddening about this display, however, is the fact that it’s only garnering attention because it is an

what is essentially one issue, one prime mover, which can be summed up thus: the collusion of the power elite in big business with the power elite in government to create and sustain a system where those who have wealth and power can actively, with impunity, increase that wealth and expand that power, at the expense of the well being of the 99%.

Vague? Perhaps. Broad? Certainly. Unfocused?

Absolutely not.

JAMES TWIGG Senior Managing Editor

When it’s used in a way that isn’t trying to obviously rip off gamers, DLC can potentially mean unlimited enjoyment out of any title. Most multiplayer map packs for games like Black Ops or Halo: Reach are great examples of this. Just when you feel like you can’t take playing the same maps anymore, up pops some fresh ones to get your fragging on.

LETTER to THE EDITOR I can't say wasn't a little disappointed to read this week, in the opinions section of the Oct 7th issue, such a reactionary take on the protests occurring in hundreds of cities across the country. In the kind of display one would expect from Fox News or CNN, the author (who, understandably, did not choose to attach his or her name to the piece), comes deathly close to supporting Occupy Wall Street, but at the last minute condescends to the movement and kowtows to the established political-economic order. The reaction from the major media outlets is understandable, after all, they are wholly owned subsidiaries of exactly the people Occupy Wall Street are protesting, but we should expect a higher standard of journalism from a student-run university newspaper.

Download Content, Upload Wallet

plice in this whole debacle is unlikely to bring about change simply at the issuance of a well-ordered list of demands. I suspect that the lack of communication, far from signaling a desire for someone else to come in and address these problems, actually stems from the understanding that Washington in it's present state is largely powerless or unwilling to solve them.

The problem is clearly defined, so what are the goals? What is the end game? I couldn't say, and even if I could, I wouldn't. The amount of raw energy present in these protests is far too great to be condensed into one or two specific issues, and neither should it—doing so wold only limit its potential to change this world for the better. Of course, neither should it be afraid to tackle real issues that affect us all, however, pigeonholing is not the name of the game here. If these protests have the critical mass to effect lasting change, they will, whether or not their goals are clearly defined, or whether or not their leadership is viewable. That's the beauty of true grassroots movements.

So what are we as a people to do when all the institutional means of rooting out injustice have been closed to us? To echo the words of the unknown protester, only one: Just Protest. See you October 15th.

- Holden Delouche, a senior accounting major

The only time that could go bad is if the DLC is required to get the full campaign experience. As long as the DLC is side quests or post-campaign, then this shouldn’t be an issue.

So what this all boils down to is the fact that DLC can be an awesome addon for any title and make the game infinitely better, or it can make you want to teabag the head of the studio responsible for more or less stealing your loot. As long as you use your head, and maybe a little research, you should be able to keep developers from squeezing every penny out of you.

Email: james.twigg@ubspectrum.com

EDITORIAL DISCLAIMER: The content included on Page 3 (Opinion) that doesn’t have a byline attached is an editorial. These are opinion pieces written by the editorial editor – James Bowe – in an attempt to indicate the collective views of the entire editorial staff.

Each editorial is the opinion of the entire staff at The Spectrum, not just one writer.

Editorials or editorial cartoons have been in newspapers for many years.

Every production day, the editorial editor picks one or two relevant topics and those topics are discussed in an open meeting of editors. The view of the staff is then conveyed in the editorial by the editorial editor in the best and most cohesive way possible.

The Spectrum appreciates your feedback on the section and don’t hesitate to submit topics for the staff to discuss for a possible editorial.

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Page 4

Monday, October 10, 2011

Continued from page 1: Pop Culture, Trash TV and Serial Killers: The Work of David Schmid a first generation college graduate, and the first in his family to graduate high school. He said he wanted to do something that would be of interest to others, specifically his family. While attending the University of Sussex in England, Schmid was inspired to write his Masters thesis on serial killers after finding a book called The Lust to Kill, written by Deborah Cameron and Elizabeth Frazer.

“He was classically trained in the English literary canon at Oxford while an undergraduate at Pembroke College,” said Carrie T. Bramen, an associate professor in the English department, and Schmid’s wife. “It is this strong foundation that has allowed him to do such innovative work in a range of cultural forms, regardless of whether the U.S. academy considers such forms lowbrow or highbrow. That distinction rightly bores him.”

When Schmid moved to the states in his mid 20s, his interest in the subject grew stronger after several high profile legal cases. He was also drawn to the subject with the release of movies like The Silence of the Lambs. He knew then that violence in America wasn’t something to accept and ignore, but to explore and understand.

“I think that doing the kind of research I do started off in some ways as an attempt to understand my adoptive [American] culture,” Schmid said. “I still have that sense of sort of being a part of this culture but not from it… when you’re researching a subject you have to be simultaneously very engaged with it and at the same time keeping it somewhat at a distance. And I suppose that’s a pretty good way off describing how I feel about the U.S…Writing about something like this gives me a way to explore aspects of the culture that interest me.”

Early on in his devotion, Schmid realized the advantage of keeping his research separate from his normal, everyday life.

“If you took everything to heart and let it have that big of an effect of you, I don’t think you could do it,” Schmid said.

The one time Schmid said that the topic negatively affected him was while writing his Masters thesis on the famous British series of child murders, also known as the Moor Murders. The Smiths, at the same time had produced a song about the case called “Suffer Little Children.”

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“After I wrote about that, I couldn’t listen to that particular song anymore. It was just too creepy and it upset me too much,” Schmid said.

“I think that as long as one has the ability to compartmentalize what one does, you get by fine.”

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Serial killers in American society are just one of Schmid’s many interests. He is also interested in other aspects of contemporary culture that many people consider “disreputable,” like celebrity culture.

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“People don’t necessarily

want other people to know they’re a big a fan of the Kardashians or that they watch The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills like religiously. If you’re looking for ways to connect to people outside of the academy, those are the kind of subjects I think is useful to look at,” Schmid said.

“They are so popular and, because as an academic, my job I feel is to sort of help people think about those things more critical than what they do.”

Schmid, however, is not free from a few of his own guilty pleasures, one of which includes watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, though not religiously. Add to this, Angry Birds, Facebook, games on Facebook, Evangelical Christian TV channels (despite being an atheist), and sports.

“They’re all sort of cultural versions of car crashes. You know how people slow down to watch and see what’s going on…we’re not even sure why we do it but we do it because everyone does, and we’re just hoping to see something,” Schmid said. “What it is, we’re not quite sure. But we’re just compelled to watch even though the best angle of our nature knows that it’s something we should try and resist, and those are the things that particularly interest me because I feel the same kinds of temptation.”

Schmid’s interest and research has become well known both inside and outside the realms of UB. “David is a star, and quite rightly one of the most popular professors in the English department for his intelligence, his accessibility, and his wit,” said Andrew Stott, an associate professor in the English department and student adviser.

“He’s a wonderful mentor to students and also one of the most naturally gifted cultural theorists I know with the knack of writing or speaking brilliantly on almost any aspect of popular culture. As such, he’s always on the clock, whether it’s watching TV, reading a magazine, or staring out the window. In this sense, he’s a human dynamo.”

Schmid is often asked to contribute his mind and thoughts on certain subjects.

Most recently, an academic in Australia putting together a book of essays on serial murder in popular culture asked Schmid for an essay on the TV show, Criminal Minds. Schmid also just started writing about one of his favorite TV shows, The Wire. He has decided to rewatch both series, obviously for reasons other than the guilty pleasure.

Schmid is the first to admit that his works is rather unique.

Schmid also enjoys his job as a professor: a role he never planned for and never saw himself fulfilling.

“My wife does a very different kind of research, that’s more traditional and that’s more based around archives and that type of thing,” Schmid said. “It understandably sort of drives her crazy when she sees me watching TV and asks, ‘what are you doing,’ and I say ‘I’m researching.’”

He and his wife met while doing the same master’s degree at the University of Sussex. Afterwards he followed her to the U.S. in order to pursue their relationship, and attended Stanford University to be with her. Schmid admits that up until then, he had never even heard of the school, but his wife assured him that it was a good one.

“It is true that I work on niceness while David studies the nastier side of human behavior,” Bramen said. “I suppose we represent a yin and yang pair. But even though he is immersed in popular culture for his scholarship, watching awful movies, television shows and internet websites, what people don't realize about David is that he has surprisingly high culture tastes when it comes to his personal interests outside of his research. He knows, for instance, as much about the contemporary classical music scene as about popular music, and he is extremely well-versed in international cinema and literature.”

Schmid said that he has the best job because he is actually getting paid to ask the questions behind what fascinates him, and then try and find out the answers.

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“When you’ve spent five years in a Ph.D program, you’ve essentially sort of disqualified yourself from any kind of gainful employment, so being a professor is the only option left open for you,” Schmid said. “But I have to say, it’s one of those happy coincidences that you sort of fall into…something you love doing and I really couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else.”

Schmid encourages both his students and his children to experience their intellectual curiosity and the journey that follows. He offers information to students in ways that make them understand it and also see it from all perspectives.

“Dr. Schmid believes in his students and it shows in how much time and attention he devotes to them. It is no surprise that he has won multiple teaching awards,” said Tim Bryant, Ph.D., one of Schmid’s former colleagues. “[His classes] fill quickly because of his popularity as a teacher and his abilities to bring a critical focus to the literature and ideas of popular culture.”

Schmid stresses that students should enjoy themselves throughout college, and also take the opportunity to get to know their professor better.

“When people come into my classes, I want them sort of to forget about why they’re there and … instead just get into the material for its own sake and lets just like go on a journey together and explore these subjects and see where it takes us,” Schmid said. “That’s as much as I can do for my students and if I‘m able to succeed in doing that, then that’s enough.”

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Arts

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Monday, October 10, 2011

Page 5

Rock ’Em Schlock ’Em Robots

Tragedy and Tribulations DAN WHITNEY Staff Writer

his entrances were often signaled by the sinister squeak of his leather boots.

Bent is a heart-breaking play about the trials and tribulations faced by homosexuals in Nazi Germany.

Right from the beginning, the audience knew Bent would cross any line it could.

Within the first 10 minutes, viewers were greeted with Wolf (Michael Seitz), Max’s one night stand from the previous evening, who enters the stage completely nude. He is then shot to death by the Nazi guard before he can escape Berlin with Max and Rudy.

The play is being performed at the BUA (Buffalo United Artists), a theater tucked away amongst the bars and restaurants of Chippewa St. in downtown Buffalo.

Directed by Drew McGabe, Bent tells the powerful story of Max (Marc Sacco), a gay man who, along with his lover Rudy (Jonathan Sheuy), is captured by Nazis in Berlin.

After a guard forces him to beat Rudy to death, Max is imprisoned in a concentration camp. While imprisoned, Max pretends to be Jewish rather than gay because, as he discovers, homosexuals were the lowest of the inmates and were treated the worst.

Max meets and falls in love with Horst (Chris LaBanca), a gay man who also develops feelings for Max as they work together in the camp, resulting in a relationship that ends tragically.

One of the most interesting and effective aspects of the production was the scarce amount of props on stage. In most scenes, the only props were wooden benches – some scenes had no props at all, which allowed the audience to completely focus on the characters.

The cast delivered fantastic performances all around, especially Sacco and LaBanca: their depiction of two men who could never realize their relationship was gut-wrenching, and it brought the audience to tears at the play’s end.

Another noteworthy actor was James Wild – an alumnus of UB – who portrayed the Nazi guard who made the lives of Max and Horst a living hell. Often entering the stage from the back of the theater, he had the ability to make the entire audience uncomfortable, and

A particularly explicit scene involved Max and Horst standing at attention during one of their breaks from labor at the concentration camp. After discussing their inability to make love, the two men engage in a very descriptive conversation of erotic details that results in their much-needed sexual release.

The audience was also presented with the gruesome and disturbing aspects of the Holocaust, including stories of senseless murder and the Nazis’ depraved games. During intermission, several people opted not to return for the second half, most likely because of the mature subject matter.

Due to the recent focus on bullying in the media, viewers of Bent cannot help but compare the situation of the play’s characters to the plight of young homosexuals today.

An older male audience member said the message of this play is, “Beware of the past, beware of the future – you never know what’s going to happen in this country…there’s a lot of hatred out there.”

The BUA (119 Chippewa St.) will present two more performances of Bent this coming Friday and Saturday (Oct. 14 and 15) at 8 p.m. The price of student admission is $15 with proper ID.

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

Hugh Jackman cheers on his rock 'em sock 'em robot in Real Steel.

EDWARD BENOIT Managing Editor Movie: Real Steel Studio: DreamWorks Pictures Release Date: Oct. 7 Grade: CReal Steel may very well be the greatest movie shamelessly based off a ’60s board game ever made. (Hear that, Battleship?

These are some pretty big shoes to fill.) Compared to other boxing movies, father-son bonding movies, family movies, DreamWorks movies, and even movies with ridiculously stupid premises, though, Real Steel isn’t even a contender.

The film is set in an intriguing near future where human boxing has been replaced by robot boxing: a development that forces former human boxers to make their living building, promoting and managing robot boxers, presumably after getting graduate degrees in electrical engineering.

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After a particularly brutal loss at one such state fair against not another robot but a bull – the scene is both offensively cruel and insultingly stupid – Charlie is informed that he will have to take custody of his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo, Thor).

Instead of the gritty, brutal tale of animalistic survival that was “Steel,” Real Steel insists on making things as family-friendly as possible. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing – father-son bonding films should be accessible to the whole family, ideally – the approach

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Some reckless child endangerment and a few more robot beatdowns later, and Charlie and Max are reduced to pinning their last hopes on Atom, a sparing bot salvaged from a junkyard. From here, the film turns into a parade of genre clichés and stupid scenes as the three underdogs work their way to the top of the robot boxing world.

Enter Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan), one such down-on-his-luck ex-boxer turned robot boxing manager. Charlie – who was a potential contender in his human boxing days – is a small fry in the robot world, and grinds out a living fighting his bots at shady venues and state fairs.

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The two find common ground, however: Max is a budding enthusiast of robotic fisticuffs, and becomes annoyingly insistent on having a role in Charlie’s bot managing.

Real Steel goes a long way to combat the obvious: although it’s readily apparent that the film is little more than Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots: The Motion Picture, the credits prominently insist that the movie is in fact based on the short story “Steel”

by Richard Matheson. The inclusion of robot boxing aside, though, Matheson’s short story and its modern “adaptation” bear almost no resemblance in terms of plot and thematic content.

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Because taking care of his biological child would potentially hinder Charlie’s ability to lose both robot fights and money, the manager is reluctant at first.

Eventually, though, Max is forced to stay with Charlie, and neither character is particularly thrilled about it.

Courtesy of DreamWorks Pictures/ Reliance Entertainment

does take a lot out of the film’s punches.

Scenes that could have been a great deal more moving – the sequence in which Charlie’s debts catch up to him comes to mind – are stripped of their knockout power as a result.

What’s more, the film’s many villains seem more akin to cartoon characters than the legitimately threatening criminals, crooked promoters and imposing mechanical adversaries they’re meant to be. The triumphs of Charlie, Max and Atom over these bad guys therefore seem inevitable – a damning flaw in a film about long odds and underdogs.

While Real Steel may come up short on the emotional end of things, it’s the heavyweight world champion of clichés.

Training sequences, tried-and-tested moments of father-son bonding, and even a few robot boxing montages à la Rocky are included without the slightest bit of irony.

Add to this already bad movie a clearly phoned-in performance by lead Hugh Jackman and a plethora of crass product placement, and the end product is a film more marred and mangled than Evander Holyfield’s post-Tyson ear.

Though the film does have a few redeeming qualities – Danny Elfman’s strong original score and Goyo’s surprisingly adept performance – these just aren’t enough to keep Real Steel a cinematic contender.

Email: arts@ubspectrum.com

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Crossword of the Day

MONDAY, OCTOBER 10 FROM UNIVERSAL UCLICK

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) -- You're likely to do much for another, without thought for yourself. The time will come for you to tend to your own desires as well.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) -- Your attempts to circumvent authority will only result in confusion -- and, ultimately, failure. Follow the proper channels.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) -- You may have skipped an important step yesterday or the day before; as a result, today's endeavors will be far more complicated.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) -- You're tempted to enter into an agreement with someone who seems to know how to help you -- and him -- to more money. Is this for real?

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) -- You're in the mood to do things on your own, and yet certain endeavors will require you to interact with others. Use good manners.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) -- You may be confused about your own progress -- until you realize that you are not seeing things from the proper point of view.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) -- You are expecting one thing today, but you're likely to get something else -- but this, too, can provide you with much enjoyment.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) -- A Virgo native is likely to stand in your way -- and you'll understand, eventually, that he or she is protecting you from yourself.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) -- You're not likely to take kindly to one who tells you no again and again -- but there is a reason for it, and you know what it is.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- You have another's best interest at heart, and you may have to step in and do something that seems, at first, to be unsupportive.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) -- It's a good day to get back in touch with someone who has been out of the picture for quite a while. You'll pick up where you left off.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- You must be willing to follow the rules, or you will very likely be asked to remove yourself from the game -- and you don't want that.

Edited by Timothy E. Parker October 10, 2011 WALT'S WONDERS By Dennis Mooney ACROSS 1 Witty remark

5 First name of the first American in space 9 Try again, from the start

13 ___ Bator, Mongolia

14 Extinct bird that couldn't fly

15 Librarian's book-stamping gadget

16 Go-___ (four-wheeled racer)

17 Perform with no others

18 Your dad's brother, to you

19 Coarse stuff for manicurists

21 Disney classic everyone "nose" 23 Gift recipients 25 Where one sleeps on a train

26 Group's belief

28 Reached someone on a pager 32 Ubiquitous insect 34 TV game show host Ben (win his money) 37 Male bee 38 Neither here ___ there 39 Mumbai dresses 41 Corny place 42 Lady's mate 45 Flower part 47 Pacino, Roker, Gore and Unser 48 Byzantine or Ottoman 50 Infection-causing bacteria

52 Supersized

55 Pole position?

58 Overly optimistic Disney soul 62 Jeans material 63 Up on things

64 Bad smell

66 Molecule part

67 Happen regularly

68 What a waiter hands out

69 Neck hair

70 Middle Eastern port on its own gulf

71 Genesis garden

72 Surreptitious summons

DOWN 1 Dodged a defender

2 "King of the Hill" beer

3 Disney movie of 1961 and

1998 (with "The")

4 Dish that's the main course

5 Things that pop up annoyingly 6 Roller coaster feature

7 Deviate from the script

8 Worst possible turnout

9 Rectangular house

10 Ingrain, as into memory

11 Where the workers cut the mustard?

12 Lunchbox snack

15 Like homes with central

air conditioning

20 Japanese coins

22 Sphere

24 Complete collections

27 London socials

29 Disney film with Mel Gibson's voice

30 Chemical ending or compound

31 Society newcomers 32 Kick in for a hand 33 "Cheers" regular 35 Hot feeling 36 Puppy bites 40 Fill to the max 43 Water wheel's channel 44 Something a father may hear 46 Acclaim 49 Pitching stat 51 Part of a studio system 53 Disney's "The ___-Mobile" 54 Pulled the plug on 56 Short-lived particles 57 Actor M. ___ Walsh 58 Chute opening?

59 Was obligated to 60 Add liquor to 61 Top-notch 65 Yankee homecoming?

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Sports

Page 8

ubspectrum.com

Monday, October 10, 2011

If Only Talking Trash Won Championships MATTHEW PARRINO Editor in Chief There is certainly a cast of characters within the world of Mixed Martial Arts.

I mean these guys punch and kick each other in the face for a living, there is bound to be a few oddities.

Bulls Tamed by Huskies; Buck Broncos

Jackie Hall helped the Bulls defeat Western Michigan, but her squad could not defeat Northern Illinois.

BEN TARHAN and NATHANIEL SMITH Staff Writers

Therien had an open look on goal from less than 10 yards out, but her shot flew over the goal.

The women’s soccer team headed into two weekend matches looking to improve its Mid-American Conference record after winning only one of its first four matches to start the conference season.

Sophomore goalkeeper Ainsley Wheldon’s play has been the one constant aspect of the Bulls season – the star continues to carry the team.

Buffalo figured to have its way in the first of two home matches against Northern Illinois (2-9-2, 1-4 MAC) in the weekend opener, but the Bulls dropped a 1-0 nail biter, giving the Huskies their first conference win of the season. Fans in attendance on Sunday saw an offensive explosion, as the Bulls bested Western Michigan (7-7, 3-3 MAC), 3-2.

The first half against the Huskies was marked by aggressive play and missed opportunities from both sides. The Bulls played swarming defense and constantly pressured the Northern Illinois attackers.

Northern Illinois missed a golden opportunity to score with 20:32 on the clock in the first half. Wheldon was forced to vacate the net to make a save as the ball bounced around the box in front of the goal line. The Bulls’ defense was miraculously able to clear the ball and keep the match scoreless.

The Bulls missed plenty of opportunities as well.

Early on, freshman defender Sophie

The Bulls would miss many more chances as the game continued, a flaw that head coach Michael Thomas hopes to eliminate moving forward.

“It’s just [about] calming down a little in front of the net, making sure that we take that extra step, moving the foot that extra half inch so that those great chances turn into goals,” Thomas said.

With 23:41 remaining, Northern Illinois midfielder Shelbi Johnson found midfielder Kayra Thompson, who shot the ball past Wheldon for her first goal of the season. The goal put the Huskies up and the goal proved to be all that they would need.

The Bulls outshot the Huskies 20-16, but only six of their shots were on goal.

Buffalo also had four corner kicks to Northern Illinois’ three, but the Bulls were unable to capitalize.

Wheldon put together another strong performance, allowing only one goal in nine shots on net.

Buffalo showed its resiliency in its game against Western Michigan, coming back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to secure the victory.

Thomas was very pleased by the effort put out by his tenacious Bulls squad.

“I couldn’t be prouder today,” Thomas said. “There were about 18 million times when it could have been easy to quit and

Nick Fischetti /// The Spectrum

pack it in. But [the team] came back and they kept responding and kept playing hard and kept coming back from adversity. How can you not like that as a coach?”

It was a tough start for Buffalo, as the Broncos seized control early. Buffalo had a tough time keeping the ball under control and the Broncos took advantage.

The Broncos netted what looked to be an early goal by forward Anina Cicerone, but she was called offsides. Minutes later, forward Brittney Pavlica laced a shot to the left side of the goal, but a diving Wheldon snatched the ball out of the air for the save. The sophomore goalkeeper finished with six saves out of eight attempted shots in 52 minutes of play before being replaced by freshman goalkeeper McKenzie White.

With the score knotted at two goals apiece, the Bulls were able to take control of the game. In the 61st minute, freshman forward Katie Roberts landed the fatal blow to the Broncos with her second goal of the contest and fifth on the season.

This goal came off of a pass by freshman midfielder Megan Giesen, and it was her first assist of the season.

The victory ended the Bulls three-game losing streak against MAC opponents.

The Bulls will be on the road for the next three games, starting Friday when they take on the Ball State Cardinals (9-4-1, 4-1 MAC) in Muncie, Ind. Game time is 4 p.m.

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

Check Wednesday’s edition of The Spectrum for full coverage of Sunday night’s men’s soccer game against Bowling Green.

Out of the bunch, none is as perplexing to me as the loudmouth of MMA, Chael Sonnen.

In terms of fighting, Sonnen isn’t too spectacular. He’s a ground and pound, world-class wrestler who has gotten better as his career has progressed. But for the amount of trash talk that spews from his lips, you would think the guy has never lost a fight.

Quite the opposite, he has lost, a lot – his record is currently 26-11.

In Sonnen’s first stint with the UFC in 2005-06, he lasted only three fights before being banished to the wasteland promotions of the sport. In those three fights, he managed only one win and it came by decision against Trevor Prangley, a UFC never-was.

Sonnen got another chance in December 2007 when World Extreme Cagefighting – an extinct promotion that was owned by Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC – signed the journeyman to compete in its middleweight division.

He went 2-1 before starting his second stint in the UFC. He dropped his first fight back against submission specialist Demian Maia, before an out-of-nowhere run of three wins against some of the top middleweight’s in the division.

The major issue I have with Sonnen is not in regards to his talent – which I believe he actually has an abundance of – but the way he conducts himself outside of the octagon. MMA is sport built around respect and good sportsmanship – as hard as that may be to believe for outsiders who only see two men beating each other senseless – and Sonnen has made a name for himself by acting in every way contrary to those two ideals.

I love guys that can sell fights, don’t get me wrong. Half of the excitement of a fight is when two guys don’t like each other, and the fights are usually more interesting when bad blood is involved.

But, like in any other sport, to blatantly disrespect a person or team that’s been to the mountaintop when you yourself have failed every time you got to the big game, just seems moronic to me.

That’s right, Sonnen has fought for the WEC and the UFC middleweight title, and lost, both times. But you would have never known that by just listening to him flap his gums. I’ve never seen a more cocky, arrogant or misguided athlete let the verbal vomit flow like this guy. It just so happens that he’s now starting to back it up, sort of.

Sonnen’s biggest fight came in August of 2010 when he faced off against arguably the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world Anderson Silva. The lead up to this fight took on a life of its own, and because

of the vehement hatred between the two men, the championship bout was one of the most anticipated fights in MMA history – and Sonnen dominated.

That is, for most of the five rounds of the fight.

It was then that Silva – undefeated in his UFC career and the promotion record holder for most consecutive title defenses (9) – converted one of the most unbelievable comeback wins in UFC history by catching Sonnen in a triangle armbar to tap out and shut up the big mouth.

Or at least you’d think that would have shut him up. After all, since then we have learned that Silva had injured ribs in the fight and Sonnen tested positive for an elevated testosterone level, which is illegal. He also pled guilty to money laundering in January of this year, stemming from mortgage fraud.

What a stand up guy, huh?

Anderson Silva is one of the most prolific and successful MMA fighters of all time.

I don’t care what you say, what your feelings are on him personally or his fighting style, that fact is undisputable.

So excuse me for having an issue with Sonnen calling him out after his win on Saturday night.

“Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck,” Sonnen said immediately following his win against Brian Stann. “I’m calling you out Silva, but we’re upping the stakes. I beat you, you leave the division, you beat me I will leave the UFC forever.”

You’re telling the guy that beat you that he sucks and you’re expecting to proceed to dictate terms of a rematch with the most storied champion in UFC history?

Get out of here.

At this point, let’s put Sonnen and Silva on The Ultimate Fighter TV show as coaches, and let’s have Sonnen do what he does best, talk. He can gab away for 12 episodes and when Silva beats him again – it’s inevitable folks – we never have to listen to him again.

As my brother-in-law suggested to me following the fight, Sonnen can move over to World Wrestling Entertainment. I’m sure his talents can be better utilized in the world of the fake and scripted. It’s what he does best anyway.

In the meantime Chael, if you do get your rematch with “The Spider,” I would suggest that you spend a bit more time training your skills in the octagon and less time on your skills on the microphone. Because unfortunately for you, talking the best smack won’t win you any fights, but it will get you embarrassed, again.

Email: matthew.parrino@ ubspectrum.com

Courtesy of UFC

Bulls Unimpressive in Weekend Matches

KRISTOPHER GEARHART and BRADLEY PARKER Staff Writers

The volleyball team hasn’t exactly been perfect the past couple of weeks. The team has committed far more errors than its opponents the last eight matches, and as a result, Buffalo has gone 2-6 during the span.

Last weekend was more of the same.

Buffalo (9-11, 2-4 Mid-American Conference) hosted Kent State (8-13, 1-5 MAC) and Ohio (14-6, 6-0 MAC) at Alumni Arena on Friday and Saturday nights, respectively. The Bulls couldn’t overcome their mistakes and lost to Kent State, 3-2, and Ohio, 3-1.

The Bulls easily took the first set against Kent State, 25-22.

Buffalo struggled afterwards, however, and the team made a season-high 38 errors. The Bulls were also hampered by their 15 service errors.

After dropping the second set, 26-24, Buffalo dominated the Golden Flashes in the third set, and led by as many as nine. The Bulls were up 22-14, but Kent State went on an 8-1 run to change the momentum.

Kent State scored its next five points directly off of Buffalo’s errors. Kent State hitter Maigan Larsen scored on a service ace to take the set 28-26.

Freshman hitter Liz Scott, who led Buffalo with 18 kills, believed that the team’s lax mindset led to its third-set collapse.

“We got too confident,” Scott said. “It was a mistake that no athlete should make, but we made it.”

Kent State capitalized off of the momentum and jumped out to a 5-0 lead to start the next set, but the Bulls came storming back after a quick timeout and eventually tied the set at 11.

The teams fought closely, but the Bulls won 26-24 to force a fifth set.

The final set ended with an all too familiar outcome for Buffalo. The Bulls had a 9-7 advantage when Kent State scored three straight points to take the lead for good. The Golden Flashes took the set 1512 to end their six-game losing streak.

Head coach Todd Kress was critical of the Bulls’ missed opportunities.

“You’ve got to go out and jump on them early…and finish it off at the end,” Kress said. “I don’t think that our approach was [like] that in any of the sets tonight. It’s disappointing and frustrating.”

The match marks Buffalo’s first five-set loss this season after winning four.

Buffalo was its own worst enemy against Ohio as well.

The Bulls committed 31 errors, 14 coming from serves. Ohio, on the other hand, had 21.

“We played really hard through the first three sets,” said sophomore libero Kelly Svoboda. “We had a lot of technical errors that really killed us, like missed serves. We need to be more consistent and learn to fight throughout the entire match because that is what’s going to help us move forward as a program.”

Buffalo did succeed in breaking Ohio’s 23-set winning streak against the conference. The Bulls started out strong in the first set, hitting .191 to the Bobcats’ .146.

Buffalo was ahead 19-15, but once again let its lead slip as the Bobcats found a way to tie

it up at 24. This time, however, the Bulls found a way to finish, and took the set 27-25 thanks to kills from senior blocker Abby Niekamp and sophomore blocker Carissa McKenna.

The Bobcats returned to their championship form right after, and took the next sets, 25-21, 25-22, and 25-12.

Kress thought his team improved its performance against Ohio, despite losing by a larger margin. He is more concerned about Buffalo’s consistency.

“We need to start taking bigger steps forward,” Kress said. “We take two steps forward and right now we’re taking three steps back, so we just need to sustain our fight. There are only eight teams that get to be part of the [MAC] tournament and we’re trying like heck to be part of that.”

Scott led Buffalo with 18 kills against the Bobcats.

The Bulls are at home again next weekend to face Western Michigan (7-6, 3-2 MAC) Friday at 7 p.m. and Northern Illinois (2-9, 1-4 MAC) Saturday at 6 p.m.

Email: sports@ubspectrum.com

The Bulls went 0-2 this weekend against Kent State and Ohio. Troi Williams /// The Spectrum