Sports

Fall Sports Schedule This Week

By: Dallas Matlock Sports Editor

Tuesday, September 28th, 2021

7:00 P.M. CT | HOME Pat Sullivan Center

7:00 P.M. CT | HOME | ATI Field @ Joliet Memorial Stadium

Wednesday, September 29th, 2021

7:00 P.M. CT | HOME | ATI Field @ Joliet Memorial Stadium

Thursday, September 30th, 2021

7:00 P.M. CT | AWAY | Atheletics & Recreation Center

Saturday, October 2nd, 2021

TBA | Men's/Women's | Tom Sawyer State Park

6:00 P.M. CT | HOME Pat Sullivan Center

1:00 P.M. CT | HOME | ATI Field @ Joliet Memorial Stadium

2:30 P.M. CT | M/W | AWAY | East Chicago Central High School

Monday, October 4th, 2021

8:30 A.M. CT | M/W | Cog Hill Golf & Country Club

XC

Football is Back!

By: Matthew Lauterbach Staff Writer

As summer ends and fall quickly approaches, the 2021 NFL season will finally begin. Yes, football is back and the excitement from fans who are now able to attend games in person is extraordinary. The best part is that the season is less than a week away.

This year, things will be different for the NFL. In March, NFL owners approved expanding the 16 games, 17-week season to 17 games, 18 weeks starting this year. This means that NFL teams will get an additional inter-conference game between an NFC team and an AFC team starting this season. These include games between NFC and AFC powerhouse teams such as the Green Bay Packers vs. The Kansas City Chiefs, Seattle Seahawks vs. Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys vs. The New England Patriots. This addition is part of the new CBA the owners agreed on to increase the season and to avoid a potential lockout between the owners and NFLPA, according to www.sportster.com. In addition, there are new rules about how the NFL is trying to push players to get the Covid-19 vaccine. On July 22 the NFL informed its clubs that if a game cannot be rescheduled during the season due to a Covid-19 outbreak amongst unvaccinated players on the team, then the team with the outbreak will forfeit the game and be credited with a loss for playoff seeding, according to NFL Networks Tom Pelissero. The NFL also announced that teams could be dealt financial penalties such as fines, withholding players' salaries and potential discipline from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Immediately following the announcement several NFL players spoke out against the new rule most notably star players Deandre Hopkins of the Arizona Cardinals and Cole Beasley of the Buffalo Bills who has been amongst the most vocal of players against the vaccine. Some people on campus believe that it is important for the NFL to do this. “I think that it is strict but at some point they have to be strict,” says USF Junior Liam Bachman. He further states that “It is a business and if you want to play this year follow the rules.”

The 2021 NFL season is set to kick off on Thursday September 9 at AT&T Stadium with the Dallas Cowboys hosting the defending Super Bowl Champions the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The season will last until January 9, 2022 with the playoffs starting January 15. Super Bowl LVI will be held at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on February 13 while the Pro Bowl will be held at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada on February 6. With several teams making drastic improvements to their rosters in the offseason, it will be interesting to see who can make it the distance to the Super Bowl Championship. Go Football!

THE U.S. GYMNASTICS SCANDAL

By: Cosme Lozano Staff Writter

Let us revisit 2016. “Closer” by the Chainsmokers was one of the most popular songs of the summer, season one of Stranger Things had just come out and Leonardo DiCaprio finally won his first Oscar. For many young individuals, 2016 is regarded as “one of the best years.” It would not be until August when everything would come crashing down on one organization. On August 4, 2016, the Indy Star news outlet would post its first article regarding sexual assault within the US Women’s Gymnastics team. The article covers the coaches and the complaints filed against them, with sexual assault and sexual exploitation of minors being the common theme among the coaches involved. The main coaches in question include Marvin Sharp, Mark Schiefelbein, James Bell and William McCabe. Indy Star attempted to shed light on how the top executives of this program failed its athletes and failed to pay attention to the women affected when the warning signs were right in front of them. When looking at William McCabe, he began having complaints made about him in 1998. A gym owner expressed concerns to US Gymnastics involving McCabe and minors. With this tip, the executives at the time never passed the information along to the police. McCabe would begin to have inappropriate sexual relations with minors the following year in 1999. It would not be until 2006 when one mother of McCabe’s students, Lisa Ganser, would share troubling emails between McCabe and her daughter with the FBI. Due to Lisa Ganser speaking up, William McCabe was finally caught and put behind bars where he is currently serving a thirty-year prison sentence.

As complaints started to build in 1998, another individual closely related to the team would begin his spree of sexual assaults. Larry Nassar, one of the top trainers and coordinators within the US Gymnastics program, would be one of the prime individuals in the US Women’s Gymnastics team scandal in 2016. Going back to 1998, Nassar would begin to sexually assault a family friend's six-year-old daughter. At the time, Nassar was working as the team physician with Michigan State University (MSU) where a student-athlete would begin to raise concerns with the school. According to USA Today, a future lawsuit would later claim that MSU “Failed to take any action.” Larry Nassar would continue to work at MSU for several years and would go on to the Olympic Games with Team USA in 2000 and 2008. At this time, Nassar would receive another complaint from a different student-athlete who had concerns about him. Again, Michigan State failed to take any action. Larry Nassar would sexually abuse Rachael Denhollander in 2000 during treatment for lower back pains.

In 2014, Michigan State University would clear Larry Nassar of any wrongdoing, even after a graduate accused Nassar of sexually assaulting her during a medical exam. 2014 would also bring Nassar to retire from his coordinator role at USA Gymnastics. However, he would still stay on as a doctor for women's artistic gymnastics.

About a month after the first Indy Star article was published, everything would come crashing down for Nassar when an additional article was published. It largely exposed Nassar for what was discussed above. MSU fired Nassar eight days after

the article was published and have since dealt with the fallout of their negligence. On the USA Gymnastics side, executives, coaches and other personnel would either leave, be suspended or fired. In the end, Larry Nassar would face punishment for sexual assault as well as child pornography. According to www.indystar.com, “At least 150 people have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse against Dr. Larry Nassar. He was sentenced January 24, 2018, to 175 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing seven girls.” The Indy Star news outlet also found that 368 gymnasts had alleged forms of sexual abuse from coaches, gym owners and other people working within the sport.

Among the victims are United States superstar Simone Biles as well as Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, Gabby Douglas and many others. People like Simone Biles, who were affected by Nassar, have not shied away from using their immense platforms to be voices for change and advocacy. University of St. Francis Junior Matt Lauterbach states “I think that's brave and strong for her to do that. She was his victim for so long, and I am glad she had the courage to speak out against him and the other people involved. Thank God she will not have to deal with him again.” Simone and the US Women’s Gymnastics team have made it their mission to not be defined by their past and have even dominated the sport in recent history. 2016 would see them win gold for their fifth consecutive Olympics. The streak was unfortunately broken this summer when China and Russia topped America. Regardless, the US Women’s Gymnastics team has made significant strides towards changing their sport. They truly are incredible!