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(04/25/14 8:07pm)
I hate the song “Titanium.” Not because I think it is a particularly bad song, mind you. When I first heard it, I just thought it wasn’t my particular cup of tea, and would have likely just ignored it forever, like I do countless other songs that just aren’t to my taste. Everyone has songs they just don’t listen to, and this was just going to be added to my list.
I have heard the song “Titanium” at least 4,000 times, and that isn’t an exaggeration. I have memorized every word and note of it, and occasionally hear it as the backdrop to my nightmares. Why have I heard a song I don’t like thousands of times? Because one of my roommates loves it and played it on repeat for a few months last year and has played it quite often ever since.
As you may have guessed by now, this piece is not about a song I don’t like. It’s about life in college, and all the little things that can drive you crazy about life in college sometimes. It’s also about how those things don’t really matter in the long run, and how if you can learn to enjoy them, even a little bit, your time here is going to be amazing.
A little info to back up my cred so you’ll listen to me even a bit more seriously: I’m a fifth-year senior, so all those classes you’re taking right now are similar to ones I’ve already lived through. All the crazy plans you have for your future college years are sitting comfortably in my rearview mirror. More importantly, all those problems you have with where you are right now are ones I’ve long-since worked through, and trust me, they aren’t quite as scary as realizing that you have less than a month left of school and no job yet.
So here is my lesson, and I hope you hear it well: Enjoy college to the absolute fullest. You don’t need to go drinking or do anything illegal — I’ve avoided all that and still have more crazy and wacky adventures to tell than most. All you need to do is find the people who bring out the best and most fun sides of yourself. If that’s the guy who tells you which club is slamming hardest on a given night, that’s fine, but if it’s the girl who makes it seem cool to sit at home and play cards on a Saturday night, that’s fine too. The important part is that you stay true to who you are, because college is the absolute best time to figure out who that is exactly.
I know, I know, all of these things are pretty cliché and sound like your parents. But here’s the thing about clichés: Usually they’re true.
Personally, I found the people who bring out the best in me the day I came to the College. My roommates and I (there are five of us in total) never met before we signed the lease to our off-campus home. We are all different majors and have different backgrounds. We have different opinions about pretty much everything, and as you may have guessed from the opening of this piece, we have varied tastes in music. In a different setting, at a different time, we may have never become more than casual acquaintances, if we even lasted past the first few minutes.
Today, I honestly cannot imagine my life without these guys. In three incredibly short years we’ve become more family than friends, and they have definitely been the best years of my life.
So here’s the message I hope all of you reading this can take away from this piece: College is not about the classes, even if those are important for your future career. It isn’t about the wild nights or the crazy stories, even though those will definitely be fun memories later on. It isn’t about the extracurriculars, as great as those may be, or about the significance of living on your own for the first time, as big as that is.
College is about the people you meet who make you the best version of yourself that you can possibly be, and about the time you share with those people that will last forever. College is about hearing the same freaking song you hate thousands of times and not caring because the person playing it is family.
I got lucky — I met my college family on my first day here after signing a lease with a bunch of guys I’d never met. Maybe you haven’t found yours yet, but don’t worry, you will. You have some time left, so start looking.
(04/22/14 10:07pm)
For fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I will warn you ahead of time: this article features heavy spoilers for the newest installment into the franchise, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” Do not read ahead if you have not yet seen this film and do not wish to have your world rocked and possibly shaken to its very core.
Now that that’s all taken care of, I feel free to discuss this movie, starting with the flaws — because there are so few of them.
Here were my beefs with this flick: it has a few comic book movie clichés (Samuel L. Fury fakes his death, an old villain returns from the dead as a computer villain and Captain America’s old friend Bucky Barnes comes back from the supposed-but-not-confirmed dead as the amnesia-plagued titular antagonist), the new character’s jetpack wings are not terribly realistic and Cap’s iconic shield bounces off way too many things perfectly.
With the flaws out of the way, I’m going to begin gushing, because I loved this movie.
I saw “Captain America 2” as I have the last several Marvel movies: with my roommates on opening night as a last-minute rally. This experience was a bit different from the others, in that when we arrived at the theater an hour before the show started, we found ourselves the only ones in line. There wasn’t the buzzing, hyperactive atmosphere that had accompanied the last three Avengers-related films, possibly because the first Captain America movie in the franchise had seemed like filler, something the studio had to do so that he could appear in “The Avengers.”
So settling in, my hopes for this movie were not particularly high, despite the amazing trailers. I was just hoping this movie would be decent, a good way to fill in the gap between Avengers movies, much as the prior two Phase Two Marvel movies had done.
Two-plus hours later, I was raving about how great this movie was. It had everything that the first Captain America movie had lacked: our hero was torn between his morals and loyalty (ultimately deciding that he was loyal to his morals), he had partners who were almost as awesome at stuff as he was, the entire plot made sense and included no bogus plane-flying-into-a-glacier devices and, most important of all, we got to see Captain America just straight up pummel dudes. A lot of dudes. Basically a quarter of the movie involved Captain America beating people up, in the best way possible.
As for the plot itself, Marvel really outdid itself on this one — the movie involves a massive splinter cell within S.H.I.E.L.D, essentially the governing body of the Avengers combined with the world’s most insanely huge spy network. The cell is made up of the new and far deadlier version of Hydra, the enemy operators from the first Cap film, which has invaded and taken over most of S.H.I.E.L.D. and threatens the world with massive heli-carriers equipped with tons and tons of explosives. Using only his own personal shield, new hero Falcon’s jetpack-wings (Falcon is awesome at life, by the way), Black Widow’s super-spy skills and Fury’s hidden eye, Cap has to take down a global conspiracy and three massive warships.
And it all works beautifully.
The best parts, though, are the battles — when Captain America and the Winter Soldier finally throw down, the audience gets the evenly-matched fight with the barely-superpowered Captain we’ve wanted since the first movie. I won’t even spoil how amazing those sequences are, you’ll just have to see the movie yourself.
So, if you’ve been on the edge about seeing Cap 2, let me tell you this: If you don’t like superhero/Marvel movies, don’t bother going. If you do, prepare for the best Marvel movie since Avengers, and I cannot give much higher praise than that.
(04/15/14 5:32pm)
As anyone who watched the news, looked at Twitter, logged onto Facebook or listened to the radio last week can tell you, David Letterman is finally retiring after over 30 years of sitting behind a late-night talk-show desk. Of course, for most people in college right now, that isn’t the interesting part of the story. No, the far more intriguing piece of this tale is that Stephen Colbert will be taking Letterman’s place. This also means he’ll be leaving his job on Comedy Central, and “The Colbert Report” will soon come to an end.
As I’m sure many of you feel about this move, I wasn’t quite sure if I liked it or disliked it. I love Colbert (which can also be read as, “I am a college student”), so I’m glad he’s being recognized for his abilities with this move, but I also love his current format and will be sad to see it go. I’m also a fan of “Stephen Colbert,” the character the real Colbert plays on his show, and evidently we’ll be getting the real man on the Late Show, so the character might be retired.
But after taking a little while to sit on this and mull it over, I’ve decided that I’m happy about it. And now I’m going to attempt to convince you that you should be happy about it too.
See, the first real issue I’ve heard from the people I’ve talked to about this is that no one is really sure how the Real Colbert will be as a host. He’s in character so often — and plays that character so well — that people don’t generally have a good idea of how he acts or thinks in real life — they think the actual Colbert might be boring.
But I’m one of the lucky few who actually got to see “The Colbert Report” in person, and something you learn going to that show is that Colbert addresses the audience after the cameras have stopped rolling. And I mean the real Colbert, not the character. Speaking from my own experience, the real deal is still a very funny guy and quick as lightning with his jokes. He’s also very polite and appreciative — he thanked us in the audience at least three times, which made me feel all tingly inside — and seems completely sincere. It’s a huge change from the character, but in a good way.
As for the gaping hole that will be left after Jon Stewart’s half hour is over, I’m sure they’ll find someone to take over from where Colbert will leave off. John Oliver won’t be that guy with his new HBO show, but “The Daily Show” has a whole bunch of talent waiting in the wings. We’ve seen Steve Carell, Ed Helms and Colbert himself launch from spots in the program to bigger and better heights, and I’m sure Aasif Mandvi, Samantha Bee or especially Jason Jones would make great Colbert replacements.
So don’t mourn the loss of “The Colbert Report.” Look forward to whatever new show comes in to replace it, and give it some time — great comedy doesn’t always happen overnight. More importantly, get excited: The world is about to meet a whole new Steven Colbert, and I’m sure you’re all gonna love him.
(04/08/14 5:20pm)
New text message from TCNJ Emergency Alerts.
It’s a message most students at the College have received at one point or another during their time here. Usually, the message behind the text is something innocuous — this year was dominated by the friendly reminders that classes were cancelled due to ice and snowstorms.
But, on occasion, there’s something more serious within the texts and emails. A student missing, a bear on campus or a burst water main are all examples of messages the College has sent out to its students in
the last three years that qualified as emergencies.
The third, perhaps more sinister category of these messages, relates to crimes committed against students here, and some of those concern events that don’t happen in the bubble of the College’s campus. It begs the question: Just how safe is it to live off campus in Ewing, as many members of the College community do?
By looking at data from the New Jersey State Police’s Uniform Crime report and comparing that data to the College’s own Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, the difference between the number of reported crimes in Ewing and on campus vary greatly.
In 2012, the most recent year in which these statistics are available, a total of 83 violent crimes were committed in Ewing. Falling into this category was murder, with two in Ewing, rape with six, robbery with 35 and aggravated assault with 40. According to the College’s numbers, the on-campus numbers for violent crime had a grand total of one offense in 2012, with a single forced sexual assault. Even looking back a few more years, the College’s on-campus numbers do not change too much, also reporting a single forced sexual assault in 2011 and two such instances in 2010.
In terms of how many violent crimes are reported, living off campus is a more dangerous place than on campus. Looking a bit harder at the data, however, those simple numbers are not the most accurate telling of the information. When you factor in that Ewing’s violent crime rate is just 2.3 per 1,000 — which means that approximately one in every 500 people in Ewing will have a violent crime committed against them — the situation does not look quite as bleak, especially when compared to more dangerous areas. Trenton, for example, has a violent crime rate of 14.9 per 1,000, making Ewing much safer in comparison.
Other towns similar to Ewing, such as Hamilton, also have similar numbers in this area, with Hamilton sporting a violent crime rate of 2.2 per 1,000.
Not much of this seems to matter to many students at the College, however — they seem to go by how Ewing feels in terms of safety rather than the hard data. In fact, most of the students who lived off campus declined to comment for this article, with one student in particular citing an event of vandalism that occurred at his or her off-campus house.
Those off-campus students who didn’t move here, however, seem to be much less frightened by Ewing than those who did.
“I’ve lived in Ewing for 21 years,” senior physics and secondary education dual major Michael Wijkowski said. “I feel very safe here, yes, and I’d walk around here by myself at night.”
It can also be noted when comparing the dangers of off campus and on that there is a difference in the number of police per square foot available between a relatively small campus and a larger town like Ewing. Ultimately, the police presence could certainly be a contributing factor in why students are inclined to consider the campus a much safer environment.
“I see policemen more often on campus than I do off campus,” Wijkowski said. “I think I hear sirens maybe once a month.”
No matter how many more crimes are reported per year in Ewing than on campus, one set of sirens per month most likely doesn’t have much of a major impact on the day-to-day lives of students who live within a few miles of the safety and security of the campus boundaries. It might not be strictly as safe living off campus as it is living on, but the chances are 499 out of 500 that an individual student will not see a difference.
(04/01/14 7:29pm)
By Mike Herold
Fantasy Sports Editor
Politics suck. Yeah, I’ll say that up front — they are messy, oftentimes brutal conflicts between conflicting viewpoints and goals, where neither side wants to concede an inch, and everyone is out to get what they want, never minding the damage it might cause to anyone else. The work of politics doesn’t revolve around the issues so much as it does around making the right people feel the right thing at the right time to move up, bit by bit, until something astronomical is achieved, most likely power at the expense of those who helped get there. It’s something that has sunk into most parts of our culture, as most people hoping to move up in life at some point have to play their hands at politics.
It stands to reason, therefore, that the people who willingly decide to enter into such a field of lies and deception must be as terrible as the game they play. I mean, they must be deserving of all the vitriol they face on a daily basis, either in person or on TV. And don’t even get me started on the amount of insane hatred the Internet feels for politicians. For all of that, people in politics simply have to be awful, don’t they?
No. No, politicians are not the evil, soulless beings they are made out to be. They do not deserve the hatred that spews in their general direction seemingly all the time, and are certainly not the monsters the general public appears to believe them to be.
In fact, in a shocking turn of events, politicians are people, just like the rest of us.
And you know what that means? It means they aren’t perfect, just like the rest of us, even if we non-politicians want them to be perfect. It means that a politician brings to the table every quality that makes us all human — the flaws, the imperfections and, yes, the feelings. It also means that at some point, every politician made a decision, a very human decision, to try to do something about an issue he or she cared about.
Because when you think about it, going into politics is very rarely a selfish decision. The modern political hopeful is entering into a world where every imperfection in his or her life will soon be brought to light, every poor decision and skeleton in the closet scrutinized by everyone else in the least personal way possible. Anything that goes wrong will immediately be that politician’s fault, and anything that goes right will definitely be in spite of his or her efforts — or, at least, that’s what anyone in the opposing party will think and say as loudly as they are able.
Does that really sound like something you’d like to do?
Yet politicians, facing all of this, not to mention the financial hit many of them end up taking, still decide to go into politics. They don’t do it for power, at least not all of them. They do it because of something human — they see something they think is wrong and want to be in a position to fix it.
Look, I’m not saying that all politicians are wonderful people — clearly that isn’t the case — but neither are they all terrible. I’m just saying that perhaps we shouldn’t judge them so harshly, or react so gleefully when they fall. We shouldn’t expect them to be perfect, because, when it gets right down to it, they’re people.
Ask anyone — people aren’t perfect.
(04/01/14 5:00am)
North and South Korea exchanged artillery shell barrages aimed at water in each other’s territories on Monday, March 31, according to CNN. This event, which appears to have occurred during a training exercise, came just one day after North Korea raised the possibility of further nuclear testing.
The story originally comes from South Korean semi-official news agency Yonhap, which reported that North Korea had originally warned South Korean officials about the training exercise. According to the report from CNN, the warning came via fax message earlier in the day on Monday.
“North Korea demanded South Korea control its vessels in seven regions north of the NLL before it holds the live-fire drills,” the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff told Yonhap. “We have banned vessels from entering the training zone for the safety of residents and sailors.”
According to the report on Yonhap, South Korean officials did not view the warning as a positive.
“We consider that the North’s announcement contains hostile intentions,” Army Col. Wi Wong-seop, the vice defense ministry spokesman, said in a briefing according to Yonhap. “(North Korea) is believed to be creating a crisis situation on the Korean Peninsula by raising tensions near the western maritime border.”
According to CNN, the Joint Chiefs also told Yonhap that the exchange happened after approximately 100 out of 500 artillery shells North Korea launched fell into water that was south of the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea, which prompted the South to fire 300 artillery shells into North Korean waters. According to the report, South Korea also responded by dispatching fighter jets to the area.
“Some (North Korean) artillery fire landed in (the) southern part of Northern Limit Line but in the water,” a South Korean Ministry of Defense spokesman told CNN. “We counter-fired over the Northern Limit Line.”
The South was also quick to confirm that they did not have hostile intentions. According to CNN, when asked about the counter-fire the defense spokesman said, “We are not shooting at North Korea, just shooting into the sea.”
As of Monday evening, North Korea had yet to retaliate or make a statement about the event, but according to the CNN report North Korea had continued its offshore firing after a brief interlude.
(04/01/14 5:00am)
General Managers. They are discussed fairly often in the sports world, which makes sense given the enormous impact a GM, good or bad, can have on a team. They also play a huge role in the happiness any given group of fans have will in regard to their favorites teams — generally, fans are happier with a team that is doing well or with one where the future looks bright, and much of the responsibility to do those things is in the hands of those GMs.
Here’s why that’s a bad thing: General Managers, by and large, are not very good at their jobs.
Seriously, take a look at your favorite team. Take a good look at the salary of every player on the team and at the ratio between youth and experience. You’ll likely find at least a few flaws, like a player earning several million dollars more than they deserve or a collection of aged “talent” without much support from younger, fresher legs. If you can honestly say you are happy with your entire roster, then congratulations, you are a fan of the Spurs, Pacers, Seahawks, 49ers, Nationals or Penguins.
If you said you were happy with your roster and aren’t a fan of one of those teams, please stop kidding yourself. Those are the only pro sports teams at the moment without at least a few glaring warts. And even they aren’t perfect — they’re just the best examples of teams with long-standing title windows that aren’t overly reliant on aging stars or that owe oodles of money to players who one day won’t be worth so darn much.
The reason so many teams are in bad places right now is, of course, because of the blundering ways of the General Managers who run them. Don’t believe me? OK, just go ask any fan of the Cowboys, Knicks, Timberwolves or Lakers, the teams most currently doomed due to the actions of their GMs. That fan will tell you for me, having a bad GM on your team is akin to watching your best player get injured at the start of the season — your team’s situation for the near future is bleak at best.
So why bring this up now? Bad GMs have been around for decades, so why harp on the issue this week? Well, mostly because this week saw some ridiculous things happen in sports, and General Managers were at the heart of basically every one of them.
Look at what went on in baseball first. Miguel Cabrera, he of the magical bat and lackluster fielding ability, just signed a deal for 10 years and $292 million. Sure, the deal looks good to Tigers fans now, but just wait five years until he’s 36 and still getting paid nearly $30 million a season to perform barely above the league average.
Gee, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it? I can’t recall who’s doing something similar now, but I think it starts with an “A” and maybe includes “rod?” Even the other big extension given out this week, a much sounder $144 million over six years the Angels are shelling out for Mike Trout, is overshadowed by the monster contract L.A. is also paying to the last Cabrera-like player. Albert Pujols, who you may have forgotten since he signed the mega-deal with the Angels and immediately disappeared.
Moving along to another sport, take a gander at what the Eagles just did: Releasing DeSean Jackson due to some kind of off-field stuff, with a wide range of explanations still being given. The team, according to “sources,” didn’t want to trade Jackson’s problems to another unknowing organization. It’s not like a whole bunch of other NFL teams tried to sign Jackson within 24 hours of his release despite all the rumors and definitely would have been willing to trade for him anyway, right? Oops, looks like that is exactly what’s been going on.
Finally, the next big star move is only in the rumor stage, and involves Kevin Love bolting from the Timberwolves for somewhere more glittery. While this one may not seem like a terrible GM decision at first, especially given how many NBA stars run from smaller markets to larger ones, let’s not forget that this one started when Love was offered a less-than-max contract from a terrible team a few years ago, because they wanted to save their max deal for a monumentally less valuable player. A word of advice to GMs out there: When you have a superstar in his prime and can offer him a maximum contract, do that. If you don’t, chances are he’ll leave your team for someone who will.
The point to all this is that General Managers are bad at their jobs, so we really shouldn’t be surprised when GMs continue to make poor decisions. We talk so much about the bad GMs, but no one really offers much of a solution, mostly because “Fire everybody” is a rarely used tactic. The only real solution for us fans is to hold out hope that someday, somehow, our bumbling General Manager will just get lucky.
(03/25/14 8:21pm)
By Mike Herold
Fantasy Sports Editor
We live in a world filled to the brim with technology. You know what I’m talking about — there’s a good chance you’re reading this on a smartphone, a technological advancement that was a wild dream as recently as 20 years ago. Come on, a computer that fits in the palm of your hand and also functions as a phone, plays games and lets you watch movies or TV shows that stream from websites? The future is here, and it’s sitting right there in your fingers.
Now here’s the problem: I don’t think that the technological boom is necessarily a good thing.
Hold on, hear me out real quick before you jump to some conclusion that I’m a tech-hating spouter of nonsense.
As most of the people who know me will tell you, I don’t have a smartphone, but that isn’t necessarily because I hate technology. It has more to do with the fact that I’m broke and can’t afford one. Not having one has let me notice something important: Smartphones are making us dumber.
Not dumber in terms of IQ points or scores in class, mind you. When I say that smartphones are making us dumber, I’m referring to the way we communicate with one another, which might eventually translate to a loss in those other, more important categories of “smartness.”
See, back when we were all kids, we had to actually call each other on the phone in order to contact our friends. We had to talk to their parents, most likely, which meant we had to use actual words and some modicum of politeness. Now if we want to talk to a friend, we just send a text, likely lacking in any sort of polite wording or anything resembling proper grammar. Heck, we’ve got autocorrect if we even want to pretend to sound “smart.”
Another area of shrinking expertise is the art of the argument. Not a shouting argument, but a simple hearty discussion of different ideals and points of view.
In the past, in order to sound remotely intelligent whenever you and your peers got into one of these discussions you had to have some sort of prior knowledge about the subject. You had to think differently in order to make whatever point you wanted to make, while possibly seeing another perspective from your opposition. Now we don’t have intellectual debates, we have searching competitions.
A person does not need to remember anything, since Google is just a few finger swipes away, and no argument a college student makes is going to hit too hard against the graduate dissertation the smartphone user can pull up while sitting on the couch.
That’s what I’m talking about when I say that smartphones, and technology in general, are making us dumber. We aren’t required to do as much or learn as much, or even use as many words, simply because every bit of information we’d possibly need is right there in our hands, ready to autocorrect and search as needed.
(02/25/14 6:00am)
On Wednesday, Jan. 8, an important milestone was reached by Kelly Williams, head coach of the College’s men’s basketball team. With a win at Rowan University, Coach Williams moved to 200 career coaching victories — an impressive accomplishment by any standard.
The funny thing is, the coach barely even saw it coming.
“To be honest, no,” Williams said when asked if he was thinking about the number. “My mom, she pretty much keeps track of all that stuff, and from time to time, she’d call me or make me realize I wasn’t that far, but for the most part, it wasn’t a part of the process. You take it game by game, and obviously we started off a little slow, so it even went further from my mind — you just want to get to winning the next game.”
A reminder of Williams’ career accomplishment came from his players in the form of a game ball signed by the entire team that now sits on a raised pedestal in Williams’s office.
“The players presented me with that ball in practice, I think it was the very next day — they’re very nice kids,” Williams said with a smile on his face.
Williams has another reminder of the milestone: He was presented with a plaque by President R. Barbara Gitenstein, Vice President of Student Affairs Amy Hecht and Vice President of Human Resources Gregory Pogue, just before a game a few weeks ago.
“I was so pleased to be able to join Vice Presidents Hecht and Pogue on (Monday, Feb. 10) to celebrate this milestone in coach Williams’s career,” Gitenstein said. “We are very proud of what he, the players and the other coaches have accomplished.”
With the team’s season now over — the team missed out narrowly on the playoffs, but looks like it has an upward trajectory — a bummed out but hopeful Williams sat back in his office, game ball close at hand, and talked about his experiences as a coach.
“I think sometimes as coaches, we are hard on ourselves,” Williams said. “We never give ourselves any type of credit. But to take a step back and to think about some of the success that I’ve had, it’s rewarding — and it also means that I’ve had an opportunity to influence other kids, or mentor kids in regard to being young men. So it’s a combination of thoughts when I see 200 career wins.”
For Williams, it’s not just about the win column.
“I’ve never been the type of person who’s only concerned about winning,” Williams said. “I want to make sure that we’re doing it the right way. Sometimes, when you take that approach, it takes a little longer, so you just have to be confident in who you are as a person and as a coach that things will turn out. Our guys got better this season, and that’s what I got out of it.”
Williams was also in the mood to reminisce.
“Probably the most memorable win was here (was) opening night my very first year,” Williams recalled. “Being able to win the very first game, at home, on a Saturday night, with the crowd — it was a packed house — that was probably the most memorable one. I keep the game story hanging in my office. That’s the most memorable time, it really felt like I was coming back home.”
Looking back, without being asked, Williams wanted to make sure he thanked those who helped him reach 200 wins here at the College.
“People who have played such an important role, and have been so supportive, would definitely be Lisa Angeloni, President Barbara Gitenstein and John Costanzo, who gave me the opportunity to coach — those are special people that really stand up, and I always appreciate all of their support,” Williams said. “Not to mention my other coaching colleagues. We take care of each other throughout the season. It’s a good environment. And, obviously, my family (has) to deal with me after the losses.”
With 200 wins and another season behind him, Coach Williams got back to work. After all, 300 wins will take some effort to reach — not that he’ll notice getting that one, either.
(02/25/14 6:00am)
Despite having a record-breaking night with a strong showing from the team’s lone senior, the men’s basketball team fell in their season finale, 68-58, to Montclair State University.
In what would be the finishing touch in a season full of difficult games, the Lions (8-17, 6-12) struggled with the same issues — turnovers, foul trouble and shooting the ball — that plagued the team throughout the year.
The loss put a damper on what otherwise was a night of celebration for the College, as the team honored senior forward Joe Kane with a pre-game ceremony.
“It was a lot to take in,” Kane said. “But it’s a team sport, so I put that first. I wanted to win, but we came up short.”
Kane had quite a bit of crowd support, as an entire section of the Packer Hall auditorium was filled with his fans — several waving signs in support of their friend, including a few less-than-flattering enlarged photos of Kane’s head.
“Some of my closest friends came,” Kane said. “I told them about the game, so they made up the signs. My family was here, too. I definitely appreciate my parents for everything they’ve done for me.”
The senior wasn’t the only appreciative one on the night.
“Joe Kane has been a person that is so important to our program,” head coach Kelly Williams said. “He’s done so many things that just don’t show up on the scoreboard, with his work ethic and his commitment in the offseason, his team-first attitude — that’s what we’re going to miss. We have to build our program with guys like that.”
Kane posted good numbers in the final game of his career, netting nine points and six rebounds before fouling out with a little more than two minutes to play.
The team was led in scoring by junior guard Jayson Johnson, who had 13 points, while freshman guard Eric Klacik and junior forward Alex Fox each contributed nine points. Sophomore forward Bobby Brackett also had nine points to go along with his 12 rebounds, the ninth of which gave Brackett sole custody of the College’s single-season rebounding title, held since 1965 by Paul Brateris (’67).
“I knew (about the record), and it’s cool I got it, I guess, but I just wanted to win,” Brackett said. “Obviously I take pride in rebounding, so (the record) just kind of came with that.”
In collecting the record, Brackett averaged 13.1 rebounds a game, good enough to be ranked fourth nationally among Division III players. He also gathered 17 double-doubles this season, which placed him fourth nationally in that statistic as well.
“I didn’t really expect (to have this kind of year) coming in,” Brackett said. “It turned out alright individually, but for the team, I wanted to get more than eight wins, so I’m kind of frustrated right now.”
That said, Brackett isn’t done improving his own game — not even close.
“I have to get better at everything — I have a lot to do this summer,” Brackett said.
With this season officially in the record books, the team is already looking ahead to an improved season next fall.
“Obviously we have a lot of work to do,” Klacik said about the future. “We have a lot of talent on this team, but coming together (and) playing team defense, that’s probably how we’re going to win games next year.”
(02/18/14 6:00am)
In a week with extreme peaks and valleys, the men’s basketball team won only one of their games to fall just short of their hopes of making the playoffs.
The Lions (8-16, 6-11) began the week on Monday, Feb. 10, with a win over Rutgers-Camden University, breaking a six-game losing streak and keeping playoff dreams alive for the moment with the 70-66 overtime thriller. The game was back-and-forth for the duration, with neither team ever holding a lead of more than 10 points. In a rare occurrence, each team missed a potentially game-winning — and heavily contested — layup with less than 10 seconds to play in regulation, a testament to how close the game really was.
“I’m so proud of the guys (for breaking the losing streak),” head coach Kelly Williams said after the win. “I thought we made plays when we had to, and in February, that’s really what it comes down to. You’ve got to gut out games and we were able to do that.”
Williams had changed up his starting squad before the game, adding freshman guard Alex Cirlincione to the opening five, a role he continued to play in the next two games.
“It’s good to be out there, get the energy going,” Cirlincione said. “I still have to play my role, just trying to fit in.”
The College was led in the victory by junior forward Skyelar Ettin, who scored 23 points, and sophomore forward Bobby Brackett, who netted 14 points and pulled down a season-high 21 rebounds. Junior forward Alex Fox also chipped in 14 points, including a big three in OT, and junior guard Jayson Johnson scored all of his 11 points the hard way — by getting fouled and hitting 11 of 12 free throws.
The victory set the team up, at the time, for a good chance to make the playoffs, needing to win their remaining three games to be guaranteed a spot.
“I’m happy for the guys,” coach Williams said after the game. “And it feels good to be put into a situation where we’re still talking about playoffs with three games left and we still control our own destiny. That’s what you want in February.”
The win was not enough to start a streak, however, as the Lions lost their next contest against Rowan University 87-71. Unlike the Rutgers-Camden game, the contest quickly turned into a blowout, as Rowan led by as many as 30 points before the College made something of a brief comeback late in the game.
Despite the defeat, the Lions got another strong performance from Brackett, who had 24 points and 19 rebounds in the game and also made an emphatic dunk and a run-down block (ruled a goal-tending violation) with little time left to play.
“I’m just out there trying to play,” Brackett said. “It wasn’t really a statement. Coach said to just work hard the last 10 minutes and not worry about the score, so I was just playing like I usually would.”
Despite the loss, the players’ spirits were not dimmed, and they were already looking forward to their next games.
“The last two are pivotal games,” Cirlincione said. “Want to make the playoffs.”
Good spirits or not, the College’s playoff chances ended on Saturday, Feb. 15, with a loss at New Jersey City University. The game was a tale of two very different halves, as the Lions led 31-18 at the end of the first, but the final scoreboard read 66-53. Turnovers and fouls proved to be the difference makers in the match, as the College gave up the ball 26 times, despite out-shooting the opposition, and watched 12 more free throws taken by the other team.
After the rough week, the Lions will be playing for pride in the team’s season finale at home on Wednesday, Feb. 19, against Montclair State University.
(02/11/14 11:29pm)
There was a fancy gathering on Saturday, Feb. 8, in the Library’s basement auditorium, as the College’s own improvisational comedy troupe, the Mixed Signals, delivered their annual “Classy Night” show of skits and games made up on the spot.
The yearly show was intertwined with a Valentine’s Day theme, with games such as Secret Valentine, Dating Game, Honeymooners and Crazy Prov, entertaining the packed house.
The show was a first-time experience for the three newest members of the Mixed Signals, as sophomore computer science and interactive multimedia double major Matthew Steuerer, freshmen interactive multimedia major Beau Aranosian and physics education major Maxwell Calsetta performed with the group, bringing the total number of performers up to 12 — which one might expect would make placement of members in specific games a difficult task.
“Not particularly,” senior computer science major Graham Mazie said of the task. “We decide who is playing what game depending on seniority in the troupe. We love our noobs.”
The other Signals were quick to agree. “It’s always a challenge to add new members to the group, but that’s why we spend so much time auditioning and training the new members before we perform with them,” junior marketing major Garrett Verdone said. “We want to make sure everyone is comfortable performing with one another. Once we’re all comfortable performing together, it’s not an issue to incorporate them into the show.”
A notable part of the Mixed Signals shows is how quickly the short scenes tend to escalate into wild scenarios — what begins as an innocent tale about love-struck schoolgirls can quickly turn into a scene involving multiple stabbings and a stun gun.
“Scenes are usually very short. That’s the nature of short-form comedy,” said Jonathan Dowler, senior history and secondary education dual major and the Mixed Signals president. “To have a good scene, you want to tell a story, but you have to do it in about five minutes. So you go in, make the characters relatable, and show the audience what kinds of shenanigans people can get into.”
The escalation, it seems, is perhaps the only planned part of these improvised shows.
“Escalation is sort of like a tool we use for our scenes,” Verdone said. “No matter what the scene is about, we try to put ourselves in the mindset to take whatever the audience has given us and take it to extreme places (whether the audience wanted us to, or not). It keeps things exciting for us and for our viewers.”
Of course, the viewers are the reason for all the crazy things the Signals do onstage.
“Escalation is funny,” Mazie said. “Everyone likes seeing the progression of a joke. It makes the audience feel in on it, and it gives the scene somewhere to go.”
The audience at the Signals’ “Classy Night” certainly seemed to enjoy the show.
(02/11/14 6:00am)
It was another cold and treacherous week for the men’s basketball team, as the Lions had their first game of the week postponed due to the weather and suffered another setback in the one game they did play.
The College’s (7-14, 5-9) game against Rutgers-Camden University was delayed after the icy conditions this past Wednesday, Feb. 5, made it unsafe for the visiting team to make the trip.
The Lions did manage to make their way to Rutgers-New Brunswick on Saturday, Feb. 8, when they fell 87-53 to the NJAC-leading Scarlet Raiders.
A tough loss continued the Lions’ slide and exemplified their recent struggles in keeping their opponents off the scoreboard.
“We had a tough stretch of games playing all the top teams in our conference over the last two weeks,” head coach Kelly Williams said. “We are still struggling on the defensive side of the ball, which is really making us press offensively. If we can regroup over the next week and find a way to get some easy buckets off turnovers and second chance points, we will regain our defensive focus and energy.”
There isn’t much to say about a game in which the College never led and shot just 26.7 percent from the field and 57.6 percent from the free throw line. Junior guard Jayson Johnson led the team in scoring with 18 points, the only Lion to reach double digits in any statistical category. Junior forward Skyelar Ettin and sophomore forward Bobby Brackett were next on the scoring chart with six points apiece.
“Last night was a tough game for everyone,” forward Joe Kane said. “As a team, we need to make a better effort on the defensive end and focus on winning each possession, one play at a time.” Perhaps a telling statistic from the game was the College’s lack of assists — the team managed only four dimes while turning the ball over 13 times, which are not the best numbers for a team built on foundations of communication and ball movement.
Despite the loss, the Lions find themselves only a half game back from making the NJAC playoffs with four to play, with each of those games coming against an NJAC opponent.
“I am excited that we are still in the playoff run and we control our own destiny,” Williams said. “We have four games left and three are at home. I am hoping we can take advantage of playing (at) home and get back to the basics of defending, rebounding and making some shots.”
Those four remaining games will also be against an opponent bested by the College in the first meeting of the season, and three come against teams right above the Lions in the standings.
“These next few games are going to be a testament to all the hard work we put into this season,” Kane said. “It’s make or break time if we want to make a playoff run, and I’m confident we can make it happen.”
The College played their rescheduled game against Rutgers-Camden University this Monday, Feb. 10, and will take to the Packer Hall court this Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 8 p.m. against Rowan University, with their final away game of the year coming this Saturday, Feb. 16, against New Jersey City University. All these game times are, of course, dependent on the weather.
Perhaps when the snow stops falling, the Lions will rise.
“Yes, we are going through some adversity right now,” Williams said. “But I believe this experience that we have to go through to make us a stronger team this year and in the future.”
(02/11/14 6:00am)
Unless you haven’t turned on some kind of sports network in the past few days or looked at the Internet in general, you’ve probably heard this story already. In a game between the men’s basketball teams of Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart — a presumptive first-round NBA draft pick this year — got into an altercation with a Texas Tech fan near the end of the game that ended with Smart pushing the fan.
Before I get into the meat of this article, I want to make one thing perfectly clear: Yes, what Smart did was wrong. Escalating the situation to physical contact is not something that is acceptable for an athlete to do, or for a regular person to do for that matter. I do not disagree with taking Smart out of the game, or with the technical foul he was issued — what I do disagree with is all the fallout that’s come from this incident.
I also don’t think Marcus Smart was the bad guy in all of this, contary to popular opinion.
Let me tell you a few things about Marcus Smart. He’s one of four brothers, one of whom died, and he grew up in Texas. He was a McDonald’s All-American in high school and was projected to be a top draft pick in last year’s NBA draft before he decided to stay in school another year. He represented the United States last year in the FIBA World U19 Championship. Yes, that means what you think it means: Marcus Smart is 19 years old.
I won’t tell you anything about the fan Smart pushed because I don’t believe he should become famous because of this. Let me just tell you all you need to know. He is a grown man who is a fan of Texas Tech. He is known for being in another video, which you can find by searching YouTube for “Aggie Basketball - Bryan Davis Dunk and Tech Fan,” in which this same fan made aggressive gestures and faces at another young player from Texas A&M. The link to this video was posted on ESPN’s story about Smart, but has since been removed. I guess it didn’t fit the narrative to blame this whole thing on Smart.
So here’s what happened in this incident that has everyone coming down so hard on Smart: At the end of a tough game, with his team down by two, Smart dove to stop a fast break by the other team, which resulted in him landing in the stands behind the basket. This fan, a grown man, said something offensive — some have said it was a racial slur, others have suggested it was a comment about Smart’s mother — to Smart, a 19-year-old kid. Smart turned to confront this fan, who continued yelling at Smart. Smart then pushed the fan before walking off angrily, telling his teammates what had happened.
And, of course, Smart is now the worst athlete to ever live, if you listen to what the talking heads have to say.
Let me ask you: If you were presented with that same set of circumstances, would you be able to hold back? I’m not so sure I would, and I consider myself to be something of an extreme pacifist. But there are some lines that just shouldn’t be crossed, and by the sound of it, that fan definitely crossed one of those lines with Smart. Smart is still just a young student and not a professional athlete by anyone’s standard.
A grown man belittled a kid, the kid pushed back, and now that kid is a terrible human being.
If you ask me, that’s the wrong narrative to write.
(02/04/14 6:00am)
Practice. Anyone who plays a sport on any sort of competitive level will say practice is of fundamental and crucial importance. Yet, there is rarely much of a focus on practice, as the games are what show up in the win/loss record. Probably the most talk you’ve heard about practice is the famous rant by Allen Iverson, which wasn’t exactly flattering.
So we here at The Signal decided to focus on practice for a moment. We attended one practice for each of the men’s and women’s basketball teams and wrote about them, in the hopes that we could, if even for a moment, make practice seem as important as it is.
The first 20 minutes of the women’s practice is devoted to individual preparation and warm-up. The mood is light, and the players’ laughter is infectious in the early going, but it’s also clear that everyone knows it’s getting to be time to get down to business, and you can see the players getting into their zones.
Head coach Dawn Henderson makes her rounds, observing and giving players tips individually, occasionally reminding everyone of different fundamentals to practice, whether it is power layups, free throws or catching and shooting in a rhythm.
The men begin practice before their coaches even walk through the door. They stretch, jog and shoot, but most of all, they talk. They talk about nothing in particular, just as any group of friends would. The talk changes once the coaches arrive and now focuses exclusively on basketball, but it never really stops — the team is all about communication, and communicate they do. The drills in the early going confirm this, as they involve mostly passing in rhythm, and any player who isn’t talking to his teammates is likely to miss his mark.
Having played five games in the last week and a half, Henderson warns that the team is exhausted. However, the effort and attention is clearly there. The girls are looking sharp, shooting the lights out, making all of their lefty layups and doing a lot of communicating with each other on both ends of the floor in different situational drills, but especially defensively.
Given the Lions had a game the next day, a fair amount of practice was devoted to scouting the opponent and talking about their strengths and weaknesses and discussing the various plans that would need to be executed in order to put themselves in a good position to come out on top.
Once the men have warmed up, the real practice begins. Head coach Kelly Williams quickly describes to his team what their next opponent will try to do and splits the team into smaller groups to scrimmage against each other while mimicking what that next opponent will do, hoping to be prepared once game time comes.
The scrimmages are intense — the players don’t hold anything back, and those who don’t see as much playing time are eager to push the starters as hard as they can.
“My favorite part of practice is (to) push the starters. It feels good to know that you can make them better in practice while just playing basketball,” freshman guard T.J. Von Bradsky said.
Watching the team practice, even in the moments of intense focus and fierce competition, it’s clear that these girls’ love for one another and togetherness is what makes them such a tough team to beat once the game has tipped off.
After all the on-court practicing was finished, Henderson passed out scouting reports to the players that were thicker than some textbooks, and they all sat together in a circle, going over the opposing team’s player tendencies and what needed to be done to take away their strengths.
As the men continue to play each other, it is interesting to see the dynamics between starters and bench players — mostly because it is so hard to tell who is who. The players all intermingle in the scrimmages and support each other equally. Coach Williams treats every player the same way — tough but fair — and is just as likely to praise or scold (most often praise) a starter as he is a guy who rarely sees game time.
“Coach talks every day about how he has trust in everybody, one through 15 minutes, on the bench,” freshman forward Patrick Zanzalari said. “And how he has no problem calling in anybody at any time, so during practice he doesn’t treat that any differently, anybody could be anywhere at any time.”
At the conclusion of practice, co-captains Liz West and Tiffany DeTulio laughed and reminisced about the team’s time spent in Florida over winter break, recalling an instance when assistant coach Cindy Astore took it upon herself to switch roles and become the team’s bus driver as well as lead vocalist, covering 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” to help celebrate head coach Dawn Henderson’s birthday. The duo even dropped a “Go shorty, it’s your birthday!” before breaking out in laughter once again.
By the time the men’s practice starts winding down, the players are noticeably winded, just as they are after games. The intensity of the practice was very game-like, only with shorter breaks and no time on the bench. Every drill is designed to simulate in-game scenarios, and every player is expected to bring the same focus to practice as they do to games.
“Coach really expects everyone to bring energy and effort every day, he says that we’re all college basketball players and that we need to give our best effort every day, regardless of whether we’re bench players or starters,” freshman guard Pete Heltzel said.
West and DeTulio’s favorite part about practice is the 20-minute individual warm-up to start and the dynamic stretches immediately following.
“The warm-up gives us a chance to get into the right mindset and do whatever we need to get ready, whether it be dribbling, shooting or just getting loose,” DeTulio said.
The co-captains also agreed that the two things they’ll miss most next year once they’ve graduated and moved on will be playing basketball and all the other girls on the team who they’ve become so close to during their time here.
The men’s practice ends in a huddle, with every player putting their hands together to yell as a group, just like they do before every game. The team members walk off, some heading to class and some heading to dinner, each one with a slight grin on his face. Game day is tomorrow, and the team is ready.
As the men leave, the women enter. The two teams don’t say much to each other, but a few individuals exchange pleasantries. These teams are on opposite sides of the same story: One is at the end while the other is just beginning. What the two have in common is that both are ready to play.
(01/28/14 8:00pm)
Perhaps it was just a shift in the schedules with classes beginning, or maybe the snowfall was the primary culprit, but this past week was not a great one for the College’s men’s basketball team.
The Lions lost all three of their games, falling to 7-11 overall. Those losses included two in the NJAC, as the College dropped below .500 in the conference to 5-6.
“Every team at one point or another is going to struggle, no matter what level of basketball it is,” freshman guard Eric Klacik said of the rough week.
The first game, a 77-72 defeat to the City College of New York, came down to the final minute, where a questionable charging call went against the Lions and turned a potential three-point advantage into a two-point deficit. It was the second time this season the Lions fell against City College in the game’s final ticks, as the team lost their opening game to the same team 76-73 on a buzzer-beater. The back-and-forth game was noticeably heated at times, with a double technical being called on the Lions’ junior guard Jayson Johnson and City College’s Anthony Lewis for getting into a confrontation with under seven minutes to play in the game.
Sophomore forward Bobby Brackett continued his torrid pace, leading the team by posting 25 points and 16 rebounds in the loss for his 13th double-double this year. Junior forward Skyelar Ettin chipped in 11 points, the only other Lion to reach double digits.
The College faced a similar situation in their second game of the week, again a rematch with a team that had beaten them before. As they did last time, William Paterson proved too much for the Lions, winning 83-56 in what was to that point the most lopsided game of the season for the College.
In that game, the Lions were led in scoring by junior forward Alex Fox, who scored 20 on six for seven shooting from the floor. The rest of the team struggled with their shots, as the College connected on only 39 percent of their attempts. Despite the less-than-stellar shooting, Brackett racked up another double-double, giving him 14 on the season, with a 13-point, 12-board effort.
Despite the lopsided result, though, the team’s spirits have not fallen.
“I think (that) even though the score did not reflect it we had some positives to take away from all of the games,” Ettin said. “In the William Paterson game we actually led at half-time, and played pretty good basketball for 20 minutes. However, basketball is a 40-minute game where every possession, every second is crucial, especially in the competitive NJAC.”
The team’s woes continued in their third and final game of the week, as the Lions took their soundest loss of the season against Kean University, 91-62. The College’s shooting problems continued, finding the net on only 37 percent of their shots, while Kean managed to hit on 50 percent.
Johnson led the team in scoring with 17, while Brackett was held under 10 rebounds and managed 13 points. Ettin and freshman guard Eric Klacik each had 10, the only other Lions in double figures.
The Lions continue their season this Wednesday, Jan. 29 at home at 8 p.m. in a rematch with Richard Stockton College and this Saturday, Feb. 1 in a second encounter with Ramapo College. In fact, all of the team’s remaining games come against opponents they’ve already met this season, and the team is ready for them.
“When playing a team twice it doesn’t come down to X’s and O’s,” Ettin said. “It comes down to the team that executes down the stretch and wants it more.”
Ettin isn’t the only one looking forward to playing these teams for a second time — especially after this week.
“I think the most important thing we learned the first time around the conference is how to make the other team play our game,” Klacik said. “In all of our conference wins, we played at our tempo, our style, and that is why the end result was in our favor. We are eager to respond from our 0-3 week and show that we can make a run for the top.”
(01/22/14 8:44pm)
Following a rough start to the season, the College’s men’s basketball team has clawed its way to more wins than it had last season with 10 games yet to play, as well as a winning record in the hyper-competitive New Jersey Athletic Conference.
The Lions (7-8, 5-4) were on fire during the break, winning six of the nine games they played. The team fared especially well within their conference, going 5-2 after being blown out in their first two NJAC games.
“It’s just a tough conference,” head coach Kelly Williams said of the state of the NJAC. “And the fact that we have a winning record in such a tough conference is just a testament to how hard the guys have worked in practice every day and in the pre-season.”
The team’s winning ways has not hurt its confidence either, and will help the Lions continue a season of improvement.
“They’re starting to play with some confidence and believe in each other a little more, and as a coach that’s one of the things that you want your team have, to walk into every game and believe that you have a chance — that’s one benefit of having a winning record in-conference right now,” Williams said.
Leading the team during the run has been sophomore forward Bobby Brackett, who is currently averaging 18.3 points and 13.4 rebounds per game. Brackett’s rebounding numbers are currently tops among players in Division III, and his 12 double-doubles place him second in the nation. Brackett was recently featured by the Trenton Times.
“Everyone is excited for Bobby’s success, and what he’s doing nationally is definitely a special accomplishment,” Williams said. “The guys are so excited for his personal success.”
Brackett has been a consummate player off the court, too, being a good teammate and helping the Lions’ camaraderie.
“He’s a great teammate and a great person, and he’s a very humble superstar, to be honest,” Williams said. “So when the story came out, all the guys were excited, and they felt as though they were a part of it — which they are — and they really felt good about it, the opportunity to be recognized.”
During the break, the Lions saw victories over Rutgers-Camden (69-56), Westfield State University (71-66), Ramapo College (84-69), Rowan University (73-70), Montclair State University (74-72) and New Jersey City University (79-72). In that same stretch, the College fell to Kean University (72-48), FDU-Florham (85-71) and Rutgers-Newark (59-51).
The team is seeing the kind of success that they desired after last year’s disappointing 5-20 campaign.
“Right now, I really go back and harp on the fact that last year, these guys made a commitment,” Williams said when asked what sets this team apart from past years. “They were very disappointed in their efforts, and worked very hard during the offseason in the summer and in the preseason, and when they got back to camp this year they wanted to be better, and they fully committed, so they’re definitely reaping some of the rewards from that. I think a major factor in why we’re having such success right now is that we are truly a family, great chemistry, we’re tested, and when things aren’t going our way we don’t point the finger. We support each other, and are all on the same page, it’s all very encouraging. We only have one senior, so knowing that so many of these guys will be here next year is very reassuring.”
After the winter they’ve just had, it must be.
The Lions are back in action this week against William Paterson University this Wednesday at 8 p.m., before returning to the court Saturday at 2 p.m. against Kean University.
(01/22/14 8:39pm)
Dwyane Wade had a birthday last week.
I’m not sure if anyone else heard that, but according to ESPN.com it was worthy of being a lead story. Not because he turned 32, that was old news. No, the story was something of far greater importance. I’ll give you a second to prepare for it, because it’s a doozy.
Here it is: LeBron James, Wade’s teammate and friend, wished him a Happy Birthday, and he used the internet to do it. If your mind was just blown, that’s nothing to be ashamed of, mine was too.
OK, OK, I’ll stop with the tongue-and-cheek for a second here. The real story, according to sports media, had to do with what LeBron said in his birthday message. Evidently, The King mentioned that no matter what happens in the future he hopes that he and Wade will forever be friends.
The ramifications of that message, apparently, were far-reaching and of monumental importance. In case you were unaware, this summer James can opt out of his contract with the Miami Heat and sign elsewhere, even returning to Cleveland in what might be the strangest saga in all of sports. The way the stories and talk online went surrounded LeBron’s vague references to the future and his pending potential free agentship, which I’m sure some people care about.
The point I’m making is that this story was blown WAY out of proportion.
Look, if LeBron actually opts out after this season and hits the free agent market, that would be huge news. But he’s been very adamant about saying that he’s not talking about any of that until after this year, a very smart move on his part and a respectable decision — he’s trying to focus on his team and the season and not be a giant distraction *coughDwightHowardcough.*
But this? LeBron was just wishing his teammate of three and a half years and friend of 10 years a happy birthday. He was saying that no matter what the future may hold, including the future outside of basketball, he hopes that he and Wade will always stay friends, because that is how much their friendship means to him.
To say that LeBron, who has almost always been a very savvy user of social media and public relations (with one notable, hour-long exception), let slip some dark intention to leave the potentially three-time defending champion Heat during a birthday message to Wade is pretty absurd. It paints a picture of a much darker and more sinister man that James has proven to be, and all in the name of getting more clicks on a website.
I guess what I’m saying is calm down, sports writers. Not everything that happens is ground-breaking news. Sometimes a man just wants to say Happy Birthday in peace.
(12/04/13 7:22pm)
The audience in All College Theatre’s most recent production, “Trial By Error,” got the chance to experience being members of a 150-person jury at the two performances on Thursday, Nov. 21 and Friday, Nov. 22.
The show was interactive, as the members of the audience actually did determine which character would be found guilty. While the audience ate food from Mama Flora’s, the cast members wove their way through the packed crowd before the play and during intermission, and much of the play’s second act revolved around audience questions for the panel of suspects.
“I was nervous about interacting with the audience because I wasn’t sure how people would take talking to a character and not talking to you,” said Emily Brady, an international student focusing on African American studies who portrayed prosecutor Eleanor Ashwood. “But I was happily surprised to find how happy people were to talk to us, how people would come up to us at intermission and talk about what was going on, and how receptive people were us.”
Garrett Verdone, a junior marketing major who played defendant Brandon Weatherby, a man accused of killing his own father, said that on both nights they got different questions and answers.
“That’s the best thing about a murder mystery, you get a completely different show with each performance,” Verdone said.
The actors were tested by not only the audience, but also by several members of the cast who acted as “reporters” for the case, interviewing audience members and trial witnesses alike.
“It took a good amount of practice to get used to thinking on your feet,” said Anthony Coppola, senior interactive multimedia major and the secondary suspect, Colonel Henry Blake. “It helped you get into character when you spent an hour in character before the show working with the ‘media.’ After weeks and many practices, staying in character was easier and it really stopped being like a show, we all enjoyed doing it.”
The challenges in doing the production did not just come from the improvised nature of the performances.
“Last year, ACT performed a courtroom show, and two years ago we did a courtroom show, so we wanted to really make sure that it was not like anything we’d done,” said Robert O’Connor, a senior sociology major who co-directed the show with graduate counseling education student John Eldis and co-wrote the show with Eldis and senior English secondary education double major Bree Florek. “This is the first murder mystery we’ve had in some time that actually had multiple endings, and I think it worked really well.”
In a show with multiple endings, sometimes the audience is left wondering what the other outcomes could have been. Not so with this performance, as the cast showed both endings — one in which Brandon Weatherby is found guilty and confesses that he not only did it, also but wishes to kill more members of his family, and the other showing the downtrodden Henry Blake wrongly convicted as Weatherby confesses to the audience anyway.
“One thing we wanted to make sure of during the writing process was that each ending was super clear-cut,” Eldis said. “And obviously one of them is the good ending and one is the bad ending.”
Luckily, the audience chose to convict the right man, showing that even an oversized jury watching a comedy does not always judge in error.
(12/02/13 8:00pm)
A rough two weeks to open the season ended on a high note for the College’s men’s basketball team as it picked up its first win of the season this past Saturday, Nov. 30.
The Lions (1-5, 0-2) had faced little but disappointment before the win, losing each of their first two games by three points and the next three in blowouts by double digits.
The College began the season against The City College of New York, eventually falling 76-73 after City hit a buzzer-beater. Sophomore forward Bobby Brackett — in his first regular season game with the team — led the Lions with 21 points and 17 rebounds, while junior guard Jayson Johnson contributed 20 points.
Up next was Western Connecticut University, a contest that saw the Lions battle back and forth with the visiting Colonials in their first home game of the season before being dropped 83-80. In another strong showing, Brackett racked up 27 points — including several crowd-raising dunks — to lead all scorers, and junior forward Alex Fox kept the College in the game until the final seconds with two cold-blooded threes as time ran down.
“We needed (the late threes), honestly,” Fox said. “They gave me the ball, I just had to get the shot up. You don’t have much time to think about it. You’ve just got to get it done.”
The College’s third game didn’t go any better. In its first NJAC game, the team fell to William Paterson 87-69. Despite the lopsided score, the contest never felt like a blowout, as the team didn’t display signs of panic despite the numbers on the scoreboard. Leading the charge again was Brackett, who put up 18 points and 15 rebounds, with Johnson netting 11 and freshman guard Eric Klacik chipping in 10.
“We just have to fix a lot of little things,” Johnson said. “Mainly defense. We gave up a lot of transition points, which broke the game out. We need to make it our best effort to get back on defense (and) try to stop them in transition, try to run the offense rather than just letting them run up and down the court and get points.”
Making adjustments will be the difference between a successful season and last year’s form.
“We’ll be fine by the middle of the year. We just have to fix a lot of little things,” Brackett said. “We’ll do it sooner rather than later.”
One definite highlight of the team’s opening week came when Klacik was named Rookie of the Week by the NJAC after starting all three of the team’s games and averaging seven points and three assists.
Another setback was to come in the form of the College’s worst loss of the season so far, in a 65-46 defeat to Richard Stockton despite solid games from junior forward Jason Chalmers, who had 11 points and 9 boards, and Brackett, who continued to lead the Lions with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
The team’s final loss of the opening weeks was dealt by Bridgewater College, 78-68, even though five Lions scored in double digits. Turnovers and transition defense continued to be an issue for the College, as the defense allowed 24 points off of turnovers and 18 on the break.
Ending the losing streak was a winning effort put forth by the team against Centenary College this weekend, as the Lions prevailed 78-70, thanks to a balanced scoring attack led by junior forward Skyelar Ettin and Chalmers, who had 17 and 16 points, respectively. The win came as the College connected on over 55 percent of their shots from deep.
“It was nice for the guys to get a win,” head coach Kelly Willaims said. “We haven’t played badly in previous games, we just had too many mental mistakes with unforced turnovers that changed the momentum of some of the earlier games.”
The Lions can draw from the win over Centenary, though, as they enter the NJAC season.
“Hopefully we will gain some confidence from our performance against Centenary,” Williams said. “Bobby Brackett has been off to a good start and now Jason Chalmers and Skye Ettin are playing better as well, which is a must for us to be a good team. Jayson Johnson has struggled early in the season but had a great floor game on Saturday, which is encouraging as we move into conference play.”
The coach, much like his players, is certain that the team needs no more than small tweaks and adjustments to make sure this win is followed by more.
“Our effort has been great over the first six games. Now we have to continue to concentrate on our execution for 40 minutes,” Williams said. “Our goal from day one was to get better every day, and for the most part we have. Hopefully that will result in more wins throughout the season.”