PDF for Tuesday, September 23, 2014

s exual assault prompts prayer service

Members

of

the

Notre Dame

community

gather at the Grotto to pray for an end to sexual violence

By MARGARET HYNDS news writer

r oughly 100 members of the university community gathered at the g rotto on monday afternoon for a student-led “p rayer service for healing,” sponsored by n otre d ame’s student government. The prayer service was organized following an e-mail alert sent by notre d ame s ecurity p olice ( ndsp ) on Friday afternoon informing students, faculty and staff that a sexual assault had been reported in a women’s dorm on the northeastern area of campus.

The alert, the first one the

community has received this school year, sparked the prayer service, which kept with a tradition started by student body president emeritus a lex c occia and student body vice president emeritus nancy Joyce last fall.

s enior Francis v u opened the service with a prayer.

“ we gather in the peace of the sacred g rotto, joined together, united in c hrist to support and pray,” he said.

v u asked those in attendance to pray not only for the healing of the victims, but for the perpetrators as well.

see prayer service paGe 5

project heal promotes healthy living Professor and team discover star

By HALEIGH EHMSEN

a ssociate saint mary’s e ditor

s aint m ary’s senior m ackenzie w oods has seen p roject heal make a difference on campus since it was recognized as a campus organization last spring. heal stands for h elp to e at, a ccept and l ive, and the s aint m ary’s chapter is one of several in a larger national nonprofit organization that aims to contribute to education about eating disorders and support for those who struggle with such diseases.

w oods said eating disorders affect roughly 30 million a mericans, yet the diseases are often overlooked, especially on s aint m ary’s campus. p roject heal is a resource for those who are faced with unhealthy body images and eating disorders, providing women with a positive outlet and support system, she said.

“ p roject heal’s national goal is to provide scholarship funding for people with eating disorders who cannot afford treatment,

see proJecT heal paGe 4

Rivers receives Award of Appreciation

By OWEN LANE news writer

a ssistant d irector of the Kellogg i nstitute for i nternational s tudies h olly

r ivers received the 11th c ollege of a rts and l etters’ a ward of a ppreciation from d ean John T. m c g reevy on s ept. 10.

r ivers received the award for her 12 years of work at the Kellogg i nstitute, where she has primarily

served as an advisor to undergraduates applying to the i nstitute’s student programs. m c g reevy read a laudatory recommendation letter from a faculty member at the award ceremony, according to a Kellogg i nstitute press release.

“ h olly is the life force of an astonishing array of undergraduate programming at the Kellogg i nstitute,” m c g reevy read. “ s he works endlessly to innovate new

and better programs for undergraduates.”

m c g reevy’s predecessor as dean, m ark r oche, created the c ollege of a rts and l etters a ward of a ppreciation 14 years ago.

m c g reevy said the award is typically given to someone who assists in the mission of the c ollege of a rts and l etters.

m c g reevy cited r ivers’s efforts as being crucial to helping students in

the c ollege of a rts and l etters obtain opportunities through the Kellogg i nstitute.

“[ r ivers] has helped assist students with opportunities in undergraduate research going towards a senior thesis, study abroad and sometimes even language learning,” m c g reevy said.

“ i t is much more likely than it was a generation ago

see rivers paGe 4

By DAN DeTORO news writer

d r. Timothy c b eers, n otre d ame c hair in a strophysics, and an international team of astronomers have discovered a low-mass star in the m ilky way galaxy that could

help explain the origin of elements in the universe. The star exhibits the peculiar chemical abundance ratios associated with the process of creating new atomic nuclei (nucleosynthesis) in a firstgeneration very-massive star, according to a university

see sTar paGe 5

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Policies

Question of the Day:

If you could study abroad anywhere in the world where would you choose?

Christina Fernandez sophomore ryan hall “barcelona.”

Emma Fleming junior ryan hall “disney world.”

Margaret Swinehart sophomore welsh Family hall “rome.”

Ryan McMullen sophomore Keough hall “l ithuania.”

Nicholas Lombardo sophomore Keough hall “iceland.”

Mark Shealy sophomore Keough hall “bahamas.”

Today’s Staff

Corrections

The observer regards itself as a professional publication and strives for the highest standards of journalism at all times. we do, however, recognize that we will make mistakes. i f we have made a mistake, please contact us at (574) 631-4541 so we can correct our error.

p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Praise and worship. Wednesday ND Alert Test Campus-wide 1:45 p.m. Test of emergency alert system.

Are You Getting the Signal? McKenna Hall 7 p.m. Improv show about gender issues.

Mindful Meditation Coleman-Morse

SMC professor delights at Chinese universities

By EMILIE KEFALAS news writer

saint mary’s very own music man, professor Jeffrey Jacob, spent three weeks of his summer on tour performing at beifang and guiyang university in china, where he showed off his chops in classical western piano music and his own contemporary compositions.

a chinese friend of Jacob’s invited him to perform overseas after hearing him perform compositions from several fellow pianists, Jacob said. impressed by Jacob’s talent and fascinated by his mix of western and contemporary music style, Jacob’s friend offered him the opportunity to perform with and teach music students, he said.

“my friend, he’s a composer, and i met him at a conference here in the u s.,” Jacob said.

“There was a work of his performed, and i asked him if he had any piano music. i recorded myself playing it, and i made a cd of it. he was really grateful, and he said, ‘i can arrange a trip to china if you want me to.’ he said it would be a really good experience,” Jacob said.

This summer was Jacob’s second visit with students and faculty at chinese universities, he said. because both universities are very large, he stayed at hotels specifically for university guests, he said.

The experience was a

wonderful and memorable one for Jacob, but the best part for him was the social interaction with the chinese people, he said.

“They were friendly. They were curious. it was just amazing,” Jacob said. “at both universities, a group of faculty members would take me out to a fancy restaurant. a ll restaurants have private rooms, and the food was just wonderful. i really love chinese food. That was nearly every night. They wanted to talk with me, know about my career, about saint mary’s college, which i was very happy to put a plug in for the school. i got the opportunity to see what life was like in china.”

at both universities, Jacob played two solo piano recitals, one of a repertoire of famous western composers and the other of his own contemporary compositions, he said.

“it was a very intense experience,” he said. “They are very interested in western music. They have a long history of traditional chinese music, but right now, they’re more interested in western music. students can major in traditional chinese music or western music. The main instrument they’re interested in is the piano. [The school is] having trouble getting them interested in strings. everybody wants to play the piano, so they were very happy to get a pianist.”

paid a dverT isemen T

For his experimental, more modern recital, Jacob was uncertain as to how it would be received by students.

“my specialty is contemporary music, very wild. They asked for that recital. i didn’t know how they would take it, but they were just very interested,” he said. “i invited students to come up after the recital, come up to the piano, look at the scores. There was just a tremendous amount of interest in western music.”

Jacob also gave lessons every day to both faculty members and students, which were formatted as a master class for music majors, he said.

“i would give a lesson to a particular student, but there would be as many piano students who wanted to observe … watching and observing and taking notes,” he said. “i was astonished, [because] usually at a large master class, there will be 25 to 30 students. They required all of the music majors to come to it, so they were listening to my master class. There were over 400 people listening to my master class.”

The most challenging aspect of his interactions with students was not the music but the language barrier, Jacob said.

“it was tricky, because they don’t speak english. That’s the hot topic now — everybody wants to learn english,” he said.

Jacob’s chinese friend who

had invited him served as his personal translator, as he is completely bilingual in both chinese and english, Jacob said.

“he was born and raised in china. he was a violinist. he was the head of music at a university in china. Then he decided he wanted to further his education, so he brought his family to the u s. to get his doctorate. he’s been in the u s for 11 years. he had no trouble translating, but it was hard for him because i said a lot of stuff, so he had to translate a lot of stuff,” Jacob said.

Jacob even helped students with their english-speaking skills after his shows, he said.

“There were some students who came to my recitals, and i noticed these two students hanging around afterwards,” he said. “They wanted to practice their english, and i said, ‘absolutely.’ i went out for tea with them and spent a couple hours with them. mandarin chinese is a completely different way of communicating. it’s very difficult to become even moderately fluent in both [english and chinese]. That’s a goal of mine.”

Jacob said he was active every day, not only teaching and performing but also taking in the chinese culture.

“it was the social component of the trip that was the most satisfying,” he said. “it was just

really overwhelming, the generosity of the chinese. it was just wonderful.”

if there is any element Jacob wants to share with his students about his experience touring in china, it is the chinese work ethic, he said.

“[music students] are expected to practice a lot. it’s not uncommon for a student to practice eight hours a day,” Jacob said. “w hat was really stunning to me was how social the chinese were. For example, in the evenings in the cities, everybody goes outside. They’ll wave to their friends. it’s an extremely social culture. it was difficult to walk because there were so many people, and everybody was very relaxed. They were just having a great time. They were all out with their friends and their relatives. in china, the family unit is sacrosanct. sometimes while out, you’d see two, three generations with other families with their friends.”

Jacob has an extensive career in music performance and composition, having traveled around the world performing and recording with a variety of people, but he said he would love to perform again for the chinese people because of their wonderful hospitality and keen interest in his craft.

Contact Emilie Kefalas at ekefal01@saintmarys.edu

Campus Ministry launches discussion group

By GABRIELA MALESPIN news writer

c ampus m inistry recently established c ross e xamination, a new studentled discussion group format that aims to answer pressing questions on c atholic doctrine and provide an educational format for students with a variety of faith backgrounds.

b rett p erkins, campus minister and one of the developers of c ross e xamination, said c ampus m inistry designed the groups to provide students with a more accessible way to engage in conversations and introduce students who might not have had a strong background in c atholic doctrine to fundamental concepts of c atholic dogma. p erkins said the discussion format with student leaders will provide the

participants with an interactive way to explore their faith.

“They’re open to students of any background, whether they’re c atholic students who have questions about the faith that they’re already practicing, or if they’re coming from any other faith tradition or none at all and just have questions about this c atholic universe that surrounds them at n otre d ame,” p erkins said. “ i t doesn’t require any kind of commitment to sign up for the whole semester. p eople are able to drop in at any time.”

a ccording to p erkins, the structure of c ross e xamination consists of eight discussion groups spread throughout various dorms around campus as well as a graduate student group at Fischer, o ’ h arag race g raduate r esidences

and an off-campus group at i rish r ow. u pperclassmen with experience in campus ministry will lead the groups, which will feature an interactive question-and-answer format in which students can submit questions regarding c atholic doctrine to student leaders and receive answers during the meetings. p erkins said the primary goal of c ross e xamination is to provide a more active context for students to explore different hot-button topics in faith.

“ i f it leads someone to investigate more about c atholicism, so much the better, but that’s not the principal aim of the ministry. it’s really to help students find answers to questions about the church in a spirit of intellectual inquiry,” p erkins said. “ we just ask that they come ready to be honest with the questions that they have and

being willing to listen with an open mind and an open heart

“If it leads someone to investigate more about Catholicism, so much the better, but that’s not the principal aim of the ministry. It’s really to help students find answers to questions about the church in a spirit of intellectual inquiry.”

Brett Perkins campus minister

to the response so that they hopefully walk away with a

better understanding of what it actually is that we believe as c atholic c hristians.” e mma c ollis, a senior and one of the student leaders of c ross e xamination, said she was motivated to participate in the program after her experience with faithbased conversations during her study abroad in s pain. c ollis said she hopes c ross e xamination will help students understand c atholic doctrine in greater depth.

“The idea of the group meetings is to get together in a common place and have a conversation about the c atholic faith,” c ollis said. “ i hope that it will be an opportunity for people to come to get their questions answered and to find out what the c hurch actually says.”

Contact Gabriela Malespin at gmalespi@nd.edu

Snite Museum showcases classic cars exhibit

By ROBBIE RYAN news writer

The s nite museum of a rt opened a new exhibition a ug. 17 that showcases rare classic cars from the Jack b s mith Jr. a utomobile c ollection. a dmission to the museum is free and open to the public.

The exhibit contains four classic models: a 1923 s tudebaker b ig s ix s peedster, a 1932 p ackard l ight e ight r oadster, a 1931 c adillac s eries 355 a Fleetwood d ual c owl p haeton and an awardwinning 1932 a uburn 8-100 a s peedster.

The a uburn s peedster is located in the main lobby while the rest of the exhibit is located toward the back right of the

museum. v isitors are allowed to walk around the cars and enjoy a near 360-degree view. p laques containing pertinent history and information are displayed on nearby walls. p hotographs are allowed.

Jack b s mith Jr. is an entrepreneur and president of g aska Tape, i nc., which is based in e lkhart, i ndiana. s mith lent these four pieces of his collection to the museum after c huck l oving, the director of the s nite museum, approached him with an idea for the exhibition.

“The university of notre d ame as a whole has always had an interest in automobile design,” l oving said. “This exhibit brings in a different crowd to the museum than we

are used to. m any fathers and sons are interested and visit the exhibit. Football weekends bring in many of these types of visitors.”

v ivian l av ine, co-owner of l av ine r estorations, i nc., which works on both a merican and e uropean classic cars, helped maintain s mith’s cars for approximately a year. l a v ine’s company was involved in the maintenance and transportation of s mith’s collection. s he said s mith’s cars, which were certified as classic by the c lassic c ar c lub of a merica, were noticeable because of their “ornate” look.

“These cars are very distinctive, not like today,” she said. “[ w hen you were driving

in that era], you knew very well what [type of] car it was that was coming at you.”

s mith said he hopes visitors appreciate the beauty of these “sculptures on wheels.” he said he enjoyed the thought of having his cars on display for others to appreciate.

“nd is a great institution,” he said. “i am flattered to have it in the s nite museum. i’ve always loved cars … i didn’t find these cars, they found me.”

a ccording to the notre dame press release, smith is a member of the d eb artolo c enter for the performing a rts a dvisory c ouncil at the university of notre dame, where he and his wife l aura d a rauz smith fund the

l aura and Jack b oyd smith Jr. e ndowment for e xcellence in performing a rts. The couple also supports the notre dame summer shakespeare program and has previously supported a fellowship in the mendoza s chool of business, the smith l ibrary c ollection in business and teaching labs within the Jordan hall of s cience.

The s nite museum is open Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and s aturday and s unday 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. The museum will showcase the classic car exhibit until nov. 30. There will be a free public reception for the exhibit held on sunday.

Contact Robbie Ryan at rryan5@nd.edu

super sibs club offers mentorship opportunities

By ABIGAIL PIPER news writer

notre d ame provides a wide variety of service opportunities in which students can engage, yet one club in particular focuses on a highly-original opportunity. s uper s ibs is a service club on campus that allows students who have siblings with disabilities to mentor children in the community who also have siblings with disabilities.

a dam Kourajian, a notre d ame senior and president of s uper s ibs, said the club is one of the most unique clubs on campus.

“it has a — i guess you could say — a bit of a high bar of entry,” Kourajian said. “ w hat we do is we take students who have siblings with physical

or mental disabilities … and we work with kids in the s outh b end, m ishawaka [and] m ichiana areas who also have siblings with disabilities.”

Kourajian said the club was formed several years ago by 2011 notre d ame alumnus s oeren p alumbo. The club grants students the opportunity to relate to other children who have a sibling with a disability and act as mentors for the children.

“The whole idea is you know, ‘i’ve been there, i’ve done that,’ … we can talk about the difficulties of perhaps traveling as a family with a disabled sibling or perhaps the difficulties of family reunions, and just awkward social situations and the different sibling dynamic that is often associated with growing

up with a sibling with a disability,” Kourajian said.

Kourajian said the club organizes several different activities throughout the year with the children the members mentor.

“ we meet up with the kids about five or six times a semester,” Kourajian said. “o ur best-received event is when we eat at s outh d ining h all with the kids. They love it. o therwise, we meet up and we do s ib c hats. … we play games with the kids and we also have discussions surrounding the unique family situations that everyone finds themselves in.”

Kourajian said that the club, while focused on the children, is also a worthwhile experience for the students involved.

e lizabeth d e l ucia, a sophomore and treasurer of the club, said the club has been a successful and enjoyable extracurricular activity.

“ w hen we get to come together and talk about our experiences growing up with siblings with disabilities, it helps us realize that some of us have very similar experiences,” d e l ucia said. “it’s a lot of fun. They’re really cute kids, and it’s fun hanging out with them.”

l ooking forward, Kourajian said his main focus is advertising and growing the club’s membership.

“[ c urrently] we have about 10 students in the club, and then we have about 15-20 kids who are there at any given night, ages 7-15.” Kourajian said. “e xpansion is my

number one goal.”

Kourajian said having a sibling with a disability is necessary in order to relate to the children, but it makes finding students for the club difficult.

“it is such a unique opportunity. i f you could do it, i think it would really be a waste if you didn’t do it, both for yourself and the children you could have a positive impact on,” Kourajian said. “e very notre d ame student wants to do some form of service, right? s o, why not do a form of service that you are uniquely qualified to do?”

Kourajian strongly encourages students who have a sibling with a disability to email him at akouraji@nd.edu

Contact Abigail Piper at apiper2@nd.edu

s enior a llison l eddy, a resident assistant in c avanaugh, delivered a call to action focusing on the responsibility of the community in ending sexual violence on campus.

“o n Friday, the day we all received the first email report of the year, the w hite house launched a national campaign called ‘it’s o n us’ to end sexual assault,” l eddy said. “This movement seeks to bring awareness to and support survivors of sexual assaults on college campuses across the country. w hile this ambitious and worthy campaign took life in washington, our community in s outh b end feels the impact of this problem closer to home and to our hearts.

“ we are not any college; we are not any community. we are nd w hen we chose to attend this university, which seeks to educate the mind and the heart, we chose to be more,” l eddy said.

“o ne is too many. w hat affects one of us affects all of us.”

i n 2013, the w hite house launched a sexual assault prevention campaign with the tagline “o ne is Too m any.” o n campus, c occia

and Joyce adopted the mantra and began notre d ame’s own “o ne is Too m any” campaign, which involved pledge cards signed and placed outside dorm rooms, an online petition and videos put together by student government.

This year, student body vice president m att d evine told The o bserver that sexual assault prevention may take off in a different direction.

“ we had a lot of great visibility with ‘o ne is Too m any’ last year. p erhaps this is an opportunity to move in some way; we’re looking at more action words … if there’s something we can do to incorporate the idea of an active bystander into the title, then we’d like to,” d evine said.

“The prayer service today is very important, because it’s the first one. it’s the firstyear students’ first introduction to something like this, and it’s important for them to understand that this is our response,” d evine said.

s enior g race c arroll ended the prayer service with an invitation for all to light a candle at the g rotto and to continue praying for an end to sexual violence.

“ w hen the light shines in the darkness, the darkness cannot overcome it,” she said.

Contact Margaret Hynds at mhynds@nd.edu

been receiving students from other colleges,” r ivers said.

that students will travel or work outside of the u nited s tates,” m c g reevy said. “a nd we are trying to prepare them for that environment.”

r ivers cited the recent deluge of congratulations from her fellow faculty as being one of the best parts about receiving the award.

“ i t definitely made my summer one of the nicest i ’ve had working here,” r ivers said about winning the award.

i n addition to r ivers’s advising work, she also travels every summer to many of the different locations in which the Kellogg i nstitute has programs.

“ i nitially, nearly all of the students in the i nternational s tudies program were in the c ollege of a rts and l etters. o ver time, the i nstitute has

r ivers also noted how the majority of students in the i nstitute’s programs are political science majors, but recently students studying through the i nstitute have had varying majors, such as business and pre-professional.

r ivers said becoming involved in the Kellogg i nstitute’s programs is a great advantage to n otre d ame students entering the job market.

“ m any people are graduating with a degree. s tudents going through the Kellogg i nstitute show that they take the initiative,” r ivers said.

“They show that they are flexible by learning languages and immersing themselves within a new culture.”

Contact Owen Lane at olane@nd.edu

press release.

The group of astronomers published their study, entitled “a chemical signature of first-generation very-massive stars,” in the a ug. 22 issue of the journal “ s cience.”

The star has a unique set of chemical ratios that have never been seen before, b eers said. using highresolution spectroscopic instruments on the s ubaru Telescope located in h awaii, b eers and his team, comprised of astronomers from Japan and Korea, observed a star in the halo region of the m ilky way galaxy 300 parsecs (or about 1000 light years) away.

“ we are essentially reconstructing a stellar history from the chemistry of objects we discovered today,” b eers said.

The study of ancient stars and their origins is known as g alactic archaeology, he said.

“This was the first example of an ancient star whose elements had to have been produced by another star that was much more massive, maybe several hundred times the mass of the sun,” b eers said.

b eers compared the formation of early stars to the

p roject Heal

con T inued F rom page 1

to promote healthy body image and self-esteem and to serve as a testament that full recovery from an eating disorder is possible,” w oods said.

w oods said it is estimated that 25 percent of college students suffer from eating disorders.

“Those statistics are staggering, and i believe these are issues we must bring to the limelight, especially on an all-women’s campus,” w oods said.

w oods fully understands the struggles brought on by eating disorders, as she herself has faced the challenge of overcoming anorexia.

“a s a recovered anorexic, i know all too well the feelings of loneliness and unworthiness that accompany an eating disorder,” w oods said. “ s aint m ary’s is a tight-knit sisterhood, and we need to be empowering and building each other up. you never know what your fellow sister may be going through.”

a s the founder and chapter leader of p roject heal at s aint m ary’s, w oods has big plans for the semester, including fundraising and awareness events. o n Thursday, the Five g uys

pollution of a river. “ you have a massive star that was formed out of pure b ig-b ang material, pristine, hydrogen, helium, a little bit of lithium [and] nothing else,” he said. “ w hen that star exploded, it created heavier elements, which then polluted pristine gas around it. it’s that polluted gas which carries the fingerprint of the progenitor

“We

are essentially reconstructing a stellar history from the chemistry of objects we discovered today.”

Timothy Beers Chair in Astrophysics

that the star we discovered formed from.

“ i f you can go back and find the almost-pristine, perfect, unpolluted stars, you know you have to be at the beginning,” b eers said.

The star is approximately 12- to 13-billion-years-old, approaching the age of the 14-billion-year-old universe, b eers said.

“The chemistry tells us this star was born at least 10-billion-years-ago, because if it were born any later, it would have formed out

franchise located on e ddy s treet will host a d ine and d onate night for the chapter.

“ m ention p roject heal

“Saint Mary’s is a tight-knit sisterhood, and we need to be empowering and building each other up. You never know what your fellow sister may be going through.”

Mackenzie Woods senior Saint Mary’s

smc [at Five g uys on Thursday] and a portion of the day’s sales will be donated to our organization,” w oods said.

The s aint m ary’s chapter of p roject heal also plans to contribute to the national scholarship fund for treatment, which is made possible through donations of more than thirty p roject heal chapters.

“ e ach quarter, [the national chapter of] p roject heal reviews applications for the scholarship and grants money for treatment to a qualifying individual,” w oods said. “ s ince its

of gas that was polluted to a higher degree,” b eers said. “ w hen people think ancient, they often think far away. w hat many people find fascinating is that these are objects in our own galaxy. They’re … right here. it’s just that we can recognize them as markers of this early history. you don’t have to go to the edge of the universe to study the very beginning of it, in the chemical sense they are pristine fossils.” a ccording to a university press release, the star is the first such star identified in the m ilky way. The astronomers hope to discover more stars similar to this one, and refine their analysis in order to confirm the existence of very-massive stars in the first generation. s uch stars could have contributed to the development of supermassive black holes like the one at the center of the m ilky way.

b eers said he is currently searching the universe for more stars like this one using the l arge b inocular Telescope in a rizona, which is operated by a research consortium.

“This discovery is one of many along the way,” b eers said.

Contact Dan DeToro at ddetero@nd.edu

founding in 2008, p roject heal national has raised over $400,000 and has sent eleven applicants to residential and intensive outpatient treatment.”

w oods said p roject heal hopes to host guest speakers, screen documentaries and open-forum discussions to educate and promote healthy body image and self-esteem.

The chapter also plans to sell merchandise on campus and offer a canvas-painting event to create awareness of p roject heal’ s mission.

a s interest grows from a ctivities n ight and by word of mouth, w oods said she hopes to expand the mission into an awareness certification program to reach the larger community.

“… m embers of p roject heal learn how to lead by example in being positive in their comments toward others and refraining from body bashing,” w oods said. w oods said more information on p roject heal is available on the club’s Facebook page — p roject heal s aint m ary’s — or on i nstagram @projectheal_ smc. s tudents can also get in contact with the chapter at saintmarys@theprojectheal.org.

Contact Haleigh Ehmsen at hehmse01@saintmarys.edu

The future of the U.K.

a cheesy love affair

Keri O’Mara graphics e ditor

at first glance, my past weekend was no different than an average college weekend. i got together with friends, listened to excessive amounts of missy elliot and ordered some pizza. pretty standard “college.” however, it was an uncharacteristically pleasant pizza-ordering experience that provided me with the opportunity for an extreme shift in perspective. it all began with a call to domino’s™ on a fateful saturday. i was privileged enough to speak with shawn, a friendly pizza spokesman clearly eager to please his customer from the moment he picked up the phone. you’re probably wondering how i came to know shawn’s name or why i’m so excited about something as simple as adequate customer service. To answer your question, i asked his name in order to break down the patron-server barrier between us. i’ve found through past interactions that simply asking someone’s name is a symbol of courtesy and an efficient social equalizer. rather than just demanding this stranger to bring me food on demand, i’d use this as an opportunity to show genuine interest in this individual. once i introduced myself to shawn, a whole world of conversational opportunity opened up for us. not only did he enthusiastically inform me of the store’s $4.99 parmesan bread bites and Fanta special, but he also proved to be a highly like-minded individual to myself. i would go so far as to compare our phone-based relationship to that of Joaquin phoenix and scarlett Johannson’s voice in the movie ‘her.’ i told this to shawn, and it turns out we also share a moderate phobia of Joaquin phoenix, simply furthering our compatibility. i couldn’t help but feel elated when i hung up with shawn, since i knew both our nights were improved by our unexpectedly enjoyable phone chat. by simply taking the time to get to know shawn, ask about his night and share a movie preference, i found shawn had a willingness to open up and engage in some non-pizza-related banter, which i assume was probably refreshing during a long shift of taking food requests. our mutual joy was confirmed when my pizza arrived, with an extra topping that was even better than sausage. on the pizza box was a heartfelt sharpie message from my siri in shining armor himself, reading, “Keep being awesome. - shawny poo.” This small message of support was important to me, confirming i had helped to brighten shawn’s night in the same way he had mine. i highly recommend you get to know your pizza delivery boy or anyone taking time to make your life a little easier. you never know what you’ll learn about another human being if you allow yourself to connect on a fundamental human level, or even what extra toppings they might throw your way. oh, and to shawn, if you’re out there, keep being awesome.

Keri O’Mara at komara@nd.edu

Kitty Baker v iewpoint columnist

The union Jack. a n iconic symbol that appears on everything from high fashion to car decals. The flag that was created to represent the strong unity between scotland and e ngland, by intertwining the flag of e ngland ( st. g eorge’s cross) and the flag of scotland ( saint a ndrew’s cross), stands as a symbol of the connection that has been tested and still remains, although shaken.

l ast Thursday, scotland put to a democratic vote whether or not to stay in its 307-year-old union with e ngland, formally known as the united Kingdom. w hile the eventual outcome came out in favor of the “better Together” campaign and a “no” vote, the win was not a landslide, with only 55 percent of scotland’s voting populace choosing to remain a part of the u.K. 85 percent of established voters exercised their right, proving that politics can still remain relevant in an era that is overshadowed by disillusionment and hostility towards “politics.”

a s a result of the scotland act of 1998, the scottish people were given their own parliament and along with this, the power to make laws on “devolved matters” (several more powers were given over to this parliament in the scotland act 2012). however, the u.K. parliament has certain powers that are its alone, mostly concerning u.K. or international decisions, which are referred to as “reserved matters.”

These include, according to the scottish parliament website, broadcasting, foreign policy, defense, immigration, etc.

The “yes scotland” campaign, headed by a lex salmond, the First m inister of scotland (he has said that he will be stepping down after this defeat, but will remain as a member of scottish parliament) wanted completely devolved powers. he and his campaigners promised that being independent would allow scots to make their own future, instead of being dependent on a parliament that is not aligned with many scottish voters (currently, there is a Tory (conservative) government in place in e ngland, and much of scotland votes l abour). The independence campaign’s message was, according to the “yes scotland” website, that by becoming independent it could make “the right choices for our society and our economy.”

The no “better Together” campaign, launched by a listair darling, the former c hancellor of the e xchequer under former p rime m inister g ordon brown, represented the voice of those who wished to remain the united Kingdom,

and included prominent u.K. politicians such as david cameron, the current conservative p rime m inister, and other british figures like J.K. rowling.

david cameron, towards the end of the battle for hearts and minds, made promises to the scottish people, in hopes that it would turn the tide and help to bring favor to remaining with the u.K. a mong the promises he made were increased taxing, spending, and welfare powers given to the scottish parliament.

now, the question remains, why did scotland vote to stay a part of the united Kingdom? The “better Together” campaign, according to one bbc article, always had the edge (the bbc has come under fire from many in the “yes scotland” campaign for having biased coverage, a reminder to read a variety of news sources). “better Together” always had a slight majority. This majority was threatened as the time to vote neared, but in the end, helped the campaign come away with victory. There have also been suggestions that some scots were afraid of the risk that would come if they chose to separate from e ngland. can scotland survive on its own? The “yes scotland” campaign answered with a resounding yes, but it is hard to shake off all doubts. w ith the promises from the u.K. parliament of more devolved powers, for those who were worried about risk, sticking with e ngland seemed the more promising of the two. w hat will be interesting in the coming months is watching how the u.K. will move forward as a still united but fragmented entity. w ill parliament renege on its offers, which the “yes scotland” campaign claims cameron already has done with some of his key proposals for more devolved powers. w hat does it mean for the rest of e ngland? manchester and other cities in the u.K. have long asked for more devolved powers. w ill scotland’s voice send shockwaves throughout this fragile political system?

a s a proud citizen of the united Kingdom, i am happy that scotland chose to remain a part of this auspicious union. however, i hope that this result reminds british politicians that it is their duty to respond to the cares and needs of every citizen. Together, we can move forward, with our flag flying high.

Kitty Baker is a PLS-FTT major, eldest of the Fabulous Baker Girls and proud resident of Cavanaugh Hall (go Chaos) who hails from New York City. She can be contacted at cbaker7@nd.edu

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

The bulletproof football league

trouble? b ecause the referees were asking for what amounted to four hundredths of a percent of the n F l’s $10 billion revenue stream.

i love the n ew o rleans s aints. That football team transformed an entire city into believers, giving people hope that things could get better after a hurricane took so much away from them. i ’ll never forget when they won the s uper b owl in 2009, and the city partied all the way through m ardi g ras. it is because i love the s aints (and you probably love the c hicago b ears) that the n F l seems so resilient in the face of what can only be described as a terrible summer.

p layers were suspended for substance abuse and for domestic violence against their wives and children. b ut when the game comes on, we all tune in. s ure, n F l fans have been shocked by the video of r ay r ice and appalled by the way the league has handled the situation. b ut few people voluntarily turned off the T v when the s eattle s eahawks took on the g reen b ay p ackers in the season opener. The n F l enjoys the type of brand success most retail companies would kill for — it’s untouchable. w hen the n F l referees went on strike in 2012 over a labor dispute, they said the n F l would jeopardize the safety of the players as well as the integrity of the game because the replacement referees wouldn’t be as qualified. n o one who watched football for the first three weeks of that season would disagree with that assessment. p layers, broadcasters and fans complained vehemently about the replacement referees. yet, the n F l stubbornly refused to give in until it was absolutely necessary.

w hy would the n F l go through all of this

The league could get away with it though because, through it all, we never stopped watching the games.

p rofessional football games do not just take place on our T vs, however.

The stadiums are built in the middle of our cities and neighborhoods — billion-dollar buildings that must usually be financed not by the owners of the teams, but by the taxpayers of the cities in which they live. a ccording to a study conducted by a h arvard professor of urban planning, 70 percent of n F l stadiums have been primarily financed by public dollars. n early half of the league’s stadiums have actually accumulated more taxpayer dollars than it took to fully build them.

we spend hundreds of millions of dollars through our taxes alone in order to keep these teams, while the n F l itself operates as a nonprofit “trade group.” it may surprise you, but the n F l has been a non-profit since roughly 1942 and has enjoyed an explicit non-profit designation from c ongress since 1966. h ow many non-profits do you know that can pay their executive $44 million? a nd what’s more, all of this is public information. The battle over tax subsidies for stadiums happens in the public eye. r egardless, even this information certainly hasn’t stopped us from going to the games.

The most recent set of scandals in football have centered on player behavior off the field. These incidents may affect the n F l in a way that requires more than window dressing. b etween the videos,

pictures and police reports, fans have a very good understanding of what happened with r ice, a drian p eterson and even Josh g ordon. These scandals, the kinds that hit closer to home than referee fiascos and taxes, have a chance to strike a chord with n F l fans.

The league looked the other way for five months when one of its stars was accused of domestic abuse. The v ikings owners followed up by trying to get p eterson back on the field days after pictures of his beaten child surfaced. w hen the storylines break through the T v screen and into reality, fans are forced to think about much more than the game.

The fan base of the n F l is at its core made up of families: fathers, mothers and children who want to come together on s unday and watch their teams play.

m ore people watched the b ears come back from 17 points down last week than watched most nba Finals games. The n F l continues to grow, despite all of the negative headlines. b ut if the league continues to spit in the face of its fans by ignoring off-the-field issues and bumbling on the ones it does address, fans may start thinking more about the pictures of p eterson’s son than how their fantasy teams are doing that week. until then, though, i ’ll see you s unday.

Tim Scanlan is a senior finance major with a minor in public service. He is a former resident of Morrissey Manor. He encourages debate on his columns, and can be reached with any comments or questions at tscanlan@nd.edu

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

my Friday morning

make sure they know you won’t be taking no for an answer!”

a t 5:30 a.m., the alarm went off, piercing through the silence of the early morning. i sat up almost immediately — after all, i hadn’t slept much the night before. i was gripped by an unsettling combination of nerves and excitement for the events ahead, tossing and turning in my sleep (or lack thereof). Taking a quick look at myself in the mirror, i couldn’t help but see my hands shake a little bit.

i was nervous and unprepared for what was to come. a flurry of questions ran through my head — will i arrive too early? w ill they be able to offer me what i ’m asking for? w hat if i walk away this morning empty-handed? w hat will my friends, family and colleagues think about me after i ’d been hyping this moment up for so long?

These thoughts and questions flurried through my head as i walked out to the d 6 parking lot this past Friday morning. The brisk s eptember chill didn’t help my shaky hands — rather, it amplified my feelings of uneasiness as i approached my car. The walk seemed significantly longer than the usual five minutes as my feelings of anticipation simply grew stronger. There was a very real chance that, despite all my preparation and passion, i would be denied the fruits of my pursuits this morning. a s i fumbled with my keys and slid them into the ignition, i took a final glance at myself in the mirror.

“ you can do this, m ichael. you’ve been preparing yourself all week. s how them who you are and

it was at that moment that i started my car, leaving the comforts and security of n otre d ame behind and making my way to my much anticipated destination: the verizon w ireless store on 505 west d ouglas r oad. The morning of Friday, s ept. 19, 2014, i had one goal and one goal only — to purchase a s ilver 64 gb i p hone 6 p lus.

The decision to pursue this phone at the verizon store instead of the a pple store in the university p ark m all was quickly made for me as i heard of people lining up at the latter at 5 p.m. Thursday evening. a s i pulled into the parking lot at around 6 a.m., i found a modest line of seven people already formed. b ackpack and blanket in tow, i made my way to claim my rightful spot as the eighth person in line.

o n my right was a sociology graduate student who, aside from dealing with my anxiety over which phone type i wanted, was a nice gal. o n my left was a seasoned veteran of the i p hone waiting game — he had been to the launches for the i p hone 4 and the i p hone 5. b etween the small talk and anticipation, it didn’t take long for the verizon sales representatives to come outside, take down our account information and phone requests and tell us they would welcome customers in waves of 10 in the heated verizon store at 8 a.m. a fter this, another woman came around and took down our preferred model and phone sizes and said she was going to label them for us in the store to expedite the process. i told her i was worried about news stories about shortages of the i p hone 6 p lus model i wanted, and she put her hand on my shoulder

and reassured me everything would be ok. a s the doors opened, the first 10 customers (myself included) flooded into the store and were assigned a random sales representative. m y representative was quite kind and personable (which was much appreciated after waiting in line for two hours), and when it came time for her to get my phone she went to the back of the store for the moment of truth — whether or not i would get the phone i wanted.

w hen she returned after what seemed like forever, she had an i p hone 6 p lus in her hand, but in the 16 gb size, saying that it was the last i p hone p lus the store had in stock in any size or color. Trying to hide my disappointment (and trying to rationalize in my mind that i could somehow downsize from my current 64 gb model), i signed the digital receipt and eagerly opened the plastic on the box. not even 10 seconds after i took the plastic off the box, the lady who arranged for the phone i wanted turned the corner … with the phone she set aside for me. o ne massive guilt trip and conversation with a manager later, i eventually walked out of the verizon store at 8:24 a.m. with my mission accomplished.

a nd don’t worry guys — i wasn’t paying close attention in my p hysics lecture that morning by any stretch of the imagination.

Michael is a junior Science-Business major currently living in Duncan Hall. He would sincerely appreciate emails with feedback or suggestions for future topics at mfliotso@nd.edu

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

By ALEXANDRA LOWERY scene writer

“new girl” fans around the globe will never forget where they were when “The Kiss” happened. nick and Jess were undoubtedly the two characters everyone “shipped” (slang for fans hoping two characters will begin a relationship), and the moment they finally locked lips was one of the more exciting ones i’ve had in my kitchen with a mouthful of chick-fil-a it seems amazing now that the scene i once replayed on youTube approximately 50 times would bring “new girl” to its present state of mediocrity.

last Tuesday, “new girl” premiered its fourth season on Fox to less than stellar ratings, and the blame can be pointed to that moment in the hallway between the two roommates turned lovers.

in theory, it’s brilliant. writers targeting the female 1829 demographic understand that the best way to hook their audience on the first episode is to dangle a potential

couple in our faces and then let us obsess about the prospect of these two locking lips for approximately the next season and a half. a nd it works … until the hookup actually happens.

The inevitable down portion of a television rollercoaster relationship is that precarious place where the audience is angry if the couple breaks up but bored if there isn’t any drama between the couple in question. it’s a thin line to walk, and “new girl” seemed to lose its balance during its third season.

The premiere helped restore some faith to the fandom. The angst about nick and Jess was kept to a minimum and the writers seemed to emphasize the group, the odd community that resides in apartment 4d, rather than the couple. it showed the potential for a nice revert to what made the show hilarious in the first place, and hopefully, the change will revitalize a somewhat lackluster show.

“The mindy project” premiered its third season the same night to most likely much of the same audience. like a horrific, but amazing, episode of déjà vu, the

viewers watched yet another “ship” sail as lead mindy lahiri and love interest danny castellano stumbled through the beginning of their relationship.

Fearful that the show will go the way of another “new girl,” i watched the premiere prepared for the worst but was ultimately hopeful due mostly to the writing of mindy Kaling. without losing the ability to laugh at herself, mindy allowed her character to grow in her relationship with danny. The show’s creator was able to find the humor in a romance between two such totally different characters while simultaneously portraying the chemistry and love there that makes the couple work. both of these single-camera comedies are off to decent starts and worth the watch — if only to see mindy and danny being adorable and the inevitable nick and Jess 2.0 — because let’s face it, we love to see couples get back together even if it’s the second, third or 12th time around.

Contact Alexandra Lowery at lower1@nd.edu

By DREW

last Thursday, after a packed week of class, i rewarded myself with a trip in chicago to see one of my favorite bands, a day to remember. after almost missing the train and sprinting to the arena to make the openers, i finally arrived at the uic pavilion, along with 7,000 other hardcore fans.

i was impressed when show openers and post-hardcore veterans chiodos and sleeping with sirens proved their crowd-moving prowess with songs such as “baby, you wouldn’t last a minute on the creek” and “if i’m James dean, you’re audrey hepburn” (my favorite performances given by each, respectively), but immediately after they finished, 30 minutes of silence ensued. anticipation for the headliner, a day to remember, filled the air. The silence was broken by the blabbering intro to “The downfall of us all,” and when it was time, everyone in the crowd shouted the simple, yet famous lyric, “let’s go.”

if you’ve never heard of the band that put on what turned out to be an amazing performance last week, adTr, comprised of Jeremy mcKinnon (vocals), neil westfall (guitar), Josh woodard (bass), alex shelnutt (drums) and Kevin skaff (guitar), invented the now-common genre mash-up of poppunk and metal core during their early “garage-band” days in ocala, Florida. From a simple, albeit powerful, guitar accompanied by soaring and poppy vocals, to angry growls and heavy chugging, adTr does it all. however, this is

not meant to “scare” you more casual music listeners; the band’s ultimate pop side would not sound out of place on Top 40 radio.

The lights flashed on as mcKinnon and the rest of the band ran on stage to start their set. opening with the song that attracted so much mainstream attention for the band made the crowd go nuts, as fans jumped and sang along to every line. immediately following, the band played “2nd sucks” to satisfy all the die-hard metal core fans in the crowd. This song begins with the single word, “Fight,” followed by a bass drop and moshing that probably hurt quite a few fans’ faces. “homesick,” the title song off the band’s third studio album, was another noteworthy performance. mcKinnon hopped into a humongous hamster ball and ran all over the crowd. luckily, i had already made my way down to the floor for this event.

other favorites from their set include recent hit “right back at it again,” the older fist-pumper “mr. highway’s Thinking about the end” and the heartfelt power-ballad “have Faith in me.” at the end of the set, the crowd wildly chanted for a day to remember to play one more song, only to be treated by the return of the band and an encore of three fan favorites: “if it means a lot to you,” “all signs point to lauderdale” and “The plot bomb the panhandle.” i’ve seen well over 50 bands perform live — a day to remember’s performance topped them all. adTr attained success because their songs fit perfectly in a live setting. The unclean vocals “pump up” the crowd, as was evident last Thursday in chicago, while the

clean vocals provide the crowd with flawless sing-a-longs. all of this is apparent on the group’s 2009 breakthrough, “homesick.” This was followed up by the more poppy 2010 album, “w hat separates me from you.” “homesick’s” opener, “The downfall of us all,” is blasted today throughout high school locker rooms, but the sophomore album’s first single, “all i want,” is the band’s highest-charting song and a fantastic pop-punk anthem. The band followed up with 2013’s “common courtesy,” which stands as a quintessential adTr album that showcases the band in their best light.

The release of “common courtesy” was delayed for nearly a year due to adTr’s pending lawsuit with their label, victory records. Therefore, “common courtesy” was released independently, as the pending lawsuit prevented adTr from signing on with a new label (it is not a secret that sony music entertainment is courting them heavily). in accordance with billboard’s tracking policies regarding digital independent albums, the sales were not tracked until its third week. however, it is projected that its first-week sales would have landed the album at no. 1, the first for a hardcore band.

The future of adTr appears to be filled with promise and sustained success, especially if their live performance is any indication.

Scene Writer Chris Reiche contributed to this article. Contact Drew Kocak at wkocak@nd.edu

in a recent, incredibly moving new yorker story, “This old man,” writer roger a ngell discusses growing old and quotes laurence olivier, who allegedly said in an interview, “inside, we’re all seventeen with red lips.”

The use of olivier’s words likely would not have struck me the way they did if i hadn’t reflected on my own age of 17 just days before. w hile in my car driving from my hometown back to south bend, electronic group ladytron’s song “seventeen” came up on shuffle and began blaring through my car’s speakers.

i’d loved the song since my young teenage years, but i had a different reaction to it this time around. its repetitive lyrics sought to remind me: “They only want you when you’re 17. w hen you’re 21, you’re no fun.”

Though the song is presumably about the fashion and entertainment culture’s fetishization of young girls (later lyrics allude to an audition), the song felt like a personal affront to my 21 years. a fter reminding myself that a ladytron song released at the turn of the millennium was in no way accosting me, i couldn’t help but think of all the other songs i knew that referenced being 17. i went from wondering what was wrong with being 21 (nothing, in my experience) to questioning what was so special about the age 17. it should be noted first that when considering songs about being age 17, there’s something special about the word “seventeen,” if not the age itself: it is three syllables compared to the other teens’ two, and its rhyming potential far surpasses its numerical neighbors. still, there were so many instances of the specific age of 17 in music, and if laurence olivier insists that we’re all 17 inside, looking to songs referencing the age may tell us more about what that means. as was clear in ladytron’s song about being that certain age, 17 is, at least in part, about being wanted or, as it goes, wanting. Joan Jett’s “i love rock ‘n’ roll” tells the tale of scoping out a boy, aged 17, while the cars sing about a girl: “she won’t give up/’cause she’s seventeen/she’s a frozen fire/my one desire” in their single “let’s go.” a nd if being 17 is about feeling those first sparks of attraction and pulls of desire, it’s, without a doubt, best exemplified by meat loaf’s “paradise by the dashboard light.” i can’t even begin to choose a lyric to make an example.

but age 17 isn’t just about sexual awakenings

— it’s about exploration in all aspects. it’s about gaining independence, leaving home and growing up. blitzen Trapper’s “Furr” starts off with a tale of wandering away from home and joining a pack of wolves at 17. Fionn regan sings of following his dreams and confronting loneliness at the same age. with exploration comes, unfortunately, disillusionment, and songs about anxiety and sadness abound. in 1975, Janice ian lamented in “at seventeen” about not being beautiful and the cruelty faced in teenage years. decades later, broken social scene wrote “a nthems for a seventeen year old girl” about losing a friend to the teen world of makeup and high school cattiness. stephen merritt, lead singer of the magnetic Fields, references his teen angst in his song “i don’t want to get over you,” singing about dressing in black and smoking clove cigarettes. meanwhile, tracks like “This year” by the mountain goats and rooney’s “That girl has love” expose the unhappier side of being just shy of adulthood.

Though songs range from loneliness to love to plain old angst, my favorite lyrics about the very specific age of 17 look back on the age with neither regret nor sentimentality. instead, they see the age as a time of discovery and potential. The first is a delightful love song, “you you you you you,” by the 6ths, in which the lead singer confesses, “you make me feel like i’m 17 again. you make everything beautiful and new.”

The second is youth lagoon’s “seventeen,” as the singer/songwriter reflects on advice he was given: “w hen i was 17/my mother said to me/don’t stop imagining/ The day that you do is the day that you die.” it’s advice i like to think lead singer Trevor powers stuck with, as he wails out the song. according to the myriad references to being 17, the age isn’t just one year in a life, but a symbol for growing up and all that comes with it. To be 17 is to be innocent but experienced, bold but afraid, naïve but jaded or beautiful but lonely. The age, in the a merican psyche, is much more than the number of candles on a cake or a three-syllable word that’s catchy to sing — it’s the ultimate time of transition and change. age 17 is the lynchpin in a lifespan, holding together all of the opposites and contradictions exposed or created with age. or maybe it’s none of these things, and being 17 isn’t so special at all. one thing is for certain: an age has never sounded so good.

Contact Allie Tollaksen at atollaks@nd.edu

Playoff picture has yet to form

Brian Hartnett managing e ditor

The only thing we seemed to learn from week Four of college football is that we don’t really know much about college football this year.

w hich teams will make this year’s inaugural four-team college Football playoff?

well, we don’t exactly have a clear picture through the quarter point of the season for most teams.

i n fact, the best thing that could be said about most of the top-25 teams this week is that they found ways to win.

Top-ranked Florida state needed c lemson to be c lemson — that is, make costly late turnovers and fail to convert on opportunities — in order to escape with a 23-17 overtime victory. granted, the seminoles were without heisman Trophy winner Jameis w inston at quarterback, but the inexperience of backup sean maguire doesn’t excuse their 13 rushing yards and eight penalties.

a long those lines, no.

2 oregon needed marcus mariota to be, well, himself to get past upstart washington state. a nd the senior quarterback obliged, throwing five touchdown passes to offset a ducks defense that allowed nearly 500 yards.

no. 3 a labama posted 645 total yards in its 42-21 win over Florida, but the crimson Tide also turned the ball over four times and led by only a touchdown at halftime.

no. 4 oklahoma was tied at halftime in a tough road environment at west v irginia and despite the second-half dominance of freshman running back samaje perine, still allowed over 500 yards to the mountaineers.

no. 5 auburn took a tough road trip to Kansas state and escaped with a six-point win after three turnovers and three missed field goals by the w ildcats.

a nd for the most part, no one in the top 25 really stood out. some teams — i’m looking at you, Texas a& m, m ichigan state and g eorgia — had laughably easy wins, but they came against the likes of eastern m ichigan and winless southern methodist and Troy. other teams, such as byu and nebraska, came out with reasonably impressive wins against acc competition to remain undefeated. but it’s tough to say whether the cougars, which will likely play zero ranked teams the entire season, and the cornhuskers,

which will likely only play two top-25 teams, are threats to crash the playoff party.

a nd yet other teams committed the ultimate sin and lost to unranked teams. no. 8 lsu dug a hole it never could quite get out of and in a rare twist for night games in baton rouge, fell to a then-unranked m ississippi state squad. meanwhile, m issouri dropped a home game to i ndiana, which served as the showcase win on a pretty impressive day for the much-maligned big Ten.

a s much as last weekend failed to clear up the playoff picture, this upcoming weekend may prove just as unhelpful. one team will fall from the unbeaten ranks when ucla and a rizona state play Thursday night, but otherwise, the schedule seems bare of real statement games — barring a major upset like north carolina state over Florida state or a rkansas over Texas a& m

i n fact, the playoff picture might not even come into focus until oct. 4, which might as well be dubbed “sec saturday.”

Two matchups of the conference’s current unbeatens — a labama-m ississippi and Texas a& m-m ississippi state — are on the menu that day, in addition to an equally-intriguing lsu-auburn tilt.

until then, it’s just best to sit back and enjoy playoff predictions that include everyone from the current top four teams to the presence of oneloss teams like m ichigan state, stanford and g eorgia. it will essentially amount to a bunch of speculation that will likely bear little resemblance to the actual playoff race. but is that speculation really a bad thing? part of what makes college football great is its inherent unpredictability and our attempts to makes sense out of it. a ny top-tier team can fall to another team on any given day. a single turnover, tackle or gust of wind could be the factor that changes one team’s playoff fortunes. a nd that holds great value for you, the college football fan. so, don’t worry about whether your team is elite or a playoff lock at the moment. much like the bcs of yore, the college Football playoff will sort itself out and hopefully — this is a big hopefully — get it all right in the end.

Contact Brian Hartnett at bhartnet@nd.edu

The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Colts get back on track against Jaguars

Associated Press

indianapolis — The c olts locker room is suddenly returning to normal.

p layers were cracking jokes and cranking up the music monday and the somber attitude that was around the past two weeks is gone.

a ll it took was one win to put everything in perspective.

“ we’re too young into the season to have a ‘victory monday,’” tight end d wayne a llen said, referring to coach c huck p agano’s traditional reward -- an extra day off. “b ut it (the win) definitely energized us on the plane ride home. it was a lot of fun, and there was a lot of energy in the building today.”

The next challenge is to keep that momentum rolling this weekend when the c olts host division rival Tennessee (1-2).

b ut in i ndianapolis, this was a brand new experience. never before in the a ndrew l uck-p agano era had the c olts lost back-to-back games. s ince 1999, the c olts had only opened 0-2 one other time. a nd after hearing all the talk about the low percentage of teams that make the playoffs after an 0-2 start and the even worse percentage for teams that go 0-3, the c olts were determined to remove themselves from that discussion.

They succeeded with an

nFl | bears 27, JeTs 19

impressive 44-17 rout at winless Jacksonville on s unday.

“it makes everything feel better,” l uck said. “it’s good to have a win, but you realize it’s just one and we’ve got to get our home record back on track now.”

i ndianapolis (1-2) certainly appeared to take a major step forward.

l uck finished 31 of 39 for 370 yards with four touchdowns, a 140.4 quarterback rating and no turnovers for the first time this season. he benefited again from a strong ground game. i ndy has rushed for 313 yards in the last two weeks.

i ndy’s defense, which was gashed by peyton m anning early in the season opener and wore down late against p hiladelphia’s fast-break offense, proved almost impenetrable against the Jaguars in the first half, held tight in the second half and finished with four sacks -- three more than they had in their first two games combined.

The result: i ndy pulled within one game of divisionleading houston and put the fun back in the locker room.

“ you know, winning has that kind of effect,” defensive end c ory r edding said with a smile.

b ut there’s plenty to fix, too.

w hile l uck has reduced his interception total each week and had nine different

receivers with at least two catches s unday, he is still getting sacked and hit too often. r unning back a hmad b radshaw is emerging as a dual threat with three T d receptions in the past two games, but the c olts still need Trent r ichardson to become a bigger presence in a budding ground game.

The defense needs to cut down its penalties, one of which negated a safety s unday, and is still looking for a more consistent pass rush.

“ s ometimes it’s hard to keep them from becoming complacent after a victory,” p agano said. “ we’ve got to do a great job of making sure we don’t take our foot off the gas and keep trying to get better.”

a fter opening the season with back-to-back games against defending division champs, the c olts won’t face another 2013 playoff team on the road all season. p lus, they’ll play three of their next four -- Tennessee, b altimore and c incinnati -- at home.

The way the c olts see things, they got their postseason aspirations righted s unday. w hat they must do now is stay there by keeping things in sync inside and outside the locker room.

“ we didn’t have to go out and reinvent the wheel,” a llen said. “ we just had to go out and play our game.”

Bears hold on to beat Jets

Associated Press

easT ruTherFord, n.J. — The chicago bears took advantage of early mistakes by the sloppy new york Jets.

Then they had to hold their breath before hanging on for a 27-19 victory monday night.

Jay cutler threw two touchdown passes to martellus bennett and ryan mundy returned an interception 45 yards for a score. cutler finished 23 of 38 for 225 yards and a lshon

Jeffery caught eight passes for 105 yards for the bears, who got a 45-yard field goal from robbie gould to make it an eight-point game with 3:10 remaining.

The Jets (1-2) had one last opportunity to tie, getting into bears territory on geno smith’s 51-yard pass to greg salas. but Jeremy Kerley was out of bounds when he caught smith’s desperation fourth-down heave from the bears 9.

cutler took a knee three times to seal the victory for the bears (2-1).

“right now i feel i’m very intelligent on the field,” said bennett, now in his seventh nFl season. “The game is getting a lot easier. i know the offense better. i know what Jay wants.” smith was 26 of 43 for 316 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions — and nearly had a few others. Kerley finished with seven catches for 81 yards, and almost came up with a diving grab off a tipped pass in the end zone on the final drive.

rangers get 9th win in 10 games, 4-3 over a stros

Associated Press

arling T on , Texas — g uilder r odriguez had his first two major league hits, including a tiebreaking rbi single, as the Texas r angers opened their final homestand with a 4-3 victory over the h ouston a stros on m onday night.

r ougned o dor had a threerun triple for Texas, which won for the ninth time in its last 10 games. The r angers got win n o. 63 overall, ensuring that they will avoid their first 100-loss season since 1973.

The 31-year-old r odriguez made his major league debut two weeks ago, when the switch-hitting utility infielder was called up after 13 seasons and 1,095 games in the minors, then the most by any current player before finally getting to the majors. r odriguez got his first

mlb | yanKees 5, orioles 0

Jeter’s

major league rbi in the seventh, his two-out single sending home Jake s molinski and chasing a stros starter n ick Tropeano (1-2). s molinski was hit by a pitch to start the inning.

d erek h olland (2-0) scattered seven hits and allowed three runs, two earned, while pitching through one batter in the eighth. i t was the left-hander’s fifth start since missing the first six months of the season rehabbing from left knee surgery.

r oman m endez finished the eighth before n eftali Feliz pitched the ninth for his 12th save in 13 chances.

r odriguez had already appeared in five games, but m onday was the first that his father got to see him play in the majors. The elder r odriguez arrived from venezuela on s unday night, and sat in the second row near the r angers bench.

w hen his son singled in the third, the elder r odriguez held both his arms in the air. That was the second of three consecutive r angers to reach base before o dor tripled into the left-center field gap.

The a stros got even in the sixth after a leadoff double by Jonathan v illar before an error by r odriguez at third base. Jose a ltuve then had an rbi double, his majorsbest 221st hit, and c hris c arter a sacrifice fly to deep right.

h ouston’s first run came in the fifth when Jake m arisnick had a leadoff single, and scored after a wild pitch and two groundouts.

h olland had escaped unscathed after giving up leadoff hits in each of the first two innings. The r angers turned a double play in the first and h olland picked off m arisnick in the second.

3 RBIs lead Yankees over Orioles 5-0

Wainwright wins 20th game

Associated Press

chicago — a dam wainwright joined c layton Kershaw as the majors’ only 20-game winners, pitching three-hit ball over seven innings, and the st. l ouis c ardinals beat the c hicago c ubs 8-0 on monday night.

wainwright hit the 20-win mark for the second time while matching his careerhigh for victories, and the c ardinals moved a step closer toward their second straight division title.

They remained 2 1/2 games ahead of p ittsburgh in the nl c entral with five to play with the p irates beating a tlanta 1-0. st. l ouis clinched its fourth straight playoff appearance on sunday.

wainwright (20-9) won his fifth straight start and made it look easy, striking out eight and walking one.

he gave up a double to a nthony r izzo with two out in the first and did not allow another hit until back-to-back singles by l uis valbuena and welington c astillo with two out in the seventh.

The only other time

mlb

Associated Press

new yor K — d erek Jeter began his final series at yankee s tadium by breaking open the game with a tworun double, and he had three rbi s to lead the n ew york yankees over the b altimore o rioles 5-0 m onday night.

m ichael p ineda retired his first 13 batters before J.J. h ardy singled sharply to left field, pitching 7 1-3 innings and combining with three relievers on a one-hitter. Jose p irela, the yankees’ team-record 57th player this season, became n ew york’s first player in 33 years to triple in his first big league atbat. h e went 2 for 3 with the go-ahead rbi

d espite the loss, al e ast champion b altimore clinched home-field advantage in an al division series starting o ct. 2 when d etroit lost to the c hicago w hite s ox. The o rioles open the postseason against the wildcard playoff winner or the al c entral champion.

l ikely to miss consecutive postseasons for the first time since 1992 and ‘93, n ew york closed within four games of the second al wild card with six games left.

Fans are being allowed in an hour early before night games during the fourgame series to watch the

40-year-old Jeter take batting practice. a bout 200 were on hand when the retiring captain came out for the first hitting group at about 4:15 p.m., many holding up signs lauding the shortstop, who is sixth on the career hits list.

The crowd of 35,614 stood each time late public address announcer b ob s heppard’s recording introduced the yankees’ last player to wear a single-digit uniform number, and fans remained on their feet throughout each at-bat taking photographs and video. Jeter went 1 for 3 with a walk, hitting a deep flyout, a run-scoring groundout that made it 2-0 in the third and a double down the left-field line on the eighth pitch of his at-bat against wei-y in c hen (16-5) in the fifth. Jeter was serenaded by fans chanting his name throughout the ninth inning.

Jeter is 9 for 20 with three doubles, a home run and six rbi s on his final homestand, raising his batting average seven points to .256. p ineda (4-5) struck out eight, walked one and lowered his era to 1.93. h e got some rare offensive support from the yankees, who had scored 19 runs in his previous 15 big league starts, and was given defensive

help by second baseman s tephen d rew, who made a diving stop on a lejandro d e a za’s first-inning grounder. s hawn Kelley, r ich h ill and d avid p helps finished.

p irela, a 24-year-old who spent 731 games in the minor leagues in seven seasons, made his major league debut in the third. h e worked the count to 1-1 and drove a changeup on one hop to the wall in left-center. p irela ran so hard he stumbled after rounding both first base and second, then slid headfirst into third base, pounded the ground with his right arm, then popped up and clapped five times. The previous yankees player to triple in his first at-bat was s teve b alboni against d etroit on a pril 22, 1981.

i chiro s uzuki, who had reached on third baseman r yan Flaherty’s throwing error, scored from first. p irela hit an opposite-field single to right in the fifth and advanced on b rett g ardner’s walk ahead of Jeter’s double. c hase h eadley added a solo homer into m onument p ark in the eighth off r yan webb. c hen, the o rioles’ winningest left-hander since Jeff b allard went 18-8 in 1989, gave up four runs and six hits in six innings. h e had been 4-0 in seven starts since losing at Toronto on a ug. 6.

wainwright won 20 was in 2010, and that year, victory no. 20 also came at wrigley Field. he got plenty of support in this one, with the c ardinals pounding Travis wood (8-13) for seven runs and eight hits over five innings.

They scored four in the fourth and three in the fifth on the way to their eighth win in 10 games.

m att holliday had two hits and scored two runs. he also drove in one.

m att a dams chipped in with two hits and two rbi s. Jon Jay added two hits and drove in three, capping a four-run fourth with a two-run single to make it 4-0.

holliday also had a runscoring double to left and yadier molina singled in a run in that inning, and the c ardinals broke it open in the fifth.

m att c arpenter led off that inning with a walk and was ruled safe at second tagging on r andal g richuk’s fly to center following a replay review. he scored on holliday’s bloop single to right, and a dams capped the rally with a two-run single to make it 7-0.

| piraTes 1, braves 0; diamondbacKs 6, Twins 2

p irates, d-backs

get wins

Associated Press

p irates 1, b raves 0

a T lan T a — a ndrew

m c c utchen homered, Francisco l iriano won his fourth straight start and the p ittsburgh p irates moved closer to a playoff berth by beating the a tlanta b raves 1-0 m onday night.

The p irates, winners in 10 of their last 12, have a fivegame lead over m ilwaukee with six games remaining for both teams. a ny combination of two p ittsburgh wins or b rewers losses will guarantee the p irates at least a spot in the nl wild-card game for the second straight year.

The p irates still have hopes of winning the nl c entral, but they began the night 2½ games behind first-place s t. l ouis.

m c c utchen, the 2013 nl mvp, hit his 24th homer in the sixth off starter a aron h arang.

p ittsburgh has played three consecutive 1-0 games, winning the past two.

l iriano (7-10) allowed three hits, walked four and struck out seven in six innings.

h e extended his consecutive scoreless streak to 28 innings.

l iriano has a 0.69 era over his last five starts and 39 innings. h e left the game when Jose Tabata pinch-hit in the seventh.

m ark m elancon faced four batters in the ninth to earn his 32nd save in 36 chances.

d iamondbacks 6, t wins 2 minneapolis — Josh c ollmenter pitched six strong innings for his careerbest 11th win, m ark Trumbo homered and the a rizona d iamondbacks beat the m innesota Twins 6-2 m onday night to snap a six-game losing streak.

Trumbo’s two-run shot off r icky n olasco (5-12) — his fourth homer in the last 11 games — capped a five-run fifth for the d iamondbacks, who are 7-11 in interleague play.

c ollmenter (11-8) has allowed two runs or fewer in his last six starts, matching the longest streak of his career. h e’s 3-1 during that span.

Pasquerilla West shuts out Farley in season opener

By CHRISTINE MAYUGA and HUNTER MCDANIEL sports writers

p asquerilla west kicked off its defense of the interhall flag football title with a dominating 26-0 victory over Farley at the l a b ar p ractice c omplex on sunday.

The p urple weasels (1-0), still hot off their championship last year, started off strong and received contributions from standout players, junior quarterback megan Ferowich and sophomore receiver monica b usse, in the win.

“[ megan’s] stepped up,” p asquerilla west senior captain c olleen d oyle said. “[ we] had a late substitution in quarterbacks, and she’s looking pretty good. a lso, our defense looks fantastic.”

The game highlights included a 40-yard touchdown scamper by Ferowich for the

first score of the season, before the defense stepped up with an interception near the end of the first quarter, which led to another touchdown.

The Finest (0-1) put forth a good effort until the final whistle but were hindered by new changes to the roster and coaching staff.

“ we have three new coaches who have never coached flag football before,” Farley senior captain c aitlin smith said. “They got to see the lay of the land and kind of adjust. we’ll adjust our place for the next game on Tuesday.”

o n the other hand, p asquerilla west was led by an experienced group of coaches who had already built a solid relationship with the returning championship team members.

“d efense was a collective effort,” third-year p urple weasels coach senior m ichael Judd said. “ we had a number

mlb | blue Jays 14, mariners 4; whiTe soX 2, Tigers 0

of interceptions and we rotated about 13 girls in there on defense. it was really a collective unit.”

The Finest and the p urple weasels both aim to rack up victories in preparation for this season’s playoffs.

“[ o ur] goals are to start winning games,” smith said. d oyle shares the same view.

“[ we want to] just keep winning,” d oyle said. “ we want to make it back to the stadium”

b oth teams are back in action tonight, with Farley taking on walsh and the p urple weasels, hoping to build on their winning streak, playing c avanaugh. b oth games will take place at r iehle Fields at 7 p.m.

Contact Christine Mayuga at cmayuga@nd.edu and Hunter McDaniel at hmcdani1@nd.edu

mariners, Tigers fall in midst of playoff race

Associated Press

blue Jays 14, mariners 4

Toron To — Jose bautista homered and reached base four times, J. a happ won for the first time in four starts and the Toronto blue Jays dealt a blow to seattle’s wild card hopes, routing the mariners 14-4 monday night.

bautista went 3 for 3 with a walk and drove in two runs before getting the rest of the night off. h is solo homer off the facing of the second deck in the fifth, against mariners reliever Tom w ilhelmsen, was his 35th.

Kevin p illar hit a two-run homer and a nthony g ose added a solo blast as the blue Jays handed seattle its third straight defeat. The 14 runs were the most by a mariners opponent this season.

seattle gained ground on Kansas city in the wildcard race before taking the field when the royals lost to c leveland in a game that had been suspended from aug. 31. not much went right for the mariners after that.

happ (10-11) allowed an rbi double by robinson cano in the first, and Kyle seager’s solo homer in the sixth, but was otherwise sharp. The lefthander walked one and struck out five in seven innings for his first victory since aug. 31.

seattle’s James paxton

(6-4) allowed a career-high nine runs, walked a careerhigh six and matched a careerhigh by giving up seven hits in 2 2-3 innings, his shortest career start.

paxton came in not having allowed more than three runs in any of his 15 previous starts. That streak ended quickly when he allowed four runs in the first, three of them on a bases-loaded triple by danny valencia.

paxton, a left-hander from british columbia was drafted by Toronto in 2009 but did not sign, and played in an independent league before the mariners drafted him in 2010. monday marked his first start against Toronto, and his first career appearance in canada.

White s ox 2, t igers 0 deT roi T — c hris bassitt pitched into the eighth inning for his first major league win, and the c hicago w hite sox slowed detroit’s chase of the al central title with a 2-0 victory over the Tigers on monday night.

detroit is one game ahead of the second-place royals, who beat c leveland 2-0 in their regularly scheduled game. hours earlier, the i ndians finished off a victory in a suspended game against Kansas city.

Tyler Flowers hit a two-run homer for the w hite sox, and the Tigers were unable to take

women’s rugby snags first victory

Special to The Observer

Women’s rugby

notre dame picked up its first win this season against purdue with a final score of 22-14. The game started slowly for the irish, with p urdue scoring first. however, the team picked up the pace after the first 10 minutes of the game, with senior rachel ruddick scoring and senior captain claire Kozlowski kicking two conversions. The game hit a turning point when sophomore isabella bianco stole the ball and scored just before halftime. in the second half, junior nina Jones scored with Kozlowski making the kick, finishing the scoring for the game. The irish were also able to get 21 new players game time in their first game together. o verall, notre dame started off the season with a sizable freshman class and a win against p urdue.

Women’s soccer

advantage of c hicago’s inexperienced starter.

The loss assured detroit would start a division series on the road, even if it wins the al central.

The game turned into an unexpected pitchers’ duel between bassitt and fellow rookie Kyle l obstein. both were making their fifth career start, but they looked like aces in the middle of a pennant race.

bassitt (1-1) went 7 2-3 innings and pitched out of two early jams. he gave up six hits, walked one batter — the last one he faced — and struck out a lex avila three times but no one else. Jake petricka got four outs for his 14th save.

l obstein (1-1) was trying for his second victory, but didn’t get any offensive support. he allowed two runs on five hits and a walk in a career-best seven innings.

c hicago took a 2-0 lead with a two-out rally in the second. carlos sanchez hit a groundrule double to left-center and, on the next pitch, Flowers lined a homer into the w hite sox bullpen.

detroit had a pair of early threats, but ian Kinsler was caught stealing in the first inning — leaving the bases empty for m iguel cabrera’s 50th double. r ight fielder avisail garcia robbed cabrera of a probable rbi double with a sliding catch in the third.

w ickert took the kick, which was deflected off an i llinois state defender and resulted in an irish corner kick. w ickert again took the kick and senior defender erin doone got her head on the ball to tie up the game. shortly after the goal, a thunderstorm developed, causing the game to be cancelled and giving the irish a 1-1 tie.

The irish traveled to illinois this saturday for a pair of games. Their first game was against the Fighting i llini, who came out strong and found a goal early in the first half against a strong defensive line and sophomore goalkeeper Kiley adams. The irish continued to fight back, but i llinois added a second goal before the half ended. The irish came back and maintained possession for most of the second half, but were unable to find the back of the net, ending the game with a 2-0 loss.

notre dame’s second game was against illinois state. The two teams went back and forth in the first half and the irish had several offensive opportunities, particularly from sophomore forward destiny a namege. it was the redbirds, however, that scored off of a corner towards the end of the first half to take the 1-0. The irish came back in the second half on the offensive attack. w ithin five minutes, sophomore midfielder maddie mccormick earned a free kick just outside of the box for the irish. senior forward mary

men’s soccer on sunday, two of the top club teams in the area went head to head. notre dame took on a strong and technical michigan state team two years removed from a national championship. The match took place on a soggy day, with a slick pitch that forced an uptempo style of play. out of the gate, the spartans brought intensity and physicality that was not met early on by the irish. a s the irish settled into the game, however, they were able to keep up and even threaten the spartans for a majority of the first half. multiple quick passes at the top of the spartans’ penalty box culminated in a hard strike from sophomore peter mcgrane that bounced off the post. Just before halftime, irish junior cocaptain, ryan bonner, ripped through michigan state’s defense on a 40-yard run, only to have the ball stolen from his feet six yards from the net. out of the gates in the second half, the irish attacked with technical precision, led by a strong performance in the central midfield from sophomore Joseph grady. he and freshman Kurt roemer kept the ball moving around michigan state’s defenders, creating space for others to operate. The irish fell behind 1-0 after a spartan free kick from just outside of the box found the side netting. The irish kept fighting and eventually committed more men to the attack, before they were caught on a fast break from michigan state, resulting in the spartans’ second goal of the game. despite a spirited performance, the irish fell, 2-0.

belles top Kalamazoo, 3-1

By JOSH DULANY sports writer

s aint m ary’s took down Kalamazoo on Friday to break a two-match losing streak and end its five-match home stand with a win.

The b elles (4-6, 3-3 miaa ) took the first two sets in dominant fashion, as they stormed their way to 25-15 and 25-19 victories. Kalamazoo (6-6, 1-5) fought back to take the third set, 25-21, but s aint m ary’s responded by cruising to a 25-19 triumph in the fourth set to clinch the match.

b elles coach Toni e lyea said she felt that the team’s unified effort was the main factor in the b elles’ win.

“ we really played a great game as an entire team,” e lyea said. “i thought especially on the offensive end we were cohesive as a unit, found a great rhythm and turned in a great performance. we hit exceptionally well, but also played solid defensively. we had four players with double-digit digs, and we just really did a great job.”

s enior Kati s chneider led all b elles with 19 digs and also racked up a game-high 22 kills. s chneider now has 120 kills and 136 digs on the season, both of which are teamleading marks.

e lyea said she was pleased with s chneider’s effort and the role she played in an important win. The b elles won just one set in a pair of losses to Trine and c alvin, on s ept. 10 and 16, respectively, before earning the victory over the hornets.

six games into its conference schedule, s aint m ary’s sits at .500 in miaa play. The b elles currently sit in fifth place in the conference, which includes hope and c alvin –two of the nation’s top 5 teams.

o verall, e lyea said she was happy with how the team has started its conference slate. however, she also stressed the need to continually improve

as the season progresses.

“ we have really played well at times and it is just about finding a way to be consistent,” e lyea said. “ we know it does not get any easier from here so we have to stay focused, build on the things we’ve done well and continue to try and always play at the level we are capable of.”

a drian will be s aint m ary’s first test, as the b elles attempt to establish that consistency. The b ulldogs (9-7, 3-4) are also coming off a 3-1 victory over Kalamazoo. a drian has won seven of its last nine matches, and e lyea said its offense would be one of the better ones s aint m ary’s faces. e lyea said she was especially impressed by the efficient way the b ulldogs have converted their attacking opportunities.

“They are a strong team with a lot of hitting that will really stretch us,” e lyea said. “a drian has a great outside hitter in [junior] Jordan b usse, and they are extremely consistent as a team. we will be relying on our blocking. o ur blocks have been a real strength for us, so it’s just about maintaining that against a team that will definitely challenge us in that area.”

This is the b elles’ final conference contest before they travel to hope, which is currently the nation’s top-ranked team. e lyea said the team realizes that the season is entering a challenging stage and every match will require topflight focus.

“This is a key stretch of the season,” e lyea said. “e very game is big for us, but we have a couple especially crucial conference games coming up, so it will be big for us to go out this week and put in a strong effort.”

The b elles will look to do just that when they square off with the b ulldogs on wednesday at 7 p.m., in a drian, m ichigan.

Contact Josh Dulany at jdulany@nd.edu

ND opens fall season at Illinois, Princeton

By MANNY DE JESUS sports writer

Junior standout Quentin monaghan ended notre dame’s weekend at the Fighting i llini i nvitational on a high note, defeating no. 6 junior Jared h iltzik of i llinois in straight sets 6-1, 6-1. The i rish split their weekend between o lympia Fields, i llinois, and the Farnsworth ivy i nvitational in p rinceton, new Jersey.

o n the final day of the invitational, monaghan teamed up with freshman d rew dawson to defeat m iami (Florida) freshman c hristian l angmo and sophomore b ernard Tefel, 8-2. h is last match of the tournament was a singles bout against h iltzik, i llinois’s top-ranked player. monaghan beat h iltzik, an a ll-a merican last year, with ease, taking both sets 6-1.

“Quentin played a great match against Jared,” notre dame coach r yan s achire said. “it was extremely satisfying because Quentin works as hard as anyone we have had at notre dame to be the best player that he can be. he has put in the time and effort to earn the confidence to go out and play like he did on sunday, and the win was obviously very fulfilling for him.”

r anked no. 88 in the nation in singles play, monaghan started off his weekend poorly, losing his first singles match against m iami freshman p iotr l omacki, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5). i n his other two contests, monaghan, along with junior e ric s chnurrenberger, fell in both doubles matches against duos from memphis. monaghan turned it around on day two, as he mounted a comeback against north c arolina state junior Thomas weigel to win the match 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. he also won his other singles match of the day against north c arolina state sophomore nick horton, 7-5, 6-1.

The rest of the i rish finished 21-19 in all singles and doubles contests over the weekend. Junior Kenny s abacinski shined for the i rish on the first day of the tournament, winning two doubles matches with senior w yatt mc c oy against north c arolina state seniors robbie mudge and b eck b ond, 8-3, and i llinois freshmen a leks vukic and Toshiki m atsuya, 8-5. s abacinski also won a singles match, taking down memphis freshman r yan peniston , 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

The other i rish athletes at the i llini i nvitational, junior

nicolas montoya, sophomore e ddy c ovalschi and freshman brendon Kempin, all experienced up-and-down performances, combining for a 5-6 record in singles competition.

“ we did a lot of things that our coaching staff was excited about over the weekend, and there are clearly some things that we need to improve as our fall season continues,” s achire said, “i really liked how we improved our doubles play as the weekend progressed, and in singles, i believe that each guy competed with a much clearer picture of how we wanted to play his singles matches as well. o n the flip side, we know that we are not at the level that we need to be at to achieve the goals that we have set for ourselves. There are specific areas of each player’s game that need to improve, and we are excited to do that in practice this week.”

i n addition to notre dame’s participation in the Fighting i llini i nvitational, seniors billy pecor, d ougie b arnard, m ichael Fredericka and junior a lex l awson traveled to p rinceton for the Farnsworth ivy i nvitational.

i n doubles competition, the no. 27-ranked duo l awson and pecor made a run in the tournament, making it all the

way to the semifinals before falling to the no. 51-ranked duo from st. John’s, juniors vaidik munshaw and l ucas hejhal, 8-1. The other i rish duo of b arnard and Fredericka won its opening match against c olumbia freshman Taiyo hamanaka and junior e ric rubin, 8-5, and its roundof-16 bout against m iami freshmen nile c lark and a ndrew harrington, 8-3. The duo’s run ended in the quarterfinals after a loss to brown freshman Jack haworth and junior ivan Kravtchenko, 8-5. s achire said he was impressed with the play of the doubles pairs, but he added that improvement is needed throughout all facets of his players’ games.

“The areas of improvement are obviously individual to each player, when it comes to singles,” s achire said. “a s a group, we need to play a bit more confident [and] aggressive style of doubles and impose our will on our opponents a bit more.”

notre dame will continue play this weekend, as the team splits up to compete in the c rimson Tide Four in The Fall, the vredevelt i nvitational and the a lla merican c hampionships.

Contact Manny De Jesus at mdejesus@nd.edu

Football

con T inued F rom page 16

at notre dame.

“ we trained at the same place, awp [ sports Training], so he’s just a good guy i could go to and see what things were going to be like when i first came here,” Tranquill said of smith.

Thus far, the extra guidance and coaching seems to have paid off for Tranquill, as he leads all i rish freshmen with nine tackles through three games. a gainst p urdue, Tranquill was forced into the role of strong safety after sophomore max redfield was ejected for targeting and junior nicky baratti went down with a shoulder injury.

Tranquill said despite his limited college experience, he was well prepared to step in against p urdue.

“ you come to notre dame for a reason; it’s not the sit on the bench or sit on the sideline,” he said. “ you want to help this university and help this school win football games, so when you prepare for something your whole life, when the

moment comes, you can’t shy down. s o, with the help of my guys, my teammates, it’s something where you have to show up when the lights come on.”

Tranquill is not only balancing multiple roles on the field. he is also an intended mechanical engineering major with a heavy course load.

“it’s extremely difficult … i’m balancing 17 credit hours and football’s like a 40-hourper-week job, so it’s something where you definitely have to have the help of others to get through, but it’s something i’m going to try to push through,” Tranquill said.

a nd if i rish head coach brian Kelly’s comments are to be believed, Tranquill should have no problem pushing himself or the i rish through.

“he was such a locked-in kid,” Kelly said of Tranquill in his p urdue postgame press conference. “ we’re able to do some things with him, and he’s only been here, what, eight, 10 weeks? w here would we be without that young man? it’s really pretty incredible.”

Contact Brian Hartnett at bhartnet@nd.edu

things in perspective though. we have 80 percent of our season ahead, and there’s enough good within our team to get something going.”

individually, sophomore matt rushton finished in a tie for 14th place (72-67-73-212). rushton posted the best finish for the irish after day one, closing out the second round at one-underpar. he had two birdies on the afternoon 18, while a bogey on the 18th hole marked his only setback on the round. he shot an even-par 35 on the back nine of the third round, tying for fifth in the tournament with 39 pars.

“i thought matt played his heart out,” Kubinski said. “he got off to a tough start today. i think he just wants it too much sometimes. he’ll figure that out, that balance between desire and allowing yourself to keep your focus on the process, and accomplish great things. he’s a young player who is growing each week.”

senior Tyler w ingo (74-73-72219) and sophomore l iam cox (71-73-76-220) completed their fall-season debuts with a share of 41st and 45th place, respectively. w ingo shot the lowest score for the irish in the third round, with back-to-back birdies on holes six and seven. he posted three birdies in the first two rounds. cox shot just oneover-par in the first round and three-over-par in the second. he had an eagle on the par-five sixth hole of the final round, making him one of only nine players in the tournament to log an eagle.

“Tyler improved each round, which was good to see,”

Kubinski said. “he hit a lot of quality shots and competed very well. l iam played very solid golf over 45 holes. he just struggled finishing today off. There’s a lot to be excited about there, though. w hen you can post numbers over 45 holes, you can post them over 54. l iam should take some big positives this week.”

senior patrick grahek (7272-75-220) shared 45th with cox. during the second round, grahek had four birdies on the final six holes of his front nine. Freshman Thomas steve (76-7276-224) tied for 67th place. steve posted nine birdies and tallied a 4.17 scoring average on par-five holes.

l ike steve, the rest of the irish starting lineup represented well in scoring averages on par-fives, with each player scoring a cumulative even par or better on par-fives. steve led the group at five-under-par and w ingo and cox followed next at one-underpar. rushton and grahek finished even-par on the par-five holes.

“we’ve proven we can post strong scores and complete with the nation’s top teams over sample sizes,” Kubinski said. we just need to learn to finish these tournaments out. in spite of losing a few places with today’s finish, we’re improving. we’ll come out next weekend at home with a goal of competing over 54 holes.”

The irish will host the Fighting irish gridiron classic on sept. 28-30. The first two rounds will be held at the warren g olf course, while the third round will be played at l ost dunes g olf club in bridgman, michigan.

Contact Kit Loughran at kloughr1@nd.edu

Edited by Will Shortz No. 0807

For answers, call 1-900-285-5656, $1.49 a minute; or, with a credit card, 1-800-814-5554. Annual subscriptions are available for the best of Sunday crosswords from the last 50 years: 1-888-7-ACROSS. AT&T users: Text NYTX to 386 to download puzzles, or visit nytimes.com/mobilexword for more information. Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 2,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year). Share tips: nytimes.com/wordplay. Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/learning/xwords.

Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit www.sudoku.org.uk

Happy Birthday: get everything in order. don’t let uncertainty or confusion lead to procrastination. The less you have hanging over your head, the better you will do when faced with important decisions. Trust in your intuition, not in hearsay. it’s your responsibility to look out for your interests and to maintain a practical path that will protect you from outside influences. your numbers are 7, 9, 20, 24, 33, 37, 46.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): your ability to embrace change and turn whatever is going on to your advantage will lead to a new beginning. offers made may cause uncertainty at first, but once you weigh the pros and cons, you will know exactly how to react.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): don’t count on others to do things for you. let your past performance speak for you. make changes based on experience, fair play and an opportunity to move in a direction that promises prosperity and satisfaction.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): stand tall and refuse to let what others say or do bother you. anger never solves anything, but working toward your goals does. prepare to make the changes that will make you feel more at ease personally and professionally.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): make positive changes to your environment and do what you can to cut your overhead. not everyone will like or approve of the changes you implement, but you have to do whatever works for you and eases your stress.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Jumping from one thing to another will make those around you nervous. The ease at which you carry out your plans will help you gain respect. be wary of someone who might be secretly trying to take advantage of your stamina.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): you will face opposition and are best to deal with it in a positive, patient and practical manner. getting angry will not solve anything and will probably lead to lies, deception and disillusionment. work on selfimprovement, not trying to change others.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): egal, financial or medical matters should be dealt with personally. do not let anyone handle matters that can have an impact on your future. do what you can to protect your home and your family’s interests. get your facts straight.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Take a position and follow through with your belief and you will achieve great satisfaction from lending a helping hand. Keep a close watch on authoritative institutions, agencies or people to ensure you aren’t being cheated or manipulated.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):Follow through with your plans, but don’t feel the need to take on someone else’s chores or demands. emotional blackmail is apparent and must be kept in perspective to avoid being taken for granted. use your head and do what’s best for you.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): avoid being impulsive when engaging in chatter with friends, relatives or peers. you are best to focus on personal and financial selfimprovements that will lead to a better lifestyle or environment. protect your assets, possessions and your reputation.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): a financial change is heading your way. you can make career moves that will improve your status quo and lead to greater opportunities down the road. open up to business or personal partners and you will get the goahead.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Keep life simple and avoid engaging in disagreements or risky emotional, physical or financial situations. listen carefully to what others say and offer. There will be underlying motives that you are best to address before you make a decision.

Birthday Baby: you are entertaining and charming. you are fastidious and appreciative.

A ‘Tranquill’ force in the secondary

By BRIAN HARTNETT managing e ditor

w hen he took the field before notre d ame’s 30-14 win over p urdue at l ucas o il stadium on s ept. 13, i rish freshman safety d rue Tranquill saw a glimpse of what could have been.

The Fort wayne, i ndiana, native originally committed to p urdue in July 2013, but he flipped his commitment to notre d ame in november of last year.

Tranquill said he thought about his original commitment before the matchup with the b oilermakers, but his mind was mostly focused on his role in the notre d ame defense.

“obviously, you have to think about [the past], going into it,” he said. “obviously, i was committed there, i love [ p urdue head] coach d arrell h azell, but it was something where we had to do it as a business, so we had to come in with the preparation to win, and that’s what i was focused on — i was focused on winning the football game, not the previous emotions.”

Tranquill has likely had little time to think about the past with the several different positions he has played for the i rish. Tranquill has played at safety and — in the mold of fellow converted safeties junior John Turner and sophomore James o nuwualu — at linebacker, along with time on special teams.

Tranquill said several teammates and coaches have helped get him up to speed in the short time he has been on campus.

“it’s extremely tough, and it’s something i couldn’t have done on my own,” he said.

“a s i mentioned before, i had [graduate assistant Kyle mc c arthy], obviously the safeties, [defensive coordinator brian] van g order — those guys helped me with the linebacker stuff, and our special teams group did a great job teaching me as well.”

Tranquill likewise credited fellow Fort wayne native and off-season training partner sophomore linebacker Jaylon smith for helping guide him through his early challenges

Irish slip to 11th on final day of Windon Memorial

By KIT LOUGHRAN sports writer

The irish finished in 11th place at the w indon memorial classic at the evanston g olf club in skokie, i llinois on monday.

notre dame entered the third round of the two-day tournament in sixth place. The team posted a solid front nine performance during the final round, but it could not continue its momentum into the last nine holes. The irish dropped 13 strokes for a final-round score of 296 and 11th place (289-285-296-870, +30). california (285-279-270) won the tournament with a sixunder-par score of 834, which broke the course’s lowest 54hole team score.

“we were in position for some good wins through 45 holes but let a few slip away over the last nine holes,” irish coach Jim Kubinski said. “we went from a building block to a stumblingblock event. we have to keep

Keough defense shuts down dillon

By MAREK MAZUREK and MICHAEL IVEY sports writers

The wind and the rain came in droves, but it did not stop defending champion Keough, as it outlasted dillon, 7-0, in a defensive slugfest sunday afternoon.

The Kangaroos (1-0) scored on their first possession with a touchdown run by sophomore running back conor Kinasz. Kinasz had 65 rushing yards on the day.

“we have a lot of good receivers and running backs,” Keough junior captain mitchell patin said. “it was rainy and windy today, so we did minimal throwing. a lso, our running game was working really well.”

The Keough defense was stingy, not allowing a single score and making two stops on fourth down that put the ball back in the hands of the Kangaroos offense. sophomore defensive tackle mark shealy led the Keough defense with four sacks.

“i think Keough is starting to be known for [its] defense,”

patin said. “we kind of have a unique set and a lot of powerful linebackers that can play coverage and also go down and make a tackle on a run.”

For dillon, it was a rough day on offense. The big red had to resort to their third-string quarterback, while junior captain colin cunningham and freshman backup d ylan volanth sat out due to injuries.

cunningham said he was proud of the defensive effort the team showed and said dillon will focus on trying to get its offense up-to-par in future games.

“our defense was really, really good,” cunningham said. “[it] only gave them one touchdown. we need to get our offense down.”

Keough’s next game will be against o’neill, while dillon will take on stanford. both games will be sunday at r iehle Fields.

Contact Marek Mazurek at mmazurek@nd.edu and Michael Ivey at mivey@hcc-nd.edu